When I drifted to the ghost market, the day was already bright.
Unlike the dense and gloomy atmosphere at night; during the day, the ghost market was shrouded with a thin layer of fog and everyone was listlessly sluggish. The sun had just appeared, at Shen Xing Pill Store's doorway, the usually high and mighty store's waiter had already laid directly on the floor; enticingly and titillatingly stuck his buttocks up. My eyes flashed past, the entire ghost market looked like it was drugged by someone.
Compared to these ghostly appearances of theirs, I felt that during my usual broad daylight moments, I was simply more spunkier than a dog. I was still able to jumpingly and bouncingly float really far away, even though it was still necessary to avoid the sun during midday…
I drifted into the small forest, the tavern in the woods had a cover of noxious fumes produced by dead trees, so the waiter inside fared a little better than the one outside, but the Zi You who welcomed me still had an extremely sleepy look: "Guest, why did you come here at this time…" As he spoke, he appeared like he strongly desired to immediately plop to the floor.
"I came to find you to inquire about some information… You can lie down and talk."
"Ah… Okay." He laid down and half of his body was stuck in the ground, "Last time, guest, you appear to be really awesome. That Yue Zhu that you inquired about last time, yesterday she really did become a malicious spirit."
"Mhm, I already know about her matter, maybe not long after she will be able to return back to normal. I came here today to find out more about other news." I said, "Last night, was there new ghosts that came down from Ling Ting Mountain? Can you investigate their identities?"
"A day in this secular world, millions of new ghosts can appear everywhere; it's possible to investigate their identities, but you must know their names and eight-character birthdates, and then go to the Great Yin Netherworld Money Store to pay the investigation fee."
"Great Yin Netherworld Money Store?" I was silent, "That place is not only limited to giving ghosts money for buying and selling but can also investigate someone's information?"
"Correct, it's because that place settles the merits of each ghost; determines the amount of money and retail value of items every ghost receives in the ghost market; therefore, these information, they will all have it."
I pinched my chin in deep thoughts, apparently it was impossible to investigate about this information. Those kidnappers at Ling Ting Mountain, I did not even know their names and eight-character birthdates, not to mention their faces, I did not get a chance to see. Therefore, I could only depend on Mo Qing to go investigate.
Speaking of which, I suddenly remembered something: "If you say it like that, then in the Great Yin Netherworld Money Store, wouldn't I be able to see many things of my past life? Last time, you said that ghosts will gradually forget all the things in their pasts, so when they forget, they can just go there to take a look, isn't that right?"
"It's possible, but the rules of that place are the same as the other shops in the ghost market. The people who did more good deeds during their lives, the longer they'll be able to remember their pasts, because if they forget, they can just go look and the price is still cheap. But the people who did evil things during their lives, not only get a small amount of ghost money, but the price to get information is also frightfully high. The ghost money that many people get aren't even enough to go see their past once, as a result, they can only allow themselves to forget."
[This… Damn his father, they really discriminate against the bad guys!]
[Your lot of Great Yin Netherworld Money Store is really always pushing me to flip the table!]
I restrained my moodiness and asked Zi You: "So someone like me, people give me one thousand coins of ghost money, I can only get one hundred; roughly how much will it cost to go there and look up the information one time?"
Zi You was somewhat surprised and looked at me: "You get deducted nine-tenths! Guest… When you were alive, what did you do?"
I slanted him a quick glance, he guilelessly closed his mouth, pondered for a moment, and said, "You lost nine-tenths of your money, so generally speaking, when buying things, your price is nine times more expensive than ordinary people… When the average person wants to buy information, it costs ten thousand each time, but your estimate is ninety thousand, and then it's rounded up to exactly one hundred thousand coins."
I could not restrain my fury: "You guys still round up! Ninety thousand directly rounds up to one hundred thousand! Why aren't you guys willing to part with that ten thousand and make it free?! Are you guys swindling ghosts?!"
Zi You wore a mistreated expression and stared at me: "This rule… Was not set by me."
