No one knew what exactly happened that day between Zhou Tianning and Pei Si in the Jade Gourd.

All anyone knew was that after that day, Master Zhou Tianning’s mood suddenly improved a lot, and Pei Si, who used to occasionally pull pranks, hardly appeared in the association anymore.

Tang Fang breathed a sigh of relief, as he had been Pei Si’s main target.

The reason was that after Zhou Tianning began valuing Pei Si, Pei Si, surprisingly, got jealous in the form of a ghost and even caused trouble for him.

It was then that Tang Fang realized how helpless the staff in the informed association truly were.

‘Perhaps this is the retribution for helping Zhou Tianning cover up those things back then,’ Tang Fang thought with a bitter smile.

So when the ghost controller beside Zhou Tianning disappeared, Tang Fang and the other staff felt similarly—they were very happy.

Since that incident, good news had come one after another.

First was Yu Yi’s matter. This individual, who had caused a big commotion that day and whose reincarnation identity was exposed by Lu Shi, surprisingly stayed obediently by Master Ye’s side.

—The contract signing had been handled almost like a wedding ceremony, which caused three people to scowl at the wedding that day.

One of them was Chief Li Guan, who was clearly unhappy with the officials holding such a ceremony for the contract signing.

But this minor objection was drowned in the vast sea of the people.

After the “wedding”—no, after signing the contract with Master Ye—Yu Yi stayed obediently by Master Ye’s side every day, occasionally acting coquettish or jealous, and sometimes appearing near high schools or large company offices.

At other times, he posed no danger at all.

The world crisis seemed to have been resolved, which shocked people a little.

Minister Lu also calmed down and did not engage in much physical conflict with the other party, at most clashing verbally.

But when it came to real combat, small matters about tea scents could easily be handled by Ye Wangxing.

The officials, realizing the reincarnation matters in their minds, accelerated development.

All kinds of high-tech weapons and specialized weapons to counter spirits and demons after the revival of spiritual energy were being developed.

Given the officials attention and progress, they would probably see mass production at the internal weapons exhibition by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the Ghost Emperors, with the addition of living humans managing things, began speeding up the reincarnation process for ghost mouths. Even with a backlog due to lower birth rates, a few million each year were enough to reincarnate those who did not need punishment.

According to the Southern Ghost Emperor, he had never felt the underworld so empty.

Because of this, the remaining two Ghost Emperors nearly knocked on the officials door, trying to get a few living humans to help with work, while the officials were still arguing.

But…

What was the cost?

Tang Fang looked at the computer in front of him, staring at the completed work content. He first let out a long breath, but when he glanced at the rest of the work filling the entire room, he felt his vision go black.

—Why had he chosen to transfer to the Southern Ghost Emperor’s side?

Tang Fang regretted it.

He had only thought that the other side was eager for talent, forgetting that their eagerness was based on the fact that the workload was already almost unbearable.

By transferring, he now faced decades—even hundreds of years—of accumulated work.

After Tang Fang learned the underworld’s operating rules, he wanted to scream.

The underworld’s reincarnation system fully demonstrated that it ran on bugs.

Moreover, negligence in governance was frequent. Even Tang Fang, slick-talking and resourceful, had been forced to lose his temper multiple times and quarrel with several old ghosts.

Fortunately, with Tang Fang’s intelligence, he managed to recruit a few employees to help him with the work.

—Although those employees secretly complained about him behind his back.

Tang Fang did not care much, as long as someone did extra work, it was fine.

Then, this new assistant of the ghost chancellor, pretending not to care, assigned even more work to the living employees.

Returning to the topic, Tang Fang now looked at the accumulated workload, saw that there were only ten employees in the office, and finally decided to send a request to the Southern Ghost Emperor via DingTalk.

He needed to recruit a few more people to help him handle this.

Otherwise, it was uncertain whether they could finish this pile of work before retirement—or even finish it before dying.

It was possible they would be dragged back after death to continue the hard labor.

Tang Fang looked at the phone screen seriously and thoughtfully. Just like this DingTalk app, although the underworld currently had no internet, it did not stop the Southern Ghost Emperor from coming to the human world to buy a phone and manage their living employees daily through DingTalk.

