Now, Shui Miao was preoccupied with thoughts of how to enhance his spiritual cultivation.
“I’m not sure about that,” Zhang Hanya replied, “my classmates only told me about this place. Maybe I should just call them and ask.”
As she spoke, Zhang Hanya took out her phone and started dialing her classmates.
“Master, leave this to us. We’ll go check it out and find out soon enough.”
“Yeah, Master, we’ve got nothing better to do anyway!”
“Hmph! Just when it was getting fun, we had to stop fighting…”
“…”
To Shui Miao’s surprise, the five young Taoist apprentices also spoke up. Of course, Zhang Hanya couldn’t hear them.
Shui Miao nodded slightly and waved his hand gently, agreeing to their proposal.
As the five little apprentices scattered in different directions to search for the mischievous ghosts, Shui Miao felt a bit disappointed in them. If they couldn’t even handle a few female ghosts, they’d only be good for scouting and running errands.
But having to handle everything himself would consume so much spiritual energy!
Shui Miao thought to himself, if only he could find a ghost or monster with decent power who was also loyal to him. Then he could easily perform miracles, expand his influence, and harvest faith energy.
However, such an assistant would probably have to be found in the countryside, where there were plenty of fox spirits.
As Shui Miao was pondering this, Zhang Hanya hung up her phone. “Alright, they’re on the floor above and said they’ll come down soon. I don’t know much else, but I do know that they have a lot of stories. Each of them has their own tales. When I’m bored, I like listening to them talk about ghost stories from their hometowns. They’re really interesting.”
“You’re actually interested in these kinds of things!?”
Shui Miao looked at Zhang Hanya in surprise. It seemed like she was exactly interested in the things he worried about.
Zhang Hanya smiled and replied, “Why not? It’s an inherited interest. My mom told me that when she was young, she even went demon-hunting with my grandfather. She knows some basic Taoist techniques, but after marrying my dad, she stopped practicing them. It’s a pity that my grandfather’s skills couldn’t be passed down. If my grandfather were still alive, I would definitely learn everything from him. But now it’s the same thing—I can learn from you, Shui Miao Gege!”
As she spoke, Zhang Hanya sweetly linked her arm with Shui Miao’s, looking like a pair of college lovers, with the beautiful girl taking the initiative.
Seeing Zhang Hanya leaning on his shoulder with a happy expression, Shui Miao was puzzled. Did this innocent girl really not know the difference between an older brother and a lover? What would others think if they saw this? And if people he knew saw it, would they think he was a fickle-hearted guy?
“Whoosh… whoosh…”
A chilling ghostly wind blew through, and the five young Taoist apprentices returned simultaneously.
“Master,” said Xiao Jin, the eldest among the five apprentices, “there’s an old dormitory to the east that’s no longer inhabited by people. Many wandering spirits and ghosts live there, of various kinds. Fortunately, there are no particularly evil ghosts among them—they have a place to stay, so they behave themselves. The seven female ghosts we mentioned earlier have also moved there. At first, the old ghosts there were unwilling to accept them, but after learning that you were here, they made space for those seven female ghosts.”
After Xiao Jin finished speaking, Xiao Mu quickly continued, “To the south, there are two rows of male dormitories. A group of essence-sucking ghosts lives in the sewers, all of them fat and well-fed… They’re definitely evil ghosts, because they always tempt the boys’ lust. Those boys are so obsessed with masturbation that they’ve all become as thin as bamboo poles…”
Shui Miao was quite surprised that Xiao Mu even knew the term “masturbation.”
Xiao Shui shook his head. “To the west, it’s fine. Just a few old ghosts live there—they’re the spirits of some students’ relatives who followed their children here after passing away because they couldn’t bear to leave them.”
“There’s nothing much to the north either. Outside the campus, there were a few soul-hunting ghosts, but Xiao Huo and Xiao Tu already chased them away,” Xiao Huo smiled proudly.
Among the five young apprentices, Xiao Huo had the strongest abilities, thanks to his fire affinity.
Shui Miao frowned slightly. He hadn’t expected the five of them to be so efficient in gathering information—it was surprisingly effective.
Now that there were so many ghosts, the well-behaved ones didn’t need to be dealt with. The father ghosts watching over their children were even respectable. The soul-hunting ghosts to the north were despicable, but Xiao Huo and Xiao Tu had already driven them away. That left only those essence-sucking ghosts, which were indeed very despicable. They tempted students away from their studies, making them obsessed with impure thoughts. No wonder there were so many perverts on campus!
Essence contained a lot of vital energy, and those ghosts had grown fat and well-fed. Just imagining how much they’d consumed made Shui Miao feel disgusted. He wanted to eliminate them, but he was also reluctant to waste his spiritual energy, and the five apprentices couldn’t really help. He felt torn, not knowing what to do.
As Shui Miao was thinking, suddenly a group of green-skinned, fanged ghosts emerged from the ground. They all knelt before Shui Miao and introduced themselves in unison, “Qing Mianshou pays homage to the Great Immortal!”
“Qing Pishou pays homage to the Great Immortal!”
“Qing Yashou pays homage to the Great Immortal!”
“Qing Yanshou pays homage to the Great Immortal!”
“Qing Jiaoshou pays homage to the Great Immortal!”
“…”
A group of green-skinned, fanged ghosts were all “Ghost Commanders.” After learning that Gui Man had been killed, they had been terrified and started investigating who had done it. When they encountered the soul-hunting ghosts that had been chased away by Xiao Huo and Xiao Tu, they learned that a great immortal had arrived on campus. Fearing for their lives, the Ghost Commanders hurried over to pay their respects to Shui Miao.
Seeing them kneeling before him, Shui Miao had an idea: Why not take Gui Man’s place and receive the faith and devotion of the ghosts in this area?
After the green-skinned, fanged ghosts finished paying homage to Shui Miao, they saw that he remained silent and lowered their heads, waiting quietly for him to speak.
When Shui Miao still didn’t say anything, the cleverest Xiao Mu suddenly addressed the group of green-skinned, fanged ghosts, “Gui Man acted recklessly, forcing female ghosts to forcefully extract souls, causing many innocent souls whose lifespans had not yet ended to become vengeful spirits, seriously disrupting the balance between the living and the dead. My Master, acting on behalf of the underworld, eliminated Gui Man. You Ghost Commanders have come together—do you have any objections?”
“No, no! We’re here to pay homage to the Great Immortal!”
“Great Immortal, please forgive our trespass!”
“…”
The group of green-skinned, fanged ghosts were filled with fear and reverence.
Shui Miao rarely saw such green-skinned, fanged ghosts and couldn’t help but feel curious. He asked, “Exactly what kind of ghosts are you, and how did you end up here?”
As soon as Shui Miao spoke, he exposed his lack of knowledge about the underworld.
However, this group of green-skinned, fanged ghosts knew that the immortal before them had a centenarian Taoist immortal as his older brother. Therefore, they dared not be disrespectful and quickly clasped their fists to respond…
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