Chapter 116

Until Ke Xingzhou got up and left, the blind man was still trying to persuade him to sell the bow to him, even following him up the stairs.

But just as his foot stepped onto the stairs, he stopped, and even the sound abruptly ceased.

Ke Xingzhou was originally a bit annoyed by him, but seeing this, he couldn't help but turn around and look at him strangely.

The blind man's mouth was tightly shut, his hand still touching his face. When he saw Ke Xingzhou looking over, he immediately put it down and gave him a slight smile, as if asking: "What’s wrong? Any problem?"

Ke Xingzhou: "..."

The people here are all weird.

But thinking about it, this place is mixed with all sorts of beings from the three realms, both living and dead crowded together. If there were truly so-called "normal people," that would be the real ghost story.

His gaze swept downward, the lobby exactly like the inn in the mountains and forests. The guests inside all looked strange and bizarre but were able to get along and play together harmoniously. Suddenly, the faces of Xie An and the others popped up in Ke Xingzhou's mind.

The tangled thoughts instantly faded. Ke Xingzhou finally glanced at the blind man once more, then turned and quickened his pace upstairs to sleep.

Leaving the blind man standing rigidly on the spot, unable to move.

After the footsteps had disappeared for a while, presumably Ke Xingzhou had returned to his room, the blind man felt he regained control over his body and took several steps back into the lobby.

He seemed like he had just undergone intense physical exertion, unable to stand steadily, sweat coldly breaking out on his forehead.

When he came to his senses, he cursed in disbelief: "Liancheng, come out here! Are you kidding me? I was talking normally with my apprentice, and you set some kind of restriction on me?"

Liancheng, not knowing when he had appeared in the lobby, sat upright beside him. Hearing this, he only gave him a cold glance and then looked up at the plaque above the inn—

[No Going Upstairs].

Blind man: "..."

"Alright, Liancheng, you prioritize lust over friendship, huh? He can go up, you even prepared a room for him. I'm his master, why can't I go upstairs?"

"Heh." Liancheng sneered coldly. "Talking normally?"

The blind man instantly felt a bit guilty.

After a moment, still not convinced but with no better argument, he retorted: "You're the inn’s landlady, why are you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

When he said "landlady," Liancheng’s expression paused, lips pressing down.

He looked so serious that the blind man didn't dare to keep arguing. He scratched his nose, averted his gaze, and muttered to himself: "I was just teasing him, never intended to really take your original bow. Besides, your bow has no arrows left, even if I took it, it wouldn’t be of any use..."The more he spoke, the darker Liancheng’s expression became.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he waved his hand and sealed the blind man’s mouth again.

“Annoying.”

This time, the restriction he used was simple, and the blind man raised his hand to break it immediately, stomping in anger: “Ahhhh! I already backed down, and you still sealed my mouth? You think I’m annoying! In these ten thousand years, besides me, who else can talk to you? As soon as he comes back, you act like this—no wonder you have no friends!”

He ranted a lot, but Liancheng was completely unaffected and instead shot him a warning look.

“He is doing well now. Don’t say these things in front of him.”

The blind man frowned, his expression turning serious: “Are you sure? The world hasn’t been peaceful lately, many demons have escaped, news is coming from everywhere. If he’s not around, I’m afraid…”

“I said he’s doing well now.” Liancheng interrupted, his tone not allowing refusal. “Besides, he’s not ready yet.”

Blind man: “...”

He said no more.

Liancheng looked up toward Ke Xingzhou’s room, then turned and went upstairs, but didn’t head toward the room. Instead, he sat cross-legged there, completely losing all signs of life.

The surrounding humans, ghosts, demons, and beasts were all used to this. Only after Liancheng’s body stopped moving did they gather quietly to discuss.

“Did you see that? The landlady actually let that human go upstairs and even let him stay!”

