Chapter 7: Paying Respects to Lord Qiu!

After school in the evening.

Ling Qiu walked out of the school gates, glancing at the classmates around him who were whispering among themselves. He smiled faintly.

He knew that word of his punishing Zhu Yiqun had already spread.

But Ling Qiu didn’t care in the slightest; what mattered to him was the vivid, genuine, and interesting bustle of the mundane world.

More importantly…

There were still ghosts to catch!

Yes, ever since his rebirth, his “Yama Ring” had never ceased its sensing.

Even though Earth’s spiritual energy was scarce, he could refine evil spirits and ghosts to cultivate!

“Ling… Ling Qiu…”

A voice called from behind.

It was Shen Meng.

Shen Meng pushed her pink bicycle to Ling Qiu’s side, head lowered in shyness. “About what happened today… I’ve thought it over for a long time. I know you were so angry because they humiliated me. Thank you!…”

“It should be me thanking you,” Ling Qiu replied with a gentle, profound smile.

“Thank me?” Shen Meng looked puzzled. “Why?”

Ling Qiu only gave a mysterious smile and didn’t answer.

Just then—

Screech!—

A van braked hard in front of them, and six or seven men climbed out. One of them was none other than Zhu Yiqun, whom Ling Qiu had soundly beaten earlier!

“Oh no!” Shen Meng’s face changed. “Ling Qiu, this is bad… At school, people said Zhu Yiqun would definitely get back at you. I didn’t think it would happen so fast… Take my bike and run!”

She shoved the bicycle toward Ling Qiu.

How adorable she was, thinking a bicycle could outrun a car.

“Ling Qiu!” Zhu Yiqun shouted viciously, pointing at the ground by his feet. “There’s only one road out of the school gate, and I’ve blocked it. Either crawl back to school and be a coward for life, or get on your knees and kowtow to me all the way down the road—maybe then I’ll let you go!”

Ling Qiu shook his head.

Coming to die again… He had just been reborn and truly wanted to avoid such clichés, but these fools simply refused to give him a chance.

Screech!!—

Another abrupt screech of brakes.

Bang!

A BMW crashed violently into the van!

“Huh?!” Zhu Yiqun and his gang were ready to curse, but when they saw the license plate and who stepped out of the BMW, their jaws dropped—it was their own Skull Brother!

“Skull Brother, are you alright?!”

Skull Brother, shirtless and covered in tattoos, was short but sported a glaringly shiny bald head—a trademark of the street tough.

“You dare block my way?!”

He grabbed the van’s driver and kicked him fiercely, then ran back to his car, retrieved a gleaming double-edged machete, and charged, roaring, “You look exactly like the punk on the e-bike in my dreams—I'll kill you!!”

“Big bro! Calm down!!”

“Boss! Boss! He’s one of us—the driver’s a new recruit!”

The gang finally managed to restrain Skull Brother.

“Get lost!” Skull Brother roared, shoving them aside. He slapped the driver. “Take off that white shirt—I can’t stand looking at it! And if I ever see you on an e-bike again, I’ll chop you up every time!”

As he spoke, the ghost-face tattoo on his belly quivered menacingly.

The driver muttered, “But… I’m driving a van…”

“Still talking back?!”

He raised the machete again.

“Boss, boss!”

“Calm down, calm down!”

Once more, the lackeys restrained him.

At that moment, all the delinquent students spilling out after school witnessed the scene, their eyes wide with excitement.

“Whoa! That’s the legendary Skull Brother?!”

“Yeah… Short and fierce, just like the rumors!”

“Why’s he beating up his own guy…”

“You don’t get it! That’s what being a real street thug is—he hits whoever he wants, that’s my idol! Covered in tattoos, draws a blade at the slightest provocation, doesn’t care if he knows you or not—just cuts first, asks later! So badass!!”

“Ahh, I wanna follow Skull Brother! So street! What a rush!”

Ling Qiu took in everything with a cool, detached smile.

Honestly, with the IQ of these wannabe gangsters, they’d never survive in the real world.

He smiled faintly. “Shen Meng, you should go.”

“…No… I can’t… I bear a lot of responsibility for this too… I won’t leave you to face them alone!”

Though terrified—her delicate body trembling—Shen Meng mustered the courage to say these words.

“That’s him? Ling Qiu?!”

After a brief, heated discussion, Skull Brother glared at Ling Qiu and barked, “Boys, don’t waste time! All together—beat him to death! For Zhu Yiqun’s pride, for my reputation, and for that one hundred thirty thousand bottle of red wine!!”

With that, a wave of thugs brandished sticks and, led by the blade-wielding Skull Brother, charged forward with ferocious energy.

Ling Qiu: ???

Red wine??

“Whoa!!! So cool!”

“That’s a real gangster!”

The delinquent students were flushed with excitement, itching to blast “Superstar in a Troubled World” on their phones to set the mood.

Ling Qiu slowly raised a hand, ready to settle the matter in the cleanest, most decisive way possible.

But…

Something made him pause.

His Yama Ring trembled slightly.

He looked closely and noticed a faint, sinister black aura rising from Skull Brother’s body.

Oh?

Ling Qiu paused, then understood and smiled with pity.

The ghost-face tattoo on Skull Brother’s belly was, in fact, a depiction of a demon spirit known as the Ox-Nose Ghost—a ferocious, reckless entity obsessed with killing. It had a fatal flaw: it was born without a brain.

Getting such a tattoo would, within five years, lead to certain doom. In that time, one’s intelligence would steadily decline, until violence and slaughter ruled every action.

As the saying goes, “The bodhisattva with closed eyes saves no one; the war god with open eyes brings death.” Tattoos have their taboos—some you can only control if your fate is strong enough.

Watching Skull Brother’s series of idiotic moves, Ling Qiu knew this fool’s days were numbered.

For such a brainless brute, Ling Qiu couldn’t even be bothered to lift a pinky.

However…

The ghostly, sinister energy of the Ox-Nose Ghost was a fine tonic for him!

“Ling Qiu… Run! Hurry, run! I’ll hold them off for you!” Shen Meng cried anxiously, seeing Ling Qiu unmoved.

Ling Qiu gently took her delicate hand, flashing a calm, reassuringly handsome smile. “Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, your only job is to enjoy the show.”