Obsession

Zhao Fengnian pushed open the door and walked in.

Today he specially changed into that new cotton Taoist robe, with a dark green silk sash tied around his waist, and looked much more energetic than a few days ago.

However, when he entered, a smile that he couldn't stop was still on his lips, ruining the otherworldly and dignified air created by the Taoist robe.

Liu Jin followed behind him. The silver light of the Taiyin gauze robe rose slightly the moment they entered the study. The candlelight in the room was suppressed by the cool breeze, causing Qiu Rong and Xiao Xie to float back three feet at the same time, their eyes wide open.

Tao Wangsan's reaction was completely different from that of the two ghosts.

He stepped forward and stood in front of Qiu Rong and Xiao Xie, spreading his arms like a mother hen protecting her chicks, and said to Zhao Fengnian and Liu Jin.

"Esteemed Taoist priests, although these two young ladies are ghosts, they have never intended to harm anyone! They were merely playful and teased me, but they never harmed a single hair on my head. Please, Taoist priests, understand the situation and do not make things difficult for them."

Zhao Fengnian looked him up and down. This scholar had just been tormented by the two ghosts and fallen flat on his face, but now he was pleading for them.

He found it both funny and admiring, so he deliberately put on a stern face to tease him: "Young Master Tao, you've either been so foolish from reading the classics that ghosts are ghosts, and humans and ghosts are different, and speaking up for them won't do you any good; or you haven't really learned from the classics. Confucius said to respect ghosts and gods but keep them at a distance, but you're doing the opposite, living under the same roof as ghosts and gods and speaking up for them."

Tao Wangsan was momentarily stunned by his logic of "both being dumbfounded by reading and not understanding the material," but he never lowered his outstretched arms.

Qiu Rong floated out from behind Tao Wangsan, blocking his way. Her eyebrows furrowed: "You unreasonable little Taoist! My sister and I were just having fun with you, joking around with Young Master Tao. We've never harmed a single person! You come up here claiming that humans and ghosts are different and that you want to stand up for us. What gives you the right?"

Xiao Xie floated out from the other side of Tao Wangsan, grabbed Qiu Rong's sleeve, and stuck her tongue out at Zhao Fengnian: "That's right! How many years have you been cultivating? You keep spouting grand theories, you might as well go back and cultivate for a few more years before you start talking!"

......

"You two silly little devils, why aren't you seizing the opportunity when there's a real person right in front of you?"

"Haha, he was never short of opportunities, and in the end, he was even reborn."

"Zhao Fengnian is shameless all the time. Are all fat people clowns? This is the beginning of a problem for fat people!! I strongly protest!"

"The clown upstairs, Zhao Fengnian isn't fat anymore."

"Haha, someone has revealed their weight."

"Damn it, I was just standing up for my friend!"

......

Zhao Fengnian was relentlessly teased by the two ghosts, but he wasn't angry. Instead, he turned and smiled at Liu Jin.

His grinning face stunned Qiu Rong and Xiao Xie at the same time. Why was this person still smiling after being scolded?

Liu Jin glanced at Zhao Fengnian, knowing that he was deliberately playing the good cop, making the atmosphere serious so that he could clean up the mess. He sighed softly.

As she sighed, a few silvery-white sparks gently fell from the gauze robe, like dandelions scattered by the evening breeze, slowly drifting towards the four corners of the study.

That was the moonlight refined by the fire of Yin; it was neither fire nor light, but the essence condensed after the moonlight had been refined to its extreme.

A spark landed on Qiu Rong's shoulder, and her entire soul trembled slightly. Her previously erratic outline became clearer in that instant, and the fine stitches on her skirt could be faintly seen.

Xiao Xie's case was even more obvious. Her soul, which was originally slightly transparent, was stimulated by that spark and cast a very faint shadow in the moonlight.

Liu Jin hadn't expected such a small amount to have such a big effect. The ghostly energy on the two ghosts had clearly increased after absorbing the moonlight, giving them at least a few more years of cultivation out of thin air.

Qiu Rong looked down at her hands, which had become much firmer, then looked up at Liu Jin's silver-white gauze robe. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but found that even her voice was three times stronger than before.

Xiao Xie tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "Sister, that's real cultivation." His tone was no longer arrogant; instead, it was filled with heartfelt reverence.

Qiu Rong and Xiao Xie exchanged a glance, simultaneously suppressing their ghostly aura and standing properly in front of Liu Jin, no longer displaying their playful demeanor of putting their hands on their hips and sticking out their tongues.

They're not stupid. Someone who can casually unleash this level of moonlight could probably crush them as easily as crushing two ants.

Qiu Rong spoke first, her tone respectful but still tinged with resentment: "Since the Immortal has inquired, we dare not conceal anything. It is just that my sister and I do have our own obsessions, and we did not intend to linger in the mortal realm to cause trouble."

"What obsession?"

Xiao Xie lowered her head, twisting her sash with her fingers, her voice much softer than before: "We are the people who died unjustly in this house. After our deaths, no one collected our bodies, no one offered sacrifices, and we don't even have a grave. We want justice."

When Qiu Rong replied, her tone was much calmer, but beneath that calm lay a burning fire.

"The person who harmed us is dead. We've avenged ourselves, but we haven't gotten justice. My sister and I have been wandering in the mortal world for years, and we've slowly come to terms with it. Justice isn't something we ask the living for anyway. We just don't want to go through the hell realms. Reincarnation means forgetting everything from the past. The things we remember and the people we know in this life will be gone in the next."

She glanced at Tao Wangsan as she spoke, then quickly looked away.

Xiao Xie added softly from the side, "So we just want to live quietly in the Jiang residence. If someone moves in, we'll play with them if we like them; if we don't, we'll tease them a few times, and they'll move out on their own. We never want to harm anyone, we just don't want to leave, and we don't want to go to the underworld."

Liu Jin did not respond immediately.

He looked at the two ghosts. Their souls, illuminated by the Yin Fire, had a translucent quality and clear outlines, lacking the gloomy and dark aura of ordinary ghosts.

Their will-o'-the-wisps flickered gently between their brows. They were not the destructive fire of Samadhi True Fire that incinerated all things, nor the yin fire that was as clear and gentle as frost. Instead, they were a very weak fire that burned with extraordinary tenacity.

That was the fire of obsession, not a technique or supernatural power, but the faint light produced by the continuous burning of the three words "unwillingness" deep in the soul.

Liu Jin had cultivated the Reverse Life Triple Stage for several years at the Sanyi Sect, ignited the Samadhi True Fire at the Zhuge Family, and condensed the Taiyin Fire in this world. He had seen quite a few types of flames. But the Fire of Obsession was the most special of all flames; it was not cultivated, but lived out.

Each person's burning obsession is unique because each person's unwillingness to accept defeat is different.

"Can you spare even a wisp of your obsession for me?"