Chapter 109: Exchange Successful

After leaving Ganding Pharmaceuticals Headquarters, I didn't rush back to Pinnacle of Happiness. Instead, I headed to Tianqiao to look for Blind Liu. The Underworld Live Show had added a new batch of items, and I wanted his advice.

It was around two or three in the afternoon, and the streets were fairly empty. Before I even reached Tianqiao, I spotted Blind Liu from afar, arguing with two uniformed urban management officers.

Both sides were locked in a heated argument. Blind Liu was huffing and glaring, stripped of any trace of an otherworldly master's poise.

"Old Liu, what's going on?" Only when I got closer did I see that the two officers had dismantled his fortune-telling stall and tossed his Ancestral Shoulder Pole and bamboo baskets onto their enforcement vehicle. With the tools of his trade confiscated, Blind Liu certainly wasn't happy about it.

"Who are you to him? This is official urban management business. Uninvolved personnel need to stay out of it."

One of the officers even tried to lecture him earnestly. "You're fit and strong—couldn't you do literally anything else? Why insist on swindling people out here and ruining the city's image?"

The two officers had diligently staked out the area for several days, and they had finally caught Blind Liu red-handed.

"Didn't you say you know how to tell fortunes? Why didn't you read your own before leaving the house today?" The two officers were actually fairly polite, showing none of the violent enforcement you sometimes saw on the news.

"A fortune-teller has three things he never divines, and reading his own fortune is a major taboo." Blind Liu spoke with solemn conviction, but the two officers weren't having any of it.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. We're confiscating these tools of feudal superstition. Once you pay off your fine from last time, you can come to the bureau to pick your things up." With that, the two officers prepared to drive off. Panicking, Blind Liu blocked the front of the vehicle, stopping just short of lying under the wheels and playing dead.

I couldn't just stand by and watch anymore. I pulled out two cigarettes and offered them to the officers. This deferential attitude eased the tense atmosphere a bit. "How much does he owe in fines? I'll pay it for him."

The officer lit his cigarette and stepped out of the vehicle. "You've got good sense, kid. But this old guy is a total fraud. He's not even blind—whenever he sees us, he runs faster than a rabbit. Don't let his smooth talk fool you."

I nearly laughed out loud. Poor Blind Liu counted as an extraordinary folk master in his own right, yet he had been reduced to fearing urban management officers more than demons and evil spirits. Calling it miserable didn't even begin to cover it.

"It's fine. However much he owes, I'll cover it for him. Just consider it my good deed for the day." Tie Ningxiang had fronted the money for my medical bills, so I still had some spare cash on me.

"The old man doesn't have it easy living on his own, but he's fled five times in total and refuses to change his ways. The offense is serious, so just pay a thousand and we'll call it even."

Seeing me reach for the money, Blind Liu panicked. "I only charge five yuan for a reading! When I meet someone with a rough fate, I only take one or two, and if I come across someone fated to die young, I even pay out of my own pocket! I make my living with real skill, doing good and building virtue! What right do you have to fine me? You can't give them a thousand!"

"Listen to you, old man—you've swindled people to the point of feeling superior about it? Doing good and building virtue? That's blatant fraud if you ask me! The city is currently up for evaluation as a Civilized Tourist City, so don't walk right into the line of fire. If you get singled out as a negative example, things won't end well for you!"

Seeing Blind Liu still blocking the front of the vehicle, the two officers moved to pull him away.

"Easy, brothers. I understand you're just doing your jobs, but Old Liu has a point too—there really are some things in this world that can't be explained." Since neither side was willing to back down, I had to try a more tactful approach. "For instance, I recently ran into something uncanny myself. If you two don't believe me, come over here and take a look."

I led the two officers behind the support pillar of Tianqiao. Sunlight couldn't reach back here, and no other pedestrians passed by, leaving the spot cool, shady, and deserted.

"What do you want to show us?" Both officers were baffled. I took off my jacket and pulled a Black Embroidered Cloth Bag from the inner pocket.

"Whatever you do, don't get too close when you look," I warned, my expression dead serious.

In truth, they didn't need my warning. The moment I exposed the unhealed knife wounds on my torso, both officers had already pulled out their phones, ready to call for backup.

I held the Embroidered Cloth Bag before the two of them. Out of curiosity, one of them leaned his face in close. His gaze froze on the young child's eyeball inside, and his face drained of color. He tried to look away, only to suddenly realize he had lost control of his body. Against his will, his eyes remained locked on that eyeball, as though something inside were trying to suck him in.

"What's inside the eyeball?"

His entire attention was drawn to the eyeball. Inside the cloth bag, the glossy, pitch-black pupil seemed to come alive—and suddenly moved on its own!

In the cool shade beneath Tianqiao, the officer felt as if a basin of ice water had been poured down his neck. Terror raced from his brain through every nerve in his body.

He tried to struggle, but he could no longer move. The Fate Ghost imprisoned within the eyeball crawled out step by step, its hunched body lunging to claw at the living man before it!

"Hey! Wake up!" I closed the cloth bag and patted the officer's shoulder. Only then did he jolt as if waking from a dream. When he touched his forehead, it was covered in cold sweat.

"What did you just see?" the other officer asked curiously. His friend didn't say a word. He merely cupped his hands toward Blind Liu and me in a hurried salute, then darted into the vehicle as if he had wings.

"Fuck, what the hell did you see?"

After I handed over a token hundred yuan, the two officers didn't dare keep Blind Liu's things and quickly drove away.

Blind Liu was amazed as well. "What did you show them?"

