Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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The elevator was filled with either ghosts or strangers, and Xie Lingya hadn’t really considered his behavior. So of course, he was complained about, but he kindly raised his head and said, “Yeah.”
The girl: “…”
“Just check your phone for signal. What do you care about others?” These young people were different, much calmer than Master Hai. Of course, it might also be because they didn’t know Xie Lingya.
But when they pulled out their phones, there would definitely be no signal.
Even so, they seemed to simply consider themselves unlucky and didn’t think anything supernatural was going on.
While Xie Lingya was pondering how to manipulate the situation in such a small space and control the emotions of both parties, a young man with purple hair suddenly said, “Don’t you think that guy is a little strange…”
He was referring to the man in the corner with his head bowed. The others initially dismissed him, just after glancing at him. It was just his foundation that was a bit white, wasn’t it?
But the elevator was so small, and even after the purple-haired boy called him out on his weirdness to his face, he still didn’t react.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. The girl who had been talking about Xie Lingya asked, “Hey, are you okay? Do you have a signal on your phone?”
Only then did the man slowly look up, his face blank. Under her gaze, he said, “What time is it?” Was that a conversation topic? It was strange indeed. Perhaps he was just a loner.
“You didn’t bring your phone?” The girl’s phone was right there, having just taken it out to check the signal. Now she held it up to tell him the time.
“Don’t say it!” Xie Lingya called out, noticing the purple-haired boy had joined him in shouting, and he glanced at him. The boy had dark eye makeup and contact lenses, and his bangs fell over half his eyes, making his expression difficult to discern in the dim light.
“What’s wrong?” the girl asked, puzzled.
The purple-haired boy scratched his head, bewildered. “I don’t know. I just find it strange. Let’s not talk about it. Let’s quickly find a way to get someone to fix the elevator.”
Xie Lingya was also a little puzzled by the boy.
Xie Lingya stopped the girl from telling him the time because the male ghost wasn’t asking about the current time, but about her death date. If she told him, it would be a mysterious permission for him to take the other person with him.
But Xie Lingya knew it was because he worked as a part-time Taoist, and the purple-haired boy knew it because he was also interested in this kind of thing.
Before Xie Lingya could think about it, he heard Shi Changxuan calmly say to the male ghost, “Yin and Yang have different paths. You’re going the wrong way. Get out.”
The male ghost’s face remained blank, his current state of mind still limited. He simply said woodenly, “I like music too. Let’s go together.”
His expression was eerily dull, and Shi Changxuan’s words made the self-proclaimed courageous young people retreat a few steps into the corner, backing up against the wall.
“What the hell is this…”
The never-before-seen Eighteenth Floor, Yin and Yang’s Different Paths, going with him… Who the hell is this guy?!
The light from the signboards and glowsticks shone on the man’s face, flickering a few times. He then suddenly took a few steps forward, causing the already tense young people to scream, “Ah!”
Xie Lingya also stepped forward, placing his foot on the elevator wall, calmly blocking the male ghost.
The elevator was so small, and the young people were squeezed together. Seeing Xie Lingya blocking the way and Shi Changxuan’s calm demeanor gave them a sense of security. Thinking back to how they had just warned them, even preventing them from entering the elevator at all… they regretted insisting on entering, but their trust grew even stronger. No wonder they were in the mood for homosexuality at this moment! For a moment, they all moved diagonally across from the male ghost, the further they could get away, the better!
Xie Lingya looked at the wooden male ghost and said with some distress, “It’s hard to act cool with a new ghost. You probably don’t even know who I am yet…”
Otherwise, he could have easily scared the ghost away, but this was a newly deceased ghost who was still confused.
The male ghost looked at Xie Lingya with a hint of resentment, then at the young people. “We’re on the eighteenth floor. Let’s go clubbing…”
Their faces turned green. Who wants to go clubbing with you? The male ghost seemed troubled by Xie Lingya’s obstruction. His body floated lightly into the air, landing on the upper corner of the elevator, his head lowered to look at the crowd.
“Ah …”
The decisive and swift action, like pressing a pig, choked the young people, who had been bracing themselves for at least three minutes of screaming.
Xie Lingya then said to Shi Changxuan, “Brother, fix the elevator.”
By “fix the elevator,” he didn’t mean Shi Changxuan should actually do any mechanical work. The elevator was haunted by a ghost, and he was told to tinker with it to dispel the evil spirit.
The young people were standing by the elevator buttons, completely blocking the control panel. Shi Changxuan glanced at them and said, “Get out of the way.”
But this was the farthest point from the ghost. Although the male ghost had been restrained by Xie Lingya, he was still terrifying as he lingered, so they were unwilling to move.
Shi Changxuan was about to pull them away when the purple-haired boy suddenly stretched out his arm and slapped the display screen several times.
The digits “18” flickered a few times before stopping at “-1.”
Then, the lights in the elevator suddenly lit up, a brilliant brightness dispelling much of the terrifying atmosphere.
The purple-haired boy exclaimed joyfully, “Alright!”
He pressed the door button again, and the elevator doors actually swung open, revealing the parking lot below ground level. Voices could be heard nearby, as if they had suddenly returned to the human world.
The young people scrambled out of the elevator, glancing back and saying, “Thank you, thank you, handsome! May you live happily ever after!”
Xie Lingya: “…”
Xie Lingya: “Uh, thank you.”
“Handsome guys, are you exorcists? Or celestial masters?” Besides gratitude, everyone was inevitably curious about them.
“You should go home soon. Be careful when you get in the elevator next time, especially at night.”
