The auntie from next door saw a Taoist priest in the man's yard and also hurried over.
"Daoist priest, please come to my house for a trip," the auntie's voice trembled. "My kitchen stove keeps blowing smoke back in, it's unbearably smoky. It must be that female ghost blocking the chimney, trying to steal our food."
Ji Zhaoxi immediately got anxious: "This is simply nonsense, baseless accusations, utter rubbish, and a pack of lies!"
Would she need to block the chimney to eat their food? It's so dirty!
Xie Qingyan glanced at the auntie and nodded, "Please lead the way for this humble Daoist."
The auntie quickly led Xie Qingyan to her house, and the man followed along.
Xie Qingyan took a look at the stove, then at the chimney.
The auntie was terrified and kept shedding tears.
Xie Qingyan found a long bamboo pole, tied a stiff broom to it, and poked it down from the top of the chimney a few times. Black soot fell all over the ground, and the chimney was instantly cleared.
"Auntie, in the future, if the chimney blows smoke back, just poke the soot down from the top and it will be fine."
The auntie took the bamboo pole, dumbfounded.
That's it?
Ji Zhaoxi floated in the air and said faintly, "Don't blame everything on the female ghost."
The auntie smiled embarrassedly, "Thank you, Daoist priest. Ever since there have been ghosts in this village, I feel like every bad thing is done by ghosts."
"The cured meat I hung by the window before lost its flavor, and I thought a ghost did it. Thinking about it now, maybe I just didn't cure it properly."
Ji Zhaoxi stood to the side with a guilty conscience and kept quiet.
She actually was the one who sucked the flavor out of that meat, but she only took a few bites; the rest was sucked away by other ghosts.
The auntie's meat was quite fragrant.
However, she had blown half a string of coins over to the auntie, which she had blown over from the man who stole the peach tree.
More and more people gathered at the door, everyone coming to see this Daoist priest who had just entered the village.
An old man hobbled over leaning on a cane, "Daoist priest, could you go take a look at my well?"
"The water in my well has been tasting bitter lately, and the color is very murky. A ghost might have died in it."
Hearing this, the others' faces immediately changed, and they all looked at Xie Qingyan in fear.
Xie Qingyan looked at the old man, "Old man, please take me to have a look."
A crowd of people squeezed together and went over clamorously, nearly knocking the old man over in the rush.
"Watch where you're going! My old bones can't take this kind of tossing around."
The others quickly made some room, and the old man coughed angrily.
Sure enough, as soon as they reached the well at the old man's house, a foul stench hit them. Beside it lay a dead chicken, the ground covered in chicken blood.
Seeing Xie Qingyan looking at the chicken on the ground, the old man quickly explained, "Daoist priest, I used this chicken to ward off evil."
Xie Qingyan nodded and said no more.
He found a pile of charcoal and coarse sand from somewhere and poured it into the well.
The people around all clustered by the well to watch, and Ji Zhaoxi also watched with a serious expression.
"Old man, in the future, if the well has a strange smell again, sprinkle charcoal and coarse sand into it in layers, and the water will clear up in three days," Xie Qingyan said calmly.
The old man was deeply moved, "Daoist priest, if you hadn't come, we really wouldn't know what to do. This female ghost is very malicious."
Xie Qingyan picked up his bundle and looked at the old man in front of him, "These things have nothing to do with female ghosts. When there is too much dirt in a well, it will naturally stink."
Ji Zhaoxi nodded in agreement, "Right!"
The old man still didn't believe it. He shook his head, "Daoist priest, I know you're saying this so we won't be afraid, but everyone knows in their hearts."
"There are more and more bachelors in this village, and that's also because of the female ghost causing trouble."
"This year, most of the babies born are girls, and there are very few boys. The female ghost must have cast a curse on the village."
"And these natural disasters and man-made calamities are all the doing of that female ghost in the village. It's a pity that many Daoist priests have come, but none could catch her."
Ji Zhaoxi tried her best to defend herself, "Since when am I that powerful?"
Even bachelors were being blamed on her?
Seeing the old man speak like this, Xie Qingyan no longer tried to explain to him.
He looked at the man who had first led the way for him, "Sir, could you please take this humble Daoist to Squire Zhao's apple orchard now?"
