Chapter 7

Qing Xian looked coldly at Zhou Xu and asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Zhou Xu said, “Am I wrong? Everyone on the mountain is saying that Teacher Su picked up a man, it must be you, right? You spend day and night together, can’t people talk about it?”

Qing Xian’s face darkened completely. Although he didn’t care about so-called reputation, he couldn’t tolerate people slandering him behind his back.

Just as he was about to retort, he felt someone grab his arm and pull him back, shielding him behind them.

Qing Xian looked at Su Rong standing in front of him, momentarily dazed.

So this is what it feels like to be protected behind someone? It felt strangely warm.

This action quelled the anger that had just risen in him, and he just stared blankly at Su Rong, his heart racing.

After shielding Qing Xian behind her, Su Rong faced Zhou Xu and his servant, her face cold and stern.

In her heart, Qing Xian was now one of her own people, and these two men who appeared out of nowhere had bullied her own, so she would no longer tolerate it.

“Although I still don’t remember your names, this is the first time I’ve seen someone think it’s others’ fault for not recognizing them.”

“Are you gold that everyone has to recognize you?”

“Calling you gold is actually an insult to gold, it probably doesn’t want to be the same kind as you.”

“As for not greeting you promptly that day, what, don’t you have feet? The path up the mountain is right there, can’t you walk yourselves? Must someone come to welcome you? Is your face bigger than the bell at the Five Temples?”

“How would my greeting you help you walk?”

“Rest assured, even if I could help, I wouldn’t help you.”

“Crying and wailing all day, with a face full of deep grudges, those who know understand you came to Five Dao Academy begging for a place to stay, those who don’t might think you came here for a funeral!”

Su Rong finished this long speech expressionlessly, truly exhausting all she had learned in the human world this past month.

After all, in the past when she encountered someone she didn’t like, she would simply kill them with one palm strike. When did she need to argue with words?

Now that she had come to the human world, if she used her magical power to harm humans, she would incur karmic consequences.

Did such people deserve her karma?

Su Rong finally looked at the two servants with humiliated faces, about to cry but not crying, and said coldly, “You gossip about a man’s reputation behind his back, do you think you’re nobler than him? You really don’t see yourselves as human.”

With that, she pulled the somewhat dazed Qing Xian directly down the mountain, not bothering with those people.

“Su Rong, I didn’t expect you to be so good at scolding people,” Qing Xian said.

“You flatter me,” Su Rong replied. It’s just that those people were asking to be scolded, she couldn’t be bothered to be polite with them.

Long Ling following behind them, asked, “Lady Su, you offended the Shan Zhang’s nephew today, will there be any consequences?”

“The Shan Zhang is not someone who doesn’t distinguish right from wrong,” Su Rong said.

“Why are you going down the mountain? Didn’t I tell you to stay at the academy?” Su Rong turned to ask Qing Xian.

“Ah, I heard there’s a Five Dao Temple down the mountain that enshrines the Wealth Goddess, I wanted to go pray,” Qing Xian lied.

Su Rong stopped in her tracks and said to Qing Xian, “Not today.”

“Why?” Qing Xian continued.

“No reason, you and your cousin either go back up the mountain or find an inn down the mountain to stay for the night, go tomorrow,” Su Rong said.

By tomorrow she would have dealt with that ghost.

“No, my cousin and I searched for a while to choose this auspicious day, tomorrow won’t do,” Qing Xian said.

Long Ling also nodded beside him.

Su Rong remained unmoved.

Humans have always been afraid of ghosts, especially human men.

If these two were frightened by the ghost, she just thought about how troublesome it would be.

It would be quicker if she handled it herself.

Qing Xian was also very persistent, so the group came to a standstill here.

Su Rong clicked her tongue. Fine, she could protect them anyway.

“I’ll take you, but when we get there you need to stay with me at all times, no running off,” Su Rong said, “If you run off and something happens, I’ll just leave you there, I won’t interfere.”

Qing Xian said, “Alright.”

…

Because Qing Xian was there, Su Rong couldn’t directly use her magical power.

But fortunately, everyone walked quickly, and they arrived at the Five Dao Temple around nightfall.

Su Rong walked to the entrance and first observed the surrounding landscape. This indeed wasn’t a place that easily nurtured ghostly energy.

Since that ghost had caused disturbances here, it must have been lurking here for at least hundreds of years and have some level of cultivation.

But judging from the current situation, it might just be a ghost that appeared out of thin air.

Qing Xian also had such suspicions. He looked at Su Rong beside him, thinking that as an ordinary mortal woman, it would be best not to involve her, so he said, “We’ll go offer incense first, you can go about your business if you’re busy.”

This was exactly what Su Rong wanted, she nodded.

Su Rong went directly to find the ghost, while Qing Xian and Long Ling left through the back door and entered the neighboring village to gather information.

When the villagers heard they were here to catch ghosts, they were initially skeptical, but with the mentality of trying anything, they laid out all their experiences.

It turned out that this so-called Five Dao Temple ghost was a deceased man from the village. Before his death, he had been constantly abused and tortured by his wife-master, and finally couldn’t take it anymore and threw himself into a well.

