GB Chapter 23
by VolareAmong the three Ghost Gods of the Ghost Domain, the Ghost Goddess resides on Xiaoyu Mountain at the edge of the sea and never ventures out. The God of Joy, after being expelled by the Heavenly Dao Alliance, built the ghost city of Yindu under the sea. Over the years, he has subdued a large number of fierce ghosts, forming a considerable force and now seems poised to return to the human realm.
As for the God of Lamentation, he remains at the Wanguishu Academy on Huánhun Island, teaching and guiding ghosts, paying no attention to the changes in the outside world.
The Zhong Yuan Festival on the 15th of the seventh lunar month is the day when the gates of the underworld open. On this day, all ghosts return home to visit their relatives and enjoy the offerings of their descendants. However, there are many wandering ghosts in the world who have nowhere to go, especially those fierce and solitary ghosts who wander alone and feel isolated.
With this in mind, the God of Lamentation releases countless lotus ghost lanterns into the sea every Zhong Yuan Festival, inviting all homeless ghosts to gather at the Wanguishu Academy. From then on, “Lighting lanterns for Zhong Yuan, ten thousand ghosts wander together” became an annual spectacle in the Ghost Domain.
Initially, this was just a gathering for ghosts. Later, the God of Joy repeatedly invited the God of Lamentation to join him in Yindu to build a ghost kingdom together. Annoyed by this, the God of Lamentation established a rule for a competition on the Zhong Yuan Festival. Whoever wins will obey the other’s orders for the year. Because the two of them are the strongest Ghost Gods in the Ghost Domain, this competition is known as the Ghost Emperor’s Contest.
“The God of Lamentation has always won these past years, so the Ghost Domain has remained peaceful. But if the God of Joy were to win one year, I fear the cultivation world would be in for a period of turmoil.”
Walking along the Jiangdu harbor, Ling Sui Daoren was telling the two who were about to set sail about the secrets of the Ghost Domain that ordinary people don’t know. However, no matter how much the Heavenly Master Mansion paid attention to the Ghost Gods, they were still living beings, and more internal information was still unknown. He could only take out a set of books and hand them to Zhuge Qingtian, reminding him, “These are the Heavenly Master Mansion’s research materials on the types of ghosts. Most of the ghosts in the world are recorded here, and they should be helpful for your mission.”
In the Ghost Domain, it is inconvenient for Qian Ren, as a cultivator, to take action. If an investigation is to be conducted, it ultimately needs to rely on Zhuge Qingtian, a newly born Ghost God. Therefore, Ling Sui Daoren took special care of him before his departure. Zhuge Qingtian, however, didn’t seem to feel anything about it. Although he accepted the book, he was still curious and asked, “Listening to it, the God of Lamentation sounds like a good person?”
His impression of the God of Lamentation still stemmed from the rumors of Zhu Jiaji, where he thought he would be a cruel and evil Ghost God who ate people without blinking an eye. Who would have thought that listening to it now, he was actually quite kind, so he couldn’t help but be surprised.
Ling Sui Daoren was an elder in the cultivation world who had fought against the God of Lamentation. His understanding of this Ghost God was far greater than others. At this time, he didn’t mention the details of the past battle, and simply said to him, “That one is indeed kind-natured. If you have anything you want to know, you can ask him during the gathering.”
It was not a secret that Ling Sui Daoren’s Dao Heart was damaged in the battle with the God of Lamentation, and thus he could not transcend the tribulation in this lifetime. Knowing that he didn’t want to mention the past, Qian Ren didn’t let Zhuge Qingtian continue to ask, but instead pulled him onto the spirit ship, nodded to the old Taoist, and considered it as a farewell.
Parting and reunion are common occurrences in the cultivation world. For these old people, a jug of wine when they meet and a single glance back when they leave is enough. The beginning and the end of a relationship all happen in an instant. But Zhuge Qingtian wasn’t used to farewells, and he looked at the receding city of Jiangdu for a long time before recovering. He looked around and belatedly asked, “Why is this ship so dilapidated?”
