Chapter 382

Chapter 382

◎Tricky◎

When Ji Nanxing and Xiao Ye arrived at the classroom, You Shulei was already sitting with several of his roommates. As they entered, the noisy classroom fell silent for a moment. Some stole glances while others stared openly—good-looking people always drew attention.

Fang Bei waved casually and called out, "Over here! We saved you seats."

Ji Nanxing and Xiao Ye made their way to the back rows. Xiao Ye's gaze swept across the room, pausing briefly on You Shulei before he smiled and greeted, "Morning."

Fang Bei: "Morning! How long does it take you to get here from home?"

Xiao Ye: "Five minutes driving to the small lot, then three minutes riding the e-scooter."

Fang Bei exclaimed, "Wow, an e-scooter makes things so much easier. It takes us over ten minutes just walking from the dorm."

Their school was pretty great—without too much bureaucracy, and with a flexible curriculum. Unlike some schools where an 8 a.m. class meant arriving before 7 a.m., treating university like high school with mandatory self-study sessions, their institution allowed students to set their own schedules. As long as they earned enough credits, they were fine. In this regard, Lanzhou University’s system surpassed ninety percent of universities in China.

After morning classes, everyone was starving as they headed to the cafeteria. You Shulei deliberately walked beside Ji Nanxing and asked, "What will happen to him after you catch him?"

Ji Nanxing: "He’ll be forcibly purified."

Purification is a meritorious act, but it also requires immense effort. It wasn’t feasible to forcibly purify every captured spirit on the spot. Even among the Taoists of Yuchun Temple, few could pull it off. Many Taoists had the ability to capture spirits but lacked the power to directly perform purification rituals.

Most Taoists would either send captured spirits to the Bureau or to Yuchun Temple. Once enough accumulated, a joint ritual would be held.

For particularly vicious vengeful spirits or evil ghosts, they would be isolated and placed within a grand formation to gradually deplete their yin energy and resentment, making purification easier. The more vicious and unwilling they were to enter the underworld, the more violently they would resist.

This time, human error caused those evil spirits to escape. To avoid more trouble, the ones already captured had been purified. Now only You Shuang was still free. If caught, to prevent complications, both the Bureau and Yuchun Temple would dispatch him immediately, even at great cost.

You Shulei: "Is forcible purification painful?"

Ji Nanxing: "Of course. Spirits who leave willingly do so because their attachments have faded. They pass on peacefully, stepping onto their destined path without resistance. Those unwilling to go, holding onto their resentment, are forced away against their will. They resist, struggle, and expend their strength trying to break free. The more unwilling they are, the more painful the process becomes."

You Shulei pressed his lips together and remained silent. After a while, he asked again, unable to let go, "What if my brother stops harming people..."

Ji Nanxing looked at him: "Impossible. No Taoist would allow an evil spirit to roam free. He’s your brother—you want to believe him, but Taoists won’t, because trusting him means risking innocent lives. He’s already killed twenty-nine people—some his enemies, others completely unrelated. Neither morals nor laws restrain him now, and the living world isn’t a place he can remain."

You Shulei lowered his head. Of course he understood that logic, but people always hold onto false hope.

You Shulei: "He was the victim first. The world was unfair to him."

Ji Nanxing: "He took revenge on those who hurt him, but he also killed many innocent people. He can hate the world, but he has no right to judge and slaughter indiscriminately. Even if those he killed weren’t innocent, allowing it would spiral out of control."

You Shulei stared at Ji Nanxing: "If he’s purified, what happens to him? Does the eighteen layers of hell really exist?"

Ji Nanxing met his gaze calmly and finally shook his head: "I don’t know. I haven’t been down there. But those who wronged him will repay their debts, and he will repay what he owes others."

You Shulei asked no more. He thanked them and turned away.

Xiao Ye sighed: "As a victim’s family member, this is hard to accept."

