Chapter 92

In addition to Master Wang's medical fees, everyone also paid for accommodation, planning to rest here for a while.

The Taoists gathered the information they had and discussed it for a long time but still couldn't come to a conclusion.

It was truly a helpless situation. After all, they were currently in the southwest, and with the Nine-Headed Dragon's extensive network, their movements had probably already been noted on the Nine-Headed Dragon's leader's desk.

They looked at the people, ghosts, and spirits frolicking in the pool below, then at the already dimmed tablet, and a heavy, completely different emotion weighed down on them, making it hard to breathe.

One Taoist sighed, "Do you all know, the remnants of the Nine-Headed Dragon infiltrated our country only ten years ago, and during that time, they were constantly being cracked down on. How did they manage to develop to this extent?"

Zhu Chu didn't join them in going next door. Hearing this, he felt that the Taoists were underestimating the speed at which society was developing now.

"What's the big deal? Our Xiyao Sect, from its establishment until now, hasn't even been two months, and the number of ghost employees under us is already far more than the Nine-Headed Dragon. We’re just slightly lacking in the number of spirit employees," he sighed. "This really depends on whether the righteous or the evil path is stronger; the ability to deduce from one situation to another is impressive!"

The Taoists: "…"

They had no mood to deal with Zhu Chu's explosive statements. After two days of busy travel, they were all completely exhausted.

The Taoist who spoke earlier continued, "I don't know how things are in your capital, but I recently compiled the data from the Jiangcheng Taoist Association. In recent years, the number of supernatural events has clearly increased compared to previous years. It seems this world is about to be in turmoil."

Zhu Chu was puzzled, "Birth rates are dropping in many countries, and many are already in negative growth. Isn't it normal for the number of ghosts to increase?"

The Taoist was surprised by his sharpness but shook his head upon hearing that, "If it were just the increase in ghosts, that would be one thing, but some supernatural events aren't caused by ghosts... In fact, in recent years, it's not just ghosts that are flooding the human world, even the number of spirits and demons has grown unusually high."

Zhu Chu: "Huh?"

"The Heavenly Dao has been weakening for a long time, and the spiritual energy in the world is thin. Even cultivators are rare, and the demon race should have perished long ago..."

Zhu Chu muttered "Ah" and realized that what he had always considered normal was actually abnormal.

Following the Taoists' gaze, he looked down at the figures exuding demon and ghost energy, pausing for a long while with a blank expression. "So, are all of these the Nine-Headed Dragon's doing?"

The Taoist was about to nod in hesitation when Mu Shui Shui, hearing their conversation, freed one of his tentacles and pointed at the balcony, saying, "From your angle, you should be able to see a few little dog demons swimming in the pool."

The two looked in the direction he pointed and indeed saw the dog demons Mu Shui Shui had mentioned.

Each one looked like a young, fit, cheerful handsome guy. The wife from the couple they met earlier had been staring at them, making the husband jealous, and they joked and laughed a bit.

The Taoist: "…"

Such a scene had never even appeared in his dreams. After all, as a Taoist who slays demons and eliminates evil, most of the requests they received were to deal with disruptive spirits and vengeful ghosts in people's homes. When had they ever encountered a situation where people, ghosts, and demons lived in harmony?

Zhu Chu was stunned by the dog demons' clearly defined muscles and hurriedly covered his eyes and his belly, scolding, "Hey, why are these demons so gay? Don't you know 'look but don't touch'? And you even made us look!"Mu Shui Shui looked at him strangely: "I'm a genderless being, what am I being inappropriate about?"

Zhu Chu: "…"

Oh, forgot about that.

He fell silent for a moment, involuntarily recalling the pain of his first love dream being gently shattered.

After a while, he finally reacted: "Then I'm not gay either! Don't even think about turning me!"

Mu Shui Shui: "…"

He couldn't be bothered to deal with Zhu Chu and continued the previous topic: "These few are siblings. Their dog mother already had intelligence when she was pregnant with them, but she was captured by Nine-Headed Dragon during the period of weakness after giving birth and was refined into a demon servant. The remaining ones were supposed to be captured too, but I picked them up and raised them."

Zhu Chu froze, then looked back at the dog demons.

His gaze struggled to move away from their muscular chests and abs, then he carefully studied their faces.

"…But this doesn’t seem right?"

Mu Shui Shui: "…"

Taoist: "…"

Ke Xingzhou looked at the dog demons somewhat distractedly, and suddenly Nie Chen's cool voice came from beside him: "Do they look good?"

