Just as the young man had said, when a beam of light passed over the engraving on that plaque, Cloud Return Sect immediately knew.
Why did Cloud Return Sect hold such a high status in the realm of mysticism?
If we were to explain mystic masters as those who have thoroughly studied feng shui and mysticism, and understand physiognomy, blessing rituals, disaster resolution, and ghost capture...
Then Cloud Return Sect would be more like beings who could communicate with the gods.
Cloud Return Sect far surpassed them all!
This plaque was just a small trinket within Cloud Return Sect.
But the information it conveyed was not small at all.
Bai Fu sat cross-legged in the room for half an hour, trying to find the so-called spiritual energy his uncle had mentioned.
In the end, he didn't find any spiritual energy, but people from below rushed in urgently.
"In our sect, one of the plaques moved, it seems a sect member has encountered some crisis..."
Upon hearing this, Bai Fu immediately got up and went to where the plaques were kept.
Why did the people below report this to him?
Mainly because although Bai Fu was young, he was a direct disciple of Cloud Return Sect.
Those above him like his uncles, grand-uncles, aunts... none of them managed affairs.
The old folks happily delegated miscellaneous tasks to the younger disciples, which is why Bai Fu had developed such a mature demeanor at a young age.
As Bai Fu stepped out the door, he still had a slight longing for that Grand Master's wife.
Since that day, after he and his uncles had explained things... they had all shut themselves away. Sigh, in the end they didn't say whether they would still pay respects to the Grand Master's wife in the future...
"Look here, sir."
Bai Fu raised his head at the sound, and saw a huge plaque with countless dots on it. These dots were linked together, like a web of stars.
Except the star web was dim, with only one point flashing incessantly.
Bai Fu leaned in for a closer look, his expression changing slightly: "The plaque corresponding to this point was taken by the Ancestral Master when he left. Quickly, go notify the uncles..."
"Yes!"
The old folks who had originally shut themselves away all gathered now, launching into a discussion about whether the Ancestral Master had really encountered danger outside, and just how formidable something would have to be to endanger the Ancestral Master, and so on...
Bai Fu sat by himself on the steps outside the door, sighing softly: "...Pondered for so many years, but haven't figured out spiritual energy. Don't know where they learned these bureaucratic habits from. A meeting that lasts three hours..."
Bai Fu looked down on them.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
The Chaos beings had already become quite obedient towards Jing Jiujiu and Bai Yuhuai.
Jing Jiujiu turned to Bai Yuhuai and said: "Let's go home."
Little robot: ?
Little robot: "Wait, we haven't finished the mission yet."
Jing Jiujiu nodded: "Mm, but I've found my dad."
The little robot opened its mouth, then drooped dejectedly. Well, its head was rigid and couldn't actually droop.
That's true... They'd already received the reward, so was there any need to complete it?
It's just that...
Jing Jiujiu couldn't help but mutter: "Why is it one-half though?"
"What?" Bai Yuhuai asked.
The "Find the Divine Address" task was completed 1/2, as if someone had suddenly stopped speaking halfway through a sentence.
Jing Jiujiu looked at the majestic palace before him, unable to figure out where the other half of the divine address might be.
Forget it, better to go home first.
Jing Jiujiu didn't really like this place.
Yu Ran came over and asked softly: "Ready to go back?"
Jing Jiujiu nodded: "My body has been reshaped, Master Zhou's son has been found, and I've found Dad too." As he said this, the light in Jing Jiujiu's eyes brightened a bit.
Yu Ran's expression also softened considerably in that instant.
At this point, Jing Jiujiu suddenly remembered something else: "Oh, it's just that... Master Zhou's daughter-in-law and granddaughter also died because of an evil god. Bai Yuhuai and I guessed that someone, probably the ancestors of that Daoist Master Qu Yi, deliberately released quite a few evil god statues into the market... We don't know how many people have suffered from this yet."
Yu Ran's expression cooled for a moment, but soon became gentle again: "Does my child want to find them all one by one?"
"...We should find them. Otherwise, how many people will end up like me, like Master Zhou, with their families destroyed?"