His brother was the victim—someone who did no wrong, yet was tormented by demons, died tragically, and became a lingering spirit seeking vengeance, only to become a rogue spirit hunted by the entire cultivation world.

From the victim’s perspective, it felt like the world was unjust.

Ji Nanxing: "Being with me, you’ll see many such cases. You’ll need to learn how to handle it."

Xiao Ye took Ji Nanxing’s hand and headed toward the cafeteria: “I was just remarking. Don’t worry, I can read the situation.”

Before afternoon classes ended, people from the Management Bureau arrived and summoned You Shulei for questioning. Once taken in, he was immediately removed because he was radiating intense Yin energy.

Ji Nanxing knew about You Shulei’s issues but hadn’t reported everything to the Management Bureau—for instance, You Shulei’s survival had been made possible by using You Shuang’s fate to escape a death curse. Though he didn’t report it, the bureau would uncover it sooner or later.

The Management Bureau couldn’t determine the source of the Yin energy on You Shulei and assumed You Shuang had visited him. They decided to bring him in for investigation and even arranged a few days’ leave for him.

His roommates were clueless, thinking only that something had happened at home and he’d been called back. Their four-person dorm suddenly became two. The gamer grew even more reluctant to stay with the bookworm, so he spent all his time in Ji Nanxing’s dorm, hanging out with Fang Bei and the others.

Most of Ji Nanxing and Xiao Ye’s classes overlapped, but some electives differed, as did their club choices. Xiao Ye had joined the Smart Robotics Club, whose meeting time conflicted with Ji Nanxing’s elective, so they had to split up.

Still, Xiao Ye kept reminding Ji Nanxing to come find him at the club after class—they’d eat out instead of going home. After some affectionate dawdling, they finally parted when time ran short.

Watching Ji Nanxing enter the classroom, Xiao Ye took off toward the clubroom. But halfway there, he sensed something was wrong. The surroundings had grown eerily quiet—unnaturally so—and the talismans in his bag grew warm.

University schedules weren’t like high school’s fixed timetables; there were always students around campus no matter the hour. Outside of the wee hours, the campus was never this silent.

This kind of silence was clearly unnatural.

Xiao Ye glanced around. He was on the usual path to the club, nothing unusual in sight, but his phone had no signal—not even emergency calls worked, let alone contacting Naonao.

Yesterday morning, Ji Naonao had mentioned an evil spirit visiting their home. Given the current situation, this had You Shulei’s brother written all over it. Though Xiao Ye couldn’t figure out why You Shuang would come for him—was he trying to capture him to threaten Ji Naonao?

Whatever the reason, Xiao Ye stood still for a while. No ghost attacked him, and no matter how much he called, You Shuang didn’t appear.

So he stopped moving altogether, planting himself on the ground and pulling out talismans from his bag. He slapped them all over his body—front, back, hands, feet—and even stuck one on his phone, hoping it might block the Yin energy and restore signal.

No dice. The ghost wasn’t attacking, and since he wasn’t a Taoist, he couldn’t activate the talismans’ power to break through whether this was a ghostly illusion or barrier. He could only wait passively.

What Xiao Ye didn’t know was that You Shuang, who had been slowly approaching him, froze when he saw the stack of Heavenly Thunder Talismans. His face cycled through several expressions before he retreated far away.

As a Vengeful Ghost, his power far exceeded that of ordinary spirits. But Heavenly Thunder Talismans were natural counters to Yin entities. Back when he was captured by a Taoist, it was because of a Heavenly Thunder Talisman that nearly scattered his soul. He never expected this seemingly ordinary person to have a whole stack of them.

Xiao Ye remained seated, occasionally checking his phone—still no signal. But he wasn’t worried. Besides the talismans, he had protective charms and his Fish Scare Stone bracelet. With these, he could hold out until Ji Naonao came to rescue him.

Just as he sat calmly, a figure approached. Xiao Ye turned and saw Ji Nanxing walking toward him. His face brightened: “Naonao!”

