Chapter 102 · if: Ghost King x Little Taoist Priest
Hua Deng had the same dream again.
She was born with a spiritual constitution and was prone to attracting evil spirits. At the age of six, she was sent to Qingxu Temple to learn the skills of exorcising evil spirits from her master.
She had made some progress in her studies, but for the past two years, she had been having the same dream.
The dream took place in a summer forest, not at all eerie or terrifying. Instead, it was accompanied by mountain breezes, the chirping of insects, and the gentle flow of a stream. At first, she found the dream quite enjoyable.
However, she wasn't the only one in the dream; there was also a strange man.
The man, dressed in a loose black robe, was immersed in the stream. Upon seeing her for the first time, he grabbed her by the throat, pressed her underwater, and asked her who she was.
She slapped the man across the face.
He seemed to pause for a moment, then released her and asked again, "Who are you?"
She surfaced from the stream and said, "I don't know either. Who are you? Why are you being so rude?"
He stared at her, his pupils flashing with a cold, white light, like a deadly blade.
But the lanterns were unharmed. She touched her face and asked in confusion, "Why are you looking at me?"
After a moment of silence, he reached out to grab her neck again, but luckily his senior sister called her from outside the door, and Hua Deng woke up with a start, realizing that she was dreaming.
But the faces of the people in my dreams were blurry for some reason.
From then on, every few days, Hua Deng would enter the same dream, meeting the same man in that mountain forest.
He wasn't always there; sometimes Hua Deng would play in the stream alone. After a few times, she gradually understood.
This is someone else's territory. She essentially traveled there by accident in her dream, no wonder he was angry at first.
She sincerely apologized and said she had no choice, but the man's cold, emotionless eyes glanced at her without lingering for a moment.
They completely ignored her.
But he didn't try to kill her again.
Hua Deng had few friends since joining the Qingxu Sect. Her master was extremely strict, and only her senior sister could keep her company and talk about her troubles. But her senior sister was mostly not on the mountain; besides cultivating, she would spend her days by the window talking to the birds.
So even though the man looked a bit dangerous, Hua Deng couldn't help but share her experiences with him.
At first, he would close his eyes listlessly and say impatiently, "Shut up."
Later, he learned to remain silent, ignoring her words and letting her say or do whatever she wanted.
One day, she talked about how she and her senior sister went down the mountain to catch ghosts and encountered a very fierce and evil ghost that almost killed her. What's worse, the ghost later escaped, leaving her with nowhere to seek revenge.
He then lifted his eyelids, his gaze falling on the wound on her neck, before quickly and coldly looking away.
The next day, the evil spirit actually ran up to their Qingxu Mountain and surrendered itself. Hua Deng and her senior sister worked together to help it pass on to the afterlife.
This incident became one of the ten strange tales of the Qingxu School. Hua Deng was also amazed and tentatively brought it up in his dream again, but he didn't react. Hua Deng could only temporarily assume that the evil spirit had suddenly realized his mistake and turned back to the right path.
Today, in the last moments before descending the mountain, Hua Deng took the initiative to bring up the matter with the man.
“Oh,” he said.
"If you tell me where you are, I can come find you. You must be bored staying here every day, right?" Hua Deng leaned against the shore and rested her face on her hands.
The man gave a slight smirk and said flatly, "I'll tell you when you want to die."
As he spoke, he sat in the shade of a tree, his long hair trailing on the ground, his eyelashes still glistening with tears. Despite the bright sunlight, he exuded an aura of coldness that sent chills down anyone who looked at him.
However, since he has a shadow and is so good-looking, Hua Deng doesn't think he's really a ghost for the time being.
She flicked a drop of water off her finger and said with a smile, "Never mind then, I'd better just live my life well. I won't ask anymore."
The man raised his eyes, his deep black eyes devoid of light, and suddenly asked, "What's your name?"
"It's a secret." Hua Deng blinked. "You didn't even tell me."
“I can tell you,” he said calmly, “Chen Zhou, that’s my name.”
"How do I know if you're telling the truth? You might be lying to me, so I'm not telling you."
"Whatever you want."
His indifferent expression only reinforced Hua Deng's belief that he was lying.
She got out of the water, feeling that the dream should end, when he beckoned to her with his finger.
To Hua Deng's surprise, her legs seemed to move on their own, and she walked toward the man.
Having known him for so long, this was the first time she had learned of his ability, and she couldn't help but be slightly surprised.
But the next moment, he did something that surprised her even more.
He kissed her.
It was a deep kiss, where I held her close to my chest.
"Hmm!"
A tingling, numbing sensation shot up his spine, and a strange feeling spread throughout his body, making Hua Deng feel completely unwell.
This guy...this bastard!
Realizing what had happened, Hua Deng immediately pushed him away, a blush quickly spreading across her face. Whether it was from shame or anger, she slapped him again.
He didn't mind at all, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back into his arms. His cold fingers, like venomous snakes, lingered on the corner of her mouth.
“Remember this feeling,” he said. “I will find you.”
As the streetlights viciously bit down, he revealed his first smile, his voice faint and ethereal.
"You will be my bride."
*
Who will be his bride!
Hua Deng stood in front of the mountain gate, kicking a pebble on the ground in anger.
He won't even tell her her real name, and he wants her to be his bride? Dream on!
"Junior sister, why is your face so red?" her senior sister called out from the side.
Hua Deng quickly covered her burning face and tried to calmly turn her face away: "It's nothing, Senior Sister, it's just too hot."
The senior sister smiled and said without much thought, "Today is your first time carrying out a solo mission, and I'm still a little worried, so I contacted the senior brother. He's near Lingshan Town and can come and help you."
"Senior Brother Liu Mingjue? Wouldn't that be too much trouble for him?"
