Throughout the entire night, shrill cries echoed continuously downstairs.
Whenever someone let out a shrill cry, Nian Nian and the others would rush downstairs to check. Each time, they witnessed the same scene.
There was a faint trace of yin energy in the rooms, yet they saw no souls.
The staff who encountered the ghosts all had a momentary daze. In that instant, they either caught a glimpse of a ghostly figure or had a ghostly face inches from theirs. But just as quickly, the ghostly visage would vanish.
This situation had everyone on edge. No one could get a good night's sleep, and there seemed to be no solution in sight.
In the end, Nian Nian grew extremely annoyed. She considered capturing the mischievous little ghosts, but later discovered that the yin energy originated from different ghosts.
This meant they'd have to catch a whole group. If the ghosts scattered and fled, they'd have nothing else to do the next day but run around in all directions just to catch a few stray souls.
It wasn't worth it. Truly not worth it.
Finally, the director made a decision. They'd change hotels the next day. Perhaps it was just that this hotel was infested with too many unclean things, which was why they kept encountering ghosts.
The director had always been fond of researching the paranormal and metaphysics. He knew full well that it couldn't simply be because the hotel was too dirty.
But when it came to coming up with a solution, he was at a loss.
All he could do was change their location.
The next day, Xiao Tuan Zi emerged with dark circles under her eyes.
As for the other senior brothers, needless to say, they all looked listless and exhausted.
If it were just a matter of not sleeping or resting, it wouldn't be so bad. They could meditate to recuperate and still be full of energy the next day. They could even endure for three days and three nights like this.
But the reality was that they neither meditated nor got enough sleep. Instead, they rushed up and down the stairs, completely worn out.
Among them, Zhang Zicheng was in the worst state.
When he came out of his room, his eyes were dark and his steps were unsteady. He subconsciously lowered his head and looked up, looking as if he were possessed by a ghost.
He used to have a very handsome face, but now he looked like a wandering ghost, completely devoid of his former charm and looking extremely ugly.
Daoist Qingyun was probably the most energetic person present.
When they went to the hotel's buffet restaurant for breakfast, seeing his disciples looking so listless, Daoist Qingyun felt extremely uncomfortable.
He tapped the table impatiently and snorted, saying, "When you were at home, you all thought your Taoist arts were unrivaled in the world. You thought you could catch whatever you wanted and just charged forward recklessly. Now, you've been tossed around by just a few little ghosts. Look at your sorry states. You all knew you wouldn't be able to sleep well at night. Why didn't you meditate to adjust your breaths? I started meditating in the second half of the night. Look, I'm still full of energy."
"Master, you didn't even show up for the last few times. You shut the door and left us to deal with it. How can you say that about us?"
Liu Chuchen was the first to protest.
He was the weakest among all the senior brothers. Even he knew to get up and take a look. But when they knocked on their master's door in the second half of the night, they only got one response.
They weren't to bother him with anything. He was going to rest even if the sky fell.
So in the end, it was just the few of them running around.
"Did you solve the problem? You were still with your little junior sister. Nian Nian's Taoist arts are probably even better than mine by now. You dragged your little junior sister around for a whole night and didn't solve anything. How dare you even open your mouths?"
Daoist Qingyun had a thick skin and didn't think there was anything wrong with his actions in the second half of the night.
Xiao Tuan Zi was there. With such a powerful weapon around, it didn't matter whether he, the master, showed up or not. If the problem wasn't solved, it was just because these senior brothers were too stupid.
"What can we do? We're in a strange place. We don't know the locals and can't even communicate with them. Are we supposed to run around the streets in the middle of the night just to catch a few ghosts? Master, please don't just talk without understanding our situation, okay?"
Shen Weixun couldn't hold back his complaint either.
In the second half of the night, he could clearly see that they weren't going to have a peaceful night. He tried to stop Nian Nian from going downstairs every time.
He specifically went to call their master because he wanted Xiao Tuan Zi to have a good rest and let their master deal with it. But the old man just shut the door and ignored them.
As a result, even their little junior sister didn't get a good rest.
"Who said you should go after those stray souls? I meant for you to solve the problem at its source."
Daoist Qingyun rolled his eyes at his disciples.
Apart from them, all the staff had encountered ghosts throughout the night. And all the incidents happened on the same floor. It was clearly a targeted attack on their group.
If the hotel were really that dirty, it wouldn't have been able to stay in business until now.
Such an obvious act of targeting, couldn't they see that someone was behind it?
Especially his third disciple. Usually so smart and full of tricks, always reading all kinds of strange and unorthodox books. Yet he couldn't even see through these little tricks.
"Master, what do you mean? We were targeted as soon as we got off the plane?"
Mu Yanchen frowned, and a hint of coldness appeared on his gentle face.
Even a clay figurine has a bit of temper. Since they descended the mountain, they hadn't had a single peaceful day. No matter how good-tempered he was, he couldn't help but feel a bit of hatred towards those who were causing them trouble.
"It's normal for you not to see it, but it's a bit too much for you, the third and second disciples, not to notice. Especially you, the second disciple. You're the one who caused this trouble, yet you've been completely oblivious. Don't forget where we are now."
"What trouble could I have caused? I've never been here before. Do you think I used to beg for food all the way to a foreign country? We're in Southeast Asia now. Could it be..."
Zhang Zicheng grumbled discontentedly, but the more he spoke, the more he felt something was wrong. His tired brain quickly kicked into gear.
He remembered the person he accidentally bumped into after getting off the plane yesterday.
"Master, do you mean I've been hit by a curse?"
In Southeast Asia, curses were very popular, followed by little ghosts.
There were a lot of people practicing black magic in this area, and many of them had spread to China. Many people made a fortune in China by using the unique black magic of this place.
At first, their upright masters would try to intervene, but in the end, it was all voluntary. People went through great lengths to obtain this black magic. Whatever backlash they suffered, they should bear it themselves.
Moreover, more and more people were interested in these things. It was impossible to manage them all, and no one was willing to bother anymore.
Unless they happened to come across someone they knew well or someone who came to them for help, they would consider intervening on a case-by-case basis.