Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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The Xiusheng Sect followers, who were blocking the way and difficult to deal with, finally dispersed on their own. The Taoist priests present came to their senses and unanimously ignored the group of single male ghosts around them who had already begun to dream about the future.
Zhang Pang, using some unknown method, rendered the Taoist priest and plainclothes police officer who had been guarding the chubby boy incapacitated. The group slumped against the mountainside, while passing Xiusheng Sect followers continued to speculate—
What are they doing sitting there?
“You must be tired from climbing the mountain. Sigh, you look tall and strong, but the physical strength of young people these days is really lacking.”
“Yes, at my age, I wouldn’t be this tired from going from the foot of the mountain to the middle.”
The Taoist priests and plainclothes policemen, hearing the faint murmur of conversation, all wore expressions of deep humiliation. Though they were immobilized, they had seen quite a bit. Just as Wei Xi and the others approached, one of the policemen said anxiously, “Zhang Pang jumped over the wall and headed into the mountains! He probably went to his house there!”
It was common knowledge that Zhang Pang owned a house in the mountains, and the local police had long kept records of it. However, due to the rugged terrain and sparse villages in Yucheng Mountain, coupled with the influence of the Xiusheng Sect, it had never been included in the tourism development projects, and the police had never been able to find out the exact location of Zhang Pang’s house.
Therefore, as the plainclothes policeman spoke, he couldn’t help but look at the tall, thin man and the pockmarked man who had been led out by the Taoist priests. These two were Zhang Pang’s disciples, and they must know how to get in!
The pockmarked man was now under control, filled with fear and trembling as he opened his mouth to confess. But before he could utter a sound, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his back.
The pockmarked man slowly turned around, looking incredulously at his senior brother who was standing right behind him, then rolled his eyes back and fainted softly to the ground, revealing a large patch of red on his back.
Everyone present was shocked: “What are you doing?!”
The tall, thin man calmly put away the folding knife he had kept hidden close to his body, which had gone unnoticed. He shook off the blood of his junior brother that had gotten on the blade, met the gaze of the plainclothes police officer, and revealed a sinister smile: “You won’t get anything out of us.”
It concerned his master’s safety, so he wouldn’t reveal a single word to this group.
He gave the plainclothes police officer a triumphant look, then turned his sinister gaze to the group of persistent Taoist priests. To his surprise, the priests were all looking at him with an inscrutable expression, as if they wanted to say something but hesitated.
The tall, thin man, gripping the knife, paused for a moment, his tense and ruthless emotions faltering under that gaze: “…?”
The next second, one of the Taoist priests in the group coughed and said awkwardly, “Fellow Taoist Wei, may I ask about the black laborers you rescued before…”
Wei Xi nodded calmly: “I already called them up.”
As they spoke, a slightly immature boyish voice faintly came from below the mountain steps: “Boss! We’re here!”
Everyone, including the tall, thin man, immediately turned around to look. Soon, several handsome faces appeared at the bottom of the steps. Despite climbing such a long mountain path, they didn’t even seem to be out of breath. They all looked energetic and walked very fast.
The tall, thin man, upon recognizing them, immediately wore an expression of disbelief: “You! You guys!?”
“Ah!” Wild Dog Spirit Gou Dan saw him after he stopped and greeted him apologetically, “Brother Qing.”
The tall, thin man’s eyes were bloodshot: “No wonder the communication in the city suddenly stopped last night. You ungrateful bast**ds! My master found jobs for you in the mortal world, and you betrayed us!”
Hearing the insults, the wild dog spirit indeed showed some shame, but its eyes remained firm: “…Brother Qing, I know that Master Zhang has helped us, but Brother Tuan already taught me a lesson last night. We live in a society governed by the rule of law and pursue the core socialist values. It is wrong for you to run a cult and incite your followers to engage in feudal superstition. For the sake of social harmony and stability, it would be better to surrender to the public security authorities as soon as possible.”
Tall thin man: “…”
He never imagined that he would be lectured by a monster about feudal superstition in his lifetime; he was so stunned that he couldn’t speak.
Before he could speak, the rat spirit beside him angrily chimed in, “Brother Gou, there’s no need to thank them! How dare he even say that! This shady agency not only introduces us to random jobs but also takes a cut of our wages! I asked my colleagues at the sanitation department this morning when I was processing my resignation, and they all earn over two or three thousand a month, while I only get eight hundred. They pocket the rest!”
Then he turned to the tall, thin man: “Are you even human?! I even provided you with intelligence… You’re a big sect, yet you wouldn’t even let a sanitation worker’s salary of over two thousand yuan go!”
Tall and thin man: “…”
The Taoist priests standing nearby couldn’t help but look at him with complicated expressions, reluctant to admit that they had a rival who had embezzled over two thousand yuan of wages from a sanitation worker demon. The plainclothes policeman muttered, “So… the Xiusheng Cult… is actually running this kind of business in secret…”
The tall, thin man was both embarrassed and angry: “What nonsense are you spouting! My master can easily earn six figures just by performing a few rituals for those wealthy businessmen when he goes down the mountain!”
The rat spirit was even angrier: “If you’re so rich, why do you still exploit us?”
Tuan Tuanyi also seemed to remember something and asked, “By the way, have you settled the fares you owed for ride-hailing services in Beijing?”
