Chapter 1 If I die, you will die with me.

1. This story is fictional; everything is based on fiction. Please believe in science.

2. Don't insult me, or I'll kiss you like M did. (Reflect on yourself: Did you say thank you when you insulted me?)

3. If you find it uninteresting or illogical, you can exit and delete it from your bookshelf. There are countless good books on Tomato Books, so don't force yourself to read them just to criticize me.

4. This story features a clean romance between the two main characters, and is 1v1. There is a romantic pairing and some romantic subplot. If you're looking for a story without a romantic pairing, look elsewhere.

5. Note: This is not a female-centric novel.

At the start of summer, thunderstorms came suddenly and violently in the suburbs of the capital.

Shen Yuepo was wiping halfway with a rag in front of the statue of the Three Pure Ones.

Suddenly, a loud "boom" was heard, and the entire Taoist temple shook.

She looked up abruptly and saw a bolt of purple lightning, like a dragon, strike the backyard, illuminating her cool and aloof face.

"not good!"

She threw off the rag, grabbed the peach wood sword from the table, and rushed out.

The rain soaked her Taoist robe in an instant, clinging to her thin body.

The backyard of the Taoist temple was even more dilapidated than the front hall, overgrown with weeds.

The dry well, which is said to be a hundred years old, stands quietly in the corner, its opening covered by a blue stone slab.

At this moment, wisps of black smoke were seeping out from the cracks in the stone slabs, appearing particularly eerie in the rain.

"Boom!"

Another bolt of lightning struck straight at the top of her head.

Shen Yuepo's pupils contracted sharply, and the tip of his sword pointed straight at the sky: "The profound origin of heaven and earth, the root of all qi!"

The cinnabar runes on the peach wood sword suddenly lit up with a red light, colliding with the purple lightning in the air and bursting out with a dazzling light.

Shen Yuepo was forced back three steps by the shockwave.

She knelt on one knee, panting as she wiped the rain from her face.

She cursed inwardly: What kind of deity wants to take her in? She hasn't done anything immoral lately!

A sudden chill ran down my back.

She turned around instinctively, only to see a dark figure darting out from the bottom of the well.

Shen Yuepo reacted extremely quickly, his wooden sword already held horizontally in front of him, and he hurriedly chanted: "Lin Bing Dou Zhe Jie Zhen Lie Qian Xing!"

A flash of golden light, and the dark figure let out a muffled groan, revealing its true form.

He was a tall, slender man whose dark robe was soaked in blood, yet it could not conceal his noble and dignified air.

His pale face was framed by a pair of sharp, piercing phoenix eyes, and a cinnabar mole on his nose added to his eerie appearance.

He glanced at her coldly, and Shen Yuepo felt a chill run down her spine, as if she were prey being watched by a venomous snake.

"A ghost messenger?" She narrowed her eyes, able to see the aura of the underworld surrounding the other party, which was even more chilling than that of ordinary ghost messengers.

The man parted his thin lips slightly, his voice as clear as shattered jade hitting ice: "Who are you?"

Shen Yuepo almost laughed in anger.

This guy trespassed on her territory and then started questioning her?

Just as she was about to retort, she saw him suddenly raise his hand, and a drop of dark red blood flew through the air and pierced straight into her brow.

Shen Yuepo: "...?"

The man's lips curled into a cold smile, a glint of cold light flickering in his eyes: "The contract is complete. My life is your life, my death is my death—"

“You too shall die with me.”

Before Shen Yuepo could recover from the chill of the drop of blood between her brows, the man in front of her suddenly swayed and fell forward as if his body had broken.

"Hello!"

She instinctively reached out to catch him, and the man's tall body pressed heavily on her shoulder.

A cold breath brushed against her neck, sending a shiver down her spine.

Are these underworld messengers made of paper?!

Just a moment ago he had a domineering attitude of "I'll die and you'll die with me", but in the blink of an eye he fainted?

Shen Yuepo gritted her teeth and gripped his wrist. His soul was gradually becoming transparent, as if it would dissipate into the world at any moment.

Shen Yuepo stared at that handsome, almost demonic face and sighed inwardly, "How can lust cloud one's judgment?"

"trouble."

She didn't want to get involved with this crazy man who forced her into this contract, but what if he really died...?

Shen Yuepo raised his hand and touched his brow, clicking his tongue.

She didn't want to be buried with a strange underworld official for no reason, no matter how beautiful he was!

She had one arm around the person, and with the other hand she made a hand seal, chanting a spell softly:

"Heaven and earth bear witness, yin and yang are in harmony, I will temporarily lend you my dwelling place."

The jade bracelet emitted a soft glow, enveloping the man within it.

As soon as I put it back on my wrist, I heard a rustling sound.

Three people wearing raincoats were holding up their phones, peering out with horrified expressions.

"Master, who were you talking to just now?!" the leader stammered.

Shen Yuepo said expressionlessly, "I was singing while taking a shower. You've disturbed me."

Everyone: "......"

The barrage of comments exploded instantly:

"Holy crap! A beautiful Taoist priest!"

"I give this acting a perfect score."

"Was that lightning bolt real?!"

The girl behind the blond man suddenly screamed, pointing behind Shen Yuepo: "That, that well is emitting black smoke!"

