After the plane landed, as soon as they exited the airport, they saw a large bus with a banner reading: “Warm Welcome to the Competition Award-Winning Students Returning to Campus! —Baihua University”
The bus was parked in a prominent spot. The banner was bold and eye-catching. Passersby couldn’t help glancing at it—it was certainly a scene-stealer.
The group: “…”
Qi Ye, who once again missed out on first place, had been sulking the entire way. Now his eye twitched. “This is Baihua University’s welcome ceremony?”
They boarded the bus low-key, and for each person who got on, the driver would cheerfully pop a confetti cannon.
Jiang Luo, with a head full of shiny confetti, sat expressionlessly by the window.
Qi Ye sat beside him. After brushing off the confetti on himself, he looked at Jiang Luo’s head and felt a slight itch in his palm. “You’ve still got some confetti in your hair.”
Jiang Luo ruffled his hair, shaking loose some paper bits. “Still there?”
Qi Ye shook his head, then, seeing that strand of white hair by Jiang Luo’s ear, couldn’t help asking, “I’ve been meaning to ask, did you dye that strand of white hair on purpose?”
Only then did Jiang Luo remember the strand. He glanced sideways at the window with a forced smile. In the reflection, the youth with black hair had that same strand of white peeking out near his ear. “I’ll find a chance to dye it back in the next couple of days.”
Qi Ye awkwardly said, “I think it looks pretty good, though.”
Jiang Luo didn’t like it. That strand felt like a brand left on him by Chi You. Every time he saw it, he couldn’t help but remember that evil ghost. He had been trying to ignore it all along, but Qi Ye’s comment brought it right back to mind.
No matter how much he ignored it, it was still there. He couldn’t cut it off, so he might as well dye it back.
Qi Ye changed the subject, “Did you know? You’re already pretty famous in the metaphysical world.”
Jiang Luo raised a brow. “Oh? How so?”
Qi Ye’s expression turned complicated.
Before boarding the plane, the judging teacher from the Qi family had pulled him aside and subtly hinted that he should befriend Jiang Luo. If possible, they even wanted Jiang Luo to work for the Qi family in the future.
But Jiang Luo was Feng Li’s disciple—practically a representative of the Heavenly Master Residence. Qi Ye might have a bad temper, but he wasn’t someone who lacked principles.
The Qi family had kept a low profile in recent years, but behind the scenes, they’d grown bolder and more reckless. This time, they even dared to poach the Heavenly Master’s disciple. What on earth were they planning?
He vaguely said, “A lot of people want to get to know you. Some are good, some are bad. Just don’t believe everything people say.”
Jiang Luo couldn’t help but wonder if Qi Ye thought he was an idiot. “When it comes to that, I’d say I’m way smarter than you.”
Qi Ye: “…”
Irritated and embarrassed, he grumbled, “Fine, I won’t say anything. You go ahead and befriend whoever you want.”
Then he pulled his cap down and leaned back, lips tight in frustration.
Jiang Luo shrugged. From the seat behind them, a pink stuffed animal peeked out. Ye Xun followed with his head poking forward. “Jiang Luo, are you staying on campus tonight?”
“Yeah,” Jiang Luo replied. “The competition is over, it’s time I returned from the Heavenly Master Residence.”
Qi Ye’s ears perked up at that.
Since arriving at Baihua University, he had never seen Jiang Luo stay in the dorm.
Soon, the bus arrived at the university. Everyone else could return to their dorms, but as the first-place winner, Jiang Luo had to follow Teacher Wan to meet the Dean of the Department of Natural Sciences and Social Research.
Jiang Luo had heard many stories about the dean, but this was the first time he would meet him in person. Curious, he stepped into the dean’s office.
Inside the office was a set of sofas. On the sofa sat two people, one on the left and one on the right. One was Dean Xu Diandeng, with white hair and beard. The other was someone Jiang Luo also recognized—the owner of the funeral shop.
When Dean Xu saw him enter, his serious expression instantly relaxed, and he laughed heartily with great satisfaction: “Brother Ji, let me introduce you. This is our student who won first place in the competition—Jiang Luo, the disciple of Heavenly Teacher Feng.”
The funeral shop owner said weakly, “I know your student.”
Dean Xu didn’t look surprised. “You always know a lot of people. Back when I wanted Chi You to come here and work as my assistant, it was thanks to you that I was able to contact him.”
The funeral shop owner froze slightly and softly reminded, “Let’s not mention him anymore.”
“It’s fine,” the dean waved his hand dismissively. “Jiang Luo is somewhat connected to Chi You. Bringing him up in front of him isn’t a big deal.” He looked at Jiang Luo with curiosity. “I heard from Teacher Wan that after the second round of the competition, you even wanted to die for Chi You?”