The demons and the local police and Taoist priests were all incredulous: “What? They don’t even pay for their taxi ride?!”
Tall and thin man: “…”
He was in such a rush that day that he completely forgot.
The wild dog spirit, looking ashamed, showed a hint of disapproval: “Master Qing, if you’re in trouble, I won’t take the contractor’s money, but the driver isn’t having an easy time either, so maybe we shouldn’t do this kind of thing?”
This misunderstanding was like a bloodless psychological attack; the tall, thin man was so angry that his head spun and he almost fainted on the spot.
Seeing him like this, even Tuan Tuanyi, who was immersed in the joy of his employee finding a partner, couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He squatted down and looked at the wound on the pockmarked face’s back, and sighed to Wei Xi: “Master and junior brother, you know, this guy is really… I didn’t even want him to lead the way, but he had to stab his junior brother like this for no reason.”
Wei Xi stared at the pool of hot blood on the pockmarked face’s back and licked his lips. His second apprentice looked down and saw his gaze. He silently reached out and pinched Wei Xi’s neck. Only then did Wei Xi realize what was happening and absentmindedly nodded, “He was indeed too hasty.”
The police officers at the scene were quite nonchalant. After hanging up the call for an ambulance, they analyzed, “It’s fine. The bureau just doesn’t know how to classify Zhang’s disciples. Logically speaking, they are not the biggest leaders of the cult. If they are arrested, they will only be imprisoned for two or three years at most. Now, we can add the charge of intentional injury, which will carry a much heavier sentence. And they didn’t harm any innocent civilians. They’re just hitting themselves.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the police officer’s expression suddenly changed: “Hey! What’s wrong with you!?”
The tall, thin man raised his hand to support himself against the mountain wall but finally could not hold on any longer. He began to vomit large amounts of blood, making retching sounds.
Wei Xi didn’t want to eat anymore. He turned his gaze away with disgust. Hearing the police officer’s flustered question, he thought for a moment and said, “Maybe he suffered some hidden injuries during the magic battle just now?”
The police officers were also somewhat confused about the magical duel: “Huh? Taoist priests, is this how it is?”
The local Taoist priests in Xin’an who had previously dealt with this Xiusheng Sect disciple said again: “………………Hmm.”
This opponent is inexplicably someone we feel sorry for.
….
The tall, thin man had been vomiting blood for quite a while, and everyone was getting a little impatient. Wei Xi asked rather rudely, “Why do you have so much blood? Have you finished vomiting?”
This was the ultimate insult. The tall, thin man vomited again with a loud “Wah!” before he could barely suppress the raging fire within him. He wiped his mouth, his face deathly pale, and looked up.
His eyes were glazed as he stared at Wei Xi, his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably. Wei Xi, however, showed no pity and turned to the crowd, saying, “Let’s go.”
The police officers left behind to await rescue looked at them with some concern: “Fellow Daoists, Mount Yucheng is very large. If you split up…”
Before he could finish speaking, the androgynous boy who had caught up from behind wrinkled his nose, sniffed the tall, thin man, and pointed— “Here!”
The tall, thin man had met Zhang Pang before and carried a slight resemblance to his master.
The Taoist priests followed in its footsteps without hesitation, leaving the police officers sitting on the ground, looking at each other in bewilderment.
On the way, the tall, thin man was grabbed by the back of the neck by Wei Xi. After a few steps, he was handed over to the even taller second apprentice. Tuan Tuanyi was still thinking about being recruited by the government, and he gave him a piece of his mind: “What’s the point of you following your master? He’s so inhumane, he didn’t even take you with him when he ran away.”
The tall, thin man remained unmoved: “The situation was critical at the time. My master is always cautious. Do you think he’s as indecisive as you bunch of sanctimonious Taoist priests who spout nonsense about benevolence and morality?”
“Tsk!” Tuan Tuanyi gave him a “don’t be stubborn” look. “Still trying to fool me? He took your junior brother away without even glancing at you. He’s obviously biased. And you’re still defending him after all that? How can you be so despicable? Do you have a crush on him?”
The Taoist priests around them all gave them horrified looks.
The tall, thin man felt like vomiting blood again, but in the end, he just gave a cold laugh: “What do you know? My junior brother has his own uses.”
As for its purpose, he would rather die than say anything if asked again.
Tuan Tuanyi felt he had found the truth and quietly complained to his master and junior brother: “Wow, Master, this is so exciting! That Xiusheng Sect leader must be at least forty or fifty years old, right? And he’s having a master-disciple relationship. Doesn’t that sound pretty erotic?”
The tall, thin man, breathless, cried out, “We didn’t!”
Although Wei Xi didn’t quite understand what a master-disciple relationship was, seeing how angry the tall, thin man was, he still had the self-awareness of being a rival and nodded, saying, “It is indeed very erotic.”
As soon as he spoke, he sensed that something was off about the atmosphere around him. He turned around and met his second apprentice’s hesitant gaze.
Wei Xi: “Que’er, is something the matter?”
The second apprentice remained silent for a long time before turning his gaze away with a complicated expression: “Tuan Tuanyi.”
Tuan Tuanyi was rarely called upon by his junior brother, and he was flattered: “Oh! What’s wrong, junior brother?! What can I do for you, senior brother?”
The junior brother’s voice was exceptionally cold and ruthless: “It’s nothing, just please shut up.”
Tuan Tuanyi: “???”
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