This was basically a car crash in real time.
Jiang Luo was mortified. If there had been a crack in the ground, he would’ve dived in. But since there wasn’t, he opted for the next best thing: making Chi You shut up.
He reached into a nearby bush, grabbed a handful of snow, and shoved it down Chi You’s collar.
He immediately turned to run, but Chi You yanked him back by the scarf. Jiang Luo cursed under his breath and ended up pulled into the malicious ghost’s embrace.
Chi You smiled with narrowed eyes, “Why are you running?”
Jiang Luo retorted confidently, “Why the h*ll are you grabbing me?”
The malicious ghost chuckled and, still holding Jiang Luo’s hand, led him around the lake. After one full lap, Chi You suddenly dragged Jiang Luo out onto the lake’s surface.
What had just been a body of water had now frozen solid. Jiang Luo looked down and saw beneath the ice a crowd of water ghosts with venomous gazes, their hatred freezing the lake with ghostly energy.
Chi You stood on the ice, arms outstretched. “Do you like ice skating?”
Jiang Luo instantly became alert. He took a step back and stated firmly, “No. I do not.”
But Chi You just smiled more deeply, and Jiang Luo’s right eyelid twitched twice.
In the next instant, a ghostly hand suddenly appeared before him, seizing his hand and yanking him forward. Jiang Luo was pulled across the ice at breakneck speed, his scarf streaming out in a straight line behind him.
The bitter wind slashed across his face. The speed was so intense that Jiang Luo’s heart rocketed to its limit. For a moment, he thought he really might be flung off the ice.
And it wasn’t just a feeling. The very next second, the ghost hand did hurl him outward.
“Chi You, you lunatic—!” Jiang Luo’s face was pale as he hurtled forward, dizzy and disoriented.
Jiang Luo could skate—but not in these shoes. He was wearing ordinary ones with dangerously slick soles. He felt like the ice and his shoes might start sparking. Just as he completely lost his balance, the malicious ghost appeared, catching him around the waist and spinning to reduce the momentum.
The malicious ghost was elegant like a dancer, with Jiang Luo as the partner in his arms. He led Jiang Luo across the ice, pushing him out and pulling him back in with perfect timing.
“You’re skating wonderfully,” he praised. “We’re easily the best pair at the ball.”
Jiang Luo gritted his teeth. “It’d be perfect without you.”
Over and over, Jiang Luo’s shoulders and waist were held, then shoved away by the malicious ghost. He felt like he’d lost all sense of gravity, flying across the ice like a kite.
The rush of speed that he experienced firsthand turned his resistance into exhilaration. The fierce wind howled past his cheeks, and the scenery blurred in his vision. Jiang Luo felt like he was about to take flight.
His face turned redder and redder, sweat sliding from his temples. Every time he was about to crash, the malicious ghost would catch him in time—avoiding any embarrassing moments involving face-plants and water ghosts.
It felt amazing.
It was a completely different thrill than racing on a motorcycle—but just as exhilarating, just as addictive. Jiang Luo’s adrenaline surged. He began to enjoy each spin and toss from the malicious ghost, each flirtation with airborne danger. On the final run, the ghost hand yanked Jiang Luo toward the lake’s center, while Chi You came from the opposite side at equal speed.
They closed the distance rapidly. Just as they were about to collide, Chi You wrapped an arm around Jiang Luo’s waist and spun him in the center of the lake.
Jiang Luo had officially fallen for this “date”!
By the time they got back, the soles of Jiang Luo’s shoes were practically worn through.
No exaggeration—he felt like he’d skated five kilometers.
Once back inside, Jiang Luo collapsed onto the bed, exhausted, his eyes still gleaming with afterglow. He was panting from the exercise. “That was amazing.”
Chi You, loosening his tie beside him, asked, “Did you enjoy it?”
Jiang Luo nodded sincerely.
He struggled to roll over and turned his head to look at Chi You. The man’s body really was phenomenal—he looked incredible even in just a shirt, his proportions perfect, his movements oozing allure. Jiang Luo stared at the place where the ghost tattoo lay hidden beneath the fabric. “That ghost mark of yours… how did you get it?”
“You want to know?” Chi You casually tossed his jacket aside, tilting his head with meaning in his eyes. “Then you’ll have to tell me where you came from.”
Jiang Luo debated whether this exchange was worth it. In the end, curiosity won out. “Fine—but you have to tell me how the ghost mark came to be first.”
