Yellow Springs Inn (Zhang Xiao Qi)

T/N: The page t.i.tle is a bit different from the one down below, but I sort of like it better that way…Though if you like the one down below more, tell me and I’ll change it. I believe I’ve eliminated the name and email requirement.

Hong Yan looked at Luo Qian Ping and smiled, "You"re right, I am a ghost, but I am not a little ghost, and most definitely not ignorant; I am here to bring proof!"

"Bring proof?" Luo Qian Ping froze, "Whatever proof you have just quickly take it out, don"t waste our time!"

Hong Yan looked at Luo Qian Ping and laughed mischievously, then took out a blood red jade bottle. When everyone looked at the blood red jade bottle in Hong Yan"s hands, they froze.

Yang Sheng saw the jade bottle in Hong Yan"s hands and inhaled sharply, "It’s actually the Demon Blood Jade Bottle!"

The moment everyone inside the ancestral hall heard that it was the Demon Blood Jade Bottle they gasped in shock, of course, excluding Luo Qian Qi.

Luo Qian Ping looked at Hong Yan and said in an icy tone, "What person1 are you?"

Hong Yan looked at Luo Qian Ping and smiled slightly, "Yellow Springs Inn!"

Aside from Luo Qian Ping, when the people inside the ancestral hall heard Hong Yan say Yellow Springs Inn, they all froze.

Luo Qian Ping looked at Hong Yan and smiled coldly, "What proof has Yellow Springs Inn brought for us?

Hong Yan looked at Luo Qian Ping and laughed mischievously, "A proof that will ruin your name and ensure your defeat!"

Luo Qian Ping froze, what did she mean by these words? Could she have come to help Luo Qian Qi?

What came out of Hong Yan’s mouth next confirmed Luo Qian Ping"s suspicions.

Hong Yan glanced at Luo Qian Ping, her right hand lightly grasping the Demon Blood Jade Bottle as she chanted a complicated incantation, and a wisp of white smoke drifted out from the Demon Blood Jade Bottle.

The crowd"s interest was captured by that wisp of white smoke as it gradually shaped into a human figure.

The white smoke gradually cleared up, revealing the person"s appearance.

Upon seeing the person"s appearance, Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang jumped in fright. That person was in fact Li Yan Xin.

That"s right, it was Li Yan Xin. The crowd deeply shocked; hadn’t Li Yan Xin already died?

Luo Qian Ping internally cursed his bad luck. Didn"t Second Uncle lock up Li Yan Xin"s soul? Why would it be in Yellow Springs Inn"s hands?

Luo Qian Ping glanced at Luo Cheng Guang, but Luo Cheng Guang"s face was also one entirely of shock.

The moment Li Yan Xin saw Luo Qian Ping, she was filled with fury. She pointed at Luo Qian Ping, yelling angrily, "Luo Qian Ping, you shameless sc.u.m, it was you guys who murdered me, and now you even want to shift the blame onto Brother Qian Qi, you guys can"t even be compared to pigs and dogs!"

"Enough!" Luo Qian Ping rebuked Li Yan Xin.

Li Yan Xin was terribly frightened by Luo Qian Ping, unable to help taking a few steps back.

Luo Qian Ping eyed Li Yan Xin, then he turned to Hong Yan and harrumphed, "How did I know you were going to bring some random little ghost transformed into Li Yan Xin to trick us!"

Hong Yan looked at Luo Qian Ping and laughed, "Luo Second gong zi really is smart, but no, this really is Li Yan Xin"s soul, I found it at the mountain of Ten Li Slope, and in the mountain"s cave I found this!"

At this, Hong Yan took out a thumb-sized jade pendant of Avalokitesvara2.

Upon seeing the Avalokitesvara jade pendant, everyone froze. They could all recognize this jade pendant, because this was something that Luo Cheng Guang always carried.

Luo Cheng Guang was shocked upon seeing the jade pendant in Hong Yan"s hands, thinking: I was wondering where the jade pendant went, so it had dropped in Ten Li Slope"s cave.

Luo Qian Ping glanced at Luo Cheng Guang, Luo Cheng Guang looked at Luo Qian Ping and smiled a bit. Now the matter has already been exposed; he could die, but Luo Qian Ping could not die.

Luo Cheng Guang stood up and said loudly, "That"s right, I did this, all of this has nothing to do with Qian Ping, all of this was done by me alone!"

