The two burly men crowded together in the cave and immediately insisted on becoming sworn brothers, while King Xiancong’s younger brothers loudly cheered them on. Yuxu, of all people, made no attempt to restore order and simply stood to the side watching with a smile.
Ao Run was likewise a fashionable spell cultivator, and his construction efficiency was extraordinarily high. In the blink of an eye, even an offering table and incense burner had appeared. Everything came from the Dragon King’s private treasury, huge and solid, making the already limited cave space feel even more cramped.
Qin Shu was still stunned when Ao Run nearly dragged him over to join the sworn-brotherhood ceremony too, claiming that Qin Shu had made the greatest contribution and therefore had every right to be the eldest brother. Besides, three people swearing brotherhood together naturally sounded more epic.
Fortunately, Pei Zhao had never cared much about giving others face. He reached out, pulled the bewildered Qin Shu out of the disaster zone, and said blandly, “Lunatics.”
Being called a lunatic did not bother Ao Run in the slightest. Instead he burst into laughter. “Now that sounds right! Lord Zhaoyuan, that rotten temper of yours… Hahahahaha! After all these years, you’re still the same damned way. Truly difficult to get along with. My eldest son already has a whole string of children. What about you? You haven’t sent a message to the West Sea in all these years. How have you been? Started a family?”
“Mm. I’ve been fine.” Pei Zhao held Qin Shu’s hand and gave it the slightest swing. “So don’t drag my boyfriend into random sworn-brotherhood ceremonies. It’ll affect how our future karmic ties become entangled.”
Ao Run: …
He stood frozen for a moment, then slowly turned his head toward Yuxu, as though wanting confirmation that his ears had not deceived him.
Yuxu nodded. Ao Run’s pupils instantly quaked. He stared at Qin Shu in disbelief, his gaze circling around Qin Shu’s forehead. “Young Friend Q-Qin, you’re that… that terrifying person who killed Xuanming?! Why did nobody tell me!”
“…So that’s what shocked you?” Yuxu laughed lightly. “You only just woke up. When would I have had time to secretly gossip with you about other people? There’s plenty more to tell. We’ll talk when we get the chance.”
Qin Shu silently covered his forehead. “Senior Yuxu, could you please not announce in front of us that you two are going to gossip about me and Zhao Zhao?”
“All right, if you’re becoming sworn brothers, hurry up.” Pei Zhao glanced speechlessly at Ya Ya. “If you want to bond afterward, you can do it over dinner. Don’t let the child laugh at you.”
Ya Ya had long since become completely absorbed. She had never seen so many adults in her life, much less a crowd squeezed into a strange cave making noise, laughing, and crying together… It was far more fun than anything in the Dragon Palace.
When she heard Pei Zhao mention her, Ya Ya hurriedly clapped her hands and excitedly echoed, “Sworn brothers! Sworn brothers! Good brothers!”
“Good! We’ll listen to Little Sister!” King Xiancong wiped his eyes, knelt before the offering table with Ao Run, and picked up an enormous stick of incense. “Big Brother Ao Run, from today on, you’re my real big brother!”
Ao Run picked up a white-jade porcelain wine bottle, tossed away the stopper, filled two huge cups to the brim, then poured the remaining wine over the table in three libations before taking up incense as well. “Ancestors above, bear witness. From this day forward, I, Ao Run of the West Sea, have five more younger brothers as dear to me as my own blood!”
The two planted their incense, drank the wine, and smashed their cups, filling the cave with celebration. At the same time, an extraordinary phenomenon suddenly appeared in the evening sky over Jing City. Ten thousand rays of golden light pierced the clouds, majestic as a dragon.
Commuters on their way home stopped and turned, lifting their phones to take pictures. It almost seemed that a faint dragon cry could be heard through the wind, both real and illusory.
Qin Shu’s senses were much sharper. He discovered that at the instant the sworn brotherhood was established, the concentration of dragon qi throughout Jing City surged to a terrifying degree.
It was precisely because the dragon qi had become so dense that it condensed into visible golden radiance. Even ordinary people could see it clearly with the naked eye. Yet it blended cleverly into the burning evening clouds, becoming part of the sunset and provoking no suspicion or panic whatsoever.
At least to ordinary humans who were not cultivators, it was simply an extraordinarily beautiful sunset.
