Ghost Tamer 9
Chen Sheng only showed a brief moment of panic before quickly regaining his composure. He smiled brightly. “Master Ji’s spiritual pressure is just too strong.”
He chose to be upfront about it, smoothly turning the situation into an opportunity to flatter Ji Fuqing.
Tang Xi tilted his head in confusion. He only felt that staying close to Ji Fuqing and soaking in his spiritual energy was incredibly comfortable—so why was this person’s hand shaking?
Ji Fuqing didn’t even turn his head. His voice remained cold. “Keep up.”
Tang Xi immediately picked up his pace, jogging a few steps to close the distance.
Ji Ziang opened the car door for them. Chen Sheng attempted to follow, reaching for the front passenger door—
Click.
The door locked.
Chen Sheng retracted his hand, still maintaining a forced smile. “Brother Ziang, what’s going on? If you do this, it’ll be hard for me to explain to the elders when I return.”
Chen Sheng’s words seemed to express his own difficulties, but the underlying tone was a clear threat directed at Ji Ziang.
Ji Ziang sneered, “I don’t have a useless younger brother like you. If you want to take a taxi and follow along, go ahead. But if you want to ride in the same car as Master Ji, you should first ask yourself if you’re worthy.”
With that, he floored the gas pedal, leaving no chance for Chen Sheng to respond.
He was arrogant—because he could afford to be. Even though Chen Sheng had been carefully selected from various exorcist families for his talent, he was still nothing compared to Ji Ziang, a true prodigy.
Better to have the ancestor spend time with a ghost than with someone as scheming as him—at least the ghost was nice to look at, even if it seemed a bit dim-witted.
At that thought, Ji Ziang glanced at the rearview mirror.
There, the little ghost was hugging a bunch of incense candles, eyes half-closed in satisfaction.
So dumb.
Ji Ziang looked away, but deep down, a strange itch formed in his heart. Maybe raising a shiki wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
. . . . .
When they arrived at the hospital, Ji Fuqing flicked his sleeve, and the incense candles Tang Xi was holding went out.
“No overindulging.”
Even if the ghost couldn’t physically overeat, Ji Fuqing still strictly controlled his diet.
Tang Xi obediently put the candles down. “Then I want to eat more when we get back.”
“As long as you behave.” Ji Fuqing reached out, patting the little shiki’s head.
Tang Xi nuzzled into the touch in response.
Ji Ziang, standing quietly to the side, didn’t dare interrupt. But as he listened to their exchange, his thoughts drifted—Is the ancestor seriously raising a vengeful ghost like a child…?
Somehow, word had spread. A group of worried parents had already gathered at the hospital entrance, anxiously waiting.
The moment Ji Ziang stepped out of the car, they swarmed him.
His expression darkened. “What do you want?”
A middle-aged woman at the front, tears streaming down her face, pleaded, “Master, we heard you rescued two students that night. You must have a way to save my child! He entered that abandoned school building and collapsed afterward… He still hasn’t woken up.”
The people behind her began speaking up, all echoing the same desperate plea.
They were the parents of students who had participated in the test of courage that night.
If they weren’t utterly desperate, they wouldn’t have sought out so-called masters for help. But their children had been unconscious for a month, with no medical explanation.
Ji Ziang clenched his jaw. He couldn’t lash out at ordinary people, but he also knew Ji Fuqing had little patience for this kind of commotion. Lowering his voice, he asked, “Who told you about us?”
The parents shook their heads. They didn’t know the person’s name—only that he had claimed to be from the school.
At that moment, Chen Sheng caught up from behind, pretending to be surprised.
“Oh my, looks like Mr. Ziang has some business to handle. Why don’t I accompany Master Ji inside instead?”
It was obvious what he was trying to do.
Ji Ziang’s face turned an ugly shade of green. He knew this was Chen Sheng’s doing—or rather, the group of old foxes backing him.
