Tonight there was no moon. The manor lay under a pitch-black sky, white mist drifting through the deep corridors with a clammy chill.
“Can’t believe it got away even like that!”
Chen Zhengkai stared at the ghostly silhouette vanishing into the white fog, grinding his teeth in hate.
As a funeral ritual master, he could get in touch with all sorts from every walk of life. A few days ago a rich businessman had put out a commission, saying his manor was haunted.
Chen didn’t have exorcism ability himself, so of course he’d gone to ask Zhou Su. Zhou had refused at first, but later agreed.
They’d rushed to the destination to carry out the exorcism, and that led to the scene just now.
The reason Zhou changed his mind was, of course, to earn Dusk Crystals.
He was only 60 Dusk Crystals short of buying the two coveted items. Even if time was tight, he could only grit his teeth and make room for it.
“It’s hurt. It shouldn’t have gotten far.” Zhou stood beside a white column and let out a turbid breath.
He lowered his head to look at the alloy dagger in his hand.
That ghost was only at the wandering soul tier and shouldn’t have escaped him. The reason it had happened was that Zhou hadn’t used Tang Dao: Ghost Hong.
Ghost Hong’s traits were far too distinctive—easy prey for anyone with designs.
Besides, as his hole card, how could it be exposed lightly?
He had already decided: unless absolutely necessary, he would not expose Tang Dao: Ghost Hong in reality.
The dagger in his hand was a gift from Gu Zhiyuan. As mundane iron, the reason it could harm a ghost was because it had been fused with the White-Bone Dagger.
As for the dagger fusion’s downside, that degree of mental contamination was drizzle to Zhou now.
He could erase it completely by meditating on the black sun.
The White-Bone Dagger’s ability was simple; it had only one: “Soul Slash.”
Zhou had thought it would be more than enough against a wandering soul, yet he’d tripped in the gutter.
“No telling where that thing ran to—we’ll have to try our luck.” Zhou sighed.
His physical stats still weren’t there yet—too slow—and he lacked a tracking method.
But letting it off easy? Impossible.
The Dusk Crystals almost in hand were like a fish already on the hook. If he didn’t reel it in tonight, how was he supposed to sleep?
“At worst we sweep the whole manor.” Zhou hardened his heart.
Chen suddenly patted Zhou’s shoulder, cocking an ear in a posture of intense listening. “Hear the wind? It’s telling me where the ghost is.”
“Your chūnibyō is acting up?” Zhou couldn’t help snarking.
“Men are chūnibyō till death.” Chen shot back.
He flipped his right hand. A golden toad appeared in his palm, fist-sized, all bright red-gold, a bronze compass borne on its back.
An information panel surfaced on the toad. Zhou blinked.
No doubt—the golden toad was Chen’s Blood Moon item, and information on Blood Moon items couldn’t be seen by others unless the owner shared it.
The importance of that info went without saying. For Chen to show it unhesitatingly spoke to his trust in Zhou.
But Zhou knew perfectly well: Chen could do that; he could not.
Not because he didn’t trust Chen, but because he had no way to explain the crimson book.
The crimson book was too special. Once exposed, Zhou would know no more peace, and those around him would be dragged in.
“Pure dumb luck.” Zhou felt a little moved, but in front of a diehard friend, he led with a hard mouth.
【Dream-Phantasm Golden Toad: (White-Mythical — Upgradable)
Intro: Dog-head gold dug from Firefly Mountain, reforged by a mighty one into a golden toad. Possesses “aura tracking,” “omen reading — weak,” and “toad-guard body.”
Note: The Dream-Phantasm Golden Toad loves to eat gold. Every activation requires sacrificing an appropriate amount of gold.】
“This job’s not going to put us in the red, right?”
Chen took out two little gold beans and, pained, stuffed them into the toad’s mouth. The toad, which looked like a sculpture, actually moved; its mouth chewed twice, and the gold beans vanished.
The compass on its back gleamed faintly. Two needles lay within, one long, one short. The long needle spun and settled, pointing to a fixed bearing.
Guided by the compass, Zhou came to a shadowed basement. He tried the light; the incandescent bulb flickered on and off with a sizzling spark-pop.
Zhou had its measure. He pretended to be dazzled and turned the light off.
The basement plunged into pitch black. Without a sound, Zhou opened the Bewitching Ghost Eye; darkness no longer hindered him.
“Why won’t the flashlight turn on?”
He fussed with the flashlight to all appearances, but his attention stayed on the rear flank. A terrifying silhouette hung upside down from the ceiling, limbs twisted, eyes sparking a ghostly green.
