Chapter 108

Xiang Ting, who had already returned to the capital, suddenly received a call from the Southwest Daoist Association. When he heard them asking how Xiaoyao Sect had managed to open a Daoist temple in the capital, he fell silent for a moment.

To be honest, he was quite curious too, so upon returning, he immediately had someone investigate the temple registration procedures of Xiaoyao Sect.

But they found nothing.

Normally, for something like establishing a Daoist temple, once an application is submitted to the Daoist Association, they would report the documents to the Bureau of Special Incident Management for further review.

However, after checking the records of temple establishments over the past two years, he found no mention of Xiaoyao Sect.

—There was a temple with the same name a hundred years ago, but that was data from when the Bureau of Special Incident Management had just been established.

That temple wasn’t newly founded at the time either—it had existed long before, and was only added to the list during a unified registration effort.

Since then, the temple had never appeared again.

Its membership fees had been overdue for over a hundred years.

Because the temple had only one registered member back then, and the Daoist Association hadn’t received dues for a long time, they assumed the temple had shut down and disappeared. Even the temple property had been confiscated and repurposed by the Capital’s Department of Culture and Tourism into a tourist landmark.

Xiang Ting wasn’t sure if Ke Xingzhou’s Xiaoyao Sect was the same one from back then.

After all, when he first met Ke Xingzhou, the latter didn’t even have a proper temple address. Even the variety show filming base listed under Xiaoyao Sect’s name was a gift from Nie Chen as a token of formal apprenticeship.

If Ke Xingzhou really were the successor of that century-old Xiaoyao Sect, he could have gone directly to the Tourism Bureau, presented inheritance documents, and reclaimed the temple.

Because of all this, the folks at the Bureau of Special Incident Management had concluded that this Xiaoyao Sect was not the same as the old one.

But this meant that Xiaoyao Sect’s documentation really did have problems.

Serious problems.

Zhu Qian walked in holding the report, looking over the contents with a sigh: “You’ll never guess what kind of business license Xiaoyao Sect registered for themselves—it’s a sole proprietorship, and their business scope is ‘wholesale and online/offline sales of arts, crafts, and collectibles’! No wonder there’s no record of them applying to establish a temple—they never intended to register as a religious organization!”

Xiang Ting took the document to see for himself. Aside from what Zhu Qian mentioned, there were actually some other business categories too.

For instance... food sales and online food sales.

Food...

Zhu Qian leaned closer and glanced at the line he was staring at, and suddenly seemed to understand why Zhu Chu had filled out the application that way: “Well, you can’t really blame him. What if Xiaoyao Sect has some kind of talisman water they want people to ingest? If it's something that goes in your mouth, why wouldn’t you call it food?”

Xiang Ting: “…………”He was completely speechless.

--

The Underworld was busy, and Lu Zhidao, along with the group of ghost messengers, had taken advantage of the system update to come up and deliver a certificate to Ke Xingzhou, and also to take a look around the human world.

After delivering the certificate and discussing future cooperation, Lu Zhidao and the ghost messengers behind him vanished from the spot.

Lu Li had originally planned to leave as well, but when he turned around, he noticed Ke Xingzhou looking over at him. His steps paused slightly.

He slowed down, and only after Lu Zhidao and the others had completely disappeared did he turn around. “You still have something?”

Ke Xingzhou nodded.

Special Assistant Liu was quick-witted. Seeing that they had something to talk about, he immediately ushered the other Daoists out, pulling Zhu Chu along with him. “Regarding Xiaoyao Sect's application for temple land, there are still some details to discuss.”

Zhu Chu: “Huh? But…”

Wasn’t the matter of the temple application already handed over to the president of the Southwest Daoist Association? What else was there to talk about now?

As a member of Xiaoyao Sect, he had never had the chance to meet ghost messengers from the Underworld together with his master. Zhu Chu really wanted to stay.

But then Special Assistant Liu smiled and said, “The strength of Xiaoyao Sect is beyond doubt. Our Wanli Group believes your temple has great potential and would like to sponsor the establishment of a branch.”

Zhu Chu suddenly felt like whether or not he got to meet the ghost messengers wasn’t so important after all.

He pivoted on his foot, his expression instantly turning slick and businesslike. “Good eye! How much are you planning to invest? You know, our temple’s always been poor, barely any money at all—everything goes into paying the staff.”

Special Assistant Liu: “……”

Do you think it’s someone else doing Xiaoyao Sect’s financial reports?

