“…”
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense. While everyone looked at Chi Huo in surprise, they also silently had their attention on Xiao Guo.
Everyone seemed to be well aware of the current situation and knew that Xiao Guo was very unhappy with this dubious new junior brother.
The corners of Xiao Guo’s lips pursed into a straight line. Although he said nothing, the faintly protruding veins on his forehead showed his emotions.
“Uh…” The eldest disciple Cheng Miao hesitated for a moment, then stood up and said, “Wu-Shidi, you are new to this peak and have little experience. The risks of this trip are unpredictable. I’m afraid…”
“It’s alright, Shixiong,” Chi Huo smiled slightly, interrupting him, “It is precisely because of my lack of experience that I need more experience to improve my cultivation.”
“And to be honest, there are a lot of suspicions about me in the sect, so I have to seize the time to practice, and dispel everyone’s doubts about me.”
Chi Huo’s words were reasonable and well-founded, and no one could refute them.
In his last life, he despised people from well-known and upright families who were arrogant and impolite, but after listening to his predecessor’s too much, he naturally figured them out. People from well-known and upright families were the most susceptible to trick, and they always valued accuracy.
Sure enough, Cheng Miao, who had originally planned to continue to persuade his fifth junior brother to stay, shut up.
Beside him, Xiao Guo couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
Shi Wuzheng thought about it for a moment, and finally nodded, “That’s right, going down the mountain to gain experience is indeed the best training for beginners.”
“Cheng Miao, you will accompany me on this trip and look out for your Shidi.” Shi Wuzheng turned to the eldest disciple and explained. Knowing all his disciples’ temperaments, he understood that Cheng Miao was the most enthusiastic and considerate of them all, and was the best suited to take care of newcomers.
Cheng Miao, “Yes.”
Xiao Guo, who had not even completed his eye-roll yet, panicked and hurriedly asked, “Shizun, what about me?”
Shi Wuzheng had clearly stated before that he would only take two disciples to HongShui Town. Cheng Miao and Qi Wang had taken up the quota, and he was growing anxious.
Shi Wuzheng lowered his eyelids and sighed softly, “Guo’er, you can come too.”
Xiao Guo and the other three formed a group of four and set out for HongShui Town.
HongShui Town was thousands of kilometers away from Dongji Sect. It would take ordinary people several months to travel, but for cultivators, it was only a day’s journey.
Shi Wuzheng’s four initial disciples had all reached Golden Core stage. The eldest disciple Cheng Miao was soon to make a breakthrough and enter Nascent Soul stage. Only Qi Wang, who was the newest disciple, was a Qi Refining stage cultivator who did not hold much difference to ordinary mortals.
“Shizun, I would like to ask Wu-Shidi, how can he, a cultivator in Qi Refinig stage, keep up with us?” Xiao Guo did not bother to hide the sarcasm in his words.
Chi Huo had crooked eyes, and the birthmark at the corner of his eye looked like a thin red crepe, or like a goldfish tail swinging in the water.
He said, “Si-Shixiong is right. With my cultivation level, I can’t control a sword for a long time. I can only take rides on Shizun’s and Shixiongs’ swords.”
Chi Huo knew that his reborn body had a low cultivation level and he could not make much use of it. He needed to arrive at Mount Wuqi in time to meet himself in this timeline, and had to rely a little on the power of others.
This was also the reason why Chi Huo chose to return to Dongji Sect to become a disciple. Although he preferred to be unrestrained, under the constraints of inevitable conditions, he would choose the most beneficial and convenient method for him.
Xiao Guo, who was still young and energetic, snorted coldly and muttered, “You’re so thick-skinned.”
Shi Wuzheng patiently asked Chi Huo, “Who are you willing to share a sword with?”
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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Seeing that Xiao Guo’s anger had almost been accumulated, Chi Huo finally averted his gaze from Shi Wuzheng and looked straight at Xiao Guo.
At this moment, Xiao Guo had been secretly calculating. Seeing his focus was on him, he unexpectedly widened his eyes——
Would this ignorant Qi Wang choose him? No way…
Chi Huo raised the corner of his lips imperceptibly, and finally turned his attention to the outsider, Cheng Miao, “I wonder if I can trouble you, Shixiong?”
He had fun teasing him, but he was not stupid. It was such a long journey, what if halfway he accidentally struck a nerve, and Xiao Guo couldn’t hold it in anymore and kicked him off the sword?
It was just a matter of teasing the protagonist who was irritated by him, there was no need to make a joke out of his own life and safety.
It was most reliable to choose this senior brother who was harmless to all living beings.
Cheng Miao was stunned, “Of course.”
After arranging the itinerary, they went back to their rooms to rest.
After his rebirth, Chi Huo realized that some parts of his memory had been blurred.
For example, he could not remember the specific details and behind-the-scenes truth of the HongShui Town incident. He only remembered that he met Shi Wuzheng through this plot point in his previous life, and in order to get close to Shi Wuzheng, as a ghost master, he pretended to be a casual cultivator. During the investigation, he even put on a red wedding dress and pretended to be a newlywed. He teamed up with Shi Wuzheng to dig out the real culprit behind the disappearance of the women and clear his own name of the rumors and accusations.