It’s no wonder that he asked this question. Compared to the magnificent official ships in the harbor, this ship of theirs was truly unsightly. The sails hung above like tattered cloth, and the deck was also dilapidated. Walking on it, it would creak. Zhuge Qingtian could even see the seawater seeping into the ship’s cabin through a large hole beside him, and he felt like it would sink any moment. Well, the truth was that if Ling Sui Daoren hadn’t attached talismans to it, this ship would have sunk when it was launched.
“The so-called spirit ship is a ship that has encountered a disaster at sea. When its owner dies, it is stained with the aura of the deceased. When it goes out to sea again, it is easily drawn to the sea area where the Ghost Gods reside.”
Qian Ren chose this ship to go out to sea for a reason. With a sentence, he reassured the worried Zhuge Qingtian. After confirming that the Ghost Domain’s Yin energy was guiding the ship’s movement, he stopped paying attention to the sea and took out his tools to groom himself.
The Ghost Domain was extremely hostile to the entry of living people. Although he had demonic energy to conceal it, his face was a well-known one in the cultivation world. He still needed to do some disguise to safely infiltrate. As a killer, disguising was a basic skill for Qian Ren. He poured out a bottle of transparent liquid, and under the guidance of his demonic energy, the liquid formed a human face in mid-air. Then, he used his fingertips to smear the liquid on the eyebrows and eyes for a moment, and the transparent film covered his face like a mask. Zhuge Qingtian was surprised to find that the man had changed his face in the blink of an eye.
Cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage will reshape their bodies. Qian Ren’s original face was his appearance at the age of twenty-five. Actually, his appearance wasn’t very fierce, but he was always cold and indifferent, which made people feel that he lacked tenderness at first glance. So just a slight smile would be stunning. The current appearance was the one that Qian Ren had worked on. He had only hardened his facial features, making his entire face cold and hard. Although only minor changes had been made, it was impossible to connect it with his original appearance.
Zhuge Qingtian couldn’t believe it and moved closer to observe carefully. He found that although the face had just been made, it looked incredibly natural now. If he hadn’t seen Qian Ren’s actions with his own eyes, he would have believed that the man was born with this appearance. For a moment, he could only sigh, “My wife, this trick is much more convenient than me changing heads.”
Ghosts can have all sorts of strange shapes, depending on how they died. There were very few like Zhuge Qingtian who still retained their corpses. If Qian Ren wanted to blend in, a zombie would be the best option.
Zombies are formed from corpses with excessive Yin energy. They are between demons and ghosts. They feed on human blood. They cannot use magic, but possess extremely powerful bodies. With the progress of their cultivation, they will slowly recover to their appearance when they were alive. The highest level of a flying zombie looks like an ordinary person with a pale face. The only characteristic is that they have no expression and show no joy or anger. In this regard, Qian Ren was confident that even a real flying zombie might not be able to defeat him. As long as he made a few adjustments, he would not reveal any flaws.
Carefully adjusting his skin to a pale color with medicinal powder, Qian Ren formed a water mirror. Looking at the reflection of the cold, hard, and lifeless man, he confirmed that his face was perfect. Then he said faintly to Zhuge Qingtian, “If anyone asks, just say I am a zombie.”
Since the two had met, this was the first time that Qian Ren had seriously instructed him to do something. Zhuge Qingtian suddenly felt that his status had risen by a few levels and immediately became happy. He agreed decisively, “Don’t worry, I will definitely complete this task!”
Perhaps to give him this opportunity, the sky slowly darkened as the two were talking. The originally swaying sea surface became as calm as still water. Even so, this tattered spirit ship seemed to be pulled forward by something, moving forward rapidly.