Hong Yan watched Luo Cheng Guang and revealed a cold smile, to want to wash Luo Qian Ping of his crime, how could it be so easy!

Hong Yan eyed Elder Hai Luo, and I left Elder Hai Luo"s body. In little time Elder Hai Luo regained awareness.

After I left Elder Hai Luo"s body, the ghosts possessing the other elders left their hosts" bodies in succession. When those elders regained awareness, they heard Luo Cheng Guang admitting his wrongs.

Elder Hai Luo stared on blankly and said, "What are you guys doing just standing there, why haven’t you killed Luo Qian Qi already!"

Hearing Elder Hai Luo"s words, the ancestral hall was dead silent. Everyone"s gazes were simultaneously directed towards Elder Hai Luo.

Luo Qian Ping glared at Elder Hai Luo angrily, unable to keep his curses in his heart, "What a good-for-nothing, unable to help yet ruining everything!"

Elder Hai Luo saw that Luo Qian Ping was glaring at him and his mood worsened even more, yelling, "Luo Qian Ping, what the h.e.l.l are you staring at me for, if Luo Qian Ping doesn"t die, how could you be Hall Master?"

"Oh!" The disciples below all gasped, and their lines of sight whooshed over to Luo Qian Ping.

At this time Yang Sheng, Lu Xiu and the rest all saw the plan being exposed and couldn"t help feeling their confidence wane. On the contrary, Luo Qian Ping"s face was one of calm.

Luo Qian Ping looked at Elder Hai Luo and smiled, "Elder Hai Luo, I don"t know what you are saying, how could I do something so atrocious?"

Elder Hai Luo froze. Only now did he realize his own situation, the matter had been exposed!

Just now I constructed a dream world for them: in the dream world the plan proceeded perfectly, and just when Luo Qian Ping was about to behead Luo Qian Qi, I pulled them out of the dream world. It was because of this that, when they saw Luo Qian Qi still kneeling in front of the offering table, they would say these words.

I walked up to Luo Qian Qi and crouched, "You okay?"3

Luo Qian Qi smiled at me, saying lightly, "No problem!"

I smiled and nodded, then sat down by Luo Qian Qi to watch the good show.

Luo Qian Ping looked at Hong Yan and laughed coldly, "Just by listening to their words you can pin the blame on us?"

Hong Yan smiled, "That"s not true, Luo Cheng Guang admitted it himself, it has nothing to do with us, and Elder Hai Luo is an accomplice of yours, his words just now have outed your secret, while Li Yan Xin, she is your victim!"

Luo Qian Ping harrumphed coldly, not saying a word. Hong Yan smiled, "Don"t worry, I also have another witness that I feel you definitely have to meet!"

Hong Yan had only just stopped talking when the crowd saw from outside the door when a person walked in.

"Daddy!" Li Yan Xin called out to the person walking in joyfully.

That"s right, the person walking in was Li Shi.

Li Shi walked into the ancestral hall, he saw Luo Qian Ping and the others and smiled coldly, "Luo Qian Ping, bet you guys never would have thought that I didn"t die, that I could personally point out your crime!"

The moment Luo Qian Ping and company saw Li Shi they were full of surprise. So the mysterious red-clothed woman who rescued Li Shi was actually someone from Yellow Springs Inn.

"You…" Luo Qian Ping was very surprised when he saw Li Shi. Luo Cheng Guang and Yang Sheng were not unlike him.

Li Shi looked at Luo Qian Ping and smiled coldly, "I told you that you would receive your retribution, how is it, the retribution has arrived right, ha ha ha!"

"What exactly is going on here?" Luo Qian Ping said.

I materialized myself and stood, smiling, "It"s because my people rescued him!"

Luo Qian Ping looked at me, "Who are you?"

I chuckled, "I am Yellow Springs Inn"s shopkeeper, Zhang Xiao Qi!"

I flash-backed to yesterday evening.

Yesterday evening Hong Yan had people report to me, saying right now Li Shi was in Yellow Springs Inn. After I receiving the news I immediately hurried back to Yellow Springs Inn.

I walked into the room Hong Yan had arranged for Li Shi to live in. Hong Yan and some other little ghosts were still in there.

I asked Hong Yan, "How"s Li Shi?"

Hong Yan smiled, "Shopkeeper, don’t worry, his life is no longer under threat!”

I nodded, "What happened?"