I took out the cloth bag and handed it to Blind Liu. "I was just about to tell you about this. Earlier, I ran into a black magician, and I ended up killing him."

"..."

I recounted the whole story from start to finish for Blind Liu. Aside from leaving out everything related to the Underworld Live Show, I didn't hide a thing.

"You're saying you killed a black magician who had cultivated flying skull sorcery to the Sixth Layer?" Blind Liu knew I wouldn't lie, yet he still found it hard to believe. "Someone at the Sixth Layer of flying skull sorcery would be top-tier even in a Nanyang Regional Hub. All I can say is that you had dog-shit luck, kid, and happened to align with the will of Heaven."

"That's right. What I did was carry out the Way on behalf of Heaven. That black magician used living people as tools for sacrificial refinement—it was utterly heinous."

"I'm afraid your own motives weren't entirely pure either, kid." Blind Liu pinched his fingers to cast a divination, only to stop halfway through. "Strange, truly strange. Your path ahead is hazy, as if shrouded in a layer of cold mist. Every time I read your fortune, the hexagram shows something different. It seems to change once every three days."

Leaning on his shoulder pole, he felt my shoulders, hand bones, and cheekbones. "Judging by your bone structure, nothing has changed. It must be due to external factors."

I didn't dare let Blind Liu calculate any further. You could call him a fraud, yet at times his readings were dead-on, coming uncomfortably close to the truth.

"Old Liu, I found this eyeball when I searched that black magician's body. Do you think carrying it around will bring bad luck?"

After looking at the eyeball inside the Embroidered Cloth Bag, Blind Liu's expression shifted subtly. "A Fate Ghost?"

"You recognize this thing?"

"More than just recognize it—an accomplished ancestor of mine died at the hands of a Fate Ghost." Blind Liu pulled a book from his bamboo basket, its pages filled with ancient characters handwritten in ink. "Only a small fraction of evil practitioners dare to raise a Fate Ghost, and the conditions to create one are extremely harsh. One must find an unborn infant with compatible eight characters, cut it from the mother's womb at the exact threshold between life and death, and feed it with natal essence blood. A Fate Ghost grows alongside its master. Beyond basic uses like drawing wealth and shifting luck, a Fate Ghost can also take the blow for its master once against a fatal calamity."

"Yet none of that is the most terrifying thing about a Fate Ghost. According to my ancestor's records, once a Fate Ghost latches onto someone, its sinister Qi pierces straight into their fate pattern. Unless that person has an exceptionally noble fate pattern, they are likely to suffer a violent, untimely death." Blind Liu tied the mouth of the cloth bag tight. "This Fate Ghost you found hasn't been fully raised yet. Right now it's still muddled and in a daze, so it won't harm you for the time being—but there's no telling about the future."

I put the cloth bag away, feeling as though I were holding a hot potato. Sure enough, rummaging through a dead man's corpse was never a good idea.

"You don't need to be overly nervous, though. Raising ghosts is just like corpse driving—it sounds sinister, but in truth it comes down to the person. A Fate Ghost is a double-edged sword. If you can keep good intentions in your heart and prevent its evil thoughts from influencing you, I suggest you keep this Fate Ghost. Who knows? If disaster strikes one day, it might save your life and die in your place."

"Then how do I raise a Fate Ghost?"

"I'm not sure either. There are methods for raising ghosts in the Maoshan Daoist Arts, but I advise you not to force it. It's best to let nature take its course."

After finishing that conversation with Blind Liu, I copied down the newly added catalog of items from the Underworld Live Show and let him look it over. "Old Liu, do you think any of these things are particularly suitable for me?"

Looking at the various rare treasures listed in the catalog, Blind Liu wasn't even surprised anymore. "In cultivation, you must stick to a single path from beginning to end. Since you've chosen the Profound Truth Dao, don't stray from it lightly. Besides, hex sorcery and ghost arts like these usually carry severe side effects and can easily cause a backlash."

"As I see it, the most valuable items here have to be those two pill formulas. Although the Foundation-Solidifying and Origin-Cultivating Pill is a common elixir, the refining methods circulating out in the world today have all been altered. Authentic formulas left behind by ancient pill masters are preserved in only a handful of Daoist lineages, where they're guarded as closely held treasures. Their worth simply can't be measured in money."

"Still, as precious as the formulas are, they are of little use to you right now. Your top priority at the moment is cultivating the Dao for Foundation Establishment, so I suggest you buy this Meridian Clearing Pill. I once heard my ancestors say that a superior Meridian Clearing Pill can help someone break through to the Sitting in Forgetfulness Realm and clear their conception and governor vessels within a single day."

"As for the Wandering Immortal Pillow, the Secret Dream-Making Art, and the Fox Immortal Desiccated Corpse, those are all legendary items. Your cultivation realm is far too low for them. An innocent man commits no crime, yet carrying a priceless jade makes him a target—holding on to them would likely draw the attention of even more people with ill intentions."

Blind Liu's analysis made a lot of sense. I nodded to myself and stayed until evening before leaving.

I went straight to a bank, sat down in the lobby, and used the Underworld Live Show Phone to send a message.

"I want to exchange for the Meridian Clearing Pill and the Foundation-Solidifying and Origin-Cultivating Pill formula."

"Points deducted. Exchange successful. Remaining total points: 16."

The reply from the Underworld Live Show had barely come through when the bank's lobby manager hurried out from the back, glancing around. The moment he spotted me, he came over with a beaming smile. "Your items are ready. Would you like to take them out now?"

"They're ready already?" I had only sent the message after sitting down in the bank, and the whole process had taken just a few minutes. Could the Underworld Live Show foretell the future?