At dawn the next day, the four master and disciples set out on their journey with their swords.
Chi Huo rode with Cheng Miao on his sword. In order to kill time on the way, he asked Cheng Miao, “Last night, Shizun mentioned that some people suspected that the disappearance of the girls in HongShui Town was related to the Ghost King of Red Sand Valley. Shixiong, do you know who the Ghost King is?”
Cheng Miao shook his head ambiguously, “As far as I know, there is very little specific information about the Ghost King in the Immortal Realm. I only heard that he is a very vicious individual with cruel methods. He’s perverted, and his favorite thing is to eat human brains and drink human blood.
Chi Huo, “…” It felt very subtle to hear others describe him like this.
People in the world had a rich imagination and could make up anything to pass time.
He was also very particular about eating and drinking, and the most taboo thing in his life was eating strange meat, let alone human blood and brains.
Cheng Miao, who had no idea about his thoughts, continued, “I once read a book called 《Travel Notes of West Jizhou》. The book was written by a casual cultivator. He traveled around the world and wrote books to practice. When he traveled to Red Sand Valley, he got a deep understanding of the Ghost Master when he saw him. It was described in the travel notes that the owner of Red Sand Valley had a ghostly face and feet like beasts, and his image was as red as fire. He had three eyes and was very ferocious.
“…” What kind of ghost king was this?
Chi Huo raised his eyebrows subtly. Seeing that the world had made him look so ugly, he almost laughed out loud. Trying to hold back his laughter, he said, “This description…why does the ghost king look neither human nor ghost?”
Cheng Miao, “Hey, people who write books always like to exaggerate and use metaphors, which may deviate from reality. Sometimes they may not be true.”
Chi Huo, “I think there will be a chance someday. Let me borrow Shixiong’s book. It sounds very interesting.”
Cheng Miao, “Of course, no problem. I have a lot of story books. You can come to me whenever you want to kill time.”
Chi Huo, “Then I will. Thank you in advance, Shixiong.”
During the second half of the journey, Chi Huo closed his eyes and rested. Finally, they arrived at HongShui Town in Mount Wuqi in the afternoon.
In order not to alert others, the group restrained their cultivation aura. Their robes were embroidered with the Dongji Sect emblem, and they had to change them and put on clothes of ordinary travelers, pretending to be traders who were traveling here.
Cheng Miao took out the package, which contained four sets of ordinary civilian clothes.
These clothes were all assets of Suiyi Peak. Cheng Miao had not paid much attention when packing, and picked up four sets at random. One of the sets was lotus-colored and too bright, which made them feel a little embarrassed.
“Hey, didn’t Elder Heng Wan give this to Shizun a long time ago?” Xiao Guo looked at the lotus-colored robe and said, “I remember Elder Heng Wan made fun of Shizun for always wearing plain clothes, so while traveling, he bought this set of brightly colored robes and sent them to Shizun. Shizun stuffed them into the utility room in disgust. Shixiong, why did you bring this set of clothes out?”
As he said this, Xiao Guo took the lead in choosing. He picked out a set of moon-white robes.
Cheng Miao scratched his head, “…I was in a hurry to pack up last night and took it without looking carefully.”
He looked at his master with an embarrassed expression, then looked at Chi Huo beside him, and finally chose a set of black robes for himself.
Now there were only two sets of clothing left in the package to choose from; one was the white that Shi Wuzheng was accustomed to wearing, and the other was the lotus color that Shi Wuzheng disliked and stuffed into the utility room for many years.
Xiao Guo couldn’t read the signs and put on the moon-white robe he picked. Cheng Miao carefully handed the package to Chi Huo and left to change.
There was silence for a moment, and just when Shi Wuzheng was about to speak, Chi Huo took the initiative to pick up the lotus-colored robe, his eyes curled up into a smile, “This looks good, Shizun, am I welcome to pick it?”
Shi Wuzheng was stunned for a moment, and then smiled slightly, “Of course.”
He didn’t say much, but he guessed internally that this new disciple was helping him out.
Shi Wuzheng didn’t care much about dressing. The most he did was only wear plain clothes. Because of this, his close fellow disciples often made fun of him. He remained silent on the surface, but felt very repulsive in his heart.
But in the current situation, he thought that as a master, he should take more care of his disciples and let them choose the ones they like first, and then pick whatever they left…
Facing the dilemma of choice, Shi Wuzheng was very embarrassed. After Chi Huo took the initiative to choose the lotus-colored robe, he breathed a long sigh of relief.
On one hand, Chi Huo had wanted to help him, and on the other hand, it was because he really liked this set of lotus-colored robes.
Perhaps because he grew up in Red Sand Valley, Chi Huo’s clothes were all red in his previous life.
In the land of ghosts where there existed only dusk and night, red was abundant.
Moreover, red was the color associated with fear, death, and desire.
This was what Po Meng had told him when he was very young.
After resurrecting, Chi Huo was no longer the Ghost King, and no longer needed these labels.
Chi Huo put on the lotus-colored robe and walked around, attracting countless gazes. His outfit and outstanding appearance were really eye-catching.