Chi You raised an eyebrow. “Jiang Luo, I don’t believe you’ll keep your promise once I’ve told you.”
Jiang Luo feigned impatience. “You’re a grown man, why are you so suspicious about everything? I said I’d tell you, so I will. You think I’d go back on my word?”
Chi You slowly unbuttoned his shirt as he walked toward the bed. “You’re right—I am worried you’ll go back on your word.”
His shirt hung open at the chest as he came closer, making Jiang Luo’s gaze flicker. Something about Chi You right now felt overly excited, dangerously intense. It gave Jiang Luo the uneasy sense of being forcefully intruded upon by a more mature man. Still pretending to be annoyed, he sat up and pulled paper and pen out of the drawer. With a mocking tone, he said, “Should I write you an IOU? Want me to stamp it with a fingerprint too?”
Chi You replied seriously, “Please do.”
Jiang Luo: “…”
Left with no choice, Jiang Luo gave up trying to scam Chi You and actually wrote him an IOU. If Chi You revealed the secret of the ghost mark, he would tell him where he came from.
Chi You watched him sign and seal it, then slowly tucked the paper away. Jiang Luo rolled his eyes. “So? Was your ghost mark given to you by the Fated One?”
“Yes,” Chi You pulled Jiang Luo up into a seated position on the bed and guided his hand to the belt at his waist, hinting for Jiang Luo to undo it, “The ghost mark has been passed down through the main line of the Chi family for over two hundred years.”
Jiang Luo had the urge to castrate him on the spot. But with his current physical condition, he couldn’t use any force—any disruption could destroy his internal balance. Besides…
He looked at Chi You’s long, defined fingers and pressed his lips together, restraining himself from doing anything too drastic.
His hand hovered on the belt for a moment before falling away—yet the gesture still looked like a coy, half-hearted refusal. The d*mned ghost caught his hand again. “Isn’t that around the time the Fated One left Bailu Temple?”
“The Fated One actually made two prophecies,” Chi You said calmly. “One two hundred years ago, and another thirty years ago.”
Chi You was concise. In just a few sentences, he explained the origin of the ghost mark clearly.
Two hundred years ago, right after the Fated One had begun to absorb the power of offerings, he made a prophecy for himself. The prophecy told him that he would be killed by a descendant of the Chi family’s main line. In order to avoid this fate, on a night of heavy snow, he traveled to the Chi family residence and was taken in by the ancestor of the main line.
Out of gratitude, the Fated One offered a gift to the main line—a ghost mark that could enhance spiritual bodies across generations. But the mark also had a backlash effect. At that time, the world was in chaos. The Chi family’s main line was desperate to grow stronger and eagerly accepted the offer. The Fated One stripped his own malicious po and transformed it into the ghost mark, planting it in the ancestor’s body.
After the main line received the ghost mark, the collateral branches of the Chi family secretly sought out the Fated One. Weeping, they begged him to give them a chance to survive. If the main line became too powerful, wouldn’t they be enslaved and abused? Would there be any future for them? The Fated One found their argument reasonable, so he placed a curse on the main line:
A curse forbidding them from harming the collateral branches.
Later, the Fated One became a false god. Once he achieved that status, he could no longer make prophecies about himself easily—doing so came at a great price. But thirty years ago, he took the risk and made another prophecy.
The result was exactly the same as it had been two hundred years ago. Despite giving the main line a ghost mark capable of turning against them, despite placing a curse on them, he would still die at the hands of their descendant.
The Fated One’s hair turned white overnight.
As Chi You recounted this, his expression darkened. His sharp features were tense, and his fingers idly played with Jiang Luo’s hand. He said with a trace of mockery, “He’ll die by my hand.”
Jiang Luo realized his opinion of the Fated One had plummeted to rock bottom. Even after learning that the ghost mark was made of the Fated One’s malicious po, he was only momentarily surprised. No wonder the Fated One’s apparent purity had seemed so real—it was because he had offloaded all his evil onto the Chi family’s main line.
And that malicious po had now been completely subdued by Chi You.
Jiang Luo let his hand brush lightly over the belt, then suddenly chuckled, eyes full of derision. “He’s been hiding on Changbai Mountain since the day you were born and only dared come down after you died. I bet he has no idea when you’ll kill him—that’s why he’s been too scared to come down.”
