Chapter 34

"What's up?"

"Go find my mom." Jing Xiebai picked up the car keys, packed up the family tree and handed it to Xie Que, "My mom is going to treat you to dinner."

Jing's mother originally wanted to find time to meet with Xie Que after he was discharged from the hospital, but she didn't expect that Xie Que was temporarily captured by Jing Xiebai to exorcise ghosts, so this matter had to be postponed.

"Now?" Xie was a little resistant. He was not good at dealing with parents and was afraid of leaving a bad impression on Jing's mother.

"It's okay, don't be afraid. My mom is busy now, so this meal won't take long."

Jing Xiebai knew that Xie Que was a socially anxious person and was unwilling to get along with strangers. He comforted him with a few words and still pulled him into the car.

"Don't be afraid, I just want to find a time to talk to you about the basic situation of exorcists." Xie Que didn't know much about the distribution of the power of exorcists, so he could take this opportunity to make up for it.

"You will definitely have to show up when the four major parties hold a meeting. After all, you are a key figure, so be mentally prepared in advance." Jing Xiebai stepped on the accelerator, glanced at Xie Que in the passenger seat, and took a box of motion sickness patches and handed it to him.

Ever since he knew that Xie Que was prone to motion sickness, he bought a few boxes of motion sickness patches and kept them in the car in case of emergency.

"My house is quite far away, so remember to post it."

Xie blinked slowly, not reacting for a moment. He didn't expect Jing Xiebai to still remember his motion sickness.

Even after the car had driven quite a distance, Xie was still in a daze. He looked up at himself in the rearview mirror and belatedly asked, "Do I need to change my clothes?"

In a hurry to go out this morning, Xie grabbed a short-sleeved shirt from the closet. With his neat short hair and black earrings, he looked so cool and handsome that someone who didn't know him would mistake him for a high school student. He felt he should dress more formally.

Jing Xiebai glanced at Xie Que and praised him, "No need. You are so well-behaved. My mother will definitely like you."

Xie Que: "..."

Jing Xiebai's words did not ease his anxiety at all, but Xie sighed softly, leaned against the car window and cheered himself up in his heart.

The sun is always very strong after summer. The leaves of the camphor trees on the street are shining green. The sunlight shines through the layers of leaves and falls to the ground, forming light spots of alternating light and dark.

Xie watched the trees recede and rehearsed the meeting scene in his mind.

"Feeling carsick?"

"Not bad." Thanks to the motion sickness patch given by Jing Xiebai, he didn't feel uncomfortable.

"Then let me first tell you about the basic situation of the ghost exorcists." Jing Xiebai changed the subject, "The internal power of the ghost exorcists is concentrated in the four major families of Jing, Lu, Wang, and Lin. Each family is responsible for a region. Except for the southwest region, no one is in charge."

The Jing family is responsible for the South China region and is famous for its numerous magical instruments; the Lu family is responsible for the East China region and in recent years has been mainly responsible for coordinating the relationship between exorcists and the outside world; the Wang family is responsible for the North China region and has made great achievements in Feng Shui; the Lin family is responsible for the Northeast region and is proficient in divination.

The four major families have been checking and balancing each other for many years, and their status among the exorcists has been increasing.

“Why is no one taking care of the southwest region?”

"I don't know. My elders told me that it's because Fengdu is over there, and no one from the four families wants to take over, fearing that it would offend the Yincha."

When the ghost messengers are on patrol, the living avoid them. A single misstep could result in the scattering of souls. Dealing with the ghost messengers is inherently dangerous, so it's no surprise that the four families avoid that area. Precisely because of this lack of oversight, the southwest region is plagued by vile spirits, earning it the nickname "The Ghost Capital of the World." Many exorcists even team up to go there specifically for training.

"But can't the ghost messenger come to the world of the living at will?" And he can't disrupt the cause and effect at will. However, Xie remembered that the God of Death ended up with his soul torn apart because he disrupted too many causes and effects.

"Some ghost messengers will reincarnate as humans and come to the human world to inspect. The four families don't want to invite trouble, so naturally no one will take over that place."

Is this really the case? Xie was a little skeptical. He always felt that it wouldn't be that simple. Even Jing Xiebai's attitude was strange. He didn't seem to want to mention that place.

"Okay, I understand."

Xie did not continue to ask. The most urgent thing was to find Chen Shan, not to dwell on this issue.

"How long until it arrives?"

"Just turn the corner ahead."

The Jing family's old house was built by the generation of Jing Xiebai's grandfather. The ancient courtyard is nestled among trees, where the earth's energy converges from all directions, nourishing both the land and the people. Every year, the younger generation of the Jing family would come to the old house to cultivate for a period of time. The moment the car door opened, a cool breeze blew, stirring up dust, but Xie raised his hand to shield his eyes.

When Jing's mother heard them park the car, she had already opened the door and was waiting outside.

"Mom." Jing Xiebai handed the fruit he bought on the road to his mother from the car, "I'm hungry. Is lunch ready?" He was very hungry after being busy all morning.

"I've been preparing for this for a long time." Mother Jing smiled and patted him, then looked at Xie Que who was lagging behind and said warmly, "Come in quickly, it's very windy outside."

"Hello, Auntie." Xie smiled shyly, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Mother Jing naturally noticed Xie Que's nervousness, but her smile remained undimmed: "Xiao Xie, is there anything you'd like to eat? I'll ask the kitchen to make it."

