JOS Extra 6

The man was frightened by Jiang Feng. After a moment, he seemed to make up his mind. “I promised them, I cannot betray them. I hate being lied to the most.”

A vein bulged on Jiang Feng’s forehead. “This lord has not lied to you.”

“Xue Ming,” he said loudly, “If you can really bring Xue Ming to justice… he truly deserves it, right? Then I’ll believe you!”

Jiang Feng asked, “What would count as bringing him to justice?”

“He admits his wrongdoing! Or returns his money! Those he harmed should receive an apology.”

Jiang Feng thought for a moment, put away the Register of Merits and Demerits, and said, “Agreed.”

The man said in surprise, “Really?”

Jiang Feng: “Follow me.”

As he was about to go down from the rooftop, Officer Ye came up from below.

“How did it go? The ambulance arrived, they want to take him to the hospital. Should we follow?”

Jiang Feng said, “I need to return to A City.”

“Damn!” Officer Ye said, “Wait for me, let me hand things over to someone.”

They had mobilized so many people to come find someone, only to knock the person unconscious and then leave. No wonder they would be treated as suspicious individuals.

Officer Ye briefly explained the situation, then drove Jiang Feng back to A City.

Mr. Xue had already been discharged from the hospital and returned home. His body didn’t have any major problems; it was mainly psychological fear.

Jiang Feng asked Xue Qi for her family’s address and drove there directly.

“Holy crap!” Officer Ye listened to him describe the process and sighed. “Ghosts even work in gangs now? That’s too amazing!”

He clicked his tongue in amazement. “You folks in the Underworld really have it tough.”

The journey went quite smoothly.

Officer Ye had no interest in chatting with ghosts. Thinking about his close contact with a ghost made him feel a bit creeped out. Fortunately, the man obediently lay on the car roof being blown by the wind, not making any troublesome moves.

It was already very late when they arrived in A City, but considering the urgency of the situation, they still went to visit that day.

Mrs. Xue, wearing pajamas, opened the door with some surprise. “You’re here again? Did you discover something?”

She let the two men in and couldn’t help but shiver. Her gaze frequently looked toward Officer Ye. She felt like there was something extra in the room, yet wasn’t sure what it was.

She asked, “Who is this?”

Seeing that Jiang Feng had no intention of explaining, Officer Ye could only introduce himself.

Mr. Xue also came out and was standing in the living room.

Jiang Feng walked up to him and said directly, “Can I take a look at your phone?”

“My phone was lost. I dropped it some time ago and haven’t bought a new one,” Mr. Xue said. “There wasn’t anything important in it.”

Jiang Feng: “Did you suddenly have an extra app appear?”

Mr. Xue looked at him with surprise, then quickly restrained himself and shook his head. “No.”

Jiang Feng: “How much money is in your account?”

Mrs. Xue felt deeply offended and spoke first, “What do you mean by this? What right do you have to ask such questions?”

“It seems you know why we’re here. We don’t want to waste time either,” Jiang Feng said coldly. “What kind of app was it?”

Mr. Xue’s face struggled for a long time before he finally sighed and replied, “A loan app.”

Mrs. Xue interjected, “What loan app? Old Xue, why did you take out loans?”

Jiang Feng: “How much money did you defraud?”

Mr. Xue sighed. “Over ten million, I suppose.”

Mrs. Xue exclaimed in shock, “What are you saying, Old Xue?!”

Jiang Feng pointed to the sofa behind him, indicating he should sit down first. “How long ago was this?”

“Several years ago,” Mr. Xue said with dim eyes. “I looked at the amount on that app, plus interest, it had multiplied to over a billion. All my assets combined wouldn’t be enough to cover that much money. All the money in my accounts has been transferred away.”

Fortunately, not all his assets were in his own accounts. More were in company accounts, and some were with his wife and daughter.

Mrs. Xue was completely stunned, standing woodenly at the door.

The man floated in front of Jiang Feng and began examining Xue Ming carefully.

He hated this man, but to be precise, from being deceived to his death, he didn’t even know this person’s appearance or name. It was truly ridiculous.

He had once worshipped and respected this man, so this was what he looked like.

Jiang Feng waved his hand back, pushing the man behind him, and continued, “I can now—”

“No!” he immediately said, “How can I afford to compensate so much money? Besides, what I did was legal. If I had broken the law, I would have been arrested back then. All my actions at the time were not illegal!”

Officer Ye frowned and said, “The law can only prove whether you’re guilty or innocent, it cannot prove whether you’re right or wrong.”

Xue Ming’s body trembled. “But so many people were clearly wrong, why are they only coming after me?!”

Jiang Feng: “Do you think this interest rate is unreasonable?”

“Do you think it’s reasonable? This is loan sharking! Even loan sharks don’t charge such high interest!”

“But it’s also legally permitted. This financial company is a legal enterprise, and this is the interest rate set by the company,” Jiang Feng said with a sneer. “As you said, if legal matters are demanding compensation from you, you should compensate. Moreover, your current success includes not only defrauded property from others, but also several lives.”

Xue Ming was struck speechless, his face lost some color, but he still firmly shook his head.

The man cursed out loud. “Damn!”

Jiang Feng nodded. “I understand. I hope you won’t regret it in the future.”

“What do you mean?” Xue Ming immediately stood up, nervously asking, “What are you planning to do?!”

Jiang Feng walked toward the door and said seemingly casually, “I suppose you don’t know that Xue Qi has also started hearing water sounds. Who’s next? Your wife?”

“What?!” Xue Ming roared, “No!”

