Jing Jiujiu was momentarily dazed.
Bai Yuhuai noticed his silhouette frozen in place, not moving at all. He frowned slightly, let go of the little ghost, and strode over.
Jing Jiujiu sensed Bai Yuhuai's presence and said without turning around: "So many... ghosts."
The floor was covered in little green-skinned ghosts.
Jing Jiujiu didn't find it scary, he just felt a bit stuffed in his belly.
Even Bai Yuhuai, upon seeing such a scene, was briefly stunned for a second.
But he quickly regained his composure and asked coolly: "Where did these little ghosts come from?"
Jing Jiujiu turned to look at Master Zhou.
Master Zhou had already curled up entirely on the sofa. With his scalp tingling, he said: "Just now, when I looked out the window, I seemed to see an arm stretch out, soft and green... When I looked closer, wasn't it a child scratching at the window? I didn't see anything else."
In all his years of trickery and deception, Master Zhou had never experienced anything as thrilling as today!
Jing Jiujiu turned his head again, this time looking at Guan Yan's little ghost.
The little ghost crawled towards Jing Jiujiu again, moving crookedly. Finally, it clutched Jing Jiujiu's pant leg and climbed up to the height of the windowsill, where it stopped.
Meanwhile, the little ghosts that had fallen all over the lawn got up and started stacking themselves again, slowly piling up to the window's position.
The one on top raised its hand to scratch the glass again, but it scratched empty air and ended up grabbing Guan Yan's little ghost's face.
Both little ghosts were startled and bared their teeth at each other with a growl.
Jing Jiujiu: "..."
Jing Jiujiu: "Maybe they came here on their own... Coming for Guan Yan's little ghost? Planning a ghost-on-ghost massacre?"
Bai Yuhuai: "That's possible."
As soon as Bai Yuhuai finished speaking, Guan Yan's little ghost jumped down from Jing Jiujiu, looked up in Jing Jiujiu's direction, and trembled.
Then it grabbed Jing Jiujiu's pant leg again and climbed up, baring its teeth at the ghosts outside the window.
Then it jumped down again and trembled while looking at Jing Jiujiu.
This was repeated exactly six times!
Jing Jiujiu: ?
Bai Yuhuai: ?
Master Zhou mumbled: "...I think I understand now."
No one understands a bootlicker's mindset better than another bootlicker!
Master Zhou overcame his inner fear, stood up, walked to the window, and said: "It bares its teeth at the ghosts outside to establish its position, showing that it's tough. Then it turns to tremble at the young master, indicating that the young master is even tougher, and that the young master is its backer. If anyone has a problem with that, they should think twice before saying anything to the young master..."
Jing Jiujiu: ???
It really got addicted to bullying other ghosts by relying on someone else's power, didn't it?
For a moment, only Master Zhou's chattering voice filled the room.
Guan Yan's little ghost probably couldn't understand what Master Zhou was saying. Seeing that none of them had moved, it immediately started climbing up and down again with great enthusiasm, vividly portraying its two contrasting faces of baring its teeth and trembling.
The ghosts outside the window seemed to finally understand.
The little ghosts began to bare their teeth even more fiercely.
Suddenly, all that could be heard was the squeaking sound of grinding teeth.
Faced with this scene, Jing Jiujiu was a bit bewildered: "What should we do?"
Bai Yuhuai: "Catch them all."
Jing Jiujiu: "Huh?" He said softly: "I can't eat that many in one bite."
As soon as Jing Jiujiu finished speaking, the little ghosts also fell silent for a moment.
They all stared at Jing Jiujiu in unison.
Jing Jiujiu: "Can they understand the word 'eat'?"
Bai Yuhuai: "The person who raised them probably mentioned this word quite often." Bai Yuhuai paused and said: "It's okay if you can't eat them all."
Jing Jiujiu was shocked: "Don't tell me we can make them into cured ghost meat? Salted ghost? Air-dried ghost?"