Jiang Luo thought back to that time—it was right after he had gotten the Yin-Yang hoop and tried drowning himself in the bath for the first time. He wasn’t unfamiliar with Teacher Wan’s big mouth, but he hadn’t expected even the dean to know about it.
Jiang Luo forced a small smile. “Yes.”
The funeral shop owner looked at him in surprise. “You and Chi You were…?”
“We were in a romantic relationship,” Jiang Luo lowered his gaze, his expression lightly sorrowful, but the sadness clung to him like a shadow. “Dean, can you tell me more about Chi You?”
His eyes were slightly red as he murmured, “I miss him so much.”
The dean sighed. “You child… I heard you also want to investigate the cause of Chi You’s death?”
Jiang Luo nodded seriously. “Yes.”
The funeral shop owner and the dean exchanged a glance.
After confirming Jiang Luo was telling the truth, the funeral shop owner leaned back on the sofa, his voice weak as silk, “So Chi You had that kind of relationship with you… No wonder. No wonder. No wonder the moment I got the Yuan Tian Bead, you immediately noticed something was wrong with it.”
Jiang Luo asked, “Boss, what exactly is this Yuan Tian Bead?”
The funeral shop owner replied lazily, “What, your master hasn’t told you?”
Jiang Luo shook his head.
The funeral shop owner gave a mocking chuckle. “Figures. Even if the Heavenly Master knows what it is, he wouldn’t tell a kid like you. But considering how close you were with Chi You, I suppose there’s no harm in telling you.”
“This Yuan Tian Bead,” he turned the bead in his hand and chanted “Blessings of the Boundless Heavenly Lord” before continuing, “is something that defies the natural order. There are only four in existence. According to the Six Great Families, the Yuan Tian Bead is a treasure bestowed by the heavens, seeing that the metaphysics world is in decline—meant to restore its former glory.”
The dean let out a cold snort and slammed the table. “Bullsh*t! Do they really think four little beads can save the entire metaphysics world?!”
The funeral shop owner said, “Stop interrupting.”
He looked at Jiang Luo and said slowly, “The word ‘Yuan’ represents the origin of all things in the universe—it has the meaning of a root, of the beginning. ‘Tian’ represents heaven and natural birth. Together, these words mean ‘heaven natural origin’. Now, tell me—does that remind you of anything?”
Jiang Luo stared back blankly—this all sounded so cryptic, who could understand it?
The funeral shop owner dropped a heavier hint. “Now, put the character for ‘human’ in front of it.”
Human’s heaven natural origin.
Jiang Luo frowned, rubbing his temples. Suddenly, his expression froze. Slowly raising his head, he looked at the funeral shop owner, then at the dean.
“The Yuan Tian Bead… is made from a human’s heaven-natural origin?”
Neither the dean nor the funeral shop owner nodded or shook their heads, but their expressions already gave Jiang Luo the answer.
Heaven-natural origin.
Wasn’t that just… the human soul?
Jiang Luo’s voice dropped so low, as if afraid of disturbing something: “There are four Yuan Tian Beads. That means someone’s soul was split into four parts and made into those beads?”
He instantly thought of how the original book described Chi You.
A fragmented soul, broken into four parts, as if the person had no face, no limbs.
The Yuan Tian Beads—were made from Chi You’s soul.
***
After leaving the dean’s office, Jiang Luo walked slowly under the blazing sun.
July had already passed. Back in Xiangxi, he hadn’t felt the heat, but here at Baihua University—located in one of the nation’s infamous “furnaces”—even in August, stepping outside meant instant sweat.
Jiang Luo stood in the sun for a while, slowly recovering from the shock of the enormous secret he had just learned.
He wasn’t thinking about anything else right now. Just one thing: If Chi You was already that powerful with an incomplete soul—how terrifying would he become once he gathered all four Yuan Tian Beads?
Just like Jiang Luo had once said—death didn’t make Chi You weaker. On the contrary, it seemed to free him from some kind of restraint, making him even more formidable and enigmatic.
Once he reached his full strength, forget saving the metaphysics world—even Jiang Luo’s own life might no longer be safe.
Jiang Luo had once admired Chi You’s nature. But now, what he wanted even more was to crush that pretentious evil ghost beneath his feet.
They were enemies now. If his enemy grew stronger, with the kind of madness Chi You had, Jiang Luo could already imagine the kind of fate awaiting him.
At worst—it would be just like in the original text. Chi You would torment him until he wished he were dead.
But would Jiang Luo willingly be tormented by him?
Of course not.
He kicked a stone in front of him, watching it roll into the grass. Then, he suddenly smiled.
There was no way he’d let Chi You get the remaining Yuan Tian Beads.
Adding trouble to his enemy’s resurrection plan—how could Jiang Luo possibly refuse such a great opportunity?
