This Damned Thirst for Survival

Chapter 184 - Qi Ye's self-esteem

Ge Wuchen once told Jiang Luo two ways to deal with the predestined man, either to stop his offerings or to take away his followers.

"It is like catching water, comparing the believer to a tap and the believer's offering to a stream of water," Ge Wuchen said, "Now it is a stream of water flowing in the direction of the predestined person, and to keep the predestined person from absorbing this water, one either has to divert the water in another direction or block the tap. "

To block the taps is to convert the followers of the predestined people to other beliefs or to kill the followers. There is nothing to be puzzled about; it is the former that Jiang Luo is curious about, "How then should the water be diverted in the other direction?"

Ge Wuchen smiles slightly and then speaks eloquently.

He blathered on for twenty minutes, going around in a big circle, just like a political lecture, making the originally simple words complicated. Jiang Luo listened with a headache for a while, but felt that something was wrong, so he raised his hand to stop him, "Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Ge Wuchen stops in time with the sound.

Jiang Luo pondered for a moment, "Why do I feel like you keep talking nonsense?"

Ge Wuchen was shocked and immediately argued with a "I'm not I'm not" look, "Master Jiang, how can you say that? I have told you everything I know, don't deny it."

Jiang Luo put the spoon in the lunchbox and smiled peevishly, " Ge Wuchen, you don't actually know how to direct the direction in which the offerings flow, do you?"

Ge Wuchen's mouth stopped and he smiled implicitly, "There is no need for Master Jiang to be so direct."

Jiang Luo sneered twice, "You turned out to be playing a trick on me."

Ge Wuchen shook his head disapprovingly, "There is not a single lie in what I have said, the Predestined are indeed false gods who eat the incense offered to them, and these two methods are indeed the most effective ways to deal with the Predestined after my research, how can they be a trick on you?"

Heh.

Jiang Luo was certain that Ge Wuchen had set him up once.

Ge Wuchen did know that the predestined had become a god because of the offerings, but he did not know how the predestined absorbed the offerings. The scriptures of the Tibetan Buddhist Temple do not say how to absorb the power of the offering, which is why the predestined man left White Heron Temple to find a way to absorb it alone. It was for this reason that Ge Wuchen was unable to become a false god himself.

When Ge Wuchen went to Jiang Luo, the first thing he said was "Master Jiang, please stay with my master".

After Jiang Luo disagrees with his request, Ge Wuchen cleverly introduces the subject to the secret of the predestined man, and in order to convince Jiang Luo, he gives him a plausible insight into his own past.

When Jiang Luo doubts his purpose, he turns it into a way for Jiang Luo to stop Chi You from destroying the occult world. In the end, he has the audacity to tell Jiang Luo all the secrets he knows about the Predestined Man, making Jiang Luo think that there is more he will tell him when the job is done.

Jiang Luo takes the bait and discusses his plans with gusto, making Chi You see his feelings for him and advancing his relationship with Chi You himself.

The relationship between them is now even more tangled and confusing. Just now they were even tearing each other apart in bed, Chi You. Now, he will never let Jiang Luo go again.

Wouldn't that have fulfilled Ge Wuchen's original purpose, to get him and Chi You together?

Jiang Luo's face changed from green to black. He laughed in an ominous manner, " Ge Zhu is right, Ge Wuchen, you are really good at deceiving people, I underestimated you before."

Ge Wuchen personally got up and made a cup of tea for Jiang Luo, offering it with both hands as a token of reparation, "Master Jiang is a wise man, so I don't need to say any more than necessary, but what I can say has indeed been said with all my knowledge. In these five years, I have researched a lot and also had my statue sculpted and incensed with the method of worshipping Buddha, trying to follow the old path of the predestined people. But unfortunately all the methods don't work, Master Jiang, I also want to change the water flow of the predestined man, but I can't even figure out why the water flows to him."

He sighed and sat down again, "It's the plugging of the taps thing, though, that we've been doing."

"Over the years, the Master's power has infiltrated every aspect of the world, whether it be the arcane world or among the common people, the Master's followers and puppets controlled by the Master have been innumerable. As long as the master wants to, he can cut off the source of most of the host's offerings in an instant, but this method will only be used until the final blow kills him."

Jiang Luo already didn't believe him and said suspiciously, "Why are you telling me this?"

Ge Wuchen picked up his cup of tea and smiled, "Now that things have come to this point, does Master Jiang still think he can get away from his master? Sooner or later, we are all in the same gang, so there is no need to beat around the bush."

Jiang Luo rolled his eyes, "I'm not in the same gang as you."

He got up to leave and after walking two parts suddenly turned back and said under the table, " Teng Bi, don't your legs go numb?"

Having said that, he walked away.

