When Qin Gu faced Ruan Bei, he certainly wouldn't do it like he did with other opponents, pinning them to the ground or smashing them in the face with thunder talismans.
Although Ruan Bei had told him beforehand not to hold back or let him win, if things really went this way, making Ruan Bei and his teammates from last year play the role of the unlucky ones wouldn't necessarily lead to their immediate dismissal, but...
Moreover, Ruan Bei was not so easy to defeat. Qin Gu was using swordsmanship, magic, and incantations seriously, and he didn't even put away the talismans, just not throwing them at his face.
The two fought back and forth, and the game was quite entertaining; they won beautifully and lost gracefully.
Mao Xiaoqian covered his dark face and made a lemon-sucking sound: "Differentiated treatment!"
"What are you thinking? How dare you compare yourself to Xiao Bei?" Old Bai took out the mask he had prepared in advance and put it on, instantly standing out among the group of black-faced monsters.
Mao Xiaoqian stared at his Monkey King mask in astonishment: "Are you even human? You secretly brought a mask here, but didn't even share one with your brothers."
As she spoke, she pounced on him and ripped off his mask.
While protecting his Monkey King, Lao Bai beckoned to Yin Kai and pulled out a large bag for him: "Choose one yourself."
Mao Xiaoqian, holding a large bag of masks, looked bewildered and asked, "Why are you wearing so many masks?"
"Are you crazy?" Old Bai steadied himself, the Monkey King who had attracted everyone's attention, and shouted, "Masks! All kinds of cool and handsome masks! Selling cheap!"
Ruan Bei, who had just come down from the arena: "...Not bad, you've opened up a path to wealth for others."
Qin Gu: "..."
The smile froze on his face.
In late July, Ruan Bei celebrated his nineteenth birthday at home. The Lu family sent gifts again, and the whole family of three came. Even Feng Zhihui came to visit, but just like last year, she was turned away.
Feng Zhihui seemed to want to say something, but Lu Siyuan covered her mouth.
Ruan Bei lowered his eyes, pretending not to see or want to know; it certainly wouldn't be anything pleasant to hear.
Ruan Bei thought that this summer vacation would pass by uneventfully, but at the end it took a sharp turn, leading him onto a strange path.
It was late August, just a few days before the start of the new semester. Dong Yangyang invited Ruan Bei out for barbecue. Although they were no longer classmates, they lived close by and would often have a meal together during holidays.
Qin had other things to do that day, and he wasn't very familiar with Dong Yangyang, so he didn't go with her.
Ruan Bei went to Dong Yangyang's house first because Dong Yangyang's grades had improved thanks to the study materials he had obtained from Ruan Bei. Dong's mother especially liked Ruan Bei and gave him food as soon as they met.
Ruan Bei repeatedly refused, but in the end, Dong Mama packed him a bag full of roasted melon seeds, saying that the seeds were roasted at home and were fragrant and crispy, and that he must try them.
Unable to refuse, Ruan Bei packed a bag of sunflower seeds and left. He and Dong Yangyang ate them all the way. They were indeed quite crunchy, but they made their mouths dry.
Two young men found a barbecue stall, ordered barbecue and beer, and ate, drank, and chatted.
The barbecue stalls in the old town area are not very standardized. Popular tables are set up directly outside the shops. When eating barbecue, Ruan Bei often sees passersby carrying things like yellow paper.
"The Ghost Festival..."
"Offering sacrifices to ancestors, burning paper money..."
Fragments of words reached the Second Middle School, and Ruan Bei suddenly realized that today was the Ghost Festival.
He subconsciously looked around. It is said that on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell open and all kinds of ghosts roam at night, but he didn't see more lonely ghosts than usual.
Dong Yangyang was still rambling on about his bizarre major courses, saying that the girls in his class could catch frogs with their bare hands, which was much better than him.
