The Yin-Yang hoop had four functions.
First, to determine direction. Second, to discern fortune and misfortune. Third, to distinguish yin from yang. Fourth, to summon wandering spirits.
If there truly was a ghost, there’s no way the Yin-Yang hoop wouldn’t detect it.
But the little ginseng didn’t look like it was lying either. Jiang Luo pondered for a moment, then considered one final possibility:
It wasn’t a female ghost locked below, but a woman.
Tsk, Jiang Luo’s curiosity was fully piqued now.
Unfortunately, the door was locked. If he forced his way out, he’d definitely be found out the next day. He didn’t want to be punished by Feng Li again at this point, so he hugged the ginseng doll and got into bed, casually saying, “Yes yes, there’s a ghost down there. We’ll check it out in the morning.”
The ginseng doll agreed completely, and didn’t dare sneak out again. It laid next to Jiang Luo and fell asleep.
Nothing happened that night. The next morning, Zhou Wudu brought Wenren Lian and the others to pick up Jiang Luo. Jiang Luo handed the ginseng doll to Zhou Wudu. “Senior Brother Wudu, from now on, you’re in charge of raising this ginseng.”
Zhou Wudu’s eyes widened with joy. “Really?”
“Really,” Jiang Luo nodded sincerely.
He really didn’t like taking care of kids.
The ginseng doll stared at him in disbelief, its chubby arms and legs flailing. “You’re giving me away? I’m a ginseng spirit!”
“Right, right, you’re a ginseng spirit,” Zhou Wudu grinned from ear to ear. “A little ancestor, even.”
“Waaah,” the ginseng doll had developed imprinting behavior toward Jiang Luo. It rolled tears down its face. “I want daddy.”
But the black-haired young man completely ignored it, focusing on packing his bedding.
Once everything was in order, the group walked out of the confinement room. Jiang Luo remembered what the ginseng doll had said and used the excuse of forgetting something to return alone.
At the end of the corridor, the light didn’t reach, making it dim and gloomy. Jiang Luo didn’t waste time. He began searching the ground, but at a glance, saw nothing out of place.
Thinking of the ginseng doll’s size, Jiang Luo searched patiently, inch by inch. He didn’t find anything on the ground but discovered a ventilation duct opening in the corner of the wall.
The duct was just the right size for a little ginseng to crawl through.
Jiang Luo looked inside. It was a circular pipe—tight for him, but passable.
Just as he was about to remove the grate, someone behind him shouted, “Jiang Luo, hurry up!”
Jiang Luo paused, had to give up, and unwillingly shined his flashlight into the duct. Several drops of yellow ginseng juice stained the floor. So the ginseng doll had escaped through here, and below the duct was another holding area.
Jiang Luo let out a low whistle in his mind.
Feng Li was strict and upright, and the old Heavenly Master seemed kindly and warm. What other secrets were hidden in this Heavenly Master Residence?
Could Feng Li, behind that cold and ascetic facade, be hiding some twisted fetish?
Suppressing the itch of curiosity, he patted the dust off his clothes and ran out the door.
***
The Heavenly Master Residence was holding a public teaching today.
Early in the morning, many people arrived.
The lecture was set to take place on the spacious martial arts training field. Zhou Wudu and the others had come early to take Jiang Luo there.
On the way, Zhou Wudu explained, “Every year, the Heavenly Master Residence holds two or three public teachings. The speaker is either the old Heavenly Master himself or one of his direct disciples. Our teacher has never given one. Last time, it was our teacher’s senior brother—our Second Senior Uncle.”
“Who’s lecturing today?” Jiang Luo asked.
“Should be the old Heavenly Master,” Zhou Wudu looked around and lowered his voice, “He really enjoys teaching.”
When they arrived at the training ground, it was already packed. Everyone was seated cross-legged on mats, looking excited.
The disciples of the estate stood around the perimeter, leaving the central area for guests from afar. Among those standing were also elders and others from the six major families.