It took ten minutes before Teng Bi crawled out from under the table and said sullenly, "What does he mean?"

Ge Wuchen shrugs his shoulders.

When Jiang Luo returned to his room, the evil spirit was in the bathroom taking a shower. He sat on the bed staring at the bathroom door and soon the evil spirit came out of it wrapped in a bath towel.

Tightly muscled and smoothly defined, something to look at without exaggerating, the Evil Ghost's flesh was perfect. Jiang Luo whistled and watched the wicked ghost's hair dripping wetly down his back as he dryly unbuttoned his shirt and said with a smile, "Mr. Chi, would you like to do it again?"

......

The next morning, Chi You opened her eyes.

Jiang Luo is no longer in the bed, but there are two red banknotes and a card on the bedside table.

"I'll see you tomorrow night at nine, I'm sure you can find my place, and two hundred dollars is for your services last night."

"PS: Did you know that your handsome bald-headed monk subordinate once approached me privately for a date? He's much funnier to talk to than you are."

Chi You lingered a few seconds longer on the latter phrase, eyes narrowing dangerously, " Ge Wuchen ."

*

The investigation into the Qi and Chi families is in full swing and Qi Ye has been the first to be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Jiang Luo made an appointment with him to meet him. When he actually met Qi Ye, he was surprised by the state of Qi Ye.

Most of Qi Ye's family was taken in, but only the younger ones, who didn't know anything yet, were spared. After witnessing the imprisonment of his relatives and the death of his father in front of his eyes, Qi Ye's mental state was so devastated that he was a different person from before.

Jiang Luo's appointment with Qi Ye was in the park.

Qi Ye sits in silence on a lounge chair, his face white with cold, dishevelled and bearded, just a little better than the homeless man on the street.

He stared down in disbelief and didn't realise Jiang Luo was here until he walked up to him. He looked up and forced a smile, "You're here."

Jiang Luo sat down beside Qi Ye, "Are you cold?"

"It's okay," Qi Ye replied honestly, "the coldest part is over and it's starting to warm up now."

"No wonder we don't see snow anymore," Jiang Luo asked, "How is your family?"

Qi Ye looked gloomy, "That's it, there's nothing more to say. I made the decision to sell all the things in the house that I could. I paid back the money where it was due, and took the rest to give to those who had been harmed by ...... them, but it still wasn't enough."

Jiang Luo didn't know what to say and quietly acted as a bin for him.

But Qi Ye didn't say anything for a long time, he tucked his face into the collar of his shirt and looked at the bricks on the ground, "That's not the hardest thing for me. When I got out I went to find the people my dad had harmed, I wanted to make amends with them, but Jiang Luo, you don't know what kind of life they lead ......"

He whispered, "They live too hard."

He, the beneficiary, is carefree as a rich young man, while those hurt by his family suffer. Qi Ye's soul is tormented by justice and morality as if he were cooking on fire, his mouth and nose drowning, and he himself wonders to himself: are you really innocent?

Qi Ye had been on the run for the past few days, trying to act on the guilt that weighed so heavily on his mind that he couldn't breathe. In the dead of night, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep, his mind constantly recalling the past and the images of his father's death, ending with the eyes of others who hated him.

He breathed heavily and his eyes were silent with tears.

He recognises it with unmistakable clarity.

I am guilty.

I'm a little badass protected by the big badass.

Jiang Luo handed Qi Ye a tissue as he was having an emotional breakdown. Qi Ye took it and wiped his face, calmed down and said sullenly, "Sorry."

Jiang Luo patted him on the shoulder, "What are you going to do after that?"

"Pull the rest of the Qi family together to pay off the debt," Qi Ye shrugged, feigning relief, "I've long since come of age and am a man, it's time to take some responsibility."

The two men chatted idly as the leaves swirled and the lights came on.

At the head of the road, the sound of footsteps approaches.

Jiang Luo and Qi Ye look over and see a smiling Chi You approaching.

The moonlight is shrouded in gloomy clouds, as if they all fear to strike the light on the evil spirit's body.

Qi Ye's body instantly tensed up.

Footsteps stop in front of the seat.

The evil spirit was slender in stature, he looked down at Jiang Luo, then at Qi Ye, "A date for three?"

"It's actually two people," Jiang Luo corrected, "and a ghost."

Chi You smirks, his eyes sweeping viscously over Jiang Luo's body.

The evil spirit's desire for Jiang Luo has intensified, despite the fact that he was intimate just last night. After just one day without seeing him, it had even reached the point where the mere sight of him aroused him. The eyes were uncontrollable, dark and dark with fire.

The more he possesses, the more he feels that it is not enough. The waters of Chi You are already tumbling and swirling beneath the sea for Jiang Luo.