—As for the ghosts, they had more advanced methods.

They directly identified through spiritual energy which employees did not meet the work standards that day and immediately dragged them back to continue working.

Compared to that, the treatment of these few living employees seemed pretty good.

After all, the Southern Ghost Emperor had rented an entire floor in the Religious Association just for them, which looked luxurious. But in reality, they worked overtime every night, and even Yu Yi, whose resentment was extremely heavy, had visited their floor several times.

Still, their resentment could not be considered light. Although the six insurances and one housing fund had been maximized, their salary had been raised above 8,000 yuan, restoring what Tang Fang had earned as director, but…

A ghost stayed in the underworld for one or two hundred years at most. Even though their work experience lasted no more than 200 years, counting their lifetime in the human world, they had to work for the Southern Ghost Emperor for at least 260 years!

Tang Fang, however, did not consider transferring back. Even if he worked himself half to death every day here, the spiritual reward was full, and every day at work someone addressed him as “Lord Tang.”

He had no sense of guilt about poaching talent from his old company.

“…Yes, Your Majesty, I plan to visit the Religious Association, meet with my former colleagues, and greet my previous superiors. After all, they nurtured me and that cannot be forgotten.”

Tang Fang’s words reached the Southern Ghost Emperor, and things were not as simple as they sounded. The boy had just submitted a request to recruit more people, and now he planned to go back to the Religious Association. Surely, this was poaching his old company’s talent.

Tang Fang’s deliberate display naturally aimed to let the Southern Ghost Emperor cover for him for a while.

The Religious Association currently had Ye Wangxing in charge. If Vice President Ding requested people from Ye Wangxing, and Ye Wangxing mentioned it to the Ghost Emperor beside him, whether Tang Fang could poach the people depended on whether the Southern Ghost Emperor could withstand Xie Jiu.

The Southern Ghost Emperor, naturally unwilling to show weakness in front of subordinates, especially since this concerned his vacation, pounded his chest and guaranteed he could block Xie Jiu.

Tang Fang, however, did not put all his eggs in one basket. Even if the Southern Ghost Emperor promised firmly, what if the Ghost Emperor shamelessly called in his two close brothers to oppose him?

—After all, the households around Master Ye seemed relatively harmonious recently. At most, they just quarreled.

If they really fought, Tang Fang did not believe the Southern Ghost Emperor could show much strength.

Tang Fang squinted and called a high-ranking official he had cultivated before. Even though this person had not spoken up when Tang Fang had been demoted, he was still a person. Now that Tang Fang had risen again, his weight in the official’s eyes would be greater.

He planned to have that person help persuade Vice President Ding, so he would not make a fuss in front of Master Ye.

As expected, Tang Fang’s request was granted.

The next day, when Tang Fang returned to the Religious Association, he received very high treatment. Many colleagues came to greet him.

Since the underworld’s employee benefits had been made public, colleagues who had previously been worried, upon seeing the salary standards, confirmed it was not ghost money and became enthusiastic.

It just happened to be a time when the underworld was short on staff. Smart people were everywhere, and many shared Tang Fang’s thinking. When he boldly advertised recruitment, they surrounded him.

For a time, Tang Fang was the center of attention, feeling triumphant. This made him very happy, as this was the reward for all his efforts to climb higher.

Thinking of this, Tang Fang even laughed aloud.

Amid the bustling crowd, Tang Fang suddenly shivered.

He felt a chill—not from the air conditioning or any physical reason, but from the sense that someone was staring at him intensely.

However, when Tang Fang turned, he found no one in that direction—not even a ghost. The office temperature was pleasantly cool.

Yet he felt someone was watching him, and the gaze was cold and vicious, like a venomous snake or some monster.

Tang Fang turned and laughed at himself, thinking he was scaring himself. After all, this was the Religious Association. Who would dare act recklessly here?

Here were ghosts, monsters, masters, and officials from relevant departments—all gathered. This was no less than a den of dragons and tigers, what vengeful spirit would be foolish enough to cause trouble here?

Speaking of vengeful spirits, Tang Fang remembered Zhou Tianning.

He had heard that Zhou Tianning’s recent days were difficult.

