Chapter 129 - Haunted Dongji Village

When Li Ming reached the foot of the Thundering Peaks, the group of children was already there, waiting for her.

She didn't waste much time on unimportant things and immediately started directing them into the right postures.

Though the spiritual qi in the Thundering Peaks was far too low for a mountain ranges covered in forest, but it still was higher than the spiritual qi present in the Capital City or the Dongji village.

They started around seven in the morning and continuously practiced for two and a half hours before finally wrapping up.

Only two children, one around eight years of age and another girl around eleven, were able to breakthrough.

The children returned to the Orphanage and Li Ming went towards the vacant area of the town.

There was a large portion behind the town which was completely vacated by the villagers. 

When Li Ming first stumbled into that part around a month ago while taking a stroll, all that she found was six or seven vacant houses which were almost at the point of crumbling down at any moment.

"Why those houses are left in such a state in the back of the village?" 

She had asked that question to Sir Liu later that day but the answer that she received in return made her knock some sense in the villagers who could seriously be the stupidest person alive at some points.

"Miss Li, that place is haunted."

Yeah, this was the answer that she received in return from one of the old ladies of the town.

And when she looked at Sir Liu for the confirmation, the old man only sighed and didn't say anything.

Well, she would not say that ghosts didn't exist. Why? Because back on Earth, there was indeed a society of ghosts.

Yeah, go figure!

However, she wasn't sure if there was actually a ghost or ghosts living in those houses or if they had built up their own theories.

To check out the truth she visited those houses again that night. 

Well, ghosts were supposed to be active during the night, right?

Yet, she didn't find any kind of presence there except the insects and rodents.

The very next day she formed a group of twenty people from the village and assigned them their new task.

"I want the back area completely clean within twenty days. Get those broken houses cleared and pile all the debris. I'll take care of it." 

She had instructed them.

"B-but Miss Li, w-what about the ghosts?" 

A man in his early forties had asked and she had noticed that almost all of them looked a little afraid even though most of them tried not to show it.

"Well, you will probably like to know that I've talked to that wandering spirit last night. Not only they agreed to leave this place but also apologized for scaring you all. Now, since we have their permission, do you think you can start your work?" 

The shocked looks on their faces told her that they were suspicious of her. Not sure if she was mocking them or actually telling the truth, but none of them dared to say anything. They just silently started working on their task, praying to every deity for their lives.

Though she had already checked the area on her own but she still asked Snowy to keep an eye. 

Since everyone went off from their work between 5 am - 6 pm, there wasn't much to worry about.

The villagers too stopped worrying about the ghosts after a week since they found nothing abnormal there.

Some of them actually thought that it was Miss Li who had made the ghost leave that place.

The time limit of the twenty days had finished already the day before and currently, Li Ming was going there to look at the work done by the team.

After a few more minutes, she finally reached the alley which led to the back area and came across a large area which was now completely barren.

The workers were sitting in a group at the entrance as they all enjoyed the rest after completing their work.

All of them immediately noticed Li Ming and started standing up to greet her.

"Hmm. You all did the work efficiently and I'm happy to see your hard work and dedication."  She said as she praised them for their hard work.

She took out a pouch and handed it to the Yue Chen whom she had assigned as the Supervisor of the task.

"But Miss Li, we have already got our payment two days ago from Sir Liu." Yue Chen said as he confusedly looked at the heavy pouch in his hands.

"I know. This is a gift for your hard work. Distribute it equally among all of you." Li Ming told the man who thanked her immediately, followed by the rest of the group.

He opened the pouch and after counting the silver taels inside it, he gave seven to each person.

Li Ming dismissed all of them after that. She was the only one left in that silent area.

Her eyes landed on the enormous pile of debris that was placed in the center of the clearing.

As per her instructions, the villagers had piled up all the remnants of the broken houses.

She took out one of those iron balls with special runes carved on it and placed it on the ground.

She channeled a small bit of her spiritual energy to activate the ball and when the runes that were carved over it started to glow bright yellow, she stepped back and let the ball do its job.

A huge beam of light came out of the ball and fell on the pile of debris. One by one all the broken pieces of the houses disappeared into that tiny iron ball, leaving a huge empty area that was nearly equal to more than half of a Football ground.

Li Ming picked up the ball which had turned a lot heavier and placed it in one of the shelves inside the spell room.

She dusted her hands to get rid of any imagery dirt and looked at the huge empty area in front of her.

"Let's see where the famous evil spirit is going to sleep tonight. Just hope you won't haunt me for taking down your haunted houses." She said out loudly before turning around to leave the area.

Before going to the Black Jade Inn during lunchtime, Li Ming made two more trips. One was to the Jewelry shop in the main market of the Capital city of the Han Empire.

There she also collected the two iron balls that were lying on the ground.

The shop and everything else had vanished from the area, leaving it completely barren, just like how she wanted it to be.

Her second stop was Jin Jing's clothes shop in the Capital City of the Wang Empire. There were also two iron balls lying on the ground. She picked those up and deposited them with the other three.

The iron balls that she had used for the two shops were much more powerful than the one she had used in the Dongji village.

It had taken three nights to work on those balls which were actually supposed to work on technology.

She was no scientist and that's why it took her two days to come up with a solution to make those balls work on magic or spiritual energy.

Luckily, even if she was no scientist, she still succeeded in activating the balls with her magic and spiritual energy after changing a few things in them.

Just when she was about to teleport back to the Han Empire, suddenly she decided to check the market.

She was roaming on the streets when her ears picked on the conversations that were going on in a group of five men who were sitting around a table beside a tea stall.

"Haven't you noticed that in the past three or four days, many people have arrived here? Almost every single Inn is filled with customers right now." One of the men said in a hushed voice.

Li Ming silently took a seat on the other table beside them with her back towards the men.

She nodded lightly at the old man who immediately served her got steaming tea. Her entire focus back on the conversation that was going on the table behind her.

"Of course, everyone has noticed. It looks like all the high profile families have sent someone to take part in tomorrow's auction. Someone even noticed a group of disciples from the Guixian land. Looks like they are going to auction something rare and precious tomorrow." Another man said.

"Well, we can only watch those rich families compete against each other with their money. Let's see tomorrow what has lured so many hungry wolves out of their forests." Someone from the group said and the others chuckled while nodding their heads.

After that their topic of discussion changed to the Imperial family.

Li Ming finished her tea and after placing two copper wen on the table, she stood up and left the booth.

She still had a few things left to prepare for the auction.