GB Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Mo Pan was punished by his master with seven days of confinement for provoking a Demonic Cult protector. However, he was born with a restless nature, and today, like usual, he couldn’t help but sneak out after meditating for less than three hours in his room.

According to his plan, he would secretly wander around outside for a while and then go back to continue his confinement. This way, he could both relieve boredom and complete his punishment. As long as his master didn’t find out, everything would be fine.

However, reality is often cruel. Not only was he immediately entangled by someone the moment he stepped out, but when he looked up, he saw two ominous stars walking towards him. Before he could even open his mouth, Bi Qianren raised his eyebrows in disgust, “Why do I always run into you everywhere?”

That’s what he wanted to say! Jiangdu City is so big, why does he always encounter the two most dangerous people every time he sneaks out! He was wrong, he should have listened to his master and meditated obediently in his room!

While Mo Pan wore a face of grief and indignation, Zhuge Qingtian curiously surveyed the scene before them.

Mo Pan naturally didn’t dare dress too flamboyantly when sneaking out of his sect. He only wore ordinary blue clothes and casually tied up his hair with a hair rope, looking like a young man out for a stroll. There was not a hint of the characteristics of a Heavenly Master Mansion successor. The one currently grabbing and not letting go of him was a slightly older, thin young man. Although his clothes were clean and tidy, and he wore some noble decorations, his brows were full of sorrow. Just one glance made it apparent that this man was extremely unfortunate.

After looking at the young man, who looked even more like a ghost than himself, Zhuge Qingtian finally couldn’t contain his curiosity. He asked, “Who is this? Did you start something and then abandon him?”

The implication in his words, which basically meant “tell me about your troubles so everyone can have fun,” was too obvious. Mo Pan despised the two of them for watching a spectacle, but he firmly upheld his dignity as a righteous disciple, “Don’t think everyone is like those demonic cultivators who don’t discriminate between men and women! I am determined to cultivate myself until I am thirty before finding a cultivation partner!”

Unlike demonic cultivators who prided themselves on how many people pursued them, the righteous path always valued purity and self-cultivation. In Mo Pan’s opinion, his ability to resist the temptations of his junior sisters and cultivate for thirty years was a testament to his astonishing willpower. However, Qianren only responded with a mocking cold laugh. Heh, as a demonic cultivator, he had been cultivating longer than the righteous path, he was truly sorry!

To demonic cultivators, having an affair with someone of the same gender was not a big deal. In fact, as long as they had a connection, they dared to practice dual cultivation with any kind of demon or monster. But the righteous path wasn’t as unrestrained. Even when finding a cultivation partner, they had to ask the other party’s sect and start by exchanging letters first. Going out together without informing their elders was absolutely forbidden. Although Mo Pan was a bit mischievous, he was, after all, a disciple taught by the Heavenly Master Mansion. He had no ambiguous relationship with this young man. In fact, this person was a commoner in the city who had commissioned him to subdue a “poor ghost”.

This man’s name was Chou Fugui. The Chou family was originally one of the richest families in Jiangdu City. The old master, Chou Taiping, was initially a peddler in the countryside. In an era when the imperial court hadn’t yet unified the construction of seagoing vessels, he was the first to organize Jiangdu fishermen to explore a sea route, selling Jiangdu’s sea salt to various places and becoming the richest man in Jiangdu as a result.

However, good times didn’t last long. After the death of Old Master Chou, his son was born timid and weak. Maintaining the family business was already difficult, and he completely dared not expand the business. He didn’t do anything that involved risk, only focusing on admiring calligraphy and paintings at home, and indulging in poetry. Doing business required vision and courage. Therefore, when the family business was passed on to his grandson, Chou Fugui, it had already declined considerably.

If it were only this, with the real estate left by Old Master Chou, the Chou family wouldn’t be as wealthy as before, but maintaining basic sustenance would not be a problem. Who knew that ten years ago, the imperial court finally had time to develop sea trade routes and even built an imperial merchant fleet for this purpose. They stipulated that all private fleets were forbidden to sell private salt, completely cutting off the Chou family’s livelihood.