Ever since Zhou Tianning tried to seize the Tongxin Array ahead of schedule in the secret realm and even made a Tongxin oath with his ghost controller, the Religious Association’s trust in him had gradually decreased.

Although there had been little trust originally, now even simple tasks were no longer assigned to Zhou Tianning or the Zhou family, showing just how much the association had lost trust in them.

The Zhou family had maintained their usual arrogance, as if the association was begging them to take on tasks. But when the officials started participating, even officially allowing the establishment of the Masters Association and the practice of heart methods, they began to panic.

All masters relied on their heart methods and cultivation techniques. Now that these were openly revealed by the officials and handed to ordinary people, it was a huge blow.

However, the masters in the Religious Association accepted it. With official six-insurance-and-one-fund benefits, a salary too high to spend, and single-person dorms provided, they did not rebel.

But the Zhou family could not cope. The association had already distrusted them, and Zhou Tianning’s attempt to seize the array had put him on the officials’ key watchlist. Now, even welfare benefits were no longer theirs.

The officials even planned to start an investigation into the Zhou family.

Seeing Ye Wangxing’s anxious expression, Vice President Ding paused in his own anxiety, but then he spoke again, his tone tense.

“You know, right? Something happened to the Zhou family. Tang Fang’s corpse was found in the alley next to the Religious Association. According to the surveillance there, Zhou Tianning was the one who did it, and after Tang Fang died, he also captured his soul.”

As Vice President Ding spoke, he felt it was incredible. He knew about Tang Fang’s pursuit of Zhou Tianning. He also knew that although Zhou Tianning appeared to reject Tang Fang, it was actually Tang Fang who had refused to make things public.

And now it was obvious why Zhou Tianning had attacked Tang Fang.

‘So never mess around with relationships, there’s a ready-made example right here,’ Vice President Ding thought, sighing deeply. Then he looked up and saw an even more complicated relationship.

‘…Junior Ye doesn’t count, he’s contributing to the country.’

Vice President Ding, thinking a reason that even ghosts wouldn’t believe, successfully hypnotized himself, then began instructing the Association’s precious members.

“This mission may be dangerous, remember to be careful…”

But as he spoke, he felt something off about his own words.

Then he saw the Third House man behind junior Ye.

‘…Damn, how did I get distracted?’

Vice President Ding quickly brought his thoughts back to the Zhou family situation, but…

‘If it’s these few people taking action, it seems the Zhou family should be worried instead.’

And in fact, that was not far from reality.

When they stormed the Zhou family’s main gate with a search warrant, the courtyard was still okay, but the closer they got to the residence, the stronger the smell of blood became, making everyone present hold their hearts in their throats.

When the officials used professional equipment to break down the gate, the scene inside the broad gate made everyone gasp and cover their mouths.

If they hadn’t covered their mouths, Vice President Ding suspected he would have vomited immediately.

—Bodies. The gate was full of bodies.

Some were intact, some were incomplete, some bore ghost handprints, and some were covered in human-faced sores. It was hard to believe that all this could have been created in just twenty minutes.

Their souls were being torn by other fierce spirits, screaming in agony.

When the fierce spirits saw the people at the gate under the sunlight, they seemed to regain some rationality. Seeing the fresher living humans, they immediately tried to rush forward.

The present Taoists immediately drew their weapons, ready for a difficult battle.

At that moment, Ye Wangxing, who had stood expressionless, threw out many purification talismans. The talismans seemed alive, attaching themselves to the fiercest spirits in front of them.

The fierce spirits screamed.

The Taoists froze, unsure how Ye Wangxing had suddenly become so powerful, or if they had simply never realized his strength before.

Just as they recovered and were about to praise Ye Wangxing,

—a large mass of familiar black mud appeared in front of them.

This time, the black mud surged like a flood from underground, engulfing the fierce spirits and covering the blood and corpses at the scene.

For a moment, the Zhou family seemed censored, the people present could no longer see the horrors.

The Ghost Emperor immediately contacted the Ghost Chancellor to bring people to clean up the Zhou family situation.

