A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

Zhu Cheng had indeed clashed with Ji Zuodao, appearing on the road where Ji Zuodao would pick up Qi Qi every day without fail, rain or shine.

More punctual than clocking in for work.

Every morning, Ji Zuodao would take Qiqi to school. Less than a hundred meters away, he would always see Zhu Cheng standing under the old locust tree at the intersection, holding a little trinket in his hand, waiting with a smile.

In the afternoon, after picking up Qiqi from school, as soon as we left the medicinal cuisine restaurant, Zhu Cheng appeared on the other side of the street again, holding a new gadget, and was still waiting with a smile.

Qiqi has now developed a habit: the first thing she does after school every day is not to look for Ji Zuodao, but to glance across the street.

—Let's see what good things Zhu Cheng has brought today.

This made Ji Zuodao very unhappy.

What annoyed Ji Zuodao even more was that the thing that Zhu Cheng, that rich dog, brought was indeed interesting.

They weren't the kind of small toys you buy at roadside stalls, but rather some rare and unusual items.

According to Zhu Cheng, he commissioned the skilled craftsmen of the Ministry of Works to make them. The materials were exquisite, the workmanship was meticulous, and each piece exuded the air of "royal craftsmanship".

At first, Qi Qi tried to hide, shrinking behind Ji Zuodao and clinging to the hem of his trench coat.

But that bastard Zhu Cheng never gets close. He keeps a distance of three to five meters, squats down, puts the little thing on the ground, and then steps back a few paces, waiting for Qi Qi to come and get it herself.

He didn't urge her, he just squatted there, smiling as he looked at Qiqi, like a Maitreya Buddha.

For the first two days, Qiqi was able to resist looking at those trinkets.

On the third day, her gaze began to drift towards those little trinkets.

By the fifth day, she was already quite eager to try.

On the sixth day, Zhu Cheng brought a small bronze frog, about the size of a palm, gilded all over, with a jadeite the size of a mung bean embedded in its back.

With just a gentle press on the frog's back, it will croak and then spit out a tiny golden bead from its mouth.

The golden pearl falls to the ground and bounces back into its mouth, repeating the cycle endlessly.

Qiqi finally couldn't resist. She took her short legs, walked over, picked it up, looked at it over and over for a long time, then whispered "thank you" and quickly ran back behind Ji Zuodao.

On the seventh day, Zhu Cheng brought a dragonfly woven from bamboo strips, its wings as thin as cicada wings, painted with colorful glazes that shimmered in the sunlight.

A very fine thread runs along the dragonfly's tail. With a gentle pull, the dragonfly will flutter its wings and fly up, circling twice in the air before landing back in your palm.

Qiqi got her hands on it and chased the dragonfly around the yard for half an hour, laughing like a flower.

On the eighth day, Zhu Cheng brought a small wooden box. Opening the lid revealed a complete set of miniature playhouse furniture—

The tiny bowls and plates, no bigger than a thumb, the tiny spoons and chopsticks, no bigger than a sesame seed, and the small table and chair, no bigger than the palm of your hand, are all carved from rosewood. The workmanship is so exquisite that even the cloud patterns on the table legs are clearly visible.

Once Qiqi got her hands on them, she immediately pulled Zhao Lingling into the yard and set up a feast for her dolls.

Ji Zuodao stood aside, watching Qiqi having fun, feeling a mix of emotions.

He really wanted to throw all those little trinkets into the trash can.

But when he saw Qiqi's bright, sparkling eyes and the genuine smile on her face, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

He could only console himself: It's okay, just think of it as someone giving Qiqi a toy for free. Anyway, it's free, might as well take it.

But every time he received those little trinkets from Zhu Cheng, his face was sour.

The problem is that Zhu Cheng, that bastard, always hands over the things with a smile, and even adds insult to injury by saying, "As long as Qiqi is happy."

Ji Zuodao took the item expressionlessly, stuffed it into Qi Qi's arms, and then silently made a mental note of Zhu Cheng's actions.

He had already decided that after sending Qiqi home, he would go and get Zhu Chengzai.

The problem is, he can't kill it.