"My child is so kind." Yu Ran pursed his lips.
He could touch Jing Jiujiu now, so nothing else was within his realm of consideration.
Yu Ran said softly: "Shall I have Chaos carry us both home together?"
Going home together.
Jing Jiujiu pursed his lips and responded quietly: "Mm."
The little robot sitting in the backpack was getting quite anxious.
Just leaving like this?
Jing Jiujiu turned his head to look into the distance of the Chaos world.
There, he could vaguely see many twisted, struggling ghosts... They were all like Master Zhou's son.
Jing Jiujiu felt a bit regretful: "There's no way to deal with these ghosts now, but that river... can it be spit out directly? If it's spit out, would the underworld recover?"
"It's not that easy," Bai Yuhuai said softly. "It's not a river from the mortal realm. If it's spit out, yin energy would spread everywhere, the river would flow backwards, causing even the sun and moon to reverse..."
Jing Jiujiu had to abandon this idea.
Yu Ran silently swept their appearances into his eyes. Seeing that no matter what far-fetched things Jing Jiujiu said, Bai Yuhuai would respond softly, carefully explaining everything to him... The displeasure in his heart finally diminished a bit.
Such a massive Chaos being couldn't easily move house.
It had grown here, almost merging with the mountains and forests. It hadn't transformed for a long time, and its belly contained land and palaces... It had essentially become a small world.
So Jing Jiujiu chose the Chaos being that had captured them.
This Chaos being dejectedly put them in its belly, obediently carrying them away from this vast mountain forest.
How could it have imagined?
Just as it had snatched people away, now it had to return them, no, carry them even further...
They were heading towards the capital city.
Meanwhile, a group of old men and women had finally finished their meeting and came down from the mountain.
In Bai Yuhuai's villa.
"Is everyone here?"
"All here."
"Then let's go."
"Wait." Someone laughed, "This is where Cloud Return Sect's people live."
"So what?"
"Nothing much, I just wanted to say, wouldn't it be worthwhile if we could take a few things from Cloud Return Sect along the way?"
The Daoist Master said coldly: "I've already looked. There are very few mystical objects kept here. Apart from the plaque around the little ghost's neck, there's nothing that belongs to Cloud Return Sect."
The young man held the little ghost Yuanyuan in one hand while snorting lightly: "This Mr. Bai certainly values the ghost he raised highly... I heard it's Jing Tinghua's son. The one who was offered to the evil god years ago."
Someone behind also chimed in: "I've seen photos." Then he chuckled softly, with a hint of something else: "He is quite good-looking."
"Do evil gods like pretty ones?" someone asked curiously.
The Daoist Master said softly: "A person has many types of luck - beauty is their luck, intelligence is their luck, wealth, health, all sorts of things are their luck... That son of the Jing family is equivalent to having gathered all the best luck in the world upon himself. What do you think, would evil gods like such an offering?"
The young man added: "I like it too."
They chatted as they opened the door, preparing to swagger out.
But just then, there was a soft "click" sound.
"What was that?"
"A camera?"
"Who's photographing us?!"
They instinctively drew back their feet.
"You forgot Bai Yuhuai is a celebrity? It might just be paparazzi... No big deal, let's go!"
Just as they finished speaking, they heard the sound of police sirens approaching from afar.
"..." Their scalps tingled as they all turned around, not even thinking before hiding back inside the villa.
They were afraid of getting involved with the police.
The police carried the righteous energy of heaven and earth.
Ordinary malicious techniques couldn't harm them.
If they encountered the police head-on, they might even end up in jail, after all, none of them were clean, they all still had criminal records.
They hurriedly found the basement of the villa, hid inside, and even drew several talismans to place at the door.
What they didn't expect was that there were usually quite a few paparazzi keeping an eye on Bai Yuhuai's movements. As soon as the police cars arrived, countless media outlets rushed over at lightning speed.
They even started live streaming.
"Mr. Bai, have you gone out on your honeymoon?"
"Has there been a break-in here?"
"May I ask who called the police?"
