“Do you dare to accompany us to meet the mayor if he knows about this?” Li Haoran didn’t believe their ghostly words, hoping to see a shadow of fear in their expressions.

Unfortunately, there was none.

The four men and three ghosts waited in the dilapidated temple for a night. As dawn was about to break and the moon was gradually emitting a soft halo, transitioning into the sun, they set off to find the mayor.

Gu Huai Town was famous for its locust trees, which were everywhere and all quite old. The thickest old locust tree was so large that even three Lu Yangs couldn’t wrap their arms around it. The white-clothed female ghost, who called herself Xiao Qi, claimed that this old locust tree had a history of over a thousand years, older than Gu Huai Town itself.

Locust trees are yin in nature, making the atmosphere of the entire town gloomy and cool, a perfect summer retreat.

Among all the towns Lu Yang had visited, Gu Huai Town was the largest.

Moreover, Gu Huai Town was thriving and would continue to grow in the future.

After declaring their identities at the yamen, the mayor quickly came out to greet them. The mayor was somewhat plump and always had a smile on his face.

“I didn’t expect the Taoist masters from the Seek Tao Sect to visit this place. I apologize for not greeting you from afar,” the mayor apologized immediately, keeping his attitude very humble.

Lu Yang noticed that the mayor was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

The mayor noticed the three female ghosts behind the four men, his expression slightly changed, but he quickly regained his composure and politely said, “My surname is Fan, and my name is Fan Guiren. You can just call me Little Fan.”

“Please come in.”

“Mayor Fan is too polite.” Lu Yang took a sip of the tea poured by Mayor Fan, nodded slightly, and said, “Hmm, I can’t tell what kind of tea this is.”

“We came here for a reason, Mayor Fan. We want to understand the origins of these three female ghosts.”

“I see.” Mayor Fan looked downcast. To be honest, he didn’t really want to talk about this, but since people from the Seek Tao Sect were asking, he had no choice but to speak.

“Do you know that these three female ghosts are absorbing yang energy from humans?” Lu Yang asked directly.

“I do. When a traveler came to report that there were female ghosts absorbing yang energy in the dilapidated temple outside the town, I was shocked and immediately went to investigate.”

“When I arrived at the temple, I realized that Xiao Qi and the other two ghosts were not evil spirits that would drain a person’s yang energy in one go, but good ghosts who meant no harm to humans.”

“At that time, Gu Huai Town was not as bustling as it is today. I wanted to develop the tourism industry to increase the town’s income, but just a bunch of locust trees couldn’t attract people.”

“I thought of the female ghosts. To avoid any accidents, I specifically checked the laws and found that the laws only prohibit female ghosts from absorbing yang energy in a way that harms people or affects their normal lives. There is no complete ban on female ghosts absorbing yang energy.”

“Absorbing yang energy from female ghosts is not considered prostitution, which means travelers don’t even have to pay.”

“Moreover, the tax regulations do not state that ghosts need to pay taxes for absorbing yang energy.”

“After weighing the pros and cons, I decided to use the female ghosts as a selling point to promote Gu Huai Town. Surprisingly, the effect was quite good. Many travelers came seeking romantic encounters. The town’s income visibly increased, the local finances improved, and I was rewarded by the county. With the extra money, I smoothly cultivated to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.”

“The county originally intended to promote me, but being a mayor here, with food, drink, and spirit stones, is better than being a subordinate in the county, so I refused.”

“I will consider a promotion to the county only after I reach the Golden Elixir stage.” Mayor Fan had a clear plan for his political career.

The three female ghosts nodded repeatedly after hearing this, indicating that they were innocent and good ghosts.

“Wait, if this is a good thing, who reported to our sect that there were female ghosts here?” Meng Jingzhou was puzzled.

This mission was not discovered by the sect, but reported to the Seek Tao Sect.

A competitor?

Does this industry have competitors?

Mayor Fan was also surprised. He thought that Lu Yang and the others had just happened to pass by, discovered the female ghosts here, and decided to exorcise the demons.

How could it be a report?

“Does Mayor Fan have any clues?”

“Not yet… Can I ask what the mission statement said?”

“It said that there were female ghosts in Gu Huai Town absorbing yang energy from humans, causing scholars to lack energy and be listless.”

Mayor Fan’s face turned strange.

“Does Mayor Fan know what’s going on?”

Mayor Fan nodded, “The Zhou family has a son, everyone calls him Little Zhou. Little Zhou’s academic performance is average, he has taken the scholar exam several times but has never passed.”

“But Little Zhou’s mother always thought it was because Little Zhou often went to see the female ghosts, which distracted him, made him lack energy, and didn’t study seriously.”

“Little Zhou’s mother came to me, hoping that I would punish the female ghosts, but everyone knows Little Zhou’s academic level. He is playful by nature and doesn’t study hard, which has nothing to do with the female ghosts.”

“I just thought she was making a fuss, so I ignored her. After Little Zhou’s mother left, a few more people blamed their children’s failure to pass the exam on the female ghosts, and I rejected them all.””Unexpectedly, they were relentless and reported this matter to the Seek Tao Sect.”

Mayor Fan sighed, “The three of us, Xiao Qi, have tried our best in this matter.”

The white-clothed female ghost, Xiao Qi, said, “We three sisters were afraid that this matter would escalate and let the righteous path know of our existence, so we called the poor-performing scholars in the town to the temple and gave them lessons.”

“We three sisters were all from scholarly families when we were alive, so teaching them was more than enough.”

“If they study well, there will be rewards. If they don’t study well, there will be no rewards. Under this reward and punishment mechanism, their grades have improved dramatically.”

Lu Yang looked up and down at the three female ghosts. The red-clothed female ghost’s lips were swollen like sausages, let’s not mention that.

The white-clothed female ghost and the green-clothed female ghost were pretty and dressed lightly, each with their own charm. Under such circumstances, those scholars could actually learn?

Oh right, if they couldn’t learn, there would be no rewards.

“The scholars were also willing to learn in this way. Take yesterday as an example, it was raining heavily, a rarity in ten years. It was as dark as night during the day, but Xiao Zhou and the others were still willing to brave the rain to listen to our lectures. They continued to study until the heavy rain passed, and only then did they leave the temple, exhausted in body and mind.”

“Unexpectedly, despite our hard work, we were still reported by their parents.” Xiao Qi felt life was hard, it’s not easy to live, and it’s not easy to die either.

Lu Yang summed up, “So you run a private school during the day, giving lessons to the students, and wander around the town at night, going to the inn to absorb Yang Qi?”

“That’s right.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yang and the others felt ashamed. The female ghosts were more diligent than them.

Qin Yanyan was amazed, so this is what ghosts are like?

Xiao Qi continued, “Not only that, we have to hand over seventy percent of the Yang Qi we absorb, and only thirty percent is ours.”

“Huh? Who do you hand it over to?” Lu Yang was puzzled, the court didn’t need Yang Qi.

“It’s our boss, we all call him Mr. Mi. Mr. Mi also said that there is some treasure left by the previous leader in Guhuai Town, and asked us to keep an eye on it.”

(End of the chapter)