--

In the meeting room.

Ke Xingzhou didn’t bother with small talk and got straight to the point, handing over a piece of paper: “Help me look into this.”

Lu Li took it and glanced down. It was a name and an incomplete Eight Characters (Ba Zi), missing the year’s Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch.

He was puzzled. “Who’s this?”

“My master,” Ke Xingzhou said. “I want you to check if he had anything to do with the ancient war between gods and demons.”

“The war between gods and demons?” Lu Li was shocked. “Wasn’t that like tens of millions of years ago? Your master’s a modern person, right? How could he possibly be connected?”

Ke Xingzhou shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Back on Mount Chong’er, the six-armed demon god had said, “Another Xiaoyao Sect,” a comment Zhu Chu had interrupted—but it had stuck with Ke Xingzhou.

His master had never mentioned any former senior brothers or ancestral masters. Unlike other temples, Xiaoyao Sect didn’t enshrine any founder deities or celestial lords. All it had were a series of empty ceremonial seats. Ke Xingzhou had always assumed Xiaoyao Sect was a sect his master had founded from scratch.

But the demon race was sealed away tens of millions of years ago—how would a six-armed demon god have known about Xiaoyao Sect?

Ke Xingzhou had considered the possibility of a coincidental name, but every time he tried to dismiss that demon god’s words, something always felt off.The intuition of cultivators is always quite accurate, so even though he felt it was unlikely, Ke Xingzhou still wanted Lu Li to check.

Lu Li saw that his expression wasn’t quite right, so he didn’t say more, burying his doubts in his heart. He nodded. “Alright, I’ll check it when I get back. I’ve been officially promoted, and my authority is much greater now. Maybe I can even look into your past life.”

Ke Xingzhou was momentarily stunned.

To be honest, he didn’t have much attachment to his past life. After meeting Xiang Ting, learning that there were living beings in this world who knew about his past, he had somehow felt a sense of relief.

Plus, now that he had accumulated so much merit, even though he stayed in the presidential suite every day, the merit deducted was still less than his natural growth, so he hadn’t asked Lu Li about his past life again.

But hearing Lu Li say this now, he actually felt a little tempted.

Who knew, Nie Chen next to him casually refused for him: “No need.”

Lu Li: “?”

He looked up and met Nie Chen’s grey-green eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was just his impression, but it seemed that Nie Chen had changed somehow. His aura was much more intense than when he had seen him before. With just a glance, Lu Li even felt a little shrinking sensation.

Lu Li was startled.

Though he usually appeared before Ke Xingzhou as a beleaguered office worker ghost, becoming a public servant in the Underworld wasn’t something one could do with just education and work experience.

He was considered a senior ghost, and had seen countless leaders in the Underworld. To be frightened by a human? That was unbelievable.

Lu Li found it hard to believe and became even more cautious.

He floated sideways next to Ke Xingzhou and whispered, “What’s up with your ex? He’s interfering in your business. You really don’t have control over him!”

Ke Xingzhou: “……”

He looked at Lu Li speechlessly, wanting to refute their relationship, but then he remembered the scorching temperature and the dripping sweat from last night, and suddenly couldn’t get the words out.

He cleared his throat. “Let’s look into this matter first. If it’s related to the demon race, be extra careful.”

Lu Li waved his hand. “I know. What you don’t know is, the Underworld is under martial law right now because we heard the demon race is out. Any matter related to the demon race is tied to performance. I’ll make sure to look into it clearly for you!”

Ke Xingzhou looked at him and finally figured out where that sense of discomfort he’d felt since Lu Li’s arrival was coming from. “Where’s your destiny book computer?”

“System upgrade,” Lu Li grinned. “Last time I submitted the system code to the Underworld, and while writing the report, I casually mentioned that the destiny book gets grumpy and beats up its users. Lu Pān saw it and said this attitude wasn’t good for the Underworld’s unity. He told me to turn it into a data carrier and have it stay next to the Underworld’s server, slowly upgrading. Hehe, let’s see if it dares to beat me up again!”

Lu Li swung his fist, suddenly feeling a chill on top of his head.

Ke Xingzhou’s gaze towards him had also changed, filled with pity.

Lu Li: “...Has it come back?”

Ke Xingzhou nodded.

The next second, a familiar heavy blow struck Lu Li’s head.

