Even though Ruan Bei had become less afraid of ghosts after a year of training, he was still so frightened when he saw a female ghost hiding in the mirror that he shuddered and let out a series of dolphin-like sounds.
The female ghost in the mirror seemed not to have expected him to see her, and was also startled by Ruan Bei's shout. Her head, which was leaning forward on the mirror, suddenly tilted back, shaking off her hair, which was quite long at first glance, revealing a very high and conspicuous hairline.
Ruan Bei: "..."
Suddenly remembering the mission information I had seen before, I roughly understood where this female ghost's obsession came from.
"What's wrong?"
"what happens?"
The bathroom door was suddenly opened, and Mao Xiaoqian and the others rushed in.
The female ghost had only reached halfway through her hair when she realized so many people had suddenly entered, and she immediately burrowed deeper into the mirror.
That's not quite right either. A mirror is just a flat surface, but in Ruan Bei's eyes, it's as if there's another world in the mirror. At this moment, the lower half of the female ghost's body has already disappeared into that world and can no longer be seen.
Ruan Bei was startled. His first reaction was that they couldn't let her get away, otherwise they wouldn't be able to complete their mission.
So he subconsciously reached out and grabbed at the female ghost in the mirror. With a flick of his wrist, the talisman in his palm suddenly lit up.
The group of Mao Xiaoqian and others who had just rushed in saw Ruan Bei suddenly activate his spiritual energy, and light spilled out from between his fingers. His hand went straight into the mirror, as if he had grabbed something.
Before Mao Xiaoqian and the others could react, a cloud of yin energy suddenly rolled out of the mirror, clearly a ghost.
The female ghost was grabbed by the hair by Ruan Bei. Forget everything else, she scrambled out of the mirror, screaming and grabbing at Ruan Bei's hand, "Don't pull my hair! Ahhhhh, don't pull my hair, you bastard—"
"Oh, I'm sorry."
In a moment of desperation, Ruan Bei grabbed the female ghost's hair. He thought that no matter what, pulling a woman's hair was not a good thing, and besides, the female ghost clearly cared a lot about her hair.
So Ruan Bei readily let go and grabbed the female ghost by the neck.
The female ghost: "..."
"You...you're talking to a ghost?" Mao Xiaoqian's eyes widened in disbelief.
Conan stared at his hand for a while, then looked into his eyes: "You can see ghosts?"
Ruan Bei smiled sheepishly: "I have the ability to see ghosts."
The reason I didn't mention it before is that when everyone introduced themselves, they only gave a general overview of their background, their lineage, and which lineage of cultivator they belonged to.
Ruan Bei said he was a Celestial Master, but Mao Xiaoqian assumed he was just a small-time rogue cultivator with no background, so his teammates didn't press him further.
As for his background, there's no need for him to elaborate; when he trended on social media, netizens dug up more information about him than he himself knew.
Mao Xiaoqian and his group grew up in a cultivation environment from a young age, and through constant exposure, they possessed a level of knowledge that Ruan Bei, who had only been in the industry for a year, could not match.
Their conversation inevitably revealed certain traits, which further convinced Ruan Bei that they were among the best of their peers.
So he was even more embarrassed to bring up that he had the ability to see ghosts. It felt awkward to suddenly mention his talent out of the blue, like he was showing off.
"Yin-Yang eyes?!"
"Holy crap, is it the one I know who has the ability to see ghosts?"
"This is the first time I've ever seen a living person with the ability to see ghosts, it's amazing..."
Mao Xiaoqian and the others were shocked. They wished they could rush over and touch Ruan Bei's eyes. Ruan Bei was so frightened that he retreated repeatedly, dragging the female ghost he was holding like a sack for more than a meter away.
The female ghost couldn't speak because he was choking her. She was so angry that she rolled her eyes. She couldn't help but take a few more glances at him because he was handsome. She never expected him to be this kind of person. He had no pity for women at all!
