Chapter 88
Two minutes later.
The TV ghost was strangled, his face covered in blood and tears as he cried and begged for mercy: “Wuwuwu, I was just clocking in and came out to scare someone, who knew you two were doing this kind of thing? And you’re master and disciple too, playing more twisted than the evil path...”
He muttered quietly at the end.
Ke Xingzhou: “...”
Nie Chen took out a talisman for exterminating ghosts and handed it to Ke Xingzhou, his expression cold, voice particularly low: “Being a ghost and still this unruly, might as well let him’s soul scatter.”
The TV ghost was shocked at this, thinking how these two were so ruthless, wanting to scatter his soul right away?
Wasn’t he just trying to scare them a bit when they were being lovey-dovey?
Seeing the handsome youth strangling his neck slightly moved, the TV ghost felt the hand on his neck burning hotter, almost burning a big hole through his soul.
That hand had previously grabbed his neck hard enough to leave a big mark!
Recalling the fear of almost having his soul scattered, the TV ghost immediately panicked, hurriedly brushing hair away from his face and pointing to his clean face: “No no no… sirs, please see clearly, I’m a good ghost! Haven’t done anything bad!”
Nie Chen was unmoved: “You recklessly cause trouble in the human world, being sent to the Inspection Department means going to hell.”
The TV ghost was almost scared to pee hearing this; how did these two humans even know about the Inspection Department?!
Residency permits in the living world get harder to get as time goes on, and he had come up quite early. If sent to the Inspection Department and the Underworld found out he was scaring people in the living world, his residency permit would be revoked and it’d be hard to come back up.
It was said it would also affect his reincarnation queue speed!
Fearing they would really report him, the TV ghost stopped whining and pleaded with a mournful face: “I really didn’t do anything bad, just collected some incense money and helped scare some people. How could a good ghost like me harm anyone?”
Just then, Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen’s phones rang at the same time.
From Zhu Chu and Assistant Liu’s side came faint voices: “Dao friend! Are you alright? Damn, these fierce ghosts are really rampant, how are Dao friend Ke from Xiaoyao Sect and his disciple?”
Followed by sounds of intense fighting.
“...” Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen coldly stared at the TV ghost.
The TV ghost was stunned, nervously muttering: “H-how could this happen? It was supposed to just scare people, didn’t say to harm anyone! Damn, that middleman screwed me!”
Middleman...
Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen exchanged a look full of meaning but had no time to deal with him, and both turned to leave.The TV ghost was about to relax and sneak away, when he heard a young man’s clear and solemn voice at the door: “...Wherever you are, all gods are welcomed. Urgent, as the decree commands!”
The next second, a golden light full of oppressive force flew toward him, enveloping him with an irresistible might.
When the TV ghost regained his vision, he found himself already inside the elevator. He saw in the elevator mirror that the strong Daoist golden light surrounding him gradually changed, slowly gathering and solidifying into a—
Cat carrier.
TV ghost: “...?”
—
Downstairs was already in chaos.
Most of the rooms Assistant Liu arranged for the Daoists were on the same floor, but now this floor was occupied by fierce ghosts.
The corridor was filled with grotesque ghosts; the Daoists rushing over from Jiangcheng were still not fully dressed, gathered awkwardly, raising their talismans to intimidate the fierce ghosts. A few were already injured, looking rather battered.
Guests on the same floor heard the noise and came out to check, panicking: “Security? Where’s security? How did a bunch of old men get in here doing indescribable things?!”
The Daoists: “...”
Ordinary people had a “barrier” before their eyes and, unless their luck was extremely low, could not see those fierce ghosts—only a group of old Daoists with graying hair and disheveled clothes leaning together, a very unpleasant sight.
The Daoists couldn’t explain what was happening to them, only whispered angrily: “The Nine-headed Dragon is truly despicable! This is clearly a provocation!”
At the same time, they were secretly alarmed—they had just checked in, yet the Nine-headed Dragon already knew their whereabouts and had summoned so many fierce ghosts for an ambush.
Had the southwest truly fallen completely under their control?
Among the hotel guests were people from nearby cities, frowning at the mention of the Nine-headed Dragon’s name: “What does this have to do with the Nine-headed Dragon? What are these outsiders talking about?”
Some of the Nine-headed Dragon’s followers looked suspiciously at the crowd, as if the Daoists were insulting their faith. Even Ke Xingzhou and the others, who had just come downstairs, were glanced at with hostile eyes.
Assistant Liu saw Nie Chen and felt as if he’d found a backbone.
Receiving a signal from his boss, he quickly steadied himself, trying to ignore the fierce ghosts in his view, and hurried to explain to the guests: “We sincerely apologize. Actually, we are filming. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused. Later, the housekeeping department will register your identities and provide room upgrades and complimentary meals.”
Hearing there would be compensation, the guests’ moods eased somewhat.
But the Nine-headed Dragon’s followers still stared doubtfully at the Daoists: “What filming project? Where are the cameras?”
This was a sharp question that even the ever-resourceful Assistant Liu hesitated to answer.
Looking at the struggling Daoists and the blood-stained, grinning fierce ghosts weaving among the guests, the extreme horror dulled his mind: “Role-playing... it’s... cosplay.”
The Daoists: “........”
The Nine-headed Dragon’s followers glanced at the group of Daoists, who really did look like middle-aged shut-ins with gray hair, so calling them cosplay was somewhat believable.
Still, some didn’t quite believe it: “What characters are they playing? I’ve never seen any of these before.”
