Chapter 40

After learning that Lu Li was just a bald programmer ghost official, Nie Chen’s expression noticeably softened.

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

He didn’t know why he felt the need to explain Lu Li’s identity to Nie Chen. After all, with their current relationship, honestly speaking, neither Nie Chen nor he had the position to inquire into each other’s lives.

But since he had already explained, it was whatever now. This wasn’t the time to get caught up in these details.

What bothered him now was how to deal with this group of kind ghosts.

When Lu Li sent them over, he had sworn that Ke Xingzhou had a place to settle these kind ghosts, but after thinking it through, Ke Xingzhou realized that aside from the filming base, there was no other viable option.

The Ke family was definitely not an option. Ke Xingzhou still wanted to resolve his karma with them, so what would it mean to bring a bunch of ghosts there?

Moreover, these kind ghosts weren’t “kind” at all, and if something went wrong, it could cause trouble.

He had originally thought that since there were already quite a few kind ghosts at the filming base, with the large area, and how sometimes the contestants wouldn’t see each other for days, it would be fine to place them here without worrying about triggering the "group activity" rule. It seemed perfect.

Who knew that as soon as they arrived, they ran into Nie Chen and the group of Taoists.

Now even the local ghosts would be chased out. It seemed like the filming base was no longer an option. But was he supposed to pay out of his own pocket to rent a dormitory for these ghosts?

Ke Xingzhou covered his phone and suddenly felt like it wasn’t worth it to get involved.

Nie Chen watched his actions, and a faint, not-so-obvious smile appeared in his eyes. After a while, realizing this was in front of Ke Xingzhou, the smile slowly spread, and he lowered his head, letting out a chuckle.

Ke Xingzhou shivered, turned around, and glared at him. "What are you laughing at?"

Nie Chen shook his head, coughed into his fist, and restrained his smile. "I have an idea about what to do with these kind ghosts."

Ke Xingzhou: "?"

The Taoist priests at Qingyun Temple were preparing for a ritual when they were suddenly told that the original ritual would no longer be performed and would be replaced by something else.

The staff from the production team were all dismissed, and they were taken to see Mr. Nie by the assistant to the president of Wanli Group.

Nie Chen had long since stopped being as easy-going in front of Ke Xingzhou. Even though the Taoist priests in front of him were ones who couldn’t be invited by ordinary people, his expression remained indifferent.

Once everyone had arrived, he got straight to the point. "I would like to trouble all the Taoist priests to gather the kind ghosts in the park and hand them over to this Taoist Master Ke."

Only then did everyone notice that there were two people behind Nie Chen.When the Taoist priests heard Nie Chen say that they would be handing the kind ghosts over to someone else, they thought it was some senior Taoist priest with a lot of experience. However, the people behind Nie Chen were younger and younger, and one of them seemed to be under 20.

Their gaze lingered between the two of them for a moment, and none of the Taoist priests dared to recognize them, their eyes quickly returning to Nie Chen.

"Mr. Nie, who exactly is this 'Taoist Ke' you’re referring to?"

When Nie Chen pointed to one particularly beautiful face among them, they all felt a little dizzy.

Some Taoist priests even scrutinized Nie Chen for a moment, thinking that he didn’t seem to have been bewitched by his looks, so why had he believed this young man’s ghostly talk?

Ke Xingzhou was young and had indeed met fewer people. When reading faces, he relied more on his Heavenly Eye, while the Taoists depended on their years of experience. They were not restricted by the shining light of merit.

Still, one of the Taoist priests tentatively asked, "Taoist Ke, may I ask who your master is and which temple you are affiliated with?"

When they heard the unfamiliar name "Xiaoyao Sect," the Taoist priest was momentarily confused. "Xiaoyao Sect? I don't think I've heard of it. Is it a newly established temple?"

He had only joined Qingyun Temple after traveling around, and had registered at several temples in different places. He had heard of many temple names, but had never heard of one called Xiaoyao Sect.

To be honest, the name sounded strange. Rather than a proper temple, it seemed more like a sect focused on indulgence and vice.

Looking at Ke Xingzhou, he didn’t seem much like a proper Taoist priest…

Just as he was doubting, another Taoist priest suddenly recalled. "I remember now, I’ve heard of the Xiaoyao Sect. Isn’t that the one where the Cultural Tourism Bureau tried to get us to open up the temple but failed, so they found an old site and rebuilt it as a Taoist cultural tourism experience base?"

