Su Tingxue's invitation

That afternoon, Zhou You lay slumped over his desk, enjoying the breeze. It was scorching outside, and the wind blowing in had originally been hot and dry. But once it entered the classroom, Nuomi's ghost domain made it refreshingly cool. Against his face, it felt as soothing as autumn rain.

Perfect weather for sleeping.

It was hard to imagine feeling this comfortable in the height of summer.

Thank you, Nuomi.

A paper airplane flew through the classroom's back door, wobbling along before landing on Zhou You's head.

"Where did this paper airplane come from?" Zhou You had been sleeping comfortably on his desk. He took the airplane off his head.

He unfolded it. Written on the paper in small, graceful handwriting were the words "Come out and find me."

"Who wrote this?" Zhou You wondered. It was a girl's handwriting, and his first thought was Chu Xiaoyao.

On second thought, that couldn't be right. Chu Xiaoyao had been caught writing her summer vacation essay about events on the Primordial Continent. The language teacher had called her out for a scolding, and she still wasn't back.

"This paper airplane..."

He had been too comfortably drowsy at his desk to notice earlier. Now that he was a little more awake, he detected a faint trace of spiritual power attached to the paper airplane.

"A girl, and spiritual power?"

It wasn't hard for Zhou You to guess who had sent it. He stepped out of the classroom and looked around. Sure enough, he found Su Tingxue hiding by the stairs.

"You wanted me?"

Su Tingxue gave an almost imperceptible nod. She didn't dare go straight to Class Three to find Zhou You now.

After losing to Nuomi that morning, she had received an assignment from Dragon-Tiger Mountain and taken leave to catch a ghost. When she returned to school that afternoon, her best friend told her some very strange rumors were circulating about her.

The one about Zhou You taking advantage of her two years ago and her demanding that he take responsibility was tolerable. At least Su Tingxue could understand it and knew where it had come from.

But where on earth had the rumor that she'd knelt before Zhou You to beg him to take her back come from?!

All the way here, she had felt people looking at her strangely. She couldn't tell whether she was imagining it.

Under the circumstances, she didn't dare approach Zhou You directly. All she could do was fold a paper airplane, turn it into a makeshift magical artifact, and use it to call him out.

"I'd like your help catching a ghost. Can you take leave? We can be back before evening."

At the mention of taking leave, Zhou You instinctively quailed at the thought of his homeroom teacher. But once he heard he could go ghost hunting with a disciple of Dragon-Tiger Mountain, that fear no longer seemed insurmountable.

"The ghost is very weak, but it's a little unusual. I can't deal with it alone. I need another cultivator who can see ghosts."

Su Tingxue had no choice but to ask Zhou You. The ghost she needed to catch was unusual and required two cultivators who could see ghosts to work together. Apart from herself, however, all such cultivators were Foundation Establishment experts, and getting their help wasn't easy.

"I won't ask you to help for nothing. How about I recommend you for membership in Dragon-Tiger Mountain as payment?"

Dragon-Tiger Mountain was a renowned major sect in the cultivation world. Countless cultivators sold their cars and mortgaged their homes, then knelt endlessly outside its gates, hoping to move the sect with their money and sincerity.

Since Zhou You possessed Yin-Yang Eyes just like the founding master, Su Tingxue believed Dragon-Tiger Mountain would gladly welcome him.

"I already belong to a sect." Zhou You refused without hesitation. He had only joined the Carefree Sect that morning and become its leader. How could he defect that very afternoon?

"You already belong to a sect?" Su Tingxue was surprised. Hadn't he introduced himself that morning as a student of his deskmate, Chu Xiaoyao?

What kind of sect was that? The Deskmate Sect?

"The Carefree Sect. Though unworthy of the honor, I am its Sect Master." Zhou You introduced himself with restrained dignity, then recounted the sect's founding in his capacity as its Sect Master. Pride shone through his words and expression.

This was the Carefree Sect, whose fame resounded across the Primordial Continent. The Free and Unfettered Female Emperor had offered lavish gifts to invite him to become its Sect Master.

Su Tingxue's expression turned odd. She wanted to say that he and Chu Xiaoyao together couldn't even beat their PE teacher in a fight, so what business did they have founding a sect?

But she kept that to herself and raised another question instead. "Have you announced it publicly?"

Zhou You looked utterly blank. "Announced it publicly? Announced what?"

Seeing that he knew nothing about it, Su Tingxue kindly explained, "According to Cultivation World custom, you have to announce a sect's founding to the world. Usually, small sects pay a little money to put a notice in a local newspaper, while major sects pay a lot to put one in a newspaper distributed nationwide."

"But the wording is discreet. They usually disguise it as the establishment of a company."

"That's a thing?" Zhou You was surprised. So cultivators had always been close at hand. There were even traces of them in the newspapers.