Ke Xingzhou shook his head, then hesitated before speaking, "I think... I’ve seen this scene before."

He wasn’t sure if his memory was faulty.

This kind of thing does happen scientifically, and it’s called the hippocampus effect. It’s when something you’ve never experienced feels like you’ve seen it before, creating a sense of déjà vu.

But Ke Xingzhou had never left the capital before. Before leaving the old house in the countryside, his merit was low enough to be appalling, and he could barely even ensure his own survival. Where would he have experienced such a luxurious scene?

Ke Xingzhou shook his head, thinking it was probably just the hippocampus effect from being too tired.

He quickly discarded the thought and turned to ask Nie Chen with a puzzled look: "What's up? You suddenly ask this, are you trying to change things up?"

Nie Chen fell silent for a moment, his expression strange. He raised his hand and covered Ke Xingzhou's face: "No."

A strange atmosphere gradually spread throughout the room. Everyone silently looked at the swimming pool downstairs, their expressions dazed and forlorn.

Huang Mao seemed to remember the White Snake and the big black dog, his eyes gradually filling with tears, wiping them away from time to time.

Zhu Chu also looked at them with great emotion for a while. After a moment, he turned to Mu Shui Shui and asked: "You just said they’re temporary workers? That’s so unstable. Their lives are already hard enough, with no income guarantee. How is that different from a startup company’s employees? How about this, you act as an intermediary and introduce them to our Xiyao Sect. Give us an 80% discount on the intermediary fee."

Mu Shui Shui: "…"

Everyone: "…"

Wait a minute.

Who’s giving who a discount here?A few minutes later, at the poolside of Mu Shui Shui's villa.

Zhu Chu came down with the guest list, smiling widely as he looked at the spirits and demons in the pool, as if he were seeing money trees.

The few dog demons suddenly felt a chill behind them, and when they turned around, they met Zhu Chu, dressed in a Daoist robe and holding a talisman, scaring them so much their faces turned pale.

— Having been repeatedly identified as a practitioner of the evil path, Zhu Chu, in his moments of reflection, finally realized he couldn’t continue down this path. So, he borrowed a Daoist robe from a Taoist priest with a similar build, and casually inserted a peach wood sword into the back of his collar, attempting to make himself look more respectable.

He headed straight for the three dog demons.

But to his surprise, when the three dog demons saw him, they panicked as if they’d seen their natural enemy, struggling in the pool.

The youngest one immediately swam far away with a dog paddle, while the other two also fled in a hurry, already out of the pool area before Zhu Chu could even speak.

Zhu Chu, seeing this scene, not only didn’t get angry but instead his eyes lit up.

This body is great! With this speed, it could even compete in the Olympics!

The key thing was that he had just carefully examined the appearance of these three little pups. Although their skin wasn’t particularly fair, their healthy wheat-colored skin, especially in the water, gave off a champagne satin feel.

It must feel amazing to the touch!

Zhu Chu couldn’t help but laugh out loud, then, realizing what he was thinking, his face turned red. He quickly shook his head to dismiss those dangerous thoughts from his mind.

He turned back to the three dog demons, scrutinizing them with the eye of a manager for a moment, nodding repeatedly.

Their faces were flawless—such a great specimen, and Nine-Headed Dragon wanted to use them to make demon servants!

What a waste!

The entertainment industry nowadays is lacking in good-looking, strong young men like this—just look at those chest and abdominal muscles. If they went out, they’d surely have a huge fan following!

Zhu Chu made up his mind and waved his hand toward the second floor.

From the study on the second floor, Mu Shui Shui's voice rang out: "This is Daoist Zhu Chu from Xiyao Sect, here to recruit people for work in the capital. If anyone is interested, come out."

Hearing that he wasn’t from Nine-Headed Dragon, the spirits and demons at the scene curiously peeked out, still with a bit of fear on their faces.

Nine-Headed Dragon had such a huge reputation locally, and now this Daoist priest had come all the way from the capital to recruit them for work. What did he want? He couldn’t be planning to capture them and refine them, could he?

However, this was Mu Shui Shui's territory...

The ghosts and spirits looked up at the study and, seeing a transparent tentacle extending out, felt a little more at ease and slowly moved forward.

The humans present were also curious, looking at Zhu Chu.

They were all Mu Shui Shui's neighbors and often interacted with him. They knew that Mu Shui Shui had made his fortune in the agency business.

