Two corpses lay on the ground, and the warehouse had fallen deathly silent.
Huang Yaozu rubbed his brow, his mind in complete chaos.
Whenever something went wrong before, his superiors had handled the cleanup. But now, his superior was a ghost—and had died right here. He had no idea how he was supposed to report this to the higher-ups.
Worse still, who knew whether his superior's superior was also a ghost?
The more Huang Yaozu thought about it, the worse his headache became. He did not speak for a long while.
Huang Bai glanced at the two men and said directly, "Stop thinking about it. Take your wives and children and run. Yaozu, you have connections. Get a boat as soon as possible and head for the mainland first."
He knew spells, but spells could not stop bullets. Gun control on the mainland was strict. If they were talking safety, it was definitely more secure over there.
"I have connections. I'll contact them tonight," Huang Yaozu said immediately.
"Don't wait until tonight." Huang Bai's tone was decisive. "Go now. Right away. Money isn't a problem."
At worst, he could make a trip to Macau. Money was no longer much of an issue for him.
"Alright."
Huang Yaozu and Li Guoqiang said nothing more and turned to leave.
At this point, no matter what lay ahead, they had to bring their closest family members with them first.
Unfortunately, they were still too late.
The news quickly exploded.
"Miscellaneous Affairs Bureau officers Huang Yaozu and Li Guoqiang shot and killed their superior. Both are currently at large. All departments are to cooperate in their arrest immediately."
The order spread through the entire police force almost instantly.
A commissioner-level figure had been murdered. This was unprecedented within the Hong Kong Government. Soon after, Huang Bai's identity was uncovered as well.
Television stations, radio stations, and newspapers all broadcast the news. Before long, the names and faces of the three men had spread throughout the city.
"The suspects are extremely dangerous. Citizens are advised not to approach them. A reward of one hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars will be given for useful information."
"The Security Bureau has announced registration procedures for vessels leaving port. All harbors are to conduct strict inspections."
The police and triad members were deployed at the same time, and the entire city began searching for them.
In the shadows at a street corner, Huang Bai wore a mask and silently watched the news playing in a television shop window. He had already reached a conclusion.
"At least the top leadership hasn't been infiltrated by ghosts yet."
If things had reached that point, they could have placed the whole city on alert and sealed off Hong Kong Island directly. The commotion would never have been limited to this.
Of course, it was also possible that the ghosts did not want to bring things into the open.
If they overreacted, anyone who knew the truth would immediately suspect that there were ghosts among the upper ranks.
Huang Bai withdrew his gaze and turned into the depths of the alley.
He had to return to Wong Tai Sin Shrine and take Zhi Gang away.
The bigger the disturbance, the better. The Ghost King would show itself sooner or later.
Since the Heavenly Dao Talisman Edict had sent him to find the Ghost King, it would not have thrown him somewhere a hundred thousand miles away from it. In other words, that thing had to be in Hong Kong, and it could not be too far away.
Kowloon Walled City, Wong Tai Sin Shrine.
Zhi Gang was sitting with his legs crossed, flipping through channels. The more he switched, the more bored he became, until he happened to see the wanted report on Huang Bai and the others.
"You little bastard." Zhi Gang sat up straight. "Did that kid rob a bank?"
His first thought was to pack up and run, lest Huang Bai drag him down with him.
Before he had even finished gathering his things, someone suddenly slammed open the shrine door.
Bang!
Two burly men barged in.
"Who the hell are you? Do you know breaking into someone's home is illegal?" Zhi Gang staggered back several steps, cursing inwardly. Just how much trouble had Huang Bai caused for pursuers to arrive this quickly?
The two men could not be bothered to answer him.
The man on the left gave Zhi Gang a glance and said directly to his companion, "That's him. Possess him first. When Huang Bai comes back, we can catch him right in the trap."
Zhi Gang's expression changed instantly.
"You... you're ghosts?"
Only then did he fully understand that Huang Bai had not provoked ordinary people, but those filthy things.
"Fuck your mother. I'd rather die than let you have your way."
Zhi Gang hardened his heart and charged straight toward a nearby pillar.
He knew Huang Bai had most likely killed some major figure among the ghosts to bring this kind of force down on them. He could not help in any other way, but at the very least, he could not become a shell they could use to ambush Huang Bai.
But the burly man was faster. With a flash of movement, he was already standing in front of him.
Zhi Gang's heart sank.
It was over.
The moment they made contact, he would become a ghost shell. When Huang Bai returned, he would probably be doomed.
In the end, was he still unable to fight these ghosts?
Just then, the Gold-Seeking Talisman hanging from his chest suddenly lit up.
A flash of golden light burst forth. The burly man looked as though he had crashed into burning coals and was sent flying, hitting the ground and rolling twice.
"What the hell is that?"
The burly man was both shocked and furious.
Zhi Gang looked down at the Gold-Seeking Talisman, completely stunned.
"It actually works?"
The other burly man's face darkened. "Stop talking. Just kill him."
Both men drew daggers at the same time.
The Gold-Seeking Talisman could stop possession, but it could not stop blades. Before Zhi Gang could even catch his breath, his heart rose into his throat again.
Yet he was not quite so afraid anymore.
Huang Bai had already obtained the inheritance. Perhaps one day, he might truly encounter someone capable of saving this world. He had lived to this age already. If he died, then he died.
But at that moment, the most absurd scene unfolded.