He figured that after the evil ghost’s plan was ruined by him, it would probably be just like when he exposed Bai Yefeng’s puppet body—furious to the point of exploding, yet forced to suppress and restrain itself.
Jiang Luo let out a muffled laugh, his back trembling slightly. When he looked up, he found himself making eye contact with several birds perched in the tree.
Those birds seemed to have been silently watching him all along. Their beady black eyes gave the illusion that they could understand his every move.
Jiang Luo’s smile didn’t waver. He held their gaze for a while, then shifted his eyes to the left—on the trunk of the tree, a summer cicada was also silently staring at him.
Within the school grounds, due to the exorcism-warding feng shui layout, Chi You himself couldn’t enter. But the small animals under Chi You’s control weren’t affected by the layout.
Jiang Luo strolled forward and reached a hand out toward the birds. One of them tilted its head, then spread its wings and flew to perch on his fingertip.
“Little cutie,” Jiang Luo murmured softly, “you’re not one of that b*stard Chi You’s, right?”
The bird didn’t respond.
Jiang Luo gently stroked the feathers on its head with the pad of his finger, but the bird suddenly pecked at the red mole on his left hand. Jiang Luo reacted swiftly, grabbing it by the neck.
With practiced ease, he drew out a talisman and pressed it onto the bird. The paper grew slightly warm, and the bird gave two sharp “chirp chirp” cries before breaking free of the control. It flapped its wings and flew off.
Jiang Luo put the talisman away and lazily headed back toward the dorms, his sneering voice carried off by the wind: “Peeping pervert.”
***
After the competition ended, the school gave them a three-day break. When Lu Youyi’s parents learned he had been injured during the competition, they waved their hands generously and directly booked an entire hot spring resort, inviting the whole class to go relax.
Jiang Luo truly realized how filthy rich Lu Youyi was. He clicked his tongue in amazement. “So this is the world of the rich?”
Lu Youyi lounged on the sofa munching chips and urged them to hurry up and pack. “Honestly, our family’s not even that rich.”
Ge Zhu said bitterly, “Please, I’m begging you—just stop talking.”
After they finished packing and left the school gates, Lu Youyi’s parents even sent cars to pick them up. Three luxury cars, all extremely flashy—the kind of cars ordinary people might work their whole lives and still only afford the tires of. When Jiang Luo and the others got in, the regular students of Baihua University gathered around the entrance to watch. Some even whipped out their phones to film, faces full of envy.
Jiang Luo: “…Today I finally understand how joyful it is to be rich.”
Lu Youyi sighed gloomily. “Money isn’t everything. You don’t understand the sorrows of the wealthy.”
Ye Xun: “Oh, shut up already.”
The hot spring resort was in the countryside. They arrived around 2 PM. The resort staff took their luggage, and the manager was already waiting for them, greeting them warmly.
Lu Youyi hugged the manager and introduced him, “This is my uncle.”
The uncle smiled, “Hello, everyone. These next few days, enjoy yourselves to the fullest. Everything is prepared—there are indoor and outdoor hot springs, a sweat steaming room, saunas, massage rooms. There’s also an entertainment area and a theater next to the restaurant. If you need anything, just ask the staff—don’t be shy.”
After saying that, he left quickly to tend to other matters.
Jiang Luo followed Lu Youyi toward their rooms. Along the way, he noticed that the outdoor hot springs were truly empty. “Lu Youyi, did your parents really book out the whole place?”
Lu Youyi laughed sheepishly and scratched his head. “Actually, this resort is owned by my family. I wasn’t sure how to tell you guys at first… But at this point, I might as well. The resort wasn’t planning to open these days anyway, because of… some strange occurrences. My parents wanted me to check it out, but I was worried I couldn’t handle it alone, so I invited you all along.”
Everyone: “…”
Lu Youyi said righteously, “We’re all friends—taking your money would be too rude. So I suggested letting you guys enjoy a free three-day stay. Aren’t you happy? Surprised?”
“…”
Ge Zhu gave a tragic smile. “I’d rather you just charged us.”
Ye Xun rolled up his sleeves with a deadpan face. “Don’t stop me.”
Jiang Luo offered considerately, “I’ll hold little pink for you.”
After they gave Lu Youyi a good beating, the group finally relaxed and had time to ask, “So what exactly is the weird stuff going on here?”
Lu Youyi, clutching his black eye and hissing through his teeth, replied, “These past few nights, people heard music playing in the resort.”
“Music?”
“Yeah,” Lu Youyi said. “At first it sounds like festive wedding music, but then it turns into mournful funeral dirges. According to those who heard it… it’s like…” He paused, then lowered his voice, “a wedding and a funeral collided.”
Author’s Note:
There will be romance! Everything will happen—don’t rush!
Lu Youyi: Aren’t you happy? :-D
The classmates: “…” beat him up
