Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Once we’d made up our minds, we decided to play dead right here and wait until they left. Unfortunately, things weren’t that simple.

The Festive Ghost quickly convinced everyone to follow them to the wedding banquet. But just before setting out, he suddenly gestured for the wild ghosts beating gongs and playing suona horns to take the three of us along.

“Their other two souls might still be scattered outside and haven’t returned yet.”

“The Heavenly Soul is a great tonic. If we offer it to the Ghost King when the time comes, he’ll definitely reward us with something good.”

The other ghosts disagreed.

“Boss, the other two souls are guaranteed to come back within the time it takes an incense stick to burn after death. Unless something delays them, and the odds of that are one in a million. We won’t run into that.”

“Exactly! A human corpse is heavy. We’re just soul bodies. Getting them over there will be a huge pain!”

The Festive Ghost glared.

“What’s with all the whining? This sedan chair is made of gloomy wood. It can pass between yin and yang. Take off the backboard. It’ll be perfect for carrying these living people.”

“Get moving!”

A flicker of murderous aura crossed the Festive Ghost’s face, and those ghosts immediately caved. One went to the front of the sedan chair to remove the backboard, while the others came over, preparing to move our “corpses.”

I was so angry I gritted my teeth.

“Why is this ghost so greedy?”

“He’s got a serious problem. The other two souls have been wandering outside for this long? Not even one person in a hundred thousand would have that happen. Dragging us along for such a tiny chance-he’s completely blinded by greed.”

As I cursed, I fell silent for a moment.

“Hiss… This money-grubbing behavior feels kind of familiar. It reminds me of someone.”

Jiang Haoyan chuckled under his breath. “Qiao Moyu, you’re actually pretty self-”

I slapped Jiang Haoyan’s thigh.

“Lu Lingzhu! This ghost is just as annoying as Lu Lingzhu!”

“What were you saying just now? Self what?”

Jiang Haoyan said, “No one knows a child like her father. You really understand Lu Lingzhu.”

As soon as he finished speaking, several ghosts walked up to us. I hurriedly shut my mouth and kept my whole body stiff, letting them lift me onto the backboard.

The board was about two meters long and around one meter wide. It would be difficult for three people to lie on it lengthwise, but if we lay crosswise, Jiang Haoyan and Ji Kang were both tall, so that wouldn’t work either.

After discussing it for a while, the ghosts tossed me and Jiang Haoyan onto it, then threw Ji Kang on top of the two of us.

I was the dignified Earth Master successor. How could I submit to being pinned under someone else? Just as those ghosts were about to lift the backboard, I flipped outward and rolled onto the ground.

“Strange. How did she fall off?”

“You must not have placed her properly. Put her on top.”

The ghosts threw me back on top. With two warm human cushions beneath me and a starry night sky overhead, I was comfortable now. Ji Kang, however, was not happy.

“Qiao Moyu, your hair is poking up my nostril.”

Ji Kang lowered his voice and spoke right by my ear, trying to get me to move aside. But there was only that much space in total. Where was I supposed to move?

I ignored him. A little while later, Ji Kang copied my move and flipped left, rolling off the board too.

The ghosts stopped again and threw him on top of me and Jiang Haoyan. I wasn’t willing to accept that, so after they carried us a little farther, I rolled off again.

The two of us kept fighting like that, rolling back and forth, until Ji Kang rolled onto the ground once more. Then the ghosts suddenly stopped moving.

Our group had originally been near the very front of the procession. Not only did the ghosts carrying us stop, the entire procession suddenly came to a halt as well. The Festive Ghost passed through the crowd and came to the front, then crouched down and stared fixedly at Ji Kang’s face.

I quietly opened my eyes. The moment I saw what had happened, my heart jolted.

Ji Kang’s jacket zipper had come more than halfway open, and the Yang-Suppressing Talisman that had originally been stuck inside was now lying quietly on the ground.

The Festive Ghost saw the Yang-Suppressing Talisman too. He let out a cold laugh, suddenly reached out, and pulled out a golden piece of candy. Then he grabbed Ji Kang’s face with both hands and was about to stuff it into his mouth.

This was wedding candy made from manjushaka and red spider lilies. Not only could it borrow thirty years of a person’s yang lifespan, it would also trap them in hallucinations for a very long time. If Ji Kang ate it, he would be finished.

I immediately sprang up from the board with a kip-up, then reached out as fast as lightning and clamped my hand tightly over Ji Kang’s mouth.