A New Home Really Is Great!

"Why? Of course there are ghosts!"

Cai Yi, who had just gotten up, combed her waist-length hair as she spoke with a smile.

"Didn't Senior Sun tell you?"

Luo Chen was greatly startled. "Ghosts?"

Cai Yi tossed her long hair behind her shoulders. "Why are you so surprised? It's perfectly normal for there to be ghosts in the Cultivation World!"

That's right!

This was the Cultivation World, not Earth. What was I so surprised about?

"Everyone knows there are ghosts in the Inner City, and quite a few of them too."

Cai Yi spoke at length. Anyone who had lived in the Inner City for a while could more or less say a thing or two about it.

The Jade Cauldron Domain had actually only been opened up three hundred years ago.

Before that, this vast region had also been part of the Eastern Wilderness Million Mountains.

Four hundred years ago, the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect mobilized its entire sect to wage war against the mountains, spending an enormous fortune on a Founding War that involved sixteen sects.

Among them, there were seven superior sects with Nascent Soul cultivators!

The major sects of the other five domains in the Far Eastern Six Domains as they stood today had also dispatched vast numbers of Foundation Establishment and Golden Core Cultivators to take part.

It took a hundred years before this domain was finally secured three hundred years ago.

In that century-long Founding War, humans and demonic beasts fought tooth and nail, contesting every inch of land. Countless lives were lost and wounded.

In the end, it concluded with the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect's victory.

Victory was victory, but it still left behind a huge mess.

For example, all sorts of ghosts—human and demonic beast alike—had mixed together, nearly turning this whole region into a Ghost Domain.

The major sects had long developed mature methods for dealing with such a situation.

Methods to soothe souls, disperse souls, and collect souls emerged one after another.

As for ghosts that were too powerful to destroy in a short time, they were suppressed and slowly ground away instead.

Many large Marketplaces in the Jade Cauldron Domain still suppressed quite a few powerful ghosts beneath them, including Ghost Generals and Ghost Kings.

Why did Great River Market have an Inner City and an Outer City Area?

It was actually to gather the spiritual qi of the spirit vein and use it to wear away the ghosts suppressed below.

"Our place happens to be suppressing a Ghost King. Especially that rear-facing room you live in—it sits right on the formation eye, so the Yin Qi is rather heavy."

Cai Yi gazed at Luo Chen with a beaming smile, waiting for the little fellow to reveal a frightened expression.

However, Luo Chen was no fool.

Old Sun had rented the house to him, and Cai Yi dared live in this courtyard. That meant there was no real danger.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Is it a male ghost or a female ghost?"

Cai Yi froze, then spat lightly once she understood. "It's a lecherous ghost!"

After the joke, she turned serious. "There's nothing to worry about. This grand formation was laid down by a Golden Core Immortal. It uses the Inner City as its foundation to draw in the power of the spirit vein. The Ghost King can't affect our daily lives or cultivation. At most, it gets a little cold when we sleep."

"Heh, I am a mighty Qi Refining Fourth Layer Great Cultivator. How could I be afraid of the cold?" Luo Chen smiled confidently, displaying all the bearing of a cultivator.

Cai Yi smiled and rose to her feet.

"Alright, I'm heading to work. Shall we talk again tomorrow morning if we have time?"

Going to work at this hour?

Luo Chen looked doubtfully at the setting sun.

"Forgive my presumptuousness, but what do you do?"

"I dance at Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion. Come have some fun when you're free!" Cai Yi left with a sweet smile, leaving behind a faint fragrance.

Watching his neighbor's graceful, slender back, Luo Chen could roughly imagine just how ravishing she must be when she danced.

What a pity. This lord couldn't afford that kind of spending!

Luo Chen returned to his room. After cleaning it and airing it out all afternoon, the strange odor had finally mostly disappeared.

Cai Yi, the neighbor living in the main room, had even given him a piece of musk.

She said that as long as he burned it in an incense burner, it would not only smell pleasant, but also drive away insects.

"No incense burner? Burn it in a bowl. The effect is the same."

After lighting the musk, Luo Chen began taking things out of his Storage Bag.

There was not much, really. Aside from various medicinal herbs, there were just pots, bowls, ladles, and basins.

Some of the items still bore scorched black marks from the fire.

In last night's battle, half his house had been burned down.

He had only managed to put out the fire afterward with a Little Cloud Rain Talisman.

There had not been much he could rescue from inside!

The medicinal herbs he had specifically taken out and sorted that afternoon had almost all been destroyed in there.

Only the bedroom and kitchen had escaped disaster.

The sole consolation was that the valuable main ingredients had all been stored in his Storage Bag. He had not yet had time to take them out for processing.

After tallying it up, his losses were immense—down to the last single stone, one hundred and eight Spirit Stones!

But his gains were enormous as well!

The first cultivator to die had provided a set of Mid-Grade Magic Tool Jade Knives, which turned out to be wood-attributed flying knives.

One mother and six sons, they could form a complete set and establish a formation. Given enough time to form up, their power rivaled that of a High-Grade Magic Tool.

They were perfectly suited for him.

Aside from the flying knives, there were also one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones in that cloth bag.

It could be said that this inheritance alone was enough to make up for Luo Chen's losses, with plenty left over.

And the expert he had strangled to death was even more impressive!

A High-Grade Flying Sword and a Low-Grade Flying Tool—either would be hot commodities if sold.

But Luo Chen had yet to decide how to deal with them.

After all, these things were too hot to handle!

That fellow should have been a Qi Refining Fifth Layer cultivator, yet he had a whole pile of good things.

He had used a Swift Travel Talisman upon arrival, and a Blazing Sun Talisman to destroy the house.

He wore a High-Grade Daoist Robe with inner armor beneath it. He had drawn a High-Grade Flying Sword right from the start, and even possessed an Earth Shield Talisman.

Add the Lotus Leaf Flying Disc, a flying magic tool, and he was armed to the teeth.

Luo Chen rarely saw such a lavish loadout in the Outer City Area.

If not for the other party underestimating him, and for his Soul Severing Nail engraved with the Tier 2 Armor Break formation, which he had used in a sneak attack, the one who died in the end would definitely have been him.

But what was done was done. Luo Chen had long since taken it lightly.

Of course, considering the other party's deep background and the possible retaliation, Luo Chen had dealt with the traces immediately and then withdrawn into the city.

Those traces could not be hidden for long.

But he would conceal them for as long as he could. His enemies could not possibly come into the Inner City to kill him, could they?

The rules set down by the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect were not something anyone wished to challenge with their life.

For the time being, he still needed to be more careful. He also had to replenish the lost medicinal herbs as soon as possible.

Only by earning enough Spirit Stones could he escape his current predicament of painfully slow cultivation.

After taking everything out, Luo Chen looked around the spacious, empty room.

"When I go out to buy medicinal herbs tomorrow, I'll pick up a few shelves too and divide up the space."

"I also need to buy a dustpan, a medicine pestle, Peach Wood, and Chinese Fir."

"Oh, right. I need to buy a chamber pot too!"

Before cultivating, Luo Chen felt a little nostalgic for that old house with its courtyard, large open yard, and little stream.

Back then, he could pee without a care in the world.

Unlike now, when the money he spent every month on emptying the chamber pot was enough to cover two months of his old rent.

Yet after circulating the Evergreen Art once, Luo Chen's complaints vanished completely.

"Is this the charm of a First-Order Spirit Vein?"