"Alright, alright, stop touching me." Conan stopped the others, and before Ruan Bei could even express her gratitude, she heard him say, "After we finish this mission, sit down and give me a good pat."
Ruan Bei: "..."
Mao Xiaoqian and the others thought it made sense. Ruan Bei had joined the team and was now their teammate. If they wanted to do something, they had plenty of time.
"Let's go to the living room first."
The bathroom was too small; five big boys and a female ghost squeezed in all at once, making it difficult to turn around.
Mao Xiaoqian and the others went out first. Ruan Bei carried the female ghost, who was waving her arms and legs wildly, gesturing frantically at Ruan Bei.
Ruan Bei looked at it carefully for a while, then nodded knowingly: "You want to say something?"
The female ghost nodded her chin and poked it directly at Ruan Bei's hand.
Ruan Bei looked her up and down. The female ghost was wearing a rather thin nightgown, but the style was conservative, only revealing her forearms.
So Ruan Bei grabbed her shoulders and said, "Go ahead and tell me."
The female ghost sobbed, "Don't drag me, I can walk by myself."
Ruan Bei escorted the female ghost to the living room like a policeman escorting a criminal.
In the past, when Mao Xiaoqian and his team went on missions, if the ghosts that caused trouble weren't serious, they would arrest them; if they maliciously injured or even killed people, they would eliminate them directly. This was the first time they had interacted with a ghost.
They were extremely curious about the female ghost, the conversation between Ruan Bei and the female ghost, and the way the female ghost hid.
Conan reluctantly pulled out a few Eye-Opening Talismans and gave one to each of his teammates. Mao Xiaoqian took one and slapped it on himself, saying happily, "You can actually draw Eye-Opening Talismans now! Keep it up, elementary school student, and try to defeat the Great Demon King as soon as possible."
"You have a lot of confidence in me," Conan said irritably. "I only managed to draw about ten of them."
That's almost half gone, it hurts.
Conan only used low-grade Eye-Opening Talismans. It was already quite impressive that he could draw Eye-Opening Talismans at his age, and his teammates were full of praise.
Ruan Bei rubbed his waist pouch, which contained various talismans given to him by Kun Kun, including what appeared to be eye-opening talismans, though he didn't pay attention to the exact number.
The eye-opening talisman had a limited time, so the team members who had taken pictures of the talisman all gathered around to watch the captured female ghost.
A group of young boys were surrounding a girl in pajamas, scrutinizing her from head to toe. If the female ghost could manifest, the scene would be quite unpredictable.
The female ghost looked miserable. She felt incredibly unlucky. She had always been so good at hiding before, but this time, she had been caught because of her lust for beauty.
"Alright, let's not waste any more time."
After Conan and the others had seen enough of the strange sights, he took a picture of himself with an eye-opening talisman, quickly glanced at the female ghost, and said, "I'll ask, you answer. If you don't tell me..."
He held a thunder talisman in his hand, and Mao Xiaoqian and the others also took out their magical artifacts in cooperation, some taking out peach wood swords, which frightened the female ghost so much that she shrank her neck.
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything..."
Conan: "How did you die?"
Unexpectedly, the question was about such a sad thing right from the start. The female ghost almost burst into tears: "I died from exhaustion! I worked so hard, and my hair fell out in clumps. I'm so young, and I'm almost bald. I finally saved enough money to make a down payment on a house, but I died from exhaustion before I could even move in. I'm innocent, sir!"
Conan: "..."
Mao Xiaoqian laughed heartily: "Lord Ke, how about we give you a proper audience?"
"Get lost!" Conan glared at him coldly, interrupting the female ghost's wailing with a headache: "Why did you hurt people?"
The female ghost sobbed, lowered her head, and refused to speak. Conan brandished the lightning talisman, threatening to throw it at her, before she timidly said, "I...I'm just...just a little jealous..."
She was born with a high hairline, and when she was little, her mother always liked to sweep all her bangs up and style her hair into a slicked-back ponytail.
