Chi Huo thought for a moment and said half-jokingly, “Of course, I would tell the truth; you are the groom I was paired with last night.”
“Oh, that’s right.” The Ghost King joked back.
Chi Huo’s smile faded and he said seriously, “Don’t worry, I won’t expose your identity in front of Shizun. You guys have different positions, and it will be troublesome to cause a fierce battle unintentionally.”
Although directly revealing the identity of the Ghost King was the simplest and crudest way to sever the connection between the Ghost King and Shi Wuzheng, it would bring huge trouble to him.
Moreover, Shi Wuzheng was not the only “fish”. He also needed to maintain a good relationship with “himself” before he could follow up and continue to disrupt his relationships.
“I told Shizun that you are an old acquaintance of mine, how about it?” Chi Huo analyzed, “Before I got accepted to study under Shizun, I had been studying in the outer sect, and I came into contact with many people. Whom I mingled with and whom I know, Shizun has no idea.”
Silence spread among the mountains.
The Ghost King looked at the other party’s red clothes billowing in the wind, and finally shook his head, saying in a chatty tone, “I still don’t understand, what is your purpose?”
Chi Huo thought for a moment and smiled, “You will understand in the future.”
The Ghost King frowned, and his lips twitched, “You speak as if you are my elder.”
“Have you been to Zuiya Tower in West Jizhou?” The Ghost King asked if he was making casual conversation. Since his identity had been exposed, he had no reason to avoid naming these sensitive places in front of him.
Chi Huo thought for a while before replying, “I’ve been there before, I guess.”
He grew up in Zuiya Tower in West Jizhou since he was a child. Naturally, he was the most familiar with the place, but this was all in his previous life.
The Ghost King’s eyebrows shot up, “Really?”
Chi Huo smiled but didn’t answer.
“This is getting more and more interesting. Your Dongji Sect is really a land of crouching tigers and hiding dragons.” The Ghost King pursed his lips and said with a smile.
In the chilly weather of the deep autumn, Chi Huo adjusted his clothes to cover the finger marks left by the other party on his neck, “I tell you this not so you could expose me to my Shizun. These are indeed not things that disciples of the Immortal Sects should know.”
The Ghost King looked at him steadily, “So, you and I are now grasshoppers on the same boat. Am I understanding correctly?”
After all, “Qi Wang”, as a disciple of Dongji Sect, knew the Ghost King’s identity but did not report it, while being part of the sect. This was a very serious violation.
Chi Huo took a deep breath, “That is absolutely correct.”
The Ghost King laughed at the ambiguity, “But I can’t trust any companions who refuse to tell me their true purpose.”
“I’m aware,” Chi Huo said, “There is no need for trust. We both take what we need and achieve our goals faster.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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*
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The girls who had regained consciousness hugged each other and cried, waiting for the rescue vehicles and horses to take them back to their homes in HongShui Town.
After all these days, they had no idea how worried their family members were.
The girls’ original bulging belly and connected “umbilical cord” disappeared, and their bodies returned to their original appearance. The spindle-shaped life forms placed on the river bank, which were originally stretching and contracting to breathe, also turned into palm-sized dolls; colorful, soft and delicate to the touch.
These dolls were the products of the “silkworm chrysalises” hatching.
The mothers who were forcefully abducted could not really hatch the ghost babies. On the contrary, only by coaxing them to sleep and letting their resentment rest can these “silkworm chrysalis” condensed by resentment and unwillingness truly emerge from the cocoon.
Ghost babies, who were also products of resentment, would not know this. They would only follow their own instincts and look for a mother who could “accommodate” them as a container for incubating them.
“Parasitism” was a natural instinct for resentful spirits, just like eating humans.
“These dolls have the effect of warding off evil spirits and preventing disasters, but the girls who suffered in this incident may not wish to see anything related to the incident again,” the Ghost King said.
“Each ‘mother’ has a corresponding hatched doll, so…” As he said that, the Ghost King handed over a cleaned doll, “Why don’t you, yet another ‘mother’, consider keeping one?”
Seeing the Ghost King hold the clean doll, Chi Huo was stunned.
This was the specialty doll of Zuiya Tower that he borrowed from the other party last night. It was originally used to bribe the ghost baby, who couldn’t bear to put it down after getting it, until he was transformed by “Requiem”, and the doll fell in the swamp.
