Chapter 392: Seductive Ghost

I took a taxi to drop Du Yu off at home first, then headed directly to the Central Bank of Jiangcheng.

A few new items in the Underworld Live Show's store caught my interest this time, like the Seductive Ghost and the Filthy Ghost.

The true power of the Yin-Yang Ghost Art could only be unleashed through ghostly entities. Right now, I only had one Ghost Infant on me, leaving my abilities limited. I needed to collect as many ghosts as possible.

'For the Underworld Live Show to list these specific ghosts separately, they must have special effects, and they don't cost too many points.' I took out the Underworld Live Show Phone and sent a request: "Exchange for the Seductive Ghost, Filthy Ghost, Desire Ghost, and the Damaged Yin-Yang Ghost Ring."

"Exchange successful. A total of twenty points deducted; remaining points: sixty-nine." A confirmation text from the Underworld Live Show quickly arrived. Watching twenty points vanish all at once made me wince at the cost.

'I only earned twenty-one points from this broadcast, and I just casually spent twenty of them. No, I should probably consult Blind Liu before my next exchange.' Heartache aside, I still had to make the purchase. Ghostly entities would enhance my personal strength, and the Yin-Yang Ghost Ring was a Ghost Cultivator artifact that could only be chanced upon, not sought. Its function was equivalent to the Soul-Capturing Bell in the hands of a corpse driving Daoist priest. Since I had stumbled upon it, there was absolutely no reason to let it slip away.

When I arrived at the Central Bank of Jiangcheng, the bank's lobby manager had been replaced by an unsmiling middle-aged man who handled his work with rigorous diligence.

Upon seeing my Black Card from the Underworld Live Show, he led me down into the underground vault alone. He didn't allow a third person to accompany us during the entire process, acting with extreme caution.

The middle-aged manager didn't like to talk, and I wasn't going to invite a rebuff. I simply took the black package and caught a car back to Ting Tang Road.

I grabbed a bite to eat along the way. Once I reached the Adult Shop, I collapsed into bed and slept right up until noon.

After freshening up, I circulated the Profound Truth Mental Method. When it came to calming the mind and soothing the spirit, Daoist techniques truly far surpassed ghost arts.

After completing two Major Heavenly Cycles, I felt thoroughly refreshed. I opened the black cloth package, only to find a dull-colored black rope inside with seven jade beads hanging from it.

'This is the Damaged Yin-Yang Ghost Ring? Ten points for this thing?' Though it was called a ghost ring, it was actually just a worn-out bracelet. Of its seven jade beads, three were carved with complex patterns, while the remaining four were smooth and translucent. Aside from that, it had nothing special about it at all. 'Could I have been scammed? Does the Underworld Live Show know I intend to betray them and is beating the mountain to scare the tiger? Is this a warning?'

With a bitter expression, I touched it with my true qi, but the ghost ring showed zero reaction.

'Maybe my method is wrong,' I reconsidered. I closed the curtains, sat at the corner of the stairs where the Yin energy in the Adult Shop was heaviest, pointed my fingers at my Kidney Aperture, and circulated my Yin energy.

Threads of Yin energy, invisible to the naked eye, drifted out from my Yin Meridian and entered the black rope of the ghost ring. However, the black rope didn't react at all; it was like a clay ox entering the sea.

Unwilling to give up, I tried again on one of the patterned jade beads. As my Yin energy probed inside, it seemed to connect with something, blending together in perfect harmony. But when I withdrew my Yin energy, I suddenly realized the pattern on the jade bead had vanished.

'I thought I felt something inside the bead just now, but when I tried to explore deeper, my Yin energy retreated. What's going on?'

Just as I was about to send my Yin energy into the second jade bead, a gust of Yin wind suddenly swept past my ear. It blew against the base of my ear—freezing cold yet intimately suggestive, like being bitten by the class beauty with an ice cube in her mouth at the height of summer.

I turned my head and indeed saw a woman's face. While you couldn't call it kingdom-toppling beauty, it overflowed with seduction and peerless allure. If an ordinary man stared for even a second too long, his very bones would probably melt away.

"Wang Yuchun?!" She had just died last night, yet here she was right before my eyes. Without time to admire her beauty, I instinctively pulled out the Great Divine Mantra of the Big Dipper.

The talisman inherently carried the aura of a Celestial Master. Wang Yuchun retreated into the shadows and curled up. She looked to be in agonizing pain, but to an outsider, she simply appeared delicate and touching.

"Something isn't right. There's no way she could have escaped from the air raid shelter," I muttered, looking at the jade bead that had lost its pattern. "I exchanged for the Yin-Yang Ghost Ring and three ghostly entities from the Underworld Live Show. The ghost ring can transform ghosts into beads. Could these three patterned beads be the three ghosts I traded for?"

Looking at the highly seductive Wang Yuchun, I steeled my heart and sent my Yin energy probing into the other two jade beads.

