Forbidden to Capture Rare Cute Ghosts - Chapter 16

After replying to the message, Lian Yi turned off the communicator and his gaze fell on the drawer on the other side.

Zhuo Qing’s soul was inside, securely sealed with triple-layer soul art.

Most likely, the reason for Gu Xu’s visit was for Zhuo Qing. He used to be Zhuo Qing’s junior disciple, and their relationship was as close as brothers.

But Lian Yi was well aware — there was no way to cover up Zhuo Qing’s death, and anyone would suspect it was his doing.

Lian Yi nonchalantly retracted his gaze, turning to go to the bedroom.

Nan Deng was not yet asleep. The Rabbit Head, woken up halfway through its sleep by Nan Deng, was biting on his sleeve, complaining why he did not come out to accompany it last night.

“I was so tired, I accidentally fell asleep,” Nan Deng stroked its head, “Were you well-behaved last night?”

The Rabbit Head, after gulping down several Level-3 resentful spirits the night before, was now docile like a toy, with its ears shaking, rubbing against Nan Deng’s palm vigorously.

It imitated Nan Deng, yawning widely, and then buried its face to continue sleeping.

Lian Yi walked in and sat by his bed.

Nan Deng lifted his head, immediately saying cheerfully, “I’m able to phase through walls again!”

He had just tried; he could pass through walls and wooden planks at will. It must be because of the bite he got last night that his strength had returned once again.

However, Nan Deng didn’t dare to test this too many times, fearing this ability would suddenly disappear.

Lian Yi responded with an acknowledging “Mm”, “From now on, don’t run around carelessly.”

There was some sternness in his words, but the tone was relatively gentle. Nan Deng was oblivious. He moved closer, holding Lian Yi’s hand, “I wasn’t running around… The little black cat came to see me last night, I heard it meowing outside.”

“The small black cat?”

It most likely was the black cat that was guarding him when they found Nan Deng.

Nan Deng nodded, “And another one… A little glowing fairy.”

He didn’t know how to describe it, so he gesticulated roughly, also mentioning that the fairy had wings and could fly.

Lian Yi didn’t prod further. Nan Deng not remembering his past meant he had fewer things in his cognizance – “little fairy” could have been any bird or insect.

Babbling on, Nan Deng became sleepy and gradually closed his eyes.

Lian Yi used soul art to release his hand and moved Nan Deng to the center of the bed.

As a ghost, Nan Deng slept quite a lot.

However, he had ingested a live soul, which seemed to keep him in good condition. Lian Yi sat at the edge of the bed, looking at Nan Deng’s peaceful sleeping face.

Rabbit Head lay face down on the other side, unmoving.

Just as he stood up and was about to leave, he suddenly felt a severe chest pain.

This unexpected intense pain caused Lian Yi to bend over, supporting himself against the edge of the bed. His brows furrowed and his face was extremely pale.

The pain didn’t last long, and he managed to endure it. As he straightened up, he noticed that Rabbiy Head was awake, its eyes fixed on him intently.

That look seemed to confirm its intention to devour him the moment he appeared weak and vulnerable.

With an icy expression, Lian Yi ignored Rabbit Head and left the bedroom, returning to the study.

The soul art isolated the sound inside the study. He opened the drawer and took out Zhuo Qing’s soul.

The curtain was drawn back, and as the soul in the glass bottle was exposed to sunlight, it began to laugh loudly.

“Do you feel it?” Zhuo Qing’s voice was full of malice. “The prohibition has begun to take effect. This is a warning for you to repent and accept your punishment as soon as possible. Maybe you’ll still have a chance at a new beginning.”

“Why don’t you just kill me directly,” Lian Yi didn’t care about his words and spoke with a hint of mockery, “If the prohibition had lasted a little longer, I would already be dead.”

Causing him pain but not killing him outright was indeed just a warning, but was it necessary?

He had already committed the crime of killing his teacher, and with Zhuo Qing now a vengeful spirit, his hatred for Lian Yi ran deeper, longing for him to die sooner and be imprisoned in the Ye Zhang Tower to suffer endless torment.

Under the sunlight’s scorching, the black soul writhed in the bottle.

