Chapter 23: Evil Ways

Late at night!

In the small courtyard, there was a torchlight that illuminated a small passage.

At that moment, there was a forty year-old middle-aged Taoist priest in the courtyard. He seemed extremely proud and happy about himself. He didn’t need to pretend anymore.

The middle-aged Taoist priest’s name was Xugui. He didn’t have a dignified appearance, but he didn’t have an evil appearance either. Despite such an appearance, he had actually murdered, robbed, and bullied good people in the past.

The ghost he was raising at the moment was a woman he had murdered in a small clan. He had her submit to him, and she was now used as an assistant.

This wasn’t his first time, as he had tried it a few times before. However, he had only succeeded once. He had heard about the issues in the Su Clan and sent his female ghost to check it out.

After he saw Nian Nuer, Xugui became overjoyed. She still had her mental abilities and also had a strong personality. In his eyes, she would be the perfect ghost helper and could later become a ghost king.

Even if a ghost king wasn’t enough for him to rule over the world, he would at least be able to obtain anything he wanted: money, beautiful women, and anything else. He would no longer need to abide by the common rules of the world.

Xugui was initially a scholar with lofty ideals, but he had never put in the effort. He always wanted to seize every chance to gain by trickery. But because he repeatedly failed, he realized his mistakes and repented. However, that didn’t stop him. He studyied hard and spent the wealth of his family to buy some Taoist techniques.

The Taoist technique allowed the user to control ghosts. Oddly enough, Xugui wasn’t a good student, but he was a talented priest. In a few years, he mastered the technique and easily understood how to control ghosts.

However, even though he understood Taoism really well, he didn’t change and continued hurting people. His evil ways gave him riches, but it also made him much more ambitious, which made him want to capture more ghosts.

The female ghost he had was extremely strong, but unfortunately, his ghost capturing technique had injured her, causing her to lose most of her mental abilities, limiting her full potential. Luckily, he had found Nian Nuer.

Back then, he decided he had to capture Nian Nuer no matter what. He didn’t care about anything else when he wanted something. Even if everybody in the Su Clan tried to stop him at the same time, he didn’t care.

However, the Su Clan had powerful guards, and destroying them would not be easy. Therefore, after his female ghost had failed a few times, he thought of plotting against them.

The plan he created was perfect. It only required time, and if it worked, everything Xugui did would have been worth it.

At the beginning, he didn’t show up himself since he didn’t want the Su Clan to doubt him. He initially wanted to wait until the Su Clan felt helpless before he would come as a savior. Unfortunately, he never thought that Mu Yi would show up. Besides, Mu Yi didn’t seem to be a Taoist priest who liked to swindle and bluff.

Indeed, Mu Yi had removed most of the evil Qi from the old woman’s body.

When Xugui realized that, he had been startled but also felt very happy. Luckily, Mu Yi didn’t solve the whole problem. Otherwise, his plans would have been ruined.

Zheng Zicong had told him about Mu Yi, so he knew that Mu Yi wasn’t old and lived in Funiu Mountain.

When Xugui heard that, an idea occurred to him. He had been traveling the world for a long time and had obtained one technique, and it was the only technique he relied on. Naturally, he wanted more and better techniques, and Mu Yi seemed to be the perfect target.

Mu Yi was young, yet he was already so strong. It definitely meant that he had great techniques. Therefore, he would find Mu Yi and steal his techniques after capturing Nian Nuer.

Xugui smiled in an evil way while thinking about it. If he hadn’t been in the Su Clan in the middle of the night, he would have burst into laughter.

He was in a great mood. He had never felt like this, not even the first time he had been to a brothel, the first time he killed someone, or the first time he had captured a ghost.

Behind Xugui, a silhouette whose face could barely be seen appeared. Even though she couldn’t be compared to Su Yingying, she was still beautiful. She was wearing white clothes, but her face was completely motionless.

After a long time, Xugui tried to calm down and walked to the bamboo forest. Because of his ghost controlling technique, his perception of the ghostly world was very acute. He could sense that yin Qi was thick in the bamboo forest.

He could also see that there was something special about the bamboo forest, and while the bamboo trees looked perfectly green, they looked cold and gloomy.

“Come out. How long do you think you can hide?” Xugui said loudly while looking at the tree.

However, nothing happened when he said that. There was only the rustling sound of leaves and the crackling sound of the bamboo trunks in the wind.

“Hmph! You think you can hide?” Xugui said. He groaned in a cold tone and said without turning around, “Go inside and bring her out.”

After that, the female ghost moved to the bamboo trees and entered the forest.

After a short time, evil Qi burst out in waves. Xugui remained calm though. Even though he thought that Nian Nuer was strong, he didn’t take risks either. He just had to be vigilant because he didn’t want to die.

Besides, even though the female ghost couldn’t compete with Nian Nuer, making Nian Nuer come out wouldn’t be a problem.

As expected, after a few minutes, the trees oscillated, and two silhouettes appeared. It was Nian Nuer and her mother.

Xugui’s eyes flashed unconsciously, and he started rubbing his hands happily.