When rescuing the girls, Chi Huo had already pulled the doll out of the mud and returned it to the Ghost King.
Unexpectedly, the Ghost King carefully washed the doll and gave it to him.
“It was left by the little ghost baby who called you ‘Mother’. There is still a trace of his thoughts in the doll, but don’t worry, there is no resentment in the thoughts and it is safe.” The Ghost King added.
Chi Huo was a little surprised, then said, “Taking gifts from the Ghost King is not allowed in the Immortal Realm, but…”
“The doll is very unique, I accept it. Thank you.” Chi Huo only hesitated briefly, and then took the doll.
In his impression, in his previous life, except for those Taoist companions of his mentioned in the Book of Heaven, he had not given anyone any small gifts, especially small dolls that held a special place in his heart.
It was undeniable that Chi Huo was very happy to be treated like someone special by his younger self.
But he also knew that the reason why the Ghost King treated him “specially” now was, firstly, because he had the upper hand on the other party; secondly, because of his status as Shi Wuzheng’s young apprentice.
The Ghost King said half-jokingly, “The rules of the Immortal Realm probably won’t stop you.”
Chi Huo smiled, acquiescing.
Forget the rules of the Immortal Realm, there was nothing that could stop him now.
The Ghost King seemed to find the little cultivator in front of him very interesting, and asked curiously, “When the ghost baby finally asked you if it will be born, why didn’t you lie to it?”
If he had given the ghost baby the affirmation it wanted at that time, it would have been easier to solve.
Chi Huo, “I don’t lie to children, whether they are humans or ghosts.”
The Ghost King raised his eyebrows, “Isn’t your identity being a man, as their mother, lying to them?”
Chi Huo, “It’s better than giving them false expectations.”
“Ghost babies cannot choose their own birth, nor can they choose their own ending.” He lowered his lashes thoughtfully, “Not only them, but everyone here is the same…”
Because this was a story. This book had been arranged, and all the characters who existed here were framed by the plotline called “The Way of Heaven”.
“Is that so?” The Ghost King re-examined this young low-level cultivator. Such words were not something a young man of his age could say.
“That’s true, but not entirely.” Complex emotions flashed through Chi Huo’s eyes, and he looked at the Ghost King with a half-smile, “Chi Huo, I hope you won’t be bound by it.”
He uttered his name again, which was also the other party’s name.
*
After sending the letter, Shi Wuzheng and the other two disciples arrived at the ghost babies’ swamp in less than the time it took to brew tea.
Chi Huo had already described the handling of the incident in detail in the letter. Shi Wuzheng’s purpose this time was to train his disciples, so he had no intention of intervening too much. He didn’t say much, and in his heart, he was very satisfied with Chi Huo resolving the matter in a reasonable manner.
“Where is your Taoist friend? HongShui Town is under the jurisdiction of Dongji Sect. We should thank him in person.” Shi Wuzheng asked.
Chi Huo mentioned in his letter that he was able to handle the matter so perfectly this time because he met an old friend who came to investigate too.
“Please ease down, no need to be polite.” The young Ghost King, clad in bright red robes, came out of the forest. He stood beside Chi Huo with a frank and easygoing attitude, and nodded slightly to Shi Wuzheng and the other disciples.
The Ghost King didn’t even restrain his gaze as he observed Shi Wuzheng, and said with a slight smile, “I’m Chi Yu. I’m just a casual cultivator. I heard about the disappearances in HongShui Town, so I came over to join in on the fun. I hope I didn’t cause any trouble to you fellow Taoists.”
Chi Huo laughed in his heart. Sure enough, he would use the name “Chi Yu.”
In his last life, he also made up the same pseudonym.
The Ghost King also made up a story, describing that he had traveled in the Western Regions and the Southern Regions for many years, so he had learned many forgotten techniques. He had a set of methods for dealing with resentful spirits that were not commonly used by famous immortals. They were not popular, but in actual practice, they worked really well.
Judging from Shi Wuzheng’s demeanor and behavior, he was not suspicious of the Ghost King in front of him who called himself “Chi Yu”.
Xiao Guo’s eyes wandered between the red-clad Ghost King and Chi Huo, and finally he couldn’t help but burst out laughing, “Wu-Shidi, have you been looking for a Taoist companion behind our backs? Hahaha.”
