Chapter 45: Throwing a Shoe to Ask the Way

Xu Qing often passed by Shuimen Bridge, where there were indeed several fortune-tellers and medicine peddlers, but was that fortune-teller really that accurate?

If so, he would have to walk around Shuimen Bridge in the future. After all, if the other party took a few extra looks at him one day and calculated that he was a dead man, it would be a troublesome matter.

In the morgue, the Transcendence Sutra was still turning pages. After the gambler received the fortune-teller's guidance, he rushed to Cuiyun Pavilion without stopping.

A "big teapot" (pimp) greeted him with a smile. The gambler followed him to a quiet pavilion. After the two reported inside, a sharp voice came out.

"If you want to buy our treasure, it's not impossible, but the price—"

"The price is negotiable. How about one hundred and twenty taels?"

After being enlightened by the fortune-telling master, the gambler was determined to get the treasure that would win him money, so he immediately stated a number.

That was the money he had scraped together by smashing pots and selling his wife. Aside from keeping a few taels to try to win back his losses, he simply rounded up the rest and reported it.

The gambler was afraid the noble in the pavilion wouldn't look down on this bit of silver, so he added: "Once I win a few rounds, then not to mention one hundred and twenty taels, even one thousand two hundred taels, I would be willing to give to the noble!"

"You misunderstood. Not only will we not ask you for money, but we will also give you money to spend."

As he spoke, an attendant walked out of the pavilion with a tray in his hand, on which was the mythical beast jade pendant.

"This jade pendant is Yin Spirit Jade. Inside is a gambling beast we raised. With that little beast helping in secret, you will win every bet."

Hearing the words "Yin Spirit Jade," Xu Qing's heart stirred.

Yin Spirit Jade, commonly known as Yin Ghost Jade, was one of the key materials for cultivating Silver-Armored Wandering Corpses in the Corpse-Raising Sutra.

He hadn't expected that an item he couldn't find even after wearing out his iron shoes would be encountered here!

Outside the pavilion, the attendant gave the mythical beast jade pendant and one hundred and twenty taels of silver to the gambler, then took out a stick of spiritual incense and carefully instructed: "The gambling beast needs to eat one stick of incense every day. There are seven sticks here. You must offer it daily and never let the jade pendant leave your body, otherwise, it won't work."

Hearing this, the gambler couldn't wait to ask: "When will this gambling beast help me win money?"

"Offer one stick of spiritual incense every day, and it will naturally let you gamble to your heart's content."

The gambler got the jade pendant and the benefit of one hundred and twenty taels, and left Cuiyun Pavilion happily.

This person was also quite bold. The people in the pavilion were strangers to him, yet he didn't care why they wanted to help him, or even why they were giving him money.

Haven't you heard that cheap goods are no good, and why would a pie fall from the sky for no reason?

Especially something they were eager to give—who knew what kind of treachery was hidden inside!

The gambler was blinded by greed, only thinking about winning money. Besides that, he didn't care about anything else!

Clutching the silver and the jade pendant, he ran back to the guest room, then eagerly lit a stick of spiritual incense, held the jade pendant in his hands like a devout believer, and muttered auspicious words about his luck turning around and his wealth flowing in.

When the spiritual incense was lit, Xu Qing also smelled the familiar incense scent he had smelled when he went to Cuiyun Pavilion before.

When that fragrance spread completely, the gambler in the guest room suddenly collapsed to the ground, then kept making incoherent mutters.

At this time, the guest room was filled with smoke, and that stick of spiritual incense seemed to have some special magic, as if it had transformed the entire guest room into a bustling casino.

Then the gambler, as if sleepwalking, stood up straight, held the jade pendant respectfully, and kept circling the incense table.

In the gambler's eyes, he was shuttling through the casino, as if he were truly possessed by the God of Gamblers, winning every bet and being steady with every card.

Seeing this, Xu Qing was thoughtful.

The dream effect caused by the rosemary incense in front of him had the same effect as his Dream-Making Technique.

However, the dream the gambler experienced was not as realistic as the Dream-Making Technique.

