That day, Ye Wangxing left the interrogation room and locked himself in his room. He did not open the door until the next day when Li Guan came.

“Alright, Old Li, don’t knock on the door. Let the child be alone for a while,”

Fang Shitai, standing beside him, advised Li Guan.

“Even someone like you, who has experienced storms and hardships, would find this hard to accept. Not to mention this child is only twenty-two.”

Fang Shitai had been somewhat shocked when she received the news. How had things progressed into such a twisted state in just one day?

All the enemies and close friends from the previous life had come to this life, and they even brought extremely twisted emotional entanglements.

Yet Ye Wangxing had no one to reason with, because the one who caused this outcome was Ye Wangxing himself.

Although it was the previous life, it was clear that Ye Wangxing’s way of thinking had never changed. Otherwise, he could not have so smoothly understood what he had done in his past life.

“But after all, I am his master. I fear this child might do something foolish,”

Li Guan said anxiously.

When he received the news about the outbreak of numerous malevolent ghosts at the old execution ground, he had already sensed that the situation was bad. When Vice President Ding called for people, he immediately followed, afraid his disciple might encounter danger.

Fortunately, his disciple was unharmed—except that there were issues regarding emotional entanglements.

Li Guan had actually sent a message to Ye Wangxing, and Ye Wangxing quickly replied.

He did not mind that Li Guan typed slowly or only sent voice messages. He read every message seriously and replied carefully, except…

“Master, I really don’t understand why those two could like me. And I am only twenty-two in this life, I am not the Ye Wangxing who experienced those things with them in the previous life. The mainland people wouldn’t confuse us, right?”

Ye Wangxing’s doubt came directly through his words.

“Did I do something that made them misunderstand me?”

Li Guan was silent as he listened to his disciple.

He recalled that in just these two days, Ye Wangxing had saved Lu Shi, promised to protect the Ghost Emperor, and even recognized that this Lu Shi was not the one from before.

—Even Lu Shi’s biological mother hadn’t recognized him, how did Ye Wangxing figure it out?

Li Guan realized that if his disciple continued to treat people this way and carried this thinking for several more years, eventually leaving the world in such a tragic way…

…it was not hard to understand why those two had such deep feelings.

Although Li Guan had somewhat grown accustomed, after hearing the full story, he still could not help but think about whether he should have his disciple visit Yonghe Palace to see if he could remove these two “peach blossoms.”

But thinking of Yonghe Palace’s impressive track record, Li Guan feared that if his disciple asked for help there, they might assign even more “peach blossoms” to him, or even completely eliminate them.

“You worry too much. With Junior Ye’s character, he just can’t figure out why those two from the previous life would like him,”

Fang Shitai said helplessly. She had met Ye Wangxing a few times and could naturally see the child’s true nature.

“I know,” Li Guan wiped his eyes and sighed: “I just feel sorry for this child.”

“I can’t even imagine how difficult the previous life’s situation was, forcing him to cooperate with the Ghost Emperor, and…”

Li Guan smiled bitterly and pointed to himself: “And me? Where was I in the previous life? Leaving this child alone to face that monster.”

Fang Shitai said nothing. She knew very well that, according to the usual style of the Religious Association, ordinary matters were always handled first by the young people to gain experience, with the older members providing backup.

…Only major matters would require the older members to intervene.

To deal with the small Heavenly messenger of the Association, all these old bones would have to die first.

But neither the Ghost Emperor nor Lu Shi mentioned the older members, only that Ye Wangxing faced the monster alone.

What happened in the previous life was obvious.

Finally, Li Guan gathered his courage and said: “There’s no use in dwelling on it here. I’ll go ask Vice President Ding to see what the plan is for this matter.”

Fang Shitai sighed and nodded, her gaze toward Li Guan filled with determination.

…Then she saw Li Guan pull a plastic bag out of his Taoist robe.

“I’ll send a message to my disciple first, let him rest. Anyway, his master is here to handle things,”

Li Guan said, untying two plastic bags and then two handkerchiefs to finally take out his phone, painstakingly sending a message.

Fang Shitai: “…” She should feel lucky Li Guan practiced cultivation and didn’t need to worry about presbyopia.

Otherwise, she really thought he would pull out a glasses case from his robe.