The hair tie had to be tied very tightly, so tightly that it pulled up her scalp; her mother said that made her look more energetic.
When she was able to make her own decisions, she found that her hairline had become noticeably high.
From then on, her bangs became her life; her hairstyle could change, but her bangs were indispensable.
However, while her bangs could cover her high hairline, they couldn't stop her from losing hair. Due to her hard work and staying up late, her hair loss was heartbreaking. Every time she combed her hair and saw a layer of black hair scattered on the ground, she wished she could pick it up and put it back on her head.
Her hair became her obsession. The day before her sudden death, she ordered a new shampoo online, which was said to be particularly effective in preventing hair loss.
"That's no excuse for you to hurt others!" Ruan Bei said angrily.
Because he can communicate with ghosts, and many of the ghosts he has encountered before are good ones, he generally has a good attitude towards ghosts.
This does not include ghosts who use their ghostly form to do evil and bully others.
"I just grabbed your hair, and you screamed like that. You cut someone's hair and you still think you're right." Not only did you cut someone's hair, but you also pulled their hair and slammed it against their head.
Luckily, he didn't hit any sharp edges, or he would have died on the spot.
The female ghost was in the wrong and lowered her head, not daring to argue.
Conan then asked, "Why couldn't we find you at first? How did you hide inside the mirror?"
The female ghost stammered, "I don't know either. I died in this house and didn't want to go anywhere else. I wandered around every day and I don't know how I managed to get in here."
Ruan Bei couldn't help but ask, "What does it look like in the mirror?"
The female ghost said, "It's a space with a very strange shape. I feel like it's a place that the mirror can reflect, and everything is reflected in the mirror space."
Ruan Bei was confused, but since he couldn't go in to take a look, he had no choice but to give up.
Conan pondered for a moment and asked, "So you hide inside and no one can find you?"
The female ghost nodded, then gave Ruan Bei a resentful look: "I thought he was handsome, so I wanted to get closer to take a better look, but I didn't expect..."
Mao Xiaoqian clicked his tongue and said, "I didn't expect him to be so ruthless." He grabbed the female ghost by the hair and pulled her out.
Ruan Bei's face flushed red, and he said angrily, "You're still defending her? That lecherous woman, she's been looking at more than just me!"
Mao Xiaoqian: "...!!!"
Old Bai and Yin Kai, who were watching the show with amusement, belatedly realized that they were also involved. Their blushes spread like wildfire throughout the entire team, except for Conan.
Conan was overjoyed. He and Ruan Bei had the same plan: to use a toilet before leaving to avoid the hassle of finding one on the way.
Before she could even go inside, the lewd female ghost was captured.
Mao Xiaoqian's fingers trembled as he looked at the female ghost in terror: "You're being a pervert!"
The female ghost was enraged; why was she cursing?
"Who's looking at you? Who's looking at you! What's so interesting about your little bean sprout!"
"You, you..." The usually quick-witted Mao Xiaoqian was speechless for once, and Ruan Bei, not caring about being embarrassed, lowered his head and tried hard to suppress his laughter.
Finally, Mao Xiaoqian cried out in grief and indignation: "You liar, you lying devil, you said you didn't see it, and you're still slandering me."
"And you guys, what are you laughing at? Stop laughing! I'm not a bean sprout, you'll see!"
"Enough, enough..."
"That won't be necessary."
"Brother, there's no need for that!"
Yin Kai and Lao Bai quickly grabbed his hand as he tried to take off his pants, while Ruan Bei turned his head away early, not wanting to see the horrible scene.
What finally calmed Mao Xiaoqian's anger was that the Eye-Opening Talisman failed. Arguing with a ball of energy without getting a response was pointless.
The situation has now been clarified, and the female ghost has admitted to hurting people. Conan made a note of it, took out a small jar about the size of his palm, put the female ghost inside, and sealed it with a talisman.
Once you hand the jar to the Special Affairs Bureau personnel waiting downstairs and have them take it for processing, the mission will be complete and you can submit it.