Vice President Ding was puzzled. He turned to ask Ye Wangxing but saw Lu Shi holding Junior Ye in his arms, seemingly preventing Ye Wangxing from seeing the corpses to avoid nightmares.

Vice President Ding: “…”

The other Taoists present: “…”We seem weaker by comparison.

When Vice President Ding and his team located Zhou Tianning, the other Taoists went to chase the released fierce spirits.

The remaining people searched the Zhou family estate for the culprit.

According to a brief interrogation, Zhou Tianning had done all this alone, which made Vice President Ding incredulous and curious about what the Zhou family had done to him.

“What could we do to that unfilial son? I had hoped he could make a name for himself in the Religious Association and support the family, or at least come back to continue the lineage if he failed. But look at what he’s doing now!”

The head of the Zhou family, already a ghost, shouted angrily, blood tears streaming down his face, clearly furious.

“Loving a man would be fine, eventually, surrogate or any woman could bear children, and the Zhou family’s lineage would continue. But now he killed someone because of that man’s betrayal and brought the person home. That man belonged to the Southern Ghost Emperor. He wants to destroy the Zhou family!”

‘He’s actually already done it,’ Vice President Ding thought.

“I struggled to persuade him to release the person, but that unfilial son killed his father in front of the entire Zhou family! He also released all the fierce spirits the Zhou family had kept—these were our hundreds of years’ stockpiles, that bastard!” The Zhou family head’s voice grew more pitiful, like a miser seeing his treasure stolen.

Vice President Ding felt some sympathy, but reconsidered, realizing from the Zhou family head’s words that he wasn’t entirely innocent.

‘But… the Zhou family head didn’t say how Zhou Tianning killed them?’

Vice President Ding frowned, sensing the Zhou family head was hiding something.

When they followed the compass to the final location, what the Zhou family head had hidden appeared.

Vice President Ding looked at Zhou Tianning in disbelief, her mouth opening and closing, unsure what to say.

Zhou Tianning in front of him was

—semi-transparent.

Vice President Ding felt strong music in his ears.

‘Zhou Tianning… is no longer human?’

Seeing Vice President Ding and Ye Wangxing behind him, Zhou Tianning, who had been torturing Tang Fang with Pei Si, finally set down what he was holding and turned around.

“Vice President Ding, what brings you to the Zhou family today?”

Zhou Tianning smiled wickedly.

Pei Si beside him also smiled wickedly, but stiffly—they looked like a ghostly couple.

From Pei Si’s stiff expression, he seemed uncomfortable.

Indeed, he was uncomfortable, he couldn’t understand why his Taoist wife suddenly decided not to remain human.

When Zhou Tianning had said he would always stay with him, Pei Si had been pleased.

Until Zhou Tianning said he wanted to become a fierce spirit and stay by Pei Si’s side, he had been incredulous.

He had even been a little jealous when Zhou Tianning personally killed Tang Fang, joking that his wife planned to bring back her ex-boyfriend to share the pleasure.

—Until Zhou Tianning actually killed his father.

Pei Si was stunned.

He watched Zhou Tianning kill his father, uncle, and family elders, and even use their contracts to help him kill.

And that wasn’t enough—Zhou Tianning went to the Zhou family training grounds and released all the fierce spirits.

These were physically released, not figuratively.

He smashed all the jars holding the fierce spirits.

The Zhou family estate became like a haunted house. The fierce spirits, already vicious from previous torture, now encountered other souls, seeking revenge.

The Zhou family head hid, the remaining family members weren’t so lucky. Dirty and exhausting work fell to them.

The fierce spirits primary target of hatred was them. Their souls were repeatedly torn and reformed, consuming much energy, relegating them to minor spirits in the underworld.

As the Zhou family members died off, the fierce spirits turned to attack Zhou Tianning, who then smiled strangely and slashed his own neck.

Blood gushed from the major artery, spraying far.

After death, Zhou Tianning directly ascended to a fierce spirit. Pei Si was shocked, he had thought it would take hours to solidify.

Vice President Ding also noticed something wrong about Zhou Tianning.

Normally, Zhou Tianning had been dead only a few hours, insufficient time to become a fierce spirit.

Fierce spirits usually transformed two hours after death, needing time to recall their past lives, like a human waking grump.

