Editor: meowmiao
The soundproofing in the house was very effective. However, the one dominating the study wasn't a regular person but a ghost. It naturally knew that there were other beings approaching and could also clearly hear the footsteps.
Everyone wanted a piece of the cake but whether they could obtain it depended on their own abilities. At least, this was what the ghost sitting cross-legged on the intricately carved chair thought.
Once the door opened, he would put on a terrifying appearance like those spirits in horror movies to test these people's courage. The divination masters who came recently were driven off in this manner so he didn't even need to waste any extra effort.
However, the peace treaty was in the way. He couldn't appear too terrifying or he would be in trouble if a coward was frightened to death by him.
Additionally, Zhou Yun also knew he couldn't occupy this spiritually-rich piece of land for too long. Although only small-fries had come to pick a fight with him, it wouldn't take long for those he couldn't deal with to appear. When that time came, he would have no choice but to flee.
His plans were concrete but this child-like ghost never imagined that those he couldn't deal with would appear so quickly. Moreover, their toughness was even harder than diamond, shattering his hopes of escaping.
"This room." From the second floor, Gu Yan seemed to only rely on his instincts to walk towards a certain room. He looked towards the heavy wooden door.
Gu Yan indeed came here without bringing anything on him. He didn't have the tools that regular divination masters carried with them, such as a positioning compass. He simply grabbed a few practise talismans he used at home and made his way here.
Gu Yan's empty hands weren't because he had the ghost city's boss beside him, but because he had sufficient abilities himself.
Although he was recognized as a divination master, the main difference between him and other masters was... He was too overpowered.
Before the spiritual convention, Grandmaster Zhao had told him of such a thing-
You spirit tamers are so overboard in only one area.
At that time, Gu Yan had only blinked and gave a small smile without retorting. He could only say it was the 'rules' who were partial to him. Be it upright or unorthodox spells, he had learnt them all.
His ability to lock onto his target now was evidently not through normal means.
Gu Yan touched the lock. The golden handle of the door was ice cold and brought a unique sense of frigidness. It was also drenched in the dark coldness of an evil spirit.
Anyone with their divine eye awoken would see the dark and gloomy void encasing the knob. On approaching it, the originally flickering black threads of darkness would rushly wildly toward the human body. Once it latched on, it would not let go as it gradually seeped under the skin. There it would lay quietly until it sucked away the life force from its host.
Xie Lan didn't stop the youth and there wasn't a trace of expression on his face. He knew that these things were unable to harm a single hair on this person. However, his eyes still narrowed dangerously towards the black wisps entangled with the youth's slender fingers.
"Click." The door opened.
With the sound, the unclean things on the door knob were burned away without a trace. The one who caused the fire habitually frowned. To Xie Lan, this action carried an attraction that was simply too difficult to describe. Each and every expression on this youth could cause a fluctuation in his heart.
Even though he was a ghost and his heart was cold, he could feel his heart beating faster with every little touch.
The simple but heavy door opened just a little when Xie Lan's eyes narrowed. Once the door was thrown open, Xie Lan overtook the youth and stood in front of him.
"Qiuqiu...?" Gu Yan had just pushed the door open but before he could see anything, it had gone dark. It wasn't that he fainted but that his lover had suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked his sight.
Immeasurable trust and indulgence towards his lover caused Gu Yan to cooperatively stand still. He only asked a simple question out of curiosity, not knowing what the scene in front of him looked like.
The pale and beautiful ghost impassively faced the extremely twisted appearance of the spirit. The spirit had deliberately suspended itself from the ceiling to stare at its intruder.
Presently, the pitch-black eyes of the ghost king were like two icy glass orbs, reflecting the mangled flesh and exposed bone of the spirit.
"Revert back." He commanded. His cold voice didn't carry a hint of feeling in them, causing the spirit who failed to terrify others tremble instead.
Zhou Yun had seen this lord- capable of terrifying him in a split second- several times before. Earlier, he had been ridiculing this possibility but now, hearing the usually stoic voice, he could keenly detect a certain sense of... anger.
This was bad. Every time he saw him, Zhou Yun knew the ghost king was emotionless. Therefore, it was difficult to anger such an existence and doing so was simply courting death.