"I've heard of that base too. It’s said that in the first six months, there were several cases of people impersonating Taoist priests to scam others. The whole project almost got shut down!"

Everyone suddenly remembered the absurd news from over six months ago about the "temple site being rebuilt into a Taoist cultural experience base," and their gaze toward Ke Xingzhou became increasingly suspicious.

Xie An leaned in close to Ke Xingzhou’s ear and whispered, "Bro, I should have worn your Taoist robe. That would have been more convincing. No one would doubt that you’re a real Taoist priest."

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

Was this kid misunderstanding what a "real Taoist priest" was?

There was no time to explain that his temple was so poor it couldn’t afford anything, that the last little house had been taken by the Cultural Tourism Bureau and turned into a tourist attraction, forcing him to wear a tattered robe passed down for generations just to read palms. Meanwhile, the Taoist priests at Qingyun Temple had already started protesting.

The elderly Taoist priest at the head, with a white beard, furrowed his brows and tried to communicate with Nie Chen. "Mr. Nie, while the ritual is mainly targeting the kind ghosts, there are still risks involved. Ordinary Taoist priests simply cannot handle this job!"

Another Taoist priest chimed in, "Yes. Mr. Nie, you may not understand, but in Beijing, the only ones who can speak to the ghost officials are us at Qingyun Temple. Having us hand the kind ghosts over to outsiders is absolutely unacceptable!"

This wasn’t said diplomatically—it was as if they were directly implying that Ke Xingzhou was a scammer.

Xie An, being a big fan of his brother, couldn’t stand others looking down on him. One moment, he was meekly standing by Ke Xingzhou’s side like a rabbit, and the next, he jumped up. "Who are you saying can’t do it?! My bro can! He’s very capable! I’ve personally checked!"

Everyone: "…???"

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

Nie Chen silently glanced at Xie An, then turned to the Taoist priests, his expression growing a little heavier. "So, according to all of you, you are willing to handle all the kind ghosts yourselves?"

The elderly Taoist priest, seeing that Nie Chen wasn’t insisting, let out a small sigh of relief. Noticing the complex look Ke Xingzhou shot his way, he assumed it was because the "scammer" was unwilling to give up his pride and lifted his head arrogantly. "Of course."

They at Qingyun Temple were the only ones in the entire Beijing area who could directly communicate with the ghost officials.

Before conducting the ritual, they had already checked the surroundings. Although this place was said to be haunted, the ghost energy wasn’t strong. There were probably just a few kind ghosts lingering in the human world, and the ghost officials could easily take them away with a wave of their hand.At most, they could offer some incense to the ghost officials to show their gratitude for their hard work.

However, on another note, it seemed like it was just his illusion, but from just now, the temperature in the vicinity had suddenly dropped significantly. He kept feeling a faint, subtle chill seeping into his sleeves.

Even though he had already stuck heat pads all over inside his Taoist robe.

The elderly Taoist priest was a little puzzled, but he saw Nie Chen’s gaze turn meaningful, his tone deep and full of implication. "I suggest you take a look."

Take a look? Look at what?

Before the elderly Taoist priest could understand the meaning behind his words, a Taoist boy, whose mental state had been thrown off by the omnipresent cold wind, pulled out a talisman, chanting the opening incantation as he slapped it onto his forehead.

The Taoist boy, now enraged, looked ahead with burning eyes, hidden fury in his gaze, and suddenly his face turned white.

He vaguely pulled at a middle-aged Taoist priest beside him. "Master... ghosts... so many ghosts!"

The elderly Taoist priest, sharp of hearing and sight, immediately frowned and looked over when he heard this.

The middle-aged Taoist priest also jolted, staring with wide eyes, and scolded the boy. "Nonsense! What are you talking about? Shut up!"

The temple head had just said something harsh! Wasn’t that undermining him?

To everyone’s surprise, the usually obedient Taoist boy suddenly rebelled. Even when scolded, he didn’t back down but instead tugged hard at the middle-aged Taoist’s sleeve, desperately signaling him with his eyes.

"No, master... open your Heavenly Eye and look! There are so many ghosts! So many!"

His tone was frantic, and the other Taoist priests, who had planned to pretend they didn’t hear, couldn’t help but look over.

