“How dare you impostor, you fiend!” Several Daoists exclaimed. Qin Luo was about to explain, but he realized that his plastic colleagues were guarding against him.
“Damn, what’s with your expressions? I’m the real Qin Luo!”
The people looked back and forth and found that the two individuals had a similar appearance, but their auras were completely different. The Qin Luo holding the vengeful spirit clearly had a better aura.
“So, who is this gentleman?”
“He’s my elder.” Qin Luo pouted unhappily, feeling that people’s judgment was too skewed. When they mistook him for a fiend, he became this gentleman instead of his elder!
Qin Luo was about to respond when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took out his phone and saw that it was a call from the Nine-Tailed Fox, Hu Ling.
He was about to excuse himself to take the call, but he noticed that Liu Neng and the other three Daoists were busy surrounding his great uncle, bombarding him with questions, and completely oblivious to his actions.
It made him feel a little lonely.
Qin Luo wiped his face and walked to the side to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Holy crap, Qin Luo, why did you take so long to answer the phone?” Hu Ling’s frantic voice came through the phone. “Come and save me! I’m being chased and attacked by some annoying Daoist. I’ve tried to explain that I haven’t harmed anyone, but he won’t listen.”
“But I have something to deal with over here…” Qin Luo began, but Hu Ling cut him off, “If you don’t come right now, be prepared to collect your dad’s corpse. Even if I turn into a fox spirit, I won’t spare you!”
It was clear that Hu Ling was desperately running away, and Qin Luo could even hear his panting.
Qin Luo, feeling helpless, realized that he should leave this situation. “Tell me where you are. I’m on my way.”
“Tianshui City.”
“I’m in Yangcheng, even if I take a flight, it’ll still take two to three hours to get there. What good will it do if you call me?” Qin Luo was momentarily speechless, and he firmly said, “I advise you, find a coffin for yourself.”
“Holy crap, you can’t be so heartless!” Hu Ling sounded desperate. “Don’t you have some kind of regulatory agency? Check with them; shouldn’t they be dealing with these crazy Daoists?”
He was the last nine-tailed fox in the world, and he possessed merit. If that Daoist were to kill him by force, it wouldn’t end well. Moreover, before entering the entertainment industry, he had filed a case with the regulatory agency and obtained a certificate as a supernatural being. He had legitimately sought this job, and he couldn’t believe that the regulatory agency would allow its members to harm good supernatural beings.
“Let me ask for you,” Qin Luo hung up the phone and returned to the group. “Liu Ge, does our agency still handle cases where Daoists, without distinction, target good supernatural beings?”
“All practitioners fall under the jurisdiction of the regulatory agency, but for supernatural beings, it depends on what kind of supernatural being it is.”
“That supernatural being has filed a case with our agency and has a work permit issued by the agency,” Qin Luo quickly added.
“In that case, it does fall under the agency’s jurisdiction. Where is the supernatural being? I’ll arrange for someone to go rescue it.”
“Tianshui City.”
“That’s quite far, and we can’t get there right away,” Liu Neng pondered for a moment. “What’s the name of the Daoist chasing after him?”
Qin Luo checked the call that had already been hung up. “I forgot to ask.”
“Never mind, we’ll check when we get back,” another Daoist next to him said. “We also need to deal with that evil spirit.”
Qin Luo watched as Qi Heng placed the evil spirit into the express delivery box that was originally meant for him. “You bring it back. I’ve placed a barrier on it, so it can’t escape.”
The Daoists nodded in silent gratitude and carried the express delivery box away.
After they left, Qin Luo approached Qi Heng. “Uncle, do you have any way to save Hu Ling?”
Qi Heng cast a sidelong glance at him and calculated for a moment with his fingers. “Don’t worry, he’s not in mortal danger.”
What he didn’t say was that the fox would come looking for Qin Luo tomorrow.
Qin Luo sighed in relief and asked curiously, “Uncle, were you just calculating something?”
He found Qi Heng’s method of calculation rather casual. In their Bureau, the masters always started by purifying themselves, lighting incense, and setting up offerings before using divination methods.
“Hmm,” Qi Heng nodded. “It’s time to go back. We have guests coming tomorrow.”
“Guests?” Qin Luo was puzzled. He hurried to catch up with Qi Heng as they reached a secluded spot.
In this remote location, Qi Heng concealed his presence and teleported back to his rented room, leaving Qin Luo behind.
Qin Luo:”…”
He was beginning to doubt whether he was studying to become a real immortal. He seemed to lack many essential skills. But was Qi Heng truly an immortal?
Qin Luo’s mind was suddenly filled with this thought. He decided to skip waiting for the bus and hailed a taxi instead.
When he opened the door and entered, he indeed saw his great-uncle back in his original form, sitting on the couch in white robes, which gave him an otherworldly appearance.
Qin Luo was momentarily lost in thought but walked in, ignoring the dumbfounded look from Qi Heng. He carefully closed the door and whispered, “Great-Uncle, did you really achieve ascension back then?”
Qi Heng silently glanced at him. “You’re overthinking it. I just accumulated too much merit and was thrown back by the Heavenly Dao.”
Speaking of which, the Heavenly Dao in this world must be in complete turmoil now that he’s back, right?
