Mom's Back. The Villain Triplets Are in Trouble.

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: This Neighborhood Is Not Simple

After agonizing over it for a while, Xue Ning finally brought the matter up to Huo Xingye during a work report.

A clarification was certainly necessary. The question was what form it should take, and the crux of the matter was whether to reveal the matriarch’s identity.

Huo Xingye found the whole thing ridiculous. After a moment of thought, he decided against a public reveal for the time being, opting to say only that she was an extremely important family member to whom he was related by blood.

Of course, Gu Qingyin’s identity couldn’t be kept secret forever. But she wasn’t just his mother; he also had two younger brothers. He wanted to wait for Xinghai and Xingchen to return so they could all reunite as a family before making a public announcement.

Huo Xingye was very considerate. He didn’t want his brothers to hear about their mother’s return from someone else, and he didn’t want them to feel the slightest bit of discomfort.

Xue Ning understood. He immediately used a burner account to steer the conversation in the group chats, and the rumors quickly subsided.

When it was time to leave work that evening, Gu Qingyin noticed that everyone was still very enthusiastic, but the intensity had dropped off significantly, which was much more comforting.

”What do you want to eat?”

Huo Xingye asked in the car on the way back.

Gu Qingyin countered with a question, ”What do you usually do for dinner?”

”If I’m early, I eat at home. If it’s later, I eat out.” Huo Xingye didn’t like having too many strangers in his home. The cook only came at mealtimes and would leave immediately after.

Gu Qingyin nodded, her face full of anticipation. ”Can I go back and eat with you, then?”

Huo Xingye actually regretted his words the moment he said them. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take Gu Qingyin back to his place, but... it was a bit inconvenient.

But after a two-second hesitation, he nodded anyway. Then, he took out his phone and sent a couple of messages.

Twenty minutes later, the car entered a high-end residential complex called Tianfu Jin Garden. The casual air about Gu Qingyin vanished, and her expression turned serious.

”What’s wrong?” Huo Xingye had been watching her from the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but ask when he saw her change in demeanor.

Gu Qingyin was born with the Yin Yang Eye and was a peerless genius in the cultivation of Xuan Techniques. Otherwise, she couldn’t possibly have reached the pinnacle of the Mystical World at such a young age.

So, the moment she entered the complex, she saw it. The Yin Qi here was abnormally heavy. In just two hundred meters, she had already spotted several Ghost Shadows.

”Stop the car,” Gu Qingyin commanded in a low voice. The driver instinctively stepped on the brakes.

Gu Qingyin pushed the door open, got out, and walked toward a nearby Ghost Shadow. ’Where there’s something strange, there’s a monster afoot,’ she thought. ’But investigating little by little is too much trouble. It’s better to just ask directly.’

Huo Xingye got out of the car as well. Seeing the look on her face, he simply pursed his lips and followed without a word.

Without a single wasted word, Gu Qingyin flicked out a talisman. A short scream echoed from the darkness. She then calmly produced a small glass bottle, waved its opening toward the dark corner, and finally sealed the mouth of the bottle with another talisman.

Huo Xingye watched the entire thing. But since he couldn’t see Yin Qi, from his perspective, Gu Qingyin looked like she was performing a slightly comical pantomime. Deep down, however, he knew she was most likely catching a ghost.

”Come on, let’s head home for now.”

The two of them didn’t get back in the car, walking the rest of the way to the building entrance. Along the way, Gu Qingyin opened the bottle several more times.

The bottle was small, and she had collected quite a few ghosts. Eventually, even Huo Xingye could faintly see the transparent glass turning black.

While waiting for the elevator, Huo Xingye couldn’t help but ask, ”There are a lot of ghosts in this complex?” The thought that he might have brushed shoulders with a ghost on his way home on previous nights made his skin crawl.

Gu Qingyin didn’t hide it. ”Yes, an abnormal amount.”

Huo Xingye’s expression grew tense, and he pressed his lips together.

Gu Qingyin chuckled. ”Scared? Don’t worry. As long as you wear the Jade Pendant I gave you, ordinary ghosts will give you a wide berth.”

Huo Xingye touched the Jade Pendant on his chest and felt a great deal more relieved.

