Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

"I was wondering what it was?"

"Turns out it's just ghosts."

Zhang Ze stared for a long time before he could see what was moving in the fog.

It was a group of ghosts with no legs, dressed in clothing from the former Dongqi dynasty.

These ghosts were clearing the way for Tang under the guidance of his spell and incense burner.

They had clear divisions of labor and moved efficiently.

The two ghosts in front were responsible for clearing the brambles, and once people passed through, the ghosts in the fog behind restored the road to its original state.

There were also a few responsible for setting the mood, puckering their little mouths to make strange bird calls, and clapping to the rhythm.

These ghosts were faint in color, bluish white without a hint of black, clearly good ghosts well-fed on incense, likely nurtured by the old Celestial Master's family.

However, this was obvious only to an insider like Zhang Ze. Mortals wouldn't be able to tell if these ghosts were good or bad.

Zhang Ze suddenly felt he might have wronged the Liu family father and son.

For ordinary people who don't heed warnings and sneak a peek at this scene, not doing what the evil cult does would indeed be a disservice to the old Celestial Master's arrangements.

Zhang Ze walked leisurely behind Tang with his hands behind his back, continuing to observe the appearances of these ghosts.

Maybe it was because of his arrogant attitude, but those ghosts felt uneasy under his gaze.

A fat-faced ghost wearing armor turned to glare at Zhang Ze.

This fat-faced ghost felt Zhang Ze was being disrespectful and decided to give him a scare.

Its head began to grow, its eyes bulging, its armor shattering, as two more arms sprouted from its back, each holding a short halberd.

But before it could let out a chilling cry, it suddenly deflated as its head shrank rapidly.

Zhang Ze drew the Spirit Sword Witch Priest.

The fat-faced ghost stepped back, distancing itself from the sword, bowing and bending obsequiously toward Zhang Ze, making a welcoming gesture with all four of its arms.

"Welcome~~."

The ethereal ghostly voice reached Zhang Ze's ears.

Zhang Ze was pleased with the fat-faced ghost's respectful behavior, sheathed his sword, and continued forward.

Li, who had been perched on Zhang Ze's shoulder, found the ghost rather intriguing.

The Southern Border here has a great ecological environment, with many animals and plants retaining features from the barbaric period, which made Li nostalgic.

He had previously wanted to catch some cockroaches and rats to play with, but had been strictly forbidden by Zhang Ze.

Now, seeing this interesting group of ghosts, his playful spirit was piqued again, and while Zhang Ze wasn't paying attention, he shot a golden light from his hand, capturing the ghost.

The ghost, taller than a person, had been reduced to the size of a broad bean, trapped inside a small golden sphere in Li's hand, darting back and forth but unable to escape.

"This is someone else's ghost, let it go. Also, when did you learn this move?" Zhang Ze asked.

"In the inn earlier, Tang taught me. Is it difficult?" Li dismissively dispersed the golden sphere, releasing the unfortunate fat-faced ghost.

Looking at Li's skillful and natural technique, Zhang Ze made an unobjective evaluation, "It's indeed not difficult, but you still need practice, because you're still a bit lacking compared to me."

Li, understanding Zhang Ze's mindset, saw through his bravado immediately.

"Really?" It eyed Zhang Ze skeptically.

"Learn, there's no end to learning." Zhang Ze changed the subject.

Li was about to banter with Zhang Ze when Tang suddenly stopped in his tracks, ceasing his chant.

"We've arrived."

As soon as Tang finished speaking, the dense fog around them dissipated, and the ghosts that had led them through the fog disappeared without a trace.

Before them, as Liu Yong described, was a stone wall full of holes.

The holes in the stone wall varied in size, but the largest could not fit an adult, and looking inside, there was no end in sight.

"And then?" Zhang Ze asked.

Tang shook his head, lit the incense burner again, and chanted a spell trying to summon the ghosts back.

