Chapter 38: Soul Search

Chapter 38: Soul Search

This dirty old ghost came back several more times, and each time he was driven away by Old Master Lu.

This stalemate lasted for almost three years.

Recently, Old Master Lu discovered that this lecherous ghost was growing stronger and stronger, and his ability to conceal himself had improved considerably.

Twice, the dirty old ghost hid inside the house and tried to enter his granddaughter’s dreams to take advantage of her. He had almost failed to notice.

The moment this was mentioned, the veins on Old Master Lu’s forehead bulged with anger.

Miss Lu also revealed a disgusted expression and copied Old Master Lu by kicking the fierce ghost several times.

Just thinking about how this dirty old ghost had seen everything without her knowledge made her stomach churn with the urge to vomit.

The fierce ghost was dissatisfied when he heard this.

He arrogantly said, “I’m looking at my own wife. What the hell does it have to do with you people?”

Pei Ye looked down on a ghost like this and threatened him with her fist.

“Speak like a human!”

The hamster Xiao Pangzi said, “Senior, he’s a ghost. He can only speak ghost language.”

Pei Ye shot him a sharp glare, and Zhu Chun’an hurriedly raised a hand to cover the hamster’s mouth.

Of all people to argue with, he had to pick a fight with a big shot.

Seeing that everyone present was standing on Old Master Lu’s side, the fierce ghost’s grievance immediately overflowed, and he began pouring out his complaints.

“I’ve been wronged! My wife was stolen from me, and you people are still beating me. Is there no justice? No law at all?”

The fierce ghost stubbornly insisted that Old Madam Lu was his wife. Even if Pei Ye smacked him around like a spinning top, he refused to change his story. This caused the others to waver slightly. Could there be some hidden reason they did not know about?

Old Madam Lu felt even more wronged.

Fortunately, this was the modern era. If someone had slandered her reputation like this in the old days, she might as well have jumped into a river and died again.

Pei Ye grabbed the ghost and said, “Honestly explain the entire story. Otherwise I’ll call Black Impermanence over right now and have him throw you into a boiling oil cauldron in the eighteen levels of hell.”

The fierce ghost shuddered at those words.

“It’s a long story. My name is Zhou Dachui.”

Upon hearing such a rustic name, the living and dead members of the Lu family all curled their lips in unison.

Zhou Dachui?

“Why not call yourself Wang Dachui instead?”

The moment Zhu Chun’an loosened his grip, the hamster Xiao Pangzi started arguing again.

“How rude!”

“A person’s surname and given name are gifts from their elders. How can they be mocked so casually?”

Pei Ye did not understand the joke and continued questioning the fierce ghost.

“And then? Do you know the Lu family?”

The fierce ghost Zhou Dachui shook his head.

Of course he did not know the Lu family. He knew Old Madam Lu. They had been engaged since childhood.

Miss Lu sneered.

“A childhood betrothal? What era do you think this is? Do you think China hasn’t gone through Reform and Opening Up yet?”

The hamster Xiao Pangzi covered his chubby cheeks and said, “When those two were children, China really hadn’t gone through Reform and Opening Up yet. Childhood betrothals were fairly common, weren’t they?”

Zhu Chun’an revealed an awkward yet polite smile and switched to using both hands to cover the hamster.

With this clue, Old Madam Lu remembered.

“So it’s you!”

Lu Jinzhong asked, “Mom, what exactly is going on?”

The mention of these old matters made Old Madam Lu look thoroughly unhappy.

Back then, she had been raised in the countryside by her grandparents.

Her parents worked away from home to earn money and could not take care of their only daughter for most of the year. Her grandparents had a good relationship with their neighbors and jokingly arranged a childhood engagement.

When Old Madam Lu finished primary school, she was only eleven or twelve years old. The neighbors then said it was time to get married and told her to stop studying. No matter how much she studied, it would not be as useful as learning how to wash clothes, cook meals, raise pigs, and serve their son.

Unlike the diligent and studious Old Madam Lu, the neighbor’s son was lazy, gluttonous, and violent by nature. He often bullied elderly widows in the village.

Verbal humiliation was the mildest of it. Several times she personally witnessed him and his friends shoving elderly women and stealing persimmons they had gathered.

How could Old Madam Lu possibly give up her chance to continue studying and marry such trash?

So she wrote a letter to her parents explaining the situation. Her father specifically took leave from work and returned to the village to take her away.

However, out of consideration for the elders’ dignity, they did not directly reject the childhood engagement. Instead, they said their daughter would not consider marriage until she was at least eighteen.

The neighbor’s family was unhappy about that.

They had expected their son to become a father at thirteen or fourteen. How could they wait until a money-losing daughter reached eighteen?

A few years later, Old Madam Lu heard that Zhou Dachui had gotten married.

Afterward, she vaguely heard that the little hooligan had bullied a young woman and was forced to marry her because of it.

As for the details, Old Madam Lu could not be bothered to learn more.

After overcoming many difficulties, she studied all the way through university and met Mr. Lu, who was then a university teaching assistant. She fell hopelessly in love at first sight.

The members of the Lu family looked at the fierce ghost with even greater contempt after hearing this.

What kind of childhood engagement was that?

And he still called her his wife?

Did this ghost have no shame at all?

Lu Jinzhong said, “Your real wife is your actual spouse. What does that have to do with my mother? If you refuse to explain the real reason, I’ll ask the Celestial Master to beat you to death!”

How could the fierce ghost be willing to explain?

He stubbornly insisted that Old Madam Lu was his wife.

If this matter were brought before Fengdu, even a childhood engagement would be recognized because it had never been formally dissolved, even verbally.

Hearing the old ghost’s words, the members of the Lu family became furious.

Pei Ye said, “Are you going to explain it yourself, or are we going to use special methods?”

The fierce ghost merely snorted and remained silent.

“There’s a term called empathy. It means putting yourself in someone else’s position, allowing yourself to feel and understand another person’s emotions, and moving beyond self-centeredness to understand others. However, in certain special fields, this term has acquired another meaning, memory synchronization.” Pei Ye sneered. “Memory is an extremely private thing. Without special authorization, it shouldn’t be casually peered into. I’ll give you one last chance. Think carefully. Are you going to tell us voluntarily, or should I take a look myself?”

The fierce ghost remained stubborn.

“Senior intends to perform a soul search?”

Aside from the underworld messengers of Fengdu and evil cultivators, soul-searching techniques were rarely used by orthodox cultivators.

First, soul searching placed extremely high demands on the user. If one’s soul was not strong enough, one could easily become trapped in the target’s emotions and be unable to escape.

Second, soul searching was an extraordinarily delicate operation. A single mistake could damage the target’s soul and leave them an idiot.

For this reason, the Celestial Master community had always opposed Celestial Masters using this kind of “evil art” on others.

“It doesn’t really count as soul searching. I’m just looking at the memories inside his head.”

Pei Ye raised a hand and grabbed the ghost by the crown of his head. A mental domain she had not used for a long time instantly unfolded.

Her consciousness pierced through layers of memory fog and reached its destination.

“Ah!”

Miss Lu cried out in surprise. Only then did Zhu Chun’an realize that the surrounding environment had suddenly changed.

“Don’t panic. It’s just a memory replay.” Pei Ye calmly manipulated the ghost’s mind and said, “You all know what a projector is, right? A projector is an optical device that uses optical components to enlarge an object’s outline and project it onto a screen. With further development, it can even project a two-dimensional image into a three-dimensional form. You can think of this ghost’s memories as a device that stores information, while my mental domain is the projector that converts those memories and displays them in three-dimensional form.”

The fierce ghost: “???”