Just as Jing Jiujiu finished looking at the photos, the phone rang again.
It seemed to be on speakerphone, as the voices on the other end could be heard clearly:
"Are you sure Mr. Bai can handle these matters?"
"The Cloud Return Sect follows all instructions from the Ancestral Master."
"..." Master Tingyi muttered, "How can he be even more rigid than me?"
Master Tingyi cleared his throat, then turned back to speak into the phone: "Young friend, why don't you come back first? Let's discuss a plan, then find Mr. Bai to return. Mr. Bai must be busy filming right now, right?"
Jing Jiujiu looked back in Bai Yuhuai's direction.
Bai Yuhuai seemed to sense something, so he also turned to look at him, his gaze finally landing on the phone.
Ever since Jing Jiujiu had accidentally smashed Bai Yuhuai's phone, Bai Yuhuai had gotten a new one. The two of their phone models were now completely different and very easy to distinguish.
Bai Yuhuai glanced at it, then turned his head back.
Clearly, he didn't seem to mind Jing Jiujiu answering his phone.
Jing Jiujiu clicked his tongue: "I'll come back with him."
Master Tingyi paused: "But what about the 'divine message' on those bones, and this evil god statue... We still haven't figured out what's going on." In truth, Master Tingyi trusted this ghost Jing Jiujiu more than the inscrutable Bai Yuhuai.
Jing Jiujiu quietly turned around, not letting Xu Sanyu hear.
He asked in a low voice: "Zhuo Wu is Bai Yuhuai, so do you think the evil god statue is also Bai Yuhuai?"
Master Tingyi: "The evil god statue may not necessarily be Mr. Bai, but it must be connected. If the god creation plan was orchestrated by Zhuo Wu, does Mr. Bai retain memories from his past life?"
Jing Jiujiu: "Hmm, I definitely don't think so."
"What makes you say that, young friend?"
Jing Jiujiu: "The castle's evil god statue is vicious, and not as clever as Bai Yuhuai."
The evil god statue, sitting in the array and hearing everything clearly through the speakerphone: "..." It was almost enraged to the point of coughing blood.
"Then the god creation plan..." Master Tingyi hesitated slightly.
Jing Jiujiu lowered his eyes, playing with the back of the chair as he spoke softly: "If Bai Yuhuai is indeed the reincarnation of Zhuo Wu without a doubt, wouldn't he be the one who knows best what he would do? Why not let Bai Yuhuai deduce what he was thinking back then? Isn't that good?"
Jing Jiujiu spoke lightly, not seeming to think it was a big problem at all.
Master Tingyi opened his mouth: "..."
Well... that does make some sense.
Master Tingyi sighed softly: "Then please inform Mr. Bai."
"Mm."
Jing Jiujiu put away the phone, about to hang up.
Master Tingyi suddenly spoke: "I forgot to tell you yesterday, happy birthday, young friend."
The corners of Jing Jiujiu's mouth, which had been slightly drooping, finally curled up a bit: "Mm, thank you."
Jing Jiujiu put away Bai Yuhuai's phone.
Only then did he remember to look for his own, but he couldn't find it after searching everywhere.
Ah, maybe it had rolled off somewhere when he took off his clothes yesterday.
Jing Jiujiu stood up and walked out.
Xu Sanyu hurriedly asked: "Do you want me to come with you?"
Jing Jiujiu shook his head: "No need."
He couldn't be pulled back to the castle now anyway.
And since ghosts and spirits were all afraid of him now, there wasn't much to worry about.
Jing Jiujiu walked out slowly. The gazes of others in the film crew lingered on him for a moment before moving away.
They didn't know why, but the youth seemed to have an immense attraction when looking at them.
Jing Jiujiu had just walked downstairs.
Xu Sanyu hesitated for a moment, then followed behind him.
He felt uncomfortable just staying there anyway.
"Damn! Why is it so crowded?" Xu Sanyu blurted out.
After saying it, he felt his choice of words was rather strange, and hesitantly corrected himself, muttering: "...It's hard to breathe, is there some harmful gas in the air?"
As he finished speaking, he looked down.
Jing Jiujiu was standing still in front of Room 203.
Xu Sanyu opened his mouth to call his name, but felt a chill in his throat, as if something had crawled in and blocked it.
Xu Sanyu: *cough cough cough*
He couldn't cough it out.
But he could hear Jing Jiujiu's voice clearly.
The youth's voice was like the only beacon in a haze of confusion. He said softly: "Don't block the way, you were too noisy last night. It was my birthday, did you know? If you're too noisy, you'll be..." He paused, then casually made up: "eaten."
Who was "you"?
G-ghosts?
Xu Sanyu shuddered.
Even though the young master's voice was gentle, he couldn't feel any warmth from it.
But at that moment, the door creaked open.
Xu Sanyu also felt his throat loosen, his breathing became smooth again, and the strange feeling of pressure around him disappeared.
He hurriedly took two steps at a time to reach Jing Jiujiu's side.
Just then, there was a "thud" sound.
A pair of slippers moved without wind, placing themselves in front of Jing Jiujiu.
Jing Jiujiu simply stepped over them, saying: "I'm here to get my phone."
Then his phone flew out from under the bed, hovering in front of him. Jing Jiujiu reached out to take it, 5% battery remaining.
"It's out of power..." Jing Jiujiu flipped through it briefly, still finding some missed calls.
They were from Master Tingyi, Tao He, Ding Dabao, Yin Mo... Probably because the calls didn't connect, they had each sent text messages as well.
Meng Hexin had also sent him a WeChat message.
