Dusk.
Outside the Inner City of Nanyang Prefecture, Lin Heng Alley.
Chen Mu stood at the door, seeing off the carpenter who had come to repair the windows and doors.
He looked up to see Jie Jia walking leisurely towards him from the end of the street.
Chen Mu didn't bother to acknowledge him and turned back into his house without expression.
Under the pavilion, Jie Jia narrowed his eyes as he observed the brand-new windows and then looked Chen Mu up and down—the latter seeming swollen all over. A glint of green light flashed and disappeared in his eyes, and he frowned, "Ghosts?"
"Thanks to you!" Chen Mu said with a face full of scorn.
Jie Jia narrowed his eyes at Chen Mu.
"It was that long-haired woman from last time." Chen Mu's face was dark as water.
"Impossible," Jie Jia replied indifferently without even lifting his eyelids.
"I nearly died here last night! And you tell me it's impossible!" Chen Mu was furious.
Jie Jia was slowly and methodically wiping his eating utensils.
Upon hearing Chen Mu's yell, he thought for a moment, put down his chopsticks, and pulled out a Zuming Talisman from his sleeve to hand to Chen Mu.
What for? Compensation?
My life was almost gone! What use is your compensation now!
Chen Mu glared at Jie Jia with a face full of annoyance, "Two of them!"
Jie Jia, expressionless, pulled out another Talisman and handed it over to Chen Mu.
"Ah! Now that's more like it." Chen Mu immediately grinned from ear to ear, cheerfully stowing the two Zuming Talismans snugly in his bosom.
"Five thousand taels," Jie Jia said indifferently.
Chen Mu was startled and immediately became irate, "Isn't that the compensation for my emotional distress? Why the charge!"
Jie Jia's yellow eyes moved, glancing at Chen Mu.
"Ghosts have substance yet no form, adept in transforming into what terrifies."
"In most cases, whatever the target fears, the ghosts transform into that."
"If your fear remains unchanged, facing a hundred ghosts, transforming into the long-haired woman will still be their preferred choice."
Jie Jia paused slightly, looking sideways at Chen Mu, "I'm quite curious, why are you so afraid of that long-haired woman?"
Chen Mu's lips twitched, "I'm afraid she'll crawl out of the TV."
Jie Jia: "..."
"I'm also afraid she'll lunge at me, rotten and decaying, to take a bite."
Jie Jia looked at Chen Mu, puzzled.
Chen Mu had no intention of explaining; he just wore a wistful expression... it seemed his attempt at extortion was foiled.
Yet, he felt unwilling to let it go.
"I was at home having a beautiful dream, snoring away, when suddenly a ghost collided with me."
"I was bruised all over, with internal bleeding."
"Look at how swollen my body is; can't you show a little sympathy?"
Jie Jia was the picture of calm, "I already gave you a discount."
A discount? From you?
But given his special constitution, it wasn't quite safe regardless of where he moved.
It was better to stay in Lin Heng Alley, closer to the Inner City.
Chances of encountering Ghosts might be higher elsewhere.
...
Five days later, the swelling on Chen Mu's body had subsided.
The pain in his back and chest had also vanished.
Practicing the White Jade Toad Shape Cultivation Technique in the yard three times, he felt no discomfort.
"After all, I'm not the weakling I used to be," he mused.
Last time he had only been brushed by a palm strike from Qian Shan Daoist and was forced to recuperate for two or three months before fully recovering.
Now he faced even fiercer Ghosts, yet he had recovered in just five days.
Only that he got hungrier quicker, eating five meals a day.
Each meal was two to three times that of an average person.
Now that his body had recovered, his appetite hadn't, and he still ate a lot without ever putting on weight.
"I wonder how those Shell Soul experts manage," Chen Mu said with a complicated expression as he stepped out of the restroom.
Eating a lot meant, well... dealing with the consequences a lot too.
"They must have high-energy food," Chen Mu concluded firmly.
Like... Fasting Pills, for instance.
Chen Mu now somewhat understood why Jie Jia despised that name so much.
He had seen it!
"Perhaps I could find a way to get some to study," Chen Mu's eyes brightened with the thought.
But before that, he needed to think about how to make money.
...
Under the eaves, Chen Mu toyed with a Dragon Transformation Pill in his hand.
This was the last one he had.
He had initially obtained twenty.
He had given four to old man Ge in exchange for the Shape Cultivation Technique and sold fifteen for Zuming Talismans.
This one was the only pill he had kept.
"I wonder if there's anything that can replace the palace lantern red," Chen Mu thought to himself.
Although the Dragon Transformation Pill was a risk, it was very valuable in Da Liang's Jianghu.
It could be exchanged for Shape Cultivation Techniques and buy Zuming Talismans, making it as good as cash!
A scroll as long as a small forearm appeared in his hand amidst rolling black smoke.
A Scripture Scroll he hadn't looked at in a long time—Thousand Mountains Sutra.
Chen Mu untied the black binding rope and spread it out on a long table, immediately looking at the last part.
The handwriting in this section was slightly different from the rest, as if added by later generations.
"Medicine Cultivators, Sacrificial Shadow Souls. It turns out it's not just about sacrificing Ghosts, but also about refining the Three Treasures Essence," Chen Mu noted with a complex expression.
The so-called secret technique of extracting essences, he had owned it for a long time already.