I wasn't deliberately trying to argue.

Humans, ghosts, and sorcerers are all constantly evolving and changing.

For the simplest example, the paper offerings burned for the dead used to be just the same old four items, but now they can be anything: villas, cars, mobile phones, televisions, refrigerators—you name it.

This shows that the needs of the dead are also changing.

Who knows, if you went to the underworld now, you might even be able to buy imported cars and see fashion shows.

Of course, that's just my guess. I certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to go to the underworld to verify my curiosity.

However, when I usually chat with Feng Ruoxing, I've heard her say that the ghosts lingering in the Yang Jian have indeed improved a lot. They no longer hide in those few limited places as they used to.

Vengeful spirits are also looking for new hiding places and using more methods to find scapegoats.

In the past, vengeful spirits would stretch their claws out from wall cracks and crossroads. Now, ghosts might reveal their shadows from mobile phones, televisions, and arcade games.

It's not new for ghosts to use chat software and communication equipment to kill people.

But I didn't understand what joining a chat group had to do with finding the deceased's earthly soul.

Teacher Xia said, "Hall Master Li, have you heard of a 'Shu Gui'?"

I frowned slightly and said, "Are you talking about a ghost in a book, or a storyteller ghost?"

*Shu Gui* can be divided into two types: one is when a person enters a book by chance. That book is his story and his tool for killing. People trapped in the story can never escape.

The second type of *Shu Gui* is a storyteller who told stories to people during his lifetime and continues to tell stories after death. You can't listen to his stories. Once you hear them, they will come true. If he says someone should die in a certain place, that person will inevitably die there.

Both types of *Shu Gui* are incredibly troublesome to encounter.

The stories of *Shu Gui* are like wild horses, with no trace to be found. Falling into his story is like following his train of thought. If you can't jump out of the story, you can't find his true form, and you can only be exhausted to death by the *Shu Gui*.

There's a saying that has always circulated in the world of术道 (Shu Dao, the esoteric arts): "Better to fight a ghost king than to fight a *Shu Gui*."

Teacher Xia gave me an unexpected answer: "Not yet known!"

"The Yin Si (underworld) secret order asks us to bring back a person named Qiao Gongliang. During his lifetime, he was both a storyteller and a writer of ghost stories. Most of the time, he was telling the stories he wrote himself. He once wrote three novels mainly about ghosts, and it is said that the last one that has been passed down is *Xie Guan Pu* (The Evil Coffin Score)."

I tapped the table and said, "When did Qiao Gongliang live?"

Teacher Xia shook his head and said, "His birth and death years are unknown. In the information we can find, Qiao Gongliang didn't have a fixed residence. He always told stories wherever he went! He was considered a little famous among storytellers in the north."

"There were legends of Qiao Gongliang telling ghost stories in the late Qing Dynasty. There were still such legends until the Republic of China."

I said in a deep voice, "According to you, Qiao Gongliang lived for more than a hundred years?"

"Yes!" Old Liu said at this time: "Qiao Gongliang is indeed a real person. When I was a staff officer for the warlord, he was telling stories in this area and was considered a little famous. At that time, one of the warlord's concubines especially liked to listen to him tell stories."

"At first, the warlord didn't care. Later, the concubine went out too frequently, and there were some rumors. The warlord specially sent someone to arrest Qiao Gongliang and bring him to the warlord's mansion."

"When the warlord saw that Qiao Gongliang was an old man, he laughed and sent him away. I saw Qiao Gongliang once at that time."

Old Liu said: "That Qiao Gongliang didn't look like a transcendent master at all, not even like a storyteller. His voice was not good; it sounded too hoarse. It wasn't suitable for storytelling."

In the old days, storytellers didn't have microphones or amplifiers. Storytelling all depended on the voice, and people with hoarse voices were indeed not suitable for storytelling.

I asked, "Old Liu, have you ever heard Qiao Gongliang tell a story?"

Old Liu said, "I heard a part of it. At that time, the warlord also wanted to hear what Qiao Gongliang relied on to hook up with his concubine and make her run out every day. As a result, after listening for a while, he said, 'What the hell is he talking about?' and sent him away."

"The warlord liked to listen to stories and operas, but he liked things like *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* and *Sui Tang*, and he didn't care about ghost stories. He couldn't listen to it after listening to a small part. However, I thought his ghost stories were a bit interesting."

Old Liu changed the subject and said, "That concubine said that what Qiao Gongliang told in the warlord's mansion was different from what he told at the storytelling booth. She didn't say exactly how it was different, and no one asked carefully."

"Everyone present had the same idea as the warlord. They felt that the storyteller hadn't seen much of the world. He was scared to the point of being unable to speak clearly when he was taken to the warlord's mansion at gunpoint. He definitely couldn't tell a good story."

I nodded slightly and said, "In that case, when that Qiao Gongliang was brought into the warlord's mansion, he was probably not a living person."

After saying this, I brought the topic back: "Teacher Xia, you haven't said why we need to join this chat group?"