IMMFBCG Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The Red Luan Star is Stirred

Ye Xue and Bai Liu asked the nearby wandering spirits and wild ghosts, and they found out that Bai Liu’s body had been discovered by local residents. Assuming it was the scene of a crime, they called the police.

As expected, his “corpse” was currently at the police station.

Bai Liu was shocked when he heard this. “I hid it so well, and they still found it?! Damn, is this person Conan or something?!”

Hearing the word “Conan,” Ye Xue recalled an earlier event and glanced at him with a half-smile, asking, “Is ‘everything Conan’ for you? Have you only watched Detective Conan?”

Bai Liu instinctively replied, “Not just that! I’ve also watched Inuyasha, The Witch’s Trial, and something about fruit…”

As he spoke, he suddenly realized something was off—there seemed to be a menacing aura rising. He quickly stopped and changed the topic. “What about my body, Uncle Master? Do you think the police would believe me if I told them I was just sleeping?”

Ye Xue asked in return, “What do you think?”

Bai Liu replied, “… No.”

Seeing Bai Liu looking utterly defeated, Ye Xue decided not to tease him any further. She waved her hand, dismissing the nearby ghosts, and said to Bai Liu, “Let’s head back for now. We’ll leave the matter of ‘redeeming your body’ to the Taoist Association.”

…

The Taoist Association handled the matter quickly. It wasn’t long before Bai Liu’s body was returned.

The police often cooperated with the Taoist sects. When they encountered things science couldn’t explain, they would ask Taoist experts for help. However, to avoid causing public panic, they would usually release a different, more acceptable version of events to the public.

When Bai Liu’s soul returned to his body, the pain was almost unbearable—it was as if he wanted to jump up from the shock.

Ye Xue, on the other hand, seemed completely unaffected. After washing her face, she couldn’t stand the bloodstains on her dress anymore, so she went to change her clothes.

The white dress had been dirtied with mud and blood, and since the stains were so obvious, even after cleaning it, it was beyond saving.

At first, Ye Xue felt a bit regretful when she threw the dress away, but then she remembered the generous rewards for capturing vengeful spirits, and she quickly let it go.

Meanwhile, poor Bai Liu—having fought with the female ghost in blue—was only now feeling the true intensity of the pain his soul had suffered. The damage hadn’t seemed too bad while his soul was out of his body, but the moment his soul returned, the pain amplified a hundredfold, even a thousandfold.

Inside the room, Bai Liu was howling in pain so loudly that the worshippers coming to burn incense thought something strange was happening. But when they saw Ye Xue’s calm expression, they began to doubt their hearing and cautiously asked, “Daoist Master, was there a strange noise just now?”

Ye Xue took the divination slip from them and calmly replied, “Nothing much. Probably just the TV inside—it was left a bit too loud.”

Hearing this, the worshippers were reassured and joked, “The TV must be showing a pig slaughter or something, with all that screaming.”

Ye Xue’s eyes curved in a smile as she nodded in agreement, “Indeed.”

After they finished burning incense, the worshippers quickly left.

Only then did Ye Xue walk to the side hall, standing at the doorway with a mischievous smile. “Did you hear that? They said you’re like a pig being slaughtered.”

Bai Liu, about to retort with something like, “Even if I were a pig, I’d be the best-looking one,” turned and caught sight of himself in the mirror—bruised and swollen.

Well, it looks like I am a pig head.

A while later, Ye Xue noticed Bai Liu came out wearing a mask and blinked in surprise. “Since when did you care this much about your appearance?”

Bai Liu’s voice was muffled behind the mask. “I’m just thinking about the reputation of our temple. If the worshippers see me like this, they might think I just got out of jail… uh.”

Realizing the slip-up, he scratched his head awkwardly and said, “Well, technically, I did just get out, so I guess it’s not wrong.”

Ye Xue couldn’t help but laugh at his words and was about to say something to comfort him when strange noises suddenly came from the back door.

The two exchanged a glance and hurried outside to check.