Assistant Liu was silent for a moment, but before he could answer, the person’s companion waved his hand: “There are plenty of obscure cosplays; you can’t know them all. I even saw someone cosplay as a refrigerator once.”
Assistant Liu: “...”The strangest thing was that the doubting follower actually listened; after hearing this, he just gave the Daoists a couple of strange looks before withdrawing his gaze.
Other guests, upon hearing that these were a group of middle-aged shut-ins, also relaxed their vigilance, shook their heads saying, “How old are they still playing this?” and went back to their rooms.
After that, no one came out again no matter what sounds were coming from outside.
Zhu Chu and Assistant Liu were together keeping watch at the door. Seeing the scene, Zhu Chu felt somewhat complicated and sighed, “The tolerance of people in the southwest is really strong... no wonder the Nine-headed Dragon can grow big and strong here. When we were developing in the capital city, we didn’t have such a good environment.”
To be honest, he was a bit envious of the Nine-headed Dragon.
Assistant Liu: “............”
—
With the addition of Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen, the Daoists fought hard and finally slew several fierce ghosts under their swords.
The crisis was finally resolved, but none of the Daoists looked happy.
Besides the Nine-headed Dragon’s reaction being too swift and catching them off guard, causing many fierce ghosts to escape, it was also because of Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen.
Whether it was just their imagination or not, the Daoists felt that from the moment Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen appeared, those fierce ghosts seemed a bit unwilling to fight. Many were captured and killed by Ke Xingzhou while fleeing.
Although they had basically recognized Ke Xingzhou’s ability and accepted the fact that he was stronger than these old men—it was still quite discouraging!
Could even ghosts easily tell that they were no match for Ke Xingzhou?
The merit golden light was not visible to everyone. Even with their eyes opened, the Daoists could not see anything unusual about Nie Chen, only thinking the changes were caused by Ke Xingzhou, which made them even more gloomy.
Having lived most of their lives, they still couldn’t compare to a young man just in his early twenties...
Ke Xingzhou: “?”
Assistant Liu brought the hotel first aid kit and bandaged the Daoists’ wounds one by one. Fortunately, the fight was quick, and most injuries were superficial, needing only simple treatment.
At this moment, someone finally remembered: “Hey, where are Mr. Xiang and the others?”
Everyone looked around and indeed didn’t see Xiang Ting, Zhu Qian, or Huang Mao. Their expressions slightly changed.
In theory, with such a big disturbance downstairs, even Ke Xingzhou and Nie Chen who were in the top-floor presidential suite came down; Zhu Qian, staying in the middle, couldn’t have missed it.
Moreover, Xiang Ting was on the same floor as them!
After thinking carefully, everyone was shocked and immediately asked Assistant Liu for Xiang Ting’s room number. The group hurried to the door, and after several fruitless inquiries, they barged in.
Looking inside, their faces darkened.
The room’s situation was even more dangerous than outside. Almost everything was smashed clean; the walls around were covered in deep and shallow claw marks and animal fur. The yin energy was thick, almost solid, and some places had splattered bloodstains.
They looked around but didn’t see Xiang Ting’s figure, their faces suddenly changed: “Mr. Xiang has been attacked?!”
Just as they were about to rush out to search, they heard a few weak coughs.
“Not attacked... I’m here.”Everyone looked toward the direction the voice came from but saw no sign of the person—only a messy large bed.
Just as they were startled, wondering if this was another trick of the Nine-headed Dragon, their vigilance barely rose when they saw a hand reach out weakly from the gap under the bed, waving at them.
Everyone: “...”
They immediately moved forward together, lifting the heavy bed and rescuing Xiang Ting from underneath.
However, looking at the narrow gap under the bed and then at Xiang Ting, no one could figure out how he had gotten in there.
Xiang Ting didn’t explain.
His gaze swept over the crowd and immediately noticed someone was missing: “Zhu Qian didn’t come down?”
Everyone shook their heads seriously, then together they went to the floor with the business suites upstairs.
Zhu Qian and Huang Mao were both safe and sound. Before the Daoists could kick the door open, Zhu Qian opened it herself.
Seeing their disheveled appearance, she was a bit surprised: “You all had a brawl and didn’t call me?”
Everyone: “...”
Xiang Ting was silent for a moment: “... The Nine-headed Dragon found us and sent a group of ghost soldiers to ambush. Where’s Huang Mao?”
Zhu Qian stepped aside to let them in and casually pointed toward the secondary bedroom: “Over there. I was worried he wouldn’t behave, so I locked him up.”
The Daoists opened the door and saw that he really was locked in.
But unlike what they imagined, Zhu Qian had bought a long chain from somewhere—one end attached to the bedpost, the other looped around Huang Mao’s neck. The length was just enough for him to go to the bathroom but not leave the room.
“......”
Everyone was silent for a long time seeing this and gave Zhu Qian shocked looks.
What exactly did this girl do before?
Huang Mao hadn’t even changed clothes. He was curled up like a stray dog in a corner of the 1.8-meter bed. Hearing the noise, he woke up and upon seeing them, cried out as if seeing his saviors:
“Wuwu, how can you righteous sect people be like this? I’ve never suffered such humiliation at the headquarters. So who’s the evil path really? Wuwuwu...”
The Daoists: “...”
This question was really hard to answer. Their eyes swept over the members of Xiaoyao Sect, finally quietly resting on a certain scar-faced man who looked very upright.
Xiang Ting: “...”