Ruan Bei's attention was diverted, and he joined in the laughter. The two ate from a little after six o'clock until a little after eight o'clock. In the distance, they saw a little girl in a dress leading a big dog to pick him up. Ruan Bei declined Dong Yangyang's invitation to karaoke, saying he wanted to go home.
Dong Yangyang had a decent alcohol tolerance. Although he was a little dizzy, he was still sober. He couldn't see Niu Niu and Pudding, and in his dazed state, he boasted to Ruan Bei about his daring experience of telling his classmates ghost stories late at night, which made Ruan Bei laugh.
After dropping Dong Yangyang off at home, Ruan Bei finally found a chance to talk to Niu Niu: "Why are you out at this hour?"
“Niu Niu and Pudding have come to pick up their big brother and take him home. Big brother missed you.” The little girl blinked her big eyes and smiled, revealing deep dimples.
"Good girl." Ruan Bei stroked Niu Niu's little braids. Pudding rubbed against his leg and barked twice. Ruan Bei immediately stroked Pudding's head again: "Pudding is good too."
In the past, during holidays, Niu Niu and Pudding would go to her mother's house. Ms. Zhou Linlin was happy to welcome her daughter's friends to visit, and even bought a special doghouse for Pudding.
But that's no longer possible. Last year, Zhou Linlin was introduced by her family to another man, and they got married. She is now pregnant.
Niu Niu knew that staying near her mother would be bad for the baby in her belly, so she only glanced at her mother from afar and did not get any closer.
The little girl had been raised by Ruan Bei for two years, and he really treated her like his own child. However, he still remembered that it would be best to send Niu Niu to be reincarnated. A ghost remaining in the mortal world is ultimately not the right path.
Especially since Niu Niu was still an innocent child when she died. If she had lived on like that, for ten or a hundred years, she would never have grown up and could only watch the people around her grow old. This is not a blessing, but a punishment.
Ruan Bei had also discussed this with Qin Gu. He had heard that if he could meet a ghost messenger, he could find a way to send Niu Niu to the underworld, but he had never seen a ghost messenger in the past few years.
He is different from other exorcists; he has the ability to see ghosts and will never miss an opportunity to meet one.
Other celestial masters can't wear eye-opening talismans all the time, and ghost messengers are also ghosts, so celestial masters can't sense the difference. But Ruan Bei can see them, yet he just hasn't encountered one.
They also asked their master and senior brother, and then discovered that the so-called legends of encountering ghost messengers were all from decades ago, and the last person to deal with ghost messengers was someone with the ability to see ghosts.
After he died, his descendants, in an attempt to perpetuate his glory, used evil magic to try and create people with the ability to see ghosts. They committed many evil deeds, and eventually, some died and others scattered, leaving very few survivors.
Therefore, Ruan Bei could only regretfully give up this path for now, and prepare to wait for the Xuanmen Group to open the Yellow Spring Road and send all the ghosts to the underworld to try and get a spot.
The Special Affairs Bureau and various sects have imprisoned many ghosts. Their crimes are not serious enough to warrant the extermination of their souls, and keeping them imprisoned indefinitely is not a solution. The only option is to collect them all and send them to the underworld for judgment and punishment by the King of Hell.
As for why we need to gather so many together, opening a grand formation not only requires gathering a large number of Xuanmen experts, but also costs a lot of money. Opening it once is painful, and opening it multiple times will lead to bankruptcy even with government subsidies.
To be honest, Ruan Bei was quite reluctant to choose this path. Most of the people being sent to the underworld together were not good people. What if Niu Niu, a little girl, was bullied? It was heartbreaking to think about.
But she couldn't keep her around forever, and Ruan Bei was worried whenever she thought about it.
He held Niu Niu's hand, and Pudding ran back and forth beside them, chatting and laughing as they walked home. On the way, they encountered a few pedestrians who came out late to burn paper money. Niu Niu didn't lack money, so she glanced at them and turned her head away without much interest.