"Of course. That's the modern approach. Before newspapers existed, the methods for announcing it to the world were a little wilder."

"Wilder?"

"The most common method was for the sect leader to steal something from the imperial palace. That would get them wanted nationwide. Notices would be posted at city gates, saying the leader of such-and-such sect had robbed the imperial treasury, complete with a portrait. Then everyone would know the sect had been founded."

"It didn't cost a penny, and you even gained a national treasure. Lots of people used that method."

"What if they messed up and got caught?" Zhou You asked curiously.

"See you at the Caishikou Execution Grounds."

Zhou You: "..."

"You've heard of the most famous announcement of a sect's founding. It was in your history textbook."

"It was in my history textbook? I've heard of it?" Zhou You pointed at himself and mentally reviewed his history textbook, but couldn't come up with an answer.

"It was the predecessor of our Dragon-Tiger Mountain, the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice in the late Eastern Han. They launched a rebellion outright, announcing their sect's founding to the world."

Zhou You fell silent.

The cultivators on the Primordial Continent sounded much more normal.

"Where are we going next?"

"Catch." Su Tingxue took something from her pocket and tossed it to Zhou You. "I'll explain the ghost-catching job on the way."

Zhou You opened his hand. Su Tingxue had given him a key. Was it meant to unlock something so he could take out whatever was inside to catch the ghost?

"What's this?"

"My bike key. It's parked by the school gate. You can ride it, and I'll scan a shared bike. We'll cycle there."

What happened to being a rich young lady chauffeured to and from school in a luxury car? Why was there only a bike?

Zhou You screwed up his courage, invented an excuse, and asked his homeroom teacher for the afternoon off. The teacher's gaze was as unreadable as ever. Perhaps because he felt guilty, Zhou You kept wondering as he left the office whether the teacher had seen through his plans.

He also returned to the classroom briefly. Chu Xiaoyao wasn't there, apparently still being scolded by the language teacher. He had to leave her a note saying he was going ghost hunting with Su Tingxue and would return before evening study hall.

He had originally intended to ask Nuomi to pass on the message, but considering her relationship with Su Tingxue, he decided against it.

Su Tingxue seemed quite familiar with the gatekeeper. A quick greeting was all it took for him to let them both out. Zhou You didn't even need his permission slip.

"I often leave school to help people subdue demons and exorcise evil. Since I go out so much, the gatekeeper knows me," Su Tingxue explained when she noticed Zhou You's puzzled look.

Hearing that Su Tingxue often subdued demons and exorcised evil, Zhou You looked envious. That sort of life sounded fascinating.

"I originally wanted to handle this one myself too, but something unusual came up."

Su Tingxue pointed out her bicycle and sent Zhou You to get it, then took out her phone to scan a shared bike.

Su Tingxue's bicycle was a mountain bike. It was Zhou You's first time riding one, and the seat was too high for him to feel comfortable.

"What happened?"

"At the start of this month, the Chang'an City Transportation Bureau noticed an anomaly in its data. The frequency of traffic accidents at the intersection of China Avenue and Huaian Road was far higher than in previous records."

"Statements from some of the drivers responsible and the victims also indicated that their vision had suddenly gone dark just before the accidents. That brief blindness was what caused the crashes."

Zhou You frowned. "A ghost was behind it?"

Su Tingxue nodded and continued, "As it happened, someone at the Transportation Bureau had dealt with Dragon-Tiger Mountain before, so they told the sect about it. Since I was in Chang'an City, Dragon-Tiger Mountain sent me to investigate."

"I found that the accident rate had started rising in June this year, so I pulled the records of every traffic accident at that intersection in May. One stood out as the most suspicious."

"It happened in the afternoon, when there weren't many people around. The driver wasn't paying attention and looked down to play on his phone as he approached the intersection, failing to notice a pedestrian ahead. By the time he saw her, it was too late. The car hit her, and both the driver and the pedestrian died at the scene."

"The driver was a man in his forties. His parents had died young, he'd never married, and he lived alone. The pedestrian was a young woman who had just passed the postgraduate entrance exam on her second attempt. Her family was intact, and she'd recently started dating someone."

"The pedestrian died bearing resentment and became a Sight-Obscuring Ghost. She blocks the vision of drivers and pedestrians, causing traffic accidents."

A Sight-Obscuring Ghost. It was Zhou You's first time hearing the name. It was straightforward enough to make its methods easy to understand.

"Does everyone who dies with resentment become a ghost?" Zhou You asked curiously. He knew nothing about this subject.

Su Tingxue shook her head. "No. Becoming a ghost requires the right timing, conditions, and circumstances. If resentment alone were enough, there would be far too many ghosts in the world. Even if every cultivator from Dragon-Tiger Mountain came down to deal with them and we printed talismans on printing presses, we'd never finish."