Chou Fugui had never learned any skills since childhood. After selling his ancestral fleet and sea charts to the imperial merchants, he only relied on his family savings to live. Although his family had fallen from grace, he didn’t work. After selling all the land, he burned incense and worshipped gods every day, only praying that his family’s fortune would return, allowing him to suddenly become prosperous like his grandfather.

The problem arose at this time. One day, when he woke up from a dream, he suddenly found that the money chest that stored all of his family’s wealth had disappeared without a trace. The whole family searched to no avail. Helpless, Chou Fugui had to sell the antiques left behind by his family in an attempt to temporarily solve his predicament.

But on that very night, he suddenly dreamed of a skinny old ghost sitting in the corner, smiling sinisterly at him. He woke up in terror, only to discover that the money he had just gathered had once again disappeared. He then recalled that his family had once been the richest in Jiangdu, and falling to this state must be because an evil ghost was causing misfortune and ruining his luck. As long as the ghost left, he could restore his past glory.

Chou Fugui had always believed in ghosts and gods. In the past, no matter how down on his luck he was, he would scrimp and save to buy peace talismans sold by various sects. Therefore, he sought help from the Heavenly Master Mansion, claiming that a “poor ghost” was causing trouble in his home and begging the cultivators to help him out of this predicament. Coincidentally, Mo Pan wanted to gain experience in subduing ghosts at that time. Hearing his complaints, he accepted the commission. This led to the scene where Qianren and the others met in the suburbs.

With a face full of sorrow, Chou Fugui explained his situation and once again grabbed Mo Pan, begging, “Alas, my Chou family was once so wealthy, if not for the poor god’s influence on my luck, how could I have fallen to this state? Little Heavenly Master, I donated a hundred taels of incense money to your mansion, you must save me!”

Couldn’t you use those hundred taels to start a small business? The Heavenly Master Mansion isn’t a god of wealth, no matter how much incense money you add, it can’t give you a money tree!

Mentally complaining like this, Mo Pan didn’t know what to do with Chou Fugui. Although he hadn’t successfully subdued the poor ghost, he had scared it so that it dared not appear and cause trouble. However, no matter what he said, the man just wouldn’t believe it, claiming that his family was still down on their luck because the poor ghost hadn’t left. He was just guarding the entrance of the Heavenly Master Mansion waiting for Mo Pan.

Mo Pan was also very troubled by his entanglement. He had originally sneaked out, so how could he dare to openly set up an altar and perform rituals? However, he had accepted the task himself, so it was useless to regret it now. He could only helplessly persuade, “I already said that I’ll come to your house to subdue the ghost after my confinement ends. Can’t you wait patiently for a few days?”

It’s normal for mortals to blame ghosts and gods when bad things happen. However, as a former innocent and malevolent ghost who was once regarded as a god of misfortune by Zhu Jiaji, Zhuge Qingtian always felt that even a powerful little ghost couldn’t control the imperial court. Stealing money was possible, but blaming a poor ghost for the decline of a family business was excessive. They were ghosts, not bricks that you can move anywhere for blame. Thinking of this, he was dissatisfied and said, “Forgive me for being blunt, but even three-year-olds in the countryside know that those who don’t work don’t eat.”

As a demonic cultivator who had grown up in fierce battles, Qianren was naturally not fond of those who sat back and did nothing but prayed to gods and buddhas. He also added, “It’s probably because he’s so useless that he’s so loved by poor ghosts.”

The two of them, as evil characters, could naturally mock without restraint. However, as a righteous cultivator, Mo Pan could not refrain from helping just because the other party was a well-known waste in the city. He said righteously, “Enough, stop your chorus of harming innocent civilians! Even if he does look very shabby, useless, and annoying, you can’t say the truth to his face!”

No, you are the one who said it most harshly, your client is about to be stabbed to the point of tears…

Recognizing clearly the extent to which the successor of the Heavenly Master Mansion was annoyed, Qianren glanced at the young man who had been instantly devastated and suspiciously said, “A poor ghost is not a powerful ghost, can’t you handle it as a cultivator of the Heavenly Master Mansion?”

