"You've really seen ghosts?"
Lin Zheyu asked.
He had been in this world for so long, yet he'd never encountered a ghost.
There were no memories of his predecessor running into one, either, though folk tales about gods and ghosts were everywhere.
"Of course. When you're assigned to guard the mountain someday, you might run into one yourself."
"Every mine has seen a pile of people die. Once the resentment builds up, ghosts are bound to appear."
Jia Yanyong said casually, "They look pretty terrifying, sure. A wisp of ghostly spirit—you can't hit it or touch it, and it can drain a person's vital essence."
"But we martial artists have plenty of vital essence. We can last a few days without trouble."
"If you run into one, just get to a fire as fast as you can."
"That thing's afraid of fire and explosives. Take gunpowder to wherever the ghost haunts and blast the place to pieces. A few rounds, and it'll be taken care of."
Lin Zheyu: "..."
Wu Yinghe: "..."
Lin Zheyu and Steward Wu exchanged a look, at a loss for words.
How had this thing gone from terrifying to a worthless piece of trash in their mouths?
"But if you run into a corpse that's come back to life, run as far as you can."
"A few years ago, I was guarding the mountain with my former boss when someone dug a coffin out of a mine. We opened it, and, would you believe it, the body hadn't decayed at all."
"The moment the coffin opened and the corpse was exposed to living energy, it sat bolt upright. It saw the living and went straight for them. Scared the hell out of us."
Jia Yanyong said, still shaken, "That thing had skin like bronze and bones like iron. Gunpowder couldn't kill it. We had to call in a Blood Energy Realm expert to deal with it. All we could do was run."
"Brother Yong, your experience is truly vast. You've opened my eyes!"
Steward Wu listened in a daze, unable to hold back his admiration.
He had spent nearly his whole life in the city, rarely venturing outside its walls. He'd only heard such tales from other people.
Lin Zheyu was just as amazed.
"There's a lot you haven't seen yet."
"The world outside is a mess. Once the rebels rise, everything falls into chaos. Before long, even the city might not be safe."
Xie Jiang curled his lip.
Steward Wu thought for a moment. "I heard an old saying: 'When chaos reigns, monsters emerge.' If things keep going this way, demons, monsters, ghosts, and spirits will all come out."
"My grandma used to say that, too. When I was little, she'd always scare me with stories about demons and ghosts," Xie Jiang said with a laugh.
The group chatted idly.
Just then, a man came hurrying in from outside. He glanced around, then ran straight toward Lin Zheyu and the others.
"Brother Yong, Brother Jiang, Brother Yu, we've got trouble." The man was panting hard from the run.
"What happened?"
Lin Zheyu handed him a cup of tea and let him catch his breath.
"People from the Wuding Gang are causing trouble again. Xing Jinglong's leading them this time," the man said.
"That bastard Xing Jinglong! He's come to stir up trouble on the Flying Rainbow Gang's turf again!"
Jia Yanyong slapped the table and sprang to his feet, anger rising in his face.
"Take us there."
Lin Zheyu stood and handed the manuscript to Steward Wu. "Steward Wu, find someone to fill in for me at the storytelling today. Here's the script."
"All right. Be careful."
Steward Wu took the manuscript. This was something he and Lin Zheyu had already discussed.
To make sure the storytelling could go on if something came up, Lin Zheyu had planned ahead with Steward Wu.
"How strong is this Xing Jinglong?"
On the way, Lin Zheyu asked curiously.
He'd never been in a group fight before, and the whole thing felt rather novel.
"He's a little stronger than me. The last time we fought one-on-one, I lost by a move," Xie Jiang said gravely.
Jia Yanyong curled his lip. "Don't try to make yourself look good. You lost by a lot more than one move."
Following the man who'd brought the news, they made their way to the end of Baiwei Street.
"He's inside."
The man pointed to the restaurant ahead, whose exterior was surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.
"Make way, make way!"
The group pushed through the crowd and entered the restaurant.
"Young Master Xing, you're certainly putting on a fine show, throwing your weight around on Flying Rainbow Gang turf!"
Jia Yanyong's voice arrived before he did.
Hearing him, Xing Jinglong turned to look at Lin Zheyu and the others, a cold smile on his face.
"What, people aren't allowed to eat here?"
"The food at this restaurant tastes awful. Am I not allowed to say so?"
Xing Jinglong said with a cold laugh.
He was a burly man nearly two meters tall and estimated to weigh more than three hundred pounds. When he stood up, he exuded an oppressive presence.
Xing Jinglong wore fine clothes. He looked even younger than Lin Zheyu, like some young master from a powerful family.
"If it tastes bad, why do you have to wreck the place?"
"And every time you come to eat, you say it tastes bad, but you still come back. That doesn't make any sense, does it?"
Jia Yanyong's expression darkened as he and several of his men surrounded Xing Jinglong.
"Ganging up on me, are you?"
"I just wanted to see if their food had improved today. Turns out it's as bad as ever."
"The food here's so awful even a dog wouldn't eat it, and they still dare to run a restaurant?"
"This place deserves to be smashed."
Xing Jinglong picked up a plate of food and smashed it on the floor, then swept his gaze over Lin Zheyu and the others with an indifferent expression.
"Could that guy be from some powerful family?" Lin Zheyu asked quietly.
"Yeah. He's a young master from a collateral branch of the Xing Family. He's not much of a problem," Xie Jiang said.
They'd dealt with Xing Jinglong several times before. Whenever he took a knock somewhere else or got in a bad mood, he'd find a place to make a scene.
"I reckon he got on the wrong side of some young master from the Xu Family, Chen Family, or Ren Family, so he came to Flying Rainbow Gang turf looking for trouble and took it out on us," Xie Jiang said under his breath.
The Xu Family, Chen Family, and Ren Family were the three powerful families behind the Flying Rainbow Gang.
The young masters from those families got into all sorts of messy situations. Every so often, someone would come looking for trouble because of one of them.
If the troublemaker had serious backing, like being a direct-line young master from one of the families, they couldn't afford to provoke him and could only report it to their superiors.
But a collateral-branch young master like Xing Jinglong wasn't much to worry about. They could deal with him themselves.
"Do we need to tell Lord Qiu?" Lin Zheyu asked.
Lord Qiu, whose name was Qiu Gaoxuan, was their direct superior. His strength had reached the peak of Organ Refining.
"No need. A fight should be enough to let him blow off steam."
"These young masters care a lot about face. If they come to throw their weight around and then lose a fight, they'll be laughed at if they keep pushing the matter."
"We've dealt with Fatty Xing several times before, and he's won more often than he's lost."
"You don't need to get involved later. Just let Jia Yanyong handle him. That guy's thick-skinned and can take a beating."
"We'll hold off the others so they can't sneak up on him."
Xie Jiang said, motioning for Lin Zheyu to keep an eye on the people Xing Jinglong had brought with him.
"Okay."
Lin Zheyu nodded. If he could avoid fighting, he didn't want to get involved.
Soon, Xing Jinglong and Jia Yanyong began fighting.
Though Xing Jinglong looked young, he was quite strong. He'd already reached the Bone Forging Realm.
He grabbed a stool and swung it straight at Jia Yanyong's head.
Jia Yanyong wasn't intimidated. He was a rough-and-ready sort and didn't bother dodging the stool. He charged straight at Xing Jinglong like a fierce bandit, vicious and relentless.
He swung his right fist, unleashing Black Fiend Fist. Taking the blow head-on, he smashed the stool to pieces with a single punch.
"That guy really fights like a savage."
Watching Jia Yanyong fight as if he didn't care whether he lived or died, fierce and fearless, left Lin Zheyu speechless.
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