Shi Wuzheng, who was walking beside him, looked at him from his peripheral vision for a moment wordlessly, then lowered his eyes and continued walking.
“Strange, the architectural design here is more like shops rather than ordinary houses.” On the way to settle at an inn, Chi Huo noticed something unusual about the architectural pattern in HongShui Town.
Usually, only one door was on the front of the house facing the street, and had brick walls to shield the house, while a shop’s front side was completely open, and the shop floor also served as a concierge to attract more customers.
Could it be that the architectural design here was unique? Chi Huo silently thought.
And he also noticed an anomaly. He had an extremely keen sense of smell for his “companions.”, but he did not smell any ghost cultivators around HongShui Town.
His fellow seniors didn’t seem to notice anything unusual about the buildings in the town.
Cheng Miao and Xiao Guo were trying to inquire about the “Ghost King’s Marriage” mentioned in the letter with passers-by. However, since it was afternoon, there were not many people on the street, and everyone was in a hurry. For foreigners who suddenly came to inquire about the news, they all showed vigilance and hurriedly waved their hands dismissively, refusing to say too much.
Shi Wuzheng had a clear intention. He hoped to hand over the basics of this investigation to his disciples in order to gain experience for this group of Immortal disciples who practiced behind closed doors on the mountaintop all day long.
“Shizun, I don’t have any money on hand, can you lend me some?” Chi Huo suddenly turned to Shi Wuzheng behind him and asked.
Practitioners used spiritual stones as currency on a daily basis. It was normal to have no ordinary money.
Shi Wuzheng didn’t ask any question, and handed the money bag at his waist to Chi Huo, “Yes, as long as you leave enough money for staying at an inn, you can use it.”
“Thank you, Shizun.”
After getting the money bag, Chi Huo walked towards the roadside. He walked to the tea shop and saw a woman, who was busy clearing a table. He said, “Can you please bring us four cups of tea? Thank you very much.”
The woman raised her head with a tired face. Originally, her face still showed some irritability after hard work, but when she turned eyes to Chi Huo, who was smiling slightly, she was stunned for a moment, and then her irritability vanished immediately. She said in a friendly tone, “Please have a seat, the table over there has just been wiped clean. Sit there for a moment, the tea will be here soon.”
“It’s alright, we are not in a hurry, you can finish the work at hand first,” Chi Huo said.
When the woman brought hot tea, Chi Huo asked, “I heard that something happened in HongShui Town recently. Some ghost king came to seek brides. I don’t know if it’s true or not.”
He deliberately made a mistake and said “the ghost king was seeking a bride” rather than “the ghost king was getting married” because when people tried to correct others’ mistakes, they tended to be more detailed and patient than when asked directly.
“What ghost king seeking a bride? It is the Ghost King himself who is getting married!” Sure enough, the woman couldn’t help but immediately correct Chi Huo, “Recently, many girls have disappeared. Everyone is planning to move away because of this incident.”
“Three months ago, some girls in the town began receiving betrothal gifts and red wedding dresses inexplicably. They were all women who had not yet left their homes, it is said. Was this a sign of misfortune? But what was even worse was that all the girls who received paper betrothal gifts and red wedding dresses disappeared within three days. No matter how far away they hid and how many young warriors were sent to guard them, it was useless…How wicked.”
The woman shuddered, “So some people speculated that the Ghost Groom had a greed for beauty and came to seek a wife for himself.”
Chi Huo, “Has anyone seen the Ghost Groom?”
The woman shook her head firmly, “No, they haven’t. But there are rumors that the Ghost Groom who can’t be guarded against is the Ghost King from over there.”
The woman wiped the water droplets from her hands and raised her fingers, pointing in the direction of West Jizhou.
Chi Huo, “…”
The Ghost King of West Jizhou was himself. He didn’t know how many things he had been blamed for in his previous life.
Chi Huo wanted to inquire further, but a new customer entered the tea shop, and the woman got busy brewing tea.
When Chi Huo turned around, he found that Shi Wuzheng was also looking in the direction of West Jizhou and murmured, “What do you think?”
Chi Huo was slightly startled, “What?”
Shi Wuzheng looked back, frowned and speculated, “Is the one who caused trouble in HongShui Town really the Ghost King from West Jizhou?”
“It is true that only high-level ghost cultivators can hide their aura so cleanly. If it really is the Ghost King, we might be in trouble…”
The corners of Chi Huo’s lips twitched, and he said helplessly in a determined tone, “I think that is absolutely impossible.”
Thx for chapter! Can’t wait for them to meet! But I think it got uploaded into chapt 1 on accident
Nevermind it’s fixed lol
Chi Huo be attracting the attention of his shizun, that XG is going to be more and more jealous…ehh. I wonder what earth-breaking reasoning CH is going to give for the Ghost King!!
Thanks for the chapter!!!
Chi Huo be attracting the attention of his shizun, that XG is going to be more and more jealous…ehh. I wonder what earth-breaking reasoning CH is going to give for the Ghost King!! Imagine the ghost king being there and listening
Thanks for the chapter!!!
Ty for the chapter!