I almost wanted to crush my teeth.
I indignantly sat cross-legged next to Zi You, crossed my arms, and began to ponder once more about the business of burning ghost money.
Apparently, my expenditures at the ghost market would only increase. Merely depended on that one person, Zhi Yan, to find people to burn paper offerings for me was absolutely not enough. I had to think of another way to get more people to willingly burn paper offerings for me. The fastest and most convenient method was to make Mo Qing immediately issue the Sect Leader's absolute command and order Wan Lu Sect's lower disciples to burn ghost money for me, Lu Zhao Yao, every single day. In this way, my income would be steady and fast, also in large amounts, but the key issue here was…
What lies did I have to weave to make Mo Qing issue the Sect Leader's command…
"Guest, don't worry, I have another information here that I will tell you."
I glanced at Zi You's head, his body buried in the earth: "What is it?"
"Don't you like to ask about the news on malicious spirits. Recently, I've found out, besides that Yue Zhu in Feng Zhou City, a malicious spirit also appeared in another place. Can you guess where that place is, I guarantee that you won't be able to guess."
I raised an eyebrow: "You said it so mysteriously, is it possible that a malicious spirit appeared in one of the Ten Great Celestial Sects' families?"
"Guest is smart! It is exactly that Jian Xin Sect!"
I was taken aback and temporarily placed other matters aside: "You tell me the details in-depth."
"This is the news that came from Jin Zhou City."
Jin Zhou was Jian Xin Sect's territory, which was an area that their prestigious righteous sect completely controlled. Jian Xin Sect produced a lot of good swords, so in Jin Zhou City there were also many aristocratic sword-making families; it could even be said to be their celestial path's weaponry warehouse.
That year, I was in charge of Wan Lu Sect; at the most magnificent time, I brandished my sword to the east, destroyed Jiang City, and invaded into the heart of the celestial sects. I once desired to rip the Ten Great Celestial Sects in one fell swoop, separate them from north to south, and then break them one by one; but it was there, at Jin Zhou City, that I stepped onto a nail. Jian Xin Sect placed millions of celestial swords on the outskirts of Jin Zhou City, laid down the Ten Thousand Sword Spell Formation, and turned Jin Zhou City into a protected hedgehog.
I attacked for a long time without any success; later, Qin Qian Xian took the opportunity to take Qian Chen Pavilion from Jiang City's surroundings to do a surprise attack on my rear. They desired to cut me down in the heart of the celestial sects in one fell swoop. Sima Rong advised me to withdraw the troops; after deliberating, I decided to pull the troops back.
That time, the battle was not even settled in any way.
Come to think of it, it was during that time that I first knew about that person, Qin Qian Xian. Afterwards, when my troops were withdrawing, I captured Qin Qian Xian along the way and brought him back to Wan Lu Sect to admire… At that time, I had originally planned to kill him after I was finished admiring him, but I thought his appearance was so beautiful, killing him would be such a pity, so I set him free.
Later, I heard it was also because of this incident that allowed Jian Xin Sect and Qian Chen Pavilion to develop a deep camaraderie…
"Guest…" Zi You called out to me and dragged me back from the distant memory, "Are you still listening?"
"Speak, I'm still listening."
"It seems like this malicious spirit originally wasn't a person of Jian Xin Sect but was killed there instead. It was reported that the Jian Xin Sect Leader believed in the Dead Resurrection Technique or whatever and found some sort of method that could bring the dead back to life; but it must exchange a life with another life; therefore, Jian Xin Sect Leader killed that person. The action was so cruel that led to that person not being reconciled with death and became a malicious spirit."
I narrowed my eyes: "Dead Resurrection Technique…"
"That's right, even if these living people keep believing in these black magics and forbidden techniques, wait until they turn into ghosts, then they'll know how expensive one Resurrecting Pill is for one shichen, and in the end, they still have to die all over again. There's no such thing called putting forth maximum effort to gain lasting repose by bringing the dead back to life! Even replacing a life with another life is still impossible to do. Now that the person has turned into a malicious spirit, the entire Jian Xin Sect, top to bottom, will not have peace."
