Chapter 9
The boy lay quietly on the ground, his face the only part of his body covered in wounds. The uneven scars looked as if he had been slowly sliced off piece by piece while still alive; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a slow, agonizing death.
The knife wound in his chest was almost piercing through him; it was easy to see from the messy, flying flesh that the wound had been repeatedly opened.
Jiang Zhuochen's expression was indescribable. "You drink people's blood?"
"No, it's not my fault!" Li Hui broke down. "It was that Taoist priest, that Taoist priest lied to me. He said my son's heart's blood was pure water, and combined with his flesh, it could quickly heal my body and restore my luck. I was blinded by greed, that's why..."
"What?!" The female ghost slammed him against the wall with a wave of her hand. "He's your only son! How could you treat him like this? I searched for so long before I found him... Are you even human?"
The female ghost knelt before her son, gently stroking his eyebrows and eyes, sobbing uncontrollably.
How could she describe the scene she saw when she pushed open the basement door? Her beloved son was bound to the bed, covered in wounds, and blood was everywhere.
She gripped the doorknob tightly, and in that instant, she felt like she had gone mad. Her shattered internal organs felt like flesh and blood being sliced off one by one. The overwhelming pain made her collapse to the ground and crawl along the river of blood to her son.
Unfortunately, the man showed no remorse. When he discovered that his evil deeds had been exposed, he stabbed her in the back without hesitation, leaving her to die with her eyes wide open in disbelief beside her son's bed.
Seeing Jiang Zhuochen remain silent, Li Hui crawled forward on his knees, completely concealing his ruthless nature.
"Master, please save me! She's a ghost! How can she still be in the human world? You must destroy her!"
The female ghost flicked her sleeve to block his path, and Li Hui howled as he retreated.
"Master, Master, didn't you take my money? Hurry up and kill her! Your Taoist temple, you wanted the temple, right? It'll be ready tomorrow. Don't let her kill me, I'll take you there!"
“I was just trying to extort money from you because I thought you were doing something wrong,” Jiang Zhuochen said, standing still. “Don’t take it to heart.”
"No!" Li Hui refused to believe it. "You're a Taoist priest. If you leave someone to die, you'll go to hell."
"It's so noisy," Xu Xing murmured. It was fine before he came in, but after following Jiang Zhuochen in, the attraction became even stronger. His heart was pounding so hard he could hardly breathe. Just when he had finally gotten used to it, the crying and shouting gave him a headache.
Jiang Zhuochen dared not use his spiritual power casually, so he took out a pill to concentrate his mind and energy and fed it to Xu Xing.
The female ghost approached Li Hui step by step. Jiang Zhuochen stuffed the exorcism talisman into Xu Xing's pocket, leaned over and whispered, "I probably won't be able to take care of you later. Can you still walk? Go out and hide for a while."
Xu Xing let go of him. "It's okay, don't worry about me."
As Xu Xing turned around, Jiang Zhuochen used his spiritual power to pry open the female ghost's wrist. Enraged, the female ghost turned her long fingernails around, each move aimed to kill.
However, the female ghost was seriously injured, so Jiang Zhuochen didn't find it too difficult to deal with her. He ducked to avoid her attacks and took the opportunity to grab Li Hui and escape from the villa.
Xu Xing was still walking not far away. This time, Jiang Zhuochen was not by his side. Instead, he could clearly see that the ghostly aura had left a gap around Xu Xing. He hesitated to go forward.
So the reason why the ghostly aura suddenly weakened at the door not long ago was because of Xu Xing?
Jiang Zhuochen quickly followed, but the ghostly aura stood between the two of them, and the female ghost's figure rushed towards Xu Xing in the next instant.
"Since you insist on stopping me, then you'd all die!"
Jiang Zhuochen threw aside the half-dead Li Hui, but was still a step too slow due to the ghostly energy blocking his way.
He saw Xu Xing turn around, and his restrained and cold expression once again overlapped with that of the person he missed.
Get out of the way!
The female ghost's claws were within reach, but suddenly she looked pained and couldn't move forward even half a step.
She plunged her claws into her own heart, releasing more ghostly energy until her body became semi-transparent, her mouth seemingly engaged in a struggle with someone unknown.
"You think you can stop me with just a broken piece of metal?"
The rampant ghostly energy raged outwards, and Jiang Zhuochen suddenly sensed a faint trace of his master's divine soul aura. His mind stirred, and he flashed to Xu Xing's side, directly confronting the female ghost.
This is it!
"Master!"
This sound drew both pairs of eyes. Xu Xing slightly turned his head, taking a moment to process the situation.
Instead, the female ghost gave a weak chuckle, "So that's why you've been going against me time and time again, it's because of that remnant soul inside me."
Jiang Zhuochen pulled Xu Xing back to Li Hui's side and used talismans to create a barrier for them, shielding them from outside things.
He dodged the female ghost's sneak attack and said urgently, "Give me back my master's soul!"
The female ghost faced him directly, saying, "Unless I die."
His expression hardened, anger rising within him. He had finally found it, and he would never allow its spirit to disappear before his very eyes.
"You can't beat me right now."
"Unless I die." The female ghost was not afraid at all, and bypassed Jiang Zhuochen to set her sights on the barrier.
Jiang Zhuochen conjured a spirit-gathering array to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, then combined his sword energy with the female ghost, pinning her firmly to the ground.
As the ghostly aura gradually dissipated, the female ghost was still gazing at the barrier at the last moment before her figure vanished, but her open mouth could no longer utter a single word.
Jiang Zhuochen pursed his lips, a hint of tenderness rising in his heart, before his eyes reddened as the pale blue divine soul drifted over.
The remnant soul circled his finger a few times, as if offering comfort.
