“Huff—huff—” Lou Jing gasped for breath as he panicked and ran back down the alley back to the Daoist temple’s backyard, cracked the door open, and eagerly called out outside, “Thunderbolt, quickly!”
“Woof—” The figure of Thunderbolt vigorously squeezed through the door. Lou Jing felt its long fur quickly graze the back of his hand; knowing that it had entered, he quickly closed the door, leaned back against it, and tightly held it shut.
Bi Cen followed closely right behind Thunderbolt. When he closed the door like that, she almost crashed against it.
She slapped the door aggrievedly. “Lou Jing… let me in.”
Only ghosts would let you in!
Through the door panel, Lou Jing snapped, “Miss Bi, calm down. I really don’t know you.”
“But…” Bi Cen paused and patiently coaxed, “You don’t know me now, but we’ll know each other after having a conversation. Be good and open the door—let’s have a chat.”
Lou Jing: “…”
That was to say, she was just like a beast that lured away ignorant young ladies in the stories, or the kind of insidious pervert who committed robbery.
That didn’t sound like a good person!
Lou Jing stubbornly held the door and very calmly threatened the female hooligan. “If you refuse to leave again, don’t blame me for turning my face!”
“Turn your face?” Bi Cen leaned on the door and coaxed him, “As long as you open the door, I’ll give myself to you.”
Lou Jing’s face sank. He felt deeply troubled.
It seemed that, this time, he had met a veteran old hooligan.
If she wasn’t allowed to achieve her goal, she probably wouldn’t stop.
—But so what? He’d specially fortified the door of the backyard with a wall so high that no one could enter.
Even if anyone came in, there’d be Thunderbolt to help him.
Lou Jing inserted the door bolt horizontally, his tight heartstrings loosening slightly.
At this moment, Bi Cen, who was leaning outside the door, smelled an unusually sweet scent. She was so satisfied that she almost couldn’t maintain her ghostly appearance.
In her last life, she’d never smelled this kind of ghost-tempering smell on Lou Jing’s body.
Was it because she’d become half-human and half-ghost after being reborn?
Bi Cen was in no mood to think of the seductive fragrance. Unconsciously, she took a deep breath, full of restlessness, and sighed. “What smells so good? Is it you, Lou Jing?”
This woman’s words were always roguish. With Lou Jing’s easily-harassed nerves, he couldn’t help but whisper to her, “Pervert!”
Bi Cen was not ashamed but rather proud, and she encouraged him. “Curse a bit more. I haven’t heard your voice in a long time.”
“…”
Lou Jing really wanted to have Thunderbolt go out and bite her to make that female hooligan sober up!
He clenched his fist and loosened it. For some reason, he resisted the desire to beat the female hooligan. He turned around, fumbled, found a chair to sit down on, and still looked angry.
Bi Cen looked through the crack of the door and felt distressed again. “Don’t be angry, I don’t have any intentions. I really want to talk to you about something.”
Lou Jing: …When will she leave? She won’t be stuck at my door in the future, will she?
Thunderbolt sensed his owner’s anger, and his fur flared anxiously as he barked at Bi Cen outside the door. The majestic dog’s barking completely overpowered Bi Cen’s voice.
Bi Cen: “Bark at me again, and I’ll stew you tonight!”
“Woof—woof—woof—woof!”
“…” Damn it!
The annoying voice finally disappeared. Lou Jing pressed at his brow, a slightly tired look written on them.
He was in poor health, had just gone through strenuous exertion, and now he felt a little breathless.
He held his chest, bowed his head, and coughed. Taking out a small porcelain bottle from his person, he poured out a few black pills, endured the bitterness, and swallowed it. Then he weakly dropped his hand and leaned on the back of a chair; as usual, he took a deep breath, intent on survival.
Thunderbolt stopped barking. Worriedly, he pressed his head against Lou Jing’s porcelain-white hand and made contact.
Bi Cen, who had been about to break in, saw this scene through the crack of the door, and she suddenly stopped all her movements.
She leaned on the door, her pointed red nails leaving three deep marks on the door panel.
At this moment, her sanity returned. Bi Cen’s whole heart rose, and a trace of uncontrollable panic was born in her mind.
Only then did she realize that perhaps she shouldn’t have chased Lou Jing so recklessly.
She’d frightened him.
Lou Jing was blind—he had a very low trust in others, was withdrawn, and liked to hide in places he identified as safe zones. Even in her previous life, it had taken her a while to get him to open up his heart.