The middle-aged Taoist priest, feeling the gaze of so many colleagues on him, became a little awkward. While impatiently scolding the boy for his poor image, he also had no choice but to stick a Heavenly Eye talisman to look ahead—

A few seconds later, the middle-aged Taoist’s face changed drastically, and his expression became frantic. "Master! Master! So many ghosts!!!"

The elderly Taoist priest: "…"

The Qingyun Temple people: "…………"

The Taoist priests, who didn’t believe in such things, each opened their Heavenly Eye one by one. When they saw the dense crowd of ghosts behind Ke Xingzhou, they all fell into the same state of panic and silence.

The scene became a little strange for a moment.

The Taoist priests, all dressed in new Taoist robes, looking refined and ethereal, with their cranes standing proudly in the wind, all stood motionless in place, their yellow talismans fluttering in the breeze by their temples, inexplicably showing a bit of foolishness.

Their gazes kept drifting toward Ke Xingzhou.

These Taoist priests were the backbone of Qingyun Temple, many of them had dealt with kind ghosts before, and they naturally knew how difficult it was to deal with the kind ghosts that had emerged from the underworld in recent years.

They couldn’t be beaten or killed. Sometimes, when dealing with older ghosts, even saying a few harsh words would lead to complaints. It was enough to make one want to cry without tears.

It was absolutely impossible to get kind ghosts to obediently follow them.

They had mobilized everyone today, inviting almost all the senior Taoist priests from the temple, in hopes of successfully capturing all the kind ghosts in the base. However, their expectation was just to use a numbers game, capturing seven or eight kind ghosts at most.And Ke Xingzhou was able to lead dozens of kind ghosts all by himself!

Earlier, the Taoist priests who had doubted him for being young and suspected him of being a fraudster were now in a state of strong bewilderment.

The elderly Taoist priest's face had already lost all color when he saw those dozens of ghostly figures. When he noticed that these were all pure and clear-hearted kind ghosts, his emotions became even more complex.

Nie Chen gave Ke Xingzhou a glance: "Aren't you going to hand over the kind ghosts to these highly respected Taoist priests?"

Ke Xingzhou gestured forward, and the kind ghosts behind him immediately started chattering: "Why are we changing people again?"

"We've been squeezed in the car the whole way here. We've just arrived and haven't even had a look around, and now we have to leave? No, no, my old soul can't handle this kind of back-and-forth. I don't want to leave!"

"The ghost official only told us to follow you. We don't recognize anyone else!"

An elderly ghost even looked the Taoist priests up and down with disdain, turning her head away with a sniff: "Too ugly, not going with them."

Although this young Taoist priest was fierce and had beaten her before, at least he was handsome and pleasant to look at!

She would rather stay with this young one than follow these old, dry, salty ghosts!

The Taoist priests: "…………"

A familiar feeling hit them, and they suddenly felt their scalp go numb. They were in trouble.

When Ke Xingzhou raised his hand to signal them to take the kind ghosts away, everyone took a step back in unison.

"No, no, no..."

The Taoist priests were almost crying.

They never expected that such a young person like Ke Xingzhou could have a connection with the ghost officials, let alone control such a large group of kind ghosts. After decades of practicing Taoist magic, it felt like it had all been in vain.

Seeing that neither Ke Xingzhou nor Nie Chen showed any reaction, the Taoist priests’ eyes all turned to the temple head.

The elderly Taoist priest’s face turned a pale mix of green and white. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and say, "Ke Daoist, earlier I was shallow and offended you. I apologize. But with so many kind ghosts, our Qingyun Temple really cannot handle them..."

As the head of such a large temple, apologizing to someone younger than him by more than half was extremely hard to bear.

However, the kind ghosts behind Ke Xingzhou were simply too frightening. If they took back so many elderly ghosts, it would be like inviting a group of ancestors over. They wouldn’t have peace for a long time to come.

And the ghost official wouldn’t be able to explain it either.

He had thought a lot, and secretly, he was still reluctant to believe that someone as young as Ke Xingzhou could control so many kind ghosts. Thus, his tone carried a hint of unwillingness.

To his surprise, when he refused to take over, the kind ghosts became unhappy.

"How dare you, old ox-nose, speak like that? Are you rejecting us?"

"We’re all legitimate kind ghosts! We only made a little mistake, and the ghost official allowed us to follow Master Ke for a while. We’re guests here. How can you, old as you are, not understand this? Even Master Ke is more reasonable than you!"