“Wasn’t the second and third floor of the Yellow Springs Inn always closed? Duan Changsheng and the landlady have been friends for so many years, but he never went upstairs. Why does that annoying guy get to?”

“Come to think of it, does the Yellow Springs Inn really have a landlady? The landlady is obviously a man, so why do they call him the landlady?”

“Are you new here? You don’t even know that?”

“The story goes back ten thousand years…”

—

Capital City.

“…Mr. Nie?”

Nie Chen’s breath stalled as he slowly opened his eyes, meeting Assistant Liu’s worried gaze.

He pressed his lips: “Did I fall asleep again?”

Assistant Liu nodded.

He was holding last year’s financial report, reporting the group’s profits to him. After the report, waiting for Nie Chen’s instructions, he didn’t hear a word from his superior for a long time.

He looked up and found Nie Chen had fallen asleep.

After hearing Assistant Liu’s explanation, Nie Chen rubbed his forehead helplessly.

The reason he came back to the company, besides handling backlog work, was because this kind of thing had been happening frequently lately, and even he noticed something was wrong.

But after checking his body at the hospital, all indicators were normal—indeed, one could say better than ordinary people by far.Nie Chen had also suspected it might be due to metaphysics, but Ke Xingzhou was always by his side and had never noticed anything abnormal.

He had even subtly hinted to Zhu Chu, asking if he could tell whether something was wrong with his body.

The result was, of course, no.

Modern scientific examinations could not detect anything, nor could metaphysical methods discover any abnormality in his body, yet Nie Chen would occasionally fall into deep sleep, and when he opened his eyes again, time had unknowingly slipped away.

Even stranger was that, although he was in a deep sleep, when he woke up he was fully aware of everything happening around him and could even accurately recount it.

Nie Chen closed his eyes and let Assistant Liu leave first.

After resting for a moment, he recorded the time and place of this unconscious episode on his phone. Scrolling through the previous irregular records, his frown deepened.

Besides a full-body checkup, he also consulted a psychologist, who suggested that his condition might be due to another personality awakening inside him, trying to seize control of his body.

However, his body was not controlled—only asleep.

Nie Chen scoffed at this explanation, but this time he couldn’t help but look at his reflection in the glass.

For some reason, this time when he woke up, he felt inexplicably irritated, as if someone in a dream had made him angry.

After pondering for a moment, he added a note after today’s record:

[Emotional instability.]

—

Master didn’t return to the room all night, and only then did Zhu Chu realize his master truly didn’t want to share the same room with him.

He was heartbroken, staying up until late before finally dozing off, then forgetting the previous night’s events by morning, even greeting Ke Xingzhou proactively: “Master, did you sleep well last night?”

After speaking, he noticed Ke Xingzhou’s weary expression, seeming a little unhappy.

Then he noticed the small item in Ke Xingzhou’s hand: “Eh, is this model from the room? Such a delicate bow.”

Ke Xingzhou glanced at him and asked faintly, “If someone offered you the Wanli Group in exchange for this bow, would you trade?”

Zhu Chu: “?”

“Of course!” He answered without hesitation. “That’s the Wanli Group! Only exchanging for such a small ornament? Only a fool would do that!”

The fool himself: “...”

Unlike Zhu Chu, the more Ke Xingzhou thought about it at night, the more he felt he had suffered a big loss. Tossing and turning, he didn’t sleep all night and almost missed the time the dawn barrier opened.

Crossing the barrier, the scenery before his eyes shifted rapidly, and in a blink, he was back at the inn rented by Yan Xingwei.

No one noticed he had disappeared last night. Everything here was unchanged since he had been to the Yellow Springs Inn, but Ke Xingzhou felt as if he were in a different world—

He should have agreed to that blind man!

Sensing his dangerous thought, the golden light of merit on Ke Xingzhou’s body trembled again, trying to remind him to think about his own life.Ke Xingzhou naturally noticed and sighed deeply.

