Bountiful Harvest

Your character "Daoist Acolyte" suffered critical injuries. The lore-roleplay had ended.

Yang He woke up in his home in the Main World. He did not experience the near-death agony he had expected, only a profound discomfort with the Main World's sparse yin qi.

Before this, he had never come into contact with cultivation and had lacked any intuitive understanding of it.

Only now did he understand what it felt like for a sea fish to enter freshwater.

Yang He took deep breaths and took a long time to adjust to the Main World's environment.

He had the illusion that the Main World was an age of declining Dharma where spiritual qi had run dry—or perhaps he had merely glimpsed the tip of the iceberg.

Yang He frowned slightly.

It was currently nighttime in the Main World, when yin qi should have been at its densest, yet it did not even amount to one-tenth or one-twentieth of that in the Lore World.

It was hard to imagine how one could cultivate in the Main World. It would likely take more than a decade to advance to the Hungry Ghost stage.

"Something isn't right. Since the Main World has the Great Si Dynasty Court, which has endured for two thousand years, and even the tip of the iceberg includes cultivation methods like the Way of the Chained Ghost, it absolutely cannot be some age of declining Dharma."

Yang He summoned Spiritual Vision and circled back to the Second Layer of Hell.

Spiritual Vision: 14.3 points

Clearly, as long as he courted death in the Lore World, Spiritual Vision would never run out. Before long, he would fall into the Third Layer of Hell.

"What a shame the Daoist Acolyte died. I had finally established a connection with Grandmaster Taiyi..."

"Hm?"

Yang He's expression turned stunned as he belatedly noticed the panel prompt. The Daoist Acolyte character had merely been critically injured, not completely dead.

He carefully recalled what had happened before his death. It seemed Grandmaster Taiyi had acted through the Sixth Finger.

"So returning to the Main World doesn't require my character to die."

A smile appeared on Yang He's face. He then took stock of his abundant gains from this trip: six items in total, appearing as phantoms floating before him.

Character "Daoist Acolyte" has not died. If items are not exchanged, they will be inherited in the next roleplay.

Normally, if a character died, any items not exchanged into the Main World would turn into Spiritual Vision. Allowing the character to inherit them was equivalent to storing them in the Lore World.

There were pros and cons. If he encountered danger upon entering the Lore World again, the items could very well be damaged.

Yang He examined them one by one. He had already expected the first four items.

Obtained "Ghostified Wildcat"

Obtained "Gong stained with resentment qi"

Obtained "Mudman of the Substitute Ghost"

Obtained "Incense and Candles of the Earthbound Ghost"

Yang He quickly made his decision. He had no intention of hoarding too many underworld trinkets.

"Exchange the Gong stained with resentment qi and the Mudman of the Substitute Ghost for Spiritual Vision."

A swelling ache arose in Yang He's temples. Spiritual Vision reached 20.2 points for the first time, and the originally blurry ghosts and monsters became clearly visible.

Not far from the earthen house stood a massive ox ghost.

The ox ghost lay prone in the alley, greedily licking at the yang qi leaking from mortals. Yet because of the thin window paper separating humans and ghosts, it could only sample it lightly, twisting its expression to the extreme.

"In the Second Layer of Hell, Evil Ghosts are everywhere."

"Weak Ghosts have insubstantial bodies and cannot release yin qi. Evil Ghosts are more solid, with yin qi surrounding them within half a meter. Going by that..."

"Madam Yin is at least a Fierce Ghost."

Yang He withdrew his attention. The Incense and Candles of the Earthbound Ghost appeared in his palm. Since they could temper yin artifacts, he certainly had to keep them.

"Perhaps the Copper-Coin Sword is good enough to be improved further."

Yang He wrapped the Copper-Coin Sword in strips of cloth, while the black cat was exchanged into the Main World.

The instant the panel displayed its prompt, a cat's cry rang out from nowhere in the courtyard.

