Chapter 131

Blind Chen’s doubts were abruptly cut off by Guimenguan, who was desperate to escape a 007-style work schedule.

He wasn’t an official underworld employee, and even Guimenguan himself had agreed to Liancheng’s proposed work system—what else was there for him to say?

Blind Chen thought for a moment. “Fine. This way, the two of us can keep an eye on him at all times, to prevent him from being deceived by the demon clan again.”

He glanced down at Guimenguan.

Being suspected like this, Guimenguan didn’t dare utter a single word.

Honestly, he felt that all the tricks and beatings he’d suffered on this trip were totally worth it. Just earning all of the underworld one day off per week—this achievement alone was enough for him to brag about for tens of thousands of years.

Once he got back, he might very well become a hero in the eyes of every ghost officer in the underworld!

Guimenguan was overjoyed. He even felt he wouldn’t be scolded when he returned. Just imagining all the ghost officers bowing and thanking him as they passed by made him feel so proud that he was practically glowing. Suddenly, even the earlier moment when Liancheng pointed an arrow at him didn’t feel so hard to accept.

After all, family looks out for family. Uncle Liancheng must not have really meant to kill him with that arrow—he was probably just trying to shut up those stubborn old fogeys in the underworld!

He shared this thought with Blind Chen. The latter fell silent for a moment, looking at Liancheng, who was already walking toward Ke Xingzhou, and thought to himself, You might be mistaken.

Just as he had that thought, he saw Liancheng reach Ke Xingzhou and, under the latter’s puzzled gaze, hand over a miniature bow once again.

Ke Xingzhou: “?”

He was a little confused. Was this for stamp collecting?

He patted his pocket—only to realize the mini bow he had originally placed there was gone. It was the one Liancheng had given him last time at the Huangquan Inn.

Ke Xingzhou looked at the identical bow in front of him, then at Liancheng, not sure what he meant by this.

Liancheng spoke in a low voice, “Didn’t you like it?”

Ke Xingzhou’s fingers twitched slightly.

He did like it quite a lot.

To be honest, when he first joined the Xiaoyao Sect, he had considered what kind of weapon to use as his ritual tool. But his immense strength made it hard to find a tool that suited him.

Common tools like peach wood swords or coin swords that most Taoists used felt too limiting for him.

Even talisman papers had taken him a long time to adapt to.

This bow wasn’t a conventional ritual tool used for exorcisms—it probably couldn’t even be taken on a subway or airplane—but the moment he held it, the sense of compatibility made him feel as if it was made just for him.If Ke Xingzhou hadn't known that the value of this item was far beyond what his current merit could afford, he had almost considered keeping it for himself just now.

But since Liancheng had already given it to him before and nothing happened while he carried it, it should be fine to take it again now, right?

Ke Xingzhou had already been eyeing this thing—after all, it had been valuable enough for Chen the Blind to trade the entire Wanli Group just to get it. After trying out its complete form today, he found it even harder to resist the bow.

He thought for a moment and finally accepted it, though with some hesitation: “What do you want in return?”

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Ke Xingzhou had learned this lesson long ago. Back then, he would do fortune-telling and find missing cats, and he still might not earn enough for a meal. Now Liancheng had given him such a precious magical item, and from start to finish hadn’t asked for anything in return—that in itself was suspicious.

Not to mention, he’d just overheard them conspiring about moving something.

Ke Xingzhou eyed Liancheng cautiously, wary that he might ask for something outrageous.

While the Xiaoyao Sect wasn’t his own property, it was the only remaining connection to his master, who loved to travel and whose whereabouts were still unknown. Even though Liancheng had just helped him reclaim the Xiaoyao Sect, he couldn’t allow him to scheme anything against it.

Liancheng sensed his wary gaze and paused.

“There is indeed something I need to discuss with you,” he said gently. Under Ke Xingzhou’s sudden alert stare, he continued, “Guimenguan has been demonized. He can’t be allowed to remain in the underworld unchecked.”

Ke Xingzhou: “...So?”

He figured Liancheng wasn’t about to ask him to supervise Guimenguan, right? What was the Xiaoyao Sect, some kind of massive daycare?

Then he heard Liancheng say, “So I plan to move the Huangquan Inn over.”

Ke Xingzhou: “?”

Move what over?

--

The Cultural and Tourism Bureau staff were still heartbroken that the hard-earned money-making project had just gone down the drain, when the two culprits strolled toward them together.

Ke Xingzhou’s gaze fell on them, and to their surprise, there was actually a hint of guilt in his expression, which made their hearts jolt.

When Ke Xingzhou had demanded the return of the Xiaoyao Sect earlier, he had been so righteously aggressive, showing no awareness that he was taking away the result of someone else’s hard work.

Now that he was showing this kind of expression, everyone felt a chill down their spines—it felt like they were about to get screwed over again.

