TRYMBPIETM 98: Revival of All Things (19)

No one answered Chi Qingzhou.

The noise vanished again.

The area inside and outside the Wan Ying temple fell into silence, and the atmosphere suddenly became oppressive.

The system watched Chi Qingzhou tilt his head, inexplicably feeling that he was angry now.

It dared not advise him, nor could it say “you’re acting like the villain,” so it shrank into the shadows, trembling, praying that Xing Shuangzhan would finish quickly and come out.

The three ghosts closest to Chi Qingzhou had already knelt down.

They were lying on the ground, heads deeply lowered, not daring to look Chi Qingzhou in the eye.

Chi Qingzhou didn’t care, just asking, “Have you chosen? Will one of you come out, or should I go in?”

There was a slight stir inside the Wan Ying temple for half a minute, and with a thud, the temple door was pushed open. A soul covered in wounds and blurred in shape was thrown out.

A sharp voice maliciously said, “I’ve fulfilled your wish, now you should repay it.”

The soul rolled to Chi Qingzhou’s feet. He looked down, unsurprised—it was Ma Xiaoyang.

He smiled, and the shadow stirred, swallowing Ma Xiaoyang’s soul in the blink of an eye.

“Really?” he said. “But I didn’t see anyone.”

The ghosts in the Wan Ying temple choked, their voices faintly echoing, “Don’t try to deceive us like this. Your wish has been granted, now it’s time for you to repay.”

Chi Qingzhou’s smile widened. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Everyone knows, I’m a kind person.”

The shadow at his feet slowly shrank into a normal human shape. His crimson eyes opened, and with one step, his body separated from the shadow.

The air immediately thickened.

The shadow stood up, stretched his neck and shoulders, and laughed happily.

“Wow, this is rare. Someone actually invited me over to play.”

His blood-red pupils scanned around, and he raised his hand to greet the ghosts in the temple.

“Good evening~”

The temple fell silent for a few seconds before a series of shrill screams filled the air.

“I told you, no shortcuts! Crooked jaw( the large ghost) was eaten, and yet you still underestimated that person outside!”

“But you agreed to vote earlier!”

“I only agreed to throw that Ma person out, I didn’t agree that he made a wish!”

This remark reminded the panicked ghosts.

“Right, he didn’t make a wish earlier! He didn’t make a wish, and we didn’t respond, he can’t come in!”

Two bolder ghosts turned their faces outward and shouted, “We didn’t invite you in, you didn’t get permission, you can’t enter!”

Their words clearly made Chi Qingzhou seem like the kind of ghost who needed human permission to enter.

The shadow chuckled lowly. “You don’t really think I’m a ghost, do you?”

There was a brief pause in the temple.

After a while, a trembling voice sounded.

“He’s human? How can he be human?”

The shadow’s eyes curved, and he walked to the door, happily saying, “I’m coming in~”

Before the ghosts in the temple could react, he stepped through the door just as they tried to close it.

The Wan Ying temple instantly descended into chaos.

All the ghosts fluttered and jumped, running in all directions, their shrieks incessant.

“Ahh!! He really is human!”

“He’s in! Help! He really came in!”

“You shouldn’t have been trying to be clever! Now give him someone to talk to, do you think he’ll let us go?”

The sound of frantic crying filled the air, and everywhere one looked, ghosts of various death states rested on the offering tables, beams, and cabinets.

They were surrounded by thick energy and incense, each of them had at least five or six lives on their hands.

The shadow’s gaze swept around, even finding one ghost with such a strong incense aura that it was almost solidified.

He curiously stared at it.

This ghost wasn’t the biggest, nor was its energy particularly strong, but it was the one receiving the most incense among of all the ghosts.

He squinted slightly, not at all concerned about the cause of this situation.

“Is this tonight’s main course?” he muttered.

The ghosts in the temple stopped wailing.

They looked at each other, and in the end, with mutual understanding, they gradually backed away, making way for the small ghost.

The small ghost almost fainted, shrieking, “No, you can’t do this! You all owe your offerings to me! If you abandon me today, this temple will be destroyed tomorrow, do you believe me?”

No ghosts paid it any attention.

The shadow, Chi Qingzhou, didn’t care either.

As if he hadn’t noticed the other ghosts, he walked straight toward the small ghost.

The small ghost screamed and, without caring about anything else, desperately fled outside the temple.

Other ghosts hesitated for a moment, but in the end, didn’t stop it.

After all, they had all received incense together. Even though they hoped Chi Qingzhou would finish eating and leave, they didn’t want to completely block the way for their kind.

—Unless Chi Qingzhou clearly indicated he would move on to the next one if he couldn’t eat this one.

Seeing this, the small ghost didn’t feel grateful. Instead, it gritted its teeth and spat.

If it weren’t for the unwillingness of its fellow ghosts to help, why would it be running for its life?

