FIMA Ch64: Ascending the Mountain

After all this tossing and turning, checking the time, it was already 5:00 AM.
It was summer now, and a glimmer of light had already appeared on the horizon.

The four of them didn’t plan on resting anymore. They walked into a KFC fast-food restaurant outside the train station and ordered a few morning combo meals to make do.

It was too early, and Xie Xuanxing didn’t have much of an appetite. After drinking only half a bowl of congee, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.

A moment later, when he opened his eyes and was preparing to go to the washroom to wash his face, he found that the leftover half of his pork sausage and egg panini was currently being held in Gu Siyuan’s hands.

Xie Xuanxing stared blankly.

Gu Siyuan had always been sensitive, and instantly turned his eyes sideways to look at the person next to him.
Seeing him staring at the food in his hand, he frowned and said coldly: “Hungry?”

Xie Xuanxing coughed lightly, and for some reason, said somewhat awkwardly: “That thing in your hand… seems to be my leftovers just now.”

“…” Gu Siyuan was silent for a moment. He swallowed the last bite of the egg burger before saying without changing his expression: “Next time if you can’t finish it, buy less. Don’t deliberately push things towards my side. Childish.”

“…” Xie Xuanxing widened his eyes.
Heaven as his witness, he absolutely did not push it!

Gu Siyuan met his round, pure eyes, paused, raised a hand to push the person’s head to face the other way, and said with a slightly cool voice: “You are not allowed to look at your boss like this.”

“Oh…” Xie Xuanxing responded pitifully, like a delicate puppet being casually fiddled with.

Gu Siyuan’s expression was completely at ease as he picked up his phone and looked down at the time. He would absolutely never admit that just now, upon seeing Xie Xuanxing’s leftover food, he subconsciously picked it up and ate it for him, as if it were some kind of instinct deep in his bones.
What kind of boss treats a lackey like this? Completely baffling.

Old man Xie Cang held a cup of hot milk, looking at his obedient grandson and the stinky brat Gu Siyuan opposite him, feeling that something was very strange…
How could this stinky brat casually touch his grandson’s smart head?!

Right at this moment, two familiar figures pushed open the glass doors of the KFC and walked in.

When the two saw Gu Siyuan and his group, the resentment radiating from their bodies was almost tangible.
However, they didn’t charge over directly. Instead, they first went to the counter, ordered a bunch of chicken wings, fries, and the like, and sat down at a table adjacent to the four of them.

The burly, bearded man gnawed on a chicken wing with one hand while complaining to Gu Siyuan: “You brat, a few years ago you were still an idiot, when did you become so cunning? You’ve even learned how to be a pickpocket?”

Gu Siyuan cast a cold glance at him and directly cut to the chase: “Team Leader He, I want to go with you to Luojun Mountain.”

The bearded man’s real name was He Pan, and he was a Team Leader of Division 1 in the Special Control Bureau.

Hearing this, He Pan was stunned for a moment, and then said with a half-smile: “You actually know about Luojun Mountain?”

Gu Siyuan said faintly: “Isn’t this small cauldron something from Luojun Mountain? I heard that a couple of years ago, when they were digging the tracks, an incredibly bold worker secretly smuggled it out, leading to a series of bizarre incidents in his home. Eventually, it ended up in the black market and was recognized by people in the underworld. Only then did the matter of the Ghost King of Luojun Mountain spread, which is why it attracted the covetous eyes of so many ghosts and monsters on the train?”

He Pan narrowed his eyes: “You know quite a lot of details. In the past, you were most afraid of these things, but now…”

Gu Siyuan said carelessly: “Now I’m interested. People change, because I thought of a very interesting way to play.”

“Both brothers are crazy,” He Pan muttered softly, stroking his beard. Then, he continued to firmly refuse: “But I still can’t let you go. You’re not one of our people. I haven’t even sought trouble with you yet for impersonating a civil servant on the train last night!”

Gu Siyuan raised an eyebrow and looked at him: “How many people did your Special Control Bureau send this time?”

He Pan didn’t hide anything and said casually: “Just the two of us. Recently, who knows what the hell is going on, but there are messy incidents everywhere. Those metaphysical aristocratic families aren’t willing to put in a single bit of effort unless there’s some benefit in it. The Special Control Bureau’s meager manpower is nowhere near enough. Being able to send the two of us here already shows special attention.”

Gu Siyuan sneered: “The emergence of a Ghost King this time can be considered a massive benefit, right? Those aristocratic families will definitely swarm like mosquitoes seeing blood. You only sent two people, and both are half-baked amateurs. Are you planning to take an official sightseeing trip to watch the fun?”