If the Daoists were still here, they might have seen a bizarre sight: a brand-new computer that hadn’t even been officially released yet, holding a keyboard and wildly hitting its user.

Lu Li: “Aah—!”Lu Li disappeared after receiving a beating, and after Ke Xingzhou and the others said their goodbyes to the local Taoist Association, they set off on their journey back.

The "All-round Idol" show was still recording. With Ke Xingzhou's popularity both inside and outside the program group, it was impossible for him to be eliminated. Afterward, he had to go back and continue live-streaming. Originally, there wasn’t much time for a break, but half of it was taken up by the evil sect, and the remaining days couldn’t be spent resting properly because the Changsheng Temple’s Dharma ceremony in the capital was about to begin.

After landing in the capital and seeing the familiar bare branches and gray sky outside, Ke Xingzhou couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

Ever since he decided to revive the Xiaoyao Sect, Ke Xingzhou felt like he had been in a constant state of busyness. The lazy life he once longed for had completely vanished, and when he suddenly realized this, he couldn’t help but feel a bit melancholic.

Zhu Chu was still enthusiastically discussing the investment plans with Assistant Liu, but when he heard Ke Xingzhou’s sigh, he immediately turned around.

He asked with concern, “Master, what’s wrong? Are you feeling airsick?”

Zhu Chu had somewhat realized the difference between him and his junior brother over the past few days. He had been observing his junior brother’s flattering behavior towards the master, and at this moment, he naturally took out a dried tangerine peel candy from his pocket.

When he handed it over, he was met with his junior brother’s wary gaze, and Zhu Chu smiled smugly.

His little trick had been discovered—now he was in a panic!

His junior brother was in trouble today!

Zhu Chu confidently handed the candy over. “Master, have one of these. I just bought it.”

Who knew that the master, who used to dote on him the most, and even refused to let his junior brother accept anything, looked at the candy in his hand, but for some reason, his face suddenly turned red, and he refused, “...No need, I’m not airsick.”

Zhu Chu was stunned for a moment.

“What do you mean you’re not airsick? Master, your face is red, and I even saw you gagging earlier.” He instinctively rebutted, and without thinking, peeled the candy wrapper and handed it over. “Master, have one. I checked online; it’s the same brand as the one I bought for my junior brother!”

Ke Xingzhou: “……”

His expression was unusually helpless as he silently turned his gaze away.

Zhu Chu only felt that his junior brother’s look toward him was getting colder, but this time, he had no intention of caring.

He stared blankly at the tangerine peel candy in his hand. When he looked up, he saw his junior brother standing very close to the master, almost sticking to him. That strange feeling that had been lingering in his heart for a while suddenly became clear at this moment—

The three-person master-disciple relationship was ultimately too cramped!

At the beginning, the master had refused to accept his junior brother as a disciple, saying he only wanted to have him as a disciple for life. It was he who had persuaded the master to take this disciple, in order to help the Xiaoyao Sect develop better in the future.

And now!

Under his entrepreneurial guidance, the Xiaoyao Sect was thriving, but the master, who used to dote on him alone, now only had eyes for his junior brother!

Zhu Chu suddenly recalled many things and realized that he was no longer the master’s heart’s treasure. Watching his junior brother help the master put on his coat and scarf, he couldn’t help but feel sorrowful.

Assistant Liu, who had come up carrying luggage, noticed the tangerine peel candy in his hand and his sorrowful expression. His steps paused for a moment.

The sensitivity of a working person immediately made him realize what had just happened, and he couldn’t help but look at Zhu Chu with pity. He stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder.

Zhu Chu turned to look at him.

Perhaps because someone had comforted him, the grievance in his heart became even more difficult to contain, and with a choked voice, he asked, “Assistant Liu, why is this happening? I was the one who came first…”Assistant Liu, who had been following Nie Chen, had long figured out the relationship between the two. Hearing Zhu Chu’s words, he shook his head in disagreement: “Mr. Nie has known Master Ke for much longer than you. It’s just that no one really knows about it.”

Zhu Chu gasped, feeling as if he had been struck by lightning.

His master and his junior brother had known each other even before him!

All this time, whenever facing his junior brother’s cold gaze, Zhu Chu had comforted himself by thinking that his bond with the master was much deeper and that, in this regard, his junior brother could never compare to him, secretly feeling a sense of superiority.

But now, had even that advantage vanished?

Assistant Liu probably knew what he was shocked about and gave his shoulder a heavy pat: “You can’t compare. They’re a couple, and you’re a disciple. What are you comparing?”