The pain twisted Zhuo Qing’s laughter into a strange and grating sound: “How about this, let’s make a deal.”

“Give me three-quarters of your life soul,” Zhuo Qing said enticingly. “I’ll teach you how to remove the prohibition, including the one in the inner courtyard.”

With those two prohibitions gone, Lian Yi’s soul would no longer be restrained, and he could even freely leave his position as a Celestial Master.

“Your talent is so high that even if you lose your life soul, you can naturally heal it.”

Zhuo Qing’s voice was hoarse, “You don’t want to die, do you? Or do you want to be imprisoned, never seeing the light of day again?”

Lian Yi stood at the desk, silently watching the sunlight outside the window, as if he hadn’t heard a word.

Zhuo Qing grew impatient, unable to hold back his anger, and started to berate him. His words were just the same ones over and over, without a hint of freshness.

After what felt like an eternity, Lian Yi finally spoke, “This is your goal?”

A bagua disc flew in from behind him and with a “pop” sound, it clamped down on the glass jar.

The Zhuo Qing within immediately let out a wretched scream, the sound echoing through the entire study.

Only when he was at his last gasp did Lian Yi put away the bagua disc, locking him back inside the drawer.

—

Nan Deng woke up at noon. He lifted the bunny head lying on his chest, gently placing it on the pillow while he got up to look for Lian Yi.

The entire house was quiet, with the curtains drawn tightly everywhere. It was as if the whole place was dipped in a layer of shadowy darkness.

Lian Yi was sitting in a corner of the couch, resting his back against the chair.

As Nan Deng approached, Lian Yi opened his eyes and reached out to him.

“Are you tired?” Nan Deng sat next to him, instinctively snuggling into his arms, “Why don’t we go to the bedroom and sleep? I’ll stay with you.”

Lian Yi hugged the semi-transparent spirit, lowering his gaze as he softly replied, “No need.”

Nan Deng practically nestled on his lap, his cold fingers brushing lightly against his cheek, he hesitated before saying, “You don’t seem happy…”

Lian Yi’s complexion wasn’t great, and his body temperature was lower than usual. Especially in this environment that shuts out all sunlight, he appeared even more gloomy and bellicose.

“Did you not rest well?” Nan Deng asked worriedly, “Or does the wound hurt?”

Lian Yi didn’t reply, lowering his head as he tried to roll up his sleeves to check whether his wound was still bleeding.

“None.”

Lian Yi stopped him, “The wound has already healed.”

The injury on his left hand had healed quite well, and it hadn’t been necessary to apply any medicines for the past two days.

Strangely, his wound was inflicted by Zhuo Qing’s magical weapon drenched in characteristic talisman water. Unless Zhuo Qing himself gave him the medication, it was virtually impossible to heal.

Recently, the wound had been seeping blood, but Lian Yi couldn’t be bothered. Originally, he thought it would take at least two to three months to heal. Unexpectedly, it had started healing in the past few days.

“Really?” Nan Deng squeezed his arm, “Are you hungry?”

“No,” Lian Yi replied.

After finishing speaking, Lian Yi fell silent. He raised his hand, seemingly wanting to touch Nan Deng’s black hair but stopped mid-way, instead undoing a button on his shirt.

He fully exposed the side of his neck and said, “Take a bite.”

Nan Deng hurriedly shook his head, “I’m not hungry…”

Lian Yi countered, “You’re a ghost; how can you not like eating the souls of the living?”

“I do like it,” Nan Deng hesitated, “But I just bit you yesterday. Won’t it be bad for your health?”

Aren’t living people afraid of ghosts for this reason?

After being bitten by a ghost, one needed to find a celestial master to get a talisman potion to drink in order to restore their depleted vitality.

“It won’t,” Lian Yi continued to coax, “I’ve told you before, you can’t hurt me.”

The small amount of living souls that Nan Deng consumed each time was so minuscule that Lian Yi could hardly feel it.

Still, Nan Deng was unwilling. While glancing at Lian Yi’s exposed neck with a touch of longing in his eyes, he hesitantly said, “Then… let’s talk about it tonight.”

Lian Yi compromised, “Alright.”

Nan Deng breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself who would actually want a ghost to bite them willingly?

