Qin King's Palace

"Are you really going? It's seriously dangerous."

Ma Dong's face showed a trace of lingering fear.

"Get some proper rest. Leave professional matters to professionals."

Wang Yi gave Ma Dong a push, shoving him toward the door as easily as if he were pushing a chick.

Though Ma Dong was tall and powerfully built, clearly in a completely different weight class from Wang Yi, Wang Yi casually pressed him back without him even having the ability to struggle.

Even though he was exhausted right now, the visual contrast and that utterly irresistible helplessness still made Ma Dong's eyes widen.

Why were boxing matches divided by weight class?

Because differences in weight class were practically crushing!

Yet Ma Dong, who considered himself a fitness enthusiast, discovered that the gap between them was truly like heaven and earth.

"Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"I'll be fine. Give me that Director's contact information. When the time comes, I'll say you introduced me. I guarantee I'll make you look good."

Wang Yi returned the favor. Seeing that they had already started hiring Daoists and monks, he knew they were in a real bind. Solving this problem would count as helping Ma Dong out.

"How about I go with you?"

After hesitating for a moment, Ma Dong still spoke up.

"No need. If you don't want to get sick, stay home and rest properly. Better get yourself some beef bones too. They don't need to be cooked too thoroughly—suck out more marrow."

It had to be said that Ma Dong was quite loyal.

After Wang Yi turned him down again, he did not keep insisting.

After Wang Yi said that, he really did feel as though his body had been hollowed out.

Liu Xiaoke, in the room next door, cracked open her door and whispered,

"Remember to tell me all about it after you solve it."

Her curiosity was stronger than a cat's, yet she was scared to death. Weak but loved to play.

"Don't worry. I'll recommend you to the Director too. Don't you happen to be out of work?"

Wang Yi waved to the two of them and headed downstairs.

"Wait."

Ma Dong called out to Wang Yi. When Wang Yi looked up, he saw a set of keys being tossed over.

"Remember to wear a helmet. And take good care of it."

Holding the keys to Ma Dong's scooter and listening to his instructions, Wang Yi smiled and gave him an OK gesture.

Having a scooter did seem pretty nice...

Wearing a pink helmet and riding a Pink Scooter, Wang Yi arrived at the Film Studio and speechlessly parked it in the bike shed.

Fortunately, it was nighttime. He had no idea why Ma Dong had picked this color.

Did all tough guys really like pink?

Although it was already night, the Film Studio was still brightly lit.

There were quite a few Film Crews specifically waiting to shoot night scenes.

Shudian Film Studio covered more than fifty thousand mu, with over two thousand different filming locations and soundstages.

Most movies could complete the majority of the footage they needed here.

The place was truly like a maze. The different filming areas had wildly contrasting eras, and anyone unfamiliar with it could easily get lost.

Wang Yi glanced at the map, combined it with the route and location the two had described to him, and headed toward the Qin King's Palace filming area.

There were still quite a few extras going back and forth to shoot night scenes, dressed in all kinds of costumes.

Night shoots were usually easier work and paid slightly better. Many extras slept during the day specifically to wait for night shoots.

Moreover, many of them had made arrangements with casting coordinators beforehand. Whenever one of the coordinators shouted, a whole group would voluntarily trail after him.

But the farther Wang Yi walked in this direction, the fewer people there were.

"Brother, what are you going over there for? Take some advice from your big brother—that place hasn't been clean these past few days."

An extra smoking in a corner glanced at Wang Yi and offered a warning.

"Thanks for the reminder. I know. That's exactly why I'm going over there."

Wang Yi smiled and thanked him.

Seeing that Wang Yi already knew, the smoking extra merely shrugged.

There were plenty of bold people these days. Maybe he was just looking for thrills...

Qin King's Palace was one of the more famous palaces in Shudian Film Studio. Its restoration was highly accurate, supposedly copied directly from ancient records.

Many Period Dramas had to come here to film, and it saw extremely frequent use. It was normally even open to tourists.

But Qin King's Palace had seemed deserted these past few days.

Ever since Lin Shiqin fell to her death, the place had started becoming strange.

Many people claimed to have seen Lin Shiqin at night!

All kinds of supernatural rumors had sprung up one after another.

There had already been barely anyone here at night over the past few days.

But tonight was an exception. Qin King's Palace, which seemed gloomy and sinister at night, was now brightly illuminated.