The man quickly nodded, "Of course, of course."
Seeing that Xie Qingyan was about to leave again, Ji Zhaoxi got a little anxious, "Can you really not see me?"
She waved her hand, and Xie Qingyan passed right through her again.
She watched his back, dumbfounded. Wasn't Xie Qingyan supposed to have profound cultivation? But he couldn't even see a little ghost like her.
Just then, Ji Zhaoxi saw a merchant caravan on the other side of the mountain, and she quickly floated over.
There was food to eat again.
The caravan rested on a rocky hill. The manager ordered his men to stick a few incense sticks into the dirt and throw stacks of joss paper into a fire.
The manager bowed and said in a low voice, "Passing through this place, please make things convenient for us. Do not startle the mules and horses, and do not obscure the road ahead."
When Ji Zhaoxi arrived, her eyes lit up. The other ghosts hadn't arrived yet, so she was going to absorb all this joss paper and incense.
The caravan set off after burning the joss paper. Just as she was about to absorb the power of the offerings, a horse-faced ghost suddenly appeared, quietly looking at Ji Zhaoxi.
Ji Zhaoxi hesitated and said, "I can share a little with you."
But the next second, she was blown away.
Ji Zhaoxi: ...
Even as a ghost, one couldn't escape the law of the jungle.
She could only stand to the side, watching helplessly as the horse-faced ghost absorbed the power of the offerings.
How could he have no ghost morals...
She didn't know how long had passed when a familiar voice suddenly appeared in the mountains.
"Daoist priest, you don't know, but our Qingxi Village has a lot of bizarre happenings. Someone who knows the trade told us before that there are more ghosts than people in our Qingxi Village." The man couldn't stop sighing.
"Ghosts must also be differentiated. As long as they are not evil ghosts, there is no harm," Xie Qingyan said lightly.
The horse-faced ghost, who was absorbing the power of the offerings, suddenly froze, and its soul began to twist.
Ji Zhaoxi watched from the side in a daze. What was this?
A dining ritual?
But the next second, the horse-faced ghost was sucked away directly. Ji Zhaoxi looked in that direction and saw Xie Qingyan standing not far away, holding a gourd in his hand.
When the horse-faced ghost went in, it let out a miserable scream that nearly pierced Ji Zhaoxi's eardrums.
The man next to him watched Xie Qingyan's actions, breaking into a cold sweat: "Dao... Daoist priest, did you just capture a ghost?"
Xie Qingyan said calmly, "Sir, there is no need to be afraid. It is just a minor ghost."
The man swallowed hard and let out a few dry laughs.
He was a Daoist priest, so of course he wasn't afraid. As an ordinary person, he still had to be afraid of what he should be afraid of.
Ji Zhaoxi stood there, silently waiting for death.
It should be her turn next.
But she helplessly watched as Xie Qingyan and the man passed right through her again, without even looking at her.
Ji Zhaoxi quickly called the system.
"System, System, don't give me a golden finger! Xie Qingyan can't even see me anymore!"
The system was actually summoned by Ji Zhaoxi's soul-calling cries.
She had become a ghost now, and when she called out to people, she let out a sobbing sound that was like crying but not crying, like weeping and complaining, which made the system feel creeped out.
[What's wrong with your voice?]
Ji Zhaoxi scratched her head in embarrassment: "I learned it from the female ghost in the neighboring village. She taught me, saying that this is how all ghosts wail."
She had actually practiced it for quite a long time. At first, it sounded like someone crying in the distance, and then it shifted into a murmur right by the ear. It was as faint as a gossamer thread, and very pleasant to hear.
That ghost even said she was naturally gifted.
[Stop imitating female ghosts!]
Ji Zhaoxi nodded obediently: "Alright then."
[I didn't give you any cheat abilities.]
"Then why can't he see me?" Ji Zhaoxi asked in confusion.
[You can never wake someone who is pretending to sleep. Remember to do more evil deeds. The bad things you have done in this world are far below the standard!]
"Haven't I done enough bad things?" Ji Zhaoxi was extremely troubled.
The system could not even be bothered to lecture her. Even the cicada ghost in the tree had done more bad things than she had.
What rendered it the most speechless was that even though she had turned into a ghost herself, she was still frequently afraid of ghosts.
