Wonderful

The sudden Scream made Zhang Ming, Ju Zheng, and Xuan Yangzi's heads split with pain. They clutched their heads and opened their mouths in howls.

Drool even ran from their mouths, and it took them a long while to recover.

Meanwhile, Lin Shiqin screamed all the way back to the Qin King's Palace. Several Fitness Coaches she passed along the way also clutched their heads in agony and crouched on the ground.

For a time, the scene was a mess of chaos and panic.

Although Ju Zheng and Xuan Yangzi mainly made their living by bluffing people, they did possess some genuine ability to have earned their current reputations. They recovered the fastest as well.

But once they recovered, they exchanged a glance and saw the terror and grimness in each other's eyes.

Ju Zheng tremblingly spread open his palm. The once smooth Buddhist beads now carried a sense of decay, as though the macromolecular structure of the wood had been destroyed and its molecular bonds snapped, ready to crack apart at the slightest touch.

Holy shit!

They'd hit the jackpot!

"Masters, what was that just now...?"

Zhang Ming wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and asked hoarsely between gasps.

Just then, he had nearly thought he was having a cerebral hemorrhage. Even the two Masters were in such terrible shape—something had clearly gone wrong!

"Amitabha. Benefactor Zhang, this is beyond our ability to handle."

He had been Director Zhang before, but now he was Benefactor Zhang.

"We were careless. Looking closely now, this Qin King's Palace has the configuration of White Tiger Lying on Mountain. It is an utterly dangerous, baleful place. Nothing happened before because the Qin King's Palace had not been built for long and had yet to gather enough baleful energy. But now its baleful force has taken shape, and someone burdened by obsession died here violently, becoming a Fierce Ghost."

"I imagine that when I performed the ritual during the day, I instead allowed her to devour quite a bit of vital energy and grow even stronger."

Xuan Yangzi also made a formal salute, his face full of bitterness.

Wang Yi, standing nearby, was rather surprised by this. Though it sounded mysterious and abstruse, this Taoist priest truly did have some real skill. Wang Yi had blamed him unfairly at first.

When the Qin King's Palace had been laid out, certain key points had been secretly incorporated. It might have drawn on things summarized from feng shui through the ages, but because of the materials, the magic it gathered was aligned with darkness.

It was only because magic in this world was sluggish that no matter how much they tinkered with it, it had only reached this point. Otherwise, it really might have turned into some kind of Undead Pure Land.

As a result, the balance in what had originally been a fight between two rookies had been broken, leaving the two half-baked Masters to retreat step by step.

"Amitabha. Benefactor Zhang should quickly have all the other benefactors disperse. This is actually easy to deal with. Once noon arrives, setting the Qin King's Palace ablaze will solve everything. This Monk will take his leave first."

"Boundless Heavenly Venerate. The same goes for this Taoist. I will return Layman Zhang's donation in full."

The two Masters were surprisingly united. After their warning, they prepared to make a Bucket Run.

But when they turned around, they saw Wang Yi standing behind them as though nothing had happened. The three of them froze at once.

That earlier Scream had left them all in a sorry state. Their hair was disheveled from clutching their heads, their faces were pale, and traces of unwiped drool still remained at the corners of their mouths.

Yet Wang Yi still looked exactly the same as before. Seeing the three of them look over, he even smiled.

"If the two Masters can't handle it, how about I give it a try?"

His words left all three of them stunned.

Ju Zheng and Xuan Yangzi exchanged another look, communicating silently with their eyes.

But they no longer had their earlier confidence. Ju Zheng then spoke to Zhang Ming.

"This gentleman was unaffected by the Fierce Ghost. He may truly have a way."

"My master once told me that there are occasionally prodigies in this world born with Yin-Yang Eyes. They can see spirit bodies and possess extremely high resistance themselves. This benefactor is very likely one of them. Do not underestimate him because of his age."

It had to be said that the two of them had indeed accumulated far more relevant mystical knowledge in this world than Wang Yi. Their words were coherent and well-founded, and Wang Yi could even compare them with magic to find corresponding points and understand what they meant.

So-called innate Yin-Yang Eyes meant being born with mental power above a certain threshold. In another world, that would make one a mage prodigy. Here, it allowed one to see spirit bodies, and sufficiently high mental power naturally meant high resistance to them. Combined with methods summarized through this world's experience, one might even become a genuine Master.

There might also be witches, Onmyoji, exorcists, and girls who could see spirits overseas. They were obscure and weak, but they did have something to them.

"Sir, please forgive my earlier offense. May I ask your name?"

Director Zhang immediately cupped his hands toward Wang Yi.

"Wang Yi. Don't worry about it. I came here for this in the first place. The same fee you were going to pay them for running away—no problem, right?"

Wang Yi pointed at the two Masters. Judging from their lofty airs, their fees certainly would not be low. He could not be bothered to haggle, so he simply copied their price.

"Of course there's no problem!"

"Also, Ma Dong introduced me..."

"I'll arrange a role for him. A major villain, with enough scenes to count as the third male lead."

"I also have a friend who acts. A woman. Just now..."

"She'll be the third female lead."

Wang Yi looked at Director Zhang strangely. No wonder he had become a major director—he had learned how to answer before the question was finished.