Master Zhou swallowed nervously and helplessly, not out of hunger, but purely out of fear. This... was it really necessary to come up with so many variations? Just hearing about it gave him goosebumps.
Bai Yuhuai: "..."
Bai Yuhuai: "Of course not."
"Oh, that's good," Jing Jiujiu thought for a moment, ghosts probably don't have an expiration date, right? Actually, he didn't really want to eat them... but how could he disappoint Bai Yuhuai's good intentions?
"We can refine their souls and blood, and finally store them in a gourd. You can drink some every day," Bai Yuhuai said calmly.
He seemed completely unaware of how terrifying his words were.
Jing Jiujiu: ?
That's... not necessary.
The little ghosts turned to stare at Bai Yuhuai, and as they stared, they shuddered.
Although they didn't seem very intelligent, their perception of danger was quite clear. The aura emanating from the man made them instinctively want to prostrate themselves, or even flee.
When they turned their heads to look at Jing Jiujiu again, the little ghosts instantly felt more at ease.
This was a big ghost!
Much, much bigger than them!
The little ghosts squealed and howled again, then began to climb in through the window.
Master Zhou couldn't help but sigh: "They're really stupid, still climbing in? Are they waiting to be cooked?"
The little ghosts clung to Jing Jiujiu's clothes, pant legs, and arms, and in no time at all, they were all over him.
Jing Jiujiu was so shocked that his eyes widened slightly, but this time he kept his mouth tightly shut, refusing to open it no matter what. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, they would all be sucked into his stomach.
Bai Yuhuai's brow furrowed, his expression icy.
He turned and retrieved a bag from the bedroom. The bag was unremarkable, looking like the colorful woven bags often seen on construction sites.
He walked slowly towards them, holding the bag, and a faint golden light began to flash around the outside of the bag.
A gust of wind arose.
It rushed from the window towards the bag.
"Holy shit!" Master Zhou gaped in astonishment.
The little ghosts were sucked into the bag like candied haw on a stick.
The bag quickly swelled... and soon it was full.
Even Bai Yuhuai hadn't expected there to be so many ghosts to catch.
Even if they were tied with rope, it might not be long enough.
Bai Yuhuai frowned slightly.
The remaining little ghosts were so frightened that their faces changed color.
They turned from green to white in an instant.
They climbed up and down Jing Jiujiu's shoulders, shaking his arms one moment and tugging at his clothes the next, as if urging him to take charge and beat up Bai Yuhuai.
One of them grabbed his hair, seemed to pull out a strand, and quickly hung upside down from Jing Jiujiu's head, using its round little hands to cup the hair and present it to Jing Jiujiu's face: "Awoo, aw!"
Jing Jiujiu suddenly found his eyes covered, everything going black.
He pushed the little ghost away, his head full of question marks.
The little ghost babbled something incomprehensible, swung in the air when pushed, then plopped back onto his shoulder. In the process, it squeezed out another little ghost.
Jing Jiujiu's vision cleared again, and he saw the little ghost stuffing his strand of hair into its mouth, chewing and swallowing.
In the blink of an eye, that little ghost's body turned red.
Jing Jiujiu suddenly understood.
"Little ghosts like them, with green bodies, are the lowest level. Those with red bellies, like Guan Yan's little ghost, are a bit more powerful. The most powerful one was the one I ate, completely wrapped in a blood-red color. Red ghosts can even attack people," Jing Jiujiu summarized, then asked Bai Yuhuai: "Is that right?"
Bai Yuhuai: "Correct."
"They're nourishment for me, and I'm also great nourishment for them?" Jing Jiujiu murmured, "No wonder that evil god wanted to leave a mark on me, he also wanted to eat me?"
Bai Yuhuai coldly responded: "Mm."
