Chapter 125

Putting aside the matter of allocating land to Xiaoyao Sect for now, the issue with the Taoist Cultural Experience Base urgently needed to be addressed. Director Wen directly arranged for a car to take both Ke Xingzhou and his disciple to the southern suburbs of the capital.

Ke Xingzhou felt nauseous from the car ride and was uncomfortable the entire way, feeling dizzy and craving dried tangerine peel candy.

Despite this, when Zhu Chu offered him the candy a few times, he only ate a couple of bites before spitting it out. He thought the candy Zhu Chu gave him tasted sour and made him feel worse.

Zhu Chu looked at him with a pitiful expression, as if about to cry, wondering why his candy wasn’t good enough when his junior’s was fine.

The candy had been stolen from his junior at great personal risk, after all!

Ke Xingzhou wasn’t in the mood to comfort his eldest disciple’s wounded heart, as they had arrived at Xiaoyao Sect.

As soon as they got out of the car, everyone felt the unique atmosphere of the place.

Ke Xingzhou had just gotten out of the car when he was bumped by someone passing by. At the same time, there was a commotion from Zhu Chu, who had also gotten out of the car: “Hey, watch where you're going!”

“There’s barely any road here, why did you have to drive in?”

“Hey, whose car is that over there? No parking here! Move it, don’t delay the tourists from going in!” A security guard walked over with a baton, complaining into his walkie-talkie, “Didn't we say no cars allowed on the mountain? What are you guys doing?”

Ke Xingzhou steadied himself and looked up, seeing a dense crowd of people at the entrance ahead. Occasionally, a hand or selfie stick would rise above, capturing the bustling scene of people flowing in.

On both sides of the road, there were various small stalls, and the vendors hurriedly shoved their products in front of him: “Hey, handsome, want a safety charm? A marriage charm... a weight-loss charm... or if not, a career charm could work too! These are all official Xiaoyao Sect charms, blessed!”

The vendor tried a few different pitches before finally finding the right product to offer Ke Xingzhou.

Ke Xingzhou looked at the charm paper, neatly trimmed with clear printing, and immediately recognized it as something printed: “…No, thank you.”

He turned to look for his eldest disciple when he suddenly heard Zhu Chu apologize to the vendor and then cry out, “Hey, where’s my wallet? That person just now, stop! Ah, ah, ah, thief!”

Ke Xingzhou: “…”

Director Wen and the others: “…”

Director Wen was extremely embarrassed, quickly ordering someone to check the security footage to catch the thief, while explaining to Ke Xingzhou: “Lately, there has been a lot of talk online that the experience base allows people to see the gates of the underworld. Many netizens found it curious and rushed over to visit…”

He looked up at the densely packed crowd on the mountain road, his expression conflicted with worry yet uncontrollably pleased.

This Taoist Cultural Experience Base had never seen such a large crowd before.

—Except for when Ke Xingzhou’s fortune-telling video went viral, and a group of people mistakenly thought this place was his Xiaoyao Sect, and they came over to check it out by mistake.

Director Wen still remembered how the person in charge had been so excitedly reporting the good news one second, only to burst into tears the next: “Director, they’re asking for a refund!”Now, the crowd was genuinely coming for their "Xiaoyao Sect Taoist Cultural Experience Base."

If only those bizarre supernatural events hadn’t happened.

This matter was no small issue. Before Director Wen sought help from Ke Xingzhou, he had already contacted other Taoist priests from the Taoist Association of the capital.

They were all familiar faces: Li, the leader of Changsheng Temple, Taoist Qian, the leader of Qingyun Temple, and several other Taoists whom Ke Xingzhou had met at the previous Dharma assembly. When they saw Ke Xingzhou, they all greeted him first: "Taoist Ke."

Ke Xingzhou nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Although he hadn’t met his master at the previous Dharma assembly, not only had he earned some compensation from the spirits, but he had also gained a lot of merit from Yan Xing. Ke Xingzhou had a slightly improved opinion of these Taoists.

