Chapter 44 of Volume 1: The Two Envoys of Jin and Hong

  He felt an unprecedented sense of pride in himself. It turned out that ghosts were not invincible after all, and they couldn't withstand a single blow from him when he was enraged. Now, the ghosts in the cemetery were hiding everywhere, fearing to fall into the hands of this evil god.

  Hong Jun smiled and said that it's often said that ghosts are afraid of evil people, and it seems to be true. Evil people can get by anywhere, even when they encounter ghosts.

  He was only happy for a short while, and soon he was extremely panicked as he thought of something. This was in the ancestral tomb of the Hong family, where the ghosts might be some of his own deceased relatives. The two that he had torn to pieces... Hong Jun dared not think further, and his sweat poured down.

  "Thanks for sparing my life." The person in his hand said weakly. It was only then that Hong Jun remembered he still had a grip on someone, and was choking him, so he let go. That person seemed to have been granted a great amnesty.

  Hong Jun looked at this human figure, and it was actually a young man. There was no blood or disfigurement on his body like the previous ones. The other light spheres were all hovering above the human figures' heads, but he was completely enveloped in a large light sphere, with every part of him clearly visible. The young man looked very handsome, probably around 20 years old, if these light spheres had an age. His two eyes stared intently at Hong Jun, who waved his hand to signal him to leave.

  "The young man" didn't leave, still staring at Hong Jun back and forth. Hong Jun's anger rose up again, just about to flare up once more, when "the young man" suddenly exclaimed: "You are... Ah, so it's you."

  He immediately turned around and shouted towards another white light in the distance: "Come quickly, look who this is."

  That white light heard the shout, perhaps fearing Hong Jun's harm, hesitated for a moment, but still floated over. It was a very beautiful long-haired girl with two big and spirited eyes. She looked at Hong Jun for only one glance and excitedly called out: "Great, it's you."

  Seeing the two balls of light, a man and a woman were overjoyed. Hong Jun's second uncle and the monk were baffled, what did "is you" mean? Did they know themselves? Were these two also relatives from their own family? But he didn't remember his family having such young deceased relatives, or was it an ancestor from an older generation? No, they were wearing modern clothes, and judging by their appearance, they seemed to recognize him, so they absolutely wouldn't be ancestors from a distant past. Hong Jun couldn't figure out the situation.

  "What are you..." Looking at their happy and silly smiles, Hong Jun asked with a smirk.

  "It's us, don't you recognize us?" The girl was so excited that she couldn't speak properly. "We are the guardians of the Hong family! I'm Ping'an and he is my brother Jixiang." What the girl said almost made Hong Jun spit out his food - Ping'an Jixiang, what kind of names were these, really auspicious.

  It seems like she understood Hong Jun's thoughts, and the girl named Ping An continued to say: "This name is a bit outdated, but it was given by our ancestors who founded the Hong family, meaning that the Hong family will be safe and auspicious for generations to come, isn't that great?"

  "Guardian Envoy?" Hong Jun asked casually, "Does the Hong family still have a Guardian Envoy?"

  "Really? You don't know? In this world, every family has its own guardian deity. We are the special ghost envoys who guard the Hong family clan, and we're called the Golden Red Twin Envoys."

  "Ghost messenger? Our Hong family's guardian messengers are two ghost messengers?" Hong Jun's head got big, and his subconscious still had some resistance to ghosts, so he involuntarily took a step back. "So you're saying you're ghosts?"

  "What's wrong with being a ghost? Can't ghosts be messengers? Before people are born and after they die, they are all souls in the underworld, which is to say ghosts. The existence of ghosts far exceeds that of humans, so it's only natural for ghosts to protect humans and their own ghosts after death. Firstly, they can communicate with both humans and ghosts at any time, and secondly, they won't be discovered by humans. Of course, each family has different guardian messengers, haven't you heard that some places have Huang Da Xian as the guardian messenger? The gods in heaven aren't doing this kind of work." That young man named Jixiang explained.

  The first time you hear that you have a terminal illness, you will feel like dying and your spirit will collapse. If it's the second time you hear it, the pain will be slightly alleviated. By the tenth time, his reaction has become numb, as if listening to someone else's story.

