Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
What’s going on? Master Zhao still has a million Yin soldiers under his command. He just claimed to have transferred 100,000 here. Wouldn’t it be too crude for him to just hire one?
Xie Lingya also recruited Yin soldiers for the first time, but unexpectedly he encountered a rare setback.
There was also a trace of embarrassment on the ghost’s face, and then he cupped his hand to Xie Lingya, “The villain Zhang San is a strongman from the Chenghuang Temple in Qiyang. I am here to wait for Teacher Xie’s dispatch.”
Xie Lingya was happy for a moment, “You also know that everyone calls me Teacher Xie.”
Zhang San: “…”
When Shi Changxuan heard the ghost announcing his identity, his eyes showed surprise and he coughed.
Xie Lingya came back to his senses and thought that the point seemed to be wrong. He said again: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it turns out that it is a strongman from the City God’s Temple.” Then that one ghost was enough.
Ms. Zhu couldn’t help but say: “From the City God’s Temple? Master Shi, are you inviting civil servants from the underworld here?”
Damn, she thought to herself, that’s great. She beat her eldest brother, so impressive!
Xiao Dian turned around to look at his master blankly, while Master Zhao couldn’t help but roll his eyes, thinking that this guy was young and old, and he could even such play a trick and say that he had invited a strongman from the City God’s Temple.
As mentioned before, some of the soldiers and horses were raised by oneself, and some were borrowed from the surrounding ghosts to come to obey orders, or they were borrowed from the soldiers and horses in the Yin Temple.
The City God was a local official in the underworld, a local guardian deity, corresponding to the capitals, prefectures and counties in the underworld, which was today’s county magistrates, mayors and other positions. Just like in the human world, from one level up to the next, those in charge of a county or a province were city gods at various levels.
The city gods were usually responsible for the local people who had died. They also had some quotas for “civil servants”, the so-called godly warriors, and could select the best from among the lonely ghosts. These ghosts were no longer homeless when they had errands, which could be regarded as the kindness of the City God.
But borrowing soldiers and horses from the Yin Temple was much more difficult than borrowing surrounding ghosts. One way was to have face with the City God, and the other was to have sufficient abilities. These ghosts could join the strongman job, but only one in a hundred or one in a thousand wild ghosts could be selected.
And in Master Zhao’s words, even a mage’s performance must be better than borrowing ordinary soldiers and horses!
Look at this young man, he acted very well, as if there was really a ghost standing in front of him.
Xie Lingya said to Zhang San: “The thing is like this. The owner of this house, Mr. Zhu Dingfeng, was framed and was entangled by ghosts. I was entrusted by the master’s family to drive away the ghosts.”
Zhang San immediately said clearly: “This matter is covered. Leave it to me. I’ll immediately lock up these ghosts and take them to be detained for a few days, leaving one for Teacher Xie to interrogate.”
Xie Lingya thought he was worthy of being a strongman. He was really good at getting things done. “Okay.”
This part was a bit off, how can you speak plain English when communicating with Yin Temple soldiers and horses? You need to speak more classically, so that the master will believe it.
Although Master Zhao had not figured out how they lowered the temperature, he finally found a flaw and sighed in his heart, young people were still young people after all.
At this time, Zhang San floated to the room, bringing up a gust of wind. As a formal employee of the City God’s Temple, his power was much greater than that of those lonely ghosts.
As soon as the sinister wind blew, everyone was excited and their hair stood on end.
This was much scarier than a simple drop in temperature, because the window was not open, then where was the wind coming from?
Master Zhao’s face turned pale and he was stunned on the spot.
….
Xie Lingya walked to the door of the room to look, and Ms. Zhu and others quickly followed. He originally wanted to step into the room, but saw that Xie Lingya wouldn’t go in. Mr. Zhu thought that this person didn’t seem to have gone in before as well, so he asked, and because what happened just now his tone of speaking was much better, “Um, teacher, why don’t you go in?”
Xie Lingya: “No, it’s too crowded inside.”
Everyone suddenly felt a chill.
Xie Lingya saw Zhang San holding a scepter in his hand as he easily unlocked and locked up the ghosts one by one. I guess he got this from the City God, and it should be one of the benefits of being a civil servant in the City God Temple.