However, perhaps scared by Zhang Ze and Li's earlier actions, the ghosts refused to come out no matter what.

Zhang Ze and Tang waited for a while, but no sound came from the stone caverns.

"Why not calculate?" Tang suddenly suggested to Zhang Ze.

When in doubt, calculate—a passive skill of the Daoists.

Seeing Tang take out the Celestial Calculation Disc, Li, who was perching on Zhang Ze's shoulder, hopped to the ground and ran over to join in the excitement.

One person, one dragon, one disc, three fortune-telling masters of different races set up their formation, each using their divine techniques to deduce the secrets of heaven.

However, the results of this deduction were somewhat absurd.

"Roast chicken."

This was Tang's calculated result.

[Live poultry]

This was the result from the Celestial Calculation Disc.

"Egg."

This was Li's answer.

"Has the old Celestial Master turned into a yellow-skinned rat?"

This was Zhang Ze's speculation.

More words are useless; the results of fortune-telling need the test of practice, but the problem is, where to find chicken in this ghostly place.

"I have it," Li raised his hand.

Then, he took out half a roast chicken wrapped in lotus leaves from the Hundred Treasures Bag hanging around his neck.

"Where did you get it?" Zhang Ze inquired.

"From the inn earlier, when you went outside. We ordered it, and Tang finished all the leftover dishes, leaving only this half chicken."

"Originally, I was planning to save it as a midnight snack."

Reluctantly, Li handed the half chicken to Zhang Ze.

...

After a long while, a yellow triangular head poked out from a stone cavity.

It sniffed the air, confirming no one was around, and a yellow-skinned gentleman dressed in clothes crawled out of the stone hole, cautiously hopping to the ground.

The little yellow-skinned rat stood up as soon as it landed, adjusted its pants, and looking at the carefully arranged picnic scene ahead, muttered to itself.

"Those folks are indeed gone… but isn't this a trap?"

"Forget it, be bold and you'll reap the reward, slow hands get nothing."

"I, Huang Silang, have never been inferior; it's been ages since I last tasted roast chicken. Let's do it."

It said, transforming into a whirlwind, rushing toward the roast chicken, taking a hefty bite before bolting toward the nearest stone cavern.

With invisibility talismans lying in ambush nearby, Zhang Ze and Tang immediately took action, intending to capture it alive.

But Huang Silang's body technique was indeed elusive, dodging the body-stabilizing talismans Zhang Ze and Tang threw with a peculiar movement.

However, just a step away from the stone cavern, he was captured on the spot by Li, who emerged from the ground.

Li had always wanted to catch a large rat from Diannan to play with, but never had the chance.

This time, with Zhang Ze's permission, capturing this spiritually aware cunning weasel, he naturally put all his effort into it.

Seeing Li succeed, Zhang Ze put away his Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, abandoning the idea of capturing it inside.

Pinning down Huang Silang, Li flipped his hand to take out a leather bag, grabbed Huang Silang by the neck and stuffed it in, leaving only the head outside.

"What are you doing?" Tang asked.

"Preventing him from farting." As soon as Li spoke, a muffled sound came from the bag, yet most of the fart seeped through the cracks and went straight into Huang Silang's own mouth.

Gagging on his own fart, Huang Silang retched for a while before starting to shout.

"Do whatever you want, I admit defeat, but I will never reveal my master's whereabouts."

"Unless… you let me have a bite of the roast chicken?"

As Huang Silang said this, his small eyes darting around, clearly plotting something.

Zhang Ze looked at the cunning weasel, seemingly luring them to use the Escape Technique to pass through the stone wall, and pulled Tang over.

"Stop playing us. This is the grandson of the old Celestial Master," he said. "We've come to find the old celestial master."

"Huh? You're Tang Haoran?!"

Huang Silang somehow mustered the strength to wiggle free from Li's grip and toward Tang.

"Quick, come on over, you're just in time; your grandpa is about to do something big!"