Past-Life Dad

Past-life dad—a father from a previous lifetime—was a novel title that belonged exclusively to Li Haoran. Qin Yanyan was traveling the world, searching for an opportunity to achieve Core Formation, experience the mortal realm, and seek a breakthrough in her state of mind. She had passed through only a few commanderies and stopped to spend a single night in a dilapidated temple, yet she had already run into something so wild. After a full month of persuasion from her mother, Qin Yanyan had just been about to accept this completely unrelated father, only to stumble into a scene like this. Experiencing the mortal realm was not supposed to feel like this. "Wait, Yanyan, let me explain!" Li Haoran panicked. Heaven as his witness, he truly had come here to catch a ghost. Before he could squeeze any useful intelligence out of her, Qin Yanyan had caught him red-handed. The Central Continent was immense; how on earth had he crossed paths with Qin Yanyan? Was this the tangled karma between father and daughter? The white-clad female ghost realized something was amiss and tried to flee, but with a swift grappling maneuver shifting between substantive and insubstantial, Li Haoran pinned her firmly to the ground. This was a technique Li Haoran had learned from artifact crafting, adapted slightly for ghost-hunting. Though both were at late Foundation Establishment, the ghost was nowhere near Li Haoran's match. "I took on a sect mission! I came here with Senior Brother Lu and Senior Brother Meng to catch ghosts!" Li Haoran hurriedly explained. If Qin Yanyan went to Su Yiren harboring this misunderstanding, he wouldn't even need to inherit Qin Yuanhao's memories—he could skip straight to his tenth lifetime. "Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou?" Hearing her past-life dad mention those names, Qin Yanyan recalled the two Dao Seeking Sect prodigies. One was the disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect's Sect Master, and the other was the eldest young master of the Meng Family. Their credibility was far higher than Li Haoran's. "Yes! They're sleeping right next door—they can definitely prove my innocence!" As Li Haoran spoke, he used a refined soul-locking chain to bind the white-clad female ghost to a load-bearing pillar before heading off to find Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. Skeptical, Qin Yanyan followed him to look for the two. Li Haoran threw the door open, talking terrifyingly fast. "Brother Lu, you have to prove my innocence! We came here to catch ghosts, right? You never gave the signal to strike, so the ghost must not have come to your—" Before he could finish, he froze. A bizarre smirk sat on Lu Yang's lips as he tugged at a green-clad female ghost. The ghost resisted desperately to no avail, wearing an expression of utter despair as she was left entirely at Lu Yang's mercy. Nothing about this scene looked like the work of an upright gentleman. "Senior Brother Lu, you..." Li Haoran stammered, completely blindsided that Lu Yang was this kind of person. Seeing this, Qin Yanyan concluded Li Haoran was full of excuses and flew into a rage. "You still dare claim you came to catch ghosts?!" "Let's check on Senior Brother Meng! He's definitely catching his ghost properly!" Li Haoran was certain nothing untoward could happen on Meng Jingzhou's end. With the Bachelor Spiritual Root, even if his brain had naughty ideas, his body was utterly incapable of putting them into action. Then Qin Yanyan saw an unconscious red-clad female ghost, and Meng Jingzhou squatting beside her, intently studying her. "Drugged and violated?!" Qin Yanyan went pale with shock. Why was each one wilder than the last? Compared to these two, Li Haoran's behavior actually looked the most conservative. Li Haoran: "..." Why did nothing good ever happen whenever he went out with Senior Brother Lu and Senior Brother Meng? The last time they went out, he had wound up with a fiancée two thousand years his senior, a biological daughter with zero blood relation to him, and the status of former cult master of one of the Four Great Demonic Cults. And this time, when he needed them to clear his name, both of them pulled nonsense like this. "Bullshit! Who's saying I drugged anyone?! Don't you know I have the Bachelor Spiritual Root?!" Meng Jingzhou snapped angrily, turning around to see who was so blind. "Oh? Hey