“He thought I was bad luck, wrapped my bones up carelessly, and threw me into a well. He even said that even in death he wouldn’t let me reunite with my husband—he buried my husband’s remains in the latrine, so he could never rise again!”
Then came the next vengeful spirit’s confession.
There were maidservants, concubines, servant girls, and even a traveling songstress who had passed through. Their deaths were all different, but they all harbored an undying hatred for that Prefect.
And that Prefect’s perversion had caused this very disaster. He had sought to possess every one of these women, going so far as to bury their bones within the compound itself. Over time, the place became a ground of extreme yin, and the vengeful spirits manifested one by one.
But when the Prefect sensed the danger, he fled in the night.
Outside the gate, Wang Qianyue listened silently, the veins on the back of his hand bulging as he gripped his peach-wood sword.
“That bastard! Not only did he kill all these people, he wouldn’t even pay me!”
Little Mouse looked at him and shook his head. This one’s lost his mind too, still thinking about money.
“I’ve got an idea... What if we lure him back here? Would that give you your chance for revenge?” Wang Qianyue suddenly asked.
Inside the house, there was a long silence. Finally, a ghost answered: “Yes.”
“Then, if it meant sacrificing others, would you be willing?”
This time, the silence stretched even longer.
“Taoist, what do you plan to do?”
“Simple. I’ll capture you all, perform an exorcism and liberation right in front of him, let him watch with his own eyes—and make sure one or two of you conveniently slip away. How about that?”
“Taoist, if you’re lying to us, we’ll truly be finished.”
Little Mouse raised an eyebrow, but Wang Qianyue suddenly lifted his hand to cut off whatever he was about to say. Wang Qianyue pulled the small peach-wood sword from his hair bun, then spread his arms wide: “My life is right here. All you have to do is open the door and take it. If you don’t trust me, kill me now.”
He paused.
“But my apprentice here knows nothing. Don’t hurt him.”
Little Mouse nodded silently. If it weren’t for the fact that Wang Qianyue’s legs were trembling, he might have actually admired this fraud.
In truth, Wang Qianyue was clever. He knew that if they failed to capture the ghosts, by dawn, whatever awaited them probably wouldn’t be pleasant.
Did he really expect that pervert to let them go?
With the crow of a rooster, the officials who had been curious all night eagerly pushed open the gate.
But the moment it opened, they were startled.
Wang Qianyue stood at the door with dark circles under his eyes. Seeing them, he instinctively puffed out his chest.
“Notify your master. The job is done.”
The job was done. The ghosts were all captured—thirteen in total, which matched the exact number of women the Prefect had killed.
The Prefect believed it.
Especially when he heard that when night fell again, the Taoist would perform rites in the old compound to destroy the female spirits. The Prefect felt a stir of excitement.
He had to be there.
For no other reason than to personally confirm that all those ghosts would be slain by the Taoist.
After it was over, he would simply order the Taoist and the little acolyte killed.
So when the Taoist demanded his payment, the Prefect agreed readily enough. After all, he’d get the money back by nightfall.
Not to mention the hundred taels from the rain-summoning job.
When night fell again, a few officials and the Prefect’s trusted men first entered the compound cautiously to scout it out. Finding nothing unusual—just the ritual altar the Taoist had set up—they relaxed.
More than a dozen officials and over a dozen servants escorted the Prefect inside.
He couldn’t wait to see those female ghosts.
He wanted to tell them that even as ghosts, they still couldn’t beat him.
The way to make ghosts visible was simple: just apply ox gall. The Prefect eagerly took the ox gall handed to him by the Taoist and smeared it on his eyelids.
When he opened his eyes again, he flinched. More than a dozen pairs of hate-filled eyes stared straight at him.
But he laughed out loud: “Hahaha! You think you can fight me? Pah! Filthy commoners! All of you are filthy commoners!”
He turned to Wang Qianyue: “Master Taoist, let’s begin.”
Wang Qianyue nodded, made a show of pulling out his peach-wood sword, waved it around a few times without any real form, then put it down.
Everyone stared at him, confused.
Wang Qianyue scratched his head: “Truth be told, I don’t know how to kill ghosts. Can’t even catch them, honestly...”
The Prefect’s pupils suddenly constricted.
Behind him, the vermilion gate slammed shut.
“You bastard! You fake Taoist, you dare deceive me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll have your entire family executed?”
Wang Qianyue pointed at the Prefect’s round face: “You’re the bastard! Why didn’t you pay me in advance?”
“Guards! Kill them!”
But thick fog began to rise in the courtyard, and all those lackeys panicked.
Suddenly, someone went mad, screaming nonsense as he drew his blade and hacked at his own colleague. Another clawed frantically at his hair, tearing off chunks of scalp along with it.
Wang Qianyue backed up several steps, one hand guarding the money pouch at his side, the other covering Little Mouse’s eyes.
“Truly horrifying.”
But he also knew that none of the twenty-odd people in that courtyard were innocent.
The Prefect’s screams lasted nearly an hour. Those ghosts tore his body apart and devoured him.
The killings in Jincheng startled the imperial court. The Prefect and his officials had all been murdered, their deaths gruesome. The capital sent investigators, and the final conclusion was that demons were responsible. A Protector under the Imperial Preceptor’s command came forth and liberated the evil spirits.
But word had it that on that day, a Taoist with his young acolyte had also been there. Yet after asking around, no one recognized this Taoist.
Every Taoist these days was registered by name, but no matter how they searched the records, they couldn’t find this miracle rain-summoner anywhere.
The Protector frowned all the way back to the capital.
Compared to the death of one Prefect, this was far more serious. Since the chaos of that uprising, the court had kept a firm grip on all practitioners. If someone managed to cultivate beyond the court’s control, it would eventually cause disaster.
They decided to ask the Imperial Preceptor to divine the Taoist’s whereabouts.
But in the end, even the Imperial Preceptor could not calculate anything about this man’s origins. All they had was an abstract sketch, pieced together from the descriptions of Jincheng’s residents—and it looked nothing like a real person.
The two men they were searching for, at that very moment, were out enjoying themselves.
Unfortunately, their good fortune didn’t last long. First, Wang Qianyue drank too much and lost the money. Then, he got caught by officials while setting up a fortune-telling stall and was forced to pay taxes. Wang Qianyue was flat broke again overnight.
“You really have no luck with money,” Little Mouse said helplessly.
Wang Qianyue was full of bitterness.
“Say, does that book have anything about the Five Ghosts Wealth-Invoking Method?”
Little Mouse shook his head emphatically.
Wang Qianyue let out a long sigh.
“Heaven is against me. I finally figured out how to use that book, and now these master and disciple are going to starve to death here?”
“Master Taoist, could you please help us catch a demon?” An old man, stooped and frail, walked up to them.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