"I knew it, ghosts get no respect as they age. Now even this ugly ox-nose, older and uglier than me, is rejecting me. I might as well let my soul scatter!"

As the ghost spoke, it moved toward the Taoist priests' instruments, scaring them half to death: "No, no, you can't do that!"

If it really collided, and the soul scattered, their merit would be completely ruined!The scene was chaotic, and in the end, the kind ghosts forced the temple head of Qingyun Temple to sincerely apologize to Ke Xingzhou and all the kind ghosts before they finally settled down.

Xie An looked on with great satisfaction, and said to Ke Xingzhou, "It seems I was wrong about these kind ghosts earlier. They are quite reasonable!"

The kind ghosts, hearing this, puffed out their chests with pride. On the other hand, the Taoist priests of Qingyun Temple weren’t in such a good mood. One by one, their faces turned pale, their hearts still shaken.

Even after they completed the ritual and handed over the remaining kind ghosts from the base to Ke Xingzhou, receiving a generous payment from Assistant Liu, their spirits were still low.

The elderly Taoist priest especially doubted his whole life, feeling as though decades of his career had been in vain.

As he trudged away, he overheard the kind ghosts passionately discussing how the current temple was really lacking, and how it was even worse than a young wandering practitioner who didn’t even have a temple. The elderly Taoist priest’s eyes filled with tears, and he couldn’t help but quicken his pace.

Therefore, he didn’t hear the conversation between Nie Chen and Ke Xingzhou addressing the kind ghosts.

Assistant Liu, holding a loudspeaker, stood on the edge of a fountain pool. His high-end suit, custom-tailored, gleamed in the sunlight. But the mouth that frequently assisted Nie Chen in securing billion-dollar contracts was now saying—

"Dear fellow citizens, let's talk heart-to-heart." As he gathered all the kind ghosts' attention, Assistant Liu wore a caring smile, "I've observed everyone for a while, and it seems that life after death isn't as free and easy as imagined. Not only is it boring, but over time, there’s no one to offer sacrifices, and I’m sure everyone’s lives are quite tight. Have you considered getting a job to earn some money and supplement your living expenses?"

The kind ghosts didn’t understand why he suddenly brought this up, but the mention of their own lives was familiar, and they couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

"Of course, we’ve thought about it. But jobs in the underworld are hard to get, and they’re extremely competitive. Plus, if we set up a stall by the Bridge of Forgetfulness, we’ll be driven away by the city management ghost officials. Apart from gambling for pocket money, what else can we earn in ghost money?"

Assistant Liu smiled faintly: "Have you tried working in the human world?"

The kind ghosts booed loudly: "We’re ghosts! Which human would want to hire a ghost? Even if someone did, it would certainly be given to the ghost officials’ relatives first, and we wouldn't stand a chance!"

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so eager for their descendants to become civil servants in the underworld.

The once lively atmosphere quickly dampened as the mention of work made the ghosts sigh. It was clear that ordinary people, even when dead, became ordinary ghosts, and they had no hope for a future in the ghost world.

Then, suddenly, something in front of them seemed to light up. They looked up to see Assistant Liu’s perfectly professional smile, as he said to them: "Don’t be discouraged. This can be worked out."

He tapped on his tablet, and the big screen behind him immediately showed several hastily made slides. The interaction was crude, but the visuals were exquisite, perfectly reflecting the potential of workers facing deadlines.

The kind ghosts vaguely sensed that this was a bit unusual, but still didn’t fully understand what Assistant Liu was talking about.

As they looked up in confusion, they saw large words on the slides—

"First Yin and Yang Job Fair."

Assistant Liu’s voice instantly became passionate: "Good news, good news! Now, our Xiaoyao Sect is launching an activity to promote friendship between the Yin and Yang worlds. To facilitate the allocation of underworld labor to positions in the human world, in celebration of the successful first job fair, kind ghosts who sign up on-site will receive a bundle of incense and ten gold ingots as a free gift with proof of employment!"

In the dormitory, the contestants who hadn’t left yet vaguely heard the sounds of a bustling crowd from the square, along with the sound of loudspeakers, and couldn’t help but wonder.

Wasn’t it said that Wanli Group was so wealthy that they wouldn’t rent out their venues? Why were they still doing promotional campaigns?

Has the power of even the market’s aunties and uncles become this great nowadays?