Assistant Liu shook his head, only to hear Zhu Chu let out a long sob and suddenly raise his hand to cover his mouth. “One day, I’ll win back Master’s affection! I will come back!”

Assistant Liu: “…………???”

Assistant Liu finally realized that while he was having a conversation with Zhu Chu, Nie Chen had gathered Ke Xingzhou under his wide coat and was holding his hand.

Ke Xingzhou’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt inexplicably guilty.

To be honest, even he hadn’t expected Zhu Chu to notice the detail of them eating candy. When Zhu Chu suddenly mentioned it, Ke Xingzhou felt as if his scalp was about to explode, wishing he could disappear on the spot.

Especially when he recalled that, during their flight to the Southwest, he and Nie Chen had almost kissed and been intimate right under Zhu Chu’s nose.

At that time, Zhu Chu had acted completely normal, and it seemed like he had never noticed their little gestures. Ke Xingzhou had already relaxed and was almost ready to forget about the incident.

But who would have thought that Zhu Chu had even figured out what brand of dried tangerine peel candy they were eating?

What else did Zhu Chu know?

Ke Xingzhou didn’t dare to think further.

The hand holding his was wide and warm. Nie Chen walked beside him, unhurried, his tall figure and striking appearance always attracting people’s attention.

As for Zhu Chu’s earlier behavior, Nie Chen didn’t say anything, his expression remained calm.

But Ke Xingzhou couldn’t shake the feeling that a storm was brewing.

Nie Chen had never been a particularly tolerant or magnanimous person. When they were younger, during the age when romantic feelings blossomed, many people were drawn to Ke Xingzhou’s handsome looks and excellent character and would hand him love letters.

Those people were both male and female, but Ke Xingzhou had never accepted any of them, rejecting them immediately.

But there was one time when Nie Chen found out. After that, Nie Chen, who was usually gentle, suddenly became frighteningly cold.

They were three years apart, and attended school in different grades, but from that day on, Nie Chen, who had always been trusting and tolerant toward him, suddenly began picking him up and dropping him off from school.

Nie Chen was tall and known as a top student, and his cold demeanor was quite intimidating.

On top of that, Ke Xingzhou’s parents’ meetings were always attended by Nie Chen, and the school thought Nie Chen was his older brother.After that, no one dared to hand Ke Xingzhou love letters in front of the “guardian,” but even after their relationship was confirmed, Nie Chen was always vigilant about the people around Ke Xingzhou, occasionally making it clear to them his existence and possessiveness.

After their reunion, Nie Chen’s possessiveness became even more overwhelming.

He always showed off the closeness of their relationship in front of Xie An and the others. Some of the posts he made, visible only to Xie An, were so ambiguous that even Ke Xingzhou himself blushed.

Fortunately, Xie An had a simple personality and never thought about things in that direction; otherwise, their relationship would have been exposed a long time ago.

Because of Nie Chen’s high profile and reckless behavior, seeing the quiet and calm Nie Chen now made Ke Xingzhou feel uneasy.

Ke Xingzhou glanced at Nie Chen’s expression with his peripheral vision, not paying much attention to the route, until Nie Chen suddenly stopped. It was only then that he realized something was wrong—everything around them seemed to have gone quiet quite some time ago.

He looked around; Zhu Chu and Assistant Liu had been left behind and were nowhere to be seen.

They were now in the underground parking lot, surrounded by silence, with only the sound of their footsteps and breathing echoing.

Nie Chen stepped forward and opened the passenger door, signaling for him to get in.

Ke Xingzhou blinked, feeling that Nie Chen seemed a little serious. After thinking for a moment, he still got in.

There was no driver in the driver’s seat. After Ke Xingzhou got in, Nie Chen walked around to the other side and skillfully started the car.

But he didn’t drive off.

Ke Xingzhou was somewhat puzzled. He turned his head and was about to ask Nie Chen what was wrong when he saw that the latter had raised his hand and turned off the car lights. Only the artificial starlight from the ceiling remained, emitting a faint glow.

“Niev Chen?”

As soon as Ke Xingzhou spoke, a hot breath came at him.

Nie Chen had somehow gotten closer, cupping his face, forcefully moving the dried tangerine peel candy from his mouth to Ke Xingzhou’s, and then bit down on his lip.

Ke Xingzhou’s face heated up, and he couldn’t help but moan softly.

...So sour.