She needed to be the same as in her previous life—work slowly, step by step.
It was alright now. It had made him feel so uncomfortable the first time she’d appeared in front of him.
Bi Cen’s sharp nails were scratching the door panel, making an irritating, harsh sound, but she didn’t realize as she stared at Lou Jing from the yard for a while. She bowed her head dejectedly to reduce her ghost power and turned back into a human, softly saying to Lou Jing inside, “I’m going, I’m really going. Don’t be angry.”
Lou Jing didn’t believe her. He didn’t say a word as he held Thunderbolt’s head.
After that, the doorway really fell silent.
Because his eyes couldn’t see, Lou Jing’s ears were particularly sharp; although there was no sound outside the door, he did not hear the other person’s footsteps.
Lou Jing was a little horrified. He stood up, fumbled back to his room, and carefully locked the door inside—only then did he feel that the ever-present sense of danger had diminished a bit.
It was horrible… Lou Jing had lingering palpitations against the door, thinking that this female hooligan was more difficult to deal with than those little ghosts he’d encountered in the past.
Ever since Lou Jing was a child, he’d had a physique that beckoned ghosts. His flesh and blood held a certain fatal attraction to ghosts and always attracted all kinds of them.
Perhaps because of this, he had been abandoned by his parents outside of the Daoist temple. Fortunately, he was later adopted by Daoist Xuan Qing, the master of the temple at the time, and Lou Jing was able to survive without being eaten by ghosts.
But when Daoist Xuan Qing wasn’t by his side, Lou Jing would always get caught up with the little ghosts; he was blind and had almost been cheated and eaten by ghosts several times.
Daoist Xuan Qing had told him that his eight characters* were weak, and he even had a rarely-seen yin spirit body, which was simply like a fantastic, walking tonic for ghosts.
[TLN: Superstitious people believe that one’s fate can be predicted based on the first eight characters of one’s birthday. A person with the lucky number 8 has excellent intuition and awareness, which allows them to explore unknown matters.]
In order to protect himself, he studied the drawing methods of various exorcism charms from Daoist Xuan Qing.
He had painted demon-expelling talismans from the age of four up until now, from the bumpy beginning to doing it smoothly in the present. With his handwork, the power of his demon-expelling talismans had gradually become even stronger. At the beginning, they couldn’t even block ordinary little ghosts—in the present, they have been able to scare most of the ghosts away. As for the evil spirits… evil spirits required the right time and place to be born, so there were very few evil spirits in the world, and he had never seen them until now.
In general, his ghost-expelling talismans could almost repel most ghosts, and their ghost-exorcising effect was very good. Many people came to buy his talismans, letting him scrape a living.
But three years ago, the Daoist Xuan Qing ascended to immortality, and Lou Jing was the only one left in the Daoist temple. Daoist Xuan Qing, who had become an immortal, blessed the Daoist temple, and it was very effective; thus, the incense in the temple was still going strong. As long as Lou Jing lived in the Daoist temple, the little ghosts outside didn’t dare come in easily. But if he went out and didn’t carry many ghost-expelling talismans on his body, he would be easily intercepted by ghosts.
Originally, Lou Jing had hated those ghosts who’d craved his flesh and blood, but comparing them with this female hooligan, he suddenly realized that ghosts were much better than people.
At least ghosts didn’t know how to tease him, and they could be driven away by ghost-expelling talismans.
Lou Jing sighed lightly, laying on the bed and questioning life.
Thunderbolt put his head on Lou Jing’s hands, eyelids drooping, and made a whining sound in his throat.
—Two pitiful little ones.
Bi Cen squatted under Lou Jing’s bed, fascinated by the sound of his breathing. This time, she’d learned a lot more and did not choose to crawl out from under the bed immediately.
If she went out now, she would definitely frighten Lou Jing.
Now that she had been born again, many things could be taken slowly.
Lou Jing turned over on the bed and yawned with a little bit of sleepiness. It was a side effect of taking the pill; after taking it, people would grow sleepy.
Anyway, there was an obstruction outside. Lou Jing simply pulled the quilt over, preparing to cover his head and sleep again.
He aimlessly touched his dog’s head, and Thunderbolt obediently laid down in the kennel in the room.
Under the bed, Bi Cen was concealed in the dark. She took a breath of the unknown fragrance and became a little more sober.
