Chapter Fifteen: The Baton

  Fujiang was slightly drunk and his words were somewhat incoherent. He said, "You think I can bear to see her going out with other men? It's killing me! I feel like I'm being torn apart from head to toe. But I don't have the confidence to give her a home, nor do I have the confidence that I can devote myself wholeheartedly to her in the future!"

  Fu Chuan said, belching loudly, and Xing Cheng Tian quickly pushed him away, giving him a disgusted look. Fu Chuan continued to say, "That dead girl, knowing I don't like her with other men, she still insists on finding men to flaunt in front of me, flaunting them!"

  Xing Cheng Tian was certain that Fu Chuan had already gotten drunk, "Hurry up and go sleep!"

  Fujiang suddenly stood up and said: "I'm not sleeping, I want to call her!"

  After finishing, he took out his phone, but no matter how hard he pressed, the phone didn't respond. Just as Xing Chengtian was about to ask him if his phone had run out of battery and offer to use his own, Fu Chuan burst out laughing. He said: "I dialed the wrong number, I accidentally called that woman from the bar last time."

  Xing Chengtian suddenly wanted to teach Li Baobao a lesson, just as he was about to take action, a cold gust of wind blew from behind, sending shivers down Xing Chengtian's spine.

  Xing Cheng Tian felt something floating over, "Who!"

  If it was that kind of thing, Xing Chengtian would not be able to handle it. However, at this time, Fu Chuan had already fallen asleep in the chair. Suddenly, a blackness appeared before his eyes, and a dark mist floated across Xing Chengtian's face, with a pair of blood-red eyes seemingly hidden within the mist.

  That thing is ominous, Jing Tian is a bit afraid, and with one kick, Fu Chuan was kicked over.

  "Alas"

  Fu Xiang got up from the ground and faced Xing Chengtian, scolding: "Why did you kick me!"

  Xing Cheng Tian sat motionless in the chair, his eyes fixed intently on something behind Fu Chuan. Fu Chuan also sensed a strong evil aura rotating and approaching from behind him.

  Fu Chuan pointed to himself behind, Xing Chengtian nodded, Fu Chuan's hand stretched under the table, and Xing Chengtian's foot also slowly stretched under the table. The evil object kept rotating around them, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, and sometimes rising up, as if it was probing their strengths and weaknesses, or seemed to think they didn't feel its existence.

  In Fu Chuan's mind, there was something called a black ghost, which was a relatively low-level evil spirit in the spiritual realm. It was usually formed by some accumulated resentment and had almost no threat to humans. However, Fu Chuan felt that this black ghost's aura was extremely evil, completely different from the black ghosts he had encountered before.

  When those deep red eyes turned to Fu Chuan's face and stared at him, Fu Chuan was certain that this thing was not the black ghost he had thought of earlier, but a more powerful evil creature.

  Fu Chuan held his breath, his hand had already reached under the table, just as that thing was about to penetrate Fu Chuan's body, Fu Chuan shouted loudly: "Get out of my way!" Xing Cheng Tian also simultaneously used his foot to flip over the heavy wooden table. If it were up to Fu Chuan alone, he wouldn't have been able to flip over the several dozen kilograms heavy wooden table. Just as the table was flipping over, in an instant that black air was dispersed, but quickly gathered again. Fu Chuan bit open his own finger, letting blood flow down and smear onto the golden sword under the table.

  "Spirits, soldiers, pots, come out of their scabbards!"

  Jin Qian Jian shot towards the black air like a rocket, dispersing it completely. The pair of blood-red eyes transformed from their initial ferocity to a thread of flame before thoroughly disappearing before their eyes.

  "What is this thing?" Jing Chengtian had never seen anything like it before.

  Fu Chuan said: "I don't know, I've never seen it before."

  Fu Chuan bent down and picked up the Golden Sword, on which a black residue remained. He put it to his nose and sniffed, the smell was very pungent, like that of rotting corpses. "It shouldn't be what I thought it was, but this is something I've never seen before, and there's no record of it in the Sect Master's book."

  Xing Chengtian knew they were in trouble this time, as everything that had happened since their arrival was something they had never encountered before. Xing Chengtian asked Fu Chuan what to do, and Fu Chuan said let's take it one step at a time.

  The next morning, Fu Chuan woke up with a headache, as if someone had sawed open his head. When he went downstairs, he thought San Yang would have prepared breakfast, but there was no sign of him, only Xing Cheng Tian wearing glasses in the hotel lobby, drinking mineral water, chewing biscuits, and reading documents on his laptop.

  Fu Chuan walked over, sat down and asked: "What did you find?"

