Chapter 2698: The Psycho City Lord's Love‑Hate Rule 21

Noon.

The side hall of the City Lord's Manor.

Although they were feasting together, the hall's atmosphere was so oppressive it felt suffocating.

The long table was laden with all kinds of delicacies, yet each exuded a chilling aura that killed any appetite.

Yin Chaosheng lounged lazily in the chief seat, his fingertips playing with a white jade wine cup, his gaze vacant, indifferent to everything in the hall.

He didn't even glance at Fu Lingjing, seated below, who was trying to catch his attention.

Fu Lingjing felt a sense of satisfaction, thinking this move was correct; indeed, he had smoothly approached the City Lord.

But he looked around and saw Chu Jiu Shan, Liu Shuoyue, Zanghuai An, even Zhao Tian Zhao Di and Heiyi present—only Jin Chen, the one he feared most, was missing.

The six entered the hall one after another, and Yin Chaosheng quickly glanced over their faces.

None.

Not the ordinary face after his disguise, nor the face he wanted to see.

Jin Chen did not come.

The nonchalance on Yin Chaosheng's face vanished completely, replaced by a terrifying gloom.

He smashed the white jade wine cup in his hand hard onto the floor, emitting a piercing crack, as terrifying ghostly qi crashed down.

Everyone in the hall except Yin Chaosheng—both humans and ghosts—let out a muffled groan, their blood surging as they collapsed to their knees.

"Where is Jin Chen?" Yin Chaosheng's apparition flickered like a ghost, instantly appearing before Chu Jiu Shan, his icy hand closing around the latter's throat and lifting him off the ground.

His scarlet pupils locked onto him, brimming with near‑overflowing fury and near‑mad urgency: "Why didn't he come?! Speak!"

Chu Jiu Shan kicked his legs wildly as he was choked, barely squeezing out a voice: "I don't know, Master…… he, he left early this morning, didn't say where……"

Yin Chaosheng's eyes flickered, that person……

Jin Chen went to save someone.

He flung Chu Jiu Shan aside violently, turning into a red shadow that vanished into the main hall, leaving everyone inside shaken by the pressure, staggering and still reeling.

Fu Lingjing struggled to his feet, gazing at the empty chief seat and the wide‑open main gate, and shouted unwillingly, "City Lord!"

Yet there was no trace of Yin Chaosheng.

The Left Protector stood dazed to one side, his face filled with incredulous fear.

He muttered tremulously, "……Who?"

"Who is the City Lord looking for?! …That killing god……has he returned again?!"

——

Ghost City, deep in the dungeon.

Damp stone walls seeped beads of water; the heavy black‑iron door slid open silently, and a trailing crimson figure stepped slowly inside.

Gu Bai Bai crouched in a corridor corner, pouring pearl powder from a tiny porcelain bottle, applying it bit by bit to his ribs with his stark white finger bones.

Hearing the door open, it shuddered, its hand shaking and scattering the pearl powder all over the floor.

It hastily lifted its head, seeing the arriver; the ghostly light in its eye sockets flickered wildly, "……City Lord!"

Yin Chaosheng: "He really is here."

Gu Bai Bai opened his mouth, not yet having thought of a reply, when Yin Chaosheng's figure was already standing outside the cell holding Liu Zhou, and he stepped through.

Inside the cell, Liu Zhou curled in the cold corner; his soul, weakened by long imprisonment and yin‑qi erosion, grew more translucent and frail. Seeing Yin Chaosheng appear, his soul trembled violently like a candle in the wind, burying his head deep in his knees, not daring to breathe.

"Where is he?" Yin Chaosheng asked.

Liu Zhou lifted his head blankly; detained too long, his thoughts were sluggish, his words slow: "……Who? City Lord……are you asking about whom?"

Gu Bai Bai mustered courage, poking his bald head through the door crack: "City Lord, Lord Jin Chen……he's waiting for you in the neighboring cell!"

Upon hearing this, the suppressed ferocity in Yin Chaosheng's aura stalled slightly, then he rushed straight to the adjacent cell.

As soon as he left, the pressure in the cell vanished at once; Liu Zhou exclaimed excitedly, "Lord Jin Chen! It's Lord Jin Chen who's come! Wonderful…… I…… I can go home! I can go home!"

Seeing this, Gu Bai Bai hurriedly slipped in, "Shh! Keep it down! Quickly eat this!"

