Chapter 233: The Taboo Legends of the Evil Spirits

"The best choice is to find a treasure or an auspicious object, then use the Merchant Art to transform it into your own Dharma object."

"If you cannot find one, a Craft object will suffice."

"Common objects are the lowest tier."

Zhang Laoya stood up, preparing to leave: "Very well, the lecture is nearly over. Tonight, this old man wishes to eat Crispy-Bone Chicken and Lotus-Flower Sliced Loin. As for the wine, I want the ten-year vintage from the Lotus Wine House in the north of the city. Go buy it."

"No problem," Lin Wanmo immediately agreed.

Walking to the door, Zhang Laoya turned his head again: "Let me remind you, the two Craft objects that Third Sister possesses are actually very suitable to serve as your Dharma objects."

After he left, Lin Wanmo beamed: "I've made a huge profit!"

Xu Yuan said, "You have only suffered hardship."

Lin Wanmo rolled his eyes: "Hmph, at least you still have a conscience."

There was nothing to do in the afternoon; the storm that Lady Fu Shuanghui's death would inevitably trigger had not yet erupted.

Lin Wanmo went to the north of the city first to buy the wine.

A small jar cost two taels of silver.

Heartbroken, Lin Wanmo muttered to himself constantly on the way back, composing accusations that Zhang Laoya's heart was too black, that no one who practiced the Merchant Art had a good liver.

Then he realized he seemed to have included Xu Yuan in the scolding.

He shook his head, closed his mouth, and stopped speaking, but he still felt heartache over the silver.

At dinner that evening, Zhang Laoya kept his mouth shut tight, refusing to say another word.

Xu Yuan accompanied him until the meal was finished, then Zhang Laoya left in a leisurely manner.

Xu Yuan's attitude was extremely correct; he went to wash the dishes on his own initiative.

After cleaning up and returning, he closed the door and asked Lin Wanmo, "Can you send for Mao Sishu to come over?"

"What is it?"

Xu Yuan took out the pearl that sealed Lady Fu Shuanghui's soul.

He explained his plan to exchange his Inner Core and his intention to further study the Dragon-Transformation Art.

Lin Wanmo's eyes widened in delight: "Your Inner Core problem is solved! Excellent! May the Master bless us; this truly is a source of anxiety for both me and Aunt Wang..."

She wanted to go burn incense, turned in a circle, and then realized this was not her home; there was no tablet for the Master.

Nevertheless, she clasped her hands before her chest, closed her eyes, and prayed for a while.

"Send someone to carry a message back and have Mao Sishu make the trip," Lin Wanmo said decisively.

Xu Yuan originally wanted to return himself, but the aftermath of Lady Fu Shuanghui's matter would certainly bring much trouble; he could not leave at this moment, so he could only ask Mao Sishu to make the trip.

Lin Wanmo immediately went to write a letter to Mao Sishu, and Xu Yuan did not return to his own room immediately after coming out.

He stood with his head bowed in the courtyard for a moment.

The sky had already darkened, and the city had quieted down.

In the Nancheng Patrol Station, the Captains had either gone home or were hiding in their rooms.

Today, gazing at the moon was forbidden; this held more deterrent power than the ban on night travel.

The evil spirits in the city understood the "rules" even better, or rather, were driven by instinct, causing them to vaguely sense that this was not yet a good time to appear.

They lurked in places such as ditches, under wall foundations, at rat holes, in deep wells, and among tree branches, opening their gloomy, bloodthirsty eyes to gaze coldly outward.

The streets were devoid of human traces, and the sounds from the various courtyards gradually grew faint; once everyone had fallen asleep in their rooms and most of the city's lights were extinguished, this city would be their domain.

Xu Yuan arrived beside the bridge stone.

Da Fu confusedly poked its head out of its nest, then tilted its body sideways and showed its round belly to the rice bowl.

It signaled that it had eaten dinner and did not need to be fed again.

If fed again, it would become very fat; recently, the servants from Wumei Lou had often come to deliver meals, and I heard them say that roasting a "fat goose" tasted very good.

Xu Yuan ignored it and arrived beside the bridge stone.

He took out the male sword of the Dragon-Slaying Sword and placed it into the groove in the middle of the stone.

It fit perfectly!

The instant the sword and stone joined, a gentle yet vast aura slowly spread out.

A mass of warm, yellow, cloud-like auspicious light surged from the bridge stone.

The first to sense it were the evil spirits already peeking and probing from outside the walls.

Several evil spirits with slender hands and feet, and fanged, wide mouths growing on their bellies, were tiptoeing along the outer wall on the west side of the Nancheng Patrol Station, feeling their way forward.

These were "Resentments"; they fed on the resentment of women.

If a woman had no resentment, they would kill her husband or child to cultivate resentment in her heart.

But recently, there was a woman in this courtyard whose resentment reached the sky.

They did not even need to enter; separated by the wall, they could eat their fill every night.

After eating like this for seven or eight days, they could no longer hold back.

They discussed how to break into this courtyard tonight, snatch the woman away, and keep her in captivity!

So as soon as the sky was completely dark, they could not wait to slip over and hide beneath the wall foundation.

The wide, fanged mouths on their bellies opened, and a long tongue shot out, splitting into a fine, dense net to suck up the resentment invisible to living humans from outside the wall.

Suddenly, a force that was incredibly heavy and blazingly hot to them pressed down from nowhere.

One "Resentment" squealed, was instantly flattened against the ground, and immediately flames ignited within its body, quickly burning it into a wisp of green smoke!

The others swiftly flashed backward.

Agility was their strong suit.

Yet even so, every single one of them was severely burned.

The Resentments screeched and fled at high speed, running a street away, yet they could not resist turning back in resentment, gazing at that courtyard, feeling that the yellow light within was like a blazing fire, soaring five zhang into the air!

He could only climb reluctantly into the sewer, full of resentment.

Damn it!

Not to mention snatching a person… this delicious meal, I'll never enjoy it again.

Outside the Nancheng Patrol Office, three or five wraiths wandered constantly.

It wasn't just here—throughout the entire Ming Empire, outside every government office, it was the same.

They dared not enter, but the offices often produced "injustices"; they waited outside, and when a newly dead ghost drifted by, they could recruit it into their ranks with just a few words.

Then they forced it to kill one or two living people, offering a blood oath, so all could share in the blood feast.

If it refused to join, so much the better—it became food.

These few had previously recruited two accomplices outside the Nancheng Patrol Office, killing three living people.

So they were quite eager; as soon as night fell, they drifted around the courtyard, having divided the territory among themselves, each responsible for one area, so no matter where a newly dead ghost drifted, they would ambush it.

But suddenly they saw nothing but brilliant golden light—and before they could react, their sins ignited within them, instantly burning them all to ash!

Under the old locust tree across the street, the red-eyed, four-eared rat in the tree hollow would fare somewhat better.

It was far away, and the golden light stabbed its eyes with searing pain, causing tears to stream; it shut its eyes, shrieked, curled into a ball of flesh, and rolled backward, barely managing to save its life.

The surrounding evil spirits were all startled.

Each had suffered some injury, more or less.

One by one, they fled far away.

After tonight, none of them would dare drift near this courtyard again.

The city is so vast—where couldn't they go?

Why insist on coming here to die?

Thus, among the lower-level evil spirits in the city, a "forbidden legend" began to spread.

There is a government courtyard in Nancheng—never approach it!

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, in Ghost Wushan, the old fox was instructing his two incompetent sisters: "Follow your auntie to Zhan City, but don't listen to everything she says."

"Just do carefully what I've told you to do."

(End of Chapter)