"No need, Auntie. I'm not picky about food." Xie followed the two of them into the house, not daring to look around all the way.

Jing's mother has always liked quiet and well-behaved children. After knowing Xie Que's life experience, she felt even more pity for him. Now that she sees him in person, she likes him more and more.

"Don't be polite with Auntie, just treat it as your own home!"

"Mom, why don't you ask me what I want to eat?" Jing Xiebai changed into slippers, his tone a little depressed, "I haven't been home for only half a year, why did you even throw away my slippers?"

"Shut up. How dare you talk like that after not coming back for so long!" Mother Jing glared at Jing Xiebai and ignored him.

Xie Que was not good at dealing with elders, so he looked at Jing Xiebai, hoping he could help him.

Seeing this, Jing Xiebai shrugged and gave Xie Que a look that said "take care of yourself".

This meal was really painful, but fortunately Jing Xiebai took the initiative to find topics to talk about, so he didn't feel too embarrassed.

After dinner, Jing's mother wanted to find Xie Que to chat, but was interrupted by Jing Xie Bai.

"Mom, I have something to ask you, you can't just ignore me, right?"

Mother Jing rolled her eyes at him. She knew what Jing Xiebai was planning, but she didn't insist. "Let's go to the study and talk."

"OK."

Xie didn't follow him. Instead, he wandered around the yard outside, thinking about his next plan. Time waits for no one. The later they catch Chen Shan, the more dangerous it will be. But they don't even know what Chen Shan looks like.

"Oh." Xie sighed softly, feeling a little depressed. It really was not a pleasant feeling to be led by the nose.

Waiting around wasn't going to cut it, so Xie stood up and walked around the Jing family compound a few times. This wasn't a place where geomancy was concentrated, but due to a clever layout, the geomancy's eye had been moved here. Xie still had only a limited understanding of feng shui, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to take this opportunity to learn a little.

"Did you see anything?"

"Huh?" Xie Que turned around and saw Jing Xiebai standing behind him with his car keys in his hands. "Why are you here? Are you done talking?"

"Yeah." Jing Xiebai didn't want to talk about it anymore, but shook the car key at Xie, "Let's talk while we walk."

Xie nodded. Unconsciously, the sun had already set. In the suburbs at night, there were many mosquitoes. Just a few steps away, he was bitten several times on the arm.

"You should take good care of yourself in the next few days. I won't ask you about anything else in advance."

Xie raised an eyebrow, not understanding what Jing Xiebai meant. "What happened?"

Jing Xiebai sighed: "No, I don't know what happened." Jing's mother obviously didn't want him to get involved in the matter of convening the four families, and just asked him to stabilize the current situation.

"The current situation is that there are more and more evil spirits, and the four major families are unable to cope with it. The matter of Chen Shan cannot be kept secret for long." The heads of the four major families already know about the existence of Chen Shan. After this meeting, it is estimated that all the exorcists know about this matter.

"I understand." He and Jing Xiebai both needed to rest, and they could take this opportunity to recover.

It wasn't too late yet, so Jing Xiebai stopped by to pick up Fubao. The square near the residential complex was still bustling with activity, the excessive yang energy keeping ghosts away. In less-populated areas, however, wild ghosts became common. It had been two months since Xie Que moved here, and the time had flown by so quickly that he felt a bit dazed.

"Go to bed early. I'll bring you some magic weapons tomorrow." Considering that he wouldn't be able to stay by Xie Que's side all the time for the next period of time, Jing Xiebai decided to bring some life-saving equipment to Xie Que, otherwise he would not feel at ease.

"Don't accept any commissions during this period, and don't go to the company. If you have nothing to do, you can go find Lu Jueqiu. Be careful not to get captured by Chen Shan."

Xie Que is the most critical person in the whole thing. Since Chen Shan is the one who planned it, he naturally would not allow Xie Que to exist. At the same time, this also means that if they want to find Chen Shan, they can start with Xie Que.

Thinking of this, Jing Xiebai looked at Xie Que with a deeper look. He didn't know how the four families would use Xie Que, but it certainly wouldn't be a good way. He knew the evil nature of exorcists better than Xie Que did. In the face of absolute profit, human life was insignificant.

"You should get some rest too. Don't stay up late." Xie didn't know what Jing Xiebai was thinking. He was so exhausted that even his brain was a little slow to react. He just wanted to go back and have a good sleep. Xie knew that his body was still in a state of decline, but there was nothing he could do. He had come into contact with so many evil spirits in the past two months. No one else could withstand it.

I haven't been home for several days, so the house is a little dirty, but Xie doesn't have the heart to clean it. He turns off the lights and falls asleep quickly.

The next day, Xie was woken up by a knock on the door. Jing Xiebai was standing outside the door with a bag of breakfast, looking very energetic: "Good morning, I came to bring you something."

"Come in." Xie yawned and fell on the sofa, unable to open his eyes.

"So sleepy? Didn't sleep well last night and had a nightmare?" Jing Xiebai poured himself a glass of water with ease, placed the things he brought on the table, and said casually, "I remember when I was a kid, exorcists could interpret dreams, but I haven't seen many who can do that now."

Dreams are inherently difficult to interpret, so it's normal that no one learns how to interpret them. After all, no one would hire an exorcist to interpret dreams these days.

"Can you interpret dreams?" Xie Que stood up and looked at Jing Xiebai with some curiosity.

"A little bit, what's wrong?" Jing Xiebai was confused by Xie Que's reaction. "What were you dreaming about?"