These two immortals, who looked less reliable the longer one watched them, probably had not decided on sworn brotherhood purely because they had survived a life-and-death ordeal together… Beneath the genuine emotion, this was also an alliance witnessed by Heaven and Earth. From this day forward, their karma would connect, their fortune would intertwine, and their camps would be firmly joined.
To put it bluntly, if one person ate well, the whole family benefited, and if one person got into trouble, the whole family would come help clean up the mess.
“A proper sworn brotherhood between a human deity and a dragon deity… has that ever happened before?” Qin Shu tilted his head and whispered to Pei Zhao. “Did we just witness history?”
“Mm. Since they rarely find anyone whose stench matches their own, let them do as they please. Dragonkind’s fortune remains weak, while the Gods of Wealth possess blessings but lack far-reaching fame and incense worship. They complement each other well…” Pei Zhao analyzed calmly for a moment, then abruptly changed tone. “You’re not allowed to casually become sworn brothers with anyone else.”
Qin Shu laughed. “I know, I know. Marriage and sworn brotherhood are both things I’ll only do with you. I promise there’ll be no second thoughts. Happy? But seriously, I never once thought of you as a brother… Even back when I knew absolutely nothing, I couldn’t call you that even in my own head. It always felt wrong somehow.”
Looking at it now, Zhao Zhao really was the nicest name. Intimate, easy on the ears, and nobody else dared call Pei Zhao that. The uniqueness alone was enough to make it special.
Pei Zhao did not object, which only proved he liked it too. By the laws of generous rounding, Qin Shu was simply the greatest namer under Heaven!
After the ceremony, Ao Run looked radiant, the Five God-of-Wealth brothers were all smiles, and Qin Shu’s own mood was excellent.
The lively group headed toward the dinner venue together, only to discover that the largest private room in Jing City’s Yujun Pavilion already contained several even noisier people.
Daoist Lord Sifang was performing alchemy on request. Fairy Shuangmiao had opened two cans of beer and curled up on a sofa watching a live football match on television… while Liu Yang Yang, who had made the ridiculous invitation, was already drinking shoulder-to-shoulder with Xing Yong.
As it happened, the four of them knew one another to varying degrees. Even when they did not, Liu Yang Yang was the kind of person whose connections reached everywhere, making him perfect social lubricant for any group of strangers.
Daoist Lord Sifang was a major buyer of Gu poisons from Phoenix Village, so naturally Liu Yang Yang knew him. Although the two had never directly done business together, they had bumped into each other often enough on the mountain… which meant Liu Yang Yang had somehow become the first person present to possess Daoist Lord Sifang’s WeChat contact.
As for Xing Yong, Liu Yang Yang had picked him up along the way.
He had been sent to Jing City on a business trip to work with local departments in tracking suspects. With New Year approaching, he was taking the opportunity to rack up some results.
Xing Yong did not explain much at first. Only after seeing Qin Shu did he offer a little more detail. There was a series of cases involving illicit plant smuggling and □□, serious enough that suspects had been moving through multiple provinces and cities. They had hidden themselves extremely well before, and only recently had new leads begun to emerge.
Elio’s Notes: The supplied source contains two square placeholders here. The missing characters are not reconstructed.
And those new leads seemed to have come from another drug-manufacturing case that had only recently been cracked.
The police had just extracted important information from the suspects they arrested, and that very day began dispatching specialists from multiple regions to follow the trail together. Since even wanted criminals had to prepare for New Year, they were taking the opportunity to catch as many big fish as possible, or at minimum cut off every smuggling and transportation route.
…The origin of these new clues sounded oddly familiar.
Qin Shu understood immediately that the enormous progress in the case had to be connected to everything his father had been busy with. No wonder the police officers he had added on WeChat in Anping Town had all been unusually quiet lately. Even the few who loved posting photos to show off their abs had stopped updating their Moments.
So every last one of them had been busy coming here to catch bigger fish. By sheer coincidence, Liu Yang Yang had happened to pick up the only familiar face among them.
Qin Shu originally had no intention of telling Xing Yong about the Dragon Palace, in case it distracted him from work. But Liang Ming Yue and Ya Ya were both here, so the situation became obvious the moment they met.
And Liu Yang Yang’s big mouth could never keep a secret anyway. In a few sentences he praised the snake yao of Fengqi Mountain to the heavens, then enthusiastically announced that if they needed help arresting vicious criminals who privately hoarded weapons, they could call him at any time. He guaranteed he would use no spells and no corpse-herding techniques and could send a whole field of them flying with his bare hands…
Xing Yong loved hearing it. He declared that tonight he was attending social obligations on his wife’s behalf and refused to discuss depressing work matters. Before long, he and Liu Yang Yang were both red-faced from drinking.
