Sunday, nightfall.
After dinner, Chen Hao left his house with the Soul-binding Rope in hand, planning to find the malevolent male ghost who had pushed him into the middle of the road to be hit by a car the other night. Then, with the Soul-binding Rope, he intended to capture the male ghost and personally escort him to the Yin Yang Master Association.
When he got downstairs, he knocked on Ye Yuqiao's door.
Soon, Ye Yuqiao opened the door, still holding a set of silver keys. She handed the keys to Chen Hao, saying, "Here are my house keys, so you don't have to wait for me to open the door every time!"
Receiving the keys, Chen Hao was overjoyed. Ye Yuqiao giving him her keys meant that she completely trusted him as one of her own. Thinking about it made him a little excited.
"Did you need something?" Ye Yuqiao asked.
"Oh, nothing important, I just wanted to see you!" Chen Hao said as he stepped forward, opening his arms to embrace Ye Yuqiao, then whispered in her ear, "Do I need a reason to see my girlfriend?"
"Then what are you doing with the Soul-binding Rope? Could it be you've come to snatch away my soul?"
"Ah!" Chen Hao let go of Ye Yuqiao and looked at her, scratching his head and giving a silly laugh. "How did you know I had the Soul-binding Rope on me? I can't hide anything from you! I have to go out and do something, so I just dropped by to say goodbye."
Ye Yuqiao nodded blankly, responding coldly, "You've seen me, you've hugged me; shouldn't you be off to do what you're here to do?"
Chen Hao then quietly shifted his Nether Eye Power to his left eye and activated the Nether Vision function. After the world viewed through his left eye was tinged with a hint of purple, Chen Hao focused his gaze on Ye Yuqiao.
"Chen Hao!" Ye Yuqiao gave him a scornful glance, noticing that Chen Hao had activated his Nether Vision. "You're so annoying. Turn off the Nether Vision already!"
With that, Ye Yuqiao slammed the door shut with a "bang." Chen Hao stared at the door, and two seconds later, his gaze pierced through the thick iron door, seeing Ye Yuqiao standing behind it.
Inside, Ye Yuqiao raised her hand and knocked on the iron door, saying with a glum face through the door, "Enough already, stop looking. Get going and be busy with your stuff!"
"How on earth did you know I was looking at you?" Chen Hao became even more puzzled.
Without answering Chen Hao's question, Ye Yuqiao waved her hand at him through the door and then walked into her room. Chen Hao wanted to follow Ye Yuqiao's figure with his gaze to see if he could also see through the door of her boudoir.
However, a sudden flash of purple light flickered in his left eye, and soon the world seen by his left eye appeared identical to that seen by his right. A sourness followed, and his left eye felt fatigued. So, he had to give up, shouting at the iron door, "I'm going now!" Then he quickly made his way downstairs.
Twenty minutes later, Chen Hao arrived alone at the crossroads where he had encountered the male ghost two days before. Now able to control the Nether Eye Power to some extent without outside assistance, he could activate the Nether Eye Power on his own.
Standing under a tree on the sidewalk, he activated the Nether Eye Power and began searching for the male ghost with his Yin Yang Eyes. Looking around, Chen Hao didn't see the male ghost, but he did see other Wandering Souls and stray ghosts. There was a long-haired woman in white floating around; a backpack student covered in blood; and an old man walking with a cane but floating in the air.
Although he was still somewhat scared, Chen Hao could now control his emotions and breathing when afraid. Whenever he made eye contact with some Wandering Souls or stray ghosts, he pretended not to see them and naturally shifted his gaze, thinking to himself, "Scared to death, scared to death!"
After walking back and forth at the crossroads several times, Chen Hao suddenly tripped. His scalp tightened instantly, and he inwardly reminded himself, "It's that ghost, it must be that ghost. Don't panic, don't panic, flattening him is just a matter of minutes!"
"Young man, are you all right?" Like two days ago, the male ghost pretended to be a Good Samaritan and helped Chen Hao up from behind.
Chen Hao chuckled to himself, then played along with the male ghost, saying, "I'm fine, thank you!"
As soon as those words fell, Chen Hao suddenly turned around, striking a menacing pose and letting out a terrifying scream at the ghost, "Ah!"
The ghost was indeed startled by Chen Hao, and he let go of Chen Hao, taking a step back.
Seeing that even a frightening ghost could be scared, Chen Hao laughed heartily.
"It's you!" The male ghost, with his fierce appearance, immediately remembered Chen Hao. He opened his mouth wide in surprise, letting the blood from the large hole in his forehead drip into it. "Didn't you get pushed into the middle of the road by me and get hit by a car the other day? How are you still..."
As the ghost spoke, he sprayed out disgustingly flavored blood from his mouth.
Chen Hao made a look of disgust, wiping away the blood that sprayed onto his face, and eventually rubbed his hands on the ghost's clothes, complaining, "How can you be so disgusting, spraying my face with blood, don't you have any hygiene?"
"I'm already like this, what hygiene to speak of!"