They saw the fortune teller staggering toward them, carrying two bags of takeout. He looked disheveled, almost tripping several times. If it weren’t for his quick reflexes to steady himself, he would’ve ended up flat on the street.

That strange heavy feeling came over his legs again, so the fortune teller raised his hands high to prevent the takeout from falling.

But just as he took another step, he nearly tripped again.

As Ye Xue stepped outside, she heard the car crash ghost calling out frantically, “Daoist Master, it’s him! He’s the one who stole the takeout!”

Then, the ghost grabbed onto the fortune teller’s pant leg and yelled loudly, “Thief! Where do you think you’re going?”

Seeing this scene, Ye Xue was both amused and exasperated. “Let go of him. We know already.”

Earlier, when the street scam artist woke up and saw Ye Xue and Bai Liu, he thought they were here to settle accounts over yesterday’s incident and tried to run.

But his pants, which Bai Liu had pulled down before, weren’t properly secured. He tripped and fell to the ground, dropping a takeout bag in the process.

The bag had the address and phone number of the Xuan Zhen Temple written on it.

Upon seeing this, Ye Xue and Bai Liu instantly understood—the scam artist was the one who had stolen their food.

No wonder they ran into him in the residential area—it was his doing.

But because the scam artist had been possessed by the vengeful female ghost in blue when the car crash ghost encountered him, the ghost couldn’t sense any living aura on him, only the stench of death, which is why he hadn’t recognized him.

Bai Liu was furious and wanted to beat the guy up, but in the end, the fortune teller begged for mercy and offered to replace their stolen takeout. The matter was finally settled.

At that moment, the fortune teller, hearing Ye Xue’s words, looked confused. “Who are you talking to?”

Apart from the three of them, there was no one else around, and it was clear that Ye Xue wasn’t speaking to him or Bai Liu.

What’s even stranger was that after she said this, he felt the heavy sensation, as if something was restraining him, suddenly disappear.

Realizing what had just happened, the fortune teller paled in shock. “Holy crap, there was a ghost?!”

He had already been terrified when Ye Xue and Bai Liu mentioned his earlier possession, and now, realizing there might be a ghost nearby, he was even more frightened. He quickly scurried behind Ye Xue, the one he trusted most to keep him safe. If he weren’t afraid of being scolded, he might have even grabbed her robes for extra security.

Bai Liu rolled his eyes. “What’s a ghost? You were just possessed by one! Serves you right for stealing our takeout!”

Ye Xue glanced around and reminded him, “Let’s head inside first.”

Even though few people would pass by the backdoor, it wasn’t great if someone overheard.

She then nodded at the car accident ghost, signaling him to return to the tree to continue guarding the gate, before heading back into the temple.

…

While the two of them ate their takeout, the fortune teller nervously burned a few sticks of incense in the main hall, repeatedly bowing to the Three Pure Ones. After Wei Xingteng took the vengeful ghost back, he returned to explain why this guy was possessed. The area was deserted except for him, and the blue-dressed ghost had escaped from the ghost well nearby. Desperate to avoid being caught by the underworld, she took over his body to escape.

After finishing his incense offerings, the fortune teller, still uneasy, approached them and asked, “Isn’t it said that after being possessed by a ghost, bad luck follows for a while? I washed myself with pomelo leaves. Could you give me a few calming talismans for protection?”

Seeing his panicked expression, Bai Liu couldn’t help but quip, “You lie and cheat for a living. Who else would a ghost possess if not you?”

Ye Xue, on the other hand, focused on something different. “You know to use pomelo leaves to wash away negative energy? Have you studied Taoist arts?”

The fortune teller replied, “I did apprentice under a master for a while in my younger days. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn much and now just scrape by to earn a meal. But I wasn’t lying about knowing how to read fortunes—I really can!”

Ye Xue raised an eyebrow, not quite believing him.

If he could read fortunes, wouldn’t he have noticed Bai Liu was perfectly fine?