"Master, I miss you so much." He gently brushed his fingers across the incorporeal remnant soul. "You must come back to me soon."
After saying this, the wisp of his soul drifted into the longevity lamp, and the flame inside finally brightened a little. He sniffed and released the barrier.
At a certain moment, Xu Xing suddenly stopped feeling unwell, and his body instantly returned to normal. He opened his eyes and saw Jiang Zhuochen's pitiful appearance, still unable to calm down.
"What's wrong?" He suppressed his doubts about Jiang Zhuochen's unusual behavior and asked softly.
Before Jiang Zhuochen could answer, Li Hui, who was out of danger, burst into tears of joy.
"Master, I knew you wouldn't abandon me. Thank you, Master! From now on, you are my savior. Not only the Taoist temple, but also a place to stay, right? I'll have someone arrange that for you right away!"
"It's not for you," Jiang Zhuochen said softly.
The master taught those who cultivate immortality to eliminate demons and protect the righteous path, safeguarding the peace of the world. Of the six realms, only the human realm cannot be controlled by external forces. Since it is an evil spirit that will harm the human world to achieve its goals, he naturally cannot stand idly by.
Even if the person in front of you is extremely wicked.
Jiang Zhuochen, still harboring resentment, was so angry upon seeing Li Hui that he wanted to kick him. He said to Xu Xing, "Can we report this to the authorities? Arrest him immediately."
Xu Xing's expression softened, and she smiled in agreement: "Yes."
"No, we can't call the police! If they find out, I'm finished!" Li Hui pleaded in desperation. "Mr. Xu, Master, please, please don't call the police."
Jiang Zhuochen, still angry, stepped forward and knocked him unconscious with a single blow. "It's up to you now. I'm going in to see if there's any hope for that person."
Inside the villa, Jiang Zhuochen stretched out two fingers to check the boy's breath. After feeling a faint breath during the long wait, Jiang Zhuochen breathed a sigh of relief.
He poured out two rare healing pills and used his spiritual power to transfer them into the boy's body. His face turned pale due to excessive consumption of spiritual power in a short period of time, but fortunately the boy was saved.
He walked slowly out of the villa, his steps weary, and caught a glimpse of Xu Xing still there. He paused, then continued walking at his original pace. "Don't you need to go back and rest?"
Xu Xing replied, "I'm fine now."
"Okay, then I'll leave the rest to you. Thank you."
Jiang Zhuochen's thoughts were in turmoil. There were too many mysteries surrounding Xu Xing, and in this critical situation, he didn't have time to observe him carefully. But there was no doubt that the vengeful ghosts weakened when they approached him and could not easily harm him.
Why?
If he is not an ordinary person, then why does he lack the power to protect himself?
"Wait a minute," Xu Xing called out to him.
"What's wrong?"
Xu Xing's feelings were somewhat complicated; he undoubtedly harbored suspicions about Jiang Zhuochen.
But ever since that other person appeared, there were just too many things about him that seemed off. Whether it was his attitude towards him or anything else, he couldn't ignore the strange emotions that always arose when the other person was sad.
For example, right now, as Jiang Zhuochen walked past him without stopping, his mind raced ahead of his reason. By the time he realized what was happening, the other person had already turned around and was obediently waiting for his answer.
So he followed his heart and asked, "You have nowhere to stay?"
Jiang Zhuochen tilted his head.
An hour later, Jiang Zhuochen sat in Xu Xing's living room, looking bewildered. He glanced around while Xu Xing poured him water. He hadn't gone inside when he brought Xu Xing home yesterday, so he didn't know what the house looked like.
After Xu Xing placed a glass of water in front of him, he took a sip, his expression unreadable. "Is there something else you wanted to see me about?"
Xu Xing sat down on the sofa next to him, his inexplicable thoughts calmed down after the journey. "I'd like to ask you to exorcise some evil spirits for me and also take a look at the feng shui."
"Exorcise evil spirits?" Jiang Zhuochen asked, puzzled.
"Yes." Xu Xing's tone was frank. "I haven't been sleeping well lately. I always feel like I'm being haunted by something. Since you helped Li Hui, why don't you help me too?"
Jiang Zhuochen, unsuspecting, replied, "Okay."
"No rush." Seeing Jiang Zhuochen perk up, Xu Xing interrupted him. "Rest for a few days first, it's not too late once you've recovered."
Jiang Zhuochen has overexerted his spiritual energy today and is indeed quite tired. In addition, he used a spirit-gathering array, which has made the surrounding spiritual energy even thinner, so he is unable to meditate and recuperate. He will probably need to rest for several days.
"The invasion of evil energy can range from minor to serious. Are you alright?"
After a moment of silence, Xu Xing slowly spoke: "Then you can stay here for now. It will be convenient for me to contact you if I need anything."
"Stay here?" Jiang Zhuochen was surprised by this suggestion. He was worried that he wouldn't have a chance to get close to Xu Xing and find out what was going on with his unusual behavior. "Won't this bother you?"
Although it was a question, Xu Xing sensed a hint of impatience in it, and his brows relaxed. "No, you can rest assured and stay here."
"Thank you." Jiang Zhuochen finished his water in one gulp and stood up. "Just call me if you need anything. I'm going to take a nap now."
The villa was cleaned daily, and the guest rooms were so clean that they were ready to be checked in at any time. So when Jiang Zhuochen said he was sleepy, Xu Xing took him upstairs.
Jiang Zhuochen leaned back and sank into the soft bedding, letting out a satisfied sigh before turning over and hugging the blankets.
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but the hotel rooms always had a certain smell. Although they were comfortable, they couldn't compare to the refreshing fragrance that made him feel relaxed and at ease as soon as he lay down here.
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