"Fiendish Daoist! It's you!!"
Su Houde stood frozen on the spot, his lips trembling and his face pale. The green smoke rising from the White Jade Token took shape, but it was not the San Niang he had yearned for day and night. Instead, it was one of his former enemies. He did not know whether what he felt was sorrow or fury.
Even Yang Taizi wore a look of astonishment now. He muttered to himself, "How could this be? How could this be... Could the secret record passed down by the sect be false? Could this not be the true Supreme Jade Emperor's Heart Seal Subtle Scripture?"
"No! The White Jade Token does indeed contain the Supreme Jade Emperor's Heart Seal Subtle Scripture! It's just that things aren't as you know them!" The old man, shaped like a vengeful ghost within the green smoke, suddenly let out a cold laugh. "Yu Sanniang! Back then, you caused me five hundred years of imprisonment! I, Taiyinzi, swore that if I ever broke out of this cage, I would make sure you could never be reborn!"
"You're... Taiyinzi? The traitor expelled by the sect back then?" Yang Taizi's expression became even more awkward.
"Traitor? Hahahaha! Ridiculous!" Taiyinzi immediately broke into manic laughter. "Ridiculous, ridiculous! If that vile maid Yu Sanniang hadn't framed me back then, how could our master have expelled me from the sect? That fiendish woman deserved to be hacked into a thousand pieces!"
Su Houde could no longer bear listening. He shouted angrily, "Fiendish Daoist! I won't let you insult San Niang! You caused the two of us to be separated for hundreds of years, and now you still want to slander her... I, I won't spare you!"
Perhaps because he had been overwhelmed by fear back then, Su Houde still could not stop trembling, even after summoning all his courage to say those words.
Taiyinzi merely sneered. "Fool! Do you really think that fiendish woman loved you so deeply? I'll tell you! That slut was skilled in scheming! She pretended to be deeply in love with you, but in truth, she only treated you as a furnace for refining her mind through worldly passions! The deeper your love for her, the more she cherished you. The enormous grief you would face when the two of you were unable to escape separation and death—that was her true goal!"
"That's nonsense! You're talking nonsense!"
"Nonsense? Hahahaha!" Taiyinzi laughed miserably. "Look at what I look like now! Five hundred years ago, unwilling to let that fiendish woman get away with framing me, I followed her the moment she left the mountain and entered the imperial palace! How she made you fall for her, how she used the 'true love' between you two to cultivate her Supreme Forgetfulness Dao Heart—I saw it all clearly! Only you remained completely unaware, foolishly believing you had met the love of your life? You really thought she loved you and was willing to give herself to you? Strolling beneath the flowers and moonlight? Let me tell you! That was nothing but the most basic illusion! You merely dreamed a fleeting dream of mortal life! Fool! Fool!"
"Do you know that when the emperor ordered your execution, Yu Sanniang succeeded! She watched you beheaded with her own eyes and shed tears of the deepest love and grief! At that very moment, her Supreme Forgetfulness reached minor perfection! Her power surged, and I was no match for her! Emperor Xianzong ordered me to deal with Yu Sanniang, but I was defeated. In the end, she knocked my Three Souls and Seven Spirits out of my body and sealed them inside these two White Jade Tokens! Then she disguised herself as me, handed the White Jade Tokens to Emperor Xianzong, and faked her death before fleeing. From then on, she lived freely beyond the mortal world! Hmph, everyone was caught in her schemes! Only you, fool, remained dead set on her for five hundred years, turning into a vengeful ghost that refused to disperse! Tell me, aren't you a fool?!"
"You're lying to me! I don't believe you! I don't believe you!"
Su Houde charged at Taiyinzi within the green smoke like a madman, swinging his fists and arms, but he could not hit the bodiless smoke no matter what he did. At last, utterly exhausted, he collapsed onto the ground. With a hoarse voice and an entranced expression, he kept repeating, "You're lying to me... You're lying to me... You're all lying to me... San Niang truly loved me! She did!!"
"Me, lying to you? Fool! If I were lying, then why is it me trapped inside this White Jade Token instead of Yu Sanniang?" Taiyinzi sneered. "Think carefully. Whenever you two consummated your relationship, did you always feel a wave of drowsiness? Did your consciousness become hazy? When a man and woman consummate their relationship, it should be a passionate and exhilarating moment! You hadn't been drinking, and you weren't suffering from any illness, so how could you have been muddle-headed every time?! You could have understood this clearly with a little thought, but you were too deeply trapped and unwilling to think about it. Now your vengeful spirit has remained for five hundred years. Wasn't that caused by your own foolish ignorance?"
"You're lying to me!!!!"
Su Houde suddenly rose to his feet. This time, he did not charge over in a frenzy. Instead, he frantically... ran out of the cargo hold.
Luo Qiu frowned and glanced at You Ye. You Ye raised a hand and snapped her fingers. A streak of faint light immediately shot into Su Houde's back, and he collapsed unconscious onto the floor.
And then... things became awkward again.
They might as well take a look at the situation around them.
There was a centuries-old ghost that had emerged from the White Jade Token, a fellow whose vengeful spirit had lingered for five hundred years, and the Daoist sect behind this whole affair. No matter how he looked at it, this was a family matter, and it had absolutely nothing to do with Luo Qiu.
