Taoist Priest 011

I was admitted to the hospital. Second Senior Brother simply arranged a bed for me before leaving. To my surprise, the ones who came to take care of me were two ghosts—Sister Hong and Jing Tian.

From them, I learned I had been missing for three whole days.

Master had immediately dispatched my Senior Sister and two Senior Brothers. Armed with coordinates provided by Master, they wreaked havoc across the territories of fellow practitioners. The Qingyun Sect, the Fangshi Dao, the Zhenglei Sect—this was the first time I realized there were so many sects in the world of Daoist cultivation, and the first time I understood just how powerful Master truly was.

These sects were beaten into submission. Whether it was Eldest Senior Sister or Second Senior Brother, each was capable of dismantling ghostly bones barehanded—not to mention they had brought along the idle malevolent spirits from the company.

After the rampage, these sects couldn’t hold out any longer. They scrambled for information and finally managed to retrieve me from the hands of the Chengqian Sect.

But from the look of it, Master wasn’t done settling the score.

Lying in the hospital, I listened to Sister Hong’s daily updates.

"Master Fang is too fierce—he caught the Zhenglei Sect’s Five Thunders with one hand!" Her eyes sparkled like stars. I wondered if Master would mind a human-ghost romance.

"Your Eldest Senior Sister is no pushover either—she drove straight into their sacred hall."

"Yesterday, your Third Senior Brother kidnapped all the Jiangshi from the Wu Sect. Now they’re in complete chaos."

Curious, I asked, "What about Second Senior Brother?"

Sister Hong pointed at the window. Struggling to prop myself up, I looked down and saw a figure standing rigidly below.

"He’s been guarding downstairs this whole time, just in case those people come for you."

I was touched, but confused. What started as a brawl among juniors had somehow escalated into an all-out war between sects.

But the conflict finally came to an end—thanks to the intervention of the Xuanqing Bureau.

Master was a member of the Xuanqing Bureau, and since things had gotten out of hand, they could no longer turn a blind eye. Acting as mediators, they brought both sides to the negotiation table. Master demanded compensation—but in a strange twist, all he wanted was for them to capture malevolent spirits.

I was present during the negotiations. Master had Senior Sister give me a convincingly frail makeup look to paint us as the wronged party. Across from us sat over a dozen people, their faces growing darker by the minute. I even spotted the old man who had imprisoned me—his head had been shaved bald at some point.

"So, gentlemen, have you reached a decision?" A burly man at the head of the table stood up. He was the Xuanqing Bureau’s mediator.

"If you still don’t understand reason, I happen to know a thing or two about fists."

Great. Another thug.

The sects reluctantly signed the agreement, while Master sighed dramatically as he accepted their "compensation."

Something felt off, but since none of my Senior Brothers or Sisters spoke up, I kept my doubts to myself.

Back at the shop, I resumed handling miscellaneous tasks. My Senior Brothers and Sisters were all busy, rarely seeing me. Master was elusive, leaving the shop entirely in my hands. As our reputation grew, so did my workload. I no longer had time for Ma Lu, and one day, after a heated argument, she stormed off into a sports car. It hurt, but with Sister Hong’s guidance, I moved on.

I wanted Second Senior Brother to help me figure out which of the "Five Misfortunes and Three Deficiencies" I had triggered, but he never returned.

Running the shop alone, I occasionally took on requests to deal with supernatural incidents. After a few attempts, I could barely consider myself qualified.

One day, a lavishly dressed man entered the shop and immediately prostrated himself, begging me to save him. But the thick black aura around him told me he was already doomed. Still, I had to ask.

The man had borrowed luck from a ghost, promising to split everything he gained in half. After striking it rich, he dutifully bought duplicates of everything for the ghost. But then the ghost declared that since everything was to be shared, that included his wife, children—and half his lifespan.

Only then did he realize his mistake. Remembering that he had once met Master here, he came seeking help to exorcise the ghost.

In the past, I would’ve rushed to assist. But now, I shook my head. "Ghosts are cunning. Once you make a deal, nothing can change the outcome. Even if I destroy it, you’ll still lose half your lifespan—and your family."

The man broke down sobbing.

I packed my tools and followed him home. There, lounging on a rocking chair, was the ghost. I was stunned when I saw it.

"Wu Tian?"

The ghost looked up, pondered for a moment, then burst into laughter. "You! What a coincidence!"

"What happened to you?" I asked, baffled.

Wu Tian coughed. "Well, I died. Hahaha." After recovering, he had behaved for only a few days before his gambling itch returned. He fell into a loan shark’s trap, racked up insurmountable debt, and was ultimately driven to suicide.

Resentful, he became a wandering spirit, trying to mimic Sister Hong’s gambling tricks but lacking the skill. Then, by chance, he overheard this man praying at a temple—and a new idea struck him.

"I helped him win money. I helped him avoid disasters. Splitting half was his idea—is that too much?" Wu Tian gloated.

Sighing, I rolled up my sleeves. As Wu Tian shrieked and flailed, I finally understood why Master enjoyed physically subduing ghosts—it was oddly satisfying.

Dragging Wu Tian back to the shop, I froze before reaching the door. The sky above the shop was blotted out by an overwhelming surge of yin energy. My heart pounded. Had our base been raided?

I sprinted toward the shop. From a distance, I saw the rolling shutter wide open. At the entrance, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Inside the cramped shop stood four people—Master, Senior Sister, and my Senior Brothers. The rest of the space, even the ceiling, was packed with ghosts of all kinds. Some familiar, some new.

"Master..." I couldn’t fathom what he was planning.

Master stubbed out his cigarette on the floor and glanced at me. After a long pause, he said, "Back? Come with me. Time to broaden your horizons."

Bewildered, I climbed into Senior Sister’s van. The malevolent spirits crammed into the back row. They seemed terrified of Master—even the most unruly ones kept their heads down in his presence.

The drive felt endless. The atmosphere was icy, whether from the ghosts or Master’s unreadable expression.

I could tell he was deep in thought. Master was an enigma. He saw through everything, never followed rules, yet none of us—Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, or I—could ever guess what he was thinking. To me, he was like one of those superheroes hiding in plain sight.