To be precise, Jing Jiujiu was equally great nourishment for all ghosts and gods under heaven. If these little ghosts were compared to bird's nest soup, Jing Jiujiu would be equivalent to a thousand-year-old lingzhi mushroom.
But how could he let an evil god eat the young man?
"These little ghosts probably don't want to be eaten by the evil god either. So when they saw Guan Yan's little ghost staying comfortably with us, they decided to come and seek refuge with us?" Jing Jiujiu speculated, smacking his lips.
Jing Jiujiu: "Hey, stop pulling my sleeve, you'll tear it. It's very expensive."
Jing Jiujiu pinched the little ghost's scruff.
Only then did the little ghost let go.
But the other little ghosts were still swarming around Jing Jiujiu.
Jing Jiujiu's face was full of helplessness: "They must want me to fight you. They're all very afraid of you."
Bai Yuhuai looked at the little ghosts covering the floor, almost filling up the entire hotel room.
Although these things were annoying.
Bai Yuhuai still changed his mind a bit.
Bai Yuhuai said indifferently: "These little ghosts that have lost their intelligence are just like primitive animals, relying on the most basic things to distinguish who is strong and who is weak. They want to rely on you, so they hope you're stronger than everything else..."
Jing Jiujiu: "Hm?"
So what?
"They are numerous and difficult to capture. We can't let them roam freely outside, or else there might be more incidents of people getting hurt. You can't swallow them all at once either. The best solution would be..."
Jing Jiujiu chimed in, bewildered: "To make them recognize me as their leader? To listen to me?"
Bai Yuhuai nodded.
Bai Yuhuai: "If you want them to truly submit to you, you need to make them believe you're very powerful, more powerful than me."
Jing Jiujiu found this a bit challenging.
Just as Bai Yuhuai was about to utilize his old profession, his acting skills as a movie star, Jing Jiujiu spoke up: "Don't move."
Hearing this, Bai Yuhuai indeed stood still.
Jing Jiujiu shook off all the little ghosts on his body, moved behind Bai Yuhuai, and latched onto him completely.
Master Zhou: !
Bai Yuhuai's body stiffened.
However, since Jing Jiujiu had performed this action many times before, Bai Yuhuai didn't feel particularly strange about it.
Jing Jiujiu quickly climbed up to Bai Yuhuai's neck.
The little ghosts below craned their necks, looking up.
They literally stretched their necks.
Master Zhou was inwardly cursing at the sight.
"Why aren't they reacting differently?" Jing Jiujiu smacked his lips.
Although he knew the young ghost wouldn't fall, Bai Yuhuai instinctively raised his hand to support the youth's legs when he heard his voice.
Bai Yuhuai: "Perhaps they see me as a caretaker like Guan Yan."
Jing Jiujiu suddenly remembered, oh right, the first time he saw that little ghost, it was riding on Guan Yan's neck.
If this doesn't show that I'm more powerful...
Jing Jiujiu said again: "Don't move."
"Mm." Bai Yuhuai stood there, as steady as a flagpole.
Jing Jiujiu bent down and plucked one of Bai Yuhuai's hairs.
Bai Yuhuai: "..."
Never before had a ghost been able to pluck hair from a Taoist master's head.
Jing Jiujiu: "Tsk." Jing Jiujiu: "Why is your hair so hot to touch?"
Jing Jiujiu mumbled softly: "Never mind, never mind." Then he licked his slightly pointed canine teeth, slid down from his shoulders, and firmly hugged Bai Yuhuai's waist from behind. He bit into Bai Yuhuai's neck with the intensity of one about to sever seven or eight blood vessels, yet when his teeth closed, it was gentle.
See?
When I eat him, he doesn't dare move at all.
Am I powerful enough?
Jing Jiujiu put on a fierce expression.
Bai Yuhuai lowered his eyes, tightly clenching his fingers.
His neck was ice-cold.
But his heart was burning hot.
The group of little ghosts craned their necks even more, trying hard to take in this scene: "Woah woah woah!"