Team Leader He was indignant: “We still have the vast Special Police forces to provide technical support!”

The curly-haired guy next to him, who was gnawing on a burger, also raised his head in great annoyance: “What’s the deal with you, brat? Why do you speak in a way that just begs for a beating?”

Xie Xuanxing raised his eyes and gave him a faint glance.
Instantly, one could only feel that this person, usually as clear as the breeze and bright as the moon, suddenly carried an indescribable, piercingly cold murderous intent.

Seeing this, bearded He Pan hurriedly smoothed things over, advising the curly-haired guy earnestly: “Brother, you better not try to beat him up. He’s your idol’s biological younger brother.”

The curly-haired guy froze.
In the next second, his expression completely changed. He reached out and patted He Pan’s shoulder: “Aiya, Team Leader, what is there to consider? We absolutely must bring this Mr. Gu along!”

“…” He Pan.
You unprincipled bastard!
You newcomer, do you know what kind of reputation this guy has in the Special Control Bureau? Won’t taking him just hold us back?

Gu Siyuan raised his eyes to glance at him, seemingly seeing through his thoughts in an instant. He said faintly: “Team Leader He? Of the three people on my side: this one is highly experienced.”
“This one is a genius talisman master.”
“And this one is a local.”
As he spoke, he glanced successively at Xie Cang, Xie Xuanxing, and Bodyguard Brother Li.

Hearing this, He Pan smiled: “I say, Second Young Master Gu, why don’t you introduce yourself?”

Gu Siyuan gave a cold sneer: “I am their boss.”

“…” He Pan.
Alright, you have money, you can do whatever you want.

Beside them, Old Man Xie disagreed. Gu Siyuan was not his boss! Also, when introducing him, it was just “highly experienced”? So what, I only grew in age?!

Xie Cang was just about to voice a few words of objection when he was tightly stopped by his own grandson.

“…” Xie Cang felt depressed.
His grandson used to be such an aloof and solitary person! How did he completely change after meeting this stinky brat?
They say girls side with outsiders, but are boys not safe now either?!

Luojun Mountain was in the suburbs of L City. The train station had a tourist bus route that went around all the scenic spots in the city, with Luojun Mountain being the third-to-last stop. At 7:00 AM, the group directly bought tickets and boarded the bus.

It took about an hour and a half from the train station to Luojun Mountain in the suburbs. Having been awake all night yesterday, none of the six people had the mood to converse after getting on the bus, and they all closed their eyes to rest.

As the bus swayed gently, Gu Siyuan also closed his eyes.

A few minutes later, his shoulder suddenly felt heavy. He opened his eyes and looked over to see that Xie Xuanxing had fallen asleep at some unknown time. As the tires rolled over a ditch, his thin upper body tilted and slumped onto his shoulder.

His fair cheeks were slightly puffed out, and his lips were rosy and full, looking somewhat childish. He was no longer that aloof and clever lackey, nor the number one talisman-making genius of S City, but just an innocent youth.

Gu Siyuan stared indifferently at the person for a moment, then sat up slightly straighter to let Xie Xuanxing lean more comfortably.
Being a bit nicer to a lackey is no problem, right?

However, this guy Xie Xuanxing seemed very adept at pushing his luck. After another turn, he directly leaned his entire body over, while also hugging Gu Siyuan’s right arm with a familiarity as if he had done it countless times.

Gu Siyuan felt this unfamiliar yet comfortable warmth, remained silent for a long while, and finally slowly closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep as well.

An unknown amount of time passed when his body suddenly jolted violently, and the piercing sound of brakes screeching against the ground rang in his ears.

Gu Siyuan opened his eyes.
He heard the female ticket conductor shouting loudly: “Luojun Mountain Scenic Area has arrived! Passengers heading to Luojun Mountain, please get off!”

Xie Xuanxing opened his eyes groggily and, out of habit, hugged whatever he was holding and rubbed against it lightly. His lips brushed across a burst of cold, smooth skin. Hm? He couldn’t help but stick out his small, dark red tongue and give it a lick.

…Something wasn’t quite right. He opened his eyes and met a pair of cold, deep, pitch-black pupils.

Gu Siyuan tried his best to ignore the soft, warm sensation pressed against his neck and said coldly: “It’s time to get off.”

“Oh…” Xie Xuanxing’s head was still buzzing, and he replied slowly.
But at the moment he spoke, his slightly parted lips once again brushed against the other’s cold neck. The exhaled hot breath brought a peculiar, tingling itch that scratched all the way into the depths of the heart.

First thing in the morning, this is too much.