Fortunately, he was a principled ghost, one who never bit more than necessary.

At this time, there was a faint rustling in the bedroom, probably because the rabbit head had woken up. Nan Deng wanted to go check on it.

“Don’t move,” Lian Yi whispered, “Stay here.”

With Nan Deng by his side, Lian Yi’s faint heartache seemed to vanish. The icy, fog-like soul clinging close to him was more comfortable than soaking in hot water.

Nan Deng obediently remained still, wrapping his arms around Lian Yi’s waist and leaning against his shoulder.

As expected, the rabbit head had awakened. It hopped into the living room and seeing Nan Deng and Lian Yi together again, it couldn’t help but feel a bit resentful.

It moved to the couch, forcefully squeezing its way into Nan Deng’s embrace, and continued sleeping.

—

During the night, their mission to pursue vengeful spirits proceeded as usual.

The Ghost King hadn’t reappeared lately, and because they had captured a large number of vengeful spirits in their operation a few days ago, the situation in the area had drastically improved.

Furthermore, with Gu Xu around, he had also brought a group of his own people, lessening the pressure on Lin Jiu significantly.

He simply divested half of his responsibility, forming a small team to participate in regular patrols as usual.

At eleven o’clock at night, vengeful spirits from various places began to make their move, and Lin Jiu received a message from a team leader.

“There’s a family where four people have fallen ill at the same time. We’ve checked on them and confirmed that it’s not caused by ghosts. It might be some type of contagious disease. We’ve arranged for them to be taken to the hospital.”

Celestial Masters are in charge of catching ghosts, while regular illnesses should be treated at the hospital.

Lin Jiu replied, “Alright, be careful on the way.”

Hospitals, too, are places with a high potential for ghosts to appear, where a greater number of Celestial Masters are usually stationed.

Lin Jiu put away his communicator, only to receive another notification. This time, it was a call for help.

He checked the message and realized it was coming from the southeast, not far from his location, so he immediately led his team to rush over there.

When Lin Jiu’s team arrived, they saw a level three vengeful spirit had already been captured, but the call for help hadn’t been turned off.

Upon seeing Lin Jiu, a hint of disappointment flickered in the team leader’s eyes: “The crisis has already been resolved.”

This team was one of those Gu Xu brought over. Lin Jiu didn’t say much and quietly left without exhibiting any outward reaction.

On the outskirts, a few Celestial Masters were waiting in the dark, periodically using optical equipment to check the distant house with the lights on.

“How come he didn’t react at all?” one of them said. “Isn’t he supposed to respond to a call for help?”

Many Celestial Masters have verified this point before. Furthermore, Lian Yi would indeed help capture vengeful spirits when called upon. A single individual like him was equivalent to the power of four to five teams.

Later, when the inner courtyard received reinforcement and a new earth spirit appeared, the requests for help decreased quite a bit.

The simplest method to lure Lian Yi out of that house was by sending out a call for help signal. It would also serve as a test to gauge his level of control.

Two help signals were sent out consecutively. The house remained quiet inside and out, with Lian Yi showing no intention of moving to check on the situation.

A Celestial Master snorted coldly, “Just as well, let’s mark this incident down for him.”

Without orders from Gu Xu, they couldn’t leave just yet, so they planned to move a little closer in hopes of finding out what Lian Yi was doing in the house.

The group covertly moved forward. The pitch-black streets didn’t have any street lights on, and all the houses they passed were empty and devoid of inhabitants.

Suddenly, a cat’s meow sounded nearby.

Under the cover of the night, a pair of golden eyes gradually moved closer, its shape slowly emerging.

This was a muscular black cat. Its paws were wide, its shiny, muscle-covered coat resembling a small panther.

The celestial master at the forefront stopped in his tracks, uncertainly declaring, “An earth spirit?”

They knew that the newly born earth spirit of the area was a black cat, which they had yet to meet.

And the cat in front of them seemed quite unusual, highly likely to be the earth spirit.

The black cat also halted, carefully scrutinizing everyone present.

It was looking for Nan Deng, wanting to see if he was still in that house. On its way, it smelled the presence of strangers, and sure enough, it found a few celestial masters.