  Xing Chengtian found some information in the morning and gave it to Fu Chuan to look at. Fu Chuan already had a headache, so when he saw those words, he felt even more painful. He directly asked Xing Chengtian to tell him about it. Xing Chengtian told Fu Chuan, "The Kuso people worship an evil god named Shiyin, which is neither male nor female. It is always surrounded by a black mist that can lure people into its lair, and Shiyin feeds on humans to cultivate itself."

  "If this matter is related to an evil god, I advise you to leave here as soon as possible," said Fu Chuan.

  "Why?" Jin Chengtian asked.

  Fu Chuan told Xing Cheng Tian that the evil gods, also known as the gods of evil, were a type of supernatural being that had undergone thousands of years of cultivation. They were not like ordinary ghosts or monsters, but could use their powers to harm others through illusions and deception. In fact, they could even use their accumulated powers to kill anyone who displeased them. Fu Chuan said, "India was once a place where evil gods roamed free, including the gods from some of the myths of Northern Europe. When Christianity, Catholicism, and Buddhism became mainstream, the gods that were worshipped before became known as evil gods. However, these evil gods are older and more powerful than any of the current mainstream gods."

  Xing Cheng Tian agreed with Fu Chuan's words and asked: "What should we do?"

  "It's still unclear whether we've encountered an evil god or if we should find that old ghost first," said Fu Chuan.

  Xing Chengtian clicked open a picture on the computer and let Fu Chuan see it, "Take a look." Fu Chuan quickly took it over, and the photo looked very old. The entire photo was in black and white, with four Caucasians in it. In the middle, one of the Caucasians held a round object in his hand, which seemed to be made of wood. Fu Chuan furrowed his brow and asked, "What is he holding?"

  Xing Chengtian clasped his hands together in front of his chest, and Fu Chuan knew he was about to start showing off his knowledge again. Xing Chengtian told Fu Chuan: "In 1910, a sceptre was auctioned off at Sotheby's in the UK. The sceptre was only 25cm tall and made of black granite. It is said that this sceptre originally belonged to an evil god from India, and the human head on the sceptre was also carved in the likeness of this evil god."

  "What's 'Shi Yin Shen'?" Fu Chuan asked, puzzled.

  Xing Cheng Tian nodded and said: "It is said that this is also the first time that the evil god has been seen by the world in his true form. Those who had possessed it before all died unnatural deaths."

  "How many people have had it?" Fuchuan asked.

  Xing Chengtian looked at the materials on the computer and asked Fu Chuan to look at the last page. Fu Chuan flipped to the last page, suddenly stood up, pointed to a photo on the last page of the computer and said: "Damn it, why is my ancestor in the picture."

  Xing Chengtian looked over and found that the person standing behind the white people in the last photo was a yellow-skinned man wearing a black Taoist robe. Xing Chengtian had never seen the ancestor mentioned by Fu Chuan, but the masters of the Fu family for generations all looked alike and had self-portraits for their descendants to worship. Xing Chengtian had also seen those portraits in Baofa Hall, and they were indeed identical to the person in the portrait. "Could it be that your family's ancestor had already investigated this scepter?"

  Fu Chuan thought that the Fu family at Nanmen should have been wealthy and leisurely, with ancestors who often spent their own money to go abroad and slay demons. However, his generation was the most miserable. Looking at the string of zeros on his bank card, he couldn't even use it without worrying about having to ask Cheng Tian for money every month. Fu Chuan really wanted to turn thirty immediately so that he could freely dispose of his own money.

  Xing Cheng Tian interrupted Fu Qian's fantasy, returning to the topic at hand. He said: "The first person to possess this scepter was an Indian king. According to Indian mythology, this scepter was dug up from the Youming Mountains. At that time, there was a strange glow emanating from it, so it was presented as a tribute to the king. Initially, the king did not pay much attention to this scepter."

  Later, the king's country was attacked by other kingdoms and almost destroyed. But for some reason, overnight, this king seemed to have acquired unparalleled magical powers. He killed all the invading enemies on his land, then dug out their hearts and lungs and exposed their corpses in the wilderness, causing the country to be bathed in blood. Although he avenged himself, it is said that this king had already become a demon, and even his own people were not spared. Later, this king was burned to death by angry subjects in his own palace. The fire lasted for three days and three nights. In the end, the king died, but everyone found that the scepter was still intact in the king's hand.

  "What's next?" Fu Chuan actually quite enjoyed listening to Xing Chengtian tell stories, "Continue on."

  The staff later disappeared and was never seen again within the borders of India, with no one knowing where it went or who had hidden it.