Hong Yan smiled, "I was originally going to examine the situation under their control, then on the way when I pa.s.sed by where Luo Cheng Guang lives, I saw him being surrounded by Luo Cheng Guang and company, and even suffered heavy injuries, so I rescued him and brought him back here!"

I nodded, smiling, "Hong Yan, you are pretty good!"

Hong Yan smiled at me, "You flatter me!"

"Where is this?" After laughing mischievously I heard Li Shi"s voice.

I walked up to the bedside gave Li Shi a look-over. While he no longer had a threat to his life, his face was still pale.

I looked at Li Shi and smiled, "This is Yellow Springs Inn!"

"What, Yellow Springs Inn? Have I already died?" Li Shi"s face revealed an expression of despair.

"No, I cannot die, Qian Qi is in danger, Yan Xin"s soul still has not been rescued, I cannot die!" saying this Li Shi was about to crawl off of the bed.

But the wounds on his body could not withstand his current actions.

I patted Li Shi"s shoulder, smiling slightly, "Don"t worry, you haven"t died yet!"

Li Shi looked at me and smiled coldly, "How could that be, if I were not dead, then how could I be in Yellow Springs Inn?"

I looked at Li Shi and smiled, "Who said that only the dead could come to Yellow Springs Inn?"

Li Shi stared at me blankly, "I really haven"t died?"

I smiled slightly and nodded. Li Shi thought for a while before saying, "That can"t be, I remember Luo Cheng Guang swinging his fist at me, I definitely could not have avoided that fist!

I looked at Li Shi and smiled, "It was my people that saved you!"

Li Shi stared blankly for a moment, "Who are you?"

I smiled and did not reply, Hong Yan walked forward and smiled, "She is our shopkeeper, the boss of Yellow Springs Inn!"

Li Shi was shocked, pointing me and exclaiming, "You are Yellow Springs Inn"s boss?"

I smiled slightly and nodded, "Yup!"

Li Shi looked at me, puzzled, "Why did you guys rescue me?"

"Why did we rescue you?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Because you are one of Luo Qian Qi"s accomplices, Luo Qian Qi owes me money, if he dies, who should I get it from?"

Li Shi stared blankly, "How much money does Hall Master owe you?"

I counted off my fingers4, calculating, "Should be about three hundred million!"

"What?" Li Shi reeled in shock, "How does Hall Master have such a large debt outside [of Thousand Jade Hall]?"

I looked at Li Shi calmly, "This you don"t need to care for, you should first say why Luo Cheng Guang and company wanted to kill you!"

Li Shi looked at me and harrumphed coldly, "How do I know you guys aren"t one of Luo Qian Ping"s accomplices?"

I looked at Li Shi and harrumphed coldly, "Right now at this time you can only choose to believe me, or else, you can"t get anything done, I could easily throw you into the River of Forgetfulness, at that time not only will you not be able to rescue your daughter, even Luo Qian Qi will die!"

Of course, I was only scaring him, no way would I let Luo Qian Qi die , he still owed me money!

Li Shi stared blankly, then said, "I heard that they were formulating a plan to deal with Qian Qi, while Li Yan Xin"s soul was locked up by them in Ten Li Slope"s cave, inside the cave Luo Cheng Guang has also set up a spell, trying to get in to save Yan Xin really would not be easy!"

1. Note on people: I use the word “people” a lot, but it really just refers to the “party” they belong to, such as Yellow Springs Inn, Thousand Jade Hall, the three houses, etc.↩

2. Avalokitesvara, also known as Guan Yin (观音) in Chinese is a well-known Bodhisattva for his compa.s.sion, and has been portrayed as either female or male, and sometimes with a thousand arms. I’ll explain what a Bodhisattva is in later chapters.↩

3. The phrase that I translated to "you okay?" is "你还好吧?" which directly translates to "you are still okay," kinda like if you asked someone, "you"re okay, right?" or "how are you doing?" A lot of times people will say this when they greet each other, like "Hey, long time no see, how are you doing (你还好吧)?" But I"m pretty sure this has a much less literal meaning in Chinese, though if there"s anyone believing otherwise, I would like to hear your opinion.↩

4. I found it noteworthy to mention that while in the US (and I believe European countries as well) you extend your fingers to count them off, in China, you curl each finger. Say you were counting to five. You would start with an open palm, then curl each finger inward, starting from the thumb all the way to the pinky (I think).↩