It spread its palm bones, upon which lay a pill exuding a faint fresh fragrance—the very pill Jin Chen had previously given it.

"Lord Jin Chen ordered that you take this pill before midnight tonight, and your soul will return to its place, back to the world of the living!"

"He also said your mortal body is lodged in a residence outside the capital, with travel funds prepared beside it; grab the silver and hurry home—your mother still waits for you there."

Liu Zhou, as if having walked too long in darkness suddenly saw dawn, was dazed; after a while he tremblingly reached out and took the pill.

Gu Bai Bai sheepishly scratched his smooth skull with a finger bone, "Brother Liu Zhou, when you return to the living world, could you burn some pearl powder for me? …Or rouge and powder will do! I've been dead too long; no one at home remembers me, no one offers me anything."

Liu Zhou quickly nodded, earnestly memorizing the birth‑date Gu Bai Bai gave him, and said solemnly, "Rest easy, Brother Gu! I'll definitely remember! On the first and fifteenth of each month I'll burn the finest rouge and pearl powder for you!" Having said that, he hesitated no longer and swallowed the vitality‑filled pill.

The neighboring cell was even more gloomy; in its center stood a stone platform raised above the ground, behind which a soul‑binding pillar rose.

At this moment, Jin Chen stood upon the stone platform.

Jin Chen smiled at Yin Chaosheng, wearing a long, warm, and noble azure robe, his left hand wrapped with a red sash whose end hung at his waist; still the most ordinary disguise, yet eye‑catching, he looked down at Yin Chaosheng on the steps below and asked, "City Lord, whom are you seeking?"

Yin Chaosheng stepped into the cell, his bewitching eyes suffused with red, exhaling an exquisite yet perilous watery hue, fixed firmly on the person on the platform.

"You dare return."

He let out another sneer: "Who am I looking for—don't you know?"

Jin Chen watched him approach slowly until he stood beneath the platform; between them lay only three steps.

From his higher position, Jin Chen reached out, his fingertips lightly brushing Yin Chaosheng's cold ear, an intimate gesture: "The City Lord's intentions are ever like the depths of this ghost city—hard to fathom."

Yin Chaosheng turned his head to avoid the touch, coldly saying, "Don't put that false face before me!"

Seeing that ordinary face annoyed him; this disguise seemed to remind him that the other had been deceiving and concealing him all along.

"All right." Jin Chen replied, surprisingly good‑natured.

He raised his other hand, palm gently covering Yin Chaosheng's eyes.

A faint warmth of sandalwood scent curled up; Yin Chaosheng's eyelashes trembled slightly, he closed his eyes, his expression unreadable.

When Jin Chen's palm moved aside again, the face that appeared before Yin Chaosheng's eyes was indeed the one he knew well and hated to the point of itching his teeth—handsome, languid, and wicked in its true form.

Yin Chaosheng grabbed the other end of the red silk ribbon hanging at Jin Chen's waist, clenched it tightly in his palm, lifted his head and glared at Jin Chen, the resentment and grievance etched in the corners of his eyes and brows.

"You deceived me."

"You are human…… you are not a ghost at all! What do you really want by coming to the Ghost City? I hate you, I will kill……"

He seemed to choke on something, suddenly stopped, and dared not utter the rest of his words.

Killing intent surged upward, yet beneath the overwhelming hatred, he still gave rise to a reluctance that even he himself despised.

Yin Chaosheng then stepped harshly onto the stair, approaching Jin Chen, but the latter, taking advantage of the motion, lifted his hand, his fingertips teasingly raising Yin Chaosheng's chin, the pads of his fingers slowly rubbing along the jawline, his tone teasing.

"Want to kill me again? If so, why did the City Lord go to such trouble to seek me out?"

"Your City Lord's manor is filled with ghost attendants, each more beautiful than the last—why waste your thoughts on me?"

Yin Chaosheng grew even more enraged by his frivolous gestures and words, wanting to lean in for a kiss, but Jin Chen pressed his fingertips to his lips, forbidding him to draw near.

"By what right do you refuse to let this lord kiss!"

Yin Chaosheng's gaze seemed capable of hooking souls and seizing spirits, burning with anger and desire; he didn't even bother to listen carefully to what Jin Chen was asking, only feeling that this mad dog was again toying with him, utterly wicked.