Zhang San locked up all the ghosts except for one, and escorted him in front of Xie Lingya, and then saluted with clasped fists: “Fortunately, I did not disgrace my name.”
“Thank you, Lishi.” Xie Lingya returned to the altar and burned some ingots and coin rewards prepared in advance to Zhang San.
Zhang San showed an embarrassed smile: “How can I take this? I am following orders, so why take Teacher Xie’s money again.”
Shi Changxuan was a little surprised the second time. He borrowed Yin Temple Warriors to pay back the first recruitment. It was easy to say that Xie Lingya was so talented that he had to get used to it, but he had never heard of a powerful warrior taking the initiative of refusing.
When you invite powerful men and women to come to a large-scale Dharma festival, such as helping to manage the ghosts during the Ghost Festival, you had to reward them by burning paper and preparing wine.
Xie Lingya didn’t know so much, so he burned everything he had prepared: “It’s natural to ask for your help. I would be embarrassed if you don’t take it.”
He thought to himself, it’s cheap anyway, a thousand gold ingots are only twenty or thirty yuan, and the total here is not even a hundred yuan…
Zhang San then shyly accepted the coins, and said: “Then it would be disrespectful, and I won’t delay Teacher Xie’s work. By the way, Master let me say hello to you.”
Xie Lingya smiled and was stunned, “Master? Who is it?”
Zhang San: “…Master, Master Chenghuang.”
Xie Lingya stared at me. “What was he asking for?”
Zhang San was also confused. No, he wanted to know if he asked him. He thought Teacher Xie had a relationship with the City God, so he was respectful, thinking that this person was quite polite. Who knows, he even asked him who the master was.
“I don’t know… I’m just following orders.” Zhang San replied carefully. He was a little strongman, how could the master say so much to him.
Hey, could it be that the Patriarch knew that I wanted to borrow troops and horses and specifically greeted him? Everyone is a god. Maybe the Patriarch has a relationship with the City God and asks him to take care of the younger members of the family. After all, I should be the most outstanding descendant of the Patriarch.
Xie Lingya was full of doubts and could barely think of an explanation, but he could only press the question temporarily, “Then you can go back first.”
Xie Lingya sent Zhang San away. This time, a stronger wind blew in the house, and Zhang San dragged a long line of ghosts as he left.
As soon as they left, there was a sound in the room. After a few seconds, Mr. Zhu walked out by himself wearing slippers!
“Dad!” Ms. Zhu and Mr. Zhu exclaimed in unison. They rushed to help Mr. Zhu, but Mr. Zhu waved his hand and said he could. They were completely convinced.
Master Zhao sat aside, his limbs numb, his eyes wide open, unable to speak a word.
His apprentice Xiao Dian was even more confused, still immersed in disbelief.
….
No matter how shameless Master Zhao was, he could not and didn’t even dare to get up and say that Mr. Zhu had woken up because of his contribution. How dare he rob Xie Lingya? He only had one thought, that was, to leave quickly.
Master Zhao managed to remain calm and said: “Congratulations, old man. Now that you’ve woken up, I can leave with peace of mind. I have something to do tomorrow.”
Mr. Zhu just woke up and didn’t know anything. He didn’t even remember that he had just woken up briefly. He was still confused. He said: “Thank you very much, I won’t see you out.”
Mr. Zhu’s face darkened, and he gritted his teeth and said only two words: “I won’t give it to you.”
Not even thinking about taking the money, Master Zhao packed up his things and walked out dejectedly. Xiao Dian was still standing there stupidly, and he shouted in a low voice: “What are you doing standing there?”
Of course Xiao Dian couldn’t stay. Intellectually, he knew that Master Zhao was incompetent, but he still couldn’t accept it for the moment. He followed him out one step at a time, and subconsciously glanced at Xie Lingya pitifully before going out.
Xie Lingya didn’t notice as he brought up the ghost that Zhang San left behind and asked him where the person was.
These ghosts must first gather in front of the altar to listen to orders, so he must know where the altar was located. At this time, he hurriedly said: “I said, I said, don’t hit me.”