The black cat landed lightly, rubbing its head against Yang He's leg as though it already knew him. On the surface, it was merely a pure black wildcat with mismatched eyes.

"Meow?"

The black cat belatedly looked around, and all its fur stood on end.

As a creature half ghost and half cat, it could naturally see the Main World's countless ghostly shadows. It trembled in fright before eventually regaining its composure.

Yang He tossed the black cat into the shadows, and it immediately vanished into thin air.

Even Ghost Eye could not detect the black cat's form. Only Spiritual Vision could catch it, as though it had inherited some of the cat ghost's peculiar traits.

"Being half ghost and half cat isn't bad. If you become a cat ghost, you won't be able to remain in the world of the living."

Yang He stroked the black cat's head, and it responded affectionately.

He had thought that after discovering the Main World's dangers, the black cat would become more obedient. Yet before long, curiosity took over again.

The black cat licked its paws and kept peering out beyond the courtyard.

Yang He did not stop it. It was simply in the black cat's nature, and its half-ghost, half-cat peculiarities allowed it to thrive in the Main World.

Even cultivators inhabited by Evil Ghosts might not be able to do anything to the black cat.

"Don't leave Peibai City. Come find me every day at the change between day and night."

The black cat could no longer consume food from the world of the living. It had to absorb yin qi to survive, yet as a creature half ghost and half cat, it could not digest yin qi.

Just as Yang He was about to release some yin qi, Ghost Eye opened on his brow.

A drop of yin qi, like water and mist at once, fell by his feet. The black cat's pupils shrank, and it circled the yin qi repeatedly as if it had spotted catnip.

Yang He's expression turned subtle as he communicated with Ghost Eye through his consciousness.

Ghost Eye was only at the Weak Ghost stage and possessed no obvious intelligence.

The reason it had immediately reacted upon sensing Yang He's intent to feed the black cat was simply because Ghost Eye actually retained memories of the Lore World.

"It seems Ghost Eye will descend into the Lore World with me. That isn't a bad thing. At least changing identities won't cause a backlash."

After licking the yin qi clean, the black cat slipped into the darkness along the shadows at the base of the wall.

Yang He continued examining the remaining items. He noticed that as time passed, the phantoms before him were gradually fading.

If he did not exchange them soon, they would merge into the Daoist Acolyte character.

Obtained "One Yin Meridian"

Obtained "Force Ghost"

The Yin Meridian obtained through the Daoist Acolyte's cultivation was no surprise. Yang He had expected it, but he had not expected the panel to count the Force Ghost as well.

Yang He stared at the Force Ghost. He could easily accommodate it.

Unfortunately, Ghost Eye faintly resisted.

If he accommodated it directly, the two ghosts would likely use his body as a battlefield and fight each other. Yang He did not want to become some half-human, half-ghost monster.

"Now isn't the time. I have to figure out the drawbacks of accommodating a second ghost."

"The Main World is far too strange. Danger seems to lurk everywhere, yet the Great Si Dynasty Court has an incredibly weak presence..."

Yang He did not believe Song Zhi had coincidentally advanced to the Hungry Ghost stage.

After all, the conditions for Ghost Eye to advance to an Evil Ghost were extremely demanding. It required not only twelve different Weak Ghost eyeballs, but also the aid of rare objects.

"Come to think of it, what is Song Zhi's current condition after his second revival?"

"Has he completely turned into a ghost, or has he become... something even more unknown?"

Yang He had no intention of exposing his strength and would remain as low-key as possible.

He looked at the Yin Meridian phantom before him. The facts proved that the opportunities in the Lore World were what he needed to establish himself in the Main World.

"Exchange the Yin Meridian."

The Yin Meridian entered Yang He's body, and Ghost Eye rejoiced.

Compared with the Lore World, Yang He was incomparably cautious in the Main World. He slowed the rate at which he digested the Yin Meridian as much as possible to avoid damaging his yang qi.