Chen Hao immediately took a step back, pulling out a red Soul-binding Rope from his pocket and saying, "I'm here today to take you, this ghost, to the Yin Yang Master Association. You've got me to lose my job, you damned ghost!"
"Just you!" The male ghost's expression darkened, he bared his teeth and snarled, raising his long-nailed palms. "Last night, another Onmyoji came looking for me, trying to bind me with such thin ropes. And guess what? Not only did I break the ropes, but I almost strangled the Onmyoji to death!"
Chen Hao paused before swallowing hard. He once again activated the Nether Eye Power in his left eye, and feeling a strong force coursing through his entire body, he yelled, "If that's the case, I'm going to beat you to a pulp before tying you up and bringing you to the Yin Yang Master Association!"
With that, Chen Hao raised his fist and charged forward.
The male specter sneered contemptuously, thinking how could this silly boy he pushed onto the road two days ago possibly do anything to him?
As Chen Hao's fist approached, the male specter reached out his hand, believing he could easily catch it. But the moment Chen Hao's punch landed in the palm of his left hand, he instantly regretted it.
Chen Hao's fist was like an ice hammer, shattering the specter's left palm.
Caught off guard, the specter gaped in shock.
Chen Hao's second punch, while the specter was still recovering from his shock, hit the bloody face of the specter. With that punch, the specter's entire face was permanently disfigured, never to return to its original shape.
A second later, the specter lay on the ground.
Chen Hao, panting heavily, felt an exhilarating rush of satisfaction. After kicking the specter, he bound him with the Soul-binding Rope and then headed toward Coffin Street.
A quarter of an hour later, Chen Hao dragged the specter to the steps of the Yin Yang Master Association using a red thread. Unlike dragging a person, dragging a specter was almost effortless, akin to flying a kite, light and breezy. However, all along the way, Chen Hao had to endure the curious and astonished looks from passersby, even feeling himself that a man walking down the street holding a red thread was indeed strange.
Upon his arrival, he happened to meet Xie Da, the vice-chairman just leaving the Association. As an Onmyoji of his level, Xie Da naturally saw the specter that Chen Hao was dragging with the Soul-binding Rope.
"Haozi, what's this?" Xie Da asked, puzzled.
"Old fox, this is the specter you asked me to capture that day. Now that I've brought it here, aren't you going to keep the promise you made?" Chen Hao said contemptuously, glancing sideways at Xie Da.
Xie Da tilted his head and examined the male specter closely before saying, "Haozi, I wanted to explain about yesterday's incident."
"There's nothing to explain!" Chen Hao firmly interrupted Xie Da. "I'll just ask you one thing, do I now have the qualifications to join the Yin Yang Master Association? If not, why not? Is it because the Xie family is intentionally making things difficult for the Chen Family?"
Xie Da sighed woefully with a tinge of sadness, "Then you come over in a couple of days for the formal induction."
Without another word, Chen Hao kicked the specter hard and strode away.
Xie Da watched Chen Hao walk away, feeling helpless.
After leaving the Yin Yang Master Association, Chen Hao went to the hospital. Standing outside his grandfather Chen Che's intensive care unit, he silently addressed Chen Che who lay unconscious on the hospital bed, "Grandfather, I am now an official member of the Yin Yang Master Association. Don't worry, I won't let you or our Chen Family down. I will work even harder to cultivate the Nether Eye Power and the Yin Yang Arts and will surely save you before the deadline!"
The next day, Monday.
While most people thought Chen Hao wouldn't dare to return to school, he did show up, walking hand in hand with school beauty Ye Yuqiao right into the campus.
As soon as the two entered the classroom, Xie Xiaofeng immediately stood up and walked up to them with fury in his eyes, "Chen Hao, you actually dare to come to school? Do you know I've had a miserable two days because of you! You're asking for it! I can take my anger out on you now! And you, Ye Yuqiao, later I'll forcefully kiss you in front of the whole school to humiliate this useless Chen Hao!"
"Slap!" Without any warning, Chen Hao gave Xie Xiaofeng a resounding slap. "Xie Xiaofeng, to talk like that in front of me is simply asking for it! Not slapping you would be letting you off too easy!"
At that moment, everyone in the classroom turned their attention to them.
"Chen Hao!" Xie Xiaofeng pointed at Chen Hao angrily, "You'll pay for this!"
After saying that, Xie Xiaofeng left the classroom to look for backup from other classes. Ye Yuqiao and Chen Hao took their seats.
Once seated, Ye Yuqiao smiled at Chen Hao and said, "You're done for. Just don't drag me into this."
Chen Hao tightly grasped Ye Yuqiao's hand, his expression solemn, "You need to be careful. Don't let that kid kiss you, I'll be jealous, it bothers me!"
Two minutes later, Xie Xiaofeng returned with the other three members of the Four Kings of the school standing outside the classroom.
Niu Dawei stood at the forefront, pointed at Chen Hao, and bellowed, "You come out!"
Chen Hao stood up, mimicking Niu Dawei's furious pointing and laughed, "Silly boy, get in here. I promise I won't beat you to death!"
"Watch me not cripple you!" A furious Niu Dawei charged into the classroom with his fist raised.