Chapter 77

When Ke Xingzhou and the local police arrived, the two people in the car were already unrecognizable.

Ban Wen had smashed his own head until it was bleeding profusely. His face and body were covered in blood, some of which had even flowed into his eyes.

This appearance should have looked tragic, but paired with those extremely cold eyes, anyone who saw it couldn't help but feel a chill down their spine, as if they'd been locked onto by a venomous snake.

Director Zheng beside him wasn't doing any better.

He had been frantically scratching at the car door. His fingers were mangled and bloody, his nails bent backward, and if you looked closely, you could even see the white of his bones.

Even Liu, the experienced assistant, found it hard to look directly at the scene. Halfway through, he had to turn away.

If he kept looking, he was afraid he'd have nightmares all night when he got home.

The police were also shocked by the scene when they arrived and quickly stepped forward to open the car door and stop the two from harming themselves.

"Hands up! Slowly get out of the car, do not resist—"

But before the sentence was even finished, Ban Wen and Director Zheng had already locked onto a weak point in the police defense—and bolted!

These two had clearly been locked inside the car for a long time, repeatedly ramming and clawing at the doors. Both were covered in injuries and blood; by all accounts, they shouldn't have had any strength left to run.

But to everyone's surprise, not only did they have energy left, their physical strength far exceeded what any middle-aged man should have. The moment they sprang up, all anyone could see were two blurred afterimages!

The police reacted quickly and lunged forward to catch them, but both men slipped away.

It wasn’t just the bystanders—even the police themselves found it unbelievable.

The report they had received said dangerous cult members were gathered here, deceiving the public, so the officers dispatched were all highly capable in field operations.

How could so many of them fail to catch two middle-aged men?

Weren’t men supposed to lose stamina as they got older?

Even the officers involved in the chase felt something was off.

They had acted precisely according to the suspects’ movements. The suspects were undeniably fast, but they still shouldn’t have been able to escape…

Just then, someone nearby exclaimed in shock.

“What the hell!” Zhu Chu gasped, “How are they running like dogs?”

Everyone: “……”Everyone’s attention was inevitably drawn off track a little. Upon closer inspection, they realized that Ban Wen and Director Zheng’s running postures were beyond strange — they were movements no human should be capable of.

Just like Zhu Chu said, Director Zheng was crawling on the ground, sprinting forward on all fours like a dog. On the other side, Ban Wen was even more wild — after taking a few steps, he would suddenly squat and then launch himself forward like a spring, leaping five to six meters in a single bound.

The world record for standing long jump is just over three meters!

Everyone stood stunned, mouths agape, momentarily unable to react.

Just as the two were about to escape the scene in such bizarre postures and everyone was still in shock, a pair of long arms suddenly reached out from the side, precisely grabbing both men by the scruff of the neck.

No one knew when Ke Xingzhou had appeared at the entrance of the abandoned building, but with a casual motion, he lifted the two up like rabbits and dragged them back.

The two were both shocked and furious, unable to believe they had been caught by a weak human, and started struggling violently.

This time, their actions were oddly synchronized — both opened their mouths wide and went to bite Ke Xingzhou’s arms.

Ke Xingzhou raised an eyebrow. Even with both hands occupied, he showed no sign of fear. He lifted his arm, ready to use their heads as weapons to smash them together — but surprisingly, someone was even faster than him.

Nie Chen had somehow arrived as well, holding an umbrella. With one end of the handle, he jabbed it into Ban Wen’s mouth; with the other end, he jabbed it into Director Zheng’s mouth.

He grabbed both of their jaws and directly dislocated them before handing the two off to the police behind him.

Even at that point, the two still wanted to attack others, growling lowly with the umbrella handle clenched in their mouths.

Nie Chen, who had been pulling Ke Xingzhou aside to check for injuries, suddenly turned around, his gaze icy and filled with killing intent as he stared them down. “Keep growling if you want to die.”

In that moment, Ban Wen and Director Zheng felt a real threat of death. Instinctively, they both shrank back. Director Zheng even let out a whimper of submission.

The police, drenched in sweat, rushed over and hurriedly took the two away, cuffing them and stuffing them into the police car.

It was hard to say whether the two were bold or cowardly. Earlier, they had engaged in all sorts of twisted practices and even self-harm. But the moment they were put in the car, both of them rolled their eyes and passed out cold.

The Taoist masters who had just taken out their magic tools: “……”

No matter how many times they saw Ke Xingzhou effortlessly lift two full-grown men, they couldn’t help but sigh — youth really is something else…

The whole incident had happened in the blink of an eye. Assistant Liu, who had been standing closest, hadn’t even had time to react and was almost hit by the two.

It wasn’t until Ke Xingzhou and the others subdued Ban Wen and Director Zheng that Assistant Liu finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly stepped forward. “Mr. Nie, Master Ke!”

“Mm,” Nie Chen replied. Seeing that Ke Xingzhou was still staring at Assistant Liu, he gave him a faint glance. “Are you okay?”