A group of people were hiding in the basement, listening as the commotion outside grew louder and louder.
"Are they crazy? Why are there so many people? How are we supposed to escape now?"
"Should we kill them all?"
"Are you insane?! If you kill them all, the government will come after you! Do you think you've really become a god? One bullet and you're dead too!"
"Is this really what it's like for celebrities? Do they always have this many people around them?"
They never imagined that their meticulous plans would be ruined by the paparazzi!
"Don't worry, they won't be able to find anyone, so they'll leave eventually," the Daoist master said calmly, trying to reassure them.
They ended up waiting until the next day.
Just as dawn broke, a group of people wearing flowing white robes that looked like costumes from a historical drama arrived outside Bai Yuhuai's villa.
The reporters, who had been losing interest, suddenly perked up again.
"Hey, who are you people?"
"Are you all old folks practicing tai chi?"
"Why would you practice tai chi in front of someone's house... Holy shit?!"
Their jaws dropped as they watched the uniformly dressed group of elderly people seemingly float over the wall as if they were stepping on something light and airy.
The elderly group all had solemn expressions as they pulled out papers and wooden objects from their robes.
The main gate posed no obstacle to them whatsoever.
They strode purposefully inside, an aura of murderous intent growing stronger around them.
The reporters were dumbfounded.
What the hell?
Are we seeing ghosts?
The old men and women stopped in front of the basement door. They bent down and casually tapped the door, destroying the mystical symbols on it.
"Return our Ancestral Master!" they shouted fiercely.
The people inside were so startled they fell over.
The door slowly opened, and the two sides finally came face to face.
When the Cloud Return Sect members looked inside, they saw little ghosts everywhere!
How sinister!
And they were even carrying several divine statues on their backs. Were those stolen?
This was infuriating!
The people inside were suddenly terrified.
The Cloud Return Sect... all those old fogies from the Cloud Return Sect had actually shown up without missing a single one!
All this over messing with one little ghost?
"Bai Yuhuai... Bai Yuhuai isn't here!" someone said weakly, unable to withstand the pressure.
"Nonsense!" the Eldest Master Uncle exclaimed angrily, flinging his sleeve.
"If you don't believe us, ask this little ghost! It's the one Bai Yuhuai raised!"
The Eldest Master Uncle glared at it furiously.
Yuanyuan took the opportunity to bite the young man again, screeching, "Get... out! Don't touch... my mom's things!"
The old men and women were all taken aback.
"This... our Ancestral Master has become its mother?"
"What, did they have a child with a ghost or something?"
"Sister, don't faint yet! Hold on a little longer!"
...
The reporters outside were straining to hear but couldn't make anything out clearly. Just then, they saw an enormous cloud large enough to blot out the sky suddenly fly over.
Bai Yuhuai sat on Chaos's back, scanning below: "...Something's happened at home."
As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Yuhuai leapt straight down.
The wind whipped his coat dramatically, making him look like a fierce hawk spreading its wings.
Forget the reporters not having time to react - even Jing Jiujiu was stunned, his mouth slightly agape as he instinctively clenched his fists.
Bai Yuhuai landed steadily, not even glancing at the chaos around him as he strode through the main gate in a few steps.
Jiujiu's things were inside.
Bai Yuhuai's eyes were cold and fierce.
And those little ghosts.
They were all raised by Jiujiu bit by bit.
In Chaos's mouth, Jing Jiujiu's fingers were clenched tightly.
At that moment, a ding sounded in his mind.
[Detecting host's new wish, generating new mission...]
[Mission 1: Rebuild the Underworld
Mission 2: Rebuild the Divine Realm]
[Mission Reward: Obtain the Body of a Deity]
Jing Jiujiu: ?
What am I supposed to do with that?
The system voice seemed to know what he was thinking and replied in a cold tone, yet somehow managing to sound like a sleazy middle-aged man: [You can do it as many times as you want without breaking.]
Jing Jiujiu: ?
Was that really the wish in my mind when I watched Bai Yuhuai jump down just now???
Jing Jiujiu was stunned by his own thoughts.