“Let’s go look at that mirror,” Conan suggested.
They had all seen it; the female ghost's cultivation was average, she had no special abilities, and she hadn't had any extraordinary encounters that allowed her to obtain secret techniques or cultivation methods. So, the secret she could hide was probably hidden in the mirror.
The group then went into the bathroom and looked it over thoroughly, but still couldn't figure out what was going on.
Finally, they found some tools and removed the mirror, but still couldn't find anything wrong.
Conan stepped aside: "Xiao Bei, can you figure it out?"
Ruan Bei frowned. At first glance, the mirror seemed to be normal, but he felt that something was wrong. He looked closely, but couldn't figure it out.
He thought for a moment and then used his Qi Observation Technique. Because of his Yin-Yang Eyes, his Qi Observation Technique was much more powerful than that of ordinary people.
I stared at it for a while longer until my eyes started to ache. Just as I was about to rub them, I suddenly felt a flash of light.
Ruan Bei's eyes lit up: "Found it!"
He touched one corner of the mirror and said with certainty, "There's something inside."
"I'll do it." Yin Kai took the tools and, under Ruan Bei's guidance, chipped off a corner of the mirror.
Then he crushed that corner of the lens into pieces, eventually finding a transparent thin film about the size of a finger joint.
"This is……"
“This is the Void Stone.” Conan’s father was a weapon craftsman, and he himself had studied weapon crafting since childhood. The moment he saw the Void Stone, the knowledge he had learned matched the characteristics it exhibited.
"Void Stone is an extremely rare refining material. I've only heard of it, never seen it. It's said that the Special Affairs Bureau has some in stock, but I couldn't find it on the exchange list. Maybe our level isn't high enough."
It's also possible that these precious materials were never made available for exchange.
When he said that, everyone realized that this thing really was a treasure. It was passed around among them, and everyone got a good look at it.
"What can this stone be used for? Refining weapons? What can it be used to refine?" Mao Xiaoqian asked.
Conan fiddled with the small, thin piece in his palm: "The Void Stone is the main material for making spatial storage magical artifacts."
The others: "???!!!!!!!!!"
Mao Xiaoqian swallowed hard: "Like in cultivation novels?"
Although they are practitioners, in this degenerate age, the magical elixirs and artifacts described in novels have long been lost or lack the necessary materials to be made.
Space storage magic artifacts? They've never even heard of them!
Conan chuckled and said, "Don't get too excited. As far as I know, there are still some spatial artifacts left over from the past, but they are very, very rare. Maybe you have one at home, but your ancestors just won't tell you."
The Mao family has a long history; they might actually possess this treasure.
Mao Xiaoqian was eager to try. He planned to go home and make a fuss with his dad and brother after the competition, hoping to get his hands on the treasure and play with it.
"Here you go." Conan handed the Void Stone to Ruan Bei: "Keep it."
Ruan Bei was stunned for a moment, and only when the cool stone landed in his palm did he come back to his senses: "I'll keep it?"
Conan laughed and said, "If you don't keep your things, are you expecting us to keep them for you?"
Ruan Bei then realized what was happening and quickly said, "This is a task we did together, and we found it together. How can you say it's mine?"
“But without your Yin-Yang Eyes, we wouldn’t be able to find the female ghost at all, let alone this Void Stone,” Conan said seriously.
Although Mao Xiaoqian and the others felt heartbroken and envious, they all agreed with Conan's words. Without Ruan Bei, they would have run into trouble in their first mission, and not only would they have failed to complete it, they would have lost points instead.
They originally wanted to mentor a newbie, but it turned out to be a pro. How could they possibly take advantage of someone with less experience?
"No, no, we're a team, and I should contribute to the team," Ruan Bei insisted.
Doesn't he want this stone? He really does.
Who wouldn't want a spatial storage artifact? But he can't keep all the spoils that the team gets together on a mission.