Every time he finished sending Qiqi off, he would follow the marks he left on Zhu Cheng and chase after him. But as soon as he got within a hundred meters of that guy, Zhu Cheng would vanish as if he had evaporated into thin air, leaving no trace.

Even more bizarrely, the marks he left on Zhu Cheng would be completely erased at the same time, as if they had never existed.

It's the same once, twice, three times, four times, five times, every single time.

Ji Zuodao refused to believe in this superstition.

He tried more than a dozen different notation methods—

I tried everything: spiritual imprints, scent markers, spiritual locks, and even physical tracking talismans.

Without exception, all his methods failed whenever he got within a hundred meters of Zhu Cheng.

Zhu Cheng was nowhere to be found.

Damn it, is this bastard a mudfish?

In the end, it was Dogman who cleared up his doubts.

That night, Ji Zuodao failed in his pursuit once again. He returned to the Demon Management Department dejectedly, plopped down in a chair, and looked as if he had swallowed a pound of flies.

Dog lay on the carpet at his feet, lazily flicking his tail: "Don't bother, you can't catch him."

Why?

"Dragon energy."

Ji Zuodao was taken aback: "Dragon energy?"

Dog rolled his eyes, giving him a "How can you be so stupid?" look:

"He is protected by dragon energy. Every time you approach him with malice, the dragon energy will automatically trigger a warning, causing him to avoid you in advance. The marks you leave on him will also be automatically erased by the dragon energy."

He paused, then added, "This thing is like the protagonist in a novel, blessed with good fortune. It always allows him to make the choices that are most beneficial to him and avoid situations that are harmful to him."

After listening, Ji Zuodao remained silent for a long while, then slammed his hand on the table: "This is fucking outrageous!"

Doggy glanced at him: "What do you think? Otherwise, why do you think Qiqi always gets all the multiple-choice and true/false questions right on tests? That girl's luck is ridiculously good. Do you really think it's because she studies hard?"

Ji Zuodao opened his mouth, then closed it again.

I remember once when Qiqi and Zhao Lingling were playing the claw machine, Zhao Lingling tried twenty times but didn't win a single one;

On her first try, Qiqi emptied the claw machine.

She couldn't hold it all, and in the end, the shop assistant helped her put it in a bag, which she then dragged home.

At the time, Ji Zuodao thought it was just a child's good luck and didn't take it seriously.

Looking back now, it wasn't just good luck; it was clearly the dragon's energy at work.

Damn, dragon energy is practically a cheat code.

Whenever Ji Zuodao was seething with anger and had nowhere to vent it, he would run to Zhu Cheng's antique shop in the middle of the night to buy things for free.

The antique shop will have new items available the next day after the night's looting, as if it's a provocation.

After more than ten times, Ji Zuodao had become quite adept at it.

Picking the lock, breaking in, ransacking, and leaving—the whole process takes no more than five minutes, faster than shopping at a supermarket.

On one occasion, he even found a note in the store that read: "Mr. Ji, if you like, you can just tell me next time. You don't have to pick the lock every time. The door isn't locked."

Ji Zuodao crumpled the paper into a ball, threw it on the ground, and then continued sweeping.

And so it went, back and forth, for almost a month.

The office of the Demon Management Department is now filled with antiques.

Everyone had one of these Ming Chenghua doucai grape-patterned cups; even the receptionist used a Yongle-era pressure cup to drink water.

Once, when Li Shuwen came to the Demon Management Department, he was stunned as soon as he entered the door.

He stood at the doorway, looking around at the blue and white porcelain vase on the table, the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, and the bronzeware piled in the corner, his eyes wide as copper bells.

He turned to look at Ji Zuodao, his voice trembling slightly: "You... robbed the Forbidden City?"

Ji Zuodao didn't even look up, continuing to process the documents in his hand: "No, it was borrowed from a sucker."

"Borrowed?"

"Yeah, he was happy to borrow it, and I found it easy to take it."

Li Shuwen opened his mouth, then closed it again, and silently turned and left the Demon Management Department.

He felt he might need some time to process what he had just seen.