Chapter 38: Rebirth Mantra
The sea breeze carried a salty smell, blowing in gusts, ruffling the strands of hair on Gu Yuan's forehead into a mess.
He wrapped his coat tightly around himself, stood on the soft sand, looked at the sea and sky in the distance, and sighed softly.
With only five days left to live, he chose this completely unfamiliar seaside city as his final destination.
"Why, planning to jump into the sea and commit suicide? Do you need me to find you a bigger rock?"
A deep and annoying voice suddenly sounded in my ears.
Gu Yuan didn't even bother to turn his head.
Who else could it be except Ji Yunzhou?
"I just wanted to see the sea."
He answered softly, and then continued walking along the coastline, the fine sand making a soft crunching sound under his feet.
"See the ocean? You came all the way to this lousy place just to see this salt water?"
Ji Yunzhou's tone was filled with sneer: "I thought you could at least come up with a smarter plan, like finding a beautiful place to quietly wait for death."
Gu Yuan stopped and shook his head helplessly: "Can't you say something nice? Anyway, if I die, you will be affected."
A cool breeze blew by, and a tall figure gradually gathered beside him.
Ji Yunzhou transformed into a physical body.
She has short red hair parted in the middle, dark red eyes, and a face as stern as a villain boss who just walked out of a comic book.
Today he didn't wear his signature black robe, but instead wore a black sweatshirt and sports pants, looking like a real college student.
"Affected? You actually knew I would be affected?"
Ji Yunzhou raised his eyebrows, his face full of displeasure: "Then who was the one who was courting death the other day? Was it me?"
Gu Yuan glanced at him and didn't respond.
This blood contract is far more complex and profound than imagined.
Otherwise, why would Ji Yunzhou, a thousand-year-old ghost king, condescend to accompany a dying man to take a walk on the beach?
"I'll find a place to stay."
Gu Yuan abruptly changed the subject, picked up his suitcase and walked towards the B&B area not far away.
Ji Yunzhou didn't say anything and followed him slowly.
Passersby seemed to be able to see him, but also seemed to pay no attention to him at all.
It was as if there was an invisible barrier keeping him away from everyone's attention.
"Let's go with this one."
Gu Yuan took a fancy to a white-walled, blue-roofed B&B facing the sea. It looked clean and quiet.
The boss was a warm, middle-aged man who kept talking as we checked him in: "You're here at the perfect time! It's the off-season, so there aren't many people and it's very quiet!"
"Be quiet, it's good."
Ji Yunzhou suddenly interrupted: "We just like quiet."
Gu Yuan was frightened by him.
The boss was also stunned, his gaze lingering on Ji Yunzhou's face for a moment, but he didn't think there was anything wrong. Instead, he continued to recommend the surrounding attractions with a smile.
"They don't particularly notice me unless I want them to."
Ji Yunzhou leaned close to Gu Yuan's ear and whispered in a smug tone, "Look how scared you are, little Taoist priest whose magic doesn't work nine times out of ten."
Gu Yuan rolled his eyes at him, took the key and went upstairs.
The room is clean and bright, with a small balcony facing the sea.
Gu Yuan put down his luggage, walked to the balcony and took a deep breath.
The sea breeze was blowing on my face, and the setting sun was dyeing the sea surface golden red, which was simply beautiful beyond words.
"How tacky." Ji Yunzhou commented.
Gu Yuan was too lazy to pay attention to him.
But Ji Yunzhou still came over and stood side by side with him, looking at the sea.
"You're so tacky, why did you follow me?" Gu Yuan couldn't help but retort.
Ji Yunzhou was silent for a while before he uttered something in an extremely unnatural way:
"I just feel sorry for you."
Gu Yuan rolled his eyes in his heart.
How come this person has lived for thousands of years and still talks like a primary school student every day?
"I'm hungry, let's go eat." Finally, Gu Yuan surrendered.
Night falls quickly at the seaside.
Gu Yuan randomly found a decent seafood restaurant, and Ji Yunzhou sat opposite him with an expression that said, "I want to see what you can come up with."
"Would you like something to eat?" Gu Yuan asked politely.
"Just watching you eat is enough to make me lose my appetite."
Ji Yunzhou said this, but he waved his hand to call the waiter, pointed at the menu and ordered several dishes:
"These, these, and this, all on."