Zhu Chu was still imagining how wonderful life would be if he became the head of the Wanli Group. Seeing his master’s expression was off, he thought he was worried about money.

Come to think of it, not a single junior disciple in their entire sect was rich; it was normal for the master to feel psychological pressure.

He patted Ke Xingzhou’s shoulder like an experienced person, thinking he was being considerate: “It’s okay, we’ll be that rich sooner or later. Just a few more lifetimes to spend.”

Ke Xingzhou: “…”

“Besides, it’s just a hypothesis!” Zhu Chu waved his hand, laughing heartily. “No one would really trade the Wanli Group for this little thing, right?”

Ke Xingzhou: “…………”

Ke Xingzhou couldn’t listen anymore. Suddenly he raised his hand to interrupt and coldly asked, “How’s your coursework going?”

Zhu Chu: “…”

His grinning teeth instantly disappeared, and Zhu Chu frowned: “I’ll go to morning practice now.”

Without waiting for Ke Xingzhou to ask further, he hurriedly ran off.

Zhu Chu woke up relatively late. When he went downstairs, other Daoist priests from different temples had already finished their morning practice and noticed the master and disciple of Xiaoyao Sect who had just come downstairs.

Unlike the previous time when they first arrived, this time the Daoist priests present all greeted Ke Xingzhou proactively, and some Daoist priests from the local Taoist association also came over to make acquaintances.

Everyone’s gaze toward Ke Xingzhou was very complicated.

Previously, the people from the local Taoist association thought Xiaoyao Sect was just a newly established small temple that liked to stir up trouble online, so they didn’t think highly of Ke Xingzhou and his group.

But last night, Ke Xingzhou single-handedly subdued the divine beast Nine-Tailed Fox.

The Daoist priests were realistic: since Ke Xingzhou demonstrated his powerful strength, they immediately changed their attitude toward Xiaoyao Sect and no longer underestimated them.

Zhu Chu still loved socializing. Once the Daoist priests came over, he immediately revived with full energy.

During the conversation, the Daoist priests learned they planned to open a branch in the southwest and curiously asked, “Wasn’t Xiaoyao Sect just established at the end of last year? How come you’re opening a branch so soon?”

It’s actually quite normal for one temple to have branches in different places; many temples with different names still worship the same founding master.

But not everyone can just open a branch. Sometimes a small temple can’t even support its own disciples, let alone have extra energy to open branches elsewhere.

They originally thought Xiaoyao Sect was newly established, but it turned out to be a well-established big temple?

The Daoist priests couldn’t help but look at Xiaoyao Sect with new respect, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t recall another temple quietly making a fortune like this in the country.

Zhu Chu waved his hand and put on a serious expression: “We just happened to seize the opportunity. Like haunted houses, ghost movies, or the cleanup of the entertainment industry by beautiful demons—who would have thought such simple things had never been done before? Just lucky, that’s all.”

He kept being humble, even looking a little ashamed.

After all, their sect was quite unorthodox, but they had taken so many people’s jobs and were now opening branches—it was kind of embarrassing.

The Daoist priests: “…”

The Daoist priests from other places looked confused and turned to the people from the Capital City Taoist Association with a face that said, “What nonsense is he talking about?”The Daoist priests of the Capital City Taoist Association silently averted their gaze, wordlessly watching Zhu Chu and Ke Xingzhou.

They still didn’t fully understand what had happened in the southwest. The application materials for Xiaoyao Sect to establish a branch were submitted directly to the Southwest Taoist Association and were stuck with the president of that association, so the people in the capital naturally had no way of knowing.

Therefore, they had only just learned about Xiaoyao Sect’s plan to open a branch.

Daoist Priest Qian was dazed: “Beauties and demons cleaning up the entertainment industry? You... Daoist Ke, what exactly has your disciple done?”

Ke Xingzhou, still saddened over missing out on the huge sum of money, slowly raised his head and glanced at Daoist Qian.

