Chapter 65

Another chaotic battle.

After asking for help from Ke Xingzhou, Lan Xing finally realized that something was wrong. Clearly, there was a Taoist priest from Jiulongguan who was better equipped than him! The Taoist's peach wood sword was still in his hand!

So, he dragged the old ghost, whose face was covered in blood, limping toward the two Taoist priests from Jiulongguan.

But to his surprise, the two Taoist priests were even more panicked than he was. They randomly threw their talismans at him and then scattered in all directions. "Ah, ah, ah, don't come near!!!"

Lan Xing: "....."

Wait, isn't their reaction a bit off?

His malfunctioning brain finally caught up with him: these two Taoists didn't seem as reliable as they appeared to be on the surface...

At that moment, the elusive Ke Xingzhou reappeared by his side without him noticing, reaching out and grabbing the old ghost directly—

Lan Xing was startled, instinctively thinking of Ke Xingzhou as the soft, helpless little kid from his childhood, who would babble about strange things but had no real strength. He thought Ke Xingzhou would easily fall over with a little push.

His mind went blank, and he was about to step back, but Ke Xingzhou's reaction was faster than his. He reached out and grabbed the old ghost's neck.

All the blood from the old ghost’s body suddenly flowed onto Ke Xingzhou's hand, a stark contrast of red and pale white that was truly shocking.

But Ke Xingzhou didn't react at all, as if the blood didn't even exist, coldly watching as the green smoke rose from the old ghost’s neck. The ghost's expression changed from sorrow to agony.

The old ghost clutched at his neck, horrified that this young man could directly touch his soul body and even cause him harm. The pain of his soul being burned by the flames caused him to howl miserably.

Ke Xingzhou's face remained expressionless, unaffected by the old ghost’s misery, his incantation never ceasing: “Five stars stabilize the colors, light shines in the dark void. Thousands of gods and saints, protect my true spirit... Giant beasts of the heavens, five warriors strike. The five demons, destroy the body and extinguish the form... Wherever I am, all ghosts avoid. Hurry, as the law commands.”

As the exorcism chant was completed, countless golden lights flew from Ke Xingzhou’s body, transforming into slender threads that bound the old ghost’s soul, as if intending to shred it into countless pieces.

A steady and warm wind began to rise from the ground, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into a fierce gale, howling wildly through the room. The wind lifted Ke Xingzhou’s hair and clothing, making a loud swishing sound.

Everyone was squinting against the strong wind, but Ke Xingzhou remained calm, gazing down at the old ghost as if he were a god of death.

He didn’t even need any talismans. The evil energy from the old ghost sizzled as if it were entering boiling oil.

This evil energy was actually a part of the soul, but because of deep resentment, it had turned from a translucent soul into a dark mist.

In this case, the pain of having the evil energy torn from the body was excruciating. The old ghost’s screams became even more tragic, scaring the crowd into paleness as they stared in shock at the scene, unable to react.

Ke Xingzhou stood amidst the golden light, his short hair whipped by the gusting wind, revealing his smooth, full forehead and his sharp black-and-white eyes.

His eyebrows and gaze were as dark as ink, resembling a merciless god descending to cleanse the world of evil.Even Ke Chenyi saw Ke Xingzhou like this for the first time. His gaze gradually became fixed, mixed with endless guilt and regret.

He had always thought his younger brother was just talking nonsense.

Even their parents, who had always pampered him, suddenly changed their attitude when he was five years old. This made Ke Chenyi, who was in his rebellious phase, more convinced that Ke Xingzhou was a little liar.

But now, the truth behind their parents’ attitude change when Ke Xingzhou was five had been revealed by a friend, and only when Ke Chenyi saw Ke Xingzhou perform magic with his own eyes did he finally face the misunderstanding he had held towards him all these years.

The image of his parents, which had always seemed like an unshakable truth in his mind, suddenly collapsed. He didn't even understand why his parents, after Ke Xingzhou helped him gain favor from a powerful figure, treated Ke Xingzhou in that way, even slandering him in front of him.

He couldn't help but think back to two days ago, when he had just learned the truth from Lan Xing. He rushed home to question his father but saw him sneaking into the yard, trying to throw away incense burners and other items meant for Ke Xingzhou.

At that time, he thought his father didn't believe in Ke Xingzhou's mystical talents or was too arrogant, thinking that everything the Ke family had, including the sudden favor of the important figure, was earned by his own strength.

His father had never believed in mysticism, and he had thought that this was just one of his father's chauvinistic biases.

But swearing not to believe in mysticism, Ke Xingzhou's father had acted mysteriously when passing by the ceramic water jar, almost trying to press his fat body against the wall to hide.

Ke Chenyi shook his head. Now, it all seemed laughable.

He, and the whole Ke family, were laughable.

They had gained their wealth and position through Ke Xingzhou’s abilities, but in the following years, they erased all his contributions and presence, enjoying everything without a care, even trying to squeeze out the last bit of his value, using him as a stepping stone for Ke Yuanbai...

Ke Chenyi slowly lowered his head, feeling almost too ashamed to look at Ke Xingzhou. His eyes stung, not sure if it was from the wind or something else.

The others hadn't noticed his abnormality.

Everyone was still stunned, unable to react after Ke Xingzhou’s sudden display of power.

