Yun Heng willed himself to take two steps forward as he stared at Yi Qing in fright. Something flashed across his face as he anxiously said, “Fellow Daoist, do you mean that there are other ways to deal with deviant ghosts?”

　　Yi Qing’s expression darkened. “It is obvious that these deviant ghosts have been formed with hundreds of thousands of remnant souls. Remnant souls are also parts of souls. You would know that the Soul-Extinguishing Array would destroy whole souls. There is no way that these souls will survive the array!”

　　The more he spoke, the angrier he got. At first, he thought that Yun Heng could not be a bad person if he had a glow of merit around his body. Yi Qing did not think that Yun Heng would be one to suggest extinguishing a hundred thousand remnant souls. Cultivators aside – even demons would not think about doing something like that.

　　Yet, nobody around thought much of it. Instead, they looked at Yi Qing angrily.

　　“What remnant souls? What extinguishing? That’s a load of bull.”

　　“That’s right – if you don’t get rid of deviant ghosts, living people would suffer.”

　　“Stop spreading rumors to scare the crowd – I’m waiting to see justice being done!”

　　“Master Yun Tian, don’t bother listening to them talk more nonsense. These evil people will attempt to do whatever they can.”

　　“No!” Once again, Yun Heng stood in front of the crowd to stop them. There was no anger on his face. Instead, there was a little excitement as he turned to face Yi Qing, his eyes twinkling. Eagerly, he said, “According to what my fellow Daoist is saying, how should we deal with these deviant- I mean, remnant souls?”

　　Yi Qing’s suspicions were raised. Something was amiss. He frowned and answered, “Of course we have to bring them back to the River of Forgetfulness. We need to let them reincarnate in the Underworld.”

　　“Forgetfulness? Reincarnate?” Yun Heng stared at him blankly. He looked confused, and he was just about to ask a question.

　　But Yi Qing already turned around to walk toward the deviant ghosts. He used both of his hands to conjure a seal so that the ground under his feet glowed golden. A moment later, a huge array that led to the world appeared beneath his feet. It quickly spread throughout the entire forest.

　　The black deviant ghosts looked like gray clouds being blown away. The black Qi started to dissipate. Even the Yin Qi around the ghosts dissipated. What remained of the ghosts were their transparent figures, which looked so weak that some of their figures seemed like a blur of white Qi. They began to spread out so that they looked like hundreds of thousands of little white figures.

　　The crowd was stunned by what they were seeing. They continued to stare at the crowd of figures in disbelief.

　　“What…. what is this…”

　　“Why do the deviant ghosts suddenly look like that? Have… they become ghosts?”

　　“But why isn’t there any Yin Qi?”

　　“Eh, is that… the Patriarch of the Yan Family? Isn’t he…” Dead?

　　All of them sucked in a deep breath, as if they had never seen anything like that before. They wanted to take a closer look, but Yi Qing lowered his hands so that the entire forest full of weak remnant souls turned into green smoke that entered the River of Forgetfulness below them.

　　Within a few minutes, the deviant ghosts – which numbered so many that they could cover the skies or destroy the entire Longxing City – disappeared completely. All that was left behind were withered and dried leaves.

　　Yi Qing activated his divine perception to survey the forest. There were no remnant souls left. It looked like Song Ren was the only one left. The grievous energy that the other ghosts had were not so thick that they could not even enter the River of Forgetfulness.

　　All the Mystic cultivators present were still stunned. They said nothing for a long while.

　　Yun Heng was the first to react. He walked toward Yi Qing quickly. “Fellow Daoist, those deviant- remnant souls, where did they go?”

　　“I sent them to the River… Eh?” Before he could finish speaking, he saw a bright light coming from above. He raised his head and exclaimed, “It’s bright!”

　　“Eh?”

　　“There’s no time – I have to go back to cook!”

　　“Huh? Ah!” He has to what?

　　Once Yi Qing finished speaking, he picked up something that looked like a dandelion from the ground. He withdrew his sword and disappeared immediately.