‘Why does a seventy-year-old act like he’s eighty or ninety?’ Fang Shitai thought to herself.

The conversation between Li Guan and Fang Shitai was reported to Ye Wangxing by 19, making him feel a little guilty. After all, his tragic death in the previous life was of his own making.

But thinking about Li Guan’s situation with his original self in the original storyline, he sighed.

In the original fate line, the original self was expelled from the Religious Association. Li Guan had worked hard to get him a chance for a civil service exam, but then Zhou Tianning’s words ruined the original self’s future.

The original self had tried to hide it from Li Guan, but Li Guan learned the truth from Zhou Tianning. He became disheartened and left the Religious Association, spending a lifetime guarding his small Qingfeng Temple.

Ye Wangxing felt heartbroken.

【19, besides being busy with the script and Taoist matters, it seems we need to start preparing as well.】

Ye Wangxing took a deep breath and spoke.

19 did not argue with his host’s decision. He had found all sorts of commercial cases, planning to wait until his host had free time and then find some agents to help Li Guan manage the Taoist temple.

However, Ye Wangxing had other plans.

【19, there’s no need for that, and whether Li Guan even has the starting capital is another matter.】

Ye Wangxing looked at the script and then tapped on a point in it.

【Anyway, since so many people are already arranged, it would feel like a waste not to use them formally.】

19 stayed silent, staring at the spot Ye Wangxing had tapped.

‘Host, are you sure this is a person?’

Xiao Wu felt that her past two days had been extremely intense.

They had been so intense that she even began to miss the days of overtime.

First, the Religious Association had suddenly notified them yesterday that the Ghost Emperor had appeared. While witnessing the Ghost Emperor, she had also witnessed the other party’s obsessive love for Ye Wangxing.

Although it was one-sided, it did not stop Xiao Wu from recommending a song about a wolf falling in love with a sheep.

Even if the relationship seemed crazy, it had not caused much harm to Xiao Wu or her colleagues. On the contrary, it provided them with gossip material.

They were extremely curious about how Ye Wangxing had met the Ghost Emperor, and why the Ghost Emperor was so obsessed with him.

Unfortunately, the law of “extreme joy often leads to sorrow” seemed timeless, at least for Xiao Wu.

Before she could gossip for a full day, the most fearsome member of the Association, Zhou Tianning, had dragged her to the task site.

Xiao Wu had almost thought she would be left behind there. Fortunately, Ye Wangxing had saved them, and he himself had rushed to the task location.

Xiao Wu thought at the time that this was probably the most thrilling thing she had ever experienced.

—But in reality, she had still underestimated things.

“The Ghost Emperor… is planning to propose?”

Xiao Wu stared in shock at the densely lined-up ghosts below the building.

The ghosts’ faces looked both modern and ancient, with various hairstyles, but they all wore standardized black shrouds.

This was why Xiao Wu immediately recognized them as the Ghost Emperor’s followers.

…After all, were these malevolent ghosts just bored and crashing into the relevant department?

Xiao Wu’s colleagues were also shocked. Given the Ghost Emperor’s situation, they instantly had a bad premonition.

However, this time they guessed wrong.

“…Your Majesty, the Prime Minister and the Ministers have arrived, and the guards are in position.”

Seeing the Ghost Emperor’s lead guard kneel and report, Xiao Wu and her colleagues finally felt the reality that the Ghost Emperor commanded a quarter of the ghosts in the underworld.

But how had this person managed to become a comedian despite holding such power?

Xiao Wu could not understand. However, her thoughts as a low-level minion did not matter, no one cared about her anyway.

Vice President Ding and Minister Li, on the other hand, wore harmonious official smiles, receiving the Ghost Emperor with the highest possible etiquette.

This time, the Ghost Emperor did not come in a private capacity. He represented a formal negotiation regarding the black mud incident. Since it was a three-party meeting, the treatment had to be maximized.

The Ghost Emperor seemed aware that this was a formal occasion and did not cause trouble. He did not propose anything about marriage in front of Li Guan.

Apart from looking a bit bored, he left the matters to his Ghost Prime Minister, and everything else proceeded normally.

Even when encountering Lu Shi, he only scoffed verbally and caused no problems.

Xiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief. The Ghost Emperor acted normally, thus, the three-party meeting should proceed smoothly.