"You came on a date with me just to bring an extra person?" Chi You .

He completely ignored Qi Ye.

Qi Ye, however, could not ignore him as he looked at the man who had killed his father, his eyes in a trance.

" Jiang Luo ," he curled his fingers in his lap, "I'd like to speak to Mr Chi You alone, is that all right?"

Jiang Luo thoughtfully stood up and gave Chi You a look that told him not to do anything wrong before he left.

Chi You did not withdraw his eyes until Jiang Luo's back was out of sight. He walked slowly to the chair and sat down, leaning comfortably on the back, his face light, lazy and indifferent, "What do you want to say."

Qi Ye suddenly threw himself on his knees in front of Chi You.

He bowed his head, "The spirit body in me is your father's."

Chi You looked at him with a blank expression.

Qi Ye took a deep breath, "I want you to pluck out my spirit body."

The process of removing the spirit body can be very painful, even to the point of death if one is not careful. After the spirit body has been removed, Qi Ye will not be able to see the ghosts and yin, will not be able to see yin and yang, will lose all sense of ghosts and yin and will not be able to use the formation Fu Lu.

He will just become a normal person.

"I want to return the spirit body to you," Qi Ye wanted to pay the debt for his elders, "and in turn say ...... sorry to you, your father and your grandfather in our family's place."

*

It was two hours before Jiang Luo saw Qi Ye, who was pale and wobbly on his feet.

Jiang Luo glanced behind him, "Where is he."

"He's gone," Qi Ye's voice was low, he was covered in cold sweat and struggling to speak, " Jiang Luo, I ......"

Before the words were out of his mouth, he passed out.

Jiang Luo was shocked and took him home in a hurry.

Qi Ye was in a coma for a whole day and did not wake up. Jiang Luo and his men took him to the hospital again, where he was in a coma with a high fever and at one point his vitality was close to nothing. The hospital couldn't find anything, but it didn't look like he was possessed. Jiang Luo fed him two drops of tears of ginseng essence, not daring to tonic him too much for fear that Qi Ye's body would be too weak to take the tonic.

Two days later, Qi Ye finally opened his eyes. After opening his eyes, he froze for a long time before slowly sitting up.

His classmates are chatting in low voices by his bedside. He sees Jiang Luo and Lu Youyi talking and laughing in one corner.

Qi Ye wondered, "What are you doing?"

Having not spoken for two days, his voice was hoarse.

Lu Youyi pointed to the corner in amazement, "A little girl who died early, don't you see?"

Qi Ye froze and looked in silence towards the corner where they were looking. But to his eyes, there was nothing there, not even the dusty rubbish that had accumulated.

Lu Youyi smiled, "What a cute little girl, she said she had been here for a year and wanted to see her mother one last time. But her mother is too upset about her death and won't step foot in this hospital again, we are trying to contact her mother in the next two days."

"Is that so ......" Qi Ye wrapped herself up in the covers, "That's nice. I'm a bit sleepy, I'll take a nap first."

In the days that followed, Jiang Luo did not see anything wrong with Qi Ye at all. It was only when he got up one night in the middle of the night and saw Qi Ye standing silently at his desk writing out a useless Fu Lu without air that he realised what was going on.

Jiang Luo contacted Dean Xu who, after examining Qi Ye once more, said sadly, "His spirit body is gone, so he will have to be an ordinary person from now on."

Even though Jiang Luo had already guessed this outcome, his heart still sank.

Dean Xu sighed, "The spiritual body is what we often call talent, and talent is the cornerstone of learning our profession. If the foundation stone is gone, even the best house will collapse. It's a pity that all the things this child has learned over the years can't be used."

Lu Youyi said in a panic: "I even asked him to look at the little girl in the hospital before ...... I don't know, Qi Ye how suddenly there is no spirit body ......"

The bathroom door opened and Qi Ye, who had changed, emerged from it.

He heard them and said with an indifferent look, "I'm fine the way I am, it's easy, I can sleep soundly and I don't have to be woken up in the middle of the night shouting a crap."

The others laughed twice in tandem, just a little stiff between their smiles, mixed with bemusement and sympathy.

Qi Ye was silent for a few seconds and smiled, "You don't have to worry, I'm doing fine now. It's just that I won't be fit to study with you guys anymore, I'll change schools."

Dean Xu's brow furrowed and his heart softened, "There's no need to transfer, you really aren't fit to stay in the natural science major anymore. But Bai Hua University is not the only major, transferring to another major is fine."

Qi Ye, "Good, thanks a lot Dean Xu."

With those words, the atmosphere fell silent again. Qi Ye rubbed her fingers together and picked up her bag, which she had packed yesterday, "I should go home, bye."

Lu Youyi They wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say. Several people pushed Jiang Luo around.

