IMMFBCG Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: The Ghost Competes for Favor.

 

“Undocumented resident?” The female ghost repeated Ye Xue’s words, still feeling a bit confused.

She pondered for a moment.

A black household is equivalent to not being registered, so the reality is—

He has no status and is living here illegally! In other words, he doesn’t even receive offerings?!

After realizing all this, the female ghost was overjoyed and boldly said, “Since my brother can, then I can too!”

“Pfft—” Ye Xue couldn’t hold back her laughter upon hearing this.

The car accident ghost immediately grew angry: “Stop with the ‘brother and sister’ nonsense! And you, big sister, just by looking at your age, you must have been dead for quite a few years, so why are you pretending to be young?”

“Bah! With that appearance of yours, neither human nor ghost, do you dare to respond if I call you ‘little brother,’ you stinky little brother?” the female ghost retorted. But upon seeing Ye Xue’s expression, she suddenly turned shy, reached up to fix her hair, and timidly explained, “Well, um, Daoist, I don’t usually act like this.”

Ye Xue cleared her throat and reminded her, “Miss, I was present in the boys’ dormitory.”

That moment when the female ghost had been verbally sparring with the male high school students was still fresh in her memory.

“…” The female ghost’s smile froze.

What a misstep!

If she had known this would happen, she should have toned it down back then.

However, the car accident ghost seized the opportunity and proudly said, “You might as well give up. I was personally brought back by her and had the approval of the temple master; we’re not the same!”

Seeing him get increasingly carried away, Ye Xue shot him a look.

The car accident ghost choked on his words.

Ye Xue smiled slightly, appearing gentle, yet it reminded him of the fear he felt after being beaten up previously, leaving him as speechless as a chicken caught by the neck.

“Eh, I suddenly remembered—I haven’t cleaned the bricks nearby!”

The car accident ghost suddenly blurted out awkwardly, throwing the cloth over his shoulder and hurriedly running away with the water bucket.

After sending away one of the troublemakers, Ye Xue felt utterly exhausted, barely able to keep her eyes open while standing.

She yawned and turned back to the female ghost, hesitating to speak: “Um… Miss.”

The female ghost realized that her purpose today might not be achieved and bit her lip in reluctance, suddenly saying, “Daoist, my name is Chen Su.”

“I’ll come back again.”

After saying this, she turned around and suddenly vanished without a trace.

…

Finally relieved after sending her off, Ye Xue was about to return to her room for a rest.

Then, she paused, as if sensing something, and looked back.

The car accident ghost was eavesdropping like a thief, not knowing how long he had been there. He finally relaxed when he saw the female ghost leave, adopting a proud demeanor like that of a main wife.

The mask he had been forced to wear had somehow fallen into the water bucket. Now, under the moonlight, his face appeared even more pale and terrifying, especially with his eavesdropping demeanor, his face pressed against the door, and a proud expression that twisted his features.

“!!!” Ye Xue was already terrified of such a ghastly sight. Being scared in the middle of the night made her lose all drowsiness, nearly fainting. She turned to grab a weapon, saying, “Where’s my knife? I’m going to kill you.”

“???” The car accident ghost hadn’t basked in his triumph for long before he was struck by a thunderclap of realization.

He exclaimed in panic, “Sister! Sister! Calm down, please wake up!”

The car accident ghost was so frightened he stopped calling her “Daoist” and kept shouting “sister,” nearly kneeling before Ye Xue.

Ye Xue looked at the ghostly face closing in on her, clenched her fists, and shouted in frustration, “Cover your ghostly face, ahhh!!!”

“What the hell?! What’s going on? Is there a fire?!” Bai Liu’s voice echoed from afar, evidently just awakened by the commotion.

A flurry of chaos ensued as the car accident ghost hurriedly reached for the mask in the bucket, disregarding how dirty it was, and quickly put it on, saying, “I’m covered, I’m covered!”

Bai Liu rushed out, still not fully dressed, but turned to see the car accident ghost kneeling before Ye Xue, the mask dripping wet.

Meanwhile, Ye Xue maintained a cold demeanor, embodying an air of authority that belied the panic she had just displayed.

“Uh, are we putting on a big show?” he asked tentatively.

Ye Xue pulled the corners of her mouth and gave a cold smile.

Xu Zhou arrived shortly after and, upon seeing the scene before him, could guess what had just happened—Ye Xue must have been frightened by the car accident ghost again.

Ye Xue glanced at the male ghost and softly said, “Why are you still dawdling? Go do your work; weren’t you just full of energy?”

Her tone was gentle, yet it conveyed a chilling intent.

The car accident ghost looked disheartened, like a wilted eggplant, realizing he was in the wrong. He silently picked up the water bucket, his voice choking as he said, “I’ll go clean for the Daoists.”

“Wait.” Xu Zhou called out to him.

The car accident ghost turned back, feeling grateful for the kindness of someone at the temple, but then he heard Xu Zhou say, “The toilet is clogged; remember to take care of that too.”

The car accident ghost: “…Got it.”

Human nature is truly cold!