The eldest brother is a legend in their Qingxu Sect. He travels around all year round, capturing countless evil spirits. Hua Deng has never seen him.
"Don't worry, Senior Brother Liu is just passing by. You can use this token to recognize him later."
After thinking it over, Hua Deng realized that the trip was indeed dangerous, so he stopped refusing, took the token, and went down the mountain.
Fearing that they might delay the mission, Hua Deng traveled day and night to reach Lingshan Town, the mission's location, as quickly as possible.
Following her senior sister's instructions, she arrived at an inn. For some reason, a chilling aura greeted her as she stepped inside, but her spirit disc did not react, and her natal sword did not sense any evil presence.
Just as she hesitated, a snow-white figure appeared on the stairs. The person clearly noticed her, stared at her intently, and walked down gracefully.
Hua Deng recognized Liu Shixiong's portrait immediately and greeted him, "Shixiong? Are you Shixiong Liu?"
The man stood on the last step and nodded slightly.
Hua Deng breathed a sigh of relief and handed over the token at her waist. The man glanced at it and then took out an identical token for her.
After confirming that everything was correct, Hua Deng finally felt relieved and went with him to the home of the person she was tasked with.
"Senior brother, isn't this too much trouble for you?" Lu Huadeng asked apologetically.
"No," the senior brother said with a smile. He seemed to be someone who didn't smile often, so his smile remained indifferent. "I'm really looking forward to seeing Junior Sister Hua."
Hua Deng was pleasantly surprised. She didn't expect her senior brother to know her. It seemed that Senior Brother Liu was not as arrogant and ruthless as they said. He was actually very approachable.
Before long, they arrived at Master Chang's house.
The Chang family has an only daughter, only seven years old, who mysteriously disappeared a few days ago, and her fate is unknown. Therefore, they sought help from the Qingxu Sect.
After listening to Master Chang's account, Hua Deng solemnly stated that they would handle the matter and instructed Master Chang to summon the people in the mansion to cooperate with the investigation.
However, time was limited, and Hua Deng had only met with half of the servants before it was almost midnight, so he had to put the meeting aside for the time being and continue tomorrow.
Upon arriving at the room arranged by Master Chang, Hua Deng immediately called over his senior brother to discuss the day's events.
“There is indeed an evil spirit at work.” After saying this, Hua Deng paused, quite puzzled, “But why is my spirit compass not reacting?”
Shen Zhou leaned back lazily in his chair, his finger casually tapping on the table: "If that's the case, why are you so sure it's the work of an evil spirit, Junior Sister?"
Hua Deng said, "I can sense that there is a ghostly presence nearby, and if the servants are not lying, then the Chang family's daughter did indeed disappear into thin air, without even the doors and windows being touched."
Shen Zhou said, "What if the servants lie?"
Hua Deng shook his head: "At least among the people I met today, no one was lying."
Shen Zhou raised an eyebrow and exclaimed, "Junior Sister has such discerning eyes; surely no evil spirit can escape your notice."
“Senior brother, you are still more powerful.” Hua Deng said sincerely, “I heard that when you were fourteen years old, you were able to catch ghosts on your own. On weekends, even the brutal and fierce Ghost King was no match for you.”
She was speaking from the heart, but her senior brother didn't seem so happy. Hearing this, he lowered his eyelashes and gave a light scoff.
She tilted her head in confusion, while her senior brother resumed his smiling demeanor and said indifferently, "Junior sister flatters me. Liu Mingjue doesn't have that ability."
Hua Deng thought, "My senior brother is really humble. Those people say he's arrogant; they must be jealous."
"It's getting late, senior brother, you should get some rest too. We'll have a lot to do tomorrow."
Hua Deng stood up and saw his senior brother off.
At that moment, the compass on the table made an unusual noise, and the pointer swung wildly before finally landing in one direction.
Hua Deng's expression hardened. She grabbed the spirit disc and climbed out the window, following its directions to an alley outside the Chang residence. Her senior brother followed behind her, unhurriedly.
According to the spirit compass, this ghost should be very weak, and the scene confirmed this. The imagined scene of a vengeful ghost devouring people did not occur; there was only a female ghost present, fighting with a stray cat for food.
As soon as Hua Deng took out the talisman, the female ghost noticed her presence, looked over, and let out a sharp scream.
Hua Deng: "..."
She hasn't even screamed yet, what's going on with this ghost?
Where she couldn't see, Shen Zhou raised his hand and made a "shh" gesture with a calm expression. The female ghost was instantly speechless and lowered her head in fear.
Seeing that the female ghost looked honest, Hua Deng used the Six Jia Yin Yang Talisman to immobilize her and went over to conduct the routine interrogation.
This ghost had no blood aura on it, so it obviously hadn't harmed anyone yet, otherwise it wouldn't have been reduced to fighting with a wild cat for a piece of rotten flesh.
She had only been here a short time and knew nothing about the Chang family, so Hua Deng had no choice but to take her into the Soul Locking Tower and bring her back to the Qingxu Sect for a ritual to help her pass on.
"Junior sister, you're not going to kill her?" The senior brother, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly spoke as he turned around.
“This ghost has never killed anyone, so I will not kill her. Once I take her back to the Qingxu Sect, I can wash away her pain and then help her reincarnate.”
The senior apprentice, intrigued, pressed further, "What if it's a ghost that has killed people?"
Hua Deng replied without hesitation, "Then Qingxu will definitely not let him go!"
Under the moonlight, her senior brother's dark pupils seemed to gleam, his gaze enveloping the lanterns and tightening, inexplicably making her heart beat faster.
"Then you must be careful, junior sister." He spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice low. "After all, he won't let you off the hook."
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