“Is there a high-level vengeful spirit here?” The celestial master conjectured about the reason for the presence of the earth spirit. “We are here to help.”

Vengeful spirit? Where did that come from?

Hei Mao found them annoying for continuously attempting to track it and sneaking over here.

It growled lowly, making a gesture as if trying to shoo them away.

Yet the celestial master in front remained, glancing in the distant direction, and stated, “Then please allow us to pass. We are here on the Elder’s orders to carry out patrols.”

Hei Mao grew more irritated. With it around, what was there to patrol? The last time these celestial masters came to the outskirts, Nan Deng was scared off and hid elsewhere.

Seeing these persistent fellows still insisted on heading towards the house where Nan Deng was located, Hei Mao became convinced they had ulterior motives.

It suddenly puffed up its fur in anger and leaped, smacking its paw hard on the celestial master standing at the front, almost knocking him down.

Earth spirits also possessed spiritual techniques. Although Hei Mao’s paw didn’t really touch him, it still left three deep scratches on his face.

The group quickly moved back to protect their injured comrade, accompanied by surprised murmurs, “This earth spirit is so aggressive?”

Earth spirits were known for their dislike of celestial masters and disdain for working together. This newborn situation might cause an even more violent reaction.

“Seems it still has a wild temperament,” a celestial master murmured, “No wonder we’re unable to communicate.”

Over time, earth spirits would inevitably have to interact with humans. They couldn’t avoid them forever.

“Let’s head back,” another suggested, looking towards the distant light, “It seems we can’t proceed tonight.”

The group quickly turned back, ending their standoff with Hei Mao.

On the way, they informed Gu Xu of the situation. His tone over the communicator was not very good, “Earth spirits are naturally averse to evil spirits, why would it appear in the outskirts?”

The outskirts were where Lian Yi lived. The evil spirit around him was too strong, no vengeful spirit dared to approach, let alone an earth spirit coexisted with him.

Gu Xu’s subordinates couldn’t explain, repeatedly bringing up the issue of Lian Yi not responding to the signals for help.

“Who knows what he’s up to in there,” Gu Xu sneered coldly. “Perhaps he knows I’m here and is feeling guilty.”

Meanwhile, Lian Yi and Nan Deng were in the bedroom.

Lian Yi was leaning against the soft padding of the bed head, slightly tilting his head, his eyes half-closed.

He tilted his neck, allowing Nan Deng to nibble at it.

Not wanting to hurt him, Nan Deng took a light bite, tasting his flesh and then symbolically licking it.

Lian Yi partially hugged him, “Is that enough?”

Nan Deng nodded, his plump, rosy lips close at hand.

Lian Yi couldn’t resist staring at him. Compared to when they first met, Nan Deng was even more beautiful and didn’t look like a ghost at all.

Normal ghosts, as their power grows, their resentment and desires do not easily diminish, most even develop strange limbs that aid in hunting, or transform into bizarre appearances.

However, Lian Yi was unsure whether it was normal for someone to willingly keep a ghost as Nan Deng did.

“You can rest now, right?” Nan Deng murmured in Lian Yi’s arms. “I’m really full.”

Lian Yi gave a soft “Hmm,” intending to close the door to avoid letting Rabbit Head in.

At this moment, Nan Deng distinctly heard a cat’s meow.

He quickly raised his head: “It’s the little black cat!”

Lian Yi also heard it, his eyebrows slightly furrowed as he followed Nan Deng to the window.

Nan Deng opened the window, and sure enough, there was Hei Mao outside.

He waved at Hei Mao, indicating that he was there.

Hei Mao meowed as it trotted over, leaping onto the windowsill.

Seeing Lian Yi, the celestial master, it bristled its fur immediately: “Whoa, whoa!”

Nan Deng quickly hugged it: “It’s okay, it’s okay. This is my friend, the one you’ve seen before.”

Hei Mao reluctantly accepted, looked at Lian Yi a few times, and then gently nuzzled Nan Deng’s palm.

“You were quite fierce just now,” sighed Nan Deng and then said, “But it’s good to be a bit fierce. Otherwise, you’d get bullied out there.”

Lian Yi was also taking in Hei Mao, his gaze sweeping over its overly robust physique.

“Bullying? It’s still uncertain who’s bullying who.”

