Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 274 has a problem.
Catching ghosts was not as difficult as Zhu Ye and Shi Yizhi had imagined.

With the soul-guiding hook and soul-binding rope, each time you hook and bind them, these still clueless new ghosts will obediently follow you.

According to Li Si, this is because the souls that have just left the body have not completely dissipated, so they can still perceive the physical body while being pulled out and separated from it, resulting in a chaotic state where they have difficulty distinguishing reality, which is why they generally appear confused.

The first time, Li Si led the way, with the help of two others. They quickly caught two more ghosts, and then the three of them headed back to the Gate of Hell. After the two new ghosts were sent in, Zhu Ye followed Li Si, and Shi Yizhi followed Zhao San, splitting into two groups to go out and catch more ghosts.

Li Si was still very talkative, constantly nagging Zhu Ye: "There are rules to catching ghosts. According to regulations, at least two ghost messengers must go each time to catch one. This is to prevent accidents from happening and to ensure that someone can go back and report. In addition, the soul-guiding hook and soul-binding rope cannot be used by the same person, so it must be done by two people..."

"For some vengeful ghosts, you also need to add a ghost messenger, who carries a soul-fixing shackle."

"Without the Soul-Fixing Shackles, even if those fierce ghosts with heavy malevolent energy are subdued temporarily, they can easily escape, and the Soul-Binding Ropes cannot hold them back!"

Zhu Ye was quite accommodating, inquiring about the news while feigning curiosity and asking detailed questions about many things.

"Hmm? You're asking how many ghost messengers our Lord has under his command? There are tons! Black and White Impermanence, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and the Four Judges: Wang, Ma, Zhang, and Zhao..."

"However, there are fewer ghost officers responsible for capturing new ghosts. It's just me and Brother Zhao. That's why we're so busy! Three villages! Plus the occasional outsiders, there are at least thirty to fifty thousand people! Normally, it's manageable, only about ten people die a day, but every time outsiders come in, the number of deaths increases! Just tonight, we've already captured four! According to the Book of Life and Death, five more have come out now! I don't know if we can finish capturing them before dawn!"

Li Si complained, shaking the soul-binding rope in his hand, and continued, "It's fortunate that the souls of these outsiders aren't interrogated by the Lord of the Underworld, but are sent back to their original places from the gates of the Underworld, otherwise the four judges under the Lord of the Underworld wouldn't be enough!"

Zhu Ye then asked, "Then why doesn't the City God recruit more underworld officials to share some of the workload with you, Brother Li Si?"

Li Si glanced at Zhu Ye and said, "It's not that easy! You two will help out for a day, and you'll know when you get back in the daytime that you'll be exhausted all day! But don't worry too much, as long as you don't come every day, you'll fully recover after a year or two of rest!"

Zhu Ye was shocked to hear this: "It will take a year and a half to recover!?"

Li Si nodded: "I suppose so. As for physical strength, you can recover in a few days, but as for the ghostly energy that has seeped into your body, it will take at least a year and a half to dissipate. That's why ordinary people rarely want to 'walk the path of death.' Even for someone like you who only stays for a day or two, it takes a long time to recover. Those who travel back and forth between the Yin and Yang realms year after year will have their lifespans greatly affected!"

Zhu Ye continued, "Since it's hard to find living people, then are there no suitable ghosts? I've heard that ghosts can also cultivate immortality, right? Judging from Brother Li's appearance, he's probably a ghost cultivator from legend?"

"You're right! The difficulties of ghost cultivation are even greater than those of demon cultivation!"

Li Si sighed and said, "Besides being highly respected in one's local area during one's lifetime, one must also act with a clear conscience and pass through the pens of the Four Judges to be completely clean before one can walk the path of ghost cultivation with a pure heart... Even so, it also depends on talent. Those with poor aptitude cannot control their nature and will not be able to cultivate."

"To be honest, my Lord has been in charge of this place for over two thousand years, but if you count it all, the number of people who have actually embarked on the path of ghost cultivation and are still willing to work under my Lord is no more than a handful!"

Zhu Ye asked curiously, "So, Brother Li Si also started cultivating after Bao Chenghuang took office?"

"No, it's Brother Zhao who's the real one! I'm a three-thousand-year-old ghost!" Li Si said, winking and grinning, "Hehe, you'd better stay away from me, or my ghostly aura will be hard to dissipate!"