Xu Qing looked through the translucent dream scene back to the guest room and found that the mythical beast jade pendant had floated three inches above the gambler's head at some point. At the connection between the jade pendant and the heavenly spirit, a continuous stream of spiritual light was being stripped from the gambler's body.

For the next seven days, the gambler had a ball of spiritual light of different colors extracted from his body every day, until the last day, when the gambler, whose essence and spirit were completely withered, could no longer enter the casino dream.

He used all his strength to open his eyes and look at the floating mythical beast jade pendant, and saw a familiar ghost shadow on the jade pendant demanding his last bit of spirituality.

The gambler opened his mouth in horror, for no other reason than that the ghost shadow in front of him looked exactly like him, and he had never left the guest room!

At the moment of death, he suddenly realized that the so-called gambling beast ghost in the mythical beast jade pendant was none other than himself!

The silver given to him was not a gift, but "life-demanding money" used to buy his life!

After reading the gambler's life, Xu Qing had a rough guess about the identity of the Yin-sect person in Cuiyun Pavilion.

Besides being an evolutionary material for Silver-Armored Wandering Corpses, Yin Ghost Jade had another special function: raising ghosts.

They, the corpse-drivers, raised and refined corpses, while the Yin-sect person hidden in Cuiyun Pavilion was clearly an expert in raising and refining ghosts.

"Yin Ghost Jade has already harmed two people, but that eunuch in Cuiyun Pavilion who is suspected of being out to procure supplies has not appeared yet." Xu Qing frowned.

Could it be that the number of people swallowed is not enough?

Xu Qing thought for a moment and temporarily suppressed his thoughts. The Yin Ghost Jade didn't know whose hands it was in now, but as long as people were harmed, sooner or later it would come here with the corpses.

After all, not everyone was as greedy as Wei Fang, allowing the Yin ghost to take advantage of the situation.

After transcending the gambler's corpse, the Transcendence Sutra gave the same evaluation as Wei Fang: "Human-grade, Lower-class."

Only the reward was very different. The gambler's transcendence reward clearly had the characteristics of a "gambling dog," which was a "Throwing a Shoe to Ask the Way" technique.

As the name suggests, when you encounter getting lost or don't know where to go, you just need to take off your shoe and throw it at will. The direction the toe points is the direction that guides the practitioner forward.

Xu Qing tilted his head and looked at his shoes.

Are you kidding? Can this thing be accurate?

In front of the morgue bed, after Xu Qing finished examining the two corpses, Wang Lingyuan asked with a smile: "How is it? Any discoveries?"

Xu Qing pondered slightly and replied: "The causes of death for these two corpses are basically the same. If there is a murderer, it is very likely the work of one person."

"In addition, the case file records that the person who discovered the first corpse at the gambling inn was precisely Wei Fang."

"The two might have some connection, but the specific case details will have to wait for further verification."

Wang Lingyuan nodded and said: "This case is strange and difficult to judge. In the end, it will likely become a cold case. It depends on how the government office judges it. If it involves evil spirits, it might have to be reported to the prefecture city."

Hearing this, Xu Qing's heart moved. "Report to the prefecture city? Does the prefecture city have the ability to solve such strange cases?"

"That is natural. The prefecture city has an office dedicated to hunting demons. Not long ago, a Demon-Hunting Captain specifically came to investigate the whereabouts of the Heavenly Heart Sect's evil people, but found no traces."

Xu Qing then asked many questions about the Demon-Hunting Division, but Wang Lingyuan knew very little, only knowing that above the Demon-Hunting Captain was the Divine Machine Camp, and these people were all capable people and strange scholars who were rarely seen.

Seeing that it was getting late, Wang Lingyuan urged Xu Qing to go back quickly.

"Junior Brother, the day after tomorrow is the Tongsheng exam. You should do more homework. Don't run to Senior Brother's place these two days, so as not to be distracted."

Xu Qing agreed repeatedly. After leaving the government office, seeing that he couldn't find the two Wu brothers, he had a flash of inspiration. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, he took off one shoe and threw it on the ground...

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 46 =====