there, dear niece! Come to find your dad?" Feeling the Golden Core realm aura radiating from Meng Jingzhou, Qin Yanyan repeatedly reminded herself that she couldn't beat him in a fight. Meanwhile, Lu Yang had finally subdued the Immortal Fairy and reclaimed control of his body. Dangling the green-clad ghost by the collar, he came over to find Li Haoran and Meng Jingzhou. Only after the three pulled out their sect-issued mission scroll and Meng Jingzhou brandished the irrefutable truth of his Bachelor Spiritual Root did Qin Yanyan finally believe they had come to hunt ghosts rather than solicit prostitutes. Dangling in Lu Yang's grip, the green-clad female ghost trembled from head to toe. These three were actually from the Dao Seeking Sect, one of the Five Great Immortal Sects! Everyone returned to the main hall, where Li Haoran tied the still-trembling green-clad ghost and the unconscious red-clad ghost beside the white-clad one. With that, all three female ghosts were secured. "So, the Dao Seeking Sect posted a ghost-hunting mission, and you came to Guhuai Town to fulfill it?" Qin Yanyan largely believed their story now. She still did not know that her father from her past life was a reincarnator of the Nine Nether Cult. Li Haoran had only obtained Qin Haoran's memory fragments after Su Yiren and Qin Yanyan departed. It was difficult to bring this up with Qin Yanyan. Li Haoran couldn't very well tell her, 'Your dad was a demonic cult leader in his past life and a terrible person.' That would truly shatter their father-daughter relationship beyond repair. "What about you? How did you end up in Guhuai Town?" "Mother said that during my last visit to your place, I picked a fight right away, acted far too rashly, and needed to cultivate my temperament. Since it was also time for me to form my core, she sent me out to travel and temper my state of mind. "Earlier today in Shoutian Commandery, I browsed the chamber of commerce and spent all my traveling expenses. Since Shoutian Commandery didn't have any free inns, I had no choice but to keep heading north. When I saw an old temple here, I figured I'd stay the night, so I came in." Li Haoran felt deeply worried about Qin Yanyan's journey. A few more days of this and she would probably be performing street tricks for coin. "F-Four esteemed heroes! We may be ghosts, but we've never harmed anyone!" the green-clad ghost cried out, pleading her innocence. They had carefully harvested yang energy without stirring up trouble precisely out of fear of drawing righteous cultivators. Yet their worst fear had come true—and the ones who came were from the Dao Seeking Sect, the strongest of the righteous sects! Word had it that righteous cultivators loathed demons, monsters, and ghosts, killing every one they came across. Could they really survive falling into their hands? "Never harmed anyone?" Meng Jingzhou sneered. "The mission details clearly state that you harvest people's yang energy, leaving your victims lethargic and in a constant stupor. Are you telling me that's all made up?" The white-clad ghost was on the verge of tears. "It really isn't true! We exercise great moderation when harvesting yang energy! We only take a tiny bit, which won't affect anyone at all! Besides, our yang harvesting has already been registered with the town mayor! "We know taking too much harms people, and then who would ever come back? Why drain someone dry in one go when you can take a little across multiple visits? We understand the principle of not draining the pond to catch all the fish!" "Wait. The town mayor knows about this?" "Not just the mayor—the travelers in town can all testify to it!" the white-clad ghost swore earnestly. Lu Yang and the other three were thoroughly bewildered by her words. "It's the honest truth, we're not lying to you! Just earlier, the three of us went knocking on doors at the various inns, asking if anyone needed our services. We had just finished a round of house calls and come back when we saw three heroes lying in the temple. Seeing how vibrant your yang energy was, we thought we'd harvest a little bit from you to wrap up the night." Lu Yang: "???" You even do door-to-door service?! The white-clad female ghost smiled sheepishly. "Attentive service is how you get repeat customers, after all." Qin Yanyan was even more shocked than Lu Yang. Was this what the mortal realm was like?