  Hong Jun was in such a state. Seeing the man and woman opposite him say they were ghosts, he had long lost his initial fear of seeing female ghosts for the first time. Not only had he become numb, but he had also just killed several ghosts and discovered that ghosts were nothing to be afraid of, which added to his confidence. He looked at Rui Xin in his arms and found that she didn't show any fear either, so he felt even more at ease. What people fear most is the unknown. When you know something, for example, that there are ghosts in this world, before you see them clearly, you are extremely afraid of ghosts because you don't know what they look like, what abilities they have, and how they will treat you. However, once you've seen a ghost, you realize that apart from being able to perform some magic that humans can't, and sometimes having a more terrifying appearance, ghosts also talk, have emotions, and even some ghosts are worse than humans. Especially Hong Jun, when he was angry and killed ghosts, the ghosts didn't even have a chance to struggle under his hands. This not only showed that he was quite formidable but also proved that ghosts were nothing special. In that case, what's there to be afraid of?

  It's the same as when a person confesses to his beloved girl, before confession, he is nervous, uneasy and lacks courage, but once he confesses, no matter what the result is, the nervousness, unease and fear will instantly disappear.

  There's nothing scary in this world. Hong Jun said to himself. What can ghosts do? They're just people from another world.

  Peace and safety, I don't know that Hong Jun's brain is prone to wandering at critical moments, so naturally he doesn't know how many thoughts have passed through his mind. Two people, no, to be precise, two ghosts, are still immersed in the joy of meeting Hong Jun.

  "What's with the guardian?" Hong Jun struggled to pull himself out of his daze, repeating the question. He didn't know what was wrong with him either, as he had been spacing out a lot lately, especially at critical moments. Despite having important things to attend to, he found himself thinking about unimportant matters. Now, he finally managed to force himself not to think about miscellaneous things and asked again.

  "The guardian deity is like the stove king of every family, the stove king guards one family, we guard the whole clan, record the birth, aging, illness and death of all members of this clan, and then report to the higher-level ghost messenger as a reference for the continuation of this clan."

  Hong Jun roughly understood, he nodded: "However, you ghosts are not that scary after all." Looking at the young girl in front of him who seemed very innocent, he found himself feeling a sense of closeness to ghosts.

  "What, aren't you afraid of ghosts?" The female ghost named Ping'an made a fierce face, but she was originally quite pretty and couldn't hide her beautiful nature. Moreover, Hong Jun had just almost strangled her brother to death, so he wasn't afraid of her ferocity.

  A dark shadow suddenly swept across the sky, accompanied by a faint rustling of wings. Hong Jun was startled and looked up, but saw only a vast expanse of starlight.

  "Is it a bird?" he asked cautiously, clenching his fists and being on guard in secret.

  "It's an owl." Ji Xiang said, the ghost's eyes in the dark night could see clearly what humans saw during the day, and Hong Jun couldn't see clearly, but he could.

  In the distant darkness, a mournful cry of "gugu" echoed, Hong Jun felt embarrassed and smiled awkwardly: "This thing is more terrifying than your ghosts."

  The night owl entered the house without a sound. He suddenly thought of this sentence, his heart tightened, and he perked up his ears to try to determine where the bird had landed, but found that in the dark night, he couldn't tell directions at all. He could only vaguely judge that it seemed like the direction of his own home was over there, but the layered tile houses made him not dare to be certain.

  Could it be Third Uncle? He didn't dare think further.

  "Ghosts and birds are not scary, what's most terrifying in this world is the human heart." Rui Xin said suddenly.

  "It's easy to paint a dragon or a tiger, but hard to paint their bones", "People are face-to-face, but their hearts are separated by thousands of miles", "A person's heart is separated from their belly", "The most poisonous thing is a woman's heart"...... As soon as Rui Xin spoke, a string of phrases flashed through Hong Jun's mind. He nodded his head in extreme agreement. Clearing his throat, he was about to express his feelings, but was interrupted by Rui Xin's question: "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" She asked Ping An, and Hong Jun could only swallow his profound understanding of human nature back into his belly.

  "We are the guardians of the Hong family, so we must guard the ancestral tomb." Although Hong Jun didn't quite believe her words, Ping An continued to chatter on without knowing any better. Hong Jun was helpless but also didn't want to interrupt her, showing respect for others' courtesy, which he still had. Even though his opponent was a ghost and the rules that applied to humans might not be applicable to them.

  Ping'an chattered on and on, Hong Jun stole a glance at Jixiang, who looked very steady. Jixiang listened to his sister's chatter without any objection, so Hong Jun believed Ping'an's words.