Seeing her skeptical look, the fortune teller got nervous and quickly added, “Alright, it’s true that most of the time I’m not accurate, but sometimes I am! Like right now, I’m sure I’ll be spot on. How about I do a reading for you?”

He looked at Ye Xue and said confidently, “Your forehead is broad and your features refined. You must be the daughter of a wealthy family.”

Ye Xue mercilessly debunked him. “But I grew up in the countryside.”

The fortune teller looked baffled. “No way! I was sure I got it right this time.”

Trying to salvage his credibility, he suggested, “How about I try again? I’ll use a Six Lines divination this time. This one will be accurate!”

Bai Liu finally couldn’t hold back. “Uncle, you should just go to bed. If you were good at fortune-telling, why’d you have to steal our takeout?”

The fortune teller awkwardly scratched his head and chuckled. “I was too hungry, had no money, and couldn’t help myself.”

“But…” He glanced at them and swore, “I promise you, I’ll never do something like steal takeout again!”

His first time doing it and he got possessed by a ghost—it was almost traumatic. He definitely wouldn’t dare try again.

Bai Liu was about to say more, but Ye Xue interrupted. “This gentleman…”

The fortune teller quickly responded, “My name is Bao, Bao Wenxuan.”

Ye Xue nodded. “Mr. Bao, we won’t hold the takeout incident against you. After all, you did make up for it by buying us new food. Besides, if it weren’t for all this, we wouldn’t have caught that vengeful ghost. However… scamming people does harm your karma. It’d be best if you did less of that in the future.”

Bao Wenxuan was quick to agree, explaining, “I know my limits. I’m just trying to earn a meal. I would never deceive anyone out of their life savings.”

Ye Xue believed him. Despite his somewhat sleazy appearance, Bao Wenxuan didn’t seem the type to commit serious crimes. At most, he probably just said a few comforting words to keep his clients happy.

After some further warnings, Bao Wenxuan repeatedly promised to turn over a new leaf before taking his leave.

Close to dinnertime, Master Bai and Xu Zhou messaged back, saying that the case they were handling for a client was more complicated than expected. They would be returning to the temple late and asked Ye Xue to keep the door open for them.

Bai Liu, busy with homework assigned by the red-dressed ghost, suddenly remembered something and looked up. “Master, don’t you also know how to read fortunes? How about you do a reading for yourself? Maybe you’re secretly a wealthy heiress!”

Ye Xue shot him a glance and, with a smile, teased, “Didn’t you just call him a fraud at lunch? Why believe it now?”

Bai Liu mumbled, “That’s different. I trust you, not him. Besides, if you were a rich second-generation, wouldn’t that mean you could sponsor me?”

The mention of this sparked his enthusiasm. Staring at the thick stack of homework in front of him, Bai Liu looked over at Ye Xue and, with utmost sincerity, said, “Master, I don’t want to work hard anymore!”

Ye Xue was even more serious. “Nephew, do you think I want to work hard?”

But now that Bai Liu had brought it up, she was curious to test her fortune-telling progress, so she fetched a mirror.

Noticing Bai Liu’s eager and expectant expression, Ye Xue reminded him, “I should warn you—when it comes to reading your fortune, the accuracy is much lower. After all, fate is notoriously hard to predict for oneself.”

If it were that easy, any fortune-teller could just predict when they’d strike it rich and buy a lottery ticket.

Bai Liu quickly nodded in understanding.

After studying herself in the mirror for a while, Ye Xue didn’t see any sign of the great wealth Bao Wenxuan had predicted. However…

She looked at her reflection and, with a puzzled tone, muttered, “Nine Purple Star, Red Luan Star activated?”

Bai Liu, not hearing, asked, “What did you say, Master?”

Ye Xue put the mirror away decisively and declared, “As expected, reading your fortune is unreliable.”

After all, she didn’t even have someone she was interested in, so how could any Red Luan Star be stirring?

Bai Liu: “???”

Master, can you at least tell me whether we still need to keep working hard or not?