*shichen – two-hour period
"Oh?" I was somewhat surprised, "Entirely possible to disturb the lives of living people; how great of a resentment is this?"
"I heard that the person died extremely inhumanly. That person is considered to be the most ferocious malicious spirit within these last hundred years. An order was given from up above that told their ghosts of Jin Zhou City to not even approach within a radius of ten lis. To avoid that person from taking his anger out on someone, and make the soul scatter and disperse; it will be disastrous. In order to avoid him, the ghost market outside the city temporarily relocated."
*li – ancient unit of measure, approx 500 meters per li or 0.310686 miles per li
I crossed my arms and thought for a moment: "So when that malicious spirit was alive, was his surname Qin?"
"Yi, guest, how'd you know? I heard that when that malicious spirit was alive, he and the Jian Xin Sect Leader were very close friends. The son and daughter of both families even had a marriage agreement. I wonder what kind of madness did that Jian Xin Sect Leader experienced to unexpectedly create such a sin."
I quietly said nothing, while Zi You's voice in my ear gradually diminished. I carefully pondered about what happened during this length of time, Jian Xin Sect Leader killed Zhi Yan's father and unable to determine the skill of the celestial sect's people that kidnapped Sima Rong…
It seems that these incidents all revolved around the Dead Resurrection Technique.
Their celestial sect's people, ultimately what were they planning to do? They were planning to resurrect…
Who?
I recalled an elegantly dressed in white indistinct figure; in fact, I could not remember much about that person's appearance anymore. However, there was only one thing that I remembered, the oath that I swore, as long as I, Lu Zhao Yao, was alive for even one day, I would not allow him to live again.
Even though, I was dead now, but as long as I could still see this world every day, I would not allow him to live again.
"Guest." Zi You called out to me again. At present, only half of his head was above the ground; as he stared at me, his gaze was somewhat timid, "Just now, your expression… Could frighten people… What were you thinking of?"
I stood up and patted my clothes: "I recalled some past events and old acquaintances that left me unhappy. I'm going back first."
Zi Du slightly crawled up from the ground: "You want to leave just like that? The sun will get more and more intense, you should stay in the tavern to rest for a bit."
"No rest for me." I thought, if the person that the celestial sect wanted to resurrect was the person that I was thinking of, then it was possible that in this length of time I would not be able to rest anymore. I drifted out of the forest, "I will go bask in the sun to calm down."
Under the sunshine, I drifted from the ghost market back to Wu E Palace with great difficulty. After a whole day of basking in the sun, I became a little bit weak. The exhaustion of my body made my mind go blank and I did not think about anything at all.
I laid down in Zhuo Chen Hall, looked straight at the ceiling, and waited for Zhi Yan to return.
Until the sun went down the mountain, Zhi Yan finally returned. She saw me lying on the floor, took a deep cooling breath, peered around, laid her body on the bed, and exited her soul from her body. She asked me, "Great Demon King, what's going on with you? Which ghost bullied you? Why does your soul look so weak?"
I shot her a glance: "Your soul is the weak one."
I sat up, "I just came back from basking in the sun." Then I asked her, "Did you go and look for Li Chen Lan to get the Nine Reversal Original Pill yet?"
"I did, but he said he was busy… Told me to come back in the evening…"
Ugh, I sneered in dislike and took a quick glance outside. I saw the sun was setting in the west, so I took possession of Zhi Yan's body and went to Mo Qing's sleeping hall but he was not there. I was planning to leave when a Dark Guard suddenly appeared in front of me, he respectfully greeted me and treated me in the same polite manners as when I was still the Sect Leader: "Miss, the Great Master is currently busy in Wu E Palace, please wait for a moment."
"Oh." I replied, "Then I'm going to go take a little peek." Hearing me say that, the Dark Guard not only did not stop me but on the contrary answered: "This subordinate will lead the way for Miss."
