"...You know, sometimes you could just keep your mouth shut."
Chu Qingjiu said this out of nowhere.
Qi Wu was such a jinx. Nothing good ever happened when Chu Qingjiu was with him, though it might also have been because his spirit tablet had fallen over.
Once midnight passed tonight, Qi Wu's good days would be over.
At that thought, Chu Qingjiu's expression improved considerably. After all, there was no need to hold a grudge against a kid who was about to suffer.
"I'm sorry, big brother. I didn't mean to. I don't know why the door suddenly closed on its own, either. I'm actually a little scared, too."
Qi Wu looked pitifully at Chu Qingjiu, putting on a thoroughly calculated show of innocence, hoping those sincere eyes would persuade him to let it slide.
"Heh."
Chu Qingjiu packed all his scorn into that single sound. He didn't need to say anything else; that little laugh was enough.
Not even a ghost would believe Qi Wu was scared.
Seeing that Chu Qingjiu didn't believe him, Qi Wu immediately gave him an aggrieved look. His clear amber eyes filled with tears, as though he was about to cry.
"Big brother..."
Qi Wu gently tugged Chu Qingjiu's sleeve. Huge tears spilled down his cheeks in an instant, making him look like a pitiful puppy that had been bullied.
Chu Qingjiu fell silent for a second. He knew Qi Wu might be faking it, but his tears looked so genuine and pretty, so heartrending, that he still gave in.
"...All right, I believe you."
Kids really were the most annoying creatures. Though Qi Wu had turned nineteen this year, Chu Qingjiu still saw him as a child.
Noisy, clingy, dramatic, full of crafty ideas and twisted humor.
Now he could add another trait: a crybaby.
Qi Wu immediately beamed, shutting off his tears at will. That performance deserved an Oscar.
"Luckily, we're in the safe period right now, so nothing will happen. Let's check the other rooms."
Qi Wu placed both hands on Chu Qingjiu's shoulders and pushed him toward the door.
Chu Qingjiu didn't resist. He let Qi Wu support most of his weight, making the walk effortless.
The two checked the other rooms, all of which contained Evil Buddhas. When Liu Peng and the others came out, they compared their findings.
Between the two groups, they had seen eleven Evil Buddhas. The most important one was missing-King Yama.
"Tomorrow is the Ghost Festival. This King Yama must be pretty important, right?"
Zhang Yaoyao had no idea what the Twelve Evil Buddhas were. Even after listening to Chu Qingjiu explain them bit by bit, she was still confused. It took her a long while to grasp the key point: one was missing.
This stuff is way harder than studying.
She thought this with a frown.
"Of course he's important. Young Master Xu wants to summon a soul, and our task is to bring back his lover's spirit." Looking utterly serious, Qi Wu lifted his chin at Zhang Yaoyao like a teacher giving a lesson. "Where do you think we have to go to bring it back?"
Zhang Yaoyao gave a bewildered "Huh?" and looked to Liu Peng for help.
Liu Peng picked up the explanation. "King Yama rules the fifth court of the Ten Kings of Hell and oversees the Book of Life and Death.
"All spirits enter Fengdu Ghost City after death. They return to the human world for their Seventh-Day Rite and on the Ghost Festival, so we either have to enter the ghost city and bring his lover's spirit out, or stop his lover's spirit from going back."
Chu Qingjiu added coldly, "We also have to erase the name from the Book of Life and Death for it to work. Otherwise, once the time is up, Underworld Soldiers will come to arrest the spirit and take it back."
Zhang Yaoyao said innocently, "But don't we just need to bring back his lover's spirit?"
"The Underworld Soldiers won't take long to arrive. If we keep blocking them or resisting, his lover's soul might be destroyed outright."
Qi Wu mimed a firework exploding. "Like this-boom. Gone."
The other three: "..." Is there something wrong with him?
"Okay, let's head back and see what they found, and whether anyone spotted our dear King Yama." Qi Wu dusted himself off as he spoke casually.
There were no more clues to be found here for now, so they followed Qi Wu out.
The eight gathered again and discussed what each of them had seen.
Perhaps because night hadn't fallen yet, the clues they had obtained were limited. Apart from the missing King Yama and the news that Qi Wu would most likely be attacked after midnight tonight, they had found nothing else useful.
"Big brother, why don't the two of us come back here tonight?"
Qi Wu lowered his eyes to Chu Qingjiu, his posture languid and his manner flippant and irreverent.
Remembering that Qi Wu would be attacked tonight, Chu Qingjiu wanted to see him fleeing in panic, so he nodded. "Sure."
The eight returned to the corner of the wall. This time, there was no table to stand on, so Qi Wu bent over and let everyone step on his back to climb up.
They left in the same order they had entered.
With a running start, Qi Wu caught the top of the wall and hauled himself up with his powerful arms, easily climbing back over on his own.
He was, after all, six foot three.
For a moment, Chu Qingjiu gazed at the vigorous, strong Qi Wu, unsure whether what he felt was envy or something else.
Qi Wu was very tall, with handsome, refined features that still held a touch of youthful immaturity, but he was striking enough to turn heads. His neat, short black hair only accentuated his vitality.
He would have looked right at home beneath the spotlight as an adored young idol.
"You keep looking at me, big brother. Have I swept you off your feet?"
That one sentence left Chu Qingjiu choking on his words, with only one thought in his mind:
Why did someone perfectly fine have to come with a mouth?
"..."
His silence was the best answer.
Lin Ran noticed from beside them and teased with a grin, "How are you so full of yourself? Look, you've left him speechless."
"Big brother, am I not good-looking?" Qi Wu looked at Chu Qingjiu with a wounded expression, as though he would burst into tears if Chu Qingjiu dared say he wasn't.
Chu Qingjiu was silent for a while before answering, his face still cold. "...You are."
"Big brother said I'm good-looking. How is that being full of myself?" Qi Wu hooked an arm around Chu Qingjiu's shoulders and pulled him snug against his side. "This is clearly just putting my looks to good use to seduce him."
The other seven: ? What are you even talking about?
"Actually, I fell in love with you at first sight, big brother."
Qi Wu leaned down toward Chu Qingjiu's ear and lowered his voice. His pleasant, clear, youthful voice suddenly turned deep, with a faintly husky texture that was extremely alluring.
It sent a tingling sensation through half of Chu Qingjiu's body.
Chu Qingjiu hurriedly pulled free of Qi Wu's hold, his expression cold and composed, as though he was entirely unmoved.
But the ear Qi Wu had leaned close to suddenly turned red, its vivid, enticing flush like a flower bud about to bloom.
The young man's eyes curved into crescents as he declared confidently, "You're embarrassed, big brother."
Chu Qingjiu's mind was filled with thoughts of killing Qi Wu. Even when Qi Wu claimed to have fallen in love with him at first sight, he didn't believe a word of it.
If it really was love at first sight, why was his affection still at 0?
It was clearly a lie made up just to tease him. He hated being toyed with, especially when the person doing it was the enemy he had been trying to kill all along.
Chu Qingjiu said nothing, but wondered where the mastermind controlling Xu Zhijie might be.
If he could find that mastermind, he could use them to kill Qi Wu. Besides, this instance might very well contain his missing Puppet Threads.
He had sensed his own aura on Xu Zhijie. The Puppet Threads the mastermind used to control Xu Zhijie were very likely his.
He would make Qi Wu pay for his brazen flippancy.
Before you continue