Everyone was still apprehensive, but they had to be careful. They were lucky to have met a master today, but even so, they had almost been scared to death. It was a close call; they might have had to go out with that ghost to the disco!
Most of them followed Xie Lingya’s advice and quickly left, unwilling to stay any longer. They had originally planned to party and sing karaoke all night, but now they were in no mood. They just wanted to go home and cry to their mothers.
Only the purple-haired boy, lagging behind his companions, stood outside the elevator, curiously asking, “What are you going to do with him?”
“Not much. He’s taken the wrong road. When we reach a crossroads later, we’ll just send him to the underworld,” Xie Lingya explained.
Bridges and roads, these important transportation points, were shared by the human world and the underworld. The underworld was attached to the living world. Last time they went to the provincial capital, they took the wrong underworld bridge. Crossroads were also places where the two worlds were most likely to become confused. Sending ghosts away from there was the right thing.
The purple-haired boy said, “Oh, is that so?”
“Wait, classmate, leave me your contact information,” Xie Lingya called out to him, motioning Shi Changxuan to take over and subdue the ghost. He then walked out, pulling out his phone to scan the purple-haired boy’s phone.
The purple-haired boy didn’t refuse; he was quite interested in Xie Lingya and the others.
After the others left, Xie Lingya returned and said to Shi Changxuan, “You’ve noticed too, haven’t you? He’s quite talented.”
At first, the makeup was too heavy to notice, but upon closer inspection, he could see it; his face wasn’t bad either.
Shi Changxuan nodded and said, “Just looking at his full forehead and the bright, moist lines around his ears, he seems to have completed his studies and probably won’t become a priest.”
Talent didn’t guarantee a discipleship. Especially in modern times, where people still preferred to find regular, stable jobs. Even Xie Lingya himself only worked part-time.
“If he doesn’t become a priest, he could learn the Lüshan Fa.” Xie Lingya pondered. When he accepted Old Master Zhu’s legacy, he had promised to help him find a successor when the opportunity arose. Lüshan was a folk sect, and his family didn’t have the scale of Baoyang Temple to manage.
Having discovered a promising young man, Xie Lingya really wanted to talk to him.
“Let me check his social media…” Xie Lingya flipped through it. The purple-haired boy had just left a note for him: Guo Xing. Looking at his profile and circle of friends, he was indeed only nineteen years old this year, a freshman, and he and He Zun were in the same school, Zhuyang University.
Anyway, now that he had his WeChat, Xie Lingya decided to talk to him sometime.
As for now, let’s go to the intersection and send this confused ghost away.
They went out the back door and led the newly dead ghost to an intersection that was relatively busy during the day. Xie Lingya searched his body but only found a pack of tissues, so he could just make do with it.
Xie Lingya folded the paper and made it into a pass. He was also kind-hearted, fearing that this confused ghost would take the wrong path again. After burning it, it appeared in the ghost’s hand. Xie Lingya looked around to see if there was anyone around, then he pushed the male ghost in the dark: “There is a way to the underworld, and this is how you reach the earth. Please make a request for me, and you are not allowed to stay!”
The male ghost staggered forward a few steps, stepped onto the dark road, and his figure gradually disappeared.
“Alright,” Xie Lingya clapped his hands. “Our luck really doesn’t allow us to have a good date.”
Shi Changxuan chuckled. “Luckily, it didn’t happen during the movie.”
Xie Lingya imagined, “Like maybe a ghost emerging from the movie screen…”
The two walked back hand in hand, imagining what it would be like to be haunted in a movie theater, the place they were supposed to meet. It was quite a unique experience. The latest big news in Zhuyang City was the suicide of renowned entrepreneur Bao Yuesheng.
Locals were divided over his death.
Because of revelations that the Bao family was implicated in a serial murder case, which was currently under investigation, many speculated that he committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Others claimed that Bao Yuesheng was suffering from a severe illness and could no longer endure the torment of a strange illness. It was said that Bao Yuesheng had already begun to experience hallucinations before his death, constantly claiming that his lover had a skull in her stomach. People didn’t dare to tell him when he died, but once he died, the truth was hidden, and all sorts of rumors flew everywhere.
In each rumor, there seemed to be puzzling details, but outsiders found it difficult to uncover them.
Upon hearing this news, Xie Lingya sighed, “He had Ma Xiaochuan and the others imprison those souls for years, but he couldn’t even endure the same suffering for a month.”
He would rather die to find relief, but how could death truly be a release? There were still accounts to be settled in the netherworld.
Ning Wanlai, who had learned the details from his colleagues in the netherworld, said, “Those wronged souls are still dissatisfied. They didn’t expect him to be so fragile. Now they’re focused on Ma Xiaochuan and the others, unwilling to let them go easily.”
Xie Lingya thought of the masters hired by Bao Yuesheng and shook his head. “Using evil methods to harm people for profit is intolerable to heaven and earth. So, is Cheng Xin’s case closed?”
Ning Wanlai said, “The case in the mortal world isn’t closed yet.” The case in the netherworld, however, was, which was why the wronged souls could bring the imperial decree to claim his life.”
“He’ll have his work cut out for him. Invite him to visit the Taoist temple later. You too, our new building is already under renovation, and we’ll have rooms for everyone to stay.” Xie Lingya was delighted by this mention. The small building had been under construction for over six months and was finally nearing completion.
“Okay, that’s great.” Ning Wanlai sometimes held rituals at night, and it would be much more convenient if he could stay overnight.
In the blink of an eye, it had been a while since Ning Wanlai left the world of death. From the initial panic, to counting the days waiting for the ritual to work, to now having become much calmer, knowing that it was not something that could be solved by a few rituals.
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