The wall suddenly rippled like water.
Huang Bai stepped directly out of it.
He raised his hand and formed a hand seal. Two streaks of golden light shot out almost from his fingertips, instantly piercing the foreheads of the two burly men.
The two corpses collapsed on the spot.
Huang Bai raised his hand again and sent a dark green beam onto Zhi Gang's body. The wound that had been grazed by a dagger just moments ago healed at a visible speed.
Zhi Gang's eyes nearly popped out.
"You... you mastered the Four Great Secret Incantations?"
"More or less." Huang Bai nodded. "Don't talk about that now. Let's go."
Zhi Gang froze for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter, laughing so hard that tears nearly came out.
"Good, good, good!"
"Vicious Ghosts, you finally have this day too."
After laughing, he hurriedly urged Huang Bai, "Forget this old bag of bones. You should leave quickly. Don't drag deadweight like me along."
"Deadweight, my ass." Huang Bai grabbed him. "Come with me."
The moment he finished speaking, gunfire erupted outside.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Huang Yaozu and Li Guoqiang had already been caught by their pursuers.
Li Guoqiang held his wife Xiao Mei's hand as several of them fled miserably through the streets and alleys. Police officers and triad thugs swarmed after them, gunshots ringing intermittently behind them like the call of death pressed against their ears.
"I know somewhere we can hide!" Zhi Gang immediately said.
Huang Bai spread out his Mind Sense, sensing the positions of pursuers ahead and behind them in advance. He led the group through constant turns, picking narrow paths the enemy had no time to seal off, and only then barely broke out of the encirclement.
In the end, the group climbed down through a manhole cover into the underground sewers.
It was damp and cold inside, with a rotten stench in the air and standing water underfoot.
Xiao Mei had never really believed in Vicious Ghosts hunting them down. But after seeing Huang Bai walk through walls and cast Incantations, then watching so many people chase them down with real guns and blades, she had no choice but to believe.
"Hide here first." Huang Bai looked around. "When things calm down a little, we'll figure out a way to leave."
They hid for three full days.
Three days later, they snuck to the docks under cover of night, stole a boat, and headed straight out to sea.
They could not go to the mainland.
Hong Kong officials were hunting them throughout the city now. The mainland might not know the real situation, and they might very well help arrest them.
If they went over now, they might simply walk straight into a net.
The sea wind was fierce at night, and the sky was filled with stars.
Not long after their boat set out, a speedboat began chasing them from behind.
"Stop!"
The pursuers had their lights on, their voices carried over by the sea wind.
Huang Bai raised his hand and fired a shot, taking down the man at the helm.
A firefight immediately erupted at sea. Muzzle flashes flickered through the darkness. After a brutal fight, they finally killed every pursuer who had caught up with them.
Once the speedboat sank, the sea finally became quiet again.
Only then did Zhi Gang notice that Huang Bai's right arm had been grazed by a bullet, blood continuously flowing from it.
"Are you alright?"
"It's nothing serious."
Huang Bai lowered his head and glanced at it, then cast a Lunar Curse. The wound quickly stopped bleeding, and the flesh began to heal slowly.
Unfortunately, being able to heal wounds did not mean he had become immune to blades and bullets.
Cultivating the Dao was ultimately not immortal cultivation. Even in ancient times, being invulnerable to blades and bullets would have counted as an impressive divine ability among those true masters who had attained the Dao. It was not something one could cultivate so easily.
No one dared stop, and they continued onward through the night.
Halfway there, they ran low on fuel. They hijacked a fishing boat for its fuel, barely managing to reach Thailand.
Thailand, inside a rundown shack in the slums.
Huang Yaozu, Li Guoqiang and Xiao Mei, Zhi Gang, and Huang Bai sat around the television, watching reports about themselves.
"Bandit leader Huang Yaozu is suspected of murdering his superior and planning a school shooting..."
"Bandit strategist Huang Bai is vicious and ruthless, suspected of ties to a cult organization, with countless lives on his hands..."
Zhi Gang glanced at Huang Bai, afraid those words would provoke him, make him lose heart, and leave him unable to recover.
"Don't listen to that bullshit." Zhi Gang cursed, then said seriously, "Since you've accepted Wong Tai Sin's inheritance, there'll be a day when you turn things around. Don't rush. I endured for decades without dying. You've barely even started."
Huang Yaozu gritted his teeth in fury.
"Those fucking bastards."
"We're obviously the ones saving people, but now they've painted us as bandits instead."
"One day, when I really become a ghost, I'll go back and slaughter those bastards first."
It had only been an angry outburst, but Huang Bai's heart suddenly stirred after hearing it.
Ghosts were not afraid of bullets.
That was right.
He lowered his head to look at the Flower of the Other Shore pattern on the back of his hand, and an audacious idea, nearly insane in its boldness, suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Corpse Liberation into immortality.
First, release his soul and gain the ability to leave his body. Then use the Flower of the Other Shore's Resurrection power to preserve his flesh.
Once the idea emerged, the road ahead seemed to open all at once.
Huang Bai's eyes suddenly lit up.
"I've got it."
He abruptly rose to his feet, the green in his eyes seeming to come alive.
Everyone in the room looked at him.
"Daoist Huang, have you thought of a way?" Huang Yaozu asked hurriedly.
Huang Bai looked at them and slowly exhaled.
"The human body is too weak."
"From today onward, I won't be human anymore."
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