What he said was true. The poor ghost wasn’t a fierce, malevolent ghost. Most of them were formed from people who were poor and helpless in their lives. Because they didn’t have any money themselves, they would stay in the homes of wealthy people after death. People targeted by poor ghosts would lose all their wealth. At the mildest, they would lose their possessions, and at the worst, their business would fail, and they would lose everything. These little ghosts were terrifying to mortals, but they themselves didn’t have much combat power. Subduing them with the power of a Golden Core cultivator was more than enough.

Logically, it should be so, but the ghost that Mo Pan encountered was incredibly fast. With his cultivation, he was almost unable to keep up with it. Now he could only sullenly say, “I was about to catch that poor ghost, if not for your interference, how would he have escaped?”

Of course, his complaint only earned him a cold glare from the Great Protector, “If I remember correctly, wasn’t it me who smashed him to the ground?”

At the same time, Zhuge Qingtian also echoed with a look of contempt, “You can’t even catch a small ghost, you’re even more useless than Fu Hongye.”

In Zhuge Qingtian’s view, cultivators only fell into two categories. One was powerful people who could beat him, like Qianren; the other was useless trash that even he couldn’t beat, like Fu Hongye. It was true that he was a newly born ghost god, and when serious, only top experts could fight him, but he had no awareness of this. He still thought of himself as a country scholar without any power to bind a chicken. So, in just a few days, the innocent young genius Fu Hongye had tragically gone from being an admired figure to a unit of measure for a cultivator’s fighting power.

Of course, at this moment, as another young genius who was even worse than Fu Hongye, Mo Pan’s heart was also collapsing. He had only one thought now – so, who exactly is this Fu Hongye? Just how useless is he!

Mo Pan was, after all, a successor of the Heavenly Master Mansion. He naturally refused to lose face in front of demonic cultivators. After being looked down upon by these two, he immediately felt the ambition to defend the dignity of the righteous path. He loudly proclaimed to Chou Fugui, “Young Master Chou, don’t worry, I will definitely catch the poor ghost today!”

In Chou Fugui’s eyes, the Heavenly Master Mansion were all immortals who lived forever. Hearing this, he was instantly overjoyed, only saying, “Young Sect Master, my whole family’s wealth depends on you! If this is successful, I will definitely add another hundred taels of incense money!”

Seeing that the two were about to head towards the Chou estate, Zhuge Qingtian also became interested. He looked at Qianren expectantly, “Wife, I have never seen a Taoist catch a ghost before. Shall we go take a look too?”

You, a ghost god, are going to watch someone else catch a ghost?

Looking at the person speechlessly, Qianren wasn’t very interested in these minor tasks that young people practice with. But then he thought that if he went back, he would be harassed by Zhuge Qingtian until dark. After comparing the troublesome degree of the two, he finally said coldly, “As you wish.”

Over this time, Zhuge Qingtian had also realized that to Qianren, not refusing was equivalent to tacit consent. So, he pulled him forward, excitedly saying as he walked, “I wonder if he will light up this time. That fire from last time was quite interesting but too small. Fireworks are better.”

“…”

Qianren didn’t know what kind of mood the Heavenly Master Mansion would be in if they heard that their ghost-catching secret techniques had only two advantages in this ghost’s eyes: lighting up and setting off fireworks. He was now certain of one fact: Ling Sui Daoren insisted on handing Zhuge Qingtian over to him, probably because he had already been struck by this person’s strange thinking once before.

The author has something to say:

Fu Hongye: Zhuge, you’ve changed. You said I was your ideal QAQ

Zhuge Qingtian: But your wife likes me more, wouldn’t I be stupid if I became you?

Qianren (thinking): Where does he get his strange confidence?

Author (whispering): Isn’t it you who gave it to him… Stop, it’s a violation to press the author against the keyboard because you are being tsundere!

Forgot to say, Chou, as a surname, is read as Qiu 233

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