Ji Nanxing looked at Xiao Ye and smiled strangely. “Why are you sitting here covered in talismans? Isn’t the ground dirty? Get up.”

Xiao Ye started to rise but then paused, extending a hand. “Help me up.”

Ji Nanxing: “Quit messing around. Get up yourself.”

Xiao Ye: “No. If you don’t pull me up, I won’t move.”

Ji Nanxing seemed exasperated and walked over—only to trip on something and fall, clutching his leg in pain. “It hurts! Xiao Ye, I scraped my knee. There’s so much blood!”

Xiao Ye didn’t budge. “Oh? Come here, let me see.”

Ji Nanxing sat on the ground, watching him. “It hurts too much. I can’t move. Xiao Ye, it really hurts. Take me to the hospital.”

Xiao Ye scoffed. “Next time you try pretending to be someone, learn their personality first. This performance is pathetic.”

His Ji Naonao would’ve drawn a circle around him, told him to stay put and not get in the way, then gone off to personally shred the Vengeful Ghost himself. He’d never trip over nothing, sit on the ground crying in pain, and beg for help. This impersonation was pitiful.

Xiao Ye simply stopped listening and looking, slapping talismans across his eyes and ears. He’d wait it out. When Ji Naonao didn’t find him at the club, he’d come searching. All Xiao Ye had to do was stay safe until then.

The temperature around him dropped further, and a chilling wind picked up. The talismans on his body warmed slightly but stayed firmly in place, no matter how strong the wind blew.

Xiao Ye instinctively detected a cold, eerie presence approaching. Clutching the beaded bracelet wrapped with talismans in his hand, he swung it toward the source of the chill as it drew near.

A crackling hiss, like flames licking at flesh, echoed twice, and the coldness weakened significantly. The next moment, the chime of golden bells rang out, and the oppressive silence that had isolated him instantly receded like flowing water. The oppressive summer heat came crashing back. Still wary of an upgraded illusion, Xiao Ye remained motionless with his eyes closed until the talisman pasted over his eyelids was peeled off.

Opening his eyes, he immediately grinned: "Naonao!"

Ji Nanxing removed all the talismans from his body: "Quick thinking to hunker down when things got weird. You okay?"

Xiao Ye shook his head: "I'm fine. He even created an illusion, pretending to be you to trick me. I didn’t fall for it."

Ji Nanxing smiled: "Nice save."

Xiao Ye stared at him: "You’re the real one, right? Not another illusion?"

Ji Nanxing flicked his forehead: "If you can’t even tell the difference, I might have to bump you down a rank."

Yep, that’s Naonao alright.

Xiao Ye immediately stood up, dusting himself off, then noticed the lake was just a step away from where he had been sitting. If he had taken another step forward earlier, he would have fallen in.

Seeing his startled expression, Ji Nanxing said: "Relax. Even if you had fallen in, the talismans and protective items I gave you would’ve yanked you back to reality. You wouldn’t have drowned none the wiser."

The protective items hadn’t activated earlier because Xiao Ye wasn’t in life-threatening danger. But if the ghost’s deception had endangered his life, they would have awakened him at the critical moment.

Xiao Ye wasn’t scared, just confused: "Why did he come after me? Too scared to take you on, so I’m the easy target? By the way, did you see him? He must be nearby after messing with my head like this."

Ji Nanxing: "I saw him, but he got away."

You Shuang wasn’t about to face him head-on, so he fled the moment Ji Nanxing appeared. Since this was a school with people coming and going, going after him might’ve made him grab a student as leverage.

Ji Nanxing didn’t pursue further. If You Shuang was targeting them, he’d surely return.

As for the reason, it was likely for You Shulei’s sake—wiping out anyone who knew about the life-swapping scheme would ensure You Shulei’s survival. Unfortunately, with the Bureau now involved, the game was out of their hands now.