4 The First Invitation

It was 12:30 a.m. and the moon was dark and the wind was blowing strongly.

He also checked his Almanac.

'It's better to go all out than go to the grave.'

After packing up his gear and not forgetting to bring along a thermos full of hot water, Qiao Yuan rode his rented bike to the destination.

Following the GPS ping, Qiao Yuan quickly arrived at an extremely remote area in the suburbs. The place was empty and isolated, not to mention the abandoned buildings not too far away made it even more spooky and desolate. 

The rustling of the surrounding trees by the wind made it seem like evil ghosts were baring their fangs and claws against someone.

'This place definitely didn't look like it wasn't haunted.'

Qiao Yuan opened the thermos and took a sip of hot water.

[Cultivation +1]

He felt the warm current flow through his stomach again, making him feel a lot more energetic.

'Hot water really is the greatest! A cure for all diseases.'

...

It was already 1:10 a.m. and the surroundings remained eerily quiet, not even the droning of that most typical summer insect could be heard. 

"As expected of besties: both are not punctual."

Qiao Yuan frowned as he took another sip of hot water.

[Cultivation +1]

He suddenly felt like peeing, so he looked around and found a secluded corner to solve it.

Shush~

While he was doing his business, he suddenly heard a series of footsteps closing in from the darkness.

Qiao Yuan immediately zipped up and began to look around.

At that moment, the temperature in his surroundings rapidly dropped and bone-chilling winds began to fill the area as well. He also began hearing sorrowful wails all around him, as if a malevolent spirit is demanding his life.

Qiao Yuan's face grew grim as he put his guard up against his surroundings, all the while still continually sipping his hot water to calm his nerves.

[Cultivation +1]

 Rustle~

The sound of the footsteps began to quicken, though he still couldn't see who was making all the racket. And out of nowhere, a faint disembodied voice sounded.

"You're here. "

When Qiao Yuan turned around, a figure had suddenly appeared behind him.

He turned on his flashlight immediately.

And pointed its strong light straight towards its face.

It was the ghost best friend!

The best friend wasn't too far away from him. She was wearing a blood-red dress, her hair was disheveled, and her face was also covered in blood. Though her dead fish eyes were fixed on him, he found it strange that her scarlet nails looked extremely alluring. 

She was slowly walking towards Qiao Yuan!

The way she walked was extremely disturbing to him, like the mere sight of it was soul extinguishing, sending chills down his spine.

"I'll only give you one more chance. Leave Wang Jing, or else… DIE!"

A cold and vicious voice came out of her mouth.

 ...

Qiao Yuan wasn't moved, even when her ghostly figure stood right in front of him.

At that distance, her extremely terrifying face, full of cruelty and madness, while her eyes flashed with bloodthirsty light was all right in front of him.

"Leave Wang Jing alone!"

A cold wind instantly blew from all directions, constantly shrieking and stirring the heart and soul.

'She looks… like she wants to skin me alive.'

 Gulp~

But Qiao Yuan simply gulped another mouthful of hot water.

[Cultivation +1]

Pa~

A pair of cold hands slowly reached for Qiao Yuan.

...

"Ah!"

"It's so hot!"

"It's so hard!"

The female best friend felt that her hands had touched red-hot iron, so she tried to hurriedly let go.

Pa~

But Qiao Yuan grabbed a hold of her with both his hands.

The ghostly best friend's expression gradually changed from confusion to horror.

'How is this man suddenly golden?'

'His body… Why is it so hot?!' 

Weng~

Like a chicken being thrown into boiling oil, a large amount of smoke began to be emitted.

Upon contact with him, her entire body grew numb.

[Energy +1]

A notification sounded in Qiao Yuan's mind.

Qiao Yuan: "????"

'So that's how you get energy points! By hurting these types of things, you can generate them?'

This new discovery definitely drove all his sleepiness away!

Qiao Yuan's lips curled into a smile.

 ...

It was a dark and quiet night.

Two figures could be vaguely seen inside an abandoned square.

One red, the other gold. 