After all the commotion, Ye Xue found it hard to fall asleep. She stretched and walked back to the main hall, saying, “I’m going to get some joss sticks and candles.”

As an employer, she was still humane and wouldn’t cut her employees’ pay.

Xu Zhou smiled helplessly and reminded her, “Aunt, you should rest early. It’s windy at night, so take care not to catch a chill.”

Ye Xue waved her hand from a distance, signaling that she heard him.

Bai Liu scratched his head, looking confused. “Is it all over? If so, I’ll head back to my room to continue playing games.” Then he seemed to remember something and exclaimed, “Oh no! I just went AFK! Will my teammates report me?!”

He had rushed out without even grabbing his phone.

Bai Liu sprinted back to his room.

When Yu Qi opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by darkness and the wails of ghosts.

He knew that his soul had left his body again.

Every time his soul separated from his body, it drifted restlessly to unfamiliar and dark places.

When he was younger, his family would shake a soul-calling bell to summon him back, but now Yu Qi had grown accustomed to waiting alone, knowing he would return once the time was up.

Yu Qi touched the beads on his wrist; each black obsidian bead glistened, exuding a chilling aura, engraved with the True Form of the Five Mountains, capable of warding off ordinary ghosts and monsters.

Little ghosts gathered around him, wary of the talismans on him, not daring to come too close.

Yu Qi remained calm, standing still, the icy touch keeping him awake.

The sound of ghostly discussions buzzed around him.

—“Is that a living person?”

—“It seems so. He smells so good. Can we eat him?”

—“Can we eat him? Can we eat him?”

This last question seemed to press some switch, and the surrounding ghosts began to murmur, contemplating whether to make a move against him.

“I’m too scared; she would beat me up,” another ghost said quietly.

As soon as this was said, all the ghosts around suddenly fell silent, and for a moment, no one dared to speak.

It was the first time Yu Qi had seen the ghosts fear another being so much as if they had encountered a nemesis. Even with his usual calm demeanor, he couldn’t help but tilt his head in curiosity.

He tried to see where he was but found nothing.

The darkness was silent and oppressive; everything was quiet as if time itself had stopped. Suddenly, a clear and melodious female voice broke through the stillness: “What the hell! You guys dare to steal from the temple too?!”

It was as if clouds had been parted to reveal the light.

The air started to flow again.

However, the surrounding ghosts seemed to have been greatly frightened, scattering and vanishing without a trace.

Yu Qi felt a jolt and, when he regained his senses, found that his soul had returned to his body.

He reached out to press the switch next to him, and the lights in the room suddenly illuminated, as bright as day.

Yu Qi covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed heavily, staining it with blood.

A ghostly hand, pale and fierce, landed on his shoulder, slowly reaching toward his neck, but just as it was about to touch him, it shrieked and immediately recoiled.

Yu Qi slowly put away the handkerchief and set it aside.

He lifted his eyelids, and his originally amber-colored eyes turned pitch black like the night.

Yu Qi possessed Yin-Yang eyes, allowing him to see various spirits and monsters. He could see the room filled with all kinds of ghosts and knew that he was also surrounded by them.

The True Form of the Five Mountains could ward off ordinary ghosts and monsters, but only ordinary ones; it could not completely keep them at bay.

Since childhood, he had been accustomed to being surrounded by many spirits.

Yu Qi knew that his condition was caused by them, but even his master couldn’t completely solve it. His parents had even died while searching for ways to prolong his life.

“Sir?” The bodyguard seemed to hear some commotion inside and asked with concern, “Are you feeling unwell?”

Yu Qi closed his eyes, and his pupils returned to normal.

“It’s nothing; I just had a nightmare,” Yu Qi replied calmly, ignoring the ghostly voices around him.

Meanwhile, Ye Xue looked on in disbelief at what resembled a scene of starving ghosts fighting over food.

She had just piled up the joss paper and burned it for the car accident ghost, and now a horde of wandering souls had come sniffing around.

However, the car accident ghost seemed to have long since adapted to the “danger zone” of stealing food and dove headfirst into the joss paper to eat.

Seeing them eyeing her hungrily, Ye Xue decided to take out the magic sword her master had given her and thrust it into the middle of the road.

Holding the Male and Female Exorcism Sword, Zhang Zushi ascended along with his disciples after slaying evil spirits; the female sword was used to suppress the roaming ghosts, while the male sword was left behind as part of the inheritance of Taoist magic.

What Ye Xue held was the male sword from the Exorcism Sword set. Its immense power immediately made the wandering souls too afraid to approach.

“I want to see who dares to steal food in the temple!” Ye Xue declared like a bully, taking control of the three-mile area around the temple.

The car accident ghost nearly got hurt by the sword’s light and looked up, crying, “Daoist, take it easy! I’m a ghost too!”

Ye Xue glanced at the sword in her hand without a shred of guilt and said, “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

The car accident ghost: “…”

He thought to himself that Ye Xue must still remember that she hadn’t killed him with the sword earlier and was now deliberately retaliating.

But looking at the righteous expression on her face, it didn’t seem like that.

Without thinking too much, the car accident ghost lowered his head and continued to devour the offerings.

So delicious!