But ghosts who commit suicide often don’t find peace. After becoming a ghost, he still couldn’t find peace, and eventually cultivated into a vicious ghost and killed his wife-master.

They thought that would be the end of it, and for several hundred years, this male ghost didn’t appear again.

But for some unknown reason, he suddenly appeared around the Five Dao Temple recently.

According to those who saw him, he usually appears at night, but his face can’t be seen clearly.

He could only be identified as the male ghost the village had always talked about through his hair bun and clothes.

Later, all those who had seen the male ghost began to develop fevers and died within a few days, with doctors unable to find any cause.

The villagers were all on edge, not daring to go out at night.

After understanding the situation, Qing Xian’s expression became a bit heavy.

There must be more complex issues behind this male ghost that haven’t been revealed.

Why would he suddenly appear again after being quiet for hundreds of years?

And for a ghost like him who had already taken revenge, why would he come out to harm people again?

The cultivation of ghost tribes differs from other tribes, they rely on ghostly energy, which is usually most abundant in the ghost realm.

Ghosts who stay in the mortal world to scare people are usually those who have grudges from their lifetime and find it difficult to leave, but this male ghost had clearly left before, so why did he come back?

There were many doubts, and Qing Xian didn’t jump to conclusions. Instead, he took Long Ling back to the Five Dao Temple.

The sky was dark, it was time for him to come out.

Compared to Qing Xian, Su Rong was much more direct.

She found a place rarely visited by people and directly used her magical power to capture the male ghost.

When the male ghost saw Su Rong, he showed no fear at all and directly rushed forward, entangling with her.

Although the male ghost came on fiercely, his cultivation was completely insignificant to Su Rong.

So when Qing Xian and Long Ling sensed the commotion and rushed over, they saw Su Rong pressing the male ghost to the ground and rubbing him.

“Wait!” Qing Xian called out.

Su Rong saw the two of them and asked curiously, “Why are you here?”

Qing Xian was stunned for a moment, then awkwardly said, “… coincidence.”

Su Rong pondered for a moment, her lips curling up almost imperceptibly, her eyes playful.

She didn’t ask any more questions, but turned to the male ghost and said, “Tell us your story.”

The male ghost, with his head under her foot, didn’t say a word.

Seeing this, Qing Xian said, “Your wife-master has already been killed by you, your grudge should have been resolved. If you cultivate properly, it’s not impossible to become a ghost immortal given time. Why did you come out to harm people?”

The male ghost looked at Qing Xian, and a chuckling laugh came from his face.

His face was blurry, with only a long braid dragging in front of him, making him look even more eerie.

Qing Xian frowned, not understanding what he was laughing at.

“You’re talking about my wife-master?” the ghost laughed, “That coward, if you hadn’t mentioned her, I would have forgotten there was such a person.”

“Then why did you suddenly come back to harm people?” Long Ling pressed.

The male ghost didn’t speak, just chuckled, as if he didn’t understand human language, or as if in his own world he had already achieved perfection.

Suddenly, Qing Xian’s eyes widened.

His soul was self-immolating!

“Be careful!” Qing Xian shouted to Su Rong.

But he saw Su Rong step on the burning soul fire of the male ghost, directly extinguishing it, as simply as stepping on a pile of sparking firewood.

Qing Xian looked at her in shock and said, “Who exactly are you?”

Su Rong smiled casually and lazily, leisurely removing her foot from the male ghost’s head and said, “Ghost catcher.”

Qing Xian was a bit skeptical. He felt that Su Rong was very likely a disciple from a major cultivation sect out for training. How else to explain the medicine she used to treat his wounds last time, and her absolute suppression of the male ghost this time.

But this was good too. With her talent, she would surely be able to ascend to immortality, and they could be together forever.

Qing Xian thought, a bit distracted.

Su Rong, as if just remembering, smiled and asked, “How did you know about this male ghost?”

“We didn’t see you, so thinking it was getting late, we found a household to stay and heard about this male ghost from the villagers,” Qing Xian explained.

“Oh~” Su Rong nodded, not knowing whether she believed it or not, or if she was just too lazy to ask more.

Her curiosity had never been strong.

“So, when are we going back to the academy?” Qing Xian asked.

Su Rong smiled and said, “Didn’t you just say it was too late to return to the academy? I think you made a good point.”

Qing Xian tilted his head to look at her and asked, “And then?”

“We’ll find an inn!” Su Rong said.

She reached out and ruffled Qing Xian’s hair, the smile at the corner of her mouth seeming somewhat gentle in the soft night.

Qing Xian looked at where the male ghost had disappeared, his expression somewhat heavy.

Compared to Su Rong’s casual indifference to this matter, Qing Xian thought more.

Although he was only the prince of the divine tribe, he also bore the responsibility of the three realms on his shoulders.

The divine tribe, human tribe, and ghost tribe have always been closely related.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted.

Su Rong flicked his nose and said, “Why are you like a little old man, what are you thinking about?”

Qing Xian glared at her and said offhandedly, “Thinking about you.”