A hint of panic flashed through his eyes.
He turned his head, and sure enough, Ji Fuqing had slightly furrowed his brows, about to say something.
The little shiki by his side was the first to speak up: “Then let’s go in together. After all, that’s why we’re here in the first place.”
If he wanted to ask those students what had happened, he had to wake them up first. He couldn’t just stand by and watch them remain unconscious.
Ji Fuqing’s gaze softened again. He let out a quiet “Mm,” tacitly allowing the presence of the somewhat noisy group.
With the weight lifted from his heart, Ji Ziang cast a grateful glance at Tang Xi.
He knew that if it weren’t for this foolish yet vengeful ghost, he might have been cast aside by Master Ji.
If the ancestor wanted, he could find plenty of replacements without a second thought. Ji Ziang wasn’t deluded enough to think that he could make a mistake, hinder the ancestor’s plans, and still stay by his side.
Even if he was just a mere tool, he couldn’t afford to lose his position. He never thought there would come a day when he’d have to thank a ghost.
Feeling conflicted, Ji Ziang ultimately couldn’t bring himself to say those two words.
The four unconscious students were all placed in the same hospital room.
Even after being transferred to a larger hospital for examination, no cause could be determined, so they were sent back and kept together.
The moment Tang Xi stepped inside, he sensed that something was off.
A faint, eerie aura, undetectable to ordinary people, lingered above the hospital beds. Each of the four students had traces of it clinging to them.
Even in their unconscious state, their faces were filled with fear, as if they were trapped in an unending nightmare.
The ghostly aura was identical to the one on Tian Rourou—it was clearly her doing.
Tang Xi wasn’t well-versed in dealing with such things, so he clung to Ji Fuqing’s sleeve and asked what they should do.
Ji Fuqing glanced at him, his voice low and deep: “Do you want my help?”
Such trivial ghostly tricks were nothing to him—he could dispel them with a flick of his finger. But he deliberately wanted to tease the little shiki.
“Yes.” Tang Xi nodded eagerly.
“Shouldn’t you offer something in return when asking your master for help…?”
Before finishing his sentence, Ji Fuqing leaned down and kissed the little shiki, his long tongue curling around the shy, tender flesh inside his mouth, sucking lightly.
At first, Tang Xi was flustered and tried to push him away, embarrassed and afraid of being seen. But before long, he was utterly disarmed by the kiss.
His limbs went weak as he let Ji Fuqing have his way. Whenever he felt like he was suffocating, he let out a small whimper, and Ji Fuqing would briefly pull away, only to kiss him again once he had caught his breath.
No one knew how much time had passed before Ji Fuqing finally let him go. The little vengeful ghost was left breathless, his eyes rimmed with red.
Tang Xi covered his mouth in grievance, afraid that the man before him would lean in again.
The moment the two of them kissed, Ji Ziang had quietly slipped out of the hospital room, even thoughtfully closing the door behind him to keep Chen Sheng and the group of concerned parents from seeing anything.
Satisfied after receiving his “payment,” Ji Fuqing released a small wave of oppressive energy toward the students on the hospital beds.
Before Tang Xi could even see what he was doing, the wisps of dark ghostly energy scattered in terror and vanished completely.
The students, whose faces had been deathly pale, visibly regained some color. Their furrowed brows relaxed as if they had finally escaped their nightmares.
Tang Xi reached out and gently poked the nearest student, watching as he slowly opened his eyes.
The student who had just been woken up stared at Tang Xi, who still had his finger extended. The two of them exchanged a silent look.
Tang Xi awkwardly asked, “Are you okay?”
“Why am I…” The student tried to recall what had happened, and soon his face twisted in pain. “A ghost! There was a ghost chasing me!”
He couldn’t distinguish between dreams and reality. After being unconscious for a month under the influence of ghostly energy, he had been trapped in a long, never-ending nightmare, reliving the same terrifying experience—being stuck inside that school building with no way out.