After a while, Feng Li arrived with Wang Santan. Jiang Luo parted with his friends and followed Zhou Wudu to greet Feng Li.
Feng Li gave a slight nod, looked around, and frowned. “The old Heavenly Master hasn’t arrived yet?”
The disciples glanced at one another, none daring to speak.
“Not just the old Heavenly Master. Even your senior uncles aren’t here,” Feng Li’s voice grew displeased. “Go to the old Heavenly Master’s quarters and invite all the guests here.”
The three brothers quickly headed toward the old Heavenly Master’s residence. Upon entering, Wang Santan said, “I’ll find the old Heavenly Master. You two look for the senior uncles. We’ve got to be quick—our teacher hates lateness most.”
Jiang Luo and Zhou Wudu went in search of the others. On the way, Jiang Luo asked, “Senior Brother Wudu, is our teacher the old Heavenly Master’s biological son?”
“No,” Zhou Wudu shook his head. “But the teacher was raised by the old Heavenly Master. If you go by bloodline, our teacher is actually the son of the old Heavenly Master’s younger sister—his nephew.”
A nephew, huh.
Jiang Luo narrowed his eyes. “What about our teacher’s mother? Ever since I became his disciple, I’ve never seen his parents.”
Zhou Wudu’s expression changed. He hushed him quickly, glanced around nervously, and only relaxed when he saw no one nearby. Wiping cold sweat from his forehead, he whispered, “Jiang Luo, don’t ever say that in front of others. The teacher and the old Heavenly Master hate people bringing up the teacher’s parents. We don’t even know where they are. That’s a forbidden topic in the Heavenly Master Residence.”
He shivered after speaking, clearly very frightened.
Jiang Luo smiled with narrowed eyes. “Got it. Thanks for the reminder, Senior Brother.”
There were two areas where the guests were staying. Jiang Luo and Zhou Wudu split up, each heading to one. Jiang Luo went westward, and just as he was walking, someone came toward him.
He quickened his pace, but when he got closer, he realized the person was the very same “Fated One” who had been drinking tea with the Grandmaster yesterday.
The Fated One saw him too.
From a distance, it looked as if a layer of snow rested on the Fated One’s shoulders and hair, dyeing even his eyebrows and eyelashes white. But that was just his natural hair color.
Though the background behind him was full of green life, he himself seemed as if he had just descended from a snowy mountain—he looked somewhat like an albino.
Jiang Luo slowed down. The Fated One walked right up to him, his eyes—ancient as if they had lived a hundred years—gently looked at him. “What brings you here, little friend?”
How strange. He looked so young, yet acted like an elder.
Jiang Luo smiled and replied, “My teacher has invited all the guests of the Heavenly Master Residence to attend the lecture.”
The Fated One nodded in understanding and said softly, “Then let’s go.”
“I still need to find the rest of the guests,” Jiang Luo said.
The Fated One suddenly chuckled. “I’m the only one staying here.”
Jiang Luo was momentarily stunned, but then turned back with him.
Halfway there, a bird fell from a tree nearby. The Fated One stepped aside, walked beneath the tree, and gently picked up the bird. Its wing was injured, and it was crying out in pain.
The Fated One carefully wrapped the bird’s broken wing with a talisman paper, but the bird continued to cry—its cries becoming more and more sorrowful and angry.
The Fated One looked up. On the tree were splashes of blood. He followed the trail to the other side of the tree, where he found a baby bird that had fallen and died.
“So that’s it. The chick died, and the mother bird is grieving.” The Fated One sighed with pity, gently stroking the bird’s feathers. “Such a pity.”
Jiang Luo had a good eye for people. Watching the Fated One now, he could tell he was genuinely grieving for the bird.
He was full of compassion, as though he held the whole world in his heart—without the slightest trace of pretense.
Jiang Luo sighed. Compared to Chi You’s hypocrisy, this was the complete opposite.
But the next second, the Fated One suddenly gripped the bird by the neck—his hand slowly, calmly tightening.
The bird’s cries grew sharper, and after a few futile struggles, it finally fell silent.