“Officer Xing isn’t a cultivator, is he? Is it really all right for him to drink that much?”
Liang Ming Yue settled Ya Ya into a child’s high chair and ladled her a large bowl of mutton soup before leaning toward Qin Shu and asking quietly.
She did not think very highly of Xing Yong, but she actually had a good relationship with Chang Liu Yi and often chatted with her on WeChat. They did not meet often in person, yet over time they had still become fairly close friends.
She could hardly allow a good friend’s husband to drink himself into the emergency room while away on a business trip.
Qin Shu lifted his chin. “You didn’t know before, but Brother Yong ran into a heaven-sent opportunity and got saved once by a deity. His physical condition lately can compete with the Slavic guys next door. It’s fine. Worst case, Senior Sifang is right there. He can literally hand-refine a sobering pill on the spot.”
“That impressive?”
Curious, Liang Ming Yue glanced toward the other side of the table at the young man who, for some reason, looked faintly timid.
“Greetings, Miss Liang.” Daoist Lord Sifang hurriedly responded, nervously organizing his words. “Fellow Daoist Qin over-praises me. I would not dare make another spectacle of myself, but I do indeed have ready-made Heart-Clearing Sobering Pills… If any of you need them, please feel free to ask.”
Liang Ming Yue laughed softly. “All right. Thank you.”
She had no cultivation and could not tell the difference in strength among the people present. Yet Liang Ming Yue kept feeling that Daoist Lord Sifang’s temperament faintly resembled Teacher Xu’s.
Xu Min had voluntarily become Ya Ya’s feeding tool, carrying out his duty with absolute dedication and total concentration.
Qin Shu had not forced him to come. But Xu Min was no fool. If he missed an opportunity to eat at the same table as several deities, who knew whether he would have to wait another few hundred years for the next one?
He did not want to miss such an enormous opportunity to broaden his horizons, yet he was also afraid that His Majesty the Dragon King might slap the table and scare him unconscious on the spot… so the only solution was to use Ya Ya for courage.
The little girl was small, but her appetite was not. She had long grown tired of the mountain delicacies and seafood soaked in water inside the Dragon Palace, and instead found herself fascinated by the sweet soups and desserts at Yujun Pavilion.
This was Ya Ya’s first time eating food cooked by humans, and she loved it. Ghosts could not feel fullness, so with Xu Min’s highly practiced feeding skills, Ya Ya quietly ate bite after bite without stopping.
Between feeding her and repeatedly ordering extra desserts, Xu Min found peace. His mental state gradually stabilized. The only person left frightened was the poor, helpless server.
From the server’s perspective as he brought in the dishes, the cast of characters in this private room was extremely complicated.
Scattered around the round table were a group of burly men who looked more dangerous the longer one stared at them, almost like underworld figures, and whose alcohol tolerance appeared indistinguishable from storage tanks. Yet the hosts who had booked the meal were two high school students who had only just come of age. They were even sitting in the seats of honor, and none of the scary-looking men objected.
On top of that, the room contained the famous host Liang Ming Yue, as well as another pretty young man with delicate features, red lips, white teeth, and a perky butt. Between them sat an entirely empty child’s high chair…
This should have been exactly the sort of scene entertainment gossip headlines adored. One could spin any number of ambiguous scandals from it. Liang Ming Yue was already over thirty, after all. Keeping a young male model would hardly have been unimaginable.
But nobody could tell what strange relationship these two actually had. They both faced the child’s high chair and whispered to it, each holding a spoon and taking turns feeding a child who did not exist!
The server, increasingly suspicious, came to clear away the plates. When he cautiously reached the high chair, he discovered that every dessert bowl that had supposedly been “finished” was still completely full, looking as though nobody had touched it.
It looked a little like they were deliberately causing trouble because they disliked the food, and a little like a serious mental illness… But everyone at the table acted as though nothing was wrong. The server did not dare ask. He could only brace himself, remove the dishes, and return to the kitchen to consult the chef on duty and the general manager.
The general manager frowned and was just about to go ask the guests about their dining experience personally when the chef reached out and stopped him.
“…I just tasted several of those desserts. Every one of them tastes wrong. Whatever you do, don’t casually go back in there!”
