Before Shi Xi could recover from the shock of Qi Tingsong's outburst of profanity, she heard the other party's question.
He subconsciously followed the other person's gaze—
Then Ruan Jingshan climbed out of his pocket with dissatisfaction, seemingly thinking that the Qi Tingsong in front of him was also a fake.
The chibi version of Ruan Jingshan immediately conjured a Joker card the size of a fingernail in his palm and launched an attack on Qi Tingsong.
Qi Tingsong narrowed his eyes, took out a talisman, and wanted to kill this wild ghost that had appeared out of nowhere.
Shi Xi: "..." Two living fathers.
He pressed Ruan Jingshan, who had popped his head out, down with one hand, and grabbed Qi Tingsong's wrist with the other.
"Stop it, all of you."
Ruan Jingshan looked resentful, but because his shoulders were being held down by Shi Xi's fingers, he couldn't move, so he could only cross his arms and look up at Shi Xi.
“He’s not a bad person,” Shi Xi said to Ruan Jingshan.
There were too many people around, so Shi Xi couldn't directly say Ruan Jingshan's name. She could only whisper to Qi Tingsong, "He's not an evil spirit."
Qi Tingsong's gaze lingered on Shi Xi's face for a few seconds before turning to the mini Ruan Jingshan in his pocket.
He could certainly tell that the other person was holding the Joker.
Almost instantly, he guessed the other person's identity—
Ruan Jingshan of the Ruan family in the south.
Qi Tingsong bent down slightly and looked at Shi Xi, "He doesn't look like a good person."
"Let's just throw it away."
Upon hearing this, Ruan Jingshan's expression turned extremely displeased, and he pointed at Qi Tingsong, angrily cursing:
"Bad guy!"
Shi Xi: "..." Look, she's made people so angry they can talk.
Helplessly, he pulled Qi Tingsong to a secluded spot, briefly checking his pockets to appease Ruan Jingshan.
Then he said to Qi Tingsong, "How do we get out of the Ghost Market? I'll explain what happened when we get outside."
Qi Tingsong did not remove his own mask, but instead lifted the terrifying mask off Shi Xi's face.
He looked at Shi Xi and asked, "...You don't know?"
Shi Xi shook her head. "I don't know."
It wasn't mentioned in the plot.
"Alright then." Qi Tingsong was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I'll take you out."
The next second, a talisman burst into flames in the air.
Before Shi Xi could react, he staggered and fell backward, but Qi Tingsong immediately caught him around the waist and swept him up in his arms.
Hold me close.
"Don't look back on the way home from the ghost market, close your eyes."
Qi Tingsong spoke softly, seemingly offering a well-intentioned reminder.
Shi Xi hesitated for a moment before raising her hand to wrap around Qi Tingsong's neck. Just as she closed her eyes, she felt Ruan Jingshan in her pocket move twice, seemingly dissatisfied.
He thought Ruan Jingshan was about to fall out, so he put his hand in his pocket and pushed the other person in. Because his eyes were closed, he didn't know where he touched.
Ruan Jingshan, who was grazed, was stunned for a moment, then pushed him away with a flushed face, not daring to move again.
Hold me tight.
As Qi Tingsong spoke, he lightly touched the ground with his toes and leaped off the roof with Shi Xi in his arms.
The moment they landed, the original bluestone slab emitted a white light, and the two figures disappeared.
Shi Xi remembered Qi Tingsong's words and never opened her eyes.
The other person released Qi Tingsong only after he stopped walking.
Shi Xi then opened her eyes.
He felt something was off; Qi Tingsong didn't seem to have closed his eyes just now.
Perhaps it was a unique talisman array of the Qi family that was not convenient for others to see, which was why Qi Tingsong did not allow him to open his eyes?
Qi Tingsong's face remained expressionless. He straightened his clothes slightly and said to Shi Xi, "There's a hotel up ahead. Let's go inside and talk."
...
The room that Qi Tingsong booked was naturally of good quality.
When Shi Xi reached out to pick up Ruan Jingshan, for some reason, he coldly avoided her hand, jumped out of his pocket, and sat down between Qi Tingsong and Shi Xi.
"?" Shi Xi looked puzzled, assuming he was still angry about what had just happened.
He sat down on the sofa, cleared his throat, and said to Qi Tingsong, "I think I entered the ghost market as soon as I went downstairs."
"I heard the shopkeeper selling Joker cards and went over out of curiosity. At first, I thought they were fake, but when I tried to leave, I found myself unable to get out of there..."
At this point, Shi Xi glanced at Ruan Jingshan.
He suspected that it was the other person who stopped him at that time.
Shi Xi kept it brief, saying that she had just bought the Joker card and was being chased by evil spirits. Ruan Jingshan helped her, which is why she ended up like this.
Qi Tingsong glanced at Ruan Jingshan, his gaze darkening. "So this is the famous Ruan Jingshan."
Ruan Jingshan waved the mini Joker in his hand, ignoring him.
"Fellow Daoist Ruan, this is Qi Tingsong," Shi Xi introduced to Ruan Jingshan.
"I am Xu Youchu."
Ruan Jingshan simply nodded reservedly, indicating that he understood.
"Do you know how to restore him to his original state?" Shi Xi asked.
Qi Tingsong lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, "He's probably just exhausted. Don't worry about it, he'll be fine in a couple of days."
His tone was inexplicably downcast.
“…?” Shi Xi looked at him, not quite understanding.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Qi Tingsong's long eyelashes trembled, and a trace of lingering fear filled his beautiful phoenix eyes. He lowered his eyes and looked at Shi Xi, "It's nothing, I just feel a little guilty."
"After all, I'm the one who asked you to come with me."
He said, "When I was looking for you, I was thinking... what if something really happened to you at the ghost market..."
Qi Tingsong leaned closer to Shi Xi, seemingly to confirm that Shi Xi was not injured and whether she had been bullied somewhere he didn't know. "Then I would feel very guilty."
Seeing Qi Tingsong like this, Shi Xi felt a little embarrassed. He patted the other's shoulder and comforted him, "I'm fine, you don't need to blame yourself."
Ruan Jingshan held the Joker card in his hand, watching the interaction between the two.
"snort!"
"..." There's another one here.
Shi Xi transformed into a master of balancing things, having just appeased one child, she immediately went to comfort another child who was being difficult, saying, "Fellow Daoist Ruan is very capable."
Ruan Jingshan didn't say anything, but his expression clearly showed that he was much happier.
When Shi Xi saw the red mole on Ruan Jingshan's right wrist, she was reminded of the Yin Gathering Array in the villa... Was that array really set up by the Ruan family?
Rumor has it that all members of the Ruan family have red moles on their wrists. Is this a genetic trait, or is there another reason behind it?
He watched Ruan Jingshan wave the ghost card and recalled the derivation technique he used.
It is almost like borrowing the power of heaven and earth, a Taoist technique that all sorcerers dream of. At that time, he was standing next to him and seemed to have grasped a bit of the mystery of the Taoist method.
Shi Xi stood up, took out a coin from her pocket, recalled her feelings at the time, and then tossed the coin away.
“Yan,” he said.
The coin floating in the air split in two to the astonishment of Qi Tingsong and Ruan Jingshan, and then split into four.
Shi Xi's expression was unusually calm at this moment.
He waved his hand lightly, and the four coins that had been conjured up "whoosh" embedded themselves in the wall.
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