Jiang Luo stared at him in shock.
Noticing Jiang Luo’s gaze, the Fated One looked at him and asked, puzzled, “What is it?”
Jiang Luo glanced at him, then at the bird, and said with difficulty, “Why did you kill it?”
The Fated One replied, “That wasn’t killing.”
He smiled, his eyes still full of pure goodwill. “It was suffering too much. I just helped it end the pain.”
He said it so naturally that Jiang Luo found himself unable to respond.
But the Fated One didn’t need a reply. He buried both the mother bird and the dead chick beneath the tree, then straightened up and said, “Let’s go.”
Jiang Luo was still stunned from the earlier scene, not wanting to speak. But the Fated One spoke to him of his own accord. “Your grandmaster thinks highly of you.”
“Really?” Jiang Luo gave a perfunctory smile. “I’m honored.”
“You’re a good child,” the Fated One said softly, looking at Jiang Luo with a strange gaze. “Someday, you’ll become famous.”
Being looked at like that, Jiang Luo couldn’t help but remember the bird he had just strangled. What kind of person, he wondered, could take a life without the slightest malice?
After a moment, he smiled and replied, “You flatter me.”
***
In the Heavenly Master Residence, inside the study.
Three people were seated.
Feng Li said expressionlessly, “So, you suspect my disciple is possessed by a malicious ghost?”
Chi Zhongye was already sweating. He was quick to deflect, “I didn’t say that—it was Qi Yong.”
Qi Ye’s father, Qi Yong, quickly added, “That was just a thought I had earlier. But Old Brother Chi is right—Jiang Luo is under your watch, Master Feng. He couldn’t possibly be possessed. But my Yuan Tian Bead is missing, and Qi Ye was in a car crash last night…”
His voice trembled, “If not for the protective talisman, he would have died! Qi Ye told me he saw Chi You, who had turned into a vengeful spirit, threatening him. That’s why the crash happened. Heavenly Master Feng, I’m really scared Chi You will harm the Qi family again!”
Feng Li slowly turned the jade thumb ring on his finger and said calmly, “Why would Chi You target the Qi family?”
Qi Yong and Chi Zhongye exchanged glances.
The Heavenly Master Residence hadn’t been involved in Chi You’s death. Clearly, the old Heavenly Master hadn’t told Feng Li the truth.
That made it all the more impossible for them to tell him.
Chi Zhongye straightened up and lowered his voice, “Has the Heavenly Master seen Chi You’s soul?”
“I have,” Feng Li replied, adding, “He’s not to be underestimated.”
Chi Zhongye dropped his voice even further. “Then you must have noticed—his resentment is incredibly strong.”
Feng Li had noticed.
From the very first glance, he’d seen the intense, powerful resentment radiating off Chi You.
“A vengeful ghost with such concentrated hatred—if refined, it would become immeasurably powerful,” Chi Zhongye said. “Everyone says the Chi family’s strength lies in puppet techniques, but in truth, our soul-refining techniques are even stronger. After all, we can refine even the souls of the dead… If Heavenly Master Feng agrees to cooperate with us, the Chi family will offer Chi You’s soul to become your shikigami, or refine him into a weapon.”
When negotiating with Feng Li, benefits had to be presented up front.
Feng Li looked the two men over and asked, “What do you want?”
Chi Zhongye quickly said, “We’re not asking you to do anything. As you said, your disciple Jiang Luo has already separated from Chi You, but Chi You still refuses to let him go… The midterm exams for the twelve universities across the country are coming up. We just want to make a few arrangements at Baihua University’s midterm exam, using your disciple as bait to capture Chi You during the exam… What do you think?”
Father Qi added, “Don’t worry, we absolutely won’t let your disciple get hurt.”
Feng Li fell into contemplation.
After a long silence, he nodded, then raised his teacup—signaling the meeting was over.
The two men were tactful enough to take their leave. Once they were far from the Heavenly Master’s residence, Chi Zhongye asked, “How exactly do you plan to use Jiang Luo to catch Chi You?”