“What do you mean, tastes wrong?” The general manager frowned. “Chef Cheng, be specific. Did the ingredients spoil? Is there something wrong with the seasoning? How can we not deal with this? There’s no way Liang Ming Yue wouldn’t notice!”
“Hiss, you don’t understand. They didn’t spoil. The flavor is gone.” The chef on duty wiped cold sweat from his forehead and looked at the server. “Xiao Yang, when you went in there, did any of the guests talk to you?”
“No.” The server looked nervous as he tried to remember. “The other guests were eating and drinking. Only those two were… were feeding that invisible child.”
“Then that’s it. Things like this used to happen occasionally. Sometimes a dish would come straight out of the wok and instantly lose all its aroma and flavor. We could only accept the loss, set three cups of baijiu beside the stove, and start over.”
As the chef spoke, he rummaged through the liquor cabinet, pulled a bottle of Moutai from his personal stock, and handed it to the server. He continued earnestly, “Xiao Yang, listen to me. These guests are actually fairly reasonable. They’re paying, and the food they order isn’t really being wasted… Whatever they ask for, quietly bring it over. Don’t ask about anything else. When they’re almost done eating, open this bottle and take it in too. Tell them it’s a small gift from Yujun Pavilion, nothing worth mentioning. Don’t be afraid. It’ll be fine.”
“Yes, Chef Cheng!”
Listening beside them, the general manager grew more curious by the second. He picked up a spoon as well and tasted one of the returned dishes.
A moment later he almost spat it straight back out. “How… how can it have this texture?! Forget having no flavor. This mutton soup is ice cold! It feels like a block of ice that’s been in cold storage for three days… Chef Cheng, are you sure Liang Ming Yue isn’t filming material for next year’s March 15 consumer-rights exposé?”
“Seriously, how have you never heard even the most basic rules of the trade? If Yujun Pavilion really ends up on television next year, come blame me all you want.” The chef sighed speechlessly. “Besides, being on television just means losing some money or losing your job. But if a ghost latches onto you, tomorrow you’ll be playing cards with Black and White Impermanence. Which do you choose?”
“…It really, really is a ghost?” The general manager swallowed hard and lowered his faintly trembling voice. “Even right here in the capital…?”
“What else could it be?! Show me one person who can turn mutton soup at a hundred degrees into a flavorless block of ice! Go on, cook one yourself!”
“All right, well, I… I don’t feel so good, so I’m heading out. I just tasted those returned dishes and I think my stomach’s acting up. I’m going to have diarrhea… Good night, everyone, hahaha…”
The general manager vanished at a sprint, fleeing brightly lit Yujun Pavilion in panic without even taking time to change out of his uniform.
The trembling server Xiao Yang was left to do two people’s work. Chef Cheng did not leave either. He deliberately relit the stove and made the invisible child another, cuter dessert, shaping it into a snowy-white jade rabbit that looked almost ready to wobble away.
This time, he did not ask Xiao Yang to deliver it. He carried the jade rabbit himself and slowly pushed open the private-room door with his shoulder.
The scene inside was completely different from anything Chef Cheng had imagined.
Ao Run was standing on the sofa beside the door and had already begun his third round of storytelling. On closer listening, it was not an inspirational speech this time, but a collection of tragic folk tales from the West Sea Dragon Palace. His delivery rose and fell dramatically, full of twists, turns, and tremendous emotion.
The Five God-of-Wealth brothers listened with rapt attention, utterly absorbed. They sensed someone entering with a dish and merely shifted their chairs aside without thinking to make room for Chef Cheng. Liu Yang Yang and Xing Yong had enjoyed drinking so much that they dragged their own chairs over to listen too.
Fairy Shuangmiao was still watching the match and deliberately kept her head turned toward the television, pretending to be very busy. A whole crowd of deities she barely knew had gathered around the sofa, making things a little awkward for her… Yet after listening from the side for a while, she too could not resist abandoning the match. She lowered the television volume, shifted her chair over, and began listening intently to Ao Run’s story.
She did not merely listen by herself. She forcibly dragged Daoist Lord Sifang over to listen with her.
Chef Cheng had never seen anything like it. A large group of grown men and women had gathered around a sofa to listen to someone tell stories, and not all of them were drunk. No, most of them were completely sober.
The only one actually at the age for loving stories… the child’s high chair, remained beside the dining table instead, currently surrounded by its family being fed fruit.
Chef Cheng took a deep breath, lowered his gaze, carried the exquisite jade-rabbit dessert over, and carefully placed it in front of Liang Ming Yue.