After the explanation of his children, Mr. Zhu knew that Xie Lingya was the one who saved him. At this time, he also said angrily: “I want to see who harmed me.”
He was getting worse and worse day by day in the past few days, as if his body was pressed by a boulder. Until just now, he seemed to be half asleep and half awake. Hearing the sound of chains, he woke up with a start.
Led by the ghost, they tracked the culprit to an apartment not far away. Mr. Zhu directly and violently asked someone to open the door.
The apartment was not big. Once you entered, you could see bills, incense candles and other ritual items. There was also a middle-aged man sitting on the sofa with blood at the corner of his mouth, unable to move, watching them come in. This was obviously because all the Yin soldiers were locked away and he suffered backlash from the spell.
Ms. Zhu rushed up and scratched his face: “Who asked you to harm my father–“
Xie Lingya knew that this was probably the person who did it. The man couldn’t even move. His face was covered with bruises when he was scratched by Ms. Zhu, and he howled: “I just take money to do things, don’t arrest me and I will tell you!”
After Ms. Zhu pressed him for questioning, the man named a person. She and Mr. Zhu looked at each other with shock on their faces. For the first time, there was no quarrel, but a tacit warning: “You’d better not lie.”
The middle-aged man covered his face, “I didn’t. He will contact me every once in a while to ask about the situation. You can wait.”
Xie Lingya heard this and knew that most probably the person behind the scenes was known to Ms. Zhu, and maybe she had a close relationship with them. Mr. Zhu was so rich, so it was not surprising that there were people with ulterior motives around him. The Zhu brother and sister were keeping secrets, and he would not pry into other people’s family affairs. He could only do his own thing.
At this time, Shi Changxuan suddenly came over with something and said coldly: “Where did you get this from?”
Yes, he took a closer look and saw some red square seals on the talisman. The shape was very familiar.
After just a moment, Xie Lingya remembered, wasn’t this the Yang Ping’s Zhidu Gong Seal?
Xie Lingya suddenly became lively, snatched the man’s collar from Ms. Zhu’s hand, and asked fiercely: “Who! Who gave it to you! Where is he now?”
Neither he nor Shi Changxuan thought that this man had taken the seal himself, how could someone who can steal the Dugong Seal be so frustrated, and be so easily caught by them with just such a lonely ghost?
It was certain that this person was connected with Du Gongyin. Now in Xie Lingya’s eyes, he seemed to have a million mark on his head.
The middle-aged man said tremblingly: “A friend I met by chance gave it to me. I don’t know where he is. We met in Boshan last week. He saw me drawing a ghost-calling talisman and I asked him to print it for me.”
He actually didn’t know that the talisman was printed with the Yangping Zhidu Gong Seal. He seemed to be a folk mage, otherwise it was impossible for him not to have known that the Taoist Association was in trouble. Xie Lingya loosened his collar.
Boshan, this person was still in Queshan Province!
But it was last week, he didn’t know if he was still there now…it was definitely not expired news to get one million for reporting. Xie Lingya was a little disappointed, but also thought that maybe they could find some clues in Boshan.
Shi Changxuan asked: “What does the person holding the seal look like?”
The middle-aged man recalled: “He looks like he is thirty or forty years old, has no beard, and always wears a hat so you cannot see his face clearly… By the way, he wears a hat which has a Liu Lingtong similar to the one on your clothes.”
Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan thought at the same time that when they came back from Xiangyin, they encountered a man wearing a hat at the high-speed rail station with a Liu Lingtong on him. The people who raised Liu Lingtong in this world were only a few. Could it be such a coincidence that they saw the same person?
Moreover, Xie Lingya remembered that he took a casual look that day and saw that the train the man got on was bound for the provincial capital. Shortly afterwards, the Dugong Seal from the Provincial Museum was stolen.
While the two were deep in thought, the Phytolacca God became furious: “How are they the same? How are they the same! One is a willow tree and the other is a Phytolacca, and they are not as cute as me?!”
The author has something to say:
Phytolacca God: I’m so angry, I’m so pissed off by the straight man’s eyes!
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron or access advance chapters on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents • Next