No... The only connection was probably that one White Jade Token belonged to the club, while the other technically belonged to Luo Qiu as well, since it had already been purchased at the auction. So both White Jade Tokens counted as his.
"Hmm... Yu Sanniang could be considered a representative of ancient scheming bitches." After thinking for a while, Luo Qiu finally broke the silence.
But clearly, breaking the silence this way only made the atmosphere even more awkward.
Taiyinzi suddenly flew into a furious rage. "Boy! Smash the White Jade Token in your hand! One of my Three Souls fell into the hands of that butterfly demon, so I know about you! This isn't your territory! Otherwise, this old Daoist will make sure you die horribly!"
"Are you trying to scare a ghost?" Luo Qiu said indifferently. "If I hadn't let you out, do you think you could have escaped the seal on the White Jade Token? I even lost more than ten minutes of my time."
He shook his head. The faint light on the White Jade Token immediately faded, and the green smoke seemed to be sucked back inside it by something. It split into two streams, and in the end, Taiyinzi let out a shrill wail before disappearing completely.
Now, only the still-conscious Yang Taizi and his disciple remained, along with Luo Qiu and You Ye.
Luo Qiu suddenly waved his hand. Black flames condensed in his palm, forming a Black Card without any gold seal on it.
The Black Card shot out and embedded itself in the concrete floor right before Yang Taizi's feet.
Luo Qiu said woodenly, "These two White Jade Tokens count as mine too. If you want them back, bring something of equal value to exchange for them!"
The moment Luo Qiu finished speaking, Yang Taizi felt an immensely powerful Mental Power sweep over him, shaking his consciousness loose. Before he could react at all, Yang Taizi had already collapsed unconscious onto the floor.
"Master, what should we do with this Su Houde?" You Ye asked.
Luo Qiu said indifferently, "I have no grudge against him. What is there to deal with? He's just a pitiful man."
You Ye said, "Master, you don't intend to make a deal with him? His soul has drifted through the mortal world for five hundred years. It would be excellent merchandise."
Luo Qiu had his own standards of conduct. He shook his head and said, "If he truly needs something, he'll naturally come looking for us... won't he? Besides..."
"Besides?"
Luo Qiu smiled. "Make a show of strength and walk away. That was thrilling."
You Ye fell silent, and the two of them left the cargo ship and headed for the airport.
Not long afterward, Yang Taizi leisurely woke up. Seeing that only a black card remained beside him, he instinctively picked it up and held it in his hand, remaining silent.
After his disciple woke and saw this, he could not help asking curiously, "Master, what is this?"
Yang Taizi's face showed uncertainty. After hesitating, he said, "I'm afraid... it's a legend that has been passed down for a very, very long time. Could it be... that the legend is real?"
"Master, following your instructions, I sent the White Jade Token by anonymous express delivery. Since it's within the same city, it should be delivered back to that woman named Dong tomorrow."
When they entered the airport, You Ye returned to Luo Qiu's side after handling the matter. She reported first, then asked in confusion, "Master, You Ye doesn't understand. We've already found the White Jade Token, so why send it back?"
Luo Qiu looked at an airport magazine as he said, "If we don't send it back, how are we supposed to wrap things up afterward? I don't want her coming to apologize every few days because she can't find the White Jade Token. Besides, that woman surnamed Dong already promised to personally bring it over once it was found."
He turned another page of the magazine. "Then we'll wait for her to bring it over and settle everything once and for all, saving us the trouble. Besides, we already know the secret of the White Jade Token. Waiting another day or two won't matter."
You Ye nodded without saying anything.
Luo Qiu suddenly smiled. "Do you think I'm being too concerned with trivialities? As the club's owner, I'm actually letting worldly things constrain me. Doesn't that lower my dignity?"
"You Ye wouldn't dare."
Luo Qiu shook his head. "There's nothing you shouldn't dare say. You'll be accompanying me for a very long time. If you don't dare say what you think, that would be too boring."
You Ye could only say, "Master truly has no need to be bound by worldly rules and conventions."
Luo Qiu said, "That's what I think too... but not right now. That's right, I'm the club's owner now, but it's only been a week or so. Before that, I had already lived as an ordinary person for twenty years. The education I received, the views I've formed, and society's general morality are still deeply rooted in me. Clearly, one week isn't enough to destroy everything I've been before."
Luo Qiu paused before continuing, "So, at least until I've completely grown accustomed to it, I won't spend all day at the club, let alone become like the previous owner, who could listen to a music box all day because there was nothing in this world left that could move him. Do you understand? I still live in this society."
You Ye nodded somewhat blankly.
Luo Qiu smiled. "Perhaps if you could remember who you were before becoming a puppet, you would understand."
This time, You Ye shook her head with absolute certainty. "There is no need. You Ye exists to serve the club and obey the club owner's orders. That is enough."
Luo Qiu did not want to say too much—he would only grow annoyed with his own thoughts if he said too much.
So he simply closed the magazine in his hand, returned it to its original place, and stood up. "There's still some time before boarding. Let's buy something to bring back and keep Ren Ziling's mouth shut, shall we? Otherwise, she might nag for the whole night."
Before you continue