Away from the camera, Liang Ming Yue did not have that bright, lively aura she showed on screen. Her normally sparkling eyes looked cold, carrying a trace of long-standing exhaustion and a temperament that kept others at a distance. Even so, Chef Cheng forced himself to speak.
“Hello, Ms. Liang. Welcome to Jing City, and thank you and your family for supporting Yujun Pavilion. I’m a loyal viewer of One-Day Detective… This dish is called Snowy Jade Rabbit. It’s a complimentary dessert from me personally. I hope the child likes it.”
As Chef Cheng spoke, he discovered that everyone at the dining table who had been eating normally had stopped using their chopsticks and turned to look at him in unison, making him even more nervous.
Luckily for him, Liang Ming Yue was actually quite friendly toward fans.
“Thank you. It’s beautiful. This little rabbit looks so lifelike.” Liang Ming Yue curved her lips into a smile and pushed the plate in front of the child’s high chair, her voice instantly softening. “Ya Ya, look. Isn’t it pretty? Don’t rush. We need to be polite. Hurry and say thank you to Uncle.”
The dining table fell silent for several seconds, quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Chef Cheng blinked. He heard nothing, yet then saw Liang Ming Yue nod in satisfaction before taking a chibi-style postcard from her bag, official merchandise from One-Day Detective.
She signed the plastic sleeve around the postcard and handed it to Chef Cheng, then pointed toward the flushed Xing Yong by the sofa and smiled. “Did you watch the New Year’s Day special? If you want the police uncle’s autograph too, go ask him. He should be very easy to talk to right now.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Um…” Chef Cheng’s scalp prickled. He hurriedly accepted the postcard and put it away carefully, then worked up the courage to glance at the dining table again.
He did not dare interrupt the storytelling session, but after hearing Liang Ming Yue speak to an invisible child and seeing that none of the people eating had shown any surprise, it seemed everyone here might be… might be the kind of person he needed.
If that was true, then he needed to find the easiest person to talk to, in case one wrong word got him strangled to death.
Chef Cheng hesitated, then let his gaze settle on Qin Shu, who was eating a lamb chop. After a long pause, Qin Shu turned his head and smiled at him, instantly giving Chef Cheng the sensation that a Bluetooth connection had succeeded.
“This… sir. Are you a student attending Jing University’s winter camp?” Chef Cheng took the plunge and asked directly.
“Huh, you know about the winter camp? Are you local?”
Qin Shu put down his lamb chop and immediately started chatting. “Most of us came from Jiangcheng. We’ve already eaten our way around the whole Jing University area. Unfortunately, New Year is coming and lots of little shops have closed for the holidays. Ah, do you have any other good food or fun places to recommend? Far away is fine too.”
Chef Cheng froze, sensing an opening, and hurriedly said, “I’m not local, but I’ve been drifting around Jing City for ten years. If we’re only talking about food, drink, and entertainment, I can honestly call myself an expert. I can definitely find you the most authentic places.”
“That’s perfect. I won’t ask you to recommend them for free either.” Qin Shu looked at him. “What do you need help with? Is your home haunted, or did someone curse you? Just say it. We can solve it tonight.”
“…It isn’t a haunting.”
Chef Cheng’s chest tightened. He nearly dropped to his knees, but Qin Shu grabbed him in one hand so firmly that he could not kneel no matter how he tried. He could only speak hoarsely. “My older brother died ten years ago in a car accident at Jing University. His death was suspicious. Both my parents are disabled and couldn’t fight for an explanation. I stopped school a long time ago too and don’t have much education… I came to Jing City wanting justice, but I couldn’t even get through the university gates.”
“Ten years ago…” Qin Shu frowned slightly. “I know the incident you mean.”
“Yes, yes. I’ve been working in Jing City while investigating what happened to my brother. I found out he wasn’t the only student who had a car accident. There has to be some conspiracy behind it.”
Chef Cheng sighed. “But I also know that no matter what kind of conspiracy there was, I could never fight those people. Besides, my brother is already gone. He can’t come back to life. Sir… no, Immortal Master. I only have one wish now. I want to find my brother’s body and give him a proper burial. My parents made a memorial stone for him back home and wanted to rebuild the ancestral grave, but the last shovelful of earth over his grave mound simply won’t stay in place. When we asked a master to look at it, he said… my brother’s soul can’t be summoned home. He’s still suffering far from home!”