Chapter 49: Kiss Again
As the sun set behind the willow tips and the crimson clouds filled the sky, about to draw the curtain of night, the bell and chime were struck lightly. The long, crisp sound swayed and echoed for a thousand meters.
On the altar, Chen Liu, dressed in purplish-red vestments, stepped on the Eight Trigrams diagram, walking the Pace of the Dipper, turning and advancing according to the arrangement of the stars. The patterns densely embroidered with gold thread on his vestments reflected specks of light, looking exquisite and full of ancient charm.
In the open space behind him, several rows of straw mats were spread on the ground for pilgrims to choose whether to kneel and worship.
The sound of chanting Daoist scriptures complemented Chen Liu’s graceful steps, possessing a solemn and majestic momentum of its own.
After a round of chanting, Chen Liu ascended the platform, holding incense to bow. The hem of his wide vestments swayed continuously behind him, as if the wind was blowing and pulling at it.
Chen Liu remained unmoved, his gaze torch-like, his hand seals changing rapidly.
First, invite the Three Pure Ones to observe, to align the Yin and rectify the pure.
Second, invite the Empress of the Earth to bring peace, to summon the ghosts and command the spirits.
Third, invite the Left and Right Attendants, let there be no startling or alarm.
Today I hold the command, pardon and open the Underworld, deliver the envoys and the multitude, hasten, hasten to reincarnation!
White smoke curled up to the nine heavens. From behind him, dozens of phantom figures manifested, slowly dissipating along with the incense smoke.
Jiang Si watched from a distance. Those siblings, caught up in eating the incense, were taken away before they could even react.
With them gone, Jiang Si finally breathed a sigh of relief. This matter was completely resolved.
“There’s vegetarian food at Sanyuan Palace later. Do you want to eat?” Hai Di observed his expression closely. Seeing him exhale deeply, he couldn’t help smiling.
“Eat!” Jiang Si rubbed his face. “I’ve been running around these past few days and haven’t eaten a serious meal.”
“Is the food here good?” he asked.
“It’s decent. Baiyun Temple belongs to the Zhengyi Sect; they can eat meat and drink alcohol. You should like it.”
“That’s not bad.” Jiang Si nodded and took Hai Di’s hand, heading toward Sanyuan Palace.
The downside of a temple built on a mountain was the climbing everywhere. Jiang Si barely finished climbing the last step before he couldn’t hold back. He supported himself against a rock and found a spot to sit and rest.
Hai Di walked a few steps, realized someone was missing behind him, and doubled back. Seeing him waving his hand to fan himself, he crouched down helplessly and handed him water.
“Tired already?”
Jiang Si nodded first, then shook his head. After gulping down some water, he said, “Everything else is fine, but my legs hurt. I really don’t know how these Daoists can come to work here every day. Just once and I’m almost dead.”
“You lack exercise.” Hai Di tidied his hair. “They do morning exercises every day, like Tai Chi, which they practice daily. They’ve long been used to going up and down the mountain.”
Jiang Si answered righteously, “I’m too lazy to move.”
“…”
Hai Di: “Wait until we go down, I’ll carry you?”
Jiang Si fell silent. “Wait, shouldn’t you be urging me to exercise? You’re spoiling me like this; I feel embarrassed.”
“Then starting tomorrow, I’ll take you to work out?”
“I was just saying it, why did you take it seriously?” Jiang Si refused directly. “No, I don’t want to move.”
If it were anyone else acting like this, Hai Di would have turned and left at the very first sentence, too lazy to ask another word. But with Jiang Si like this, he found it cute no matter how he looked at it.
His heart softened into a ball of cotton candy—soft to the touch, sweet to the taste. Looking at him from any angle made him feel joyous and happy.
He asked patiently, “Then what do you mean?”
Jiang Si looked around. At the moment, no one was nearby, and the night provided cover. So, holding the water bottle in one hand and supporting himself on Hai Di’s shoulder with the other, he quickly kissed him and then pretended nothing happened.
“I just needed to recharge, I’m good now.”
Hai Di only felt him suddenly lean close and then leave, his skin vaguely retaining a soft touch.
Stunned for a few seconds, seeing his eyes still shining in the night, Hai Di suppressed the inexplicable dark fire. His voice was husky as he coaxed, “No one can see right now. Kiss again.”
“Be a good boy.”
Jiang Si acted reserved. “This is a Daoist temple. Isn’t that inappropriate?”