He said nothing, but Zhu Chu beside him enthusiastically explained to Daoist Qian: “Ah, it’s just a new business for our Xiaoyao Sect!”

“...Business?”

Zhu Chu nodded heavily.

“This time going to the southwest, we found many demon seedlings worth cultivating. The current entertainment industry atmosphere is really bad—there aren’t even talent scouts, looks are poor, attitudes are bad, and skills are problematic. What are audiences even watching?” He sighed heavily, then shifted tone, “But spirits and demons are different.”

“They can transform into humans; that’s nature’s craftsmanship. Nature’s aesthetic is naturally first-class. More rare and precious is that when we visited, many demons were pure-hearted, neither arrogant nor impatient, with very serious learning attitudes. So we boldly introduced them, adding a performing arts department to our Xiaoyao Sect.”

The Daoist priests: “…?????”

Zhu Chu suddenly seemed to remember something, his eyes lighting up as he grabbed Yan Xingwei passing by and began to pitch: “Oh right, Director Yan. Is your crew still short of people?”

Yan Xingwei: “?”

The experience last night was too intense—the Nine-Tailed Fox insisted on sharing a room with him, leaving Yan Xingwei tense all night and barely able to sleep.

He was still half-asleep and hadn’t clearly heard what Zhu Chu said earlier, mistakenly thinking he meant the few people Ke Xingzhou had brought.

To be honest, those who can participate in the formal show “All-Around Idol” and survive until now generally don’t have major flaws in appearance or skills—Ke Xingzhou was an exception.

Ten years ago, Yan Xingwei’s level would never have given these idol newcomers a second glance, but now he was short on money, most people in the crew had left, and only the main creative team remained.

The people who left mostly played demon roles, and for the audience’s experience, they couldn’t just use ordinary extras.

If it was those few talent show contestants brought by Ke Xingzhou, it wouldn’t be impossible…

Yan Xingwei hesitated but slowly nodded, cautiously setting a requirement: “But they’d have to be quick learners. I’m not sure I can borrow enough money to rent the wire rigging for much longer.”

Who knew that when Zhu Chu heard this, he waved his hand generously: “What rigging? Our actors can jump into the sky by themselves!”

Yan Xingwei: “???”

Yan Xingwei’s drowsiness was instantly shocked awake, and he frowned: “Are you joking?”

It’s good for actors to be dedicated, but places where wire rigging is used are very dangerous. Even when suspended by wires, extreme caution is needed—how could they not use rigging?

Zhu Chu hurriedly explained how grand his sect’s acting troupe was and showed him photos of those spirits and demons they recruited in the southwest.

“You saw that one, the Nine-Tailed Fox, right? That figure, that temperament—who else could play that role?” Zhu Chu coaxed, “I’ve read your script; there are many minor but functional little demon roles. Be honest with yourself—would you feel right using ordinary people for those roles, then praising them as heavenly beauties?”

Yan Xingwei was immediately drawn into the argument.To be honest, although that Nine-Tailed Fox last night was annoying, her appearance after transforming into human form was indeed flawless.

Yan Xingwei almost instantly matched her to a character in his movie, but he had never thought of actually using a Nine-Tailed Fox to play the role.

Following Zhu Chu’s words, he imagined the scene and suddenly realized he could no longer accept that role being played by anyone else.

Even those actors he had initially cast when filming began.

For a movie to be good, audience immersion is very important. If even the director himself can’t accept a role, how can he expect the audience to accept it?

Yan Xingwei hesitated immediately: “Is this really feasible?”

“How could it not be?” Zhu Chu thought Yan was doubting the ability of his sect’s members and immediately made a call back to the capital, “You’re on break these days anyway. I’ll just bring them over, and you can see for yourself whether they’re capable.”

Yan Xingwei instinctively tried to stop him but ultimately didn’t.

The Daoist priests beside them were already dumbfounded, shocked and speechless watching all this unfold.

