GB Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The Heavenly Master’s Mansion is a sect specializing in capturing ghosts and eliminating demons. Its disciples are extremely knowledgeable about matters concerning ghosts, and Mo Pan was the chief disciple of the mansion, so finding a corpse was naturally not a problem for him. He joined his middle and index fingers together, using the tips to trace a circle around Zhuge Qingtian’s severed head with a copper coin, collecting the corpse’s yin energy before tossing the coin into the air. The moment the coin flew over his head, three talismans from the small pouch at his waist silently flew out, enveloping the coin and spontaneously igniting a pale blue flame.

Qian Ren’s moves were always hidden, aiming to kill without a trace. This was the first time Zhuge Qingtian had seen a cultivator cast a spell. Though he couldn’t understand the intricacies, he still applauded in amazement, “Wow, you’re even more amazing than a magician!”

Just that one sentence caused Mo Pan to suffer another internal injury. As a sect specializing in ghost capture, the Heavenly Master’s Mansion had its unique methods for judging a ghost’s power. The fire that had ignited was a yin fire formed from the resentment of the ghost’s corpse. Yin fire was divided into four colors. White fire indicated a newly dead ghost with generally little resentment, which could be led to reincarnation after fulfilling their wishes. Gray fire indicated wandering ghosts, those who remained in the human world due to obsessions but posed no threat to life, often the first targets for young disciples to practice on. Blood-red fire indicated fierce ghosts, extremely dangerous and complex, each with their unique abilities, requiring even the sect elders to be cautious.

As for blue fire, it signified a ghost god, a being beyond fierce ghosts. Now that the three great ghost gods of the Ghost Domain hadn’t appeared for a long time, the Heavenly Master’s Mansion hadn’t seen blue fire in decades. They never expected that such a rare occurrence would be encountered by his young disciple. No wonder this ghost wasn’t afraid of Bi Qianren. How could a ghost god be so easily scattered?

But this ghost’s appearance didn’t match the characteristics of the three great ghost gods. Could it be that another ghost god had silently been born? If that was the case, he needed to survive and bring the news back to his sect for early action.

Mo Pan, who was just out to capture a wandering ghost, had encountered the Demonic Cult’s protector, who had been in seclusion for many years, and a newly born ghost god. For a moment, he was amazed by his own luck. The legends said that seeing a ghost god meant death, and touching the Demonic Cult’s protector also meant death. If he could return alive this time, he could boast about it to his fellow disciples for ten years.

In Mo Pan’s view, a ghost who had become a ghost god was likely a formidable figure in life. Yet, this person was feigning ignorance, acting like someone who had never seen the world. He was clearly a wolf in sheep’s clothing, deliberately teasing him. But, due to the other party’s overwhelming power, he dared not expose him and could only angrily say, “A scholar can be killed but not humiliated. Judging from the direction of the yin fire, his head is clearly a thousand miles away. If you want to kill me, just say it. Why must you toy with me like this?”

Zhuge Qingtian’s head had just been on his neck, and they both saw it fall into the water. Now, this person was saying that his head had flown a thousand miles away. He naturally didn’t believe it and suspiciously said, “Wife, I think he’s a charlatan.”

However, Qian Ren was very familiar with the Heavenly Master’s Mansion’s ghost-hunting abilities and knew that the other party wouldn’t lie about such a minor issue when facing a life-threatening situation. He glanced at the headless body in front of him and suddenly felt that things were a bit odd, so he merely said to Mo Pan, “There’s a dead man’s head in this river. Go find it.”

To help a fierce ghost transcend, finding their corpse was often a necessary step. Disciples of the Heavenly Master’s Mansion wouldn’t rely solely on yin energy to search.

Mo Pan was always one to cherish his life. Earlier, he had only used the simplest and most accurate method of searching for yin energy. Now, seeing Qian Ren’s expression become colder, he dared not resist. He tied a copper coin with a red thread and threw it into the water to search for the corpse. Sure enough, after a short while, the thread returned with a wet, human head.

Qian Ren had never seriously examined Zhuge Qingtian’s appearance before. Now, casually catching the retrieved head, he carefully felt the skin on the face and then compared it to his hand, realizing that although both had skin that belonged to a young man, there were still some differences.

Zhuge Qingtian was born in Zhu Jiaji and hadn’t had an easy life. After going mad, he was left unattended, so although his face was tender, it had still weathered the elements and was very thin. Qian Ren gathered up the man’s sleeves, only to find that his fingers and arms were very fair, with no signs of labor. He clearly had the body of someone raised in a wealthy family.

The young man’s hands didn’t have calluses, and his forearms were as soft as a baby’s. He was either someone who had been spoiled since childhood and had never done any rough work, or a high-level cultivator who had reached the Nascent Soul stage and reshaped his body. But in the past hundred years, there hadn’t been many genius cultivators who had formed a Nascent Soul at such a young age. They shouldn’t be unknown in the martial world…

After drawing a preliminary conclusion, Qian Ren lowered his head to sniff his palm, smelling only the dampness of mud and river water but not the foul odor of a corpse. To maintain a body in such condition for so many years after death, he was at least a powerful fierce ghost with the potential to become a ghost god.

He had been careless. He had always seen this person as a madman and hadn’t looked into his origins, allowing such an unidentified person to stay by his side for so long.

If an ordinary person were touched by Qian Ren, the Demonic Cult’s protector, for so long, they would probably have fainted in fear. Zhuge Qingtian wasn’t afraid at all. He just glanced at the dumbfounded Mo Pan and advised with some embarrassment, “Wife, it’s not appropriate to touch further up before we get married. Of course, I don’t mind being open and honest with you, but if you insist, at least choose a place where no one else is around…”

He had actually mistaken this person, who was even more unrestrained than a demonic cultivator, for a naive country boy…

Helplessly rubbing his forehead at his own mistake, Qian Ren coldly raised his eyes to the man, “I think you’re playing me.”