However, reality proved she had been naive.

The more important and serious a meeting, the louder the arguments.

…Xiao Wu watched helplessly as the three-party meeting turned into a three-way fight.

But despite the fights and arguments, they still had to discuss the real issue.

The first matter was what the black mud actually was and what kind of threat it posed. In such circumstances, previous minor scandals seemed trivial.

The real task was to suppress the black mud-like entity.

After careful investigation, the situation appeared grim.

According to the Ghost Emperor, Lu Shi, and the official system checks, this entity only appeared in areas with concentrated Yin energy and resentment.

It thrived in such areas, seemingly more at home than the ghosts themselves. Even some ghosts avoided the places with concentrated resentment, fearing they would be devoured by the entity or destroyed by the dense Yin and resentment energy.

Yet, this entity only appeared in locations with extremely strong Yin and resentment.

However, strangely, it did not actively attack the fierce ghosts, only when these ghosts attacked it first did it suddenly devour them.

From the black mud-like object, tentacle-like appendages extended, and even fierce ghosts without physical form were pulled into its body.

Afterwards…

The black mud-like object grew slightly larger.

When they received this report, they had thought the black mud-like object only grew by eating fierce ghosts.

—Until they saw it pass by a high school and a company, growing by one centimeter in size.

Only then did they finally understand what this black mud-like object fed on.

But…

Vice President Ding and Minister Li, having learned the news, exchanged a glance, then slowly looked up at the staff outside the office still working overtime.

Turning their heads to look out the window, the distant skyscrapers were still brightly lit.

They were local tax-heavy internet companies.

Vice President Ding and Minister Li both widened their eyes.

“Unbelievable!”

This meeting had dragged on for over a month.

The authorities and the Ghost Emperor’s side refused to yield, while the Religious Association survived in the middle.

Finally, the authorities revealed Lu Shi, the Ghost Emperor personally intervened, and the Religious Association… chose to use Ye Wangxing.

The Religious Association, win.

Finally, with the three sides’ military strength balanced, they managed to negotiate a plan.

The junior staff did not know the details, they only knew the authorities would take charge, the other two sides would contribute personnel and effort, and the authorities would provide appropriate rewards.

Moreover, the authorities would send personnel to manage the Ghost Emperor’s side and the Religious Association’s side.

But not full control—just assisting them in managing the heavenly masters and ghosts below.

In this situation, the Religious Association could already foresee that, after this incident, it would be under official management.

Vice President Ding tacitly approved, after all, the Religious Association had long considered submitting to the authorities, and today was a convenient step.

The traditionalists did not understand the subtleties and thought the authorities had sent them a great steward, imagining an easy life ahead.

Perhaps the Ghost Emperor found this unbelievable, after all, the Ghost Chancellor was not one to overlook such matters.

The Ghost Emperor was not love-struck either, after all, Ye Wangxing had gone to persuade him.

Later, after the agreement was signed, the Ghost Chancellor explained cheerfully.

After the spiritual energy revival, not only did the heavenly materials and treasures in the human world increase, but the ghost population also expanded, because increased spiritual energy made it more likely for humans to become ghosts.

The management mode in the underworld remained centuries old—they simply could not handle it anymore. Any help was welcome.

They did not worry about these people siding with humans.

“All of you will be the same ghosts in 100 years, why worry about betrayal?” the Ghost Chancellor said with a smile.

“You will live in the human world for 100 years, but you will live in the underworld for centuries, you can tell which matters more.”

This strategy shocked the authorities and Vice President Ding, who could not help but glance at the Ghost Emperor.

How did the Ghost Emperor suppress such a Ghost Chancellor?

Vice President Ding thought it was probably due to military strength.

But she quickly pushed the thought aside, the first mission after the three-party talks was about to begin.

Vice President Ding led this mission, while Li Guan and others guarded the main base, to prevent the black mud-like object from stealing anything.

Ye Wangxing was inevitably part of the mission team, the other participants…

Vice President Ding looked at Lu Shi and the Ghost Emperor beside Ye Wangxing in the rearview mirror and nodded in satisfaction.

Indeed, he was a genius.

He used Ye Wangxing as bait, the other two would bite the hook directly.