Gusts of Yin wind billowed through the hallway. Aside from Wang Yuchun, two more familiar faces appeared—Number Five, Tian Teng, and Number Nine, who had been dragged away by the horde of female corpses.

'Shouldn't they be sealed inside the air raid shelter? How did the Underworld Live Show get them out? Could He Bo be working together with the Underworld Live Show? That doesn't seem right either. Maybe these three ghosts were just recreated based on the lingering impressions in my brain, combined with my memories?' I couldn't figure it out. Looking at the three ghostly entities on the stairs gave me a massive headache.

They were all wearing the clothes they had on when they were alive. Wang Yuchun's body looked frail and soft, but her every movement was incredibly eye-catching and soul-snatching.

Tian Teng maintained a foolish grin, his wide mouth split open. Even in broad daylight, he was a terrifying sight.

Then there was the most dangerous one, Number Nine, whose actual name I still didn't know. Among the three ghosts, the resentment radiating from him was the deepest. Covered in scars with a malevolent face, he held a deep hostility toward everything.

"Just the three of you cost me ten whole points?" Seeing them made me regret the purchase a little. However, it was daytime, leaving me no way to test their abilities. Most ghost arts could only be cast at night, which was one of the limitations of heterodox cultivators. "Let's just hope you guys turn out to be useful."

These three ghostly entities each had their own unique abilities. I still wasn't sure about Tian Teng and Number Nine, but any man could tell what Wang Yuchun's ability was with a single glance. "I can't go doing things that offend heaven and reason. You all better come back inside for now."

I put the Yin-Yang Ghost Ring on my left hand, circulated my Yin energy, and flicked my wrist. "Yin-Yang Has an Order! Withdraw!"

The Yin wind dissipated, and the temperature in the room rose again.

I rolled down my sleeve to cover the Yin-Yang Ghost Ring. Just as I was about to head out for lunch, the shop door was pushed open, and a blue-clothed Daoist priest stepped inside.

"Come out! I know you're back!"

The voice was cold and arrogant. Frowning, I walked down from the second floor. The blue-clothed Daoist before me was none other than the Maoshan Yin Master, Leng Qingxuan.

"What are you doing here? Selling condoms?" Acting as if nothing had happened, I tucked the Great Divine Mantra of the Big Dipper into my coat, sat down on a chair, and poured myself a glass of water.

"What happened at the hotel last time had nothing to do with my Maoshan. The ones who set the trap to deal with you were strictly from the Profound Truth Dao." Leng Qingxuan's sword-shaped eyebrows shot up, a hint of disdain hidden deep within his eyes. This was the expected arrogance of an orthodox sect. "You should reconsider. If a million merits fall into the hands of someone with malicious intentions, it will be a complete disaster."

"To tell you the truth, the million merits are no longer on me. You Daoist cultivators can read faces and observe qi; you should be able to see that much."

"Then could you tell me who you transferred the merit to? Or perhaps, who forcefully took it from you?" Leng Qingxuan's words carried a trace of killing intent. In his mind, the million merits were already the property of the great sects. Whoever dared to snatch food from the tiger's mouth would have to face the combined vengeance of the current age's major sects.

"I cannot say." I put on an act and shook my head, though in reality, only I knew the bitterness in my heart. As an ordinary civilian, having merit was of no use to me. If it weren't for the Underworld Live Show, I definitely would have offered the merit up with both hands. These orthodox sects maintained close ties with the upper echelons of Huaxia; standing against them likely meant standing against the entire state apparatus.

Leng Qingxuan raised his eyebrows. "It seems you've made up your mind to hoard the merit for yourself, haven't you?"

"I wouldn't dare. Even though I risked my life to get this merit, I care for the common people of the world, so I'm perfectly willing to hand it over to you. It's just that you saw some of the methods used by the Profound Truth Dao for yourself. Before the merit was even handed over, they nearly forced me to my death and wanted to break both my arms. If the so-called orthodox sects you speak of all operate like this, then let alone handing over the merit, I'd rather die than collude with you shameless, scheming lot." I spoke with imposing momentum, and the majority of it was actually the truth.

Leng Qingxuan stayed silent for a moment. He had also witnessed what happened that day at Century New Garden. "The Profound Truth Dao suspected you of secretly learning their mental method, and that mental method is the foundation of their sect. Speaking of which, it's understandable why they did that, though it indeed isn't the style of a great sect. How about this: if you join our Maoshan Yin Master Lineage, I will ask my master to step forward personally to seek justice for you."

"Join Maoshan?" I was indeed somewhat tempted by the proposal, but on second thought, I gave it up. The million merits had long been stolen by the Underworld Live Show. If I really joined Maoshan and they eventually discovered I was just a mourning gate jinx with negative merit, I would probably be beaten out of the sect gates with heavy sticks.