But now, he seemed to have unluckily become the spirit courting death.
The terrifying voice he'd prepared to use to frighten others couldn't be of use now. He could not cry out in fear either. In the end, the voice that was already halfway out of his mouth dissolved into a weak squeak. "Lord..."
"Lord... Xie Lan." After a moment, Zhou Yun forced out these words although his appearance couldn't be discerned from his disguise as a mangled corpse.
Zhou Yun heard a light sound, 'ah' before the owner of that voice asked another question. "You're someone I know?"
"Yes." The spirit could only revert back to its original form and Xie Lan dropped the hands which had been covering the youth's eyes. He nodded and gave a sound of approval. He had a faint impression of meeting this person once, though it was superficial to consider them as acquaintances.
He had blocked the youth's eyes earlier because he didn't want the youth's impression of him to be warped and twisted in that direction. He was also a spirit and there were times where the line between life and death couldn't be any clearer.
Zhou Yun was now filled with fear and also curiosity. He was terrified of the so-called 'Lord Xie Lan' and curious about the dark-haired youth standing by the side.
Zhou Yun was only a ten-year-old child when he died. Although hundreds of years had passed since then and his ruthlessness can be said to rank at the top in the ghost city, he was still a young child deep down in his heart.
Earlier, his line of sight and body were frozen as he dared not move even an inch. But now, his vision was swaying. From the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of pale fingers under long sleeves... actually taking the initiative to grasp the hand of the youth beside him.
With a soft rustling sound, Zhou Yun began to sweat internally. He seemed to have discovered something extraordinary.
Not too long ago, he had just mocked the ghost called 'Eleven' who had been keeping watch for the ghost city. He had wanted to spread rumours of the ghost king being a frigid and trustworthy lord. Because if he wasn't so aloof, there was no way he would have kept himself pure for so long.
Seeing his lord being indescribably cautious over a simple act like holding hands, Zhou Yun felt as if he'd been slapped.
He was truly pure... Otherwise he wouldn't only have eyes for one person after so many years.
The appearance of the child-like ghost who'd been dead for several hundred years could easily fool others. Gu Yan had always been weak and tolerant of most small animals and children. Seeing the child-like ghost's frightened expression and due to the lack of perceived threat, he leaned forward to touch the other's head. He naturally adopted a voice used to coax little children, "Don't be afraid. We won't do anything bad to you."
In a split second, Zhou Yun, who had his head patted, froze like a child. He nearly couldn't resist throwing himself at the lord who'd given him this sense of security. This was the instinct of a child and he felt especially close to the dark-haired youth who naturally had a friendly disposition to children and animals alike.
However, Zhou Yun didn't do so. There was a pair of pitch-black eyes fixed on him, causing him to shrink back.
It wasn't as if all spirits could recognise their boss. Since he had met one that did, it was easier to settle some things.
Gu Yan first explained about the matter of capturing the rest of the evil spirits loitering in the human realm as well as his rationale for coming to the Lin family's home. Although the evil spirits in this area had been chased away, he couldn't allow one to occupy this area. His implication that the other party couldn't continue staying here was clear.
The Lin's ancestral residence was where dense spiritual energy converged. While it could bring their family fortune, it also invited evil spirits and ghosts. Gu Yan had decided to lay an array after settling the matters here. Exorcism was more effective than warding, so driving away this problem can be considered as him having done his best after receiving the money.
"If you want to capture evil spirits, it's more effective to head to Kun Yi Mountain. You might even be able to catch them all at once." Zhou Yun suddenly spoke up after hearing that.
The name of the place wasn't foreign to Gu Yan. He remembered it being in the periphery of the capital.
"The ghosts I've recently driven away headed there. I went to take a look out of curiosity and found that there were a significant number of well-known ghosts gathering there. It wasn't interesting so I came back. That's why I'm not clear on the situation over there." Afraid that his words wouldn't be understood, Zhou Yun explained again.
A gathering of spirits wasn't anything exciting for Zhou Yun. However, it was different for Gu Yan.
There was no way evil spirits would gather in one place for no reason.