They were people who could help him make money.

Therefore, he wasn’t as cold as before and naturally started chatting with them: "What’s going on with the gates of the underworld? Have you heard anything, Qingyun Temple leader?"

He remembered that Qingyun Temple was famous among local Taoist temples for being able to communicate with the underworld's emissaries. Previously, when the Nine-headed Dragon cult had used dark magic to harm ordinary people, the leader of Qingyun Temple had been the first to discover it.

Such a big event must have already been reported to the underworld, right?

Director Wen only then remembered that Qingyun Temple indeed had some peculiar abilities, which his subordinates had mentioned when reporting.

He then turned his attention to the leader of Qingyun Temple: "Qingyun Temple has such abilities? What’s the underworld's response?"

The leader of Qingyun Temple: "…"

Other Taoists: "…"

The Taoists’ expressions became subtle, with a hint of relief—fortunately, they hadn’t widely publicized that their temple leader could communicate with the realm of the dead.

The leader of Qingyun Temple was extremely awkward: "The ghost emissary has been very busy with official duties lately and hasn’t appeared in the mortal realm for a long time. I’ve also been unable to contact them."

Director Wen sighed and nodded: "I see. It seems like the underworld’s work is also quite heavy, and maybe there was an error in the rush of tasks here."

The Taoists thought Director Wen was quite optimistic.

Before coming here, they had already checked various records. Apart from some references in folklore stories mentioning the opening of the gates of the underworld during the Ghost Festival, such occurrences of the gates appearing in the mortal realm were virtually unheard of.

Since the Ghost Festival was still far away, and most of the photos online had been taken during the morning or evening, it was clearly an abnormal situation.

The underworld had existed since the beginning of creation, operating for millions of years. If errors were truly made due to a busy workload, the world would have long descended into chaos.

However, previously, there had been frequent disturbances from benevolent ghosts, and regions like the Southwest had seen the birth of far more supernatural creatures than they had ever encountered, not to mention the demons that recently broke their seals and caused chaos—things that had never been heard of before.

The Taoists looked at the continuous stream of visitors entering the experience base and couldn’t help but sigh.

Sigh, they still didn’t know what kind of error had occurred this time.

The Taoists looked up at the sky. The southern region had been overcast for several days, and the gray sky gave a suffocating sense of impending rain.

The group, each with their own thoughts, arrived at the place where the gates of the underworld were reportedly first filmed.

This area had already been cordoned off by the staff to prevent tourists from entering. However, since there were other places where the gates of the underworld had been captured, to avoid unnecessary panic, no special protections had been put in place at those locations.Ke Xingzhou and Zhu Chu followed the Daoist priests into the restricted area. Immediately, they felt a damp, cold sensation cling to them. Zhu Chu couldn’t help but shiver.

The priests had already placed opening symbols, but after scanning the area, they found no signs of the ghost gate.

Zhu Chu jumped onto a nearby century-old tree, shielding his eyes with his hand to look into the distance. “Is it over there? I see a building's spire emerging from the mist. I saw tourists heading that way.”

“That’s the artificial ghost gate,” Director Wen explained. “Since the New Year, when the area was reopened to tourists, there have been photos of the ghost gate being taken in different locations. We were worried that if the situation continued, it would cause panic, so we decided to build a temporary ‘ghost gate’ and tell everyone it's a hall under construction.”

Fortunately, this explanation was accepted by most of the online community.

After all, people usually enjoy ghost stories to add some excitement to their dull lives, but who could handle an actual haunting? Could it be that decades of understanding the world were all fake?

As a result, aside from the few people who insisted their photos showed something other than a normal building, most people used scientific explanations like “mirage” to justify the strange phenomenon.

“But you can't keep the fire covered with paper,” Director Wen said, “There are too many people coming to the experience base to investigate the truth, and I’m afraid they’ll discover the reality sooner or later.”

As he finished speaking, his phone suddenly rang. After listening for a few moments, his expression changed.

He hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Someone has witnessed the ghost gate again, and this time there was an accident! I'm afraid I’ll need the Daoist priests to come with me again.”

An ambulance was parked in the experience base plaza, and a young man, his eyes tightly closed, was being carried onto the stretcher, barely breathing.

The tourists were blocked outside, frantically taking pictures with their phones. Some angrily questioned the experience base’s manager, “What’s going on? Didn’t you say the ghost gate was fake? How come my friend fainted just walking past it?”

“Is this just a way to quiet down the rumors? I can still smell the formaldehyde, it's not even gone yet! Are you trying to kill the tourists?”

“Formaldehyde isn’t arsenic, it won’t kill you right away. But that young man was really scared. He was still moving his feet, and suddenly his eyes closed and he collapsed…”

“That door really isn’t the ghost gate, is it?”

The crowd erupted into chaos. Many tourists, preparing to take photos at the “ghost gate,” froze and started discussing.

Fortunately, the Daoist priests were in casual clothes this time, so they didn’t cause further panic among the tourists. However, when they squeezed through the crowd, one of the priests had his beard yanked off, and another lost his shoes.

Zhu Chu checked his pocket. “My phone’s been stolen! Damn it!”

Ke Xingzhou: “...”

Director Wen smoothed his disheveled hair and, out of breath, spoke up. “Did the Daoist priests hear the tourists’ discussions? A new trend of photo-taking has recently emerged online, similar to those photos of crossing two-country borders. Many tourists have come to take pictures of ‘one foot stepping into the ghost gate.’ This incident happened while one of the tourists was taking such a photo. Someone has already uploaded the picture online!”

One of his subordinates handed over a phone. Ke Xingzhou leaned over to take a look. The photo was of the young man collapsing earlier.

However, the comments were focused not on the young man, but on the “ghost gate” that appeared in the corner of the photo.

[Wait, is it the blogger’s phone malfunctioning, or is it my eyes? How come there’s a double image of the ghost gate?]

[I told you the ghost gate of the Xianyao Sect is real! You all didn’t believe me! Their talisman is very effective. It even helped someone win a luxury mansion worth millions before!]

[The person above must be a fake fan, right? This Xianyao Sect is a Daoist cultural tourism experience base, not Master Ke’s Xianyao Sect! Master Ke’s Xianyao Sect is located in a residential area and a filming base!]

Ke Xingzhou: “...”Zhu Chu: "……"

The Taoist priests enlarged the photo and immediately understood: "This is bad, the real ghost gate is overlapping with this door!"

The head of Qingyun Temple looked helpless: "How is this still a trend? Passing through the ghost gate isn't a good omen!"

For ghosts, passing through the ghost gate is naturally a good thing, as it means they can successfully enter the underworld for reincarnation. But for the living to step into the ghost gate, isn't that seeking death?!

At the hospital, the young man's soul had indeed already left his body. A chain was wrapped around his neck, floating beside his bed, with a bewildered expression.

His companions, who had come with him to visit and take pictures, were crying beside the bed, bawling, "Brother, wake up! You can't die, you still owe me two hundred bucks and thirteen lighters!"

The Taoist priests: "……"

The Cultural Tourism Bureau staff: "……"

A staff member from the "Xiaoyao Sect Taoist Cultural Experience Base" approached to ask the family to step outside to discuss compensation. The Taoist priests took the opportunity to check the young man's condition.

The head of Qingyun Temple’s face darkened: "He’s indeed had his soul taken."

Director Wen was shocked: "Was it by a ghost messenger?"

The head of Qingyun Temple hesitated briefly and said that he wasn't exactly sure about the specifics. He had only heard of such things in tales, and only said 'soul taken' because he was used to it.

Only ghost messengers have the authority to take a living person’s soul, he vaguely agreed.

Ke Xingzhou watched as the golden light of merit on his body was suddenly diminished by a small chunk.