The large searchlights used by the Film Crew made the place as bright as day. People crowded about, while groups of muscular men in tank tops stood outside the palace in twos and threes, chatting, joking, and laughing.

Judging by the lettering on their tank tops, they should have been Fitness Coaches from some nearby gym.

Their looks might have been ordinary, but their physiques and muscles were all quite impressive.

These coaches seemed to have been positioned in specific locations, surrounding Qin King's Palace.

Aside from these Fitness Coaches, there were also some people originally from the Film Crew.

At the moment, Director Zhang Ming's face was full of worry. He had poured his heart into preparing this production for a long time, and the investors behind it were highly influential.

Yet this problem had struck at such a crucial moment!

His luck this year had truly been terrible.

If he had not begged the investors to step in and suppress the media until the investigation results were released, things would probably have already exploded.

Though he was considered a famous Director, if he caused these investors to lose money, his future days would likely be difficult.

"Master Ju Zheng, Daoist Master Xuan Yangzi, can this matter really be resolved tonight?"

Watching those laughing, unreliable-looking Fitness Coaches, Zhang Ming could not help asking the two experts beside him.

Both were famous Masters in their circle, and many people in the industry liked asking them to examine feng shui.

This incident had been too bizarre, so through the investors, both of them had been invited to help.

"Director Zhang worries too much. Demons and ghosts like these cannot amount to anything in this day and age. Either Xuan Yangzi or I could dispel it alone. During the day, when Yang energy was strongest at noon, Xuan Yangzi used a secret method to stimulate the vital energy and blood of those benefactors, gravely injuring the evil spirit.

"Once night falls, that ghost will surely try to flee under cover of darkness. I have already arranged for these benefactors, whose vital energy and blood are abundant, to surround the hall. When Yin energy is at its strongest at midnight, we will lure it out and make its soul scatter, never to be reborn."

Master Ju Zheng looked kind and benevolent, but his words were brimming with killing intent.

As fellow practitioners, he and Xuan Yangzi knew each other and were even considered rivals.

But when dealing with a backer, some necessary professional mutual praise was still required.

Most of the time, they primarily relied on bluffing, rhetoric, and their own connections to exert influence. They acted as intermediaries connecting backers with contacts far more often than they took on work like this.

This was one of the rare occasions when they had to get serious, but neither of them was particularly worried.

They genuinely possessed a lineage of teachings and knew that unclean things did exist in the world. But except during times of war, such things would usually be naturally purified by sunlight soon after they were born.

The rare lucky ones were nothing worth worrying about either...

However, in a corner they had not noticed, two coaches stationed there suddenly felt the temperature around them plummet and could not help shivering.

This was a corner outside Qin King's Palace. Although there were lights ahead, it still seemed somewhat dark beneath the shadows of the buildings.

With the cold wind blowing, an eerie feeling suddenly arose.

Dense tree shadows surrounded them, rustling in the night wind as they swayed.

"Old Zhang, don't you think it's a little cold?"

One of the Fitness Coaches, short but extremely sturdy, saw the hair on his bare arms standing up outside his tank top and rubbed them.

"It is a little weird, but didn't they hire Masters? Our vital energy and blood are so strong. Even if there are ghosts, they'd be afraid of us."

The coach called Old Zhang flexed his biceps. Veins bulged across them, making him look exceptionally strong.

"That's true. There are so many of us here, and Old Liu and the others are right over there..."

The tank-top coach found that reasonable, but when he turned to look toward where Old Liu and the other man had been, within sight of them, he suddenly discovered that the two who had just been there seemed to have vanished.

"Old Zhang..."

After realizing Old Liu and the others were gone, the coach hurriedly turned back to grab his companion, tightly clutching the prayer bead he had been given in his hand.

But when he turned around, he saw Old Zhang looking down at the tops of his feet. Following his gaze, he discovered that for some reason, Old Zhang was standing on tiptoe, looking extremely strange.

Crack!

The prayer bead in his palm suddenly split apart, then shattered into fragments. Its once smooth, lustrous material instantly turned dull and decayed...

(The reaction between light and dark magical power caused the dark-energy "magical power," which originally had no electromagnetic force, to briefly interfere with real matter. The ghost did not tear it apart directly, so don't argue about that.)

People with even a little integrity tend to think things through more carefully, which was why I left consecutive notes at the ends of the previous two chapters to make some general predictions. But some readers still easily get stuck in a dead end. Please give me a little more trust.