After the waiter left, he snorted coldly: "They are all nourishing. Eat more and don't always look like you are going to die in the next second."
A hint of warmth just emerged in Gu Yuan's heart.
Ji Yunzhou then added: "So that you don't accidentally die one day and implicate me."
“…”
Gu Yuan now really wanted to find a roll of tape to seal his mouth.
The dishes arrived, Gu Yuan ate quietly, while Ji Yunzhou looked around nonchalantly.
Suddenly, his eyes fixed.
"Tsk." He made an ambiguous sound.
"how?"
"There's a little kid hiding in the kitchen, stealing food."
Ji Yunzhou raised a playful smile and said, "How about I catch it and play with it?"
Gu Yuan followed his gaze and saw a blurry little figure reaching out to touch the food on the plate:
"Are you childish? You're not a demon."
Ji Yunzhou shrugged: "But it seems to have noticed that we are looking at it."
At this moment, there was a crisp "clang" sound from the kitchen, followed by the boss's angry curse.
The next second, a small figure rushed out in panic and headed straight for their table!
"It thinks you can see it because of me."
Ji Yunzhou acted as if it had nothing to do with him: "I want to seek shelter."
The kid looked about seven or eight years old, wearing inappropriate short-sleeved shirt and shorts, and there were oil stains on his face.
It hid beside Gu Yuan's legs shivering, but seemed to find Gu Yuan's scent very comfortable, and its little hands held onto his trouser legs tightly.
The boss chased out from the kitchen, apologizing while picking up the pieces: "This is weird, weird things like this keep happening these days!"
"Do things often break?" Gu Yuan asked.
"More than that! I often hear footsteps at night, and in the mornings the tables and chairs are in a mess... Everyone secretly says I'm haunted!"
The boss shook his head and said with a smile: "Where in the world do ghosts come from?"
Gu Yuan lowered his head to look at the little ghost beside his leg. It shook its head desperately, indicating that it didn't do it.
"It seems there is more than one little guest."
Ji Yunzhou said leisurely, "Interesting. Hey, kid, do you want to practice? You're free anyway."
Gu Yuan was a little hesitant.
His spells sometimes work and sometimes don't. What if he doesn't handle it properly and ends up in trouble?
But the little ghost beside his legs was looking at him with pleading eyes...
He gritted his teeth and said, "Boss, I actually... know a little bit about Feng Shui. How about I help you take a look?"
The boss was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "Young man, you still believe this? Okay, just take a look and treat it as entertainment."
After dinner, the boss took Gu Yuan around the store.
Ji Yunzhou followed lazily behind, while the little ghost held on tightly to the corner of Gu Yuan's clothes.
"Did you feel anything?" Ji Yunzhou asked deliberately.
Gu Yuan tried hard to concentrate, trying to sense the flow of energy in the store, but there was nothing.
He shook his head in frustration.
"There's a secret compartment in the left corner."
Ji Yunzhou couldn't bear to watch any longer and reminded him, "There's something inside."
Gu Yuan followed his instructions and asked the boss to move the cabinet away, and sure enough, he found a secret compartment on the wall.
After opening it, there was an old jewelry box inside.
The boss was stunned: "I've run this shop for ten years and I never knew there was such a thing here!"
Inside the box was a silver necklace, and the pendant was a small photo box with a yellowed photo embedded inside, showing a young couple.
When the boss saw the photo, his face changed: "This is my grandfather... and another woman who is not my grandmother."
He spoke intermittently about a past event: when his grandfather was young, he fell in love with a woman, but they were unable to be together because of family opposition.
Later, the woman died unexpectedly, and my grandfather carried this regret until he grew old.
"So it's his grandfather's ghost that's causing trouble?" Gu Yuan asked Ji Yunzhou in a low voice.
"That old ghost has long been reincarnated."
Ji Yunzhou sneered: "It's some other little thing using the relic's obsession to cause trouble."
At this moment, the lights in the store suddenly flickered wildly and the temperature dropped sharply!
The dishes on the counter began to vibrate and the picture frames on the wall banged!
The boss's face turned pale with fear: "Again!"
Although he doesn't believe in evil, such strange phenomena happening from time to time will still make people feel uneasy.
Ji Yunzhou narrowed his eyes. "There's more than one. They're a group of low-level spirits, using the emotional energy of the relic to play pranks."
He turned to look at Gu Yuan: "Little friend, it's your turn."
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