Chapter 84

Huang Mao's words immediately silenced everyone.

The Taoist priests silently turned their gazes towards the members of the Xianyao Sect. To say nothing, Huang Mao's words really voiced what was on their minds.

In fact, if the Xianyao Sect were just a small Taoist temple with no reputation, they wouldn't have linked it to an evil sect just because of Ke Xingzhou's exaggerated combat abilities.

The real issue was that the actions of this temple were too strange, and the few well-known incidents had nothing to do with Taoism. Things like “The beautiful face of the Xianyao Sect’s leader” and “Share this to win a mansion worth millions,” and even “The haunted house of Xianyao Sect is like it’s raising real ghosts.”

On the way here by taxi, they even clicked on the last link to take a look, only to discover that it wasn’t “like raising real ghosts” — those were real ghosts!

The terrifying atmosphere praised by netizens wasn’t created by high-end holographic equipment — it was completely the presence of ghosts!

Which good Taoist temple could create a real haunted house?!

Even through the camera, the thick aura of ghosts was clear, almost as if it were approaching them. Yet, the unsuspecting netizens were still enthusiastically making weird, playful moves inside, which made the Taoists’ hearts jump in fear.

If so many unexpected things hadn’t happened after arriving at the scene, they would have started questioning the nature of the Xianyao Sect a long time ago — they wouldn’t have waited to reach the hospital!

They thought it was their own failure to cultivate properly and their lack of experience that led to this excessive misunderstanding of the Xianyao Sect. Turns out, they weren’t the only ones who thought this way!

The Taoist priests felt oddly reassured.

Xiang Ting: "..."

Xiang Ting couldn’t stand it any longer. He shifted his gaze: "These animals have been forcibly awakened, and they can’t be released back. Finding a place for them is also a problem. Which Taoist priest can temporarily take them in?"

The Taoist priests’ expressions immediately became serious.

Indeed, these animals’ intelligence had clearly exceeded that of their kind. If they were released, not only would there be concerns about them running back to the Nine-Headed Dragon’s people and leaking information, but their very existence posed a great risk.

It would be fine if they didn’t interact with people, but if others found out that they had gained intelligence, it could cause quite a disturbance!

Luckily, all the Taoists here were from local temples, and some of these temples had a tradition of taking in stray animals, which had even become a bit popular online.

Immediately, several Taoists stood up, offering to take in the animals at their temples.

Who would have guessed, though, that while they were willing, the animals weren’t at all happy about it.

When the Taoists approached, the animals instinctively shrank back, their whole bodies trembling as if shocked. The large black dog even bared its teeth at them, growling lowly in a threatening manner.

The Taoists froze, thinking to themselves, "Hey, this little dog is so ungrateful!"

Local Taoist temples had great welfare, and the stray dogs and cats nearby were all well-fed and round, living a happy life. Sometimes, the ancestor would even personally appear, giving them a little guidance. Who knows, one day they might truly enter the path of cultivation and have a chance to become human!This is such a great thing. Even local undergraduates can't get in, yet this group of animals is actually picky!

The Taoist priests from the local temples also had some pride. A few of them immediately gave up on helping the animals. However, some stubborn ones directly moved to grab the big black dog by the back of its neck.

With his other hand holding a talisman, he was even ready to defend against any attack from the black dog.

But to his surprise, the big black dog, aside from showing its teeth at him in the beginning and acting a little fierce, suddenly changed its expression when he got closer. It gave a “woof” and grabbed a piglet from beside it, tucking its tail and retreating behind Huang Mao.

The big black dog's pitch-black eyes were filled with fear as it stared at him, its whole body trembling uncontrollably.

Behind it, the little pig and other small animals were similarly shivering, making the Taoist priest feel dazed, as if he had actually tortured these animals.

"Hey, I haven’t even touched you, why are you scared?"

The Taoist priest reached out again, but was stopped by Ke Xingzhou.

Ke Xingzhou looked at the animals, terrified to the extreme, and thoughtfully said, "They're not afraid of you. They’re afraid of your Taoist robe."

"Taoist robe?"

Ke Xingzhou nodded and pointed to the Taoist robe hanging on the backseat of the trunk. "The person from the Nine-Headed Dragon sect probably wore the Taoist robe while abusing them. It conditioned them to be afraid whenever they see a Taoist robe."

When the animals were released from the trunk earlier, their emotions were clearly much more relaxed than when they were inside.

Huang Mao heard Ke Xingzhou change the name of his sect from "Dragon" to "Insect" and was dissatisfied, but when he heard the rest, he couldn’t help but be stunned, instinctively turning back to look at his companions.

The animals, scared to the point that their noses were pale, trembling all over, even had dazed looks in their eyes.

Their reactions were indeed similar to when they saw their master, but countless people had been treated this way at the main sect, and even he had been whipped by his master with a whip dipped in saltwater.

He had always thought this was normal — if you didn’t listen, you had to be punished — so he never fought for anything for his companions.

...Was it not like that?

Huang Mao’s expression was dazed, but no one had the energy to comfort him at this moment. Everyone's attention was on the group of animals.

"How could one do such cruel things to innocent beings? It's absolutely heartless!"

"Evil sects should be eradicated by all!"