This smell really seemed to emanate from Lou Jing…
This smell was so attractive to her, let alone other little ghosts.
In her previous life, she was sure that she’d never smelled this kind of scent from Lou Jing.
Could it be the change brought about by her rebirth?
Bi Cen squatted under the bed, frowning in thought, as she breathed in the fragrance from Lou Jing’s body.
When Lou Jing and Thunderbolt had both fallen asleep, Bi Cen crawled out from under the bed and floated above Lou Jing. She stretched out her hand and gently lifted the boy’s black hair, which blocked half of his face, and fixedly looked at his handsome countenance.
Her fingertips were a little cold; Lou Jing muttered uncomfortably in his dream. Bi Cen shook her hand and quickly retracted it, glancing at him. With a guilty conscience, she tucked the thin quilt in for him.
How was this torn quilt so thin?!
Bi Cen stared at the old, washed-out quilt with a solemn face for a while, thinking that she had to find a way to give Lou Jing some warmth.
When she had met Lou Jing in her previous life, it had already been very late, which caused him a lot of hardship. In this life, she’d found him first, and she would not let him live in the same way as before.
Bi Cen thought like this, quickly touched the boy’s warm face, then quickly walked through the wall and left the room.
Send warm things and arrange them now!
When Lou Jing starts to trust her, he shall be taken home again!
On the bed, Lou Jing woke up for a moment and touched his face in a daze, feeling a bit cold—he wrapped the quilt tightly around himself and continued to sleep.
…….
After Bi Cen left, the little ghosts who had been huddled in the corner all heaved a sigh of relief. With lingering fears, they gathered together to talk about her:
The hanged ghost’s tongue trailed on the ground as it said, “That ghost’s breath is terrible!”
The drowned ghost showed fear. “She must be a legendary evil ghost!”
The demonic ghost patted his chest. “Fortunately, it wasn’t for us!”
The starving ghost sobbed and added, “I’ve been greedy for so long—that human must have been eaten by her!”
The hungry ghost wailed, crying sharply, and all the other ghosts got headaches. The demonic ghost had the most violent temper; he raised his eyes and scolded, “You’re greedy? We’re also very greedy, alright? Cry, cry, cry, cry again and this old lady will beat you to death!”
The starving ghost cried even louder.
The demonic ghost couldn’t bear it anymore and stood up, floating into the Daoist temple.
“Why are you going there?” the other ghosts questioned. “Are you not afraid of the immortal Daoist in the temple?”
The demonic ghost said coldly, “Go in and look for him. Maybe there’s still some meat or bone residue left.”
The ghosts listened and felt that this was reasonable; thinking of the human’s scent, nonexistent saliva dripped from the corner of their mouths, and they earnestly followed behind the demonic ghost, floating to the Daoist temple one after another.
If they could eat the human’s meat when you went in, then the harm that the immortal Daoist would do to them wasn’t worth mentioning.
The more they thought about it, the more excited they became as they rushed into the Daoist temple, but they all hit a transparent barrier.
The little ghosts howled in pain and found, to their horror, that the ghost who had just left had come back at some point!
With a horrible expression, she blocked the door and grimly demanded, “Those who want to eat what’s mine, have you asked if I permitted it?”
The majestic ghost power overflowing from her crushed the ghosts, who were in pain and almost disappeared.
The demonic ghost, who was at the front, suffered the greatest damage, its head almost buried in the ground. “My Lord, spare my life! The little one has eyes but recognizes you, and didn’t know that human was yours! Forgive this lowly one!”
Bi Cen looked at the demonic ghost at her feet with an icy gaze, her eyes red. “That human named Lou Jing—only I can eat him. Understand?”
“Understood, understood! We will definitely not covet that human again in the future!” the ghosts busily guaranteed.
“If I find out that anyone dares to come in front of him to disturb his cleansing again, I shall tear its soul to pieces.” Bi Cen suppressed the killing intent in her heart, not wanting to see blood in front of Lou Jing’s door, and letting them get lost.
They were lucky enough to get their lives back; numbly, they cleared out of there.
Soon, news of the appearance of a ghost, the likes of which was rarely seen in a thousand years, at the Daoist temple spread throughout the ghost community of Youzhou City.
A few more powerful ghosts did not believe the gossip, so they intentionally went to the Daoist temple that day, but they never came back.
The ghosts were now scared and all went to warn their companions—they must not think about the Daoist temple’s big tonic anymore.
That human being was now occupied by an evil spirit!