This Dark Guard did not have the slightest hesitation in satisfying my request, it sounded like… As if Mo Qing had already gave them instructions beforehand.
The Dark Guard led me to the side hall, just like the last time when I eavesdropped on Mo Qing and North Mountain Lord's conversation. I quietly hid behind the door, but saw Mo Qing standing high above, while several people were kneeling below. They bowed their heads like they had committed a crime and were brought back to be tried.
He wore a black robe and calmly stood above the palace platform. I looked at his figure from a distance, and in a moment of absent-mindedness, I recalled many years ago, many times when I returned back to the mountain, I stopped the blasting snow, raging inferno spell array and went up to the mountain gate. At that time, the overgrown path was really quite long, but with a glance, I could see Mo Qing's black clothes standing under the memorial arch of the mountain gate, calmly waiting for me to return.
Every time, it was just like that. In fact, at that time, there was absolutely no stirring emotions, seeing him was like seeing the memorial arch of the mountain gate, it was a sight that I was accustomed to seeing.
Every time I walked closer, he would retreat to the wayside and bow his head to greet me. Just like when I return to the mountain through the mountain gate, there would always be a long procession behind me; arranged lavishly extravagant. I would lift my chin high with my gaze fixed ahead and walk past in front of him.
In the past, he always wore a baggy black cloak that covered him from head to toe. It made it hard for people to see his face clearly.
Obviously, it was a very insignificant memory. Even when I was alive, I simply did not have the heart to remember this scene. But now that I remembered it, this scene was so distinctly clear. He always guarded there; no matter when I return to the mountain, he would always wait there and was the first person to see me.
When I shook myself back to reality, Mo Qing had already finished in dealing with those people. The people in Wu E Palace had all retreated away, he walked straight to the side hall, and looked at me: "Came to get the Nine Reversal Pill?"
"Yes, I came to get the Nine Reversal Pill, but Master, I first want to go to Feng Zhou City to see West Mountain Lord for a little bit. Last time, he asked me to do something, I have to go give him a message."
"Mhm."
He responded to me once and did not say anything more. He came forward to hold my hand and took me to instant traveled to Feng Zhou City. Together we walked towards Sima Rong's small residence. I quickly looked at him and a thought crossed my mind.
"So, Master, today, I was at the foot of the mountain and heard some information about Jian Xin Sect. I heard that their official residence is being haunted."
Mo Qing replied: "Today, the Dark Guard came to report about this matter, too. The mind of Jian Xin Sect Leader, Liu Wei, is hazy lately and there have been many strange things going on inside the residence. However, no one knows who's doing it."
I carefully looked at his expression: "I'm afraid that it's my father… So I want to make a trip to Jin Zhou City, can you come with me…" I rubbed my hands together, bit my lower lip, gazed at him hopefully, blinked my eyes at him for a moment, and displayed a look that I thought was the most adorable to silently convey to him my intentions.
Mo Qing's eyebrows arched slightly and his eyes held a tiny smiling expression: "You want me to go with you?"
My heart jumped; it was really strange. Obviously that was my intention, but when he saw through my thoughts and spoke with a smiling expression like that, I really was somewhat embarrassed.
I coughed once and hastily suppressed this bizarre feeling: "Jin Zhou City is located in the depths of the celestial sects; not to mention what that Liu Wei did to my father; even though I am now your disciple… My cultivation is still not up to par. If there's no one to protect me, I'll be discovered by those Jian Xin Sect people… Then it will be very bad."
"If that's the case, then let's order the Dark Guards to continue inquiring about the news."
"But what if it's really my father… In this type of matter, it's still better for me to go there personally."
"So, you still want to go?"
I nodded my head forcefully. I wanted to go, of course, I wanted to go. Among those celestial sect people, it did not matter who it was that wanted to repeatedly find ways to resurrect a person; if the person being resurrected is someone else, then I would not care. However, if that person wanted to make my enemy come back to life.
Then I would make that person take a trip to hell first.