The Taoist priests angrily scolded a few times, but then became conflicted: "But in this situation, how should we deal with these animals?"

The local Taoist priests exchanged looks.

But their temples were proper, and they had to wear Taoist robes every day. If these animals were afraid of that, it seemed they couldn’t follow them.

The goat-bearded old Taoist priest’s gaze paused on the members of the Xianyao Sect.

"It seems, only Daoist Ke can help us now."

Ke Xingzhou: "?"

Help? Help with what? Wasn't he here to make money?

Ke Xingzhou didn’t like troublesome things, and when he heard they wanted to send all these animals to the Xianyao Sect, he immediately remembered the experience of taking care of his family’s cat night and day and instinctively wanted to refuse.At this moment, Zhu Chu looked at the group of animals on the ground, trembling like sifted rice but still hiding their cleverness, and suddenly had an idea.

He called out to Ke Xingzhou: "Master, I think this project is pretty good. Our haunted house has recently hired quite a few socially awkward employees who refuse to go out and scare people. It's a waste of resources to keep them in the sect. How about we start a new project and let them do behind-the-scenes work?"

Ke Xingzhou hesitated when he heard about making money. "What new project?"

Zhu Chu clearly had been thinking about the sect's future development for a long time. He immediately took out his phone and showed Ke Xingzhou a video: "You know those videos of animals with personalities that are trending online? They’re all staged and edited. Imagine how much better ours would be since they’re all natural! And we won’t need professional editors to piece everything together. We could teach our employees some basic editing skills, making it efficient and cost-effective!"

Ke Xingzhou, not being very good with business matters, thought for a moment and agreed: "That does make sense."

Upon receiving confirmation, Zhu Chu’s spirit lifted immediately. He proudly looked at his junior, thinking, "You’ve never had Master praise you like this!"

However, he met Mr. Nie’s cold gaze, which made him feel as if Mr. Nie was the one who was the evil sect, not him.

Feeling a chill down his spine, he instinctively wanted to back down, but then remembered that Master had just agreed with his idea, so he straightened his back.

He thought, "What’s my junior even thinking about? Out there he’s Mr. Nie, but inside the sect, he’s the lowest in rank. Master agreed with my idea, so what right does he have to comment?"

His junior must be jealous of his good idea, and that’s why he was looking at him like that.

Zhu Chu proudly raised his head and went to discuss the labor contract with Huang Mao, who seemed absent-minded. After all, their Xianyao Sect was a proper sect, and even though their employees were a group of animals that hadn’t yet cultivated into spirits, they still had to sign contracts to avoid future disputes!

He held a grudge over Huang Mao calling their sect an evil sect earlier, so when discussing the terms, he puffed out his chest and very deliberately used some more professional terms.

When he saw the expressions of Huang Mao and the animals gradually turn to admiration, he became even more proud.

Look! Their Xianyao Sect wasn’t some evil cult; it was so orderly and proper! It was even more organized than the entertainment company he worked for before!

At first, Huang Mao thought they were going to make his companions do animal performances, but when he heard that it was just for shooting short videos with free meals, accommodation, and weekends off, his attitude towards rejecting it immediately softened.

However, this was his first time handling such matters — in an evil sect, who would offer such good treatment? They usually made people work for free, sometimes even having to hand over their own savings!

After talking for a while, he realized that Xianyao Sect’s conditions were actually quite good, so he gave up control of his body and let Bai She, who had more social experience, come out to negotiate.

Bai She: "…"

Bai She was momentarily stunned by this unexpected opportunity and asked the key question: "But my physical body has already been destroyed, and now I’m inhabiting Big Yellow’s body. Can I still sign the contract?"

Big Yellow...

Zhu Chu glanced at Huang Mao’s clear and naive face, and though his attitude towards recruitment was sincere, he said, "Of course you can! If you're willing, our haunted house in Xianyao Sect could create an animal-themed experience dungeon. Not only you, if you know any smart animal ghosts, you can introduce them for an interview. Once they pass, we’ll even give you performance bonuses!"

Performance bonuses!

Now, with this added, there was really nothing to criticize.

Compared to the days they had at Nine-Headed Dragon, the conditions Xianyao Sect offered were incredibly generous. Bai She thought for a moment and quickly agreed. Soon, Huang Mao had Big Black Dog, Little Pig, and the other animals possess him one by one, and they started discussing the specific needs and job details of each animal.

After just a few minutes, the animals stopped trembling. Each of them had a hopeful smile on their face as they left their paw prints on the contracts that Assistant Liu had rushed to print at a nearby print shop.

The scene became incredibly harmonious.

Others: "…………"The Taoist priests listened in a daze and their gazes towards Ke Xingzhou became increasingly strange.

They had originally thought that creating a real haunted house was already explosive enough, but they were now expanding their recruitment for ghost employees and even planning to open a new project to accommodate more ghost employees?

Letting animals with intelligence perform, with free meals, accommodation, high pay, and little work, plus performance bonuses for recruiting new employees...

This project seemed like something was off.

They glanced at Xiang Ting, and seeing that he had no reaction, they gradually stopped worrying.

If the director of the Special Event Handling Bureau hadn't said anything, then there probably wasn’t any problem.

Xiang Ting: "…"