Weird things, Qing had seen a lot. Weird people, she had killed quite a few.

However, in this environment, she had no interest in being a loyal watchdog.

She treated everything with indifference, her mind at peace.

Gou Xin had said that he had once been touched on the head by an immortal.

During his boring, prison-like hospitalization, Gou Xin would quietly recite a poem to himself on several late nights.

*Remembering My Old Travels After the Turmoil, Writing My Thoughts and Presenting Them to Prefect Wei Liangzai of Jiangxia*,

Of course,

he only recited the first two lines:

"Above, the White Jade City in Heaven, twelve towers and five cities.

The immortal strokes my crown, I bind my hair and receive eternal life."

Qing thought, it was a good thing that the line "The immortal strokes my crown" came first, otherwise, with Gou Xin's intelligence, memorizing such a long poem would really be quite difficult.

Now,

a pitch-black old man,

seemed to have come specifically to touch his head.

It was just that, in the depths of the unknown, there seemed to be an invisible force preventing the old man.

Qing remained silent about this.

Now,

she wasn't deliberately watching from the sidelines,

but had become a mortal watching immortals fight.

Qing wasn't sure if the old man was an immortal or not; in any case, she didn't feel the immortal aura she had imagined coming from him.

But he seemed to have a deep obsession with touching Gou Xin's head, completely in a posture of never giving up until he achieved his goal.

He kept stuttering,

raising his hand,

lowering it,

raising it again,

lowering it again;

no matter how mysterious the build-up, it now gave people a very bizarre feeling.

And accompanied by this constantly repeating action, the old man's shadow began to fade more and more. Finally, after raising his hand one last time, the old man's figure began to collapse.

Faintly,

Qing seemed to hear the old man let out an unwilling sound.

After that,

the ward returned to peace again.

Gou Xin's leg was still hung up high, and he was still unconscious.

Qing silently picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.

On the TV,

*Prison Break* continued to play.

…………

"Whoosh!"

The toilet was finally unclogged.

The old Daoist took a few steps back, his back leaning against the bathroom's tiled wall.

Tired,

really tired.

And he was covered in sweat.

Normally, if the toilet was clogged, a few plunges would do the trick, but this time, for some reason, it was particularly stubborn.

The old Daoist shook his head, walked to the bathroom door, and shouted:

"Monkey, bring me some underwear."

Then,

the old Daoist took off his clothes

and went in to take a shower.

…………

At the first floor bar, Lawyer An was holding playing cards, playing by himself.

Next to him was a small electric fan, blowing on him at a low setting. In this early heat of summer, this feeling, this wind power, could be said to be just right.

Geng Chen was not in the bookstore. In fact, Geng Chen had left the bookstore two months ago.

He said he was going to find some new materials to make a new batch of puppets. Lawyer An strongly agreed with this.

Geng Chen staying in the bookstore was a supplement to the bookstore's strength;

Geng Chen not being in the bookstore also made it more convenient to take the blame for the bookstore;

It was hard to say which was more beneficial, him being here or not.

The white fox silently climbed onto the bar at this time, its soft white fur covering the bar top. It lay down very gently, with its inherent elegance.

Lawyer An impolitely lowered his head and blew a breath at the bar.

Pointing at the white fur that he had blown away, he said:

"Either transform into human form, or be more well-behaved. The boss is awake now; the boss won't be happy with fur all over the place."

The white fox opened its mouth and spoke in human language:

"He never seemed unhappy before."

"Before was before, now is now."

"What, is your temper so big from being messed with by the demon core?"

"Tch, I feel like my physical fitness is great now. Why don't you transform into a human, and we can give it a try?"

Lawyer An reached out and pinched the white fox's paw.

The white fox retracted its paw

and instead said:

"I'm going out tomorrow."

"What for?"

"There's a demon passing through here; I'm going to see it off."

"Male or female?"

"Crude."

"Male or female?"

"Male."

"Old flame?"

"Not really."

"Just go if you want to go. No one here is restricting your freedom. Anyway, you've just been eating and not working for a year in the bookstore.

Wait,

male?"

Lawyer An suddenly thought of the wild boar spirit from the old forest in the Northeast a year ago.

The braised pork head the next morning

was the most delicious pork head Lawyer An had ever eaten in his life.

"Don't eat it all. Leave some good parts to bring back. A few ghost messengers from out of town will be back tomorrow; let's add a hard dish."

The white fox nodded.

Clearly,

Lawyer An guessed right.

"Is there anything else?"

Seeing the white fox still hanging around the bar, Lawyer An asked with some curiosity.

"A month ago, I contacted the foxes and cubs left behind in the old forest. They told me that in the past six months, the number of foxes that have gained sentience has doubled compared to previous years."

"That's because you've been teaching well, so the clan is going to prosper."

"You don't sound sincere at all."

You just said I do nothing but eat all year long.

