Chapter 20: Blood Money!

"Really?"

Hearing Chu Tian’s words, a flash of surprise crossed Li Weiwei’s face, followed by a suspicious look. "Chu Tian, are you… really capable of exorcising ghosts? You aren’t pulling my leg, are you?"

"What fun would there be in lying to you?" Chu Tian looked at Li Weiwei’s skeptical expression and said, "Why don't you tell me what’s been going on with you?"

"That’s not what I meant. I just meant that we’ve known each other for years, after all." Li Weiwei quickly explained, her eyes filled with a trace of resentment as she looked at him. "How come I never knew you could exorcise ghosts before?"

"Everyone has their own little secrets," Chu Tian replied. "Now, haven’t you discovered one of mine?"

"Yes, and not just one," Li Weiwei noted, casting a glance at Chen Meng, who was standing nearby holding a child. She felt even more miserable.

It was already terrifying enough to be stalked by a ghost for her life, but now, to make matters worse, she had come seeking help from her secret crush, only to find out he was married and had a child. Could anything be more disheartening?

"Ahem, let’s focus on the important matters first," Chu Tian coughed.

Li Weiwei snapped out of her daze and pulled a red paper bill from her pocket, placing it on the table in front of Chu Tian. It was a red hell-bank note with a face value of ten billion—a rather large sum. As soon as it appeared, Chu Tian sensed a thick, oppressive ghostly aura emanating from it. It was likely the life-bound artifact of some ghost.

"A few nights ago, I was walking home from work when I saw it on the road," Li Weiwei explained. "When I first saw it, it didn't look like this. It was a genuine hundred-yuan bill, so… I picked it up."

As she spoke, a look of terror flickered in her eyes. "That night, I went home, washed up, and went to sleep. But when I woke up the next day, I found myself reeking of alcohol and wearing different clothes. I checked my phone and discovered that at three in the morning, I had made a large transaction at a bar. But I clearly remember sleeping at home all night; I hadn't gone anywhere."

"For the next several days, every night after I fell asleep, it felt as if someone else had crawled into my body, manipulating me to go out, spend money, drink, and party wildly. I even found photos on my phone of myself out at night, but I have no memory of any of it. It’s like there are two of me using this same body. Later on, I realized something was wrong: the hundred-yuan bill I had picked up had turned into this hell-bank note, and no matter how many times I throw it away, it always returns to me."

"I’ve tried everything—tossing it in the trash, tearing it up and flushing it down the toilet, wrapping it in a stone and throwing it in the river, even burning it to ashes. But every time I return home at night, I find a hell-bank note in my possession, and the denomination keeps getting higher." Li Weiwei’s eyes were wide with fear, her body trembling slightly. "The nightmares have become more frequent every night, and I feel like countless eyes are watching me from the shadows. I went to a master, and he said I was haunted. I sought help online, and netizens told me it was 'life-buying money' and that I should throw it into an offering box so the Buddha could reason with the ghost. But I discovered that no matter what, I cannot set foot inside any temple."

"Finally, I found Master Lin at the Lucky Pavilion," Li Weiwei continued. "Master Lin said I don't have many days left and that he was powerless to help me, so he referred me to you. Chu Tian, can you save me?"

Listening to her, Chu Tian picked up the hell-bank note from the table, his eyes filled with scrutiny.

"Life-buying money, a soul-snatching ghost!" Chen Meng chimed in from the side. "With this kind of ghost, the weak ones can be dealt with by just discarding the money, but the strong ones are bound by rules that make them untouchable. This money doesn’t look weak. Even if it’s not a Ghost King, it must be at the level of a Ghost General."

"You understand these things, too?" Li Weiwei looked at Chen Meng in surprise. The fox-like woman curled her lips, giving Li Weiwei a smug, triumphant glance. "Why else do you think we’re together? This is called having a common language."

"Uh—" Li Weiwei’s mouth twitched.

"So… can you help me deal with this ghost?" Li Weiwei asked.

"A Ghost General-level ghost, for me…" Chen Meng thought for a moment, then, under Li Weiwei’s expectant gaze, added, "I can’t beat it."

Li Weiwei’s expression dimmed instantly. Chen Meng, however, looked down at Chu Meng’er in her arms and asked, "Meng’er, can you handle it?"

"Mm, I can kill it with one slap!" Chu Meng’er looked at the note in Chu Tian’s hand and said thoughtfully.

Hearing this, Chen Meng smothered Chu Meng’er with kisses. *Heh, that’s my daughter for you—a total ghost-slaying powerhouse!*

Chu Tian, hearing his daughter’s remark, flicked the bank note and said, "Kill it? Why kill it? What a waste that would be!"

He pulled out a small plate, then took a lighter from the table and handed it to Li Weiwei. "Take this lighter and burn this paper money for me."

"Burn it?" Li Weiwei looked at him, confused. "Chu Tian, this hell-bank note cannot be destroyed. Even if I burn it, it will just reappear on me."

"I *want* it to reappear on you," Chu Tian told her. "When you burn it, keep in mind that you are burning it for me."

"Burning it for you?" Both Li Weiwei and Chen Meng were stunned.

"Just do as I say," Chu Tian said.

Li Weiwei nodded, took the lighter and the money, and burned the note right in front of him. As the flames rose, the hell-bank note turned to ash. Simultaneously, a glowing hell-bank note with a face value of one billion appeared before Chu Tian.

"This…" Li Weiwei’s eyes went round as saucers. She quickly patted herself down and, to her shock, pulled out the original one-hundred-billion-denomination note she had just burned. "How is this possible?"

"When people die and become ghosts, the hell-bank notes burned by their living relatives during festivals provide them with currency for cultivation and trade," Chu Tian explained. "The denominations are usually printed very high because not all the burned money reaches the ghost; how much they receive depends entirely on the sincerity of the person burning it. Even at the height of sincerity, they only ever receive one-tenth of the value."

"Then this…" Li Weiwei pointed at the note in Chu Tian’s hand, "what is this?"

"It’s a bug," Chu Tian said. He picked up the glowing one-billion note and flicked it, feeling quite pleased.

This hell-bank note was the soul-snatching ghost’s artifact, tied directly to its cultivation. You couldn't break the ghost’s hold without destroying the note, but you couldn't destroy the note without killing the ghost. As long as the ghost stayed in hiding, no master could do anything about it, and once the time was up, Li Weiwei’s life would be forfeit.

If it were anyone else, they would have to wait until the very last day, when the ghost finally manifested, to fight it. But as luck would have it, the person here today was Chu Tian.

Chu Tian was no ordinary master; he was a Ghost Official.