After Marrying the Evil God - Chapter 32

When the bell rang signaling the end of class, the man in traditional ancient clothing stood up and walked over to Xie Chouzhuang’s side. He spoke, “I want to talk to you.”

Xie Chouzhuang offered a reassuring look to Shi Zhi and drew a talisman for him before gesturing for the man in ancient dress to follow him out.

Ji Sixian was already outside waiting. When he saw Xie Chouzhuang emerge accompanied by a ghost, his eyes flickered slightly, but he said nothing. He simply motioned for Xie Chouzhuang to get into the car.

Xie Chouzhuang opened the back door for the male ghost and took the passenger seat himself.

The man sat in the back, looking somewhat restless. He could sense that the man driving was terrifying—his aura was even more intimidating than that of some Ghost Kings he had encountered.

Silence fell over the car. After a while, Xie Chouzhuang broke it by asking, “Why are you following Shi Zhi?”

The man spoke with a hint of bashfulness, “Zhizhi is my wife.”

“Huh?” Xie Chouzhuang had not expected that answer. He hadn’t realized that Shi Zhi’s little adventure would result in him bringing back a ghost husband.

According to the man’s introduction, his name was Pei Yu. He had been the emperor of an obscure little kingdom in history. In their past lives, he and Shi Zhi were a married couple. They had made a pact to be together life after life, but later, Shi Zhi died on the battlefield.

Pei Yu committed suicide to follow him, but because his obsession was too deep after death, he was unable to reincarnate. Instead, he became a Ghost King.

After becoming a Ghost King, he began to remember the events of his past life and discovered that Shi Zhi had already been reincarnated. He had been searching for Shi Zhi’s reincarnation ever since. Even the recent exploration of the attic had been a deliberate temptation he used to lure Shi Zhi there.

Xie Chouzhuang sighed. “Even though you had a prior agreement, Shi Zhi has already been reincarnated. He doesn’t remember anything from his past life. It isn’t a permanent solution for you to follow him like this. If he falls in love with someone else in the future…”

Xie Chouzhuang didn’t finish the sentence, but the implication was clear: Shi Zhi had already moved on to a new life; there was no guarantee he wouldn’t fall for someone else, and Pei Yu was, after all, a ghost. If Shi Zhi fell in love with another, what would Pei Yu do?

Furthermore, the union of the living and the dead goes against the laws of nature. It would damage Shi Zhi’s life force and potentially lead to an early death.

Pei Yu gave a bitter smile. “I know everything you’ve said, but I still want to try. Zhizhi is special, so even though I am a Ghost King, I cannot manifest before him unless he gives his consent. That is why I made this plan when I realized in the classroom that you could see me. I want to ask for your help—let Zhizhi look at me and let me speak with him. If he falls in love with someone else later, I won’t pester him. If he is unwilling, I will return to the Underworld.”

“If you stay together, have you considered that your Yin energy will harm him?”

Pei Yu nodded. “I know. I have been working hard on my cultivation for many years. You saw it just now there is very little Yin energy on Zhizhi. Before long, Yin energy will not affect him at all.”

“Brother, what do you think?” Xie Chouzhuang asked Ji Sixian.

“Ghost Kings who wander the human realm are registered in the Underworld. He also possesses merit and will not commit evil,” Ji Sixian replied.

With Ji Sixian’s word, Xie Chouzhuang felt much more at ease. “We still need to ask the person involved for his opinion. If Shi Zhi agrees, I have no problem helping you, but you must keep your word.”

“Thank you, thank you.” Pei Yu floated out of the car window, his face full of excitement. “Then I shall wait for your good news.”

They soon reached their destination, but Ji Sixian did not get out of the car.

The wife of the household was still in the hospital. The person who met them was a man in his late twenties named Liu Yi.

Liu Yi hadn’t expected the incoming Level 3 Celestial Master to be so young. He hesitated for a moment upon seeing Xie Chouzhuang. “Are you Mr. Xie?”

Xie Chouzhuang showed him his occultist certification.

Seeing that he hadn’t mistaken the person, Liu Yi began to introduce the situation. “Lili and I just got married. This house took almost all of our savings. At first, everything was normal, but then we started losing things. Leftovers in the fridge would go missing for no reason. When Lili mentioned it to me, I didn’t pay it much mind; I thought she just remembered wrong. But the day before yesterday, Lili bought a cake and left it on the table. We went out for a meal, and when we came back, half the cake had been eaten.

“At first, Lili thought I ate it, but I don’t like sweets at all. I remember clearly—I was standing at the door when Lili put the cake down; I didn’t even go inside. We thought a thief had broken in, so we asked property management to check the surveillance, but it turned out no one had even been to our floor.”

Liu Yi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

“We both thought we were misremembering, so we ignored it. Then, in the middle of the night, Lili got up, suddenly fell, and suffered a fracture. She kept screaming that there was a ghost and said she heard a child’s laughter. After I took her to the hospital, I found out the previous owner of this house also encountered a ghost and moved out in a hurry. But we’ve already paid the money; we could only look everywhere for a master to exorcise the ghost. To our surprise, those ‘masters’ looked all sage-like and professional, but they all turned out to be frauds who fled in a panic after being scared.”

Liu Yi grew angry thinking about the 100,000 yuan he had lost.

“I’ll go in and take a look first. You stay out here,” Xie Chouzhuang said.

Seeing Xie Chouzhuang empty-handed, Liu Yi was puzzled. “Aren’t you going to prepare a peach-wood sword, talismans, or something? That’s how it’s done on TV, and those fake masters from before prepared all that too.”

Catching the skeptical look in Liu Yi’s eyes, Xie Chouzhuang explained, “The ghost in the house only moves things or eats; your wife fell because she was frightened. This indicates the ghost is not a malicious spirit, but likely a child spirit. Those things aren’t necessary.”

“Oh, oh, so that’s how it is. Then, Mr. Xie, I’ll wait for your good news.” Liu Yi handed the keys to the house to Xie Chouzhuang.

Xie Chouzhuang opened the door and walked in. The living room curtains were open, and while the sun was shining into the room, it didn’t feel stuffy at all—instead, there was a lingering chill.

Xie Chouzhuang walked over and pulled the curtains shut. Once the blackout curtains were closed, the entire house fell into darkness.

After a moment, the remote control in the living room moved. The television turned on automatically and began playing cartoons.

In Xie Chouzhuang’s vision, a little girl of three or four years old was sitting leisurely on the sofa watching the cartoon, giggling to herself.

“Is it good?” Xie Chouzhuang walked over and sat down beside her.

“Hehe, it’s good!” the little girl answered subconsciously. Then, realizing something was wrong, she let out a scream. “You, you can see me?”

Xie Chouzhuang grabbed the little girl as she tried to flee.

“Let me go! Let me go! Kidnapping! Someone’s kidnapping a child!” The little girl’s eyes darted around as she began to shout.

Xie Chouzhuang slapped a silence talisman onto her.

“Mmph, mmph.” Unable to speak, the little girl could only glare at Xie Chouzhuang with her wide, watery eyes.

Xie Chouzhuang ignored the look. “I ask, you answer. Is that okay? If you agree, I’ll take the talisman off.”

The little girl nodded. Watching Xie Chouzhuang peel the talisman off, she opened her mouth to cry, but Xie Chouzhuang immediately slapped the talisman back on.

The little girl: “…”

She might not be human, but you are a real dog!