The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became. Clutching his head, he cried out helplessly, “There’s a ghost!”
His panic woke the other three students, making the hospital room suddenly chaotic.
Before the noise could spread beyond the room, Ji Fuqing set up a barrier, cutting off any connection to the outside world.
Tang Xi reassured them, “It’s okay now. You’re out. The other two students have been rescued too. You’re all safe.”
He kept repeating the same words in his simple, earnest tone, and somehow, it really did help calm them down.
One of the students reached out, seemingly wanting to grab Tang Xi’s hand, but the moment their fingers got close, they felt a burning sensation and quickly withdrew in shock.
Instead, they just kept expressing their gratitude. “Thank you… thank you so much!”
Tang Xi let out a breath of relief. “It’s fine. Can you tell me what happened in the abandoned school building?”
The four students exchanged uneasy glances, clearly unwilling to recall the events. Eventually, the only girl in the group, who seemed slightly braver, spoke up.
“I only remember that nothing happened at first when we went in. But when we reached the top floor, we suddenly saw that one of the classroom windows was wide open. Every other abandoned classroom had its doors and windows shut tight, except for Class 3-6. We didn’t dare go in, so we just stood at the doorway and peeked inside. That’s when Ah Si suddenly shouted that a woman was about to jump from the window.”
Her face paled as if she had just recalled something even more horrifying.
Of the six students who went to test their courage, only two were girls. One had been trapped inside, while the other—her—had managed to escape.
Whether it was mere coincidence or something else, she and the other girl had suffered the least harm. Even after they were rescued, the ghostly aura clinging to them was minimal, and the nightmares they endured while unconscious weren’t as terrifying compared to the others.
Huang Xinxin, having suffered the least and being the bravest among the group, was in much better shape than the three trembling boys beside her. She quickly composed herself and continued.
“Then he got scared and ran. The rest of us—” She paused to point at the two students still clutching their ears on the hospital bed. “—the three of us chased after him. That was when we got separated from Xiao Jiu and Liu Xiaofan. We didn’t even realize they hadn’t followed us. To be honest… I saw it too. I saw a girl in a white dress standing by the window, her eyes closed, about to jump.”
Her voice was slightly disordered from lingering fear.
In the end, the four of them had just kept running for their lives, too terrified to look back, even when they felt the chilling breath of a female ghost behind them.
Suddenly, the student nicknamed Ah Si blurted out, “I heard it! I heard it back then!”
Tang Xi, who had been completely absorbed in listening, was so startled that he flinched and instinctively dove into Ji Fuqing’s embrace.
Ji Fuqing, clearly pleased, spread his arms to accept the frightened little “kitten” that had thrown itself at him.
Not only that, but he even wrapped his arms around Tang Xi, holding him in place so he couldn’t escape.
Nestled in Ji Fuqing’s embrace, Tang Xi instinctively nuzzled against the warmth—no, the spiritual energy—and didn’t find anything strange about the situation at all.
Hearing the steady heartbeat of his poop scooper made him a little braver. Both frightened and curious, he asked, “What did you hear?”
Ah Si’s eyes were filled with terror. “I heard a scream—then the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. And after that, I heard a woman crying…”
“Something heavy?” Tang Xi blinked in confusion.
Ji Fuqing lowered his gaze, deliberately speaking in a soft voice, “Didn’t she die from jumping off the building?”
That “heavy object hitting the ground” must have been the sound of her body when she fell.
She had been repeating the moment of her suicide over and over again, trapped in an endless cycle for who knows how many years.
Tang Xi shivered again, trembling as he curled up even smaller.
Ji Fuqing looked down at the frightened little shiki clinging to him, clearly dependent on him for comfort, and felt immensely satisfied. Gently, he covered Tang Xi’s beautiful cat-like eyes with his hand and murmured, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
Author’s Note: Ji Fuqing deliberately scaring his little “cat”—too evil!