It was their duty to make way!

They should have blocked that terrifying human and not let him catch up!

The small ghost didn’t hear any footsteps behind it. While wondering if Chi Qingzhou had been tripped by something, it rushed out of the temple as quickly as it could.

The moment it was bathed in moonlight, the small ghost couldn’t help but show a joyful, relieved smile.

It didn’t dare stop, continuing to drift farther away.

Its peripheral vision caught the three ghosts still kneeling on the ground, and it rolled its eyes in disdain.

It resented them for bringing Chi Qingzhou here, but also mocked them for being too foolish to seize the opportunity to escape.

The three ghosts heard its mockery but didn’t react.

They remained kneeling, motionless, silently mocking the small ghost for its naivety.

Sure enough, after a few seconds, the small ghost let out a horrified scream.

“W-Why is there another one outside?!”

The small ghost looked at Chi Qingzhou’s real body standing outside the temple, filled with unprecedented fear and confusion.

Wasn’t that a human?

How did the human split himself in two?

It shuddered, changed direction, and tried to avoid the danger from both front and back.

But as it turned its head, it saw the shadow that had somehow walked out of the temple.

The shadow’s lips were raised high, and its crimson eyes gleamed with pleasure.

The small ghost involuntarily trembled, waving its long arms, instinctively retreating.

Soon, its back bumped into something.

It paused, stunned for a moment, and its neck, as if rusty, slowly turned backward.

A deep, suffocating darkness loomed.

In the last moment of its awareness, it saw a man in a complex black robe stepping out of the darkness.

“…Ghost…King?”

…

Xing Shuangzhan sighed and pushed Chi Qingzhou’s shadow back.

“Don’t just eat anything,” he said, pinching Chi Qingzhou’s earlobe and speaking in a low voice, “Your injuries haven’t healed yet, and the ghost energy outside is unclean. If you eat more, your wounds will worsen. What will you do then?”

Chi Qingzhou opened his eyes and tilted his head. “Su-ge, your tone sounds so familiar.”

He thought for a moment and smiled, “It’s like those parents , telling their kids that the food outside is unclean and made with gutter oil.”

This was mocking him as an old-fashioned person who didn’t know when to adapt.

Xing Shuangzhan pinched his earlobe again and chuckled, “Are you angry?”

Chi Qingzhou snorted.

Xing Shuangzhan said, “I was just processing the incense that was stripped off. This incense can be used.”

Over the years that Chi Qingzhou had been injured, Xing Shuangzhan had tried many ways to treat him.

Many things that could be used, Xing Shuangzhan had already tried, including the incense from Taoist temples.

The special power in the Wan Ying temple was also incense. At first glance, it seemed to overlap with what Chi Qingzhou had used before, but in reality, because it was soaked in ghost energy and human wish power, the essence of this power had changed.

As long as the ghost energy harmful to Chi Qingzhou’s soul was stripped away, the remaining part could be used to treat him.

Xing Shuangzhan had spent some time figuring out how to strip it, and hadn’t told Chi Qingzhou in time, which was a bit selfish.

After all, Chi Qingzhou always teased him and then ran off.

Originally, Xing Shuangzhan planned to extract the incense in portions, giving one piece each time Chi Qingzhou behaved and gave him kiss.

Xing Shuangzhan sighed with a smile, handing the processed incense over to Chi Qingzhou. “This one’s cleaner. Eat this, okay?”

Chi Qingzhou took a step back. “I don’t want it.”

Every time it took some time to digest.

Digesting meant entering a state of sleep, but he still had things to do now.

Xing Shuangzhan said, “What about the things inside? I can handle that.”

He casually wrapped his arm around Chi Qingzhou’s waist, placing the incense in his hand, and gently kissed Chi Qingzhou’s cheek.

“Just consider it a chance for me to apologize.”

Chi Qingzhou tilted his head and bit him hard on the neck.

Xing Shuangzhan hissed but didn’t move.

Chi Qingzhou released him and finally smiled calmly. “Then hurry up and clean it. The police might be here soon.”

Although the police were public officials with righteous and protective energy, these ghosts had received incense, and could still influence the officers.

Xing Shuangzhan rubbed the bite mark on his neck, chuckling as he sighed, and turned to enter the Wan Ying temple.

In just a few minutes, the temple erupted in a series of ghostly wails.

Chi Qingzhou rubbed the incense in his hand, happily squinting his eyes.

He looked up at the bright moon. At this moment, he really wasn’t angry anymore.

He reached back to stuff the incense back into the shadow, deciding to wait until he got home to eat it. Just as he pulled his hand back, a flash of red caught his eye.

He paused, then turned around.

A young man in a red robe stood under a nearby tree, his features obscured by the moonlight, giving him an ethereal appearance.

Noticing Chi Qingzhou’s gaze, he raised his hand and smiled, saying, “Hello.”