“Daoist Qian,” one of the priests couldn’t help but ask, “Is this allowed in your Capital City Taoist Association?”

Little did they know, Daoist Qian himself didn’t understand what exactly was happening before his eyes.

Wasn’t it said that this time Xiaoyao Sect went to the southwest to eliminate evil ways, and Special Events Bureau’s Xiang Ting went along too?

How could he possibly have approved Xiaoyao Sect doing this kind of thing!!

Out of trust for the Capital City Taoist Association and recognition of the Special Events Bureau’s credibility, the Daoist priests looked at each other and didn’t step forward to stop all this from happening.

When Zhu Chu finally finished his sales pitch and was pulling the overjoyed Yan Xingwei to leave, they suddenly realized their real purpose for today.

They seemed to have come to perform a ritual.

With complicated feelings, the Daoist priests met the rest of the crew through Yan Xingwei’s introduction and then went together to an open area to formally conduct the ritual.

The main creative team had met the Daoist priests yesterday, but the others still didn’t understand what was going on.

The lead actress Xixi, who had fainted from fear of being spied on yesterday, had also woken up and was helped over by the second female lead to watch the ritual.

Having so many veteran Daoist priests here was quite reassuring.

The lead actress’s complexion had improved a lot; her eyes gleamed with moisture as she kept glancing toward Yan Xingwei.

Zhu Chu, having forgotten his past pain, whispered gossip by Ke Xingzhou’s side: “Master, look, does the lead actress like Director Yan?”

He had already noticed yesterday when the lead actress escaped from the room, she immediately dove into Director Yan’s arms first. It was only because Director Yan dodged that someone else caught her.

Xie An and An Heguang had also come down and nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, as if heroes think alike.

An Heguang: “Definitely! I’ve seen that expression too many times. Every time someone tries to steal my mom’s man, they look at my dad with that kind of gaze.”

Everyone: “...”

Ke Yuanbai glanced at An Heguang, hesitating to speak: “...Our relationship isn’t that serious yet.”

An Heguang waved her hand, completely unbothered: “Don’t worry, my mom knows. Those people are only after my dad’s money; only my mom is blind and attracted to my dad himself.”Xie An let out a surprised "Eh": "Aren't your parents a business marriage?"

An Heguang shrugged: "With my mom’s temper, if she didn’t agree, even if my dad died, they’d never be buried in the same place."

Everyone: "..."

Everyone fell silent again. Zhu Chu couldn’t help but change the subject: "Look, the ritual seems to be starting."

Everyone immediately followed his lead and shifted their gaze to see the Daoist priests setting up ritual tools and busying themselves at their tables.

Since ordinary people were watching the ritual, the priests didn’t use overly spectacular spells; everyone just felt a warm sensation, and the unsettling mood caused by recent strange events slowly calmed down.

Many had never seen such a scene before, so their eyes were fixed on the ritual site, though a few didn’t care.

Xixi’s gaze kept following Yan Xingwei. When she saw him suddenly walk in a certain direction, she immediately thought it was a good chance to show her feelings. She used the excuse of going to the restroom to send away the roommate playing the second female lead and followed him alone.

Xixi had liked Yan Xingwei since ten years ago. Even though he had fallen on hard times now, she didn’t feel his charm had diminished in the slightest.

Xixi wasn’t some struggling actress; her family owned a company of moderate size, and investing in a movie was something she could manage.

As long as Yan Xingwei agreed to marry her, stay with her forever, and never contact other women, she could arrange for her parents to invest in Yan Xingwei’s movie and help him retire from the industry after finishing this film.

After preparing her plan, Xixi took a deep breath and stepped out, but she froze when she saw the scene around the corner.

Yan Xingwei was pinned against the wall by a tall, handsome man. Their heads were close together, seemingly... kissing?

Xixi stopped in her tracks, struck as if by lightning.