Vice President Ding still valued Ye Wangxing but occasionally using his subordinates was normal… especially when he could not find reliable members for the mission.

Had he not already brought Tang Fang and Zhou Tianning along?

If anyone could be useful, she would not bring Tang Fang and Zhou Tianning, who had already made mistakes.

Her mission funds were even lower than other teams.

…Because the black mud-like creature had never appeared in this exploration area.

He had already coordinated with Ye Wangxing, who did not mind.

“After all, it’s for the mission.”

Ye Wangxing had once smiled brightly, but now his expression was embarrassed.

He did not dislike the other two, only found them clingy and annoying.

After a month of Ye Wangxing’s occasional anger, they learned boundaries, they only interacted with him with his consent.

—They also discovered that Ye Wangxing yielded to softness, not hardness.

But rather than cooperate, they wanted the spoils alone, often sabotaging victories.

So Vice President Ding relaxed and napped on the vehicle, exhausted from the long period of work.

While Vice President Ding rested, Zhou Tianning remained anxious.

He truly did not understand why he had brought him and Tang Fang along. Even if he wanted to use it to enhance his reputation, the black mud-like creature, unknown to him in his past life, made him extremely fearful.

The so-called black mud-like creature resembled the one he had encountered at the old execution ground, which had helped him block the fierce ghosts.

But Zhou Tianning didn’t dare to mention it, speaking out would lead to questioning why he had interacted with it.

He had barely escaped endless interrogations without revealing why he went there.

Even though the other two had disclosed past-life information, he did not want his identity exposed.

The authorities usually presumed innocence, even if Zhou’s family gathered fierce ghosts to torment each other, he had not done so and had even saved Pei Si.

If his rebirth were revealed, whether the authorities would identify him as his past-life self and punish him was unknown, his identity had to remain hidden.

But…

Zhou Tianning glanced at the subtle rivalry between the other two, then quickly averted his gaze, breaking into cold sweat, gripping the soul-nurturing jade at his neck, praying for the situation to pass quickly.

…Acting alongside two who likely already knew of his rebirth was a great mental and physical torment.

‘Once we check into the hotel at night and cultivate feelings with Pei Si, obtaining the treasure that requires a couple’s cooperation, my strength will increase, and I might achieve good results in the next mission.’

Zhou Tianning thought, shedding his previous arrogance, only wanting to complete the mission and get the treasure.

Luckily, the other two focused on Ye Wangxing, and Zhou Tianning heard no investigation regarding the Zhou family, letting him breathe easier during the day’s journey.

He was grateful to follow Ye Wangxing this time.

However, when checking into the hotel at night, all his relief vanished.

“I have to share a room with Ye Wangxing???” Zhou Tianning’s incredulous voice echoed through the hotel.

Vice President Ding sighed: “No choice. You know Ye Wangxing is special, it’s awkward for anyone to share a room. Tang Fang is seeking redemption, and rumors at the association said he likes men.”

“Even if Tang Fang had been negligent at work, it’s not a capital crime. For his safety, Zhou Tianning, you’ll bear some inconvenience. You declared that your fierce ghost is your husband—here, you’re the only married one. They won’t be jealous of you.”

Zhou Tianning wanted to protest and explain that claiming to like his ghost husband was to be expelled from his family and avoid involvement.

But everyone else had paired off, and Vice President Ding had no funds to upgrade rooms. He wanted to give Ye Wangxing money for an upgrade, but Ye Wangxing, without waiting, dragged him toward the room.

Zhou Tianning felt two gazes burning into his back.

Luckily, Ye Wangxing was normal and never mentioned the Ghost Emperor or Lu Shi.

The Ghost Emperor and Lu Shi did not knock, Zhou Tianning gradually relaxed, even whispering with Pei Si late at night.

Eventually, Zhou Tianning fell asleep, tonight was destined to be sleepless.

He woke three times that night.

Each time he heard noises beside him, followed by Ye Wangxing’s incredulous voice.

But Zhou Tianning didn’t dare to speak.

“Why are you here?”

“Why are you two here?”

“Wait, why do I feel a third person???”

Zhou Tianning stared at the large, tangled blanket, clearly containing more than one person, and quietly closed his eyes.

He did not dare to open them, hoping it was just a hallucination.

 

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