“It’s fine, we haven’t gone inside yet. Kiss again, and I’ll carry you over.”
Jiang Si raised his eyes slightly, pursed his lips, and kicked him lightly. “But someone is watching. Get up quickly.”
Hai Di stood up in astonishment. Jiang Si stood up with him. The person standing not far away walked two steps forward, revealing his face—it was Chen Liu from the ritual just now.
Meeting at this time, all three felt a degree of awkwardness.
Chen Liu came up from the other side. Seeing two people sitting and squatting face-to-face talking from a distance, he thought a pilgrim was injured and came over to check the situation. As a result, he heard Hai Di’s words.
Chen Liu, who was wholeheartedly seeking the Dao with pure senses, received a massive impact on his inner self.
For a moment, he didn’t know whether to be surprised that two men could be together, or that Hai Di and Jiang Si were in this kind of relationship.
Jiang Si greeted him nonchalantly, “Hello, Daoist Chen. I heard there’s vegetarian food at Sanyuan Palace, so he and I came to leech a meal.”
Chen Liu heard himself say in a trance, “Welcome, it’s right over there.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Si walked away immediately, leaving Hai Di and Chen Liu looking at each other.
“How could you…” Chen Liu got halfway through but couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Hai Di was even calmer than Jiang Si, not taking it to heart at all. “Don’t tell my mom yet. I’ll tell her myself.”
“…Okay.”
Hai Di gave him a slight nod and quickly caught up with Jiang Si’s retreating figure.
During the meal, the warmth on Jiang Si’s face still hadn’t dissipated. As he zoned out while picking at his food, he caught Hai Di saying, “One more person knowing doesn’t matter much. They’ll find out sooner or later anyway.”
“Mhm.” Jiang Si stood up to open the window. “It’s a bit stuffy in here.”
The mountain night wind poured in instantly, blowing the painting on the wall until it flapped and crackled.
“…”
Jiang Si awkwardly closed it, leaving only a crack for ventilation.
The moment he turned back to his seat, the lights suddenly went out.
His awkward expression turned solemn. Jiang Si lowered his brow slightly and looked out the window. The mountain outside was still brightly lit and bustling with voices.
Only here had the power suddenly cut off.
Was it a circuit problem, or something else?
Jiang Si was pondering when he suddenly smelled the scent of paper ash. He snapped his head toward the door. Where there was no one just a moment ago, two figures appeared out of thin air.
Tall hats, long tongues, holding chains dragging another figure.
If not Netherworld officials, then who?
Hiss—
Watching the two figures approach, the chains clinking incessantly, Jiang Si quickly walked in front of Hai Di. They exchanged a look but didn’t speak.
“Are you Jiang Si?” As soon as the official spoke, a cold, sticky chill rose from thin air around them. The temperature on the mountain at night was already low, and with the Underworld buff added, it dropped another seven or eight degrees.
It forcefully made people feel the near-freezing sensation of late autumn.
“I am.” Jiang Si suppressed the urge to shiver from the cold and feigned calm. “What can I do for you?”
The official used his free hand to tip the brim of his hat. His pale face looked like it had its own lighting in the dim room. Opening his mouth caused his tongue to drop out, yet it didn’t hinder his speech.
“This person, do you know her?”
Jiang Si followed his words and looked to the side, instantly stunned.
The official continued, “I came up just now to collect a soul and saw such a fierce ghost near the Daoist temple. Carrying two lives on her back is one thing, but explain honestly, why does she have the scent of offerings made by you? Are you an accomplice?”
The woman had chains wrapped around her neck. She kept her head down, avoiding Jiang Si’s gaze.
Jiang Si understood. She still couldn’t let go of her children and came specifically to watch. Unexpectedly, not only could she not enter, but she was also caught red-handed by the official coming to collect souls.
He asked, puzzled, “Just because she has the scent of offerings, why must it be me who made them?”
The official sneered. “Naturally, I know because I’ve eaten them!”
Jiang Si: “…”
What nonsense. He had never bribed an official here.
Now, he really had to examine this horrifying face carefully. The more he looked, the more familiar it seemed. Jiang Si was surprised. “Aren’t you in Rong City? Do you manage souls in Ning City too?”
This official was the very one Jiang Si had invited to the paper effigy shop to catch the evil ghost.
But the two places were a thousand miles apart. This official was enforcing the law across jurisdictions, right?