But the red one seems to be trembling, right?

Let's move in closer.

The bestie in red looked a little flustered.

She was obviously threatening him, but why isn't he afraid of her?! And why does he seem to be enjoying himself?!

'He's ecstatic about this?'

She had no idea what was happening!

'The way he's smiling is the same as those villains on TV!'

'Why does he seem more terrifying than me?!'

'Let go!'

Gradually, Qiao Yuan's grip grew stronger.

After a few moments, screams of pain could be heard.

"Let me go!"

"I'm begging you, let me go!"

"Don't!"

"Stop!"

"Wuwu, it's too hot ..."

...

Ten minutes later.

The best friend in red looked disheveled and was collapsed on the floor like a corpse.

Hu~

Qiao Yuan was drying his hands while he was sitting down on a long bench. When he saw the slumped down bestie on the ground, his face showed satisfaction.

'Comfortable!'

'This damned thing was able to contribute three whole energy points to me. If I hadn't realized that it really couldn't give anymore, I would have never let go so quickly.'

'Well, even if it couldn't give anymore, letting it rest might help. Even pack animals like donkeys need time to rest.

He glanced at the ghostly friend on the ground and decided to see if it had recovered enough to talk.

"Now, I'll be asking you some questions and you'll be answering them, understood?"

Upon hearing him, its body suddenly twitched as if it got electrocuted. It then tried to crawl away from him like a helpless earthworm.

It had never occurred to her that she would be put into such a state today.

She was just trying to help her friend avoid calamity, but it was her that fell for his trap instead.

After a minute.

Looking at the female ghost slowly crawling away, Qiao Yuan could only sigh as he took another swig of hot water.

[Cultivation +1]

His tiredness from before had disappeared.

He proceeded to stand up and walk towards his target.

He watched as the female ghost's black silk stockings rubbed against the floor as she tried to flee.

After thinking for a moment, Qiao Yuan bent down, grabbed the female ghost's slender ankle, and dragged her back.

Weng~

Sparks flew in all directions!

The female ghost tried to dig her nails into the ground to no avail.

...

In order to prevent any more escape attempts, Qiao Yuan pulled off one of the ghost's silk stockings and tied one end to the ghost's right leg while the other to his left leg.

It seemed he was trying to copy how a TV series depicted detaining a criminal.

It turns out that most human fears were born from the unknown and of their lack of strength. If one knew that the thing you've always feared was just an ant, would you still be afraid?

"What's your name? What are you? Where are you from? How many people are in your family? What are you planning? Do you have accomplices? Does Wang Jing know of your true identity? And what's your purpose in lurking around humans?" 

Qiao Yuan's expression was dead serious as he began his interrogation with crossed arms.

Still on the floor, the female ghost's deathly face grew even paler as she saw her legs were tied to his. The fear that arose from the depths of her heart was extreme. 

'How could a human be so terrifying?!'

"Leniency to those who confess, Severity to those who resist!*" Qiao Yuan suddenly stated.

*Note: The oldest and most applied legal maxim of the Chinese judicial system, so called the "16 character rule". 

Weng~

The female ghost was so frightened that she began to shudder, pale with horror of Qiao Yuan.

"My name is Li Xialing. I'm innocent… I don't have any accomplices… I haven't killed anyone. I don't even dare kill a chicken. Not a single one…"

...

An hour later.

"So I've wrongly accused you?" Qiao Yuan frowned at the female ghost on the ground.

'No… She's probably not a ghost, but rather a spirit.'

Long story short, according to her, half a year ago, she appeared on a street out of nowhere and in a daze. Wang Jing then discovered her by accident and took her home out of compassion.

Even after quite a while of being nursed back to health, she couldn't remember anything. Pitying her, Wang Jing decided to just adopt her completely, and after a while, the two became good sisters. Of course, Wang Jing was still helping her look for her family.

She also didn't tell anyone that she was a spirit.

'Very good. On to the next topic.'

"So why are you so hostile to me?" Qiao Yuan never understood her hostility.

