Chapter 111: 111 Tied for First

Tushan Jiu had been busy for a whole week, almost every day going out after dinner and coming back before breakfast.

Although it was a bit hard work, the performance in her hand grew visibly.

So far, ten ghosts have been marked by her and sent to the Netherworld.

As the saying goes, having connections in the yamen makes things easy; she specially lit incense to summon her second great-uncle and asked about the current rankings.

Her second great-uncle told her that she and Xiang Yichu are currently tied for first.

In second place is a female disciple from the Maoshan Sect named Maomao.

The third place, known to Tushan Jiu, is the takeout boy from the Zhengyi Sect, Wang Dongqing.

Altogether, forty-nine ghosts had appeared, and in just a little over a week, thirty-nine of them had been sent back.

Her second great-uncle also gave his evaluation.

He said these kids look unreliable, but they are actually the most reliable batch.

He also earnestly told Tushan Jiu that they would all be her colleagues in the future, so she should get along well with them, making future work run smoothly.

Tushan Jiu neither agreed nor disagreed.

Ten ghosts remained, and Tushan Jiu prepared to finish them in one go.

As long as she successfully catches six more, she will surely win this round.

Just six—she doesn't want to catch even one more!

Little did she know, Xiang Yichu, who is tied with her for first, thinks the same way.

As for the others, they have basically already given up.

Wang Dongqing even took the lead in starting a 'gamble' over a cup of milk tea.

The bet was on whether Tushan Jiu or Xiang Yichu would win.

At first, those who didn't favor the knife-wielding crowd have recently become crazy infatuated with Tushan Jiu.

No one expected that the 'assistants' of the metaphysical world would actually rush forward with knives, striking the opponent's 'crystal', killing ghosts on encounter, slaying demons on encounter, and being both beautiful and handsome.

Most importantly, their main profession is divination.

No matter where those ghosts flee, she can precisely lock onto their positions.

After observing for over a week, they too are utterly impressed.

At the same time, that 'great mountain' in their hearts gradually crumbles and disappears.

After a few more days, just before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Tushan Jiu successfully harvested five ghosts.

On Xiang Yichu's side, he also caught five.

But unlike Tushan Jiu, he suffered a severe backlash.

The reason still has to start from that last ghost.

That was a malevolent ghost.

In life he was a perverted killer; after death he became a malevolent ghost for several decades, and he even cultivated using the blood-killing aura from those he killed.

Since he arrived, he knew the office would take action, so when he lacked ghost power he dared not kill people, instead targeting—livestock farms.

He slaughtered all the livestock farms in the suburbs clean, using the animals' souls to cultivate the blood-killing aura.

Although consuming animal souls is not as fast as refining human souls, the sheer numbers make up for it—hundreds of thousands of chickens, hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep, and pigs.

He overdid it, and in one gulp he actually became a big fat guy.

By taking another path he also achieved his goal—his ghost power multiplied by several tens of times, and his cultivation approached that of a century-old malevolent ghost.

At that time, Xiang Yichu arrived a step ahead of Tushan Jiu, so he immediately went into battle with that malevolent ghost.

Soon after, Tushan Jiu also arrived.

However, under the jianghu rule of first come, first served—unless Xiang Yichu admits he can't continue or voluntarily lets the other help—no one may steal the other's 'prey'.

Thus, not wanting to lose face before Tushan Jiu, Xiang Yichu forcibly raised his cultivation, only to suffer a backlash from the Heavenly Dao.

But his ability is indeed there; otherwise he couldn't be called the talented young sect leader of the corpse-chasers.

In the end, he successfully captured that malevolent ghost.

Then, leaving Tushan Jiu speechless, after Xiang Yichu spat a big mouthful of blood and before passing out, he still gave her a slight raise of the eyebrow.

That gesture seemed to say, "Look, I'm not that much weaker than you!"

At that moment Tushan Jiu thought, at least she has never vomited blood from catching ghosts since childhood.

However, that ghost was caught, and their scores remain tied for first.

Tushan Jiu went to the Nan Cheng Office to return her law enforcement certificate.

After her efforts, the remaining results were left for the Netherworld to judge.

After returning the certificate, Tushan Jiu's work could be considered concluded.

The first thing upon returning to the old residence was to harshly shake off the jet lag, sleeping a full day and night.

Fortunately, before sleeping, fearing that Xie Shiyu and the others would worry, she gave them a heads-up in advance.

On the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Tushan Jiu finished washing up in the morning and rushed next door.

Seeing her outside the door, Xie Shiyu didn't wait for Tushan Jiu to speak and pulled her straight into his house.

He discovered that he has self-control, but it depends on who he's facing.

In front of Tushan Jiu, he has none at all.

For over ten days they hadn't properly spoken, and even the time they spent together could be counted on one hand.

During the day he dared not disturb her, fearing to affect her rest, and at night he couldn't see her.

He thought, that's her career; he couldn't selfishly take her time, and when she's free they have plenty of time to make up for it.

But during those days he couldn't see her, the idea of accompanying her to work kept popping up in his mind repeatedly.

Especially each time he saw her off at night, he always wanted to keep her a little longer.

Actually, he never imagined that liking someone would be like this.

He seemed to have completely lost control.

He couldn't wait to bring her inside, instead pressing her against the door and kissing her lips.

He pried open her lips and teeth, delving deeper bit by bit.

Unlike his usual kisses, Tushan Jiu could feel Xie Shiyu's urgency and impatience, tinged with a slight overbearing entanglement.

Tushan Jiu responded as best she could.

To be honest, she's also been missing Xie Shiyu these past few days.

The saying "Love arises unknown, yet deepens" suits her quite well.

She thought, maybe this is meeting the right person.

Otherwise, not to mention feelings, just getting used to each other would take who knows how long.

But...

Xie Shiyu, just how much longer is he going to keep kissing her!

She really can't catch her breath!

She didn't confirm this answer until her body went soft.

Seeing her so weak, Xie Shiyu let out a low chuckle, then scooped her up upright and walked toward the sofa inside.

"At the Xiao family's banquet this noon, someone will bring the new dresses later; pick whichever you like and wear it."

Tushan Jiu then realized that today is the recognition banquet for Xiao Yingwei's second aunt and Zhuo Sui.

She was afraid she'd forget, so she had Xie Shiyu remind her.

Thinking that today also counts as her first time attending Xie Shiyu's circle's banquet, which is completely different from the occasion with Xie Jingting and Chen You nan, she suddenly felt a sense of urgency.

This urgency isn't nervousness; she isn't nervous, she just doesn't know what one does at such a banquet.