Gu Siyuan’s large hand grabbed the person’s cheek and lifted the small head off his shoulder.
His gaze was stern and cold, his tone deep and low: “Haven’t you taken enough advantage yet? Next time…”

“…”
Xie Xuanxing watched the tall, straight figure of the man walking away, the tips of his ears slightly red, and he gave a soft humph in his heart.
What’s the point of saying tough words? If you have the ability, take the advantage back!

The four people who had gotten off first were completely unaware of the love-hate drama between the two of them.

In the height of summer, suddenly stepping out of an air-conditioned vehicle onto ground hit by direct sunlight made everyone feel so hot they felt like they were smoking all over.

Looking at a small convenience store not far away, Bodyguard Brother Li said: “Let’s go stand over there, and buy a few bottles of ice water while we’re at it. This damn sun!”

The rest nodded in agreement.

Just as the drinks reached their hands, they heard a massive commotion coming from the valley not far away.
The group exchanged glances. Before they could even take a sip of water, they immediately bolted in that direction.

Luojun Mountain was shrouded in clouds and mist, with beautiful gorges. Apart from cable cars and winding stone steps, another way connecting the various peaks was the gorge mini-train.
Half of the tunnel hung suspended in mid-air on the edge of the mountainside, and the other half passed through the mountain and valley onto solid ground. Along the way, the willows were green and the flowers were red, the scenery shifting as the train moved. It was considered a major internet-famous tourist attraction of Luojun Mountain.

But this morning, just as the first mini-train was about to exit the mountain cave tunnel, several massive boulders suddenly fell from the cliff face above.

Thus, it caused the current scene: the locomotive had been smashed off the tracks and was hanging empty in mid-air, gently bobbing and swaying in the breeze. Fortunately, the body of the train was jammed by the mountain walls at the cave entrance.

The mini-train could seat fifty people at a time. Right now, the carriage was entirely filled with terrified screams.
However, even more terrifying was that several passengers had ferocious expressions, acting as if they completely couldn’t feel the dangerous situation they were in. They were frantically crawling around inside the carriage and smashing the mini-train’s windows.

Xie Xuanxing looked at the precarious locomotive hanging overhead and said coldly: “It seems the train is trapped in a ghost domain. We must rescue the people as soon as possible, otherwise, once the train loses its balance, the entire vehicle will slide out and plummet down the cliff.”

He Pan frowned: “The armed police and the scenic area’s fire department are already preparing. But if we don’t eliminate the ghost domain first, the armed police, having no spiritual energy, will probably just get trapped inside if they rush over.”

“A Great Ghost capable of creating a ghost domain… it’s been a long time since I’ve seen one. It should be the legendary Ghost King within Luojun Mountain…”
Suddenly, an unfamiliar male voice was heard.

At some unknown time, a middle-aged man wearing a short jacket and trousers had walked over to them, leading a group of people.

Earlier, the scenic area staff had already cordoned off the entrance to this section. Those who could still enter at this time, apart from the relevant authorities, were only these metaphysical cultivators.

He Pan clearly recognized the newcomer. He narrowed his eyes and said: “Fellow Daoist Chen arrived very quickly.”

The middle-aged man’s smile remained unchanged: “Exorcising ghosts and eliminating evil is the undeniable duty of us cultivators.”
This group was clearly the people from the Four Great Aristocratic Families.
The leading middle-aged man was named Chen Qi. He was the biological younger brother of the current head of the metaphysical Chen family, possessing profound cultivation.

Suddenly, a remarkably handsome young man stepped out from the crowd, looked toward Gu Siyuan’s group, and exclaimed in surprise: “Xie Xuanxing, why are you here?”

Xie Xuanxing’s expression remained unchanged, ignoring him.

Xie Yuchen stared at Xie Xuanxing’s figure, which was still aloof and unworldly, and narrowed his eyes. To think he actually mixed in with the Special Control Bureau people. He felt that something had exceeded his expectations.
He turned his head to look at Han Mingye beside him. Didn’t you say he was already taken care of yesterday?

Han Mingye did not make a sound.
But he had already realized that an accident had occurred with the matter he ordered. Hmph, a small place is a small place. So many evil cultivators, yet they can’t even handle a tiny matter well!

Gu Siyuan’s gaze swept over the two.
These were the protagonist gong and shou from the original story. Han Mingye and Xie Yuchen indeed wouldn’t miss this spectacle.

In the original storyline, the two of them participated in this exorcism and obtained the greatest benefits left behind by the Ghost King, their cultivation levels surging massively as a result.