Zhu Ye and Li Si were having a lively time, chatting away, while Shi Yizhi and Zhao San were extremely quiet.

Zhao San walked silently ahead, while Shi Yizhi followed cautiously behind. The two of them, one in front and one behind, soon arrived at Xiaoyang Village.

The creature that Xiaoyang Village needed to have its soul retrieved was an ox. As Zhao San stretched out his iron hook and hooked it onto the old ox, a phantom shaped like an ox was pulled out, leaving Shi Yizhi dumbfounded.

"Cows, cows have souls too!?"

Zhao San did not answer Shi Yizhi's question, but instead glanced succinctly at the Soul-Binding Rope in Shi Yizhi's hand and said, "Lasso."

Shi Yizhi then seemed to wake up from a dream, and hurriedly put the soul-binding rope on the old yellow ox ghost that still seemed restless, and the old yellow ox was immediately unable to move.

Having harnessed the old yellow ox to the demon, Zhao San, holding the iron chain, said coldly, "What a pity. If it had another two years, this ox could have cultivated into a demon." His tone was very calm, and if it weren't for the faint hint of regret that could be heard in his voice, Shi Yizhi would have thought that this "Brother Zhao San" was mocking the old yellow ox!

Shi Yizhi sighed, "It's not easy for spirits to cultivate, why not give it another two years?"

Zhao San replied, "Its lifespan has come to an end."

Shi Yizhi didn't dare to ask any further questions. After a moment of silence, he said, "Brother Zhao, when you capture souls, do you only capture those souls whose lifespans have ended?"

"?"

Zhao San looked at Shi Yizhi with a puzzled expression, as if he were looking at a fool.

Seeing Zhao San's expression, Shi Yizhi immediately understood that the other party had misunderstood. He felt a sense of frustration, like swallowing a bitter pill, and then explained, "No, what I mean is, what should we do with those vengeful ghosts that linger in the mortal world?"

Zhao San then withdrew that extremely humiliating gaze and replied, "If I have some free time, I'll go and catch some too."

Shi Yizhi then asked, "When will you have some free time?"

Zhao San paused, holding the iron chain of the old yellow ox demon, and took several steps before answering, "I haven't had a moment's rest yet."

Shi Yizhi then realized and said, "No wonder there's a fierce ghost in red clothes in the river near Peach Blossom Village that no one has taken care of. It seems you've all been too busy!"

This time, Zhao San simply froze completely.

He looked up, then turned his head—

He literally turned his head, but his body didn't move an inch. His head turned half a circle, which looked quite frightening. If it weren't for the fact that he had experienced many extraordinary things that day, Shi Yizhi would probably have instinctively thrown a punch first!
Then, Zhao San's voice, even sharper than before, rang out: "What did you say?! There are evil spirits in Peach Blossom Village?!"

"Yes, I think so..."

Zhao San's questioning tone was so strong that it made Shi Yizhi somewhat unsure of himself. He thought carefully about the compass needle that had turned blood red at the time and said with certainty, "We borrowed the Yin-Yang Bagua compass from the temple keeper of the Peach Blossom Goddess Temple. When we passed by the river, we encountered a ghost in red clothes. The needle on that compass did indeed turn red. According to the temple keeper, that means it was a vengeful ghost... It must have been a vengeful ghost, right?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao San suddenly grabbed Shi Yizhi and flew up like the wind, saying as he flew, "Let's go back to the Gate of Hell first!"

Zhao San's reaction clearly showed that he considered the matter of "a vengeful ghost in Peach Blossom Village" to be of great importance, which caused Shi Yizhi, who had little concept of "vengeful ghosts," to panic as well.

“We made eye contact with it, but after we stepped back, it sank back into the river. There shouldn’t be any problem, right?”

Master Yi's Questions.

Unexpectedly, Zhao San said in a deep voice, "There's a problem."

Shi Yizhi felt his calves trembling slightly—it must have been influenced by that scoundrel Jiang Wanli just now!
He hurriedly asked, "W-what's the problem?"

Zhao San, never one to back down a ton of words, blurted out: "You're about to use the Soul-Binding Rope!"

"what!?"

(End of this chapter)