“Huh?”

Zhuge Qingtian looked at him blankly, genuinely not expecting that the other party was actually examining the corpse. Although he didn’t understand why Qian Ren, who had kept him at arm’s length, had suddenly become so close, he didn’t resist and let the other party do as he pleased. He just thought that since he was already a corpse, he couldn’t feel anything, so there was nothing to be shy about.

His expression didn’t seem fake. Qian Ren also felt that, with his experience in the martial world, he wouldn’t be deceived by such a young man. But when he carefully examined the cut on his neck, he realized that while the head wound was indeed from Fu Hongye, the neck had clearly been severed by a sharp blade. When the head was reattached, there was still a gap at the back of the neck. He couldn’t help but frown and said, “No wonder your head always gets lost. The wounds don’t match, so how could it stay put?”

Hearing this, Zhuge Qingtian’s expression became even more bewildered. He touched the head he had finally found and said innocently, “Wife, what are you talking about? I’m a little dizzy…”

Earlier, Qian Ren had found it strange that, logically, a fierce ghost should have control over its own body. But Zhuge Qingtian’s head only opened its eyes when it was touching the neck. Once it was taken off, it would quietly close its eyes as if it were dead. Now he finally understood the principle. Seeing his appearance, he couldn’t help but say, “You can’t even tell if your head is your own?”

As soon as this was said, Zhuge Qingtian finally understood, as if his understanding of himself had been overturned. He was instantly shocked, “What? This isn’t my head?”

“You really didn’t know?”

“I didn’t know. When I woke up, I was in a mass grave, and there was only this one head beside me. Once I put it on my neck, I remembered things from the past.”

Faced with Qian Ren’s suspicious gaze, Zhuge Qingtian still couldn’t accept reality. His memories were so clear, so how could it not be his own? But his wife shouldn’t lie to him. If he wasn’t Zhuge Qingtian, then who was he? And how did he end up in a mass grave outside of Zhu Jiaji?

Qian Ren, as the former number one assassin, was extremely confident in his corpse examination skills. He looked at him and decisively said, “You are not Zhuge Qingtian.”

“Of course, I’m not Zhuge Qingtian, I am… Zhuge Qingtian? No, how come I always feel like my name isn’t Zhuge Qingtian?”

These words escaped him instinctively, and Zhuge Qingtian finally realized the problem. From the moment he woke up, he felt that the name Zhuge Qingtian was very unfamiliar. He had just assumed it was the shadow left by his past life, so he had always called himself Zhuge Qingtian. Thinking about it now, had he really gotten the wrong head?

This was troublesome. His wife had finally gotten used to his presence. What if she didn’t like him with a different head? Oh well, if the other head was too ugly, he would just use this one. To him, a head was only for looking good, and changing a head was like changing a hat…

Qian Ren naturally didn’t know about the bizarre inner conflict of this person. Seeing his dumbfounded expression, he finally believed that there were actually confused ghosts who had gotten their identities mixed up. For a moment, he could only sigh to himself. This person was indeed always beyond common knowledge.

Clearly, he couldn’t get an answer from Zhuge Qingtian. He could only look at the Heavenly Master’s Mansion disciple, who was skilled in matters of ghosts, “Can a ghost inherit someone else’s memories?”

Mo Pan had never heard of such a thing. The birth of a fierce ghost relied entirely on resentment. A ghost who could maintain his power without memories was indeed beyond his understanding. He could only helplessly reply, “Don’t look at me. We at the Heavenly Master’s Mansion have never encountered such a bizarre situation.”

Qian Ren didn’t expect a Golden Core stage disciple to understand this situation. After thinking for a while, he asked, “Where is his real head?”

What responded to him was Mo Pan’s sincere gaze, “Believe me, if I had the ability to find someone from thousands of miles away, I would have run away when I saw you.”

Finally confirming the miserable truth that the two people in front of him were useless, Qian Ren had no choice but to give up struggling and sighed, “Let’s go to Jiangdu City.”

In Qian Ren’s mind, regardless of the truth, there was no point in staying outside the city. It was better to enter the city and inquire with the Heavenly Master’s Mansion. But upon hearing that these two fierce figures were going to Jiangdu, Mo Pan remembered his identity as a righteous disciple. He could endure it for himself, but letting them harm others was beyond his bottom line. He quickly stopped them, “Wait, Jiangdu City is full of ordinary people. You can’t enter the city!”

Of course, for this belated and heroic resistance, Qian Ren had only one sentence, “Zhuge, knock him out.”

This was intended as a test, but as soon as Zhuge Qingtian heard it, he blew a puff of yin energy at the young man. Without any effort, he knocked down a Golden Core cultivator. He himself seemed completely unaware of how strange his cultivation was, and he just smiled proudly at Qian Ren, “Wife, you’re finally not calling me ‘hey you’!”

Honestly, he really didn’t understand what this person was happy about…

Silently looking at this fierce ghost who, even after learning his name, still insisted on calling him “wife” to brainwash him, Qian Ren was now only thinking one thing— indeed, Zhuge Qingtian’s weirdness was probably because his brain had been left a thousand miles away.

The author has something to say:

Qian Ren: There’s also an operation of mixing up heads?

Zhuge Qingtian: Don’t worry about those details. As long as the face is good-looking, everything is fine.

Qian Ren: You are indeed a problem from head to toe!