He met the direct stares of the two and his expression turned slightly cold: “If everyone has time to catch up on old times, why not think about how to save the people?”

As soon as his voice fell, the scenery at the cave entrance above suddenly changed.
It was clearly midsummer in July with bright sunshine, but that spot seemed to be in another dimension. A sinister wind suddenly kicked up, sand and stones flew about, and the sun was completely obscured.
And the originally tottering mini-train had completely vanished without a trace.

The cultivators below finally seemed to realize the severity of the situation. They shut their mouths, focused their minds, and summoned their magical artifacts, controlling them to fly toward the mountain cave entrance. Xie Xuanxing also threw a large handful of talismans over.

However, a moment later, everyone frowned and hastily withdrew their magical artifacts. It seemed that if they had been a moment slower, they would have been swallowed up by the cave entrance.

“This ghost domain is truly formidable, and this sinister wind is far too bizarre. As soon as this old Daoist’s magical artifact approached, the spiritual sense was almost obliterated…”
“My flying sword entered too deeply and is already mostly ruined. I don’t know when it can be fully repaired!”
“What should we do now?”
The crowd exchanged dismayed glances, all wearing troubled expressions.

…

Gu Siyuan stood in front of the various equipment of the Special Police team and examined them. He asked for the sledgehammer-like magical artifact from the curly-haired guy and carefully sensed it using his own meager spiritual energy.

There were indeed some different auras and fluctuations.

A moment later, he walked over to a supercomputer connected to the monitors: “Lend me this for a moment.”

The Special Police officer thought he was a person with profound spiritual energy like those other people. Seeing that Gu Siyuan was interested in their equipment, he instantly felt a sense of pride and extremely enthusiastically lent it out.

Gu Siyuan’s fingers flew across the keyboard, rapidly debugging various data, constantly adjusting the current size on the coils and tweaking the magnetic field range.

The technical Special Police officer was stunned. This is professional-level! Are people practicing metaphysics all this awesome nowadays?

A moment later, Gu Siyuan asked Xie Xuanxing for a few Blazing Sun Talismans. He detonated one from a distance and observed the momentary reaction between the Yin energy and the spiritual energy within the talisman.

Then, he sat back down and continued to adjust the detection range.

The Special Police officer watched as the originally blank white display screen, under Gu Siyuan’s various tests, gradually began to show the trajectories of tiny particles passing through—from short to long, from thin to thick. Finally, when the radius of curvature of the data reached a certain level, a twisted crack floated around the hammer-shaped object on the adjacent display screen, then slowly expanded, turning into a blurry, black magnetic field.

The Special Police officer opened his mouth wide: “What… what is that?”

Xie Xuanxing’s eyes brightened slightly, his voice clear and firm: “The Yin energy of the ghost domain.”

The Special Police officer’s eyes widened. Could people like them without cultivation talent also see this kind of thing?!

On the other side, the crowd had been arguing for a long time.

He Pan had an ugly expression as he said: “We can’t wait any longer. Even magical artifacts can’t withstand that sinister wind, the ordinary people inside the train will probably meet an even worse fate. Now, every family must send one person up to take a look.”

The expressions of the people from the aristocratic families changed.

They talked a good game about eliminating demons and slaying evil, but that was just to get the treasures left by the Ghost King.
But right now, seeing how formidable this Ghost King was… how could treasures be more important than their lives? Who would dare to go in?

However, no one could state this outright. The Special Police next to them had their cameras on and were broadcasting live. Their aristocratic families had to rely on the offerings of the people below; there were some things they had to maintain a façade for.

At this time, Han Mingye narrowed his eyes and said: “Our various families only brought one or two people; it’s understandable for us to only send one person to check. Your Special Control Bureau has five cultivators here, are you only going to send one person in too? That’s not how things are done, is it?”

Hearing this, someone immediately echoed: “That’s true! You are a state department, you can’t be worse than our small families, right?”
“The situation up there is so critical, one more person means one more bit of strength.”

He Pan sneered coldly.
Normally, when there’s nothing going on, ‘aristocratic family’ is always on their lips. But when it’s time to actually do work, it’s ‘small family’ this and ‘small family’ that! With such excellent face-changing skills, why are you cultivating? You should debut as actors!

He Pan was just about to open his mouth and say “These four are not from our Special Control Bureau” to slap that group of guys in the face.

Gu Siyuan had already stood up from the machine and said coldly: “I’ll go in.”

Xie Xuanxing also immediately said: “I’ll go too.”

“…” He Pan turned his head to look at the two of them.
Do you guys think this is an elementary school spring field trip? Raising your hands and reporting one by one, being so active?

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