But it was strange. Mu Shui Shui had become such a big boss, yet he was still so down-to-earth, bringing his employees to his house to recruit people?

They saw the three little dogs returning, their faces full of fear.

But they were obedient.Zhu Chu was becoming more and more satisfied with these little dog demons, waving at them kindly: "I am Zhu Chu from the Xiyao Sect, just call me Manager Zhu. I'm here to recruit, I heard you guys have great potential, would you be interested in joining our Xiyao Sect as official employees?"

The little dogs were wary, and if they had tails, they would probably be tucking them in right now.

The most muscular one, the eldest, cautiously spoke up: "To go to the capital? What kind of work?"

Zhu Chu: "To become celebrities! Sign a contract!"

The spirits and demons were still a bit hesitant, but Zhu Chu had already pulled out his phone and opened the social media account for Xiyao Sect: "You’ve heard of Xiyao Sect, right? It’s very popular online. Our haunted house is also very popular. Employees can earn generous incense and gold ingots every month, and if they do well, they can even get promoted and get a raise!"

When the ghosts heard such favorable conditions, they were somewhat tempted, but the spirits frowned.

It seemed like there weren’t any positions for them.

Zhu Chu flipped through his album and continued: "You know Nine-Headed Dragon, right? This one, this one, and this one, they were once employees of Nine-Headed Dragon, but now they’ve switched sides. They’re probably already in the capital, let me have them show you."

He then made a phone call, and soon, a black dog’s head appeared on the screen.

Humans, who had gathered out of curiosity, watched in silence.

The three dog demons couldn’t help but exclaim: "Little Dog Brother!"

They all recognized the big black dog, knowing that it had indeed followed Nine-Headed Dragon’s people. That human master had always mistreated the big black dog, leaving it covered in wounds, poor thing.

But wasn’t the big black dog unwilling to leave Nine-Headed Dragon for its beloved snake?

Just as they were thinking this, a white snake, as thick as an adult's arm, slithered up behind the big black dog and rested its head on the dog’s head.

Zhu Chu looked on with satisfaction: "Look at that, the employee atmosphere is so good!"

When they looked up, the three dog demons’ faces turned red all of a sudden, and they hurriedly turned away their gazes.

Zhu Chu: "?"

He was puzzled, looking at the big black dog on the screen, its body wrapped by the white snake, smiling so happily. He couldn’t understand what was so embarrassing.

Fortunately, after watching the video call, the spirits and demons had grown to trust him more. Even the three dog demons, who had been quite resistant from the start, now showed signs of wavering.

The eldest of the dog demons stepped forward, looking determined: "I’ll go with you, but first, the salary must be given to my younger brother."

The couple nearby looked at this seemingly mischievous and handsome young man in surprise, thinking, "Who would have thought that this guy is so family-oriented? He’s giving his salary to his brother. How is he going to live himself?"

Zhu Chu waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, that’s not possible! Bank cards are all registered under real names, how could they be lent out? We Xiyao Sect don’t do illegal or immoral things!"

The dog brothers probably didn’t have bank cards. The eldest dog didn’t fully understand, and thought Zhu Chu was trying to trick his brothers into going to the capital to be enslaved, which made him unhappy immediately.

He blocked his two younger brothers in front of him, shouting fiercely: "You wish! You can kill or maim me, but if you dare harm my brothers, I’ll make sure to die with you!"

The couple: "???!!"

Wait, hold on.

Why are they suddenly shouting about killing and maiming? Is this some kind of drama? Do they need to cooperate with it?

Zhu Chu was also stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh in realization: "What do you mean ‘kill or maim you’? We Xiyao Sect is a proper Daoist temple, all our contracts are standard labor contracts! How could you think of us like that!"Little did he know, it was better if he hadn’t said anything. As soon as he spoke, the eldest dog’s expression became even more humiliating.

"Enough! If you want to kill us, kill us; if you want to refine us, refine us. Why do you keep using the same excuse to deceive us every time?" The eldest dog brother said with anger and grief, "Do you think we’re donkeys? Falling for the same trick over and over again!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a skinny man walking around the pool turned his head and looked over, his expression full of dissatisfaction: "Hey, I’m not saying anything, but if you’re talking about business, do it without dragging others down! What’s wrong with us donkeys? Wait for me, let me finish this lap, and I’ll have a proper talk with you!"

Humans: "……?????"