Ke Xingzhou: "……"

The head of Qingyun Temple also felt a chill on his head. After thinking for a moment, he added, "But it’s not necessarily the case. Ghost messengers usually take souls according to the life and death register, and this shouldn't happen. We should perform a ritual to bring his soul back first."

He was carefully covering for his previous attitude, but unfortunately, in Ke Xingzhou's line of sight, the merit golden light he lost with one sentence didn’t return.

The Taoist priests present were all highly respected figures in the capital, so performing a soul retrieval ritual was naturally no problem.

However, since Qingyun Temple had some connections with ghost messengers, everyone allowed him to go first.

Qingyun Temple’s head unexpectedly glanced at Ke Xingzhou, who was looking at him with a confused expression. After a brief silence, he composed himself and began to perform the ritual.

The other Taoist priests were curious about how Qingyun Temple contacted the ghost messengers, so they all stood by and carefully observed.

The hospital didn’t have the conditions for a proper offering table or incense, so the head of Qingyun Temple had to make do. He placed a stack of gold paper on the small table beside the bed, then began... folding gold ingots.

The Taoist priests: "……"

The head of Qingyun Temple’s face flushed, his hands moving quickly to fold a whole table of gold ingots. Then, he took a metal basin, threw a fire talisman into it, and a purple-red flame immediately erupted from the empty basin.

The head of Qingyun Temple muttered incantations, tossing the gold ingots into the fire. After about ten or so ingots, the flame finally changed, and a black, pitch-black hand stretched through the fire, grabbing all the remaining gold ingots from the small table.

After a whirlwind of action, the fire in the metal basin suddenly flared up, and a ghost messenger with chains poked its head out, impatiently staring at the head of Qingyun Temple: "What is it?"

Zhu Chu: "Wow!"

Although he had seen his master summon ghost messengers many times, this was the first time he saw one done entirely with money!Can this really succeed?

The other Taoist priests were also deeply respectful—ghost messengers are not summoned so easily. Forget using gold paper; if they could summon a ghost messenger, they’d be willing to pay any amount of money!

They had originally heard that Qingyun Temple had recently stopped performing soul retrieval rituals, and they thought there might have been some issue with their connection to the ghost messenger. Unexpectedly, it was still so solid!

In the past, summoning a ghost messenger usually required several failed attempts, but this time, it worked immediately.

The head of Qingyun Temple was overjoyed, hurriedly explaining the situation: "…Sir, could you check if the wrong soul was taken?"

The ghost messenger looked at the disembodied soul, still unclear-headed, then retracted its head.

Everyone heard the sound of frantic typing on a keyboard, and then the ghost messenger reappeared, stepping out of the fire and placing its hand on the chain.

The head of Qingyun Temple was delighted, and Director Wen thought the issue would be quickly resolved. But unexpectedly, the ghost messenger placed a tablet in front of the soul: "Your lifespan has ended. You’ve crossed the ghost gate and damaged one of my chains. Sign your name here and come with me!"

The young man’s ghost: "…"

Everyone: "…"

Director Wen was shocked and quickly tried to stop everything, but in the next second, the ghost messenger hurriedly dragged the young man's soul through the wall, leaving behind a sentence: "I still have official duties, so I won’t chat with you… Hey, here’s another one. You’ve profited from stealing others' work, exhausted your merit, and your lifespan is up. Come with me!"

A scream of despair came from the other side of the wall: "What did I steal?! Every penny I have, I earned through hard work! Why are you arresting me?"

The ghost messenger was reasonable, pausing for a moment as it likely checked the records.

A moment later, the ghost messenger's voice grew colder: "You’ve repeatedly recorded and distributed pirated books and films, stolen accounts for profit, with huge amounts of money involved, even impersonating others’ honor and slandering them. The court already ruled, and you're still arguing? Let’s go! The original author is waiting for you below!"

Everyone: "…"

Director Wen muttered: "So karma really exists..."

Just as they were processing this worldview shift, the young man's friend returned. Upon seeing the young man lying lifeless on the bed, with no rise and fall in his chest, his expression immediately changed, glaring fiercely at everyone in the room!