Director Wen’s voice trembled slightly: “Daoist Ke, is there... anything else you need?”

To be honest, Ke Xingzhou did feel a bit bad facing the kind-hearted people of the Tourism Bureau who had helped restore the Xiaoyao Sect. But what Liancheng had offered him was simply too much. After hesitating again and again, he still couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

The Cultural and Tourism Bureau staff saw Ke Xingzhou give an embarrassed little smile before finally saying, “Here’s the thing—I plan to build an inn inside the Xiaoyao Sect.”

“...” Director Wen looked at the overly young Daoist in front of him with a complicated expression and carefully asked, “Are you... hoping we could recommend a construction team for you?”

Surely he wasn’t going to ask them to work for free again, right?

Everyone from the bureau stared at Ke Xingzhou warily, terrified that he might actually propose something that outrageous.

Even if they didn’t have to agree to it, just suggesting such a thing would already be extremely offensive!

Thankfully, Ke Xingzhou waved his hand and said, “No, no. I’ll find someone myself to build the inn—no need to trouble you all.”The people from the Culture and Tourism Bureau couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

As long as they didn’t have to build it themselves.

But before they could fully relax, they heard Ke Xingzhou continue, “However, some of my followers prefer to come to the sect to offer incense. Previously, they mistakenly believed this place had already been returned to the Xiaoyao Sect and came to inspect it. The promotional materials from the Culture and Tourism Bureau had also captured panoramic shots of the Taoist temple. If a guesthouse suddenly appears, I’m worried it might raise suspicion. At that time, I hope the Bureau can help clarify things.”

It was rare for Ke Xingzhou to speak so politely, and since he was very good-looking, the people from the Bureau couldn’t help but trust him from the bottom of their hearts as they listened, nodding along subconsciously.

Director Wen, being more experienced, wasn’t so easily swayed.

But he thought to himself that this kind of mortise-and-tenon structure was already rare, and even if someone wanted to build it, just finding the wood and confirming the construction schedule would take quite some time. By the time Ke Xingzhou and his people finished this so-called guesthouse, it would probably be half a year later.

In any case, the land had already been confirmed to belong to the Xiaoyao Sect, and it was unlikely they could take it back. Just helping to clarify the situation didn’t seem like a big deal.

Since the tourist experience base was suddenly turning into a real Taoist temple, they were already planning to notify the followers who had been interested in the base.

After thinking it through, he felt there was no issue and nodded readily. “This is something we ought to do anyway. Of course. When the time comes, just let us know, Daoist Ke, and we’ll fully cooperate.”

Ke Xingzhou was clearly delighted. “Thank you all so much!”

Even Liancheng, unusually, added, “Much appreciated.”

Director Wen waved it off, thinking: what’s so hard about that?

Nothing could be harder than the pain of working tirelessly for over half a year on a project, only for it to become someone else’s private property.

Of course, he still said what was expected. First, he reflected on how his subordinates hadn’t properly investigated the situation and had occupied the Xiaoyao Sect’s private land without authorization. Then, he expressed his gratitude to Ke Xingzhou and his group for resolving the ghost gate illusion incident.

“…Speaking of which, if it weren’t for you and the other Daoists, and these two immortals from the underworld, who knows what things would’ve turned out like.” Director Wen said with some emotion. “In any case, this is our responsibility. If you need anything, just let us know.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a tangible gaze on him.

Director Wen looked in that direction and met Chen the Blind’s dull, gray eyes.

Chen the Blind shook his head at him. “You’d best not.”

Best not what?

Director Wen was confused.

Before he could figure out what Chen the Blind meant, he heard Ke Xingzhou speak with a smile: “Perfect timing. You all can start preparing now.”

Director Wen: “?”

This Daoist Ke hadn’t even contacted a construction crew yet, and he already wanted them to begin the PR work? Wasn’t that a bit too eager?

The next moment, Liancheng suddenly raised his hand.

Everyone felt their vision blur—and in the blink of an eye, a sizable guesthouse appeared before them, just like that.

The guesthouse looked like it had been around for years, but its architectural style somehow blended perfectly with the Xiaoyao Sect. Even though it was located on the site of the former fake “Ghost Gate,” its large size reduced the top-heavy look and even matched the feng shui perfectly.

The people from the Culture and Tourism Bureau silently looked up and saw the signboard under the eaves bearing four bold and unrestrained characters—【Yellow Springs Inn】.

Ke Xingzhou: “It’s built. You all can start the PR now.”

Director Wen: “……???”

--

Since the Ghost Gate was subdued, the long-overcast skies in the southern part of the city finally cleared up.

The earlier rumors about someone transcending a tribulation during the thunderstorm also faded into joke material as new gossip took over. Even the videos released by the media were dismissed by netizens as fake edits meant to scare people.

