Chapter 35

A hint of malice flashed in the eyes of the red-faced ghost official. In his view, he could be forced by Li Mu to hand over the embezzled items, but as a third-class commoner, Su Xing should not accept them; accepting them would be an affront to him!

Su Xing raised his eyebrows and stared at the red-faced ghost official without a hint of fear. How could he, who was skilled at reading people, not see the malice in the red-faced ghost official’s eyes? But what did it have to do with him!

Li Mu secretly smiled. Having rolled in the bureaucracy for many years, even if his nature was upright, he wasn’t naive. He didn’t expose the "cat and mouse" game between the two ghosts.

"Nu Ke, do you know your crime!" Li Mu suddenly shouted.

"Me?" The red-faced ghost official almost shed two tears, and after his sorrow, a strange anger surged up. "Even a clay Buddha has a bit of fire, let alone me, a noble ghost catcher!" The red-faced ghost official’s eyes glared with a red, bloodshot fury, roaring madly, "Li Mu, don’t think that being a mere head catcher can oppress me! You should know that I don’t answer to you; my superior is—Chi Feng, one of the four head catchers of the Ghost Office!"

Li Mu remained silent, his face gradually turning cold as the red-faced ghost official roared.

"Chi Feng, huh... I will definitely defeat him in the great competition of the hundred-year head catchers, and then I will call your name!" Li Mu suddenly smiled, a smile that made the red-faced ghost official shudder.

The red-faced ghost official’s face turned red, and he laughed maniacally, mocking, "Call my name? Li Mu, can you defeat Lord Chi Feng? By the way, Lord Chi Feng recently broke through the ghost soldier realm and reached the ghost official realm! He has become a formidable figure revered by all ghosts."

"Arrogant! Who gave you permission to leave! Favoritism and threatening a superior, you deserve a beating!" Li Mu’s eyes suddenly turned cold, and without a word, he struck. When the red-faced ghost official turned his head, Li Mu’s palm struck his face, sending him flying with a loud slap.

"Don’t know your place!" Li Mu snorted, not taking the red-faced ghost official seriously, "Do you want to come?"

Li Mu recruited Su Xing. Although this was the second time he had met Su Xing, he was very optimistic about him, looking at him favorably and extending an olive branch. Otherwise, even if the red-faced ghost official was an opponent of Chi Feng, he wouldn’t have helped Su Xing.

"Thank you, Lord Ghost Catcher. Please allow me a few days to think about it." Su Xing thought for a moment, not immediately refusing but choosing to delay, leaving himself a way out.

"En, this requires careful consideration. After all, being a ghost catcher involves danger, battling evil ghosts, and risking your life." Li Mu nodded, not surprised by Su Xing’s response, "You can go back now, be careful of Nu Ke. By the way, besides the reward for capturing two evil ghosts, I will report to the higher-ups and give you the title of a good Fengdu commoner, a second-class commoner."

"Thank you." Su Xing gave a simple bow and left, clear in his judgment and decisive in his actions.

Li Mu watched Su Xing’s departing figure until he disappeared around the corner of the Ghost Office, his face suddenly becoming serious.

"Little ghost, does your hand hurt?" The stone lion, which had been pretending to sleep, suddenly spoke, its voice buzzing like many stones rolling together.

"Lord Stone Lion?!" Li Mu was startled, immediately turning around and bowing respectfully upon seeing the stone lion, "You have awakened."

"En." The stone lion nodded slightly, the stone beads in its eyes rolling.

Li Mu’s hand trembled slightly, a red and swollen mark appearing, clearly a fist print!

"That kid is not simple!" Li Mu said solemnly.

"Not a common fish." The stone lion spoke succinctly, giving a very high evaluation.

A hint of surprise flashed across Li Mu’s face. The stone lion’s evaluation of Su Xing was unexpected, considering the stone lion’s strength was among the best in the Ghost Office and even the prison department.

"By the way, kid, I’ve been asleep for too long, let’s chat." The stone lion’s demeanor changed, lifting its paw to beckon.

Li Mu’s face darkened, extremely unwilling to walk over, recalling the rumors about Lord Stone Lion in the Ghost Office, that Lord Stone Lion was a chatterbox...

After Su Xing returned to the courtyard, he carefully inspected it from top to bottom. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again; it was too painful.

The courtyard’s appearance hadn’t changed much since it was renovated, but Su Xing had greatly modified the hidden areas, setting up various deadly traps. If any blind evil ghosts or red-faced ghost officials came again, they would have no way out!

Su Xing entered the treasure chamber, the most important place in the courtyard, which he had heavily modified. It was full of traps and secret passages, and although it was a basement, it had good ventilation.

A cool breeze blew through, swirling down the stairs of the treasure chamber, causing the eternal lamps to sway gently, illuminating the large basement brightly.

