Chapter 106 – To Step Over an Ant Without Killing It—Such Force Is Hard to Control!
"Lightning?!"
A look of shock flashed in the witch's eyes. It was too late to retreat. She'd wanted to pick on the weakest, but the lightning had actually come from this young man in front of her?
So after all her searching, she'd ended up choosing the hardest target?
"Don't kill her right away, there are still some—"
Uncle Feng raised his hand to stop him, but before he could finish, the witch was already turned to ashes by the lightning. His hand froze in midair, and his words stuck in his throat.
The witch was dead. He hadn't expected Renji to finish her in a single move.
"Don't look at me, I wanted to stop him too!"
Zhong Fabai shrugged at Uncle Feng's gaze.
Mainly, it seemed his disciple was truly even stronger than himself. He hadn't cultivated that long, yet this lightning was even more powerful than the Maoshan Sect's famed Thunderbolt Fist.
"To step over an ant without killing it—such force is hard to control."
Renji looked a little troubled. He'd intended to hold back, but the lightning directly finished off the witch.
If he'd known, he wouldn't have used lightning.
As expected, lightning is a dangerous thing—if you're not careful, the enemy is reduced to nothing.
"Are you showing off now?"
Zhong Fabai thought this was strange—Renji's troubled expression, together with his words, just made it look like he was flexing.
He'd originally planned for the three of them to take down the witch and interrogate her about the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect's real plans.
The sect had been gone for a while, but now they'd reappeared. It was clear this one witch wasn't all—judging by recent events, the enemy was clearly making a comeback.
The witch's spirit was starting to dissipate. Realizing she didn't have long, she looked deeply at Renji and asked, "Daoist, what's your name?"
"I don't change my name whether walking or sitting. My name is Zhong Fabai—remember it!"
When Renji said this, the witch's spirit finally vanished, while Zhong Fabai was left dumbfounded. Why the hell did you use my name?
"Well, since the witch is dead, let's leave it. It was just an accident by my junior nephew."
Uncle Feng coughed softly. He didn't quite get it, but there was no point criticizing Renji for killing the witch—it was their job to vanquish demons, after all.
Plus, Renji reporting his teacher's name was probably to spread his master's reputation. What a good disciple—Uncle Feng was a little envious.
Zhong Fabai didn't say much. He just felt something wasn't quite right but couldn't put his finger on it.
As for Renji, his idea was simply to use an alias when traveling. He didn't care about fame, and giving his teacher some credit was fine. After all, Zhong Fabai liked a challenge—everyone knew that.
"By the way, I'll accept your previous proposal. But I'm still officially on the police force, so I'll need to resign there first."
Uncle Feng still held his police position. Now that he'd decided to join the ghost-catching company, he had to leave the force.
He'd thought it through: with the current situation in Hong Kong, solo efforts wouldn't cut it. Renji was right—working together was better.
And with his personality, he'd never been valued in the force. He was already feeling frustrated, so now he had even more reason to leave.
A better opportunity, plus being with his junior brother and nephew, all fellow Daoists—he'd naturally be happier there.
After a brief discussion, Uncle Feng agreed to finish his resignation and then come over. The group parted ways for now.
[Ding! You have foiled the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect's scheme and prevented damage to the nation's fate. Reward: one lottery draw!]
As expected!!
A glint of surprise flashed in Renji's eyes—this conflict really was tied to a struggle over destiny.
Now the appearance of all that baleful energy made sense—it hadn't just appeared out of nowhere, but was a carefully laid trap, most likely by foreign forces seeking a share.
He silently activated his reward.
[Ding! You have used your lottery draw and obtained: Qimen Dunjia.]
[Qimen Dunjia]: Contains methods of divination, formations, Daoist arts, and more.
This thing?!
Zhuge Liang's specialty?
Memories surged in Renji's mind. This was a completely different school from Maoshan Daoism, one that emphasized formations and divination, with some arrays even more profound than Maoshan's.
Likewise, Qimen Dunjia's Daoist arts complemented Maoshan's. Practicing both would be even better for him.
In this world, Daoist arts are what matter most—everything else is just support.
"Old Feng left the police to join the ghost-catching company."
News of Uncle Feng's resignation quickly reached the upper-level ghosts.
Their original hope was for the company to eliminate other ghosts, but if it kept recruiting Daoists, that would eventually threaten them.
If the company kept investigating, eventually everything would be exposed. Their good days would be over.
These evil ghosts had never belonged to this class in life—if they hadn't become ghosts, they'd never have enjoyed what they had now. So, when anything threatened them, they'd never let it grow strong.
But even so, their attitude was conflicted—they wanted to cultivate these people, but didn't want them growing so quickly and so powerful.
"What else can we do? Weren't you the ones who said we should raise them up? And now you can't handle it just as it's beginning?"
Logically, raising someone should make you happy to see them grow.
And this was just the start—this team could become even stronger in the future.
"Don't say that. They've already taken down the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect!"
"That's right! Those guys wanted to split our nation's fate. That belongs to us!"
Even as ghosts, they could still enjoy the benefits of fate.
This was originally theirs, so they were happy to see the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect eliminated.
"But it doesn't just belong to us. If the baleful energy surpasses the pure energy, we gain more benefits. But we're not the only ones—there are many other ghosts here, and they'll share this fate with us!"
They were greedy. Unable to cultivate, they could only rely on fate to grow stronger. In contrast, those ghosts who already possessed powerful strength might absorb even more fate.