Lately, what people in the capital most enjoy chatting about over tea and meals are a few things related to the Xiaoyao Sect.

One was that the “Xiaoyao Sect Taoist Culture Experience Base,” often mistaken as the real Xiaoyao Sect location, had unexpectedly become its official address. All previous tourism info was deleted from the base’s website, and even the Baidu Encyclopedia page had updated the sect's location to that address.

The internet was abuzz with speculation.

Some said the two were originally the same anyway—photos from tourists visiting the “Experience Base” clearly showed that the signboard had been weathered by wind and rain for a long time, so it wasn’t something newly made and hastily hung.

And it had always seemed odd that such a famous Taoist temple like the Xiaoyao Sect had no official location.

Others suspected that this was a long-planted scheme by the Xiaoyao Sect, set in motion half a year ago just to drop the news before the All-Round Idol semifinals and draw traffic for Ke Xingzhou.

But as soon as those opinions came out, fans of Xiaoyao Sect jumped on them.

【If you want to talk about when Xiaoyao Sect was at peak popularity, it was definitely when the lucky charms first showed effects, right? The charms went viral with over a billion shares. If Ke Xingzhou wanted to convert that to traffic, he could’ve done it then. Think a little—why would he wait till now?】

【Exactly. And on the All-Round Idol show, Ke Xingzhou is already way ahead in popularity. Even a lot of the contestants—like Xie An, An Heguang, and Ke Yuanbai—are his fans and asked their own fans to give their extra vote to Ke Xingzhou.】

【Makes you wonder if some people commenting on the show even watch it—they don’t know the popularity rankings at all... With the kind of status Ke Xingzhou has now, he doesn’t need entertainment gossip to gain attention. If anything, he’s the one bringing traffic to Xiaoyao Sect.】

So those who had accused Ke Xingzhou of using the incident for hype all went quiet, not daring to provoke the angry crowd again. Meanwhile, another topic began resurfacing in discussions—

At the Ke family residence, a group of rich ladies from Beijing sat together drinking tea and discussing Xiaoyao Sect.

One asked, “Have you been to the new Xiaoyao Sect site? I ended up there by mistake once and thought, since I’m here, I might as well take a look around. Guess what? This time when I went, something felt... off.”

“Aren’t they just a bunch of wooden houses? What’s different?”

“You’re used to coming here to the Ke residence to offer incense. Suddenly going to a real temple probably just felt unfamiliar to you.”

The lady shook her head, insisting her odd feeling wasn’t without reason.

A short-haired woman chimed in, “It is different. Back when it was still a Taoist culture experience base, I went there several times with my husband’s clients. Back then, there wasn’t an inn. But recently, a new inn suddenly appeared—and it doesn’t look newly built either. No idea which construction crew did it, but their craftsmanship is top-notch.”

Some other ladies who had just arrived overheard and jumped into the conversation.

“You don’t know the half of it. That inn has quite the mysterious background. Rumor has it the place where the Ghost Gate incident happened is exactly where the inn now stands. The media had just reported on it, and suddenly an inn popped up. That construction speed was faster than a rocket.”

She paused, then lowered her voice: “And weird things are happening lately. People living nearby often go for walks there and say the inn’s lights stay brightly lit through the night. Inside, people in strange costumes are drinking. Some even say they saw their recently deceased relatives there!”

Everyone gasped in amazement—and a bit of fear.

“No way, right? That’s a Taoist temple. Xiaoyao Sect’s temple, no less. Can monsters and ghosts really come near such a sacred place?”"I don't know either, I just heard it..." the lady muttered quietly. "Oh right, Wanru, isn't Master Ke your adopted son? Some people online are saying that haunted house he runs uses real ghosts—is that true?"

Jiang Wanru let out an "Ah?" and looked a little confused.

To be honest, ever since Ke Xingzhou left the countryside, he hadn't been very close to her and rarely came home.

As for his whole Xiaoyao Sect thing, she'd only heard about it from her girlfriends—she might even know less than these rich ladies.

So when she was suddenly asked about it, she didn’t even know how to answer.

Just then, Ke Zhengye happened to be walking past the garden for some reason. Hearing their conversation, he snorted coldly: “All this ghost nonsense—superstitious rubbish! If he really had that kind of ability, why not summon those ghosts to work at my company?”

The rich ladies who often visited the Ke household all knew Ke Zhengye’s temper. They exchanged glances but ignored him.

Ke Zhengye stood there for a moment, and when no one responded, he stormed off: “I’m going to work!”

Jiang Wanru looked baffled: “That’s not even the way to his office. He deliberately came over just to scold us? Seriously, what’s wrong with him...”

The rich ladies all looked at her with deep sympathy.