“Healed up pretty fast.”
An ordinary person would have been scared half to death at the sight. Zhou still had the leisure to inspect that face that made one’s skin crawl.
Not an ordinary human face—more like someone had ripped the skin off a dog’s head and hot-branded it on.
There should have been a huge knife gash along the ghost’s cheek. Now only a thin scar remained.
“Probably a human soul force-possessed backward by a dog soul—made this freak.” Zhou speculated inwardly.
Blame its bad luck. A little later and it would have shifted from wandering soul to fierce soul. Unfortunate for it to meet Zhou now.
Those categories—wandering soul and fierce soul—were terms used by the Catalog of a Hundred Ghosts app, which roughly divided ghosts into four tiers: “wandering soul,” “fierce soul,” “evil ghost,” and “ghost king.”
The dog-face wandering soul stole up behind Zhou without a sound, hatred blazing in its eyes. It pounced, claws like knives stabbing for the back of Zhou’s head.
This was the moment Zhou had been waiting for. He moved in a snap, body corkscrewing as the dagger in his hand drew a perfect arc.
At the basement door, Chen heard intermittent, hair-raising screams from within and hurriedly lit a cigarette to steady himself.
The screams didn’t sound human—more like a dog whimpering and barking in frenzy.
A moment later, the basement door opened again and Zhou walked out at an easy pace.
“Handled?” Chen asked.
“Used to perfection,” Zhou answered, a bit beside the point.
Ghosts were a precious material, and Zhou wasn’t about to waste even a shred. First the crimson book’s two God’s Theft activations, then feeding the remnant soul to Tang Dao: Ghost Hong—maximum utilization.
And he’d discovered a new function lately.
In fact, there was no need to take out Tang Dao: Ghost Hong. He only had to summon the crimson book and flip to Tang Dao’s page, and he could have the blade absorb the remnant soul all the same.
“Shame you can only use God’s Theft once per day on the same ghost, or the yield would be even higher.”
【…You stole “Grudge-Tainted Dog Hair”… Recycle Value: 5 Dusk Crystals】
【…You stole “Cursed Dog Fang”… Recycle Value: 30 Dusk Crystals】
Low-tier materials weren’t worth fusing—sell them off in one go.
“It’s actually four in the morning!”
Chen glanced at the time and couldn’t help a massive yawn.
In fact, they’d gone out at 6 p.m. The reason they’d been at it till now was because they’d gone to another location first.
That’s right—they’d actually taken two commissions. In the earlier one, Zhou had cut down two wandering souls.
Most of the time had been burned in transit; the ghost-slaying itself hadn’t taken much.
From this exorcism run, Zhou confirmed one thing.
Ghosts had existed in this world already—they were just extremely rare, because this heaven-and-earth didn’t suit their survival.
But with the Blood Moon’s descent, the world had undergone an ineffable change, making it easier for ghosts to be born.
It was easy to imagine that even outside Blood Moon times, ghosts and the like would no longer be uncommon.
“But that’s worry for later. For now, tallying the gains matters most…”
The first two wandering souls were weaker and together contributed 40 Dusk Crystals; the dog-face wandering soul was stronger and contributed 35 on its own. Added up, that was… 75 Dusk Crystals.
A smile rose on Zhou’s face. Adding the 410 he’d saved before, he now had 485 Dusk Crystals—enough to buy both items.
His heart was no longer in the manor. He wished he could fly straight back to the villa to study the marvels of the Tiger-Strength Pills and Fox-Ghost Mask.
“Payment’s in! The client was straightforward and said to bring them similar jobs in the future.”
Chen walked over grinning, two gleaming gold bars in hand that chimed crisply as they knocked together.
He and the client had agreed in advance—payment in gold bars.
The Great Xia currency kept depreciating, while gold prices were climbing step by step. Gold held value far better than Great Xia bills.
Chen held a bar out to Zhou, but Zhou waved it off. “You handle that yourself.”
“Don’t mind if I do! I’m short on gold.” Chen bit each bar twice and stowed them away, delighted.
“By the way, used cars are dirt-cheap now. Can you swap this thing out?”
Sitting in the van’s front passenger seat, Zhou felt like he was being shaken to pieces.
“Fair point! Odds are we’ll have more of this kind of business. We should buy a decent car and dress up the front.”
Chen agreed readily.
Zhou didn’t object. If time allowed, he was more than happy to exorcise for people—he was far too short on Dusk Crystals.