The white mist fell to the ground, revealing a ghostly figure.
It was a hanging ghost with a long tongue, disheveled hair, and dressed in an old - fashioned theatrical costume.
The hanging ghost's eyebrows were raised high, and its face was painted with colorful makeup, looking extremely grotesque.
Zhong Yaya and Luo Zhi were taken aback. Their eyes fell on the several silk threads tied to the hanging ghost's swollen fingers, and they finally realized that it was this hanging ghost that had been causing trouble just now.
Zhong Yaya looked thoughtfully at Yu Nian. As a corpse official, she was extremely sensitive to ghostly aura, yet she hadn't been able to detect the presence of the female ghost. How on earth did Yu Nian, a person without spiritual power, manage to discover and hit it?
The hanging ghost's pitch - black eyes rolled eerily. Taking advantage of everyone's inattention, it suddenly flung its water sleeve towards Zhong Yaya.
Zhong Yaya was startled and instinctively raised her arm to block herself.
Unexpectedly, the pain didn't come immediately. Zhong Yaya opened her eyes in surprise and saw that Yu Nian had firmly caught the water sleeve. With a hard tug, the water sleeve instantly shattered into several pieces.
Seeing its magical tool destroyed, the hanging ghost let out a strange cry and tried to escape, but Yu Nian suddenly grabbed its tongue and twisted the whole ghost into a ball like a twisted twist, leaving it unable to escape.
Zhong Yaya and Luo Zhi, who had witnessed everything, were stunned.
Yu Nian's movements were extremely swift. One couldn't do it without more than a decade of experience in exorcising demons.
Zhong Yaya angrily kicked the hanging ghost: "Why did you sneak in while we were sleeping and try to harm us?"
The hanging ghost said aggrievedly: "I was also forced..."
Yu Nian stared at the female ghost for a while and suddenly said: "She is not a wandering ghost, but a ghost with a master."
Everyone walked around to the back of the female ghost and only then found a deep - red talisman paper pasted on her back.
Luo Zhi frowned and said: "A suppression talisman?"
The suppression talisman could suppress the evil aura of ghosts and turn them into tools that could be driven by oneself.
If a ghost violated their wishes, it would be killed by the suppression talisman.
According to the hanging ghost, she was originally a famous actress in the pear orchard. Later, she met a poor scholar who came to the pear orchard every day and stayed there all day. Gradually, the two fell in love with each other. After they got together, the hanging ghost gave all her savings to the scholar to support him in taking the imperial examinations in the capital.
The two agreed that the scholar would come back to marry her after he passed the imperial examinations and gained fame.
Just like this, the hanging ghost waited for three years and then another three years, but she never waited for the scholar. She sent someone to inquire and only then learned that the scholar had already married and had children in a foreign land and had completely forgotten about her.
The hanging ghost was heart - broken and ended her own life in the pear orchard.
Unexpectedly, after her death, she was permanently imprisoned in the pear orchard. Until a few months ago, she was taken away by a highly - skilled Taoist priest and was forced to recognize the Taoist priest as her master and be at his disposal.
As a contracted ghost, she couldn't say the name of her master, otherwise she would be scattered into pieces and never be reincarnated.
Yu Nian thought for a while and felt that the hanging ghost was also a poor person in her lifetime, so she reached out her hand towards the talisman paper on the female ghost's back.
Zhong Yaya and Luo Zhi were shocked. This suppression talisman could only be removed by the master. If someone else rashly removed it, they would easily be backfired.
Before they could dissuade her, Yu Nian's hand had already touched the talisman paper, and then she easily tore it off.
Yu Nian crumpled the talisman paper into a ball and casually threw it into the trash can.
The whole action was extremely smooth. Before everyone and the hanging ghost could react, they heard Yu Nian say: "You are free."
The hanging ghost was stunned for a moment, nodded gratefully, and disappeared into the night.
The room was silent for a moment. Luo Zhi felt ashamed of his previous contempt for Yu Nian and sighed: "Sure enough, there is always someone better. Fellow Daoist Yu's skills are so high that I am in awe."
Zhong Yaya also nodded in agreement: "Yes, Niannian, you are really amazing!"
This incident quickly brought the three of them closer. Luo Zhi and Zhong Yaya pulled Yu Nian to talk for a while before reluctantly returning to their own beds to sleep.
The next day, the preliminary round officially began.
The huge competition field was crowded with people, and the spectator stands were densely filled with people.
When a thin old man walked onto the judging panel, there was a low exclamation in the crowd.
Luo Zhi stared at the old man and murmured: "Is this the former leader of the Taoist Alliance, Grandpa Fu?"
Yu Nian looked at Grandpa Fu and suddenly felt that he was extremely familiar.
After all the judges were present, the content of the preliminary round was finally announced - stone gambling.
The host explained with a smile: "As we all know, there is an opaque weathered skin on the surface of the raw gemstone ore. This weathered skin prevents people from directly appraising the gemstone. Only after cutting it open can we see the material inside. The better the material of the gemstone, the more spiritual energy it has, and only then can it be made into a top - grade magical tool. There are two hundred gemstones wrapped in weathered skins on the spot today. The contestants need to choose the one they think has the most spiritual energy from among the stones within the specified time. After cutting, the one who can produce a top - grade gemstone will be the winner. We will rank according to the market price, and the top twenty contestants can advance to the semi - finals."
Everyone received their number tags and passed through layers of security checks before standing in a line and walking into the competition field.
Yu Nian seemed to think of something and asked Luo Zhi behind her: "What's Grandpa Fu's full name?"
Luo Zhi thought carefully for a while: "Fu Qingxuan. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing. I just think he looks a bit familiar."
Yu Nian finally understood where the sense of familiarity came from. The little boy wearing a skullcap back then had actually become a centenarian with gray hair.
Just as she was thinking, the person in front of Yu Nian suddenly stopped.
Yu Nian couldn't dodge in time and bumped into his solid back.
The young man slowly turned around. A pair of gloomy eyes stared at Yu Nian indifferently. It was Fu Sui.
Luo Zhi awkwardly touched the tip of his nose. It was a bit inappropriate to call Grandpa Fu by his full name in front of his great - grandson.
However, Yu Nian didn't think there was anything wrong with it. She nodded friendly to Fu Sui.
"The team has fallen far behind. Please move forward."
Fu Sui was stunned. He didn't expect Yu Nian to react like this.
He was born into the Taoist Alliance and was spoiled. He was used to being the center of attention. He knew he was good - looking and had been liked by many girls since childhood. He had seen all kinds of strange ways of striking up a conversation.
But the first person to discuss his great - grandfather in front of him was Yu Nian. So he said coldly: "Put away your little tricks. They're boring."
Then he withdrew his gaze and strode forward.
Yu Nian:........?
The moment all the contestants entered the competition venue, the door was completely closed, cutting off the connection between the contestants and the spectator stands.
At the same time, the huge display screen opposite the seats suddenly lit up, capable of broadcasting the competition situation of everyone in real - time.
In the middle of the venue, there were several tables made of pear wood. On the tables were hundreds of stones of different styles, all looking dusty, as if they had just been dug out of the ground.
With a soft "ding", the competition officially began.
Bai Jiming rushed to the table first and picked out a very beautiful - looking stone. He looked around uneasily, as if he was afraid that others would snatch it, and stuffed it into his arms.
Xue Yier gave Bai Jiming a disdainful glance, walked to the table and observed intently. After a while, she also pasted her number tag on a certain stone.