Chapter 52

Lanyue Community, Second Story, Block B, Apartment 308.

This apartment had two bedrooms and one living room, as well as a small study, occupying an area of 120+ square meters.

Most importantly, this apartment was fully renovated, complete with electrical appliances. The simple Chinese interior design style was warm yet stylish, making one very comfortable. Also, the geographical location of this community was not bad—it was neither located in a noisy area, nor was it remotely located. It had accessible transport, and it was selling below market price at 980,000 yuan.

Taking away the cost of renovation, it was only about 5,000 over yuan per square meter, which was a bargain in the rapidly developing Stone City.

“How is it? Fancy this place?” Zhou Gang, who brought Chen Hao here, asked cheerfully.

Chen Hao said with a smile, “How can your recommendation go wrong, Brother Zhou? It’s just that the prices of property in Stone City are fluctuating greatly and have great potential. Apartments in this area are going for nearly 5,500 yuan per square meter now. Brother Zhou, surely you didn’t oppress the seller into entering this trade using your identity?”

Zhou Gang scolded with a smile. “Rascal, am I such a person? Honestly speaking, this apartment belongs to my friend’s family. Apart from being a player, that fellow is otherwise a great person. Back then he bought this apartment to keep his mistress. But somehow, in the end, it fell through, so this apartment has remained vacant until now. You said you were looking for a place, so this place came to mind. I asked my friend, and when he heard it’s to be sold to Master Chen, he agreed without a second word. As for the price, my friend bought this place early on, so I’m sure he’s not selling at a loss.”

Chen Hao cast him a sideways glance. “Brother Zhou, is Sister-in-law aware that you have such a friend?”

Zhou Gang said in a displeased manner, “Don’t try and dig a hole for me. Your sister-in-law knows all my friends. Although she cannot bear the sight of them, in this time and age, no one can interfere with the other’s business so long as both parties are willing.”

Chen Hao nodded. “That’s right. In the olden days, it was common for a man to have several wives and concubines. Compared to the olden days, our living standard now is much higher. Men understand each other. Alright, I’ve decided. I’ll take this apartment.”

“Sure. I’ll help you settle the paperwork later. Let me know if you have other requests. Stone City is considered my territory, so it’s convenient for me to handle many matters.”

Chen Hao thought for a moment, then said, “Nothing much, but I still lack a car. It doesn’t have to be too good, something around 200,000 yuan would be fine. I’ll check it out when I have the time.”

Zhou Gang said with a smile, “Okay. Then, that’s settled. I’ll leave the keys here. This apartment is yours from now onwards. I’ll inform the property management team later, just as a formality. When you’ve settled down, come to my place. I’ll hold an apartment warming dinner for you. That friend of mine will come over too. After all, it’s considered a cheap deal for you, so no harm getting acquainted with him.”

Chen Hao said, “Sure. Thanks for the trouble, Brother Zhou. I moved out on the spur of the moment. Without your help, I might have had to sleep on the streets.”

“Haha. Actually, your sister-in-law had long wanted to ask you about this. Hao’zi, you’re a famous master, after all. How can you live in such a terrible environment? Now that you took the initiative to move out, it’s much easier for your sister-in-law to find you a girlfriend.” Zhou Gang said mischievously.

Chen Hao smiled bitterly. “Brother, stop talking about that. I was merely being perfunctory then. My path to cultivation is just starting to look up, so I’m not planning to go into a relationship any time soon.”

Zhou Gang left after resolving the issue of the apartment. After all, the influence of the Stream Mountain construction site was still spreading around, and many people gathered outside it every day. As a result, the Stone City police were extremely busy over this period of time. He had secretly sneaked out to help, so he couldn’t afford any more delay.

After Zhou Gang left, Chen Hao started getting busy.

Chen Hao felt incredibly satisfied over the newly obtained ownership of his first apartment.

This was typical of humans. Regardless of what achievements he had, how famous he was, he needed a place to live, a place to call home.

So long as one had a home, one would not be flustered regardless of what he encountered.

He brought his black cat out for shopping and started decorating his place.

As the apartment was fully renovated and furnished, he could simply move in with his luggage. Chen Hao bought a four-piece set, the scholar’s four treasures (writing brush, ink stick, ink slab, and paper), toiletries, some food, and beverage. Chen Hao even bought the black cat a pretty cat’s bed for its enjoyment.

After he finished shopping, Chen Hao started cleaning up the apartment.

An hour later, with the place looking fresh and tidy, Chen Hao laid down on the sofa in satisfaction.

As Chen Hao worked, the black cat watched on arrogantly as though it was the owner, enjoying its new life.

But the black cat was a smart one. When it saw that Chen Hao had finished cleaning up, it ran over obediently and leaned against his chest, patting Chen Hao gently with its paws.

“You little fellow, you’re indeed only good at acting cute.” Chen Hao stroked the black cat’s face.

The black cat cast a disdainful look at Chen Hao.

Trashy owner, you have no idea. Acting cute is just one of my means of bewitching humans. You have no clue about my brilliance.

Having fixed up his new place, Chen Hao decided to reward himself with a meal. He went to a nearby restaurant for a good meal and even ordered two fish dishes for the black cat. The human and cat enjoyed the meal tremendously.

Now that the housing issue was resolved, Chen Hao prepared to focus on his cultivation.

This construction site tomb incident made Chen Hao realize the difference between him and a genuine master, taming his inflated ego by quite a bit.

Chen Hao had made up his mind that until he had reached a certain level of cultivation and conjured up some powerful protective items, he would rather die than take part in an arduous task like the construction site tomb one.

His current abilities were: blessing magical artifacts, Dipper Steps, and the Partial Unlocking of Spirit Talismans.

Never mind the blessing of magical artifacts. Before he achieved Dao Attainment, he could set that aside for the time being.

He now had some experience in practicing Dipper Steps. Placed under danger in the tomb, he had improved drastically. However, Chen Hao felt that there was still room for improvement in the first three steps. He had to keep on practicing it.

Next would be the widely-known amulets.

In the Partial Unlocking of Spirit Talismans, the 72 small amulets encompassed all amulet types. So long as he mastered them completely, even if he wasn’t able to subdue demons, he would at least be able to retaliate when he encountered ghosts or evil spirits. Also, the various magical amulets had wide uses, which would be useful for keeping up his appearance as a master.

But although amulets were useful, they were difficult to draw. Chen Hao could only start practicing from the most basic calligraphy.

After getting the black cat to go off to play with its bed, Chen Hao went to the study and took out his scholar’s four treasures.

He didn’t start practicing directly, but instead searched up plenty of videos and tutorials on calligraphy on his phone, learning the theory while correcting his mistakes according to the videos.

As he practiced, Chen Hao realized that calligraphy was pretty interesting, and soon got engrossed in it.

Just as Chen Hao was working hard on this, the black cat that had been playing with its new bed for some time now heartlessly abandoned its new toy. It was a cat demon, a living being with wisdom. How could it possibly be bewitched by such a simple thing?

But Chen Hao was busy cultivating and didn’t have the time to bother with it. Ignored, the black cat could only crawl up a shelf on the balcony and open its mouth, facing the moon in the sky.

The strange thing was, the black cat did nothing other than squatting down, but the demonic energy on its body seemed to churn.

At the same time, a golden glow could be seen in the black cat’s tummy.