They observed the cat, appearing larger than the last time they had seen it.

Ordinary cats wouldn’t grow so quickly, nor would they grow so large.

Could it be an earth spirit?

But then, why would an earth spirit protect a ghost?

Lian Yi turned his head, looking at the Rabbit Head who had hopped into the bedroom.

It seemed that Xiao Tu recognized the black cat too. He hopped onto the windowsill, sniffed at its paw, and discreetly took a small bite.

Hei Mao was oblivious, raising its head to accept Nan Deng’s caress.

As usual, it didn’t stay for long. After about ten minutes, Hei Mao hopped off the windowsill and left hurriedly.

Nan Deng picked up Xiao Tu, closed the window, and turned around to find Lian Yi watching him silently.

Lian Yi sensed something strange and nervously asked, “What’s wrong…you don’t like cats?”

“No,” Lian Yi replied, “The little sprite that came with it last night, what did it look like?”

Nan Deng carefully described it again, a tiny luminous creature with fluffy hair on its head, dressed in armor with a long sword, and a pair of wings.

It was Ren Shi, another earth spirit.

Even if Lian Yi no longer wanted to be concerned with these things, he should have guessed that something was unusual about Nan Deng.

But…why was Nan Deng imprisoned in the Ye Zhang Tower?

He was a soul, the breath on his body, although very faint, definitely had the unique aura of a ghost.

Lian Yi fell silent for a moment, Nan Deng gradually felt uncertain, moving closer to grab Lian Yi’s sleeve, carefully asking, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t let the celestial masters capture me?”

He didn’t know why Lian Yi was asking these questions, but an instinctual fear struck him that Lian Yi was about to abandon him.

He didn’t understand anything and didn’t know that Hei Mao was an earth spirit.

“No,” Lian Yi reached out to hug him, “I definitely won’t.”

Feeling somewhat reassured, Nan Deng hugged Lian Yi tightly, resting his chin on Lian Yi’s chest, his voice filled with grievance, “-In any case, I want to stay with you.”

Lian Yi swallowed. “Okay.”

Rabbit Head had long been squished off and it spun around on the floor twice before angrily heading for the living room.

—

During the day, Gu Xu reviewed all the reports from the previous night’s activities.

His mind was elsewhere; he casually skimmed through the reports once before tossing them onto the table: “I see. You can leave.”

Lin Jiu complied and left, even thoughtfully closing the door behind him.

Once he was gone, several of Gu Xu’s subordinates entered.

“Elder,” they inquired, “What should we do now?”

Four days had passed, Lian Yi had been out of his room only to receive some supplies delivered to his door, revealing his presence momentarily.

Then yesterday afternoon, he asked for the archived records of the ghost from the collapsed Ye Zhang Tower, without providing an explanation.

His communicator could not get through and he was unresponsive to any distress signals, contrary to the orders given when he was allowed to stay here.

“We can’t wait any longer,” Gu Xu decided, “Bring everyone over tonight.”

He was worried that Lian Yi might be plotting something secretly and if they continued to let him be, Lian Yi would only grow more audacious and uncontrollable.

Moreover, he himself was going over to make sure Lian Yi handed over Zhuo Qing.

To protect Zhuo Qing’s soul more conveniently, they chose to carry out the operation at night.

In the afternoon, Weng Ping Ran somehow got hold of some information and sent a message to Gu Xu.

“What does it matter to you? He’s as good as dead anyway.”

Not in the mood to reply, Gu Xu deleted the message outright.

By nighttime, Gu Xu first had someone attempt to connect with Lian Yi’s communication device. After confirming there was no one to connect with, he personally set out with his men to the outskirts of town.

At the same time, Lian Yi went to his study room and opened a drawer.

Next to the communicator was a small pottery jar, in which was a water ghost.

This was something he had captured previously to track the fog ghost’s movements. He hadn’t expected it to finally stir tonight.

He picked up the pottery jar, sensing a teleportation spell emerging from the water ghost, and immediately used a spiritual technique to temporarily suppress it.

A moment later, Lian Yi arrived in the living room.

He had changed into a black coat. Seeing this, Nan Deng was taken aback, but then heard him say, “I’ll be out for a while.”