As soon as Qian Ren saw this situation, he knew that the Ghost Domain had arrived. It was still ten days away from the Zhong Yuan Festival, but ghosts from all over were coming to participate in the Ghost Festival celebrations. They looked up and saw faint lightning flashing across the sky, and in the blink of an eye, they saw a man in purple clothes flashing into the sky. This man’s black hair reached his ankles, but the ends of his hair floated around him like clouds. Although his face was handsome, there were several blood-colored patterns at the corners of his eyes that went straight to the ends of his hair, making him look very evil.
Qian Ren had always been cautious. He had already read the information given by Ling Sui Daoren thoroughly before setting off. As soon as he saw the man, he recognized his identity and whispered, “This is Lüling. He is a spirit formed from the resentment of cultivators who died in the heavenly tribulation. Because he was born in the thunder tribulation, he is half-immortal and half-ghost. Strictly speaking, he should belong to the category of sprites. It is said that Lüling runs as fast as thunder. No cultivator has ever been able to catch up with him. The Taoists’ saying ‘Hurry, hurry, as the law commands’ refers to the hope that they can act as quickly as he does.”
The “strange” in demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters refers to spirits like Lüling that form naturally. They are born with special abilities. Their actions are both righteous and evil, making it difficult to distinguish them. Because they haven’t lived as humans, they are not considered ghosts. Because they have no bodies to rely on, they are not considered demons. So, cultivators just collectively call them sprites.
As they were observing this sprite, Lüling in the air also saw the two people on the ship at a glance. Since ancient times, mourning ghosts were white, and fierce ghosts were red. After the birth of the two Gods of Joy and Lamentation, the entire Ghost Domain was even more clearly divided into red and white. But now, Zhuge Qingtian, this anomaly, appeared at sea. Even someone as knowledgeable as him couldn’t help but stop and ask, “Hey, what kind of ghost are you? How come you are so strange with the mix of red and white?”
Unexpectedly, this evil-looking person would talk to him. Zhuge Qingtian was stunned and just replied truthfully, “I don’t know, I can’t find my head.”
It was common for ghosts to lose their corpses. In fact, as long as there are some fierce ghosts who are cultivating, they would abandon their corpses and look for new bodies. After hearing his answer, Lüling became more suspicious, “What’s the big deal about not having a head? Why are you even concerned about your body? Could you be a spy sent by the living?”
“…”
Qian Ren really didn’t expect that Zhuge Qingtian, this genuine Ghost God, would be suspected of being a living person. He was thinking about what was not normal when he saw this man excitedly say to him, “My wife, he praised me for looking like a living person!”
Silently looking at him, Qian Ren frankly accepted the reality—okay, it’s true that this Ghost God who is happy because of this is not normal anywhere.
Although he was happy, Zhuge Qingtian didn’t forget the task that Qian Ren had given him. He looked expectantly at the sprite in purple in the air. Who knew that the man wouldn’t ask any more questions? He didn’t want to miss the opportunity to show off, so he actively pointed at Qian Ren and said, “Why don’t you ask what kind of ghost he is?”
However, to this, Lüling just gave a firm sentence, “Is there even a need to ask? His dead face without any expression clearly shows that he’s a zombie.”
Never would he have thought that in the Ghost Domain, the first person to be suspected was him, this fierce ghost. Qian Ren, on the contrary, blended into the ghosts without any sense of incongruity. Zhuge Qingtian was also amazed for a moment. He could only admire Qian Ren and say, “My wife, you are really too amazing. You look more like a dead person than I do!”
Was this sentence praising him? But why did he have the urge to throw this person off the ship?
Glancing at him expressionlessly, Qian Ren, who had yet to put on his fangs, didn’t say a word. He just recognized reality again – maybe he didn’t need to disguise himself as a zombie…
The author has something to say: Lüling: How can a rookie support and a tank chase after me when I’ve activated sprint? They’re destined to lose this round.
In reality, Qian Ren, the national server assassin: Heh.
In reality, Zhuge, the king mage: My wife’s new skin is so beautiful!
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