It wasn’t until the old ghost collapsed weakly on the ground that Ke Xingzhou finally let go of his grip. Nie Chen, unperturbed, stepped forward and wiped Ke Xingzhou's fingers with a handkerchief. Only then did they slowly snap out of it.

After about ten minutes, everyone finally calmed down, and Nie Chen looked at the chaotic living room, especially at Lan Xing, who was holding his bottom in distress, and the group that had somehow ended up in a corner, huddled together and trembling, letting out a deep breath.

From all angles, this ritual had been a total disaster.

--

Lan Xing, holding his bottom and looking furious, stood in the corner. The old ghost was held down by Ke Xingzhou on the other side, looking so obedient he didn't even dare to raise his head.

The people in the room all looked dazed, glancing at Ke Xingzhou, either openly or secretly.

Before this, they had thought that the Daoist priests from the Nine Dragons Temple were the ones with real power, but at the critical moment, the Daoists of Nine Dragons Temple abandoned their weapons and fled. It was this young man, whom they had always doubted, who saved everyone.

The head of the Nine Dragons Temple and the fat priest had already been tightly bound. The property manager, full of shame, glared at them, swearing that he would give the relative who recommended them a good scolding.

How could he recommend these street scammers?!

He had trusted these two Daoists so much before, never properly investigating them, and introducing them to the homeowner.

It was a disgrace!

The others, too, looked at the two fake Daoists from Nine Dragons Temple with resentfulEspecially Zhu Chu and Lan Xing.

The two of them had been so sincere in believing these two priests, but now they regretted it deeply.

They chose to believe the two fake priests, who could only put on a show, instead of their own master, the priest they had paid a great deal of money to invite.

Zhu Chu had even taken an entire page of notes!

It was a shameful disgrace!

The two fake priests from the Nine Dragons Temple hadn't expected to be exposed so quickly. Under the angry gazes of the crowd, they couldn't help but tremble.

Lan Xing, furious, shouted, "Refund! Refund my money right now! I'm calling the police on you two frauds!"

The head of the Nine Dragons Temple, who had originally felt a little guilty, was now unwilling to accept this and tried to bargain, "Although we are fake priests, ask yourself, have we really deceived you!? Which of the things we said wasn't correct? If you don't believe me, ask Daoist Ke. His disciple even agreed with what I said before!"

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

Nie Chen shot Zhu Chu a cold glance.

Zhu Chu: "…"

Zhu Chu lowered his head in shame.

"I'm sorry, master… it's all my fault, I was too foolish, I couldn't see that these two were fakes." He looked at the notebook that had been torn to pieces, and tears streamed down his face. "Wuwu… I really am the most useless one in our sect…"

Ke Xingzhou: "…"

Ke Xingzhou blinked, leaned closer to Nie Chen, and quietly asked him, "How did you figure it out?"

Actually, he hadn't noticed it at first.

The two people's fate was shrouded in a layer of black mist, and when he first met them, he didn't see through their identities.

However, people involved in mysticism would have their fate blurred to some extent. After all, those who can sense spiritual energy and magnetic fields are easily influenced by the surrounding fields.

Moreover, mysticism is essentially a struggle with destiny, and what happens in the process is uncertain, so the higher the mystic abilities of a priest, the more unpredictable their fate becomes.

But the mist around the fate of other priests was usually golden or another color representing mysticism; the mist around these two was just black.

Ke Xingzhou just thought their cultivation methods were a bit strange, so he didn't pay much attention.

It wasn't until they mentioned the Nine-Headed Dragon that the overly familiar tone made him realize something was wrong.

So, he no longer adhered to any friendly rules with fellow practitioners and directly took over their ritual.

Nie Chen: "…"

Nie Chen paused for a moment and then quietly asked him, "Did you notice that their magical tools haven't been consecrated?"

Ke Xingzhou glanced at the magical tools scattered on the floor and paused for a moment.

"I thought they were just trying to saveFor him, magical tools were actually just an auxiliary item, and they were optional. To save money, he usually didn't even buy magical tools that hadn't been consecrated, going to the extreme to save every penny.

He himself was in such a poor state, so he didn't think there was much of an issue with other temples using magical tools that hadn't been consecrated.

Nie Chen: "…………"

Ke Xingzhou's sincerity made Nie Chen speechless.

While the master and disciple were secretly communicating, the door was suddenly knocked on.

Everyone exchanged glances, wondering who could possibly come at this time.

After a brief silence, Lan Xing went to open the door but was startled by the person outside and couldn't help but scream, "Ah!"

Everyone followed his gaze and saw a man with a scarred face outside the door. The scar ran through his left eye but didn't diminish his handsomeness. Instead, it gave him a rugged, somewhat dangerous charm.

Ke Xingzhou exclaimed, "Xiang Ting?"

The person outside was none other than Xiang Ting from the Special Incident Handling Bureau.

Xiang Ting paused, gave him a slight nod, and immediately looked at the two priests tied up on the floor. After a moment of silence, he said, "These two are from the Nine Dragons Temple."

The people inside the room were even more surprised. "How do you know?"

Xiang Ting paused awkwardly for a moment before replying, "…Their public account follows yours, and the enterprise blue check they applied for still has cheap photoshopped effects. Someone reported it to me."

Everyone: “……”