"There's a villa that's said to be haunted. The owner hired me to help catch the ghost."
It seemed like a straightforward case. The owner clearly had money and would go to great lengths to resolve problems, and seeking Li Jingxiang was just one avenue.
"You can do that?" Yaoyao asked with a smile, crossing her legs.
"No, but I suspect it's not a vengeful spirit."
"Oh?"
"Please take a look." Sha Wuji pulled out his phone and showed us his conversation with the client, which included a long-distance photo of the villa.
"The feng shui here is excellent. It's not a place that gathers yin energy, but rather one with strong yang energy," Sha Wuji analyzed, pointing to the mountains and water in the background of the photo. "So, I think it might not be a vengeful spirit, but a demonic entity cultivating here, posing as a vengeful spirit to cause trouble. Its goal is to drive away the people near the villa so they don't disturb it."
Yaoyao nodded and explained to me, "Ghosts are creatures of extreme yin, while demons are beings of pure yang. Therefore, ghosts prefer dark places, and demons prefer bright ones. Judging by the photo, this place truly lacks the conditions for a vengeful spirit. Even if a vengeful spirit were to come to such a purely yang place, its malevolent energy would be greatly reduced, rendering it incapable of causing much trouble."
"What kind of demon could it be, so powerful that it could take down Old Sun?" I asked. When I spoke with Li Jingxiang in the train car earlier, she didn't hide anything, revealing her master's true identity. In fact, he was a consultant for the Yan Xia Shakespeare General Bureau, a veteran expert far surpassing Shen Xingyue's level.
Both Yaoyao and Sha Wuji shook their heads. After all, they couldn't use the art of qi sensing through a photograph.
Just then, Shen Xingyue called, asking where I was.
"Has the General Bureau approved us to establish a sect?" I asked.
"I haven't reported it yet. Something has happened in Jinling, and I need to go back."
"Is it about the Cui Ping Villa incident?" I asked. The incident occurred in Cui Ping Mountain. The villas in that area were built scattered, far from each other, prioritizing the privacy of the wealthy. There was no unified developer, and they were all referred to as Cui Ping Villas.
"You know about it too?" Shen Xingyue sounded surprised.
"Yaoyao and I are heading to Jinling."
"...Alright, then I'll see you in Jinling. I might need your... need Mu Jige's help." Shen Xingyue excluded "me" because she knew I wouldn't be of much help; it would be good if I didn't cause any trouble.
A flight attendant approached and informed us that Yaoyao and I were not in the business class and requested us to return to the economy class. Although her attitude and tone were polite, her words carried a discernible sense of discrimination that made us uncomfortable.
Seeing that his princess had been insulted, Sha Wuji was furious and wanted to argue with the flight attendant. I held him back, saying that if they didn't want us here, we could just go back.
Sha Wuji naturally returned with us. I introduced Li Jingxiang and him to each other. Of course, I only mentioned that Sha Wuji was also a shaman, not that he was a demon.
Around 2 PM, the high-speed train arrived at Jinling South Station.
Everything before me felt both familiar and strange.
It was familiar because this was the city where I had lived for over a decade. It was strange because the citizens amidst these familiar sights had transformed into peculiar beings with three strands of qi.
As their guide, I led the three of them to transfer to the subway, alighting at the South Air Terminal, which was only a few hundred meters from Cui Ping Mountain.
Li Jingxiang and Sha Wuji contacted the client separately. The client informed them that the Shakespeare organization had sealed off the villa half an hour ago. The other mages, Taoists, and so on whom he had hired could only wait outside and were unable to enter to catch ghosts or perform rituals.
"That demon is definitely not in the villa, so going in is useless," Yaoyao said, then closed her eyes and began to "sense qi" towards the mountain.
"Not that way, it's this way." I picked Yaoyao up, turned her around, and set her down. The mountain she had been looking at was called "Jiang Jun Mountain"...
"Did you see anything?" Sha Wuji asked. He and Laosan had both served in the Qing army, so they naturally knew Yaoyao possessed the art of qi sensing.
Yaoyao shook her head. "It's too far, I can't see—Wait a minute! I think it's it!"