Chapter 298: Former Father

Translator: yikaii Editor: yikaii

Former father, a term unique to Li Haoran, refers to the father from a past life.

Qin Yanyan was traveling the world, seeking opportunities for forming her Golden Core and gaining insights into the mortal world to achieve a breakthrough in her state of mind.

She had just passed through several counties and stopped at this dilapidated temple for the night, only to encounter such an exciting situation.

After being persuaded by her mother for a month, Qin Yanyan was just about to accept this father with no blood relation when she stumbled upon this scene.

Gaining insights into the mortal world wasn’t supposed to be like this.

“Wait, Yanyan, let me explain!” Li Haoran was flustered. Heaven knows he was really here to catch ghosts. He hadn’t even managed to extract any useful information before being caught by Qin Yanyan.

How could she have run into him in this vast Central Continent?

Is this the karmic entanglement between father and daughter?

The white-clad female ghost also realized something was amiss and tried to escape. Li Haoran used a capture technique, transitioning between the tangible and intangible, pressing the ghost to the ground.

This was a skill Li Haoran had learned while refining tools, now adapted for ghost-catching.

Both at the late Foundation Building stage, the female ghost was no match for Li Haoran.

“I received a sect mission and came with Senior Brother Lu and Senior Brother Meng to catch ghosts!” Li Haoran hurriedly explained. If Qin Yanyan left with a misunderstanding and reported to Su Yiren, he might as well forget inheriting Qin Yuanhao’s memories and start over in his tenth life.

“Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou?” Qin Yanyan recalled these two prodigies of Dao Seeking Sect.

One was the disciple of the Sect Master of Dao Seeking Sect, and the other was the eldest young master of the Meng family. Their credibility was much higher than Li Haoran’s.

“Yes, they’re both sleeping in the rooms next door. They can prove my innocence!” Li Haoran said, binding the white-clad female ghost to a load-bearing pillar with a refined soul-locking chain before going to find Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

Qin Yanyan followed Li Haoran, still skeptical.

Li Haoran quickly pushed open the door, speaking at a rapid pace: “Brother Lu, you have to prove my innocence. We’re here to catch ghosts, right? You haven’t signaled that you’ve caught yours, so the ghost must not have come to you…”

He hadn’t finished when he saw Lu Yang with a strange smile, pulling at a green-clad female ghost. She struggled in vain, looking desperate, completely at Lu Yang’s mercy.

This scene was anything but what a gentleman would do.

“Senior Brother Lu, you…” Li Haoran stammered, shocked that Lu Yang could behave like this.

Seeing this, Qin Yanyan felt Li Haoran was lying and exploded in anger: “You dare claim you’re here to catch ghosts?!”

“Go check on Senior Brother Meng. He must be catching his ghost properly!” Li Haoran was sure that nothing unexpected would be happening with Meng Jingzhou, as his Single Spirit Root wouldn’t have the capacity to form such thoughts, let alone act on them.

Then Qin Yanyan saw the unconscious red-clad female ghost and Meng Jingzhou squatting nearby, observing seriously.

“Rape?!” Qin Yanyan was horrified. Each situation was more shocking than the last!

Compared to them, Li Haoran seemed the most conservative.

Li Haoran: “…”

Why is it that every time he goes out with Senior Brother Lu and Senior Brother Meng, nothing good happens? Last time, he ended up with a fiancée two thousand years older than him and a daughter with no blood relation, becoming the former Sect Leader of one of the four major demonic sects.

This time, when he needed them to prove his innocence, they pulled these stunts.

“Nonsense, who says I’m raping? Don’t you know I have a Single Spirit Root?” Meng Jingzhou retorted angrily, turning to see who was so clueless.

“Hey, niece, here to see your father?”

Qin Yanyan felt the Golden Core aura emanating from Meng Jingzhou and repeatedly reminded herself that she couldn’t beat him.

Meanwhile, Lu Yang finally subdued Everlasting Fairy and regained control of his body. He dragged the green-clad female ghost to find Li Haoran and Meng Jingzhou.

After the three of them showed the mission issued by their sect and Meng Jingzhou revealed his Single Spirit Root identity, Qin Yanyan finally believed that they were here to catch ghosts, not to solicit prostitutes.

The green-clad female ghost trembled with fear, realizing that these three were from Dao Seeking Sect, one of the Five Great Immortal Sects.

Everyone gathered in the main hall, where Li Haoran tied the still trembling green-clad female ghost and the unconscious red-clad female ghost next to the white-clad female ghost.

With this, all three female ghosts were captured.

“So, Dao Seeking Sect issued a ghost-catching mission, and you came to Ancient Lotus Town to complete it?” Qin Yanyan believed most of what they said.

Qin Yanyan still didn’t know that her father in her past life was the reincarnation of a Nine Nether Sect leader.

Li Haoran received Qin Haoran’s memory fragments after Su Yiren and Qin Yanyan had already left, so this was something difficult to explain to her.

Li Haoran couldn’t exactly say, “Your father was a demonic sect leader in his past life, not a good person.”

That would completely ruin their father-daughter relationship.

“And you, why are you here in Ancient Lotus Town?”

“Mother said that when I visited your house last time, I argued as soon as I arrived and was too impatient. She said my state of mind needed improvement. Since I’m about to form my Golden Core, she told me to go out and refine my state of mind.”

“Today, I was in Shoutian County, wandered around the marketplace, and spent all my money. There were no free inns in Shoutian County, so I had to keep going north. I saw this old temple and thought I could stay for the night, so I came here.”

Li Haoran was very worried about Qin Yanyan’s journey.

In a few more days, she might have to perform on the streets to make money.

“Four… four heroes, although we are ghosts, we have never harmed anyone!” The green-clad female ghost pleaded.

They had been careful to absorb yang energy without causing trouble, fearing it would attract righteous cultivators.

But what they feared had come, and it was the strongest righteous sect, Dao Seeking Sect.

It was said that righteous cultivators hated demons and ghosts, killing them on sight.

Would they survive in their hands?

“Never harmed anyone?” Meng Jingzhou sneered. “The mission clearly states that you drain people’s yang energy, leaving them weak and lethargic. Are you saying that’s false?”

The white-clad female ghost was on the verge of tears. “Really, we only take a very small amount of yang energy, just enough to live on. It doesn’t harm people. We even have a record of this with the town mayor.”

“We know that taking too much yang energy affects people negatively. If that happens, who would come back? It’s better to take a little at a time than to drain everything at once. We understand the principle of sustainable harvesting.”

“Wait, the town mayor knows about this?”

“Not just the mayor, but the travelers in the town can testify!” The white-clad female ghost said confidently.

Lu Yang and the others were puzzled by what the white-clad female ghost said.

“Really, we’re not lying. Earlier, the three of us went around to various inns offering our services. We had just finished when we saw you three lying in the temple. Seeing that your yang energy was strong, we thought we’d take a bit to end our night.”

Lu Yang: “???”

You offer door-to-door services?!

The white-clad female ghost said sheepishly, “Good service brings repeat customers.”

Qin Yanyan was even more shocked than Lu Yang. Is this what the mortal world is like?

(End of the chapter)