Now Zhou Tianning was too powerful. According to Vice President Ding, his strength rivaled a ghost dead for over ten years, and it kept increasing, as if… digesting something.

As Vice President Ding pondered, Ye Wangxing asked in disbelief: “—Zhou Tianning, you devoured those fierce spirits!?”

This seemed to unlock Vice President Ding’s senses. He widened his eyes at Zhou Tianning, whose smile grew even larger.

Pei Si trembled beside him.

So that was why he looked like a submissive little wife, letting him do whatever he wanted.

No choice. His wife was terrifying, he had never seen a ghost so fearsome at devouring fierce spirits.

He wondered if he or his wife had been a fierce spirit longer.

Pei Si thought, while Vice President Ding prepared to question Zhou Tianning. He then saw Zhou Tianning casually lift Tang Fang’s unstable tortured soul.

“Ye Wangxing truly is the Association darling. Yes, I devoured those fierce spirits, but it was only to become stronger. They were already deeply sinful, weren’t they?” Zhou Tianning said, exuding fierce spirit charisma.

“But you shouldn’t have done it. You have no right. And release Tang Fang’s soul, he hasn’t provoked you recently.”

Vice President Ding frowned, imagining the Association would face immense criticism after this.

However, when she mentioned Tang Fang, Zhou Tianning’s previously calm aura suddenly changed, black energy surrounded him, making him look like some kind of demon.

Vice President Ding instinctively became alert, though her habitual mindset didn’t act—she just frowned at Zhou Tianning.

Zhou Tianning, with a ferocious expression, grabbed Tang Fang’s ghostly soul, and Tang Fang immediately looked like he was about to die.

He truly regretted provoking Zhou Tianning. He also deeply regretted deceiving someone’s feelings in the first place.

“All that ‘mutual consent’ talk—I knew it was a lie, but I never expected Zhou Tianning could go this insane! He wouldn’t even let me rest in death! Is this my karma?”

Tang Fang, barely clinging to life, thought that if he survived, he would spend the rest of his life working obediently for the Southern Ghost Emperor and would never again try to climb the ranks through deception and manipulation.

However, after hearing Zhou Tianning’s words, Tang Fang realized that this time, he was truly doomed.

“Release him?—Back when our Zhou family was collectively expelled from the Religious Association and stripped of our cultivation to become ordinary people, who would release us?”

Zhou Tianning’s words silenced everyone present.

Vice President Ding’s expression turned numb, he hadn’t expected that there was a reborn person here, and that they would make such a dramatic entrance.

Great—there was no way their unit would win the “Outstanding Unit” award this year.

He thought numbingly: Rebirth has become so common? With this person, that makes four already, add one more, and it’s complete chaos.

Meanwhile, Zhou Tianning continued recounting the suffering of his previous life, and Tang Fang’s glory after becoming president, along with the Taoist Ye who had stayed by his side.

Then, his emotions suddenly calmed, and he addressed Ye Wangxing.

“ Taoist Master Ye, before you arrived, I already cleaned up all traces. At least to a Taoist who hasn’t studied spirit-control techniques, it would appear that I merely destroyed or tore apart those fierce spirits. Spirit-control techniques have always been the Zhou family’s closely guarded secret.”

“So tell me, how is it that in less than half a year as a Taoist, you concluded that I devoured them?”

Zhou Tianning asked coldly.

“—You’re reborn too, aren’t you, Taoist Ye?”

Vice President Ding: “…”

Really, complete chaos.

“Boom—!”

Before Vice President Ding could react, there was a seismic rumble, accompanied by dust and the clattering of falling stones.

When the dust settled, Vice President Ding hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, but he felt scorching sunlight fall on her from above.

Wait—above?

He suddenly realized that the Zhou family’s roof had been broken.

And the culprit was standing there, looking shocked—Yu Yi.

The next second, the delicate-faced boy’s expression went blank, but the black mud surrounding him surged directly toward the equally shocked Junior Ye.

It bound him tightly.

Ye Wangxing could only move his eyes, then, tears suddenly began to fall from the boy’s face.

“Brother, don’t leave me.”

 

 

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