Without turning his head, Shen Yuepo flicked out a yellow talisman from his fingertip, which flew towards the well opening with a whoosh, and the black mist immediately dissipated.

Her gaze swept over the group: "Who are you?"

"We're a paranormal exploration team..." the girl explained softly, her eyes constantly glancing towards the well opening, "We just happened to be passing by..."

Shen Yuepo scoffed lightly.

These city dwellers treat the supernatural as entertainment, but when they actually encounter it, they're terrified.

She turned to leave, but was stopped by a blond man.

"Master! Could we..." he rubbed his hands together, his face beaming, "...buy a protective talisman?"

Shen Yuepo narrowed his eyes, his gaze slowly sweeping over the expensive-looking filming equipment in the hands of the three people.

Ah, offerings of incense money delivered to one's doorstep.

Her eyes darted around, and she smiled innocently: "Five hundred each." She held up five fingers.

"So cheap?!" the three exclaimed in unison.

Shen Yuepo: "..."

That was a miscalculation.

She was just thinking about raising the price temporarily when Huang Mao quickly scanned the code and transferred the money.

Shen Yuepo glanced at the three people, each with a clump of ash perched on their shoulders.

She suddenly reached out and touched each person's forehead with her finger, and the gray shadows screamed and disappeared.

"Don't go looking for trouble in places with heavy yin energy in the future." She tossed three amulets for protection. "If you keep courting death, even the gods can't save you."

The chat exploded again:

"They actually put on quite a convincing act."

"A script, perhaps? Real talismans aren't that cheap."

Chen Yuepo ignored him and turned to walk towards the front hall.

The blond man's excited voice came from behind: "Hey guys! Get your attention! Next week we're doing a live stream of our nighttime raid on the mass grave!"

She paused, then shook her head.

Some people are just unstoppable when it comes to courting death.

As soon as Shen Yuepo stepped into the front hall, a figure in blue rushed over in a flurry, the wide sleeves of his Taoist robe almost smearing her face.

"Little Moon! What happened in the backyard? That lightning strike made my heart tremble!"

The person who came was none other than her nominal senior brother, the current abbot of Xujing Temple—Lin Yanxin.

His handsome face was filled with the fear of poverty, terrified that the only place of refuge for the Taoist temple would be reduced to ruins.

“Something evil has come to the backyard.” After Shen Yuepo finished speaking, she suddenly felt a chilling sensation from the jade bracelet on her wrist, which made her shiver.

Lin Yanxin's worries vanished instantly, replaced by the gleam of a hungry wolf eyeing braised pork.

He held up his old, cracked phone, its screen like a spiderweb, to Shen Yuepo's face, his voice booming, "Yuepo! We're going to be rich! We're going to be rich! Look!"

On the screen was a video of her using lightning to save herself, with a simple and direct title: [Shocking! Mysterious female Taoist priest appears in a remote mountain temple, using a peach wood sword to draw in heavenly lightning!]

The number of views is followed by a dizzying string of zeros.

"Tomorrow! Tomorrow! The TV station people will definitely come looking for you with their cameras!"

Lin Yanxin was so excited that she spun around on the spot, as if she could already see the incense money flowing in like water.

The braised pork was already beckoning to him, "Our Xujing Temple is about to turn things around!"

The two siblings were skilled at everything from catching ghosts to drawing talismans, but unfortunately, they both suffered from the "poverty" problem, one of the five deficiencies and three lacks.

For more than ten years, he has been guarding a dilapidated Taoist temple, earning a meager income by treating the villagers' headaches and fevers and occasionally driving away mosquitoes and rodents. His life is as pure as mountain spring water.

That bolt of lightning struck at the perfect, damn good time!

Shen Yuepo: "..."

Looking at her senior brother's pathetic appearance, she felt a dull ache in her temples.

Three days later, at the Shen family villa in the capital.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows is a meticulously manicured garden, while the interior is luxuriously understated.

Mrs. Shen leaned back lazily on the leather sofa, her fingertips casually tracing the remote control.

The television was broadcasting a social oddity program, and the female host was introducing it in an exaggerated tone:

"...This mysterious young Taoist priest defied the might of heaven with a peach wood sword; the scene was straight out of a fantasy blockbuster..."

Madam Shen was losing interest and was about to change the channel when the camera happened to give her a close-up of a profile.

The woman in the Taoist robe was looking down at the peach wood sword in her hand. A strand of hair slipped down, revealing a clear crescent-shaped birthmark on the side of her neck.

Mrs. Shen sat up abruptly, and the remote control fell to the floor with a thud onto the soft blanket.

"Old Shen! Old Shen, come quick!" she cried out, her voice trembling.

Chairman Shen came out of his study: "What's wrong?"

“Look at this girl…” Madam Shen pointed at the television—

Chairman Shen's teacup fell to the ground with a clatter: "This...this is impossible..."

"It's our daughter! It must be Ningning!" Madam Shen could no longer control herself and rushed to the television.

Trembling fingers traced the birthmark through the cold screen:

"A crescent-shaped birthmark...she was born with it, I remember it clearly! It's my daughter! She didn't die! She's still alive!"

The overwhelming elation and the shock of regaining what she had lost almost made her lose her balance.

Chairman Shen snapped back to reality and immediately picked up the phone: "Prepare the car immediately, I want to go to Xujing Temple in person!"