"In that case, what should I do now?"
Chen Shaojun had a headache.
Should he directly attack the ghost?
Putting aside whether he could defeat the ghost or not, as long as he made a huge commotion, it would surely alert the other apprentices. How should he explain himself then?
Should he say that this place was haunted?
Don't be ridiculous. After all, they couldn't see ghosts.
They could only see that he was shouting by himself. Moreover, he would display strength that far exceeded their imagination.
That would be troublesome.
"Then should I ignore it for now?"
"Anyway, this ghost is only looking for Zhang Ke. It shouldn't be a threat to others for the time being."
Chen Shaojun mumbled and walked back to his bed.
After he wore his pajamas, he really did not care anymore.
Therefore, he decided to take his time to plan his next move against the ghost.
He had to have complete confidence. Even if he could deal with this ghost, he still had to get himself out of the battle with the ghost.
"However, why would this ghost bother Zhang Ke for no reason?"
"Right, it's because of Zhang Gao."
"The Third Pawnbroker Zhang Gao."
Chen Shaojun lay on the bed, unable to sleep.
No one would be able to remain calm if they knew that they were in the same room as a 'ghost'.
His thoughts wandered and he quickly understood the reason behind this.
He had already guessed that Zhao Fao was up to no good when he asked the apprentices to appraise a treasure for him.
Furthermore, he learned a lot of inside information from Ah Yong. Thus, he knew that the three official pawnbrokers all had the habit of asking their apprentices to help them appraise treasures so that they could die in their place and wear down the baleful aura in these treasures.
Now that he saw Zhang Ke being haunted by a ghost, how could he not know the source of all this?
"In that case, can I transfer this trouble to Zhang Gao?"
It was not that Chen Shaojun was being kind and wanted to save Zhang Ke.
He simply sensed danger.
Today, Zhang Gao would use Zhang Ke as a scapegoat. Tomorrow, he might look for Chen Shaojun. Furthermore, Chen Shaojun was Zhang Gao's initial target.
Of course, if today's incident hadn't occurred, then he probably wouldn't have paid too much attention to it. After all, he was an egoist who did not have the dauntless attitude of selflessly sacrificing himself for others.
However, it was different now.
Zhang Ke had already brought the ghost to the dormitory.
Trouble had already arrived. Furthermore, it was always looking for him.
Naturally, he would not remain indifferent.
He felt a chill down his spine when he thought about how the ghost was wrapped around Zhang Ke like a koala.
"The Substitution technique is an evil art."
"As long as the spell is successful, the damage would be transferred to someone else."
"However, if used well, it is still a great technique."
"Zhang Gao was never a good person, to begin with. I should subdue evil with evil. They complement each other after all."
Chen Shaojun thought about the feasibility of this method. Then, he decided that he could not sit back and do nothing.
…
The next day.
Chen Shaojun was the first to wake up.
Actually, he had not slept at all.
He had remained vigilant. At the same time, he was visualizing the Supreme Sense Scripture.
His improvement was obvious.
He had obtained 20 more traces of qi overnight. When they were put together, they formed two wisps of spiritual energy. He had accumulated almost ten wisps of spiritual energy when he included the wisps he had previously obtained.
Ten wisps of spiritual energy would form a ball of energy. Chen Shaojun estimated that by then, he should be able to truly mobilize the 'qi' in his body.
In fact, even at this moment, he could faintly mobilize this 'qi'. This was because he realized that if he relied on this 'qi', he could actually execute the Spiritual Eye technique and the Divine Vision technique.
However, there was too little 'qi' in his body. Thus, even if he wanted to mobilize it, he could not exert much strength.
The moment he opened his eyes, Chen Shaojun used the Spiritual Eye technique and looked in Zhang Ke's direction.
But soon, he was stunned.
It was gone.
The ghost was gone.
Then, he quickly looked around.
The chilling sinister aura from before had also disappeared without a trace. There was no sign of the ghost in the entire room.
"Was everything that happened last night an illusion?"
Chen Shaojun mumbled.
Then, he looked at Zhang Ke again.
At this time, his complexion was many times uglier than before. His entire face was pale and blue, and his eye bags were extremely heavy. Even the hair on his head had become a bit withered and yellow as if too much of his spiritual energy had been sucked out of him, causing his body to suffer as a result.
It was obvious.
What Chen Shaojun saw last night was not an illusion.
However, for some reason, the ghost suddenly disappeared.
This made him secretly heave a sigh of relief.
That was good too.
He didn't have to face the ghost directly.
Soon, the people on the beds woke up one after another. Zhang Ke was also woken up by the people beside him.
"Brother Zhang, have you been up all night?"
Du Hao, who was sleeping beside Zhang Ke, asked in surprise when he saw Zhang Ke's expression.
"I don't know why, but my head feels fuzzy and I've had nightmares all night."
Zhang Ke spoke weakly and slowly got up to get dressed.
Chen Shaojun was speechless upon hearing this.
He had been entangled with that ghostly being for the entire night and his human qi had been consumed by it. If he didn't have nightmares, who would?
However, even though the ghost disappeared, Chen Shaojun did not let his guard down.
While the others were walking out of the room, he came to Zhang Ke's bed. He could vaguely feel a cold aura.
Then, he obtained a few strands of hair from under Zhang Ke's pillow.
He was prepared to follow his plan.
Using Zhang Ke and Zhang Gao's hair as mediums, he executed the Substitution technique.
It would be best if Zhang Gao could eradicate that ghost. If not, he should be able to greatly weaken that ghost.
In short, Chen Shaojun could not allow danger to come to him.
…
After breakfast, Zhang Ke went straight to the Third Pawnbroker's Water Cloud Room, just as he had been doing for the past few days.
Meanwhile, the other apprentice pawnbrokers stood in the storeroom, waiting to receive items for appraisal.
Today, everyone also received old materials.
However, to Chen Shaojun's surprise, there were actually a few 'great treasures' amongst the treasures.
These 'great treasures' usually referred to larger and more valuable treasures.
They were usually worth more than a hundred taels of silver.
Of course, there were also those with lower prices, but most of them were very special.
At this moment, there were four 'great treasures' in the warehouse.
These 'great treasures' included a copper cauldron, two metal Buddha statues, and a lacquer bowl.
These treasures typically did not fall into the hands of the apprentice pawnbrokers. Instead, most of the items appraised by these court apprentices were small items. Even jade items that were usually of higher value would not be of high quality.
Obviously, these great treasures were also sealed in the treasure vault of the pawnshop. The shopkeeper probably felt that the baleful aura in them was not that heavy, so he took them out and handed them to the apprentices to appraise.
The apprentices received their treasures one by one.
Everyone knew that appraising a 'great treasure' was a thankless task, so they did not choose them.
When it was Chen Shaojun's turn, he did not hold back. He slid all four 'great treasures' onto his tray.
At this moment, he couldn't care less about the astonished gazes of the others.
After all, the appearance of the ghost made him feel a great sense of danger. As a result, he hoped that he would be able to appraise more treasures and obtain more life-saving abilities.
To him, these 'great treasures' were opportunities.