"Let's go. We'll deal with the Qin King's Palace first."

Wang Yi headed directly toward the Qin King's Palace. Master Juzheng and Xuan Yangzi, who had originally planned to make a Bucket Run, no longer left and simply followed behind him.

Master Juzheng asked curiously,

"Master Wang..."

"You should still call me benefactor."

Ju Zheng did not call him benefactor after all, instead changing it to sir.

"Mr. Wang, what method do you have for dealing with this Qin King's Palace?"

Director Zhang beside him hurriedly nodded and asked as well.

"Yes, Mr. Wang. This Qin King's Palace is extremely important to the Film Studio and worth a fortune. It absolutely cannot be burned!"

The Qin King's Palace had cost 1.2 billion yuan to build in the 1990s. It now brought in several hundred million yuan in revenue every year and was an extremely important filming location and tourist attraction in the Shudian Film Studio.

Though Zhang Ming was considered a renowned director, he definitely could not bear responsibility for something like that.

"When did I say I was going to burn it?"

Wang Yi gave them a strange look.

He could have gone inside and dealt with it directly, but that would have looked too simple, without any of the proper mystique. And he did not want to chant spells and cast magic in front of them.

The whole vibe would be wrong, okay?

Since this world had its own methods, he would respect that.

Besides, if the Qin King's Palace remained like this, something would indeed happen again sooner or later.

"Director Zhang, what happened just now?"

"I heard screaming, and my head hurts so badly."

"There can't really be something unclean here, right?"

"Director Zhang, I-I quit. I want out."

"This is bad! Old Liu and Old Zhang's two groups have passed out!"

As they walked over, the Fitness Coaches who had been affected along the way, along with others who had not been affected elsewhere, all gathered around. Their faces were pale with terror as they spoke over one another.

The coaches from the two groups Lin Shiqin had frightened when she came out had already been discovered unconscious, and the atmosphere became exceedingly chaotic.

At first, they had said today's job would be easy, even mocking those filming here for being superstitious while they chatted.

And now this shit was real!

"Didn't we bring someone in to solve it? Quiet down. It'll be fine soon, and none of your pay will be withheld."

Zhang Ming still held sufficient authority when facing this group of Fitness Coaches. Besides, all their phones had been collected before they entered, so there was no fear of anyone secretly filming anything.

Wang Yi first went over to examine the unconscious men.

"Don't worry. They'll be fine after resting for a few days. They're quite strong physically. They scared themselves sick—their mental fortitude is lacking."

After confirming that they were fine and having them carried to a more open area to lie down, Wang Yi began walking around the exterior of the Qin King's Palace, stopping from time to time. He eventually came to a pillar and tapped it.

"This one."

After passing several more pillars, he marked another spot.

"And this one."

Then Ju Zheng and Xuan Yangzi circled around the area for quite a while. After muttering mysteriously to each other for some time, they finally slapped their thighs.

"So that's it, so that's it! I understand now!"

Zhang Ming's expression beside them turned a little strange. What exactly had they understood this time?

He could now see that these two Masters did have ability, but they were certainly far inferior to Mr. Wang.

So it turned out that in this line of work, being older was not necessarily better. Blind faith in experience could kill people...

"This Qin King's Palace was likely built to restore the original as closely as possible, so the specifications and layout were given great care. They even used solid wood."

"But Nanmu Wood should have been used. Instead, for cost-effectiveness, they used imported Black Locust Wood. What should have gathered yang instead gathered yin, and after all these years, it became like this."

"The two pillars Mr. Wang selected are the two most crucial formation cores."

The two Masters who had originally been prepared to make a Bucket Run took turns explaining on Wang Yi's behalf.

Master Juzheng then spoke.

"So all we need to do is burn these two pillars separately."

Director Zhang's face immediately darkened. Did this guy only know how to burn things?

"It doesn't need to be that troublesome. You should have prepared some items for dispelling impurity. Splash them onto these two pillars to temporarily seal them, and the dark... yin energy will naturally dissipate. After that, scrape the paint off these two pillars during the day, leave them exposed to the sun for a few days, and then repaint them. It shouldn't cost much."

Wang Yi also glanced at that fire-loving monk. Magic in this world was sluggish. This place had gathered power for over a decade just to reach this scale, and without silver, it could not store very much in the first place.

Temporarily sealing those two pillars would allow the little magic that had gathered to quickly settle under the overall balance of natural magic and return to its sluggish state.

This was not a palace made of silver. How much magic could it possibly gather? It was only significant by comparison. Otherwise, he would not have considered building a pure silver Mage Tower.

"Wonderful! Such a simple yet efficient method—how did I not think of it?"

"Splendid! Mr. Wang is truly a prodigy of our path."

It had to be said that these two Masters were truly excellent at playing along, saving Wang Yi quite a bit of trouble...

--

First update~

A bit of spoiler: there was definitely a reason the protagonist put so much effort into developing Artificial Intelligence first. Human nature could not withstand testing, but Artificial Intelligence, as the protagonist's summoned creature, could.

That way, even if the protagonist gathered resources to build his own faction, he could still be a hands-off boss without needing to spend too much energy on it.