Shi Wuzheng frowned helplessly, “Guo’er, don’t be rude.”
As he spoke, Shi Wuzheng handed a baggage to Chi Huo and said, “Put this on, it’s cold today. Your wedding clothes can’t keep out the cold. After last night’s fierce battle, your cultivation has been damaged, and it will be bad if you catch a cold again.”
Shi Wuzheng knew very well that his newly recruited fifth disciple had a low cultivation level and had been facing off against the evil spirits all night. Finally, his exhausted cultivation was unable to withstand the chill of the mountains in late autumn.
Xiao Guo’s face suddenly turned cold. When he learned that Shi Wuzheng had gone out to the clothing store in the early morning to prepare a change of clothes for his fifth junior brother, he instantly felt unhappy all over.
Xiao Guo did not hide his displeasure. He looked at the wedding clothes on Chi Huo and the Ghost King and said mockingly, “Shizun, you asked Shidi to change his wedding clothes because you wanted to beat the mandarin ducks with a stick.”
Shi Wuzheng was not annoyed. He just said coldly, “Guo’er, if you continue to be so rude, I will have to leave you to face the wall in Suiyi Peak.”
Xiao Guo twitched the corners of his lips, but he still held back his retorts.
Chi Huo was a little surprised. Although he and Shi Wuzheng were together briefly in the last life, the other party was always cold and distant, and he didn’t even prepare warm clothes for him.
Of course, his current self couldn’t be compared to the Ghost King in the previous life. After all, in the previous life, he was Shi Wuzheng’s pursuer, but now he was his disciple.
Chi Huo had always heard that Shi Wuzheng pampered his disciples. After discovering the Way of Heaven, he thought that the so-called pampering was only for the protagonist Xiao Guo, and he never thought that he would one day be the object of his care.
“Thank you, Shizun,” Chi Huo took the baggage, touching the soft and thick clothes inside, and said with a smile, “It seems that I wasted Shizun’s money again.”
As he spoke, he subconsciously touched to check the closed collar of his wedding robes. The top button had been fastened tightly before, covering the finger marks left by the Ghost King.
Shi Wuzheng also gave a rare smile, “It doesn’t matter, spending money is crucial when you go out, it doesn’t come cheap.”
“Oh and, don’t rush to pull out the bluebells on your wrist. Your cultivation is not very advanced yet. The missions you will be practicing from now on will only become more and more dangerous, so keeping it will keep you safe.” Shi Wuzheng moved his eyes to the tattoo on Chi Huo’s hand and warned in a warm voice.
Chi Huo, “Okay, this disciple understands.”
Xiao Guo, who was standing on the side, felt even worse.
As for the Ghost King, he observed the atmosphere of the three disciples and their master getting along with each other as a bystander, and noticed an indescribable subtlety.
What was wrong?
The disciples around him seemed to be a bit unusual for the Taoist companion he had chosen for himself through the Book of Heaven. Was it his own misunderstanding?
The Ghost King’s eyes moved away from Shi Wuzheng, sliding towards Xiao Guo who clearly had his jealousy written all over his face, and finally looked at Chi Huo. As he lowered his eyes, the corners of his lips curved imperceptibly.
–It seemed that before taking the next step, he must find out the relationship between Shi Wuzheng and his disciples.
“What are you smiling for?” Although Chi Huo was dealing with Shi Wuzheng and Xiao Guo, his attention was focused on the Ghost King the entire time.
The Ghost King was stunned for a moment, then smiled openly and said, “Your Shizun is indeed a rare and good master. It’s enviable.”
In the wedding sedan last night, Chi Huo had praised his Shizun, and the Ghost King remembered it and kept bringing it up.
Chi Huo glanced at the Ghost King, and he felt a bit of amusement hidden in the other person’s tone.
“Yes, Shizun treats his disciples better than anyone else.” Half as a joke and half as a reminder, Chi Huo spoke in the Ghost King’s ear, “Don’t covet my Shizun.”
–No need to ask why, just because it’s not worth it.
Of course, Chi Huo only said this to himself in his heart.
Yes!!! Don’t covet his shizun, covet him instead!!😚🎉 The doll omg that’s so cute but also sad at the same time😭.. so Chi Huo is kind of a “mother” now ahahah🤣
Thank you very much for the chapter 💖💕