Niu Niu made a hand shadow rabbit that she had just learned and couldn't wait to show it to Ruan Bei. Ruan Bei smiled and praised her, but then caught a glimpse of a strange figure out of the corner of his eye. He paused and suddenly turned his head away.
Behind a pedestrian carrying paper money who had just passed by was a person dressed in an even stranger outfit. He wore a white robe, but his face was even whiter than his clothes.
Wearing a tall hat, humming a strange little tune, he followed closely behind the pedestrian, his eyes fixed on the bag of paper money.
Aside from his strange clothes, he looked too much like a human. Ruan Bei subconsciously looked at his feet, but there was no shadow.
Ruan Bei: "..."
"Brother!" Ruan Bei reacted and rushed forward in a flash. The pedestrian carrying the paper money turned around at the sound of his voice: "Did you call me?"
"Sorry, I mistook you for someone else," Ruan Bei apologized, but his eyes remained fixed on the strange ghost.
The pedestrians left, but the strange ghost remained, circling around Ruan Bei and chuckling, "Interesting, interesting. You can see me? Another ghost with the ability to see ghosts has appeared in the mortal realm."
Ruan Bei asked cautiously, "Excuse me, are you a ghost messenger?"
The strange ghost spread its robe sleeves: "Don't I look like one?"
"It looks just like it, just like it!" Ghosts can't pretend to be ghost messengers, that's just asking for death. Offending the Celestial Master might at most mean their souls are scattered, but if they anger the ghost messengers, they might as well be scattered.
"Why are you stopping me?" the ghost messenger asked.
Given such a good opportunity, of course we should ask him for help to send Niu Niu to the underworld to be reincarnated.
However, you can't just ask someone for a favor without actually asking. Ruan Bei subconsciously reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of sunflower seeds.
Gui Cha: "..."
Ruan Bei reluctantly handed over the sunflower seeds: "Big brother, want some sunflower seeds?"
The ghost messenger said, "...Try two, that's fine too."
Ruan Bei quickly offered up all the melon seeds. The ghost messenger was much stronger than an ordinary ghost. Ruan Bei handed them over, and the ghost took them directly and started cracking them open.
"These melon seeds taste good," the ghost messenger said with satisfaction.
"It's caramel flavored, a new flavor that's been around for the past few years. There are other flavors too. If you like, I'll buy you a few dozen kilograms so you can take it home and enjoy it slowly."
"Alright, speak up, what do you need from me?" This ghost messenger was quite easy to talk to.
Ruan Bei called to Niu Niu, who was hiding behind him: "This is my younger sister. She is young and doesn't know any better. She missed her time to be reincarnated. I would like to ask you to take her to the underworld and arrange a good family for her as soon as possible."
"Oh, that's nothing." Collecting souls was his job, but the underworld staff were stretched thin, the number of souls waiting to be reincarnated was overflowing, and the road to the underworld was inexplicably congested.
These fish that slipped through the net in the mortal world, having wasted their own time, are no longer worth the effort to catch. They have no future in staying in the mortal world anyway, and they are the ones who will suffer.
“Brother…” Niu Niu grabbed Ruan Bei’s hand in fear: “Niu Niu doesn’t want to leave, brother, please don’t abandon me.”
"Excuse me, Brother Ghost Messenger, please wait for me."
Ruan Bei took out a few Yin Qi talismans from his ring: "Take a look at these and see if you can use them. If you can, then accept them."
"Oh, this talisman is of good quality." The ghost messenger happily accepted Ruan Bei's bribe, thinking that this kid was really savvy and smarter than the one with the Yin-Yang Eyes he had heard about before.
The ghost messenger went to the side to absorb the talisman, while Ruan Bei pulled Niu Niu aside and half-squatted down, looking directly at the little girl: "Niu Niu, it's not that your brother doesn't want you, your brother is willing to take care of you forever, but what will you do when I get old and die?"
"I promised your mother I would send you to be reincarnated properly."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
