It was nearly midnight.
If we shift our gaze back to a luxurious villa in the suburbs of Shen City, Xiang Anping was anxiously awaiting something.
As the clock approached midnight, his unease intensified. He paced back and forth inside, repeatedly closing and reopening the balcony door until midnight finally arrived.
Resigned, he went out onto the balcony. He could vaguely see a somewhat hunched, dark figure standing on the street. The figure seemed to glance at him, and then suddenly, a ghostly green light, like a firefly, floated up.
At this sight, a flicker of horror and a lingering fear crossed Xiang Anping's eyes. Even if supernatural beings truly existed in this world, the existence of "ghosts" was still beyond the comprehension of most humans.
The eerie green light hovered briefly before him, then flew back into the room, circled once, and suddenly swooped down into the body on the street below. The body then seemed to come alive, its form slithering up the wall like a gecko.
The shadow loomed over him, and Xiang Anping's legs gave way, causing him to collapse to the ground with a thud. His teeth chattered, but instead of an attack, he received a cold laugh.
"With your appearance, you think you can win the favor of the Queen of Shanghai?"
The voice was old and hoarse, as if produced from a dry, unlubricated throat, instilling a strange sense of dread.
Xiang Anping was no exception. He trembled as he looked up and saw the "person's" full form: a hunched old man with one eye larger than the other, his face expressionless and as pale as paper.
Even though it wasn't the first time he'd seen him, it still filled him with an eeriness and fear.
Xiang Anping swallowed hard, glancing again at the other man's feet. Seeing a shadowy figure, he suppressed his fear and said, "Didn't you say you had a way to win the favor of the Queen of Shanghai?"
The hunched old man sneered. "There is a method, but having a method doesn't guarantee success..."
"Alright, go inside. Finish your business today, and I won't come back."
After entering the room and sitting down, Xiang Anping was still extremely uneasy. He recalled his first meeting with the old man a few nights ago. The old man had suddenly appeared while he was taking a shower, and in his fright, he slipped and fell on the wet floor, exposing his unusually large penis.
The old man had given him a deep look and then left, but for the next few nights, he would come looking for him at midnight, even after he changed his address.
So he couldn't help but ask the question that had been nagging at him for a long time.
"You...are you a human or a ghost?"
The hunched old man glanced at Xiang Anping and said in a hoarse voice, "I am both a ghost and a human."
Can a person be both a human and a ghost?
Xiang Anping simply didn't believe it, but the old man continued unhurriedly, "The reason I am a ghost is because when I was alive, during the Chenghua era of the Ming Dynasty, I was a Taoist master named Zhang Zichen."
"But I am also considered human now..."
The hunched old man, or rather Zhang Zichen, claimed to be from the Chenghua era of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, extraordinary individuals existed, but they were generally referred to as martial artists or Taoists. One cultivated from the outside in, the other from the inside out, but ultimately they both arrived at the same goal: reaching the level of alchemy.
This level is the ceiling of cultivation. Martial artists could fight against ten thousand armies, while Taoists only sought immortality. There are many ways to become an immortal, one being ascension to heaven, but no one has ever succeeded.
The second path is "Corpse Liberation to Immortality," which involves reaching the level of alchemy. After death, a wisp of one's soul can reside in relics or remains, known as a "Corpse Liberation" Immortal. Every few decades, after absorbing sufficient spiritual energy, this soul can roam freely, seeking out individuals with exceptional aptitude to possess and reincarnate in.
This is essentially what people call a ghost, an existence driven away by firecrackers. Ordinary people, regardless of their grievances, simply become a handful of dust after death, not even qualifying to become a "ghost."
While this isn't true immortality, its success rate is far higher than ascension, which is why the old man chose this path.
However, unfortunately, the hunchbacked old man couldn't find a suitable target each time. Even worse, the last time he ventured out, he was spotted by the Queen of Shanghai, who used a mysterious exorcism technique to subdue him, forcibly sealing his soul into the body of a mentally challenged old man.
Having been forced into this fusion, he can no longer possess another body and is now a servant to the Queen of Shanghai, Jiang Yingji. "Zhang, Senior Zhang, why did you come to find me?"
After hearing the hunched old man's explanation, Xiang Anping didn't believe it at all, or rather, he didn't care. Since it didn't seem to be a ghost in the traditional sense, he felt much more at ease and even dared to ask the old man why he had come to see him. After all, a ghost that could be communicated with wasn't really a "ghost" anymore.
Unexpectedly, the hunchbacked old man sneered again upon hearing this: "If I hadn't helped you, would you still be sitting here?"
"I ask you, a few days ago, didn't you harbor murderous intent towards a young man?"
Xiang Anping suddenly recalled the scenes that unfolded in front of the Luo family's gate, gritting his teeth and nodding fiercely. The hunchbacked old man said, "That night, the Queen of Shanghai asked me to find that taxi driver to understand the situation. The next day, I naturally came to find you."
"I have a complete grasp of what happened. If I had told Jiang Yingji the truth, you would have been killed by her long ago. How could you still be sitting here?"
Xiang Anping felt a chill in his heart and subconsciously said, "But I investigated that person later. His name seems to be Li Dong. He's just an orphan with no background, but somehow he got lucky, living in the Luo family and even getting engaged to Luo Xuetang. Then he disappeared for many years..."
"But how could he be connected to the Queen of Shanghai?"
The hunched old man's eyes flickered as he said, "I've seen that man once. One glance was enough to tell he must be very closely related to the Queen of Shanghai—either her mother or aunt."
Xiang Anping's mouth dropped open in disbelief. For a moment, she forgot her fear, abruptly standing up and approaching the old man. A burning jealousy gripped her like ants gnawing at her. How could that seemingly insignificant poor boy possess such a status?
No wonder he was engaged to the Luo family and so close to the Queen of Shanghai!
"You don't need to be jealous," the hunched old man said calmly, seemingly seeing through Xiang Anping's thoughts. "I took something from you two days ago and yesterday. Do you know why?"
Xiang Anping also found this strange. This eerie old man had returned every day for the past few days, but hadn't harmed him. Instead, he would take something each time. The first time, he took the hair from his groin; the second time, he took his blood; and this third time…
"I can use a secret technique to transfer some of the favor the Queen of the Demon City has for that young man named Li Dong to you."
"This is your chance. Now, all that's missing is a wisp of essence blood. Will you do it yourself, or will I do it?" the old man said, raising his dry, scaly, claw-like hand.
Xiang Anping waved his hand with a bitter face, saying, "I'll do it myself…"
After pulling down his pants, a thick, erect penis with a strangely reddish-brown tinge hung from Xiang Anping's crotch. Although it was still limp, it was already almost as large as a normal erection. The hunchbacked old man's eyes flashed. The reason he had shown mercy was because he had noticed the man's penis was exceptionally special—a superb penis, second only to the Pure Yang Jade Penis. When erect, the shaft would bulge with more than nine blue veins, turning a deep red and burning hot.