Chapter 292: The Hardworking Female Ghosts

"You say the town mayor knows about this? Do you dare come with us to see him?" Li Haoran didn't believe their preposterous claims and hoped to see a hint of fear in their expressions.

Unfortunately, there was none.

The four people and three ghosts waited through the night in the ruined temple. Just before dawn, as the moon's gentle halo faded and the sun began to rise, they set off for the mayor's residence.

Ancient Sophora Town was famous for its sophora trees, which were everywhere. All were ancient, some so thick it would take three Lu Yangs to embrace them. The white-clad female ghost, who called herself Little Seven, said that the oldest sophora tree was over a thousand years old, even older than Ancient Sophora Town itself.

Sophora trees were associated with Yin energy, giving the entire town a cool, somewhat somber atmosphere—making it a perfect summer retreat.

Among the towns Lu Yang had visited, Ancient Sophora Town was arguably the largest.

Furthermore, Ancient Sophora Town was thriving and looked set to grow even larger in the future.

After the four introduced themselves at the yamen, the town mayor quickly came out to greet them. The mayor was somewhat stout, with a perpetually smiling face for everyone he met.

"I can't believe Daoist Masters from the Dao Inquiry Sect have graced this place. Forgive my lack of proper welcome, forgive my lack of proper welcome," the mayor apologized immediately, adopting a very humble demeanor.

Lu Yang noticed that the mayor was a late Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The mayor also noticed the three female ghosts behind the four, and his expression flickered slightly before quickly regaining composure. He politely said, "My surname is Fan, and my given name is Guiren. Please, just call me Little Fan."

"Please, come in, all four of you."

"Mayor Fan, you're too kind," Lu Yang took a sip of the tea Mayor Fan poured, nodding slightly. He couldn't tell what kind of tea it was.

"Mayor Fan, you likely already know the reason for our visit. We want to understand the full story behind these three female ghosts."

"As expected," Mayor Fan sighed dejectedly. Frankly, he didn't really want to discuss the matter, but with people from the Dao Inquiry Sect asking, he couldn't refuse.

"Does Mayor Fan know about these three female ghosts absorbing people's Yang energy?" Lu Yang got straight to the point.

"Yes, I do. A traveler reported to me that there were female ghosts in the ruined temple outside town absorbing people's Yang energy. When I heard this, I thought, 'How can this be!' and immediately led a group to investigate."

"Only when I arrived at the ruined temple did I realize that Little Seven and the other two ghosts were not malicious spirits who would drain a person's Yang energy all at once; rather, they were benevolent ghosts with no intention of harming people."

"At that time, Ancient Sophora Town wasn't as bustling as it is today. I wanted to develop a tourism industry and increase the town's income, but a bunch of sophora trees alone wouldn't attract many people."

"Then I thought of the female ghosts. To avoid any trouble, I specifically checked the laws. I found that the law only forbade female ghosts from absorbing Yang energy if it caused harm or interfered with normal life; it didn't outright ban it."

"Female ghosts absorbing Yang energy wasn't considered prostitution, meaning travelers didn't even have to pay."

"Moreover, the tax regulations didn't state that ghosts absorbing Yang energy needed to pay taxes."

"After careful consideration, I decided to use the female ghosts as a gimmick to promote Ancient Sophora Town. And I must say, it worked quite well. Many travelers came seeking romantic encounters, and the town's income visibly increased. The local finances improved, the county rewarded me, and I also became quite prosperous, smoothly cultivating to late Foundation Establishment."

"Originally, the county had intentions of promoting me, but being a mayor here, with good food, drinks, and spirit stones, was better than working as a subordinate in the county, so I declined."

"Even if I were to be promoted to the county, I'd wait until I reached the Golden Core stage," Mayor Fan had a very clear plan for his political career.

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

"Wait, if this is such a good thing, then who asked our sect for help, claiming there were female ghosts here?" Meng Jingzhou wondered.

This mission wasn't discovered by the sect itself; it was someone who reported it to the Dao Inquiry Sect.

A competitor?This industry has competitors?

Mayor Fan was also surprised. He had thought Lu Yang and the others were just passing by, discovered the female ghosts, and were casually subduing them.

How could it have been reported by someone?

"Does Mayor Fan have any idea?"

"Not yet... Oh, right, may I ask what the mission brief said?"

"It simply said that female ghosts in Ancient Sophora Town were absorbing people's Yang energy, making scholars listless and lacking energy."

Mayor Fan's expression turned odd.

"Does Mayor Fan know what happened?"

Mayor Fan nodded. "Scholar Zhou had a son, everyone called him Little Zhou. Little Zhou's academic performance was mediocre; he failed the scholar examination multiple times."

"But Little Zhou's mother always thought it was because Little Zhou kept going to see the female ghosts, distracting him, making him lack energy, and not study seriously."

"Little Zhou's mother came to me, hoping I would punish the female ghosts. But Little Zhou's academic level was plain for all to see; he was playful by nature and simply couldn't study. It had nothing to do with the female ghosts."

"I just dismissed her as throwing a tantrum and being unreasonable. After Little Zhou's mother left, several other people also blamed their children's failure to achieve scholarly titles on the female ghosts, but I dismissed all of them."

"I never thought they would be so persistent as to report this matter to the Dao Inquiry Sect."

Mayor Fan sighed. "Little Seven and the other two have truly done their best in this matter."

Little Seven, the white-clad female ghost, said, "Our three sisters were afraid that this matter would escalate and that righteous cultivators would learn of our existence, so we called the scholars with poor grades in town to the temple and tutored them."

"Before we died, our three sisters were from scholarly families; teaching them was more than enough for us."

"If they studied well, they received rewards; if not, they received none. Under this reward and punishment system, their grades improved by leaps and bounds."

Lu Yang scrutinized the three female ghosts. The red-clad female ghost's lips were swollen like sausages, but that was beside the point.

The white-clad and green-clad female ghosts were beautiful and lightly dressed, each with her own charm. In such circumstances, those scholars actually managed to study?

Oh, right. No reward if they didn't study.

"The scholars were also willing to study this way. For example, yesterday, there was a once-in-a-decade downpour, and it was as dark as night during the day. Yet, Little Zhou and the others were still willing to brave the rain to listen to our lectures. They studied until after the heavy rain subsided, only then did they leave the temple physically and mentally exhausted."

"We worked so hard, yet we were still reported by their parents," Little Seven felt that life was difficult. It wasn't easy to be alive, and it wasn't easy to be dead either.

Lu Yang summarized, "So, during the day, you run a private school and tutor students, and at night, you roam the town, going to inns to absorb Yang energy?"

"Exactly," Little Seven affirmed.

Lu Yang and his two companions felt ashamed; the female ghosts were more diligent than all three of them.

Qin Yanran clicked her tongue in amazement. "So, ghosts are like this?"

Little Seven continued, "Not only that, 70% of the Yang energy we absorb must be submitted, and only 30% is ours."

"Huh? Submitted to whom?" Lu Yang was puzzled. The imperial court didn't need Yang energy.

"To our superior. We all call him Lord Mi. Lord Mi also mentioned that there's a treasure left by the previous sect master in Ancient Sophora Town, and he told us to keep an eye out for it."