Mo Qing was silently grave for a moment: "Tomorrow, I will make arrangements for the sect matters. Then the day after tomorrow, I will go with you." It seems that whenever Mo Qing agreed to my requests, he always agreed so easily. It was to the point that it made me feel that it was absolutely not a big deal for him to place aside his Sect Leader's duties and accompany me on a trip.
But I used to be a Sect Leader; I knew that this was one very big deal.
Currently, Mo Qing was very captivated by the charms of a woman.
Upon entering West Mountain Lord's small residence, the interior was already tidied up neatly. In the same moment, West Mountain Lord was sitting in his wheelchair and holding a tool to repair the damaged wooden person. Seeing that Mo Qing and I had come, he reluctantly smiled and said: "They haven't been fully repaired yet and it's inconvenient because of my legs, so I cannot serve you guys tea."
"That's not a problem." Mo Qing replied. Standing beside Mo Qing, I said: "I came here to simply brief you on something. Last time, you entrusted me with a matter, I've completed it, and just like what I said before, from now on, your heart doesn't need to be burdened anymore."
West Mountain Lord was dumbfounded, immediately smiled, and nodded: "I know." He looked at Mo Qing, sighed for a bit, and said, "From start to finish, the previous Sect Leader's heart is big. No matter what it is, her heart is always big."
Yi, when he said it like that, why did I feel like there was another meaning somewhat hidden inside.
I turned my head to look at Mo Qing, but saw the look on Mo Qing's face was also a somewhat helpless smiling expression similar to West Mountain Lord's.
While I was still pondering, Sima Dung suddenly asked me: "Little martial niece, are you satisfied with the sword sheath for the Liu He Tian Yi Sword?"
Little… Little martial niece?
I became senseless for an instant, but then immediately understood. Oh! That was right! Mo Qing and Sima Rong were once disciples under the same master, Sima Rong was Mo Qing's junior brother. Now that Mo Qing was my master, would that not make Sima Rong my martial uncle now?!
I…
In a blink of an eye, I felt a type of loss; from being someone's grandfather to being someone's grandson.
But I could not display my sense of loss; I could only clench my teeth and endure: "The sheath… Is very nice."
Sima Rong lowered his head, and as he mended the gears on the wooden person, he secretly laughed: "At my place, I don't have anything to entertain you guys with, so standing here is really boring. You guys should take a stroll in Feng Zhou City by yourselves."
I also did not want to stay here anymore!
I turned around to leave, but when I reached the doorway, I heard Sima Rong making the gears on the wooden person creak in the courtyard. It was the only desolate sound in the courtyard, I could not restrain myself and turned my head around to take a look. Under the dancing moonlight, in that distracted moment, I saw the silhouette of Small Round Face crouching beside Sima Rong's wheelchair.
She supported her head and silently watched Sima Rong fiddling with those soulless wooden people. A human and a ghost lingered together peacefully and was amazingly well-suited.
As soon as I blinked, Small Round Face's silhouette disappeared once again. In that moment just now, it was like I encountered an illusion.
I looked at the clueless Sima Rong and said to him like I was possessed: "In the future, don't you move house." Sima Rong raised his head to look at me, while Mo Qing was beside me looking puzzled. I was unable to explain it and could only say, "In short… Don't move your house. It's just in case, I can't find you…"
When Wan Lu Sect wanted to find someone, it would not be impossible for them to find. I was only afraid that Small Round Face would not be able to find him.
Sima Rong laughed and waved goodbye to me: "Leave now, I won't move house."
Stepping out the door, I asked Mo Qing: "Before, I've never heard that West Mountain Lord is fond of the Mechanical Magic Technique. When did he started to really focus on these things?"
"Nan Yue Cult studied Mechanical Magic Technique; when Yue Zhu was living here, she left many little gadgets behind. After Yue Zhu died, the gadgets were covered in dust and falling apart. In order to repair those things, he immediately practiced Mechanical Magic Technique. In these recent years, he actually cultivated this technique much better than the average person."
I acknowledged once and said nothing more.
Translated by Sonrisa t.n.t