Chapter 79

The local Taoist priests of Jiangcheng circled around Ban Wen and Director Zheng, checking them thoroughly, but couldn’t find any trace of demonic energy or ghost possession on them.

Both of them were completely normal—just two ordinary people.

They hadn’t actually committed any crimes. At most, they had made Assistant Liu drink a bowl of talisman water and taken people into the abandoned building for a look around. The police couldn’t detain them, so they had to be sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.

When Director Zheng regained consciousness, he was already surrounded by people.

The hospital had run full-body examinations on the two of them, and the test results only revealed some typical middle-aged male issues, leaving the Taoist priests utterly baffled.

“How is this possible? They were clearly possessed by something! Otherwise, how could they have said such bizarre things?”

“Could the ghosts that possessed them have already left?”

The old Taoist with the goat beard looked grim. Glancing at Ke Xingzhou, who was leisurely snacking to the side, he couldn't help but cough lightly, using his eyes to remind the others: That’s not what we were saying just now!

But the other Taoists were just as conflicted.

To say it wasn’t possession didn’t make sense. But clearly, there was no trace of demonic aura on these two—they were clearly normal humans.

If they were really transformed demons, as the goat-bearded Taoist had previously claimed, they should’ve already been subdued and exposed their true forms by now.

But if it was ghost possession…

The priests hesitated again. “If the spirits could leave so easily, then why did they slam into the car doors before?”

Looking at the wounds on Ban Wen and Director Zheng—already treated but still shocking—everyone fell silent. No one could understand why the entities that had possessed them would do something like that.

Director Zheng woke up while the Taoists were still debating.

Lying weakly in bed, he looked at the circle of elderly Taoists around him—gray-haired, spitting as they argued—and opened his mouth. Tears instantly streamed down his face. “Am I dead…? Is this heaven?”

The Taoists fell silent at once.

In front of outsiders, they had to maintain some dignity. Their expressions softened and they looked at Director Zheng with gentle smiles.

But before they could say anything, Director Zheng already made up his mind and burst into wailing. “Waaahhh… no! Why are there only old men in heaven… I want to go to hell, let me go to hell!”

The Taoists: “……”

Hey now— the old Taoists thought, what does this middle-aged man mean by that? He’s practically a senior himself, his health stats are worse than ours, and he has the nerve to dislike us?

Their expressions immediately turned cold."You’re not dead," the goat-bearded old Taoist said darkly, scowling. "But you're not far from it—smoking and drinking, you're into all of it. I can see that your marriage palace and children palace are both affected by you. Your wife and kids' health probably isn’t great either!"

Director Zheng had been pleasantly surprised by the first half, but after hearing the second half, his whole demeanor changed.

“Ah! How could this happen?” he cried, panicked. “I smoke, I don’t mind dying early myself, but how could it affect my wife and child too! Immortal Master, Taoist priest, what is going on!”

The goat-bearded Taoist snorted, just about to share some metaphysical examples of how spouses can influence each other’s fates, when a figure suddenly leaned in beside him.

Zhu Chu, now fairly well-informed, couldn't resist chiming in: “Isn’t it obvious? Public service announcements all say secondhand smoke is more harmful than firsthand smoke! You even shot one of those ads yourself, didn’t you? You really didn’t pay any attention to it?”

Everyone: “……”

The mystical atmosphere crumbled on the spot.

Director Zheng, shaken by all that had happened, suddenly came to his senses and thought about it.

Oh right, he did film a public service announcement like that once.

He even managed to quit smoking properly for a month afterward. But eventually, due to too many social events where everyone kept offering him cigarettes, he couldn’t resist and started again.

But now, surrounded by Taoist priests, and hearing this hyper-scientific explanation, Director Zheng felt like he was having a mental split.

He looked blankly at the goat-bearded Taoist: “Taoist priest, is that true?”

The goat-bearded Taoist looked disgruntled, glanced at Zhu Chu, and snorted, “It is technically true, yes, but even if you don’t smoke in front of your family, there’s still an impact…”

Zhu Chu added, “Exactly! Experts say that after you smoke, the nicotine and tar stick to your clothes. Then when you go home and hug your wife and kid, they inhale all that stuff straight into their lungs!”

Goat-bearded Taoist: “…………”

Director Zheng, whose faith had wavered for a moment, was now firmly rooted back in a scientific worldview. He let out an “Ah,” feeling a bit awkward and guilty: “So that’s how it is. Sorry, Taoist priest, I didn’t know you guys were so scientific. I really misunderstood you before.”

Goat-bearded Taoist: “………………”

—

Well, fine, let it be science, the Taoist priests thought wearily.

Besides, the higher-ups didn’t want them promoting too much religious culture anyway, and they weren’t here for that this time.

Thankfully, aside from the damage to Director Zheng’s fingers, his soul was intact. With proper rest, he’d recover just fine.

Once he had fully come around, they finally asked, “What exactly happened to you last night?”

Director Zheng recalled the experience with lingering fear: “I… I’m actually not entirely sure. I just remember Ban Wen gave me a bowl of talisman water, took me and Assistant Liu to that abandoned building, and then… suddenly I couldn’t move at all…”

As a director, once he regained clarity, he was able to piece together what had happened the previous night—he just found it hard to believe.