Did the local City God actually agree?
The official continued coldly, “I was originally stationed here. What is improper about that? The matter in Rong City was because I was dispatched by the Lord.”
The “Lord” he mentioned referred to the local City God.
Jiang Si was even more puzzled. “Why would the City God help me? I clearly invited a Netherworld official…”
“How would I know the Lord’s thoughts? However, it is said that he was from Rong City when he was alive. Perhaps he has some hometown ties with you and helped specifically.”
Although the official spoke coldly, his temper was quite good, answering all of Jiang Si’s questions.
“Cut the chatter. Answer this officer quickly, what exactly is your relationship with her? If you don’t answer now, when we get before the Judge to settle karma, you’ll suffer for it.”
“No relationship,” Jiang Si said. “I don’t even know her name, what relationship could there be?”
This was truly Jiang Si speaking from the heart; he really didn’t know her name.
Meeting the official’s chilly gaze, Jiang Si had a flash of inspiration and added, “How about I go back and burn some things for you to savor carefully?”
Gulp…
Thinking of the scent of incense and candles, the official secretly swallowed his saliva. Pretending to ponder for a moment, he decided to trust him for now. “I shall trust you this once.”
With that, he glanced at Hai Di, who hadn’t spoken from beginning to end, raised a long eyebrow, and dropped a remark: “You have some capability.”
“…” Jiang Si was baffled.
A gust of yin wind came from outside the window, and the two figures vanished into thin air.
As soon as they left, the lights suddenly brightened, restoring the room to its previous state.
Jiang Si sighed and sat back at the dining table. He wanted to eat but was stopped by Hai Di. “You can’t eat this food anymore.”
“Yin food touched by ghosts loses its flavor, and eating it isn’t good for the body.”
Jiang Si found it strange. “He didn’t touch it just now—”
Suddenly, he thought of the official’s long tongue hanging in mid-air. His face turned ugly. Releasing his chopsticks, he looked at the food that had long lost its heat and was speechless. “…How can he secretly mooch off someone’s meal like that?”
He had only eaten two bites!
Seeing his bad expression, Hai Di smiled. “Just go get another portion; there should still be some.”
Jiang Si said faintly, “I want to eat ox tongue. Spicy flavor.”
“Don’t think about it. The only thing the Zhengyi Sect doesn’t eat is beef.” Hai Di chuckled, gently patting his fluffy hair. “I’ll go get the food.”
After eating, it was late, so the two simply stayed overnight at the temple, descending the mountain the next day.
Before they could even get out of the car—just as Hai Di was planning to take advantage of Jiang Si’s clear schedule to drag him home to meet the parents—he heard Jiang Si answer the phone with a grave expression.
Through the receiver, a boy could be heard crying and shouting, “Brother Jiang, I think I’ve encountered a ghost again! When are you coming back? Help me!”
The voice was so miserable that Hai Di, taking advantage of a red light, couldn’t help but look sideways.
Jiang Si frowned. “What did you do?”
This unlucky child, why was something always happening to him?
Lin Nan hemmed and hawed for a long time before saying, “My friends and I played a spirit summoning game.”
“Hopeless. Just wait for death,” Jiang Si withdrew any excess sympathy in a second, speaking coldly. “If you court death yourself, even the Great Immortals can’t save you.”
If asked what kind of people those who ate from the Yin trade hated the most, it was undoubtedly those who courted death. Jiang Si could save the innocent who were targeted by ghosts, but he couldn’t save those who deliberately sought death.
With such personalities, even if saved once, they would sooner or later meet with an accident.
“No, no, no!!” Sensing Jiang Si’s tone turning cold with the intention to hang up, Lin Nan rushed to explain without pausing for breath.
“We went to play a Script Murder (LARP). There was a segment in the script that was a spirit summoning ritual. We just followed the DM’s instructions. Who knew this ritual was actually real? We summoned a real thing! The spirit summoning game meant this, not that we played it intentionally…”
“Tell me the specific situation. How do you know you summoned something? Did you see it with your own eyes?” Jiang Si’s expression softened slightly as he asked.
“…I didn’t see it, but, but…” Lin Nan was sitting on the living room sofa. All the curtains were pulled open, the sunlight shining directly on him without obstruction.
It was clearly a very warm scene, but Lin Nan felt a chill all over his body, shivering constantly.
“But, the day after we played, the DM who led us jumped from the seventh floor of the mall and committed suicide.”
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