”Are ghosts... really this common?”

Once they were in the elevator, a calmer Huo Xingye asked out of curiosity.

”Of course not,” Gu Qingyin said. ”Normally, most people enter the Underworld for reincarnation after they die. Those who are reluctant to leave the Mortal World due to lingering attachments are forcibly escorted away by Black and White Impermanence. The only ones who can remain in the mortal realm are Evil Ghosts who harbor deep-seated obsessions and resentment.”

”They have unresolved karma in the Mortal World, so the Underworld won’t accept them. But even among those who stay behind, the vast majority of Evil Ghosts will lose their minds over time, becoming irrational, wandering spirits, until one day they dissipate completely from the world.”

”Very few can ever become true Fierce Ghosts.”

Huo Xingye nodded slowly. ”Then what’s the deal with this complex?”

Gu Qingyin shrugged. ”Not sure. I’ll ask around in a bit, and then we’ll know.”

Huo Xingye lived in a duplex penthouse on the top floor with over three hundred square meters of living space. As he pushed the door open, a wave of cold, empty silence washed over them, as if the entire world had fallen quiet.

”Where’s your study? I need to use it.” Gu Qingyin’s level voice broke the silence, suddenly injecting a bit of life into the home.

Huo Xingye froze for a second before instinctively pointing to the second floor. As Gu Qingyin headed upstairs, he seemed to snap out of it and chuckled. ’The feeling of having someone else in the house is really... strange.’

Upstairs, all the doors were open, likely for ventilation. Only the door at the very end of the hall was closed; she didn’t know what was inside.

Gu Qingyin glanced at it but paid it no mind. She found the study, went inside, and closed the door. After placing talismans on the door and windows, she finally opened the bottle and released all the ghost souls she had just collected.

The ghost souls seemed terrified. The moment they were out, they scattered in every direction. They tried to pass through the walls to escape but were thrown back by a flash of golden light with a loud THUD. After a few more failed attempts, all the ghost souls quieted down, huddling together like frightened quails and staring tremblingly at Gu Qingyin.

Gu Qingyin sat on the sofa and eyed them coldly. ”I’ll ask, you’ll answer. If you dare to lie...”

”We wouldn’t dare! We wouldn’t dare!”

Gu Qingyin snorted. ”Who gathered you all here?”

The ghost souls exchanged bewildered glances. ”We came on our own. The Yin Qi is heavy here, and the environment is nice. It’s a good place to live.”

Gu Qingyin raised an eyebrow. ’Someone set up a Gathering Yin Array in this complex?’ she mused. ’To attract a bunch of wandering spirits... what for?’

”When did you all get here? And have you noticed anything or anyone strange since you arrived?”

”Oh, there’s tons of stuff!”

”There’s this one boss who’s really bold. He keeps his wife in the east building and his young mistress in the south building. He’s living the dream with both of them!”

”In the next building, there’s this guy from the countryside who married into a rich family and now he’s living the high life. He’s a great worker, treats his wife really well, and his in-laws are thrilled with him. But!”

”He’s got another wife back in his hometown, and their son is over three years old!”

Gu Qingyin’s eyes widened. ”Whoa!” she exclaimed. ”What else? What else?”

”In the building next to that one, an old lady tried to find a ghost bride for her son who died young. She ended up bringing home a female ghost in a red dress, and now the ghost is raising hell every day. The old lady looks like she’s about to kick the bucket.”

Gu Qingyin’s assessment: ”She brought it on herself.”

”Yeah, and the old lady even hired a Heavenly Master to come over, but he took one look, said he couldn’t handle it, and left.”

”A Heavenly Master?” Gu Qingyin’s expression grew serious. ”When did this Heavenly Master come?”

”Just last month!”

With the Yin Qi in this complex being so heavy, any Heavenly Master with even a little bit of skill would have noticed something was wrong. But all this time has passed, and that Heavenly Master hasn’t done a thing.

’Either the Heavenly Master is a fraud, or he knows the real story and doesn’t dare to interfere—or can’t.’

Gu Qingyin narrowed her eyes and took out her phone to send a message to Liu Ergou: Find something out for me.