[Is your birthday today? Did I remember correctly? I'm getting confused from all this filming]
[Wait till I get back, I'll give you another USB drive! It's full of good stuff!]
Chattering away, all sorts of messages filled up this phone that wasn't even as big as a palm.
Jing Jiujiu slowly smiled.
No evil gods or god creation could affect his mood in the slightest.
Jing Jiujiu turned around: "Hm? Brother Xu, why are you here too?"
Xu Sanyu trembled as he pointed next to him.
Jing Jiujiu looked back.
A charger was floating there.
Xu Sanyu was nearly scared out of his wits.
Jing Jiujiu remained polite as always. He pushed the charger away, saying softly: "Thank you, but the charger you brought is from over a decade ago. I can't use it."
Jing Jiujiu walked to the doorway, then suddenly stopped.
Xu Sanyu also stopped, his voice quavering: "Is... is a ghost blocking the way?" He craned his neck but only saw his boss's face outside the door.
"Why did you come downstairs?" Bai Yuhuai asked.
"To get my phone, but it's out of battery."
Bai Yuhuai took it: "I'll charge it for you in a bit."
"Mm." Jing Jiujiu paused, then said: "The evil god in the castle can't be refined."
"Oh?" Bai Yuhuai knew he was referring to the content of that phone call.
"It has a face identical to yours."
Xu Sanyu listened with widened eyes.
Bai Yuhuai's eyes suddenly turned cold, he pressed his lips together: "Is that so?" His tone carried a hint of frost.
"No wonder its face was never clear." Bai Yuhuai lowered his eyes slightly, "So the counterfeit was afraid of running into the real thing."
"It has nothing to do with you?" Jing Jiujiu asked directly.
Bai Yuhuai grasped his wrist, rubbing it slightly.
"No. Before this, I knew nothing of this thing."
Xu Sanyu felt that the topic the two were discussing seemed to be something extremely important, so he held his breath.
"Oh." Jing Jiujiu paused, "But Daoist Master Tingyi said that the plan to create false gods was all written down by you. You wrote it on some bones..."
Bai Yuhuai's footsteps faltered: "Written by Zhuo Wu?"
Jing Jiujiu: "Isn't Zhuo Wu you?"
"Yes." Bai Yuhuai paused, unconsciously gripping Jing Jiujiu's wrist tighter. He frowned slightly, "But I have no memories of my previous life."
A hint of anxiety and displeasure rippled through Bai Yuhuai's heart.
This made him extremely irritated at the sight of the ghosts desperately trying to squeeze into this building.
Bai Yuhuai curled his fingers, about to make a hand seal.
Suddenly, objects appeared starting from the doorway of Room 203.
Flat steamed buns, round rice cakes, each with a white candle stuck in it. Looking closer, some of the rice cakes had even grown moldy.
Bai Yuhuai: "..."
Jing Jiujiu was rather surprised and a bit happy. He bent down to sniff, catching a whiff of something delicious from the incense candles: "...These ghosts are so clever? They know how to curry favor with me?"
Xu Sanyu spoke with difficulty: "Is this... a birthday cake?"
Bai Yuhuai finally stopped his hand from forming a seal.
Jing Jiujiu mumbled, "But how big of a breath would it take to blow out all the candles at once?"
"You're a god," Bai Yuhuai reminded him. "Your thoughts become reality, following your heart's will."
Jing Jiujiu took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
In an instant, all the candles were extinguished.
Xu Sanyu was already speechless behind them.
Jing Jiujiu smacked his lips. "Alright, I won't eat it then." It looked rather unappetizing anyway.
Bai Yuhuai gave a soft acknowledgment, gripping Jing Jiujiu's hand a little tighter.
Jing Jiujiu hadn't forgotten his unfinished question from earlier. He asked again, "So do you think your previous self might have written something like a god-creation plan?"
Given my personality...
Bai Yuhuai: "...It's possible."
He was a very pure person.
So pure that he was even a bit cold-hearted to the core.
Before meeting Jing Jiujiu, in his eyes, there was no distinction between ghosts.
"Then is it possible that Daoist Master Qu Yi's ancestors spread the evil god around because they were following your orders?" Jing Jiujiu asked.
"Impossible," Bai Yuhuai denied immediately.
Bai Yuhuai paused.
"The evil god of the ancient castle might just be a strand of impure qi from Zhuo Wu. Before immortals become saints, they all expel emotions and love, and drive out impure qi. From then on, they form a saint's body." As he said this, Bai Yuhuai's expression had already turned somewhat gloomy.
Jing Jiujiu was slightly bewildered. "Ah."
He kicked his legs a bit and climbed up a step with Bai Yuhuai. "Actually, there's another strange thing. The evil god chose to sacrifice the eldest son of the Jing family. That means it should have first approached my uncle. But my uncle escaped, only ending up with a lame leg. After that, it should have gone for my uncle's eldest son... so why did it come for me?"
Bai Yuhuai recalled when they were still in the previous film set, how the evil god of the ancient castle had descended its divine consciousness onto Guan Yan's body, clinging to Jing Jiujiu relentlessly.
Bai Yuhuai's expression suddenly turned cold and gloomy.
"Even just a lowly, despicable strand of impure qi that separated from me... would still instinctively approach you, like you, want you." These words seemed to be squeezed out from between Bai Yuhuai's teeth, sounding very strange.
It was like an unconventional confession.
Yet it also seemed saturated with self-loathing, jealousy, and seething anger towards that thing.
Jing Jiujiu was stunned for a moment, unconsciously gripping Bai Yuhuai's fingers in return.