Chapter 32: No Worries for the Rest of My Life

The moment the flat-topped man finished speaking, several skulls detached from behind him and flew toward the pair, snapping their jaws.

"Ah!" Zhao Chenxi caught sight of the skulls and instinctively hid behind Chen Fan.

"Ghost-controlling arts?" Chen Fan raised an eyebrow.

"You have some discernment," the flat-topped man sneered, though his smile vanished a second later. A vast, righteous aura emanated from Chen Fan’s body.

"It’s you! You’re the one who killed the Bodhisattva!" The flat-topped man trembled.

The righteous aura transformed into a golden dragon, instantly shattering the incoming skulls. Chen Fan raised his left hand, and a vortex of Yin energy condensed in his palm. The spirit of the Bodhisattva of Seeking the Way appeared instantaneously.

"If she was a Bodhisattva in your Seeking the Way Society, then what are you?"

"A Vajra!"

The flat-topped man’s eyes bulged, his face suddenly taking on the terrifying expression of an enraged Vajra. Behind him, a skeletal Buddha statue sitting in meditation began to shine brilliantly, its hollow eye sockets flickering with golden Buddha light.

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow, unable to help but click his tongue. "You consumed the golden body of an ancient Buddha? That’s quite... depraved."

In the art of ghost-controlling, mastering ordinary spirits is simple, but mastering fierce ghosts requires meeting far more conditions. If one wishes to control the spirit of a powerful being, one must target the physical remains. There were evil cultivators in the past who had designs on ancient Buddhas who had passed away in meditation; they would cremate the golden remains and consume the ashes, refining them within their own internal organs to turn the ancient Buddha into a controllable ghost spirit.

"Hmph!" The Vajra of Seeking the Way glared, waving a palm through the air at Chen Fan. This motion commanded the skeletal Buddha statue behind him.

"Vajra’s Wrath! Soul-Shaking Palm!"

"Perish!"

Chen Fan looked up as a giant golden hand descended from the sky. The palm was covered in dense Sanskrit inscriptions, each one a spell designed to destroy the soul.

"Many have tried to destroy my soul, but none have succeeded."

Chen Fan, wearing the Yao'an Iron Finger-Guard, clenched his fist and struck upward at the giant golden hand. In an instant, the golden hand shattered, followed by the skulls that had been hidden within it.

With his lethal strike and hidden maneuver both broken, the Vajra of Seeking the Way’s fury turned to astonishment. "You can manipulate the Iron Finger-Guard so effortlessly! You are..."

The Vajra exclaimed, "A disciple of the Immortal-Slaying Sect!"

Chen Fan silently withdrew his hand and said calmly, "Does it matter if I am or not?"

"Damn you!" the Vajra cursed, shouting, "Do you think being a disciple of the Immortal-Slaying Sect allows you to kill me? The Seeking the Way Society is beyond your imagination! It will become the second Immortal-Slaying Sect within the Taoist world!"

Chen Fan’s expression remained calm as he simply threw a punch forward. The vast righteous aura, combined with the power of the Yao'an Iron Finger-Guard, caused the Spirit Void Realm established by the Vajra to tear at the seams.

"The Seeking the Way Society... will avenge me! The Way never dies, the Vajra is immortal! The Bodhisattva enters the cycle of reincarnation..."

The Vajra’s impassioned words were cut short instantly. His chest was pierced by the punch, and as he fell, the Spirit Void Realm began to dissolve.

"Nonsense about never dying or being immortal—you talk too much," Chen Fan said, shaking his head in distaste.

He and the "Little Blonde" stood at the entrance of the bar, but the surrounding scene had returned to normal. They stood there, yet passersby simply ignored them.

"That... that was amazing..." Zhao Chenxi whispered, then snapped to her senses and asked excitedly, "Chen Fan... is he dead?"

"He is," Chen Fan nodded slightly.

Not only was he dead, but Chen Fan had drawn him into his Yin vortex, turning him into a ghost spirit. Interestingly, Chen Fan discovered that he could directly manifest Buddhist arts through this controlled spirit. While Buddhist arts were useless against ordinary people and less effective against evil spirits than his righteous aura, they were excellent for purifying the mind, guiding people toward goodness, and preventing erosion by inner demons.

Noticing a hint of instability in the Little Blonde’s expression, Chen Fan didn't use the Heart-Clearing Mantra. Instead, he allowed Buddha light to linger on his left hand and patted her golden head. After two pats, her eyelids drooped.

"I'm... so sleepy..."

Chen Fan supported the exhausted, alcohol-scented Zhao Chenxi. "Guess I'll have to take her home first..."

***

Late at night, Chen Fan left the Fu family manor. His "Godly Movement" technique allowed him to traverse the darkness like a phantom. He arrived at a remote boarding house and, rather than entering through the door, used his movement technique to hover outside a second-floor window.

Inside the small room, several people were crammed together, both men and women. The leader was an old man smoking incessantly. Coincidentally, Chen Fan spotted someone he had seen earlier that day: Han Chunyu.

*So, I’ve found the scammers' den,* Chen Fan thought.

"No wonder I couldn't find the Yao'an Iron Finger-Guard; it was in the hands of an ordinary person," Chen Fan muttered.

Han Chunyu handed a small tripod to the old man, his face full of worry. "Master, this crooked business is getting harder and harder to pull off! That Jiang family offended a big shot! I’m afraid of staying there any longer!"

The old man toyed with the tripod and said indifferently, "Fine. Getting this tripod counts as a little extra profit. I thought the Jiang family was rich, but they only had a million or so that we could touch!"

The old man cursed under his breath and glanced at a burly man leaning against the door. "Did you tie up the loose ends with that mother and son?"

The burly man grinned. "Taken care of. They were just two idiots. They dared to hold onto that item, and when you took it, the woman even claimed you weren't 'fated' to have it! Killing them wasn't hard, but burying them was a chore."

Laughter broke out among the group. Han Chunyu added excitedly, "Who would have thought! I thought that object was just a small find, but the big shot auctioned it off for a staggering hundred million! We don't have to worry for the rest of our lives!"

As the laughter echoed, an abrupt voice sounded from the window.

"Indeed," Chen Fan said, leaping nimbly into the room. "You won't have to worry for the rest of your lives."