Chapter 17

"Sweet potato pot-pot~"

Dou Dou rubbed her eyes and appeared before Shen Siyuan.

She spent most of her time sleeping inside the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, which was also a way to nourish the soul.

The strength of a soul is tied to one's life before death and does not change after death, but ghosts bound to the Ten Thousand Souls Banner break this rule—they can not only strengthen their souls, but with the right Cultivation Technique, even cultivate further.

The Nine Nether Demon Lord, the ancestor of spirit masters, naturally had no shortage of ghost cultivation techniques.

Unfortunately, Dou Dou was too young; teaching her cultivation was a hassle, so Shen Siyuan decided to put it off for now and see if a more suitable "person" appeared later.

After these two days of sleep, Dou Dou no longer looked like a blue elf glowing with blue light, but her hair still burned like flames.

"How do you feel?"

Shen Siyuan reached out and touched her hair, which blazed like blue flame.

Though Netherfire could burn souls, these Netherfires came from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner; as its master, he was naturally unharmed—though the Netherfire appeared as burning flame, it gave no heat, only a faint chill.

"So comfortable."

Dou Dou stretched, feeling more comfortable than she had since her death.

Like waking from a long, deep sleep, her spirit felt fully refreshed.

"Good. Wander nearby, but don't go far."

"Okay~"

Dou Dou replied and immediately rode a gust of yin wind out the window—she'd long wanted to fly in the air.

Shen Siyuan walked to the window and looked down, seeing Lu the Old Man still pacing below.

He'd ignored him for several days; it was time to make contact and test his suspicions.

So he stepped out and went downstairs.

He had just entered the elevator when Dou Dou appeared out of nowhere.

"Sweet potato pot-pot~, where are my dad and mom?"

She asked pitifully.

"They're naturally at home."

"Oh~"

Hearing this, Dou Dou grew disappointed.

He needed to find her a companion soon—otherwise, this little brat would keep thinking about her dad and mom.

But over these past few days, Jiang Wenxin and her husband had asked him about Dou Dou over a dozen times, especially Jiang Wenxin, who was unusually eager, bringing snacks and fruit.

This led several office colleagues to conclude he was dating a rich woman.

"Tomorrow, you'll see your mom," Shen Siyuan thought and comforted her.

"Okay, thank you, sweet potato pot-pot~"

The little girl instantly brightened, then dissolved into a gust of yin wind and vanished.

Shen Siyuan suspected that if she knew the way, she'd have already run home herself.

As soon as he stepped out of the building, Lu the Old Man nodded from afar but didn't approach—until he saw Shen Siyuan walking toward him, then he hurried forward, visibly excited.

"Mr. Shen…"

He knew these days of waiting hadn't been in vain—Mr. Shen had finally agreed to speak with him.

At that moment, a gust of yin wind swept through, and Dou Dou appeared out of thin air between them.

"Grandpa Lu."

Seeing a familiar face, Dou Dou excitedly waved her small hand.

But Lu the Old Man staggered backward several steps—he felt a terrifying chill, a sharp pain in his soul even before she drew near.

Seeing Grandpa Lu's reaction, Dou Dou was confused and a little sad.

"Enough, go play. I'll talk with your Grandpa Lu," Shen Siyuan patted her head.

"Oh~"

Dou Dou obediently turned into a gust of yin wind and shot upward, vanishing from sight.

Lu the Old Man looked up at the sky—he knew Dou Dou's transformation was tied to Shen Siyuan, and his awe deepened.

"Tell me your situation—what unfinished wish keeps you bound to the mortal world?"

"Yes, Mr. Shen."

Then Lu the Old Man began recounting his story.

His full name was Lu Guanchang, a native of Binhai; in his youth, he worked at the Binhai Hand-Tractor Factory, where the job was a guaranteed iron rice bowl, allowing him to marry a woman named Yang Lianxiang—a woman with little education but striking beauty.

That period was the happiest of Lu Guanchang's life, but good times didn't last—the tide of history rolled forward, and no iron rice bowl was eternal; the hand-tractor factory eventually collapsed, and workers were laid off, Lu Guanchang included.

Through a friend's introduction, he joined a shipping company as a sailor; as a port city, Binhai handled massive cargo volumes, with countless ships traveling worldwide.

As a sailor who traveled the globe, Lu Guanchang's horizons broadened, and with prolonged separation from his wife and exposure to many outside women, he grew increasingly disdainful of his homebound wife.

They soon divorced; at the time, they already had a daughter, but for Lu Guanchang, whose heart had already wandered, there was no hesitation—he simply handed her over to his wife.

Later, as he aged, he gradually settled down, stopped sailing, and remarried, fathering a son and living a peaceful life.

"So you feel guilty toward your ex-wife, which is why you linger in the mortal world?"

Hearing this, Lu Guanchang sighed deeply, then said something that left Shen Siyuan stunned.

"Only after death did I discover that the son I raised for so many years isn't my biological child—I've poured my heart out to him and his mother all these years…"

As he spoke of this, his anger grew, his facial muscles twitching grotesquely, making him look even more hideous.

"What happened?" Shen Siyuan asked curiously.

Inside, he secretly chuckled—perhaps this was karmic retribution.

"What else? My wife gave me a green hat—soon after I died, she brought back her damn cousin; the son I raised for so long didn't even say a word…"

Originally, Lu Guanchang's later wife had a cousin who got along well with their family and maintained constant contact; Lu Guanchang had assumed he was just an ordinary relative, never suspecting the man was actually her lover from her youth.

Since they were newcomers to Binhai and had no other relatives nearby, Lu Guanchang never doubted their relationship.

"Didn't you ever notice whether your son was really your own?"

"Ah~" Lu Guanchang sighed.

"A son looks like his uncle—it's perfectly normal, even if he's a cousin uncle."

Because of this connection, Lu Guanchang never suspected—yet his son was truly the product of that "uncle."

"My old cousin… my wife's lover—he was married young, then divorced claiming incompatibility. Now I know why they were incompatible: he had no children. As soon as I died, he moved into my house, took over my home, and his heart is so cruel…"

At this point, Lu Guanchang's rage became uncontrollable.

"I was such a fool—I spent all these years raising someone else's son, working myself to the bone, and all my earnings went to a stranger, while my real son suffered outside in hardship. How can I accept this?"

After hearing the full story, Shen Siyuan felt no sympathy—he even wanted to laugh. He got exactly what he deserved.

You sow what you reap.

Still, Shen Siyuan decided to help him—for the sake of the poor mother and daughter, and to verify his own suspicions.