The golden statue still stood in the center, surrounded by bookshelves. On one of the shelves was a prominent jade basin, filled with a golden, amber-like Yellow Spring water. Inside, a pale red fish lay still, seemingly dead but containing a strange vitality.

"Red Fish, I’ve brought back the reward!" Su Xing approached the jade basin, looking at the pale red fish, speaking softly, his expression sad.

He took out a ghost bag and poured out a jade bottle containing a hundred ghost qi pills. "Half of the reward is yours. I’ve spent fifty thousand hell coins to buy you a Ferrari, which is in the garage, waiting for you to drive." Su Xing took out a car key and placed it next to the jade basin. Then he poured out fifty ghost qi pills from the bottle and threw them all into the jade basin!

If other ghosts had seen Su Xing do this, they would have been heartbroken, cursing him as a wasteful spendthrift, throwing away fifty ghost qi pills, which could have been eaten like candy, into the Yellow Spring water!

But this was Su Xing’s own determination!

In his view, throwing fifty ghost qi pills into the jade basin was worth it! Because it was his promise!

The fifty ghost qi pills quickly dissolved in the Yellow Spring water, releasing ghost qi that spread and was instinctively absorbed by the pale red fish.

"It really works." Su Xing’s face showed a hint of joy.

Su Xing’s gaze then changed, becoming resolute. He took out a brush, ink, and paper from his ghost bag, laid them on the table, and held the wolf-hair brush, focusing on the golden statue.

Visualization technique!

Drawing was also a form of visualization, belonging to the Confucian school. Su Xing decided to use it.

Since he couldn’t perfectly visualize the golden statue in his heavenly soul for the time being, and he would be working as a ghost servant at the City God’s Office, he wouldn’t have much time to return to the courtyard to view the golden statue.

Of course, taking the golden statue away was impossible. Perhaps he could do it in the future with great supernatural powers, but not now. He thought of a way, emulating the Confucian visualization technique, using a brush, ink, and paper to "record" the golden statue, then carrying it with him to visualize it anytime, anywhere.

Su Xing meticulously copied the golden statue, each stroke requiring a long time to observe the statue, not only drawing its shape but also capturing its essence!

After a long time, Su Xing made the first stroke, and seven days later, he finally completed the copy. The painting was seven feet tall, with a total of 33,333 strokes!

"Finally finished!" Su Xing put down the wolf-hair brush, the first time in seven days. He examined the golden statue in the painting with satisfaction and compared it to the real one.

After comparing, he found the shape was very similar, as if made from the same mold, with no mistakes. Even the essence was about 60% similar, which was not bad!

One could say that the value of the golden statue painting Su Xing created was ten or a hundred times that of the "Hell Ghost Sealing Map" replicated countless times.

Now, Su Xing’s hair was disheveled, his face gaunt, but his spirit was radiant, his deep eyes gleaming like two miniature suns!

On the tree-like heavenly soul, two more crystal-like leaves had grown, their patterns clearly visible. The visualized golden statue had taken on a rough outline, standing like a divine being, guarding the heavenly soul!

This was the result of seven days of intense visualization, the Confucian visualization technique.

"Each school has its strengths in visualization techniques. In the future, I will take the best from each. Now, while the iron is hot, I will refine fifty ghost qi pills, push my cultivation to the sixth level of the ghost soldier realm, and condense nine qi pulse wheels!" The deep light in Su Xing’s eyes faded, and he spoke confidently.

Su Xing carefully put the golden statue painting into his ghost bag. For a long time to come, he would use the painting to visualize and train his "will."

He poured out the remaining fifty ghost qi pills from the jade bottle, sat cross-legged on a cushion, swallowed all the pills at once, and closed his eyes, recalling the cultivation techniques of the "Nili Sutra," beginning to cultivate, determined to reach the sixth level of the ghost soldier realm and condense nine qi pulse wheels.

The fifty ghost qi pills entered his body, instantly transforming into surging ghost qi. At the same time, the "Nili Sutra" activated, absorbing yin qi at ten times the normal speed, filling Su Xing’s body with ghost qi, the amount of which was shocking!

Only Su Xing dared to do this, with a solid ghost body and a powerful virtuous soul. If any other ghost tried, their ghost body would burst, leading to soul disintegration!

But even Su Xing found it difficult to withstand the massive amount of ghost qi, like a surging tide, his face pale, relying on his strong will to endure.

Three days later, Su Xing woke from his meditation, his eyes slowly opening, a glint of light flashing, his expression changing constantly.

"Unexpectedly, the ghost qi pills rewarded by the Ghost Office are not as effective as those condensed by Luo Sen. The quality difference is too great, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been..." Su Xing spoke calmly. This time, he only achieved one of his goals during his seclusion, and the other was nearly achieved.