　　They audience’s eyes widened even further. They looked at Yun Heng in confusion.

　　Nothing was more important than making breakfast for Master!

　　╭(╯^╰)╮

　　——————

　　Longxing City, in a certain inn.

　　“That’s what happened,” Yi Qing narrated his experience while clearing up the table.

　　“Oh.” Shen Ying had just finished eating breakfast. She turned the chopsticks in her hands and squatted next to a certain dead coward. “In other words… he’s acting up again?”

　　Acting up?

　　Yi Qing paused. Then, he nodded profusely. “Yes!”

　　“I think he’s been influenced by the grievous energy of those deviant ghosts,” he explained. “This time, he exploded with much more grievous energy than he did before. I’ve already sent a message to Meng Po, but… I think even she would have difficulties cleansing him of the grievous energy.”

　　Shen Ying glanced at the black Qi being emitted from the man’s body. He looked like he was molding. “Is there no other way?”

　　“I haven’t found out about his past – I’m not sure what is causing Song Ren all this grief. That’s why I haven’t been able to get rid of the grievous energy until now.”

　　“Let’s throw him aside for now then?”

　　“I can only keep him locked up in this illusionary body. But grievous energy can swallow one’s soul. If this continues, his soul will be gone sooner or later.”

　　“That’s so troublesome!” Shen Ying tilted her head. “Why not we throw him back to Father Niu?”

　　Yi Qing paused. A moment later, he said somberly, “That’s possible, but we haven’t found Yu Hong. If we go back now… I think we will lose about three months of allowance.”

　　“Er…”

　　“And…” Yi Qing continued, “If Song Ren is not better by tomorrow, we will not have any money left to remain in this inn.”

　　Shen Ying hesitated. A moment later, she threw aside the chopsticks, patted Yi Qing on the shoulder and said, “Chef, you’re right! The Treasure Hunter Ghost has been with us for several days now. We’re loyal people. Even if he becomes moldy Ghost, we will not leave him!”

　　“…” moldy… What does moldy Ghost even mean?

　　“But he’s molding pretty badly!” Shen Ying scratched her head and exclaimed as she surveyed the ghost beside her who was still emitting black Qi steadily. “Why not we shake him and hang him outside to dry so that we can get rid of the mold or something?”

　　As she spoke, she bent over to pick up Song Ren’s illusionary body, which continuously emitted grievous energy. She grabbed one side with each of her hands and shook the ghost out like a blanket.

　　A moment later, they heard a strong wind. A huge ball of grievous energy formed a rectangle in front of them.

　　-_-|||

　　“Mas… Master!” Yi Qing frowned. He stepped forward to stop her. “The grievous energy in Song Ren’s body cannot be shaken… Eh? It’s shaken off!”

　　(⊙_⊙)

　　Before he could finish speaking, he saw the huge patch of grievous energy retreat from Song Ren’s body like a turtle hiding back in its shell.

　　“…”

　　How is this possible!

　　“All done!” Shen Ying announced after two full minutes of shaking Song Ren’s body. The ball of grievous energy was all gone by then. All that remained of Song Ren was a translucent soul. He was still unconscious, and there was still some blackness trapped inside of him. “We just have to hang him up to dry now.”

　　Yi Qing: “…”

　　You… You are indeed a master!

　　Yi Qing was just about to say something when one of the waiters in the inn knocked on their door. “Guests, Master Yun Tian told me to send a message to you. He is wondering if it will be convenient to meet the two of you now?”

　　“Master Yun Tian?”

　　He’s really fast!

　　“Master, he’s the Soul Formation cultivator that I was talking to you about,” Yi Qing explained. Then, he nodded and allowed the waiter to lead Yun Tian in.

　　“Oh.” Shen Ying couldn’t care less.

　　A moment later, a huge patch of golden light walked into the room. It was absolutely blinding.

　　Shen Ying started. She narrowed her eyes. What a huge… lightbulb!

　　(⊙ o ⊙)

　　She glanced at the moldy ghost in her hands.

　　Heh heh heh…

　　(๑≧ټ≦๑)