“This isn’t for you to decide, it’s decided by those you’ve harmed,” Jiang Feng said with his hand on the door handle, his voice heavy. “What’s been done cannot be covered up, someone will always remember. Do you think you can sleep peacefully with a clear conscience? There’s no such good fortune.”

With that, he swung the door open and left first.

“Wait! Wait for me!” Xue Ming frantically chased after him, trying to negotiate. “We can discuss this, wait!”

The ghost kept looking back, and after the building disappeared from view, he said angrily, “You didn’t do what you promised!”

Jiang Feng: “Shut up.”

The man muttered. “You even threatened me.”

Officer Ye: “What are you going to do now?”

Jiang Feng took out his phone and sent a message to Chu Xuanliang.

“You gather all the money to the financial company, then what?” Jiang Feng asked. “What do you want to do?”

The male ghost said defiantly, “I won’t tell you!”

Jiang Feng: “Do you want to destroy that company, or destroy their boss?”

“I said I won’t tell you!”

Jiang Feng stopped by the roadside and said calmly, “The Five Ghosts Money Transportation spell cannot be cast without the caster’s belongings as a medium. Consider it yourself.”

The male ghost was stunned, then said: “You want to use Five Ghosts Money Transportation?”

Five Ghosts Money Transportation was an advanced spell technique. How could ordinary people have such ability? Moreover, every spell had a price, and even Taoist priests with profound magic power might not like to use it even if they could.

Jiang Feng just stared at him steadily.

The male ghost was extremely conflicted, but finally said, “…Alright, I’ll tell you.”

What second option was there besides believing the Judge’s words?

Even if he didn’t believe, he would still fall into his hands eventually.

Preparing the necessary items for the spell took several days.

First collecting the names of victims, then tactfully asking living family members for hair or clothing, was a lengthy process.

Because there were so many people, they couldn’t attend to those with small amounts or minor cases. They only selected a few families who had been severely harmed.

After everything was ready, they gathered at the large open space outside Qianyuan Temple.

“So many people’s hair?” Chu Xuanliang said in confusion. “Isn’t Five Ghosts Money Transportation usually one-to-one? This many-to-many situation… won’t it anger the Five Spirit Lords?”

Jiang Feng: “It’s fine, you draw it. I’ll command them.”

Hearing him say this, Chu Xuanliang boldly proceeded.

Several ghosts stood around the perimeter of the formation, Jiang Feng stood in the center, and Chu Xuanliang and other Taoist priests formed hand seals to summon the Five Spirit Lords.

Jiang Feng lit the hair in the metal bucket with fire, and the formation drawn with cinnabar began to glow.

The money-transporting ghosts from the five directions—east, south, west, north, and center—appeared as expected, but they didn’t act, just wandered around the formation in confusion.

Finally, one ghost stopped and angrily shouted at the person in the center of the formation. “You’re making things difficult for us!”

Jiang Feng didn’t speak, just made eye contact with the wealth-generating ghost.

After sensing the other’s arrogant provocation… a moment later, the Five Spirit Lords fell silent and disappeared from the formation one after another.

The formation’s light remained, and after a moment, everyone heard faint sounds of flowing water by their ears.

Finally, the sound completely dissipated along with the light.

A small ghost nearby boldly asked, “Did it work?”

“It should have worked,” Chu Xuanliang said. “This Five Ghosts Money Transportation talisman transports financial luck, so the effect won’t be immediate. But we’ve already broken their Five Elements Metal phase. Their business will decline rapidly from now on, and their financial luck will transfer to the victims.”

(TL: 五金 = literally “five metals”; here it refers to wealth/funds/resources in Taoist and feng shui usage.)

The ghosts were delighted.

Jiang Feng: “Satisfied?”

The man in the crowd nodded shyly.

“Then it’s your turn now.” Jiang Feng drew a circle. “You all will be escorted back to the Underworld for trial.”

This time the ghosts didn’t resist and obediently let the underworld messengers put chains on them and drag them into the Underworld.

……

A month later, Zhang Yangyang suddenly remembered the two people he had introduced to each other and called to ask Jiang Feng about the progress. He discovered that Jiang Feng was away again, so he could only settle for asking Chu Xuanliang instead.

“Do you know about the supernatural case I asked Jiang Feng to help Xue Qi solve? Was it a difficult case?”

“It was alright,” Chu Xuanliang said. “It’s been resolved.”

“Really resolved?!” Zhang Yangyang exclaimed in surprise. “But I heard their family went bankrupt! Did you see that news? Their tutoring institution kept having problems—first instructors molesting students, then suspected bribery, then government departments got involved in investigations. Now several branches in the city have closed, it just… looks abnormal no matter how you look at it! Was she harmed?”

Chu Xuanliang said, “No, it’s normal.”

“Her financial situation seems particularly bad now. She barely comes to class anymore and keeps muttering the name of some company, I don’t know what for. I looked up that financial company out of curiosity, and wow, equally tragic.” Zhang Yangyang said, “Employees conspiring internally and externally for illegal fundraising, got arrested. The company was also investigated, the CEO fled abroad and his whereabouts are currently unknown. I mean, what’s going on?”

Chu Xuanliang laughed: “A situation of eliminating evil for the people. Any other questions?”

Zhang Yangyang: “No, that’s all.”

“Study hard, improve daily,” Chu Xuanliang said. “Stay grounded, reach for the stars.”

Zhang Yangyang: “…Strive to achieve comprehensive well-being.”

Chu Xuanliang chuckled. “Good. Keep it up.”