In this modern world, spirits and monsters actually existed. One had silently slipped into his body, taken over his flesh, and shoved his soul aside so that he could only watch helplessly, unable to control his own body.

Thinking about that feeling made Director Zheng shudder: “It was terrifying! And they even used my body to be gay! That scoundrel Ban Wen even licked my face!!”

He got more and more furious as he spoke, as if he had been deeply humiliated. He raised his gauze-wrapped hand and furiously scrubbed at his cheek, instantly smearing it with blood.

Grimacing in pain, he still said fiercely, “If I’d known he was after my body for his film, there’s no way I’d have given him that male lead role!”Everyone: "…………"

Zhu Chu glanced up and down at Director Zheng, looking somewhat speechless, and quietly leaned towards Ke Xingzhou: "Master, Director Zheng is really confident. I wish he could share some of that confidence with me..."

Although, by the average standards of most middle-aged men, Director Zheng did manage to maintain a decent physique, and there were quite a few boys and girls online who were fans of him.

But to say that anyone truly desired his body, Zhu Chu felt that people weren't so desperate.

How hungry would one have to be to go for that!

Director Zheng didn’t hear his muttering, but the Taoist priests had sharp ears and instinctively looked at Director Zheng when they heard the comment, thinking he was indeed a bit too confident.

Back to the point.

Once the Taoist priests realized that a spirit had possessed Director Zheng’s body, they couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, a little hot-faced.

Fortunately, the members of the Xiao Yao Sect didn’t dwell on this matter. They just needed to pretend nothing had happened.

The Taoist priests’ attitude shifted from being confrontational to indifferent, but Ke Xingzhou had no strong feelings about it.

After all, his sect was just starting out, and it used to be a wasteland that had been repurposed. Gaining recognition in the industry would be a long road ahead.

Moreover, making connections with other sects was something Zhu Chu could handle. That was the very reason he had taken him in as a disciple. Why should Ke Xingzhou concern himself with every little thing?

So he wasn’t bothered at all. With his usual bluntness, he didn’t feel uncomfortable at all with the changing attitudes. He continued munching on his snacks, unfazed, before walking over.

But instead of going to Director Zheng, he walked to Ban Wen’s bed, gave him a quick look, and slapped him twice.

“Slap! Slap!”

Ke Xingzhou’s slap was hard, and Ban Wen’s face immediately swelled up. He opened his eyes in confusion and stared at the extraordinarily handsome young man in front of him.

At this moment, everyone else finally reacted, their faces filled with shock.

The Taoist priests: "Hey, what’s this little Taoist doing? Why are you hitting someone?"

"That’s too much, you can’t hurt your own people!"

Peng Jingshan also hurried forward, nervously checking Ban Wen's face. Seeing the clear slap marks, he couldn’t help but hiss in sympathy.

Ban Wen saw the clear pain in Peng Jingshan’s eyes and froze for a moment.

He had already torn his relationship with Peng Jingshan, so he knew that Peng Jingshan now knew everything. But despite that, Peng Jingshan still rushed to him when he got hurt, and even felt sorry for him...

Ban Wen finally felt a sense of guilt, his gaze flickering as he looked at Peng Jingshan: "Brother Peng..."

Who knew that after Peng Jingshan confirmed his injury, he immediately pushed him aside, looking anxiously at Ke Xingzhou: "Master Ke, how could you trouble yourself to act? This kind of thing should be left to me from now on. Your hands can’t be harmed!"

Ban Wen: "…"

The Taoist priests: "…………"

Hitting someone wasn’t ideal. To wake Ban Wen up, Ke Xingzhou had to lose twenty points of virtue for those two slaps, which really pained him.Ke Xingzhou indeed felt a bit regretful. Upon hearing that, he immediately nodded: "I will definitely do it next time."

Everyone: "…………"

Wait, you actually dare to agree?!

The Taoist priests looked at him in a way that was hard to describe, thinking, what kind of place is this internet-famous Taoist temple, and how did they end up with such a reckless little Taoist disciple?

But now that the person had woken up, many things were easier to ask.

The Taoist priests abandoned the still disgruntled Director Zheng and gathered around Ban Wen’s hospital bed.

At the same time, a dilapidated second-hand Jinbei van swayed its way to the hospital entrance.

A skinny man leaned out from the window, glancing in the direction of the inpatient department, holding two small paper figures in his hand. They seemed to be identical to the paper figures from the Blue Xing Apartment that Ke Xingzhou and the others visited last time.

The man with yellow hair, sitting next to him, was eating meat in large bites, his mouth full and mumbled, "Master, maybe we should just forget it? We really can’t beat them. Think about the paper man from last time; it was easily destroyed... If you really want to develop in the east, we could go to a small town..."

The skinny man abruptly stopped chanting his incantation halfway, and the paper figures in his hand turned into fragments.

The backlash from the spell hit him, and he immediately vomited blood.

"…………" Unable to tolerate any longer, he slapped the yellow-haired man on the back of his head, "Shut up!!!"