Zhuo Zhongqiu whispered, "Jiang Luo, they are in need of comfort right now. The seven of us together are not as effective as your words, so say something."

Jiang Luo didn't know what she meant by that, but coughed his throat anyway, " Qi Ye ."

Qi Ye, who had reached the door, stopped in his tracks.

Jiang Luo said, "Do you really want to leave the metaphysical world?"

Qi Ye said in a pretentious manner, "What else? Jiang Luo, you don't have to persuade me, I've already made up my mind. I'm so smart, what can I not do in the future?"

Jiang Luo nodded, "Yes, you are very clever. Qi Ye, you're a genius."

"I'm not," Qi Ye denied in a quick voice, "I'm not a genius." I'm just a thief.

Jiang Luo looked at Qi Ye's grey back and frowned, his voice aggravated, " Qi Ye, answer me. Are you really willing to never touch the metaphysical world again from now on? Are you sure you want to leave after seeing how wonderful and colourful this world is?"

Qi Ye is silent.

After a long time, he whispered, "I have no reason to stay here, Jiang Luo ."

"I'm not like you," Qi Ye's voice was as low as an air tone, "I seem to be a bereaved dog now. I've lost my parents and family, my home and money, and what I thought would be my own from birth to old age. I'm only twenty-one years old and the last twenty-one years have been as false as stepping on shit. All I have left now is a little self-respect, and I want to leave like a man with a backbone in front of you. So I beg you, Jiang Luo, leave me a little, a little last thing."

Jiang Luo's lips pursed.

Qi Ye pushes the door open and walks away.

Jiang Luo stands still for a few seconds as the others watch his expression carefully. Jiang Luo pulls his lips up and suddenly heads downstairs in pursuit.

Qi Ye was surprisingly fast and was already out of the flat by the time Jiang Luo caught up with him.

Jiang Luo is not a kind-hearted man, but he remembers that he stole Yuan Tianzhu under the cover of Qi Ye. He has no sympathy for anyone in the Qi family, but Qi Ye is indeed an innocent man.

He considers Jiang Luo a friend, and Jiang Luo doesn't want him to regret it later.

Does Qi Ye really want to leave the metaphysical world?

Judging by the look in his eyes and his act of writing charms in the middle of the night, he certainly didn't want to.

Jiang Luo took three or two steps to catch up with him, "Hey, Qi Ye."

Qi Ye's feet beaten and instead he quickened his pace.

"Do you know about the new department of metaphysics set up by the state?" Without waiting for Qi Ye to answer, Jiang Luo continued, "That department is now called the Bureau of Scientific Research, and at the moment there is only one group of team members, and I have been appointed as the head of the group, a small head of sorts. There is a shortage of people in the bureau, and anyone who can be of help to the scientific research bureau is welcome."

He laughed a little, "Don't be in a hurry to reject it yet, just hear me out. You may have lost your spiritual body, but don't be so demoralised. What about your physical skills? It's something that you've practiced over and over again since you were a child, do you not know this stuff anymore either?"

Qi Ye was stunned.

Jiang Luo knew he was listening and his tone became more relaxed, "Seriously, even if you lose some of your talent, it doesn't take away from the fact that you're very good. Your spiritual body is not yours, but your memory and understanding will always be yours, right? You can integrate various formations and spells and use them after learning them a few times, that's your ability. The Qi family's position among the Six Families relies on the fact that they have learned a wide range of things, you have to learn some of everything, even the long lost Qi Men Dun Jia. Have you already learnt these things?"

Qi Ye couldn't help but nod.

"That's what you're capable of," Jiang Luo said, "excellent physical skills and extensive theoretical knowledge. Compared to the Qi family, none of the eight of us have learned anything that compares to you, is the spirit body gone and so much of the theoretical knowledge you've learned thrown to the dogs?"

Qi Ye slowly clenched his fist, "They're all still there."

"That's it."

Jiang Luo took a business card out of his pocket and handed it to Qi Ye, "Logistical, theoretical, mentoring, whatever it is, you're a good fit to join us. If you've given it some thought you can contact this man and he'll come and meet you. Oh yes, apart from me, Lu Youyi and the others have also joined the Research Bureau."

Qi Ye stared intently at the business card in his hand for a long time before he reached out to take it, and he bowed his head and whispered, "Thank you."

It is certainly a pleasure to have a place in the industry where one's abilities can be used.

But Qi Ye felt a lingering sadness in addition to the happiness.

Perhaps it was because he knew that the distance between him and Jiang Luo was growing.

From the moment he took the card, he acknowledged the gap between them with his own hands, and his ridiculously self-imposed self-respect would obviously not be half as useful in the midst of that gap.

He was even a little glad that Jiang Luo had caught up with him.