Assistant Liu was deeply moved and honored by the attention. He quickly shook his head. “Thank you for your concern, Mr. Nie. I’m fine.”

The local Jiangcheng Taoists had fallen behind but now arrived one after another.

The old goat-bearded Taoist looked with surprise at the unharmed Assistant Liu, then at the two bloodied men being restrained by the police. For a moment, he couldn’t tell who the actual villains were.

The other Taoists now felt a bit reluctant to face Ke Xingzhou and quickly asked what had happened down below and how things had ended up like this.

Assistant Liu himself was still confused: “They took me down there for a quick look, and as soon as we came back up, they tried to steal the car. When I saw them trying to flee, I quickly locked it. Then… well, this happened.”

Talking about the two self-harming themselves still left Assistant Liu shaken.

In his life, he’d seen all kinds of people thanks to Mr. Nie. But people who harmed themselves this viciously? This was the first time.For a moment, he couldn’t help but sigh—these evil cultivators really were terrifying. He had only looked away for a short while, and the two people who had seemed relatively normal during their earlier conversation were now doing such insane things.

Because the police were present, Assistant Liu had no choice but to reveal everything he knew.

That included the ambiguous relationship between Ban Wen and Director Zheng, two middle-aged men.

Everyone: “……”

They couldn’t help but cast surprised looks at the two inside the car. Even the police officers present had strange expressions.

If they remembered correctly, one of them was a well-known director, and the other had been trending online recently.

Someone recognized Peng Jingshan following behind the crowd and thought, No wonder. A veteran actor who had just won three major awards was being overshadowed by an obscure stunt double. So this was the reason!

What a mess the entertainment industry was…

Who would’ve thought Peng Jingshan himself was staring at the two in the car with utter shock.

Director Zheng had always been a model of marital devotion in the industry. On his sets, there had never been any shady casting couch rumors, so he had a great reputation. If he turned out to be gay, wouldn’t that mean he’d tricked his wife into marriage?

But then again, you never truly know someone. Peng wasn’t particularly close to Director Zheng, so if the director had a wild side, it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t know. But Ban Wen?

Even though Peng truly hadn’t known Ban Wen had backstabbed him, the two had known each other for decades. He was sure Ban Wen was straight—he had even helped him chase his current wife!

He vividly remembered the two of them—textbook straight men—struggling together to find dating tips online, getting duped by posts like “This gift made my girlfriend cry with joy.”

How could he be gay?

And now pretending to be a woman too?

Assistant Liu could deeply relate to their shock. After all, when he first realized what was going on, his brain had short-circuited for quite a while too.

The Taoist priests, however, were looking graver by the minute as they listened.

Ordinary people couldn’t tell what was going on, but these were all seasoned Taoists with deep knowledge of the occult. They understood right away what had happened.

Before they could speak, Ke Xingzhou exchanged a glance with Nie Chen, who then said in a low voice, “They were probably possessed.”

The Taoist priests who’d just had their line stolen: “……”

Though a bit annoyed, they had to admit this internet-famous Taoist did seem somewhat prepared—he even knew such obscure concepts.

Still, he was a bit green.

The old Taoist with the goat beard snorted, “Those who are possessed through cursed water or talismans are usually spirits. But from the way these two talked and behaved, they don’t seem like typical ghosts. More likely, they weren’t possessed—but replaced by demons disguised in human form.”

The other priests all nodded in agreement.

“That’s right. Didn’t these two disappear from Assistant Liu’s sight for a while earlier? That must’ve been when they were replaced by demons.”

“The other demon was probably hiding underground. These two thought Assistant Liu had already been replaced by their companion, which is why they spoke to him that way.”

But one young Taoist from a small temple frowned and said, “But if that’s the case, shouldn’t Assistant Liu have been attacked?”

The other Taoists furrowed their brows at his words.That was indeed the case.

Although Ke Xingzhou had given Assistant Liu a talisman earlier, how effective could a talisman from a young Taoist from a trending online temple really be?

It couldn't possibly subdue a spirit beast that had cultivated into human form.

Everyone looked toward Assistant Liu, who appeared utterly confused.

“I wasn’t attacked,” Assistant Liu explained. “After I went down, I just waited at the spot for a while, and not long after, the two of them came down.”

The Taoist priests found it even stranger.

But then again, even though they were from reputable orthodox sects, spiritual energy was in decline nowadays, and spirit beasts that could cultivate into human form were exceedingly rare—they hadn’t encountered many themselves.

The goat-bearded elder stroked his beard. “Maybe the remaining spirit beast sensed danger and ran off on its own.”

Another Taoist added, “Spirit beasts that have just taken human form are unpredictable in temperament. You all took a long time on the road—maybe while its companion was distracted, it slipped away to slack off.”

The Taoist who had questioned earlier fell silent for a moment.

“So they couldn’t even recognize their own companion? Are we sure they’re spirit beasts and not just idiots…”

All the Taoists: “……”