Director Wen: "…"

The Taoist priests: "…"

--

The young man had died suddenly from irregular shifts and poor sleep, unrelated to the experience center.

However, since he collapsed at the experience center and was later taken by the ghost messenger in front of them, even if the hospital immediately issued a death certificate, the experience center still couldn’t clear its name.

Seeing the young man's friend getting agitated and about to report them to the police and expose them online, they had no choice but to hold him down, get him to sign a confidentiality agreement, and summon the ghost messenger to clarify the situation.

The head of Qingyun Temple had a bad feeling when the chubby boy entered. Upon hearing they needed to summon the ghost messenger again, he felt his world go dark.

He had just succeeded in summoning once, and now they had to try again?

The second attempt, of course, failed. The head of Qingyun Temple had run out of gold paper, and there was no sign of the ghost messenger. He could only stand up with a face full of frustration, feeling close to tears.

Zhu Chu: "Wow, did the ghost messenger think this was his reward for hard work?"He shook his head and crossed off this method of summoning from his list of things to study.

So expensive, it’s painful.

The head of Qingyun Temple: "…"

Then came a cold snort, and everyone turned to see the young man’s friend, who was glaring at them with disdain, tossing the pen he had been holding aside.

The chubby boy’s expression was filled with disgust, his eyes full of hatred toward everyone: "Pretending to be gods and ghosts! You don’t really think that by doing this, you can cover up my friend’s death, do you?!"

Director Wen began to panic: "What’s going on? Is the ghost messenger unhappy with the payment? I can have someone buy more right now!"

The head of Qingyun Temple appeared embarrassed, but he cast an expectant look toward Ke Xingzhou.

Ke Xingzhou: "?"

Zhu Chu made full use of his understanding skills: "Master, wasn’t that ghost messenger taking all that money and not doing his job? Doesn’t that count as corruption?"

Director Wen: "?!"

The head of Qingyun Temple: "!!!"

No, that’s not what he meant!!

--

Amid the head of Qingyun Temple’s frantic explanations, Ke Xingzhou understood his intent.

So, he performed a ritual and summoned Lu Li.

Director Wen saw that Ke Xingzhou’s ritual was completely different from the head of Qingyun Temple’s; instead of using a metal basin, he simply tossed a talisman, then gently closed his eyes and quickly muttered a string of incantations. Suddenly, a wild gust of cold wind filled the hospital room.

The chubby boy, who had his face covered with the confidentiality agreement he had signed, originally wanted to scold them for pretending, but suddenly felt an intense heat on the top of his head.

Zhu Chu kindly placed two talismans on his eyes, patting his shoulder and signaling him to look: "The real ghost’s here!"

The chubby boy only felt a strange coldness over his eyes, and before he could roll his eyes and curse the person, he saw a figure wrapped in a black robe appear on the hospital bed that had been empty before.

Lu Li was busy, but still summoned by Ke Xingzhou, and upon appearing, he muttered: "Why have you been summoning me so much lately? You’re not falling in love with me, are you?"

Everyone: "…"

Ke Xingzhou was also speechless, pointing toward the chubby boy.

Zhu Chu immediately explained with enthusiasm: "Lord Ghost Messenger, here’s the situation. Our client this time specifically came to Beijing to cross the ghost gate, but something went wrong along the way. This one just wanted to see the ghost messenger and understand what happened to his friend after death."

The chubby boy: "…"

Upon hearing this, Lu Li was also puzzled. Who still chooses to walk through the ghost gate these days?

He didn’t know what had happened on the human side and thought Zhu Chu was using a metaphor for some dangerous action, so he didn’t take it to heart. Turning to meet the chubby boy’s gaze, he smiled kindly: "Hello, little fat one. What ghost messenger would you like to see? A judge, perhaps? Or do you prefer a soul reaper?"

The chubby boy: "…………"

The chubby boy rolled his eyes and fainted.