Father Qi’s expression turned cold. “You actually want Jiang Luo to come back alive? Have you forgotten how he once said he’d avenge Chi You?”
Chi Zhongye was afraid of Feng Li and asked nervously, “But didn’t he grow distant from Chi You?”
“Who knows if that’s true or not,” Father Qi said darkly, “The safest outcome is that neither of them comes back—both die during the midterm exam.”
“What about the Fated One?”
“He hasn’t come down the mountain for twenty-seven years,” Father Qi said in a hushed tone, as if afraid of alerting something. “Ever since Chi You was born, he stayed on Changbai Mountain. It was only after Chi You’s death that he descended in these past few months.”
“For the future of the metaphysical world, sacrificing a few people—surely even the Fated One would understand.”
***
After the lectures concluded, Jiang Luo and his friends stayed the night at the Heavenly Master Residence. The next day, they returned to school.
The first thing Jiang Luo did was check the trap he had set up. But all he found on the tea table was the burnt heart of the divine statue and a ruby rose brooch.
There were scorch marks on the heart—looks like the trap had at least cost Chi You a hand.
Jiang Luo wasn’t particularly excited. He packed the items away. As for the rose brooch, every time he saw it, he was reminded of that dangerously close encounter at the alley. Jiang Luo threw the brooch directly into the lake.
If Chi You could still find it after that, Jiang Luo would concede defeat.
He rested well for the next two weeks. Then came time for the midterm exams.
All twelve universities were to hold their exams simultaneously, but each in a different location and with varying difficulty levels. When Dean Xu handed them the details, Jiang Luo discovered that the next exam location was a luxurious cruise ship.
The ship was named Angonise. A photo was attached. Its exterior was grand and elegant—like a beautiful and extravagant noblewoman, dazzling and alluring.
“There are only three kinds of people who can board the Angonise,” Dean Xu said, holding up three fingers. “Crew members, civilians, and the wealthy. You’ll be role-playing as civilians and the rich, blending into the cruise without raising suspicion, and completing your task during the voyage. The objective this time is to investigate a peculiar type of fish.”
“A strange fish?”
“Yes,” Dean Xu replied, “It’s called the blood eel.”
“According to our investigation, this cruise ship sails to the depths of the Caribbean Sea around this time every year, veering a few miles off the official route into international waters. No one knows what happens aboard, but each time it returns, many passengers are dead. And yet, every year, people flock to board it.”
“What’s even more bizarre is that every passenger—whether boarding or disembarking—refuses to say anything about the trip’s purpose. We spent great effort to uncover that they were all seeking a creature known as the ‘blood eel.’”
Dean Xu’s expression grew serious. “Qi Ye is injured and can’t participate in this exam. We managed to get eight tickets. I hope you all complete the mission and return safely.”
“Of course, the tickets weren’t bought under your real identities. From the moment you board, you’ll need to fully assume your assigned roles. There are two tickets for rich passengers and six for civilians. You’ll draw lots to decide.”
Jiang Luo casually drew one, turned it over—it was a ticket for a wealthy passenger.
His alias was Zhong Wei. After reviewing the character profile, Jiang Luo raised an eyebrow.
“Zhong Wei” was a wealthy playboy—flashy, strikingly handsome, flirtatious, and daring. Jiang Luo quite liked the role.
The other rich-passenger ticket went to Ge Zhu, from a poor family. Ge Zhu held the ticket with trembling hands, tears of joy in his eyes. “I never thought I’d see this day!”
Zhuo Zhongqiu clicked her tongue and patted him on the shoulder. “We’ll be relying on you and Jiang Luo to support us after we get on board.”
Dean Xu watched them with a smile for a while, then clapped his hands. “Alright, alright, listen up. Boarding the Angonise is extremely strict. They’ll inspect everything—right down to your hair and teeth. Be prepared. Don’t let anything slip.”
“And most importantly,” Dean Xu chuckled, “stay safe.”
Everyone laughed and replied, “Don’t worry, Dean!”
