Who Let Him Cultivate?!

Unfortunately, there was none.

Four humans and three ghosts waited in the dilapidated temple all night. As dawn was yet to break and the moon was still emitting a soft glow, transitioning into the sun, they set off to meet the chief.

Guhuai Town was renowned for its locust trees; you could see them everywhere. The oldest, thickest locust tree was so large that not even three Lu Yangs could wrap their arms around it. The white-dressed female ghost, who called herself Xiao Qi, claimed that the tree was a thousand years old, even older than Guhuai Town itself.

Locust trees are believed to have a “Yin” nature; thus, the whole town had a chilling and somewhat murky atmosphere, making it a perfect summer retreat.

Out of all the towns Lu Yang had visited, Guhuai Town was the largest.

Moreover, there was a prosperous aura to Guhuai Town, promising even more growth in the future.

Upon explaining their identities at the mansion, the town’s chief hurried out to greet them. The chief appeared rather wealthy and had a constant jovial appearance.

“I never expected a Daoist priest from the Seek Dao Sect to visit us. I apologize for my lack of foresight,” the chief apologized immediately, adopting a very humble attitude.

Lu Yang noticed that the chief had reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment in his cultivation.

The chief noticed the three female ghosts trailing behind them. His expression faltered for a moment before quickly regaining his composure. He cordially introduced himself: “My surname is Fan, first name is Guiren. You can simply call me Fan.”

“Please come in.”

“You are too kind, Chief Fan.” Lu Yang took a sip from the tea poured by the chief, nodding slightly. He couldn’t discern what kind of tea it was.

“The reason we’re here, Chief Fan, you might already know. We’re here to understand the origins and movements of these three female ghosts.”

“I see.” Chief Fan appeared disheartened. Honestly, he didn’t want to talk about it, but since a member of Seek Dao Sect asked him, he had no other choice.

“Are you aware of these three ghosts sucking the Yang Qi out of people?” Lu Yang cut to the chase.

“Yes. At first, some travelers who came by reported that there were ghosts in the broken temple outside the town sucking people’s Yang Qi. Hearing this, I was taken aback. I immediately went there to investigate.”

“When I arrived at the temple, I realized that the three ghosts, Xiao Qi and the others, were not malevolent entities draining humans’ Yang Qi but rather benevolent spirits.”

“At the time, Guhuai Town was not as bustling as it is today. I wanted to develop a tourism industry to increase the town’s income, but a bunch of locust trees alone wasn’t enough to attract visitors.”

“I then thought of the female ghosts. To avoid mishaps, I verified the laws pertaining to them and found that the laws only prohibit female ghosts from sucking Yang Qi if it harms people or disturbs their normal lives. The laws do not completely forbid female ghosts from sucking Yang Qi.”

“Being sucked by ghosts doesn’t count as prostitution, meaning the travelers don’t have to pay.”

“Also, the tax regulations do not mention that ghosts sucking Yang Qi need to pay taxes.”

“Considering all these, I decided to use the female ghosts as a selling point to promote Guhuai Town. Surprisingly, the effect was quite good. Many travelers came looking for romantic encounters. I could visibly see the town’s revenue increasing, resulting in better local finances and rewards from the county. This also led me to advance smoothly to the late stages of Foundation Establishment.”

“The county had plans to promote me, but being a town chief here is more preferable—there’s food and drink, Spirit Stones, and it’s even better than working in the county. So, I declined.”

“Even if I were to accept a promotion to the county, I’d wait until I’ve reached the Golden Core Stage.” Chief Fan had a very clear plan for his own political path.

The three ghosts all nodded in agreement, declaring themselves innocent and presenting themselves as good ghosts.

“Wait a moment. If this is a good thing, then who was the one that asked for our Sect’s help, saying that there were female ghosts here?” Meng Jingzhou was puzzled.

Their mission was not discovered by their Sect but was reported by someone else to the Seek Dao Sect.

Competitors?

This industry has competitors?

Chief Fan was also surprised. He thought that the three people were passing by when they came across the ghosts and decided to get rid of them.

So, they were reported instead?

“Does Chief Fan have any clue?”

“Nothing so… May I know what the mission statement says?”

“It says that in Guhuai Town, female ghosts suck men’s Yang Qi, causing scholars to lose vitality and become listless.”

Chief Fan looked somewhat strange.

“Chief Fan, do you know what happened?”

Chief Fan nodded, “Scholar Zhou has a son, everyone calls him Xiao Zhou. Xiao Zhou’s academic level is mediocre. He’s failed the scholar examinations several times.”

“But Xiao Zhou’s mother always thought it was due to Xiao Zhou constantly visiting the female ghosts, which distracted him and caused him to lose focus and be nonchalant about his studies.”

“Xiao Zhou’s mother came to me, hoping that I would punish the ghosts. But everyone can see Xiao Zhou’s academic performance clearly. He’s playful by nature and doesn’t take studying seriously. It has nothing to do with the female ghosts.”

“I ignored her tantrums. After Xiao Zhou’s mother left, a few more people came and blamed their children’s failure to get official appointments on the female ghosts, which I also rejected.”

“I didn’t expect them to persist and even report this matter to the Seek Dao Sect.”

Chief Fan sighed, “The three ghosts, Xiao Qi included, have tried their utmost to fix this.”

The white-dressed female ghost, Xiao Qi, said, “Fearing that this incident would escalate and alert the Righteous Path to our existence, we called the students with poor performance in the town to the temple. We gave them lectures.”

“When we were alive, we were all from scholarly families. Teaching them is easy for us.”

“There were rewards for good progress, but the students who didn’t study well did not receive rewards. Under this incentive mechanism, their grades hastened.”

Lu Yang looked up and down at the three female ghosts, not mentioning the red-dressed ghost whose lips were swollen like sausages.

The white-dressed ghost and the green-dressed ghost were beautiful and scantily clad, each beautiful in their own way. Under such circumstances, their male students were still able to study?

Oh, right. If they couldn’t study well, they wouldn’t receive rewards.

“The students were also willing to learn this way. As an example, yesterday, even though we were in the midst of an unprecedented heavy rain where the day was as dark as night, Xiao Zhou and the others still insisted on coming in the rain to attend our class. They studied till the heavy rain passed, leaving the temple exhausted.”

“We never expected that despite our efforts, we would still be reported by their parents.” Xiao Qi felt the hardships of life—life is not easy for the living nor the dead.

Lu Yang summarized, “So, you open a private school during the day to give lectures to students, and at night, you wander around the town, absorbing Yang Qi in guesthouses?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

After hearing this, the three people, including Lu Yang, felt ashamed. Even ghosts were more diligent than they were.

Qin Yanyan was fascinated to hear this. So, are all ghosts like this?

Xiao Qi continued, “Not only that, but we also have to hand over seventy percent of the Yang Qi we absorb. We only keep thirty percent for ourselves.”

“Hmm? Who do you hand it over to?” Lu Yang was confused. After all, the court did not require Yang Qi.

“Our superior, whom we all call Lord Mi. Lord Mi once mentioned that Guhuai Town has some treasure left by the former Master, and he asked us to look out for it.”