They had orchestrated everything from the shadows, only for someone else to reap the rewards in the end—no one would be willing to accept that.
"So not only can't we move against this company, we actually have to help them grow?"
It seemed the only choice was to fatten up the company, so they could handle anyone who came to steal the fate.
"That's right. You can't just send the army to fight ghosts and evil cultivators, can you?"
They held high positions and could order the military, but the army simply couldn't deal with powerful ghosts. They had to rely on Daoists instead, so it was better to let them become stronger.
Seeing some hesitation, an old man in grey reassured them, "What's to worry about? Daoists have their own principles. If it comes down to it, just have the army deal with them. If the military can't handle evil ghosts, they can at least deal with Daoists, right?"
"That's true. By the way, isn't it time to get rid of that Chu Renmei? Should we arrange for someone to dig her up soon? If she gets revived by fate, she'll be very difficult to deal with!"
The evil ghost Chu Renmei was about to revive. The city government could arrange for her to be excavated.
For now, she was only being suppressed—her resentment hadn't truly disappeared.
"That clown needs to be dealt with, too. The seal there won't hold much longer. If that Cursed Park continues unchecked, the clown will break free."
They'd already sealed off the Cursed Park, and didn't want anyone to go near it.
Each time someone died in the Cursed Park, the clown grew stronger. Once he broke free, it would be hard to track him down, let alone deal with him.
"Just include all the details on the Cursed Park and Chu Renmei, and also arrange to release that lunatic Leo from the psychiatric hospital—he's actually somewhat useful against ghosts."
Leo could be released; although he didn't know Daoist arts, letting him join the ghost-catching company could strengthen it a bit, without making a huge difference.
"I deliberately leaked news about the zombie family to the antique dealer. I believe they'll make an appearance soon. Looks like everything's going according to plan!"
"And don't forget the bunch from Yin-Yang Road. Honestly, those foreigners really are something else."
If it weren't for them, there wouldn't be so many ghosts now. Over the years, they had managed to deal with some, but now they still had to rely on Daoists for help.
"Well, you can't blame them entirely. Some of those foreigners are still after immortality. If not for the evil Daoists, we'd have taken over everyone by now!"
In the end, it was the evil Daoists' fault. Many sorcerers and local cultists, seeking power and wealth, were connected to them. Their original plan was to take over everyone above.
But on second thought, it was impossible to imitate someone else's habits perfectly—sooner or later they'd slip up. Over time, the evil Daoists would notice.
If discovered, these ghosts had no fighting power and would end up as puppets.
So, in the end, they decided to keep their distance and maintain a delicate balance.
"Right, hurry and leak the news about the haunted house at the first Yin-Yang boundary. Otherwise, we won't be able to keep it suppressed!"
"Alright, let's do that. Post all the info on the evil Daoists, too. After they deal with this group, we'll get rid of them all!"
That way, fate would belong to them alone.
Once everything was arranged, all this information was uploaded to the Miscellaneous Department's intranet, and Siyan quickly passed it on to Renji.
"Heh, what a classic move—using others to do your dirty work. But once your intelligence is used up, you're all dead."
Looking at the intel, Renji sneered inwardly. This time, the information included exact times and places. If someone behind the scenes didn't want them to act, he wouldn't have believed it.
Still, it was fine—what he needed most was intelligence, not only on these evil ghosts but even more so on the evil Daoists, like those sorcerers who refined Onmyoji, or members of the Nine Chrysanthemum Sect.
It seemed these people had collected quite a lot of incredible intel over the years.
"She's dead. Her last message was that someone named Zhong Fabai, a master of Daoist arts, killed her."
"Zhong Fabai?"
The Nine Chrysanthemum Sect.
Everyone committed the name to memory.
In the future, if you meet Zhong Fabai, go all out.
"She's dead, so should we send someone there? Otherwise, that position is left open."
"We're short-handed right now…"
"No one?"
"Yeah. I've recently found a girl perfect for a kotodama spirit. When Kayako dies, she'll become my proudest creation."
He was just about ready to finish cultivating this evil ghost—he wasn't about to leave now.
"Don't look at me. I can't go either—I'm working on an evil ghost that can kill through a phone call. When it's ready, I'll send it there!"
"Hanako is almost ready for her final moment."
"Let's just wait for now. No rush—if we keep an eye on things, we won't be gone long. Once we return, we should investigate Zhong Fabai. That woman was strong, but Zhong Fabai could even summon heavenly lightning—that's no small thing."
Before returning to Hong Kong, they had to gather more information.
Otherwise, if they acted rashly, they'd suffer—everyone agreed.
Top priority: investigate Zhong Fabai!
[Zombie Renji]: [Yin-Yang Eyes are so useful. Got any more draws? Come on, let's go—no rest for the weary!]
[Hong Kong Film Renji]: [That's it for now. I need to sort through a wave of intel, especially on evil Daoists. I didn't know before, but there are way more than I thought!]
He didn't dare act rashly now—evil Daoists weren't like ghosts.
If they launched a sneak attack, he might die before even meeting them.
[Mundane Renji]: [Being cautious is good, but your Yin-Yang Eyes are pretty handy. I've been seeing all sorts of ghosts lately—makes dealing with them much easier!]
From all the lottery draws, Yin-Yang Eyes were by far the most useful. Recently, they'd made dealing with ghosts so much more efficient.
It was just a pity that even though seven days had passed, Sadako still hadn't come. Sure enough, in this Conan world, time is weird—he'd arrived on June 16, but today was June 1. Sadako still owed him fifteen days.
(End of chapter)
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