Qin Luo felt somewhat disappointed but also strangely relieved. If his great-uncle had achieved ascension, there was no way he’d be struggling for progress in his cultivation for so long. So, it wasn’t him who was wrong; it was the world itself.
His emotions balanced out strangely.
The next day, Qin Luo intended to return to work. After all, he had appeared lively and well in front of Liu Neng the day before, and using an excuse of severe injuries for further leave was no longer an option.
However, as Qin Luo opened the door to leave, a battered man with silver short hair suddenly appeared at the doorway, sporting a swollen face and bruises.
“Qin Luo!”
It was a familiar voice. Qin Luo strained to recognize it. “Hu, Hu Ling? How did you end up like this?”
Hu Ling, looking frustrated, replied, “It’s that darn Daoist from Tianshui City. He chased me from there to Yang City. He pursued me all night. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m a well-behaved good spirit, I’d have given him a good swipe.”
Qin Luo sympathetically asked, “How did you get involved with him in the first place?”
Hu Ling sighed, “How should I know? Ever since I starred in ‘Love Across Time,’ I’ve been having all sorts of inexplicable bad luck. I just stepped out to pay my respects to the tooth fairy, and that annoying Daoist jumped out of nowhere, chasing and attacking me.”
The mention of “Love Across Time” caused Qin Luo’s expression to momentarily twist because it was the same movie that his great-uncle had watched a couple of days ago.
To ensure his friend’s safety, Qin Luo thought he should persuade Hu Ling to leave. What if his great-uncle suddenly remembered the incident where Hu Ling had damaged his reputation?
However, Hu Ling sniffed the air and leaned forward to look behind Qin Luo, saying, “You have someone else in your room, I’m sure of it.”
“No, there’s no one,” replied Qin Luo.
“I distinctly smelled the presence of a stranger,” Hu Ling was skeptical. In a flash, he passed through the wall and entered the room. Like going to heaven when there’s a path, and barging into hell when there’s none.
Qin Luo’s eye twitched. It seemed like this mischievous fox might genuinely become a dead fox today.
Hu Ling gazed in fascination at the white-robed celestial being reclining on the sofa and murmured to himself, “Qin Luo, where did you find such a beautiful person?”
Even a fox spirit who took pride in his own beauty couldn’t help but feel self-conscious.
Qin Luo silently approached Hu Ling from behind and pinched his waist hard. Hu Ling yelped in pain, instantly regaining his senses.
“Isn’t it just admiring your ‘beautiful person’? Was it necessary to go this far?” Hu Ling retorted.
Qin Luo, however, didn’t pay much attention to his friend’s complaints. He apologized to Qi Heng, saying, “Uncle, my friend has had some mental issues since childhood. He unintentionally says the wrong things. Please forgive him.”
“Who are you calling mentally challenged?” Hu Ling was about to retort instinctively, but then it seemed like something dawned on him, and his body stiffened. “Uncle?”
He was aware of Qin Luo’s true identity. If he remembered correctly from the family records he learned while working on the “Love Across Time” drama set, Qin Luo’s grandfather was Emperor Jin Yuan, and his great-uncle should be Emperor Qi, who was Emperor Jin Yuan’s only brother, known as the Prince of Chen, and the one who succeeded Emperor Jin Yuan’s throne.
In other words, the man in white before him was the later Emperor Zhao of Jin, who was said to have ascended to immortality.
Hu Ling figured out the connections and was left in shock.
Qin Luo cleared his throat and leaned in to whisper to Hu Ling, “My great-uncle just watched the time-travel drama you acted in a couple of days ago.”
Hu Ling: “So, I just outed someone as OOC, and now I’m facing this karma, directly caught by the main character? No, it seems like I walked right into this myself.”
Feeling extremely embarrassed, Hu Ling wished he could go back one minute and drain the water from his brain.
“Why did you have to come in here in the first place?”
With these thoughts, Hu Ling promptly knelt down with a thump and said, “I’m sorry, I disturbed your rest, Your Majesty.”
An immortal rumored to have ascended a thousand years ago, who still maintained their youthful appearance, was not someone Hu Ling wanted to test the depth of their power with. He had no intention of risking his life.
Furthermore, as a fox spirit, he didn’t care much about maintaining appearances. If he ever felt embarrassed, he could simply revert to his original form. With countless foxes in the world, who could tell which fox was the one causing a scene outside, as long as he kept his tails hidden?
When Hu Ling was seen through by Qi Heng, he couldn’t hide his true form.
“A fox spirit?”
“Yes,” Hu Ling replied respectfully, with sweat forming on his forehead. He was relieved that he had kneeled quickly in recognition of the situation.
“I find you somewhat familiar,” a cold voice expressed slight puzzlement.
Hu Ling trembled, “I work as an actor, and I played your role in a TV series before. You might have seen me.”
Qi Heng realized, “Ah, it’s you.”
With his battered and bruised appearance, he had almost failed to recognize him.
“Your Excellency, please calm down. I was just following the script and didn’t mean to tarnish your image intentionally,” Hu Ling regretfully spoke. He berated himself for believing the director’s boast that only his looks and demeanor could support the image of Emperor Jin Zhao, and now he might truly face divine retribution.