"Is that so? Sorry, I'll try to sound more sincere next time."

"Actually, I also have a clear feeling, like, I don't seem to be so afraid of thunder after going out."

Lawyer An nodded upon hearing this.

The white fox's perception was actually a microcosm of the general trend.

Just like the task the boss gave him tonight, a new batch of land and river gods are slowly being incubated.

It seems that

it was indeed because of the great changes in the underworld a year ago,

and the fluctuations and chain reactions caused by it

are gradually showing their effects.

The demons and ghosts that were suppressed before seem to have gained more breathing space under the sky.

It was hard to judge whether this change was good or bad,

because in the bookstore, the only pure living person seemed to be the old Daoist, and this last sprout was also close to becoming a dead person.

The rest were either dead people, zombies, or demons.

All were beneficiaries of the general trend.

The long night, the little boy had not returned, sleeping was a luxury, smoking a cigarette, chatting with the white fox, and even touching each other a little, could be considered a unique mood.

In the past year,

life had been very peaceful,

but Lawyer An had a feeling

that with the boss's awakening,

this peaceful life

would also be gone forever.

No sadness, no disappointment,

even a little teary-eyed,

finally something to do!

Rubbing the white fox's soft belly a few times,

Lawyer An suddenly focused his gaze

and stood up.

The white fox slowly turned over, its gaze also looking towards the bookstore door.

"It's okay, I'll go take a look."

Lawyer An reassured the white fox, picked up his cigarette and lighter on the bar, and walked out of the bookstore door.

At this hour,

South Street had long been quiet.

Under the streetlight across the road,

stood a man.

The man's figure was a bit slender, and under the dim streetlight, a long shadow was cast.

When Lawyer An took the initiative to walk over,

the man also took the initiative to walk out.

"Whoa! So saucy!"

Lawyer An was stunned for a moment.

The man in front of him was wearing a cyan official uniform embroidered with a dragon, with official boots on his feet, and his hair was styled in a long updo. He looked very delicate, and in his delicacy, there was also a hint of yin energy erupting.

Yes,

yin energy!

Moreover,

the yellow belt tied around the man's waist was so dazzling!

The streetlight suddenly flickered and went out,

and the man's image changed,

becoming a tramp,

sitting directly on the curb.

Lawyer An sat down next to him and handed him a cigarette.

The two lit their cigarettes

and blew out smoke rings together.

Lawyer An joked with some envy:

"Not bad, straight to the yellow belt."

Feng Si smiled, touched his stubbly chin with his nicotine-stained fingers and said, “I benefited from my looks.”

"Pfft."

Lawyer An sighed and said:

"That's why I envy people like you who can live off their faces."

In any industry, in all walks of life, looking good won't let you get to the very top.

But looking good can definitely let you do better than others of the same level.

Feng Si continued to smoke, without speaking.

"The gate of Hell, is it open?"

Feng Si shook his head and said, "Not yet, but it's close. I came up first. This time, a total of thousands of judges will come up together, and the number of inspectors is countless."

This was a reminder.

Such a large-scale group of judges and inspectors returning to the yang world was definitely the underworld's plan to carry out a major cleanup and reorganization of the yang world's bailiff and ghost catcher system.

The era of the Ten Kings of Hell allowing the yang world's ghost catchers and bailiffs to roam free was coming to an end.

"Mm." Lawyer An nodded, then added: "I'll tell our boss later."

Some things

don't need to be said explicitly,

it's good if everyone understands.

Feng Si was indeed on good terms with him,

but this relationship

wasn't enough for him to run all the way here to report the news as soon as he returned to the yang world.

Lawyer An reached out and patted Feng Si's shoulder

and said:

"How does it feel to be a judge?"

"Not much."

It wasn't deliberately being modest, nor was he trying to show off.

Feng Si added:

"I could only get a red belt originally, but because I'm good-looking, I skipped two levels and became a yellow belt."

You are hardworking,

you are excellent,

but in the end,

your excellence and hard work are not as good as the benefits that your appearance brings you.

If those who are good-looking feel so bored, then those who are ugly must feel even more ashamed and indignant, right?

Lawyer An felt a little sad in his heart.

Actually, it was easy to understand.

If the Nine Attendants could do something like blocking yin and yang for a year,

purely judging people by their appearance and granting them high positions and generous salaries,

it seemed to fit the style of those eunuchs.

At this time,

Lawyer An saw Xu Qinglang appear at the bookstore door. It seemed that he had originally planned to close the door, but seeing Lawyer An still sitting outside, Xu Qinglang pointed his finger at the door lock, meaning that Lawyer An should lock the door himself later, and then turned around and went upstairs.

Lawyer An pointed to the place where Xu Qinglang had just stood

and asked Feng Si:

"Hey, what do you say, if he died now and went to hell, wouldn't he be able to rise to the top directly?"