In fact, if she hadn't exposed herself first, he would have never found out about her himself.

"Because I thought you were a scumbag."

Li Xialing turned her gaze away as she said this faintly.

Qiao Yuan: "????"

"Do I look like one?"

"Yes." 

...

Qiao Yuan thought long and hard about everything he had learned so far. Wang Jing really was an innocent girl, so she definitely could do something like that, which makes it unlikely that the spirit was lying.

Moreover, he found nothing really unusual about Wang Jing. If he thought about it, the two's current relationship could be explained by having known each other for a long time.

'However, that wasn't what was important anyways. The important thing was that I had found a way to collect energy points.'

'And it was by hurting spirits!'

At that moment, Qiao Yuan had a thought. 'If I killed one, would I gain a lot of energy at once?'

He stared at Li Xiaoling on the ground, but didn't do anything.

'Which was more important?'

He had his own principles to live by, so he decided to just invite the spirit home as his guest.

'A spirit that could continuously give him energy was a great thing!'

Still on the ground, Li Xialoing's body trembled. The man in front of her revealed a terrifying smile as he looked at her, which made her even more uncertain.

Sure enough, when it learned that the man was inviting her to his home, it glanced at her tied legs and asked with trepidation.

"I… Can I refuse?"

Li Xialing gritted her teeth as she braced for his answer. This man was too scary and his body was burning hot. Going to his house would be like her, the sheep, going into a tiger's den.

The air grew silent in an instant. She waited anxiously for his reply, which he gave quite readily.

"Alright then, if you're not willing to follow me home, I won't force the issue. You're free to go," Qiao Yuan said casually.

Li Xiaoling's bloody face looked up instantly. She looked at Qiao Yuan in disbelief.

'This man is actually letting me go?'

"Really?"

"Really," Qiao Yuan replied.

Li Xiaoling glanced at her bound leg and then at Qiao Yuan.

Rip~

After which, Qiao Yuan just tore the silk stocking just like that, like it was nothing.

...

A minute later.

Li Xiaoling just stood there, dumbfounded, before slowly trying to walk away from him.

"Wait."

Suddenly, Qiao Yuan's voice sounded behind her. Li Xiaoling's heart skipped a beat as her head drooped down weakly.

'As expected. I knew this handsome man was a liar. He was just teasing me.'

At that moment, the fire of Li Xiaoling's hope had turned into ash.

"Xiaoling, I don't think you'd want Wang Jing to learn of what happened tonight, right? So… Don't talk about it, okay?"

'Just this?'

Li Xialing nervously turned her head towards him. When she saw that Qiao Yuan wasn't coming over, she finally relaxed and nodded.

"I understand."

Hu~

Li Xiaoling heaved a sigh of relief.

From the looks of it, this golden man, with his boiling hot body, wasn't all that bad. She seemed to have really gotten him wrong.

After taking two steps forward, Li Xiaoling stopped for a moment. Suddenly, her bloody face disappeared in an instant and she had returned to the form of the charming young lady with a delicate face when they first met. She turned to him again and smiled.

"Thank you. You're a good person."

In the distance, Qiao Yuan revealed a kind smile and scratched his head. "Then, will you go home with me?"

Weng~

Li Xiaoling's expression changed and she instantly disappeared.

...

Qiao Yuan: "???"

"As I thought, be they humans or spirits, everyone keeps misunderstanding good people."

"Let's just forget about it. A melon forced off its vine isn't sweet…"

"Imperial Uncle got the Crouching Dragon after visiting that thatched house three times, Meng gained the loyalty of Kong Ming after he captured him seven times, and Lady Zou received Zhang Xiu at the banquet hosted by Cao Cao…"

"It shouldn't take me that many times though, right?"

Qiao Yuan shook his head and picked up the shredded black stockings on the ground before throwing it in the trash.

He then picked up his thermos again and took another sip of hot water.

[Cultivation +1]

Right then, Qiao Yuan was feeling a lot of emotions.

'In this world, everyone could be unreliable, but hot water will never betray you!'