“Where are you going?” Nan Deng asked, setting down his remote and coming to Lian Yi’s side, “It’s already quite late…”

“I have some things to take care of,” Lian Yi vaguely explained, “I’ll be back soon.”

At the time, he was tailing the fog ghost, and it didn’t occur to him to think much about it. Considering the fog ghost couldn’t harm Nan Deng anymore, he technically could just ignore it.

However, discovering that Nan Deng was no ordinary ghost made it impossible for Lian Yi to ignore his past experiences.

The existence and behavior of the fog ghost were abnormal. If he remembered correctly, Nan Deng had mentioned that Xiao Tu had once been devoured by the fog ghost.

By capturing the fog ghost, they might be able to find some other clues.

“Okay…” Nan Deng muttered, pursing his lips, “I’ll wait for you at home.”

Lian Yi simply responded, “Okay.”

Before he left, he glanced at Xiao Tu lounging on the couch.

Several layers of magical arrays were set outside the house. If anyone attempted to break in, he would know immediately.

He also had Xiao Tu; having recently consumed several resentful spirits and hosting numerous paper people, Lian Yi believed it could protect Nan Deng better than any magic array.

Without any further hesitation, he turned and left.

After locking the front door, Lian Yi took out the pottery jar. In an instance, he vanished from his original spot, teleporting with the water ghost to an unknown location.

Back in the living room, Nan Deng returned to the couch to continue watching TV. Before long, Xiao Tu suddenly turned its gaze to the window.

Outside, Gu Xu and his people had arrived and found themselves blocked by magic arrays set up earlier.

They were still a few hundred meters away from the house, and there was assuredly more than one magic array.

Prepared for this, Gu Xu had his people surround the parameters of the magic arrays, charging through them and breaking them forcefully.

The innermost magic array blocked off all sounds, leaving Nan Deng completely oblivious to what was happening.

Lay back on the couch, engrossed in the TV with a small pillow in his arms, Nan Deng suddenly noticed that Xiao Tu was gone.

“Xiao Tu?” Worried that it might again be nibbling on things at random, Nan Deng got up and started looking for it around the house.

Then there was a loud “Bang—”

One of the magic arrays had been breached. The lights in the house were still on, with no sign of Lian Yi.

Gu Xu raised his hand, gesturing for them to continue.

At that moment, the fastest Celestial Master on the scene had his compass quickly rotate as it unexpectedly detected a powerful evil aura.

The compass in Gu Xu’s hand was on the move. It initially pointed toward the location of Zhuo Qing’s soul, but now it pointed back at them.

To be exact, it pointed to something behind him.

Facing the direction, Gu Xu solemnly declared, “It’s the Ghost King!”

With such an overpowering aura of evil, the immediate response of all celestial masters was to think of the Ghost King.

However, when Gu Xu turned around, he found a large, imposing figure appearing before him.

It was intensely grotesque, resembling a wild beast, with its body covered in rough scales and disheveled hair. In the night’s darkness, he could only make out a vague silhouette, but its three crimson eyes were starkly clear.

The blasting strong evil aura originated from this behemoth standing before him. It lowered its head, scrutinizing the celestial master standing before it.

Gu Xu was so taken aback that his legs buckled from under him, and he collapsed onto his knees.

“It’s you…” He finally found his voice, quaveringly calling out, “Hui…”

It was the Chaos God, Hui Shou.

Translator Footnotes:

淡淡 “嗯”了聲 (Dàn dàn “èn” le shēng): A soft “Hmm”. This phrase emphasizes the softness and low intensity of the response.

嗚嗚 (Wū wū): An onomatopoeia denoting a sound of crying or whining, usually of a small animal or baby.

混沌神 (Hùndùn shén): Translates to “Chaos deity”. In Chinese mythology, Hundun is a legendary faceless being representing chaos and confusion.

穢首 (Huì shǒu): The name of a character in the story, translating to ‘Dirty or Filthy Head.’ This name seems to carry a negative, ominous tone in line with the character’s role.

I knew it!!! It’s not the Ghost King!!!

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh

Tell me your thoughts on this chapter in the comments.

I love ya (≈ㅇᆽㅇ≈)♡