“If we also contributed, then it's only right that we all share the spoils, but this task—”
Conan gave a wry smile: "It was all your doing from beginning to end, we're really embarrassed to share your work."
From discovering the female ghost to capturing her, Ruan Bei handled everything by himself. He was only responsible for putting her in the jar, something anyone could do.
The others did nothing and even wasted one of his Eye-Opening Talismans.
"Moreover, judging from the size of this Void Stone, it's definitely not enough for the five of us to share. If the pieces are too small, the resulting magical artifacts will have limited space and their value will be greatly reduced."
"How about this," Conan advised, "If you feel bad, we'll get priority for any loot in later missions."
He said this to comfort Ruan Bei, saying that it's impossible to be so lucky as to encounter good things every time you catch a ghost.
“Yes, we should take turns choosing. That would be better,” the others chimed in.
"Okay, alright." Ruan Bei closed his palms, found a small bag, carefully put the Void Stone inside, and kept it close to his body.
He had always wanted to make a good ritual object to give to Kunkun, and this time he was finally able to fulfill his wish.
However, even though he had already decided that no matter what good things he encountered later, he would not take them and would keep the spoils for himself, he still felt a little guilty.
He thought for a moment, realizing he didn't have anything worthwhile on him except for magical artifacts and talismans.
He knew he couldn't give away the magical artifacts, so he opened his waist pouch, poured out all the talismans inside, stacked them together to fill the pouch, and then spread them out on the coffee table in a huge pile.
"I don't have anything good, but you might find these talismans useful. Feel free to take any you need."
Others: "..."
Mao Xiaoqian went mad. He pounced on the object and searched it thoroughly. He found everything from Five Thunder Talismans, Heavenly Thunder Talismans, Blazing Fire Talismans, Frost Talismans, and Eye-Opening Talismans to a few rare Yin Qi Talismans.
Moreover, they were all of medium grade or higher talismans, with high grade being the most numerous, and I also saw several top grade ones!
"Isn't your master a rogue cultivator? Did he give all of these?" Mao Xiaoqian asked with red eyes. Which rogue cultivator is so rich that he can just casually stuff such a bunch of talismans into his little apprentice? Could he be some talisman master?
Ruan Bei said weakly, "No, I have a sect. These weren't given to me by my master, they were given to me by my senior brother."
Conan asked thoughtfully, "Was the talisman on your palm also drawn by your senior brother?"
He had only seen such records in books. The requirements for the talisman master were very high, and the materials for drawing talismans were also difficult to prepare. He didn't even know the recipe.
"Yes, it was drawn by my junior brother." Ruan Bei stretched out his hand and showed it to his teammates by circulating his spiritual energy: "This is the second time he drew it. I used up all my spiritual energy the first time. He's super amazing, isn't he?"
"Yes, yes, your senior brother is really awesome."
Mao Xiaoqian lingered in front of the pile of talismans, reluctant to leave. Lao Bai and Yin Kai were already spoiled for choice, clutching handfuls in their hands. They happily thanked Ruan Bei, saying, "Thank you, Xiao Bei! You can take any of those stones you want. We have enough talismans, hahaha..."
Mao Xiaoqian grabbed a handful as well, carefully unfolded them one by one, and folded them up, saying as he did so, "These Five Thunder Talismans are really well drawn, they feel just as good as those of the Great Demon King."
As he spoke, he took out a Five Thunder Talisman that he had bought from Qin Gu last year, which he had treasured but hadn't been willing to use, and compared it with the original.
Hmm, this brushstroke, this starting momentum, it looks a bit like it.
Conan didn't rush to look at the pile of talismans. After admiring the talisman patterns on Ruan Bei's palm, he asked curiously, "May I ask your senior brother's name?"
Perhaps his mother knows him; we can find an opportunity to visit her later.
Ruan Bei felt there was nothing wrong with saying this.
“My senior brother’s name is Qin Gu, and his Taoist name is Qin Ninggu. I am a disciple of Xuanqing Temple, and my Taoist name is Ruan Ningbei.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