Having a husband with such a bad temper and a few screws loose—no one else had it this rough. But at least he handed over his salary and bonuses, and didn’t restrict her spending.

Most importantly, he had adopted such a capable son.

But if even Ke Zhengye was saying that, then the stuff online must just be rumors, right?

Come to think of it, the haunted house’s location was over in the business park in the west side of the city. Even if there really were ghosts, they’d have already been scared off by all the frustrated office workers there. No way they’d still be around.

The rich ladies all felt relieved and went back to enjoying their rare peaceful afternoon tea.

“When we have time, let’s go check out the haunted house ourselves. I heard they’ve updated with a bunch of new storylines—it’s supposed to be super fun.”

“You all go, I still prefer the original script,” a young girl sighed.

The other ladies looked at each other in confusion. Someone asked, “Wanru, what’s going on with your niece?”

Jiang Wanru gave an awkward smile and explained what had happened: “Here’s the thing—she heard that Xingzhou had opened a haunted house and insisted on going. While playing, she ran into one of their NPCs and thought he was really handsome. But no matter what she did, she couldn’t get his contact info—and apparently he even tricked her.”

Everyone was surprised—tricked? In a haunted house?

“How did he trick you?”

Jiang Wanru’s niece sniffled and said sadly, “He said he was at least thirty years older than me... and the contact info he gave me was some weird charm paper. He told me to burn it at midnight to reach him...”

The rich ladies’ expressions darkened. They slapped the table in anger.

“Unbelievable, that’s way too much!”

“If he didn’t want to give his contact info, he should’ve just said so—why scare someone like that?”

“Outrageous! I’m calling them right now to file a complaint on your behalf!”

Meanwhile, at the haunted house—

“Unbelievable!” grumbled a headless ghost, fuming. “How could that customer do that? Asked for your number, didn’t contact you for ages, and now she’s calling to complain?”The handsome male ghost let out a long sigh: “Forget it, in the end, people and ghosts walk different paths. I suppose we just weren’t fated... By the way, how’s the situation going with those people smearing us online? Have we found the culprit?”

“We found the computer.” The headless ghost scratched his neck. “But when we followed the internet cable over, the place was already empty. And it was so weird—some remote, desolate mountain area where not even birds poop. The ground was all dry and cracked. Makes you wonder how unambitious someone has to be to hole up in that kind of place just to be a hater!”

In the “remote, desolate mountain area” of the demon realm, a demon who was reporting to his superior suddenly sneezed.

“Hm?”

The demon god seated above shot him a glance, and the enormous pressure of that gaze immediately flattened him to the floor. The demon quickly snapped back to attention and dropped to his knees in a panic: “L-Lord Demon God, that Xiaoyao Sect is just too cunning! They’ve already brainwashed the residents of the human world—they won’t fall for anything!”

The demon god’s face darkened. “Useless!”

The demon trembled on the ground, not daring to utter a word in protest.

Only after a long time did the demon god speak again: “Think of another way. The Xiaoyao Sect must be destroyed. We cannot allow them to ruin our plans again.”

The demon acted like he had received a royal pardon, nodding frantically and bowing repeatedly before vanishing from the hall.

The demon god looked at the empty thrones around him, hatred flashing in his eyes.

“Xiaoyao Sect… always the Xiaoyao Sect!”

--

Gu family residence.

Gu Xicheng had just stepped out of Old Master Gu’s study when the butler informed him that Xie Baiqiu had arrived and had been waiting in the downstairs living room for quite some time.

His expression shifted slightly, the gloom on his face easing a little. The butler also reminded him that a master introduced by a business partner was waiting in the guest reception room.

Gu Xicheng frowned and threw out, “Just follow the usual procedures,” before quickly heading downstairs toward the living room.

From a distance, he saw that slender figure, and his heart beat a little faster. He took a deep breath to calm himself before approaching with a composed smile.

“You're here. Why didn’t you tell me in advance?”

Xie Baiqiu turned around. Her beautiful face overlapped with Xie An’s from the live stream, only hers carried less youthful innocence and more sharpness.

She had just finished her best friend’s funeral, and the fatigue still lingered in her expression. She simply gave a faint smile at his question: “I haven’t been waiting long. How’s Grandpa Gu doing? Still the same?”

Gu Xicheng shook his head, not wanting to say more.

He took the coat from the butler and glanced at the image on Xie Baiqiu’s phone. “Is this the master you mentioned before?”

The stream had just cut to Ke Xingzhou’s face. Xie Baiqiu’s expression grew a bit more serious, and she nodded devoutly. “That’s him. Are you done with your work? Shall we go now?”

Gu Xicheng frowned slightly. He felt a bit doubtful about this so-called master who looked far too young.

But after looking at Xie Baiqiu again, her firm expression made him waver a little. After a moment’s thought, he gave a small nod. “Let’s go.”