Sudden Hungry Ghost Cultivator

The carriage emitted strange infant cries, scaring the surrounding populace into retreating.

The instructors from various martial arts halls already knew about the century-old Treasure Fish, their expressions burning with greed evident in their eyes.

Yang He even saw Jin Song, who hadn't appeared in a long time.

"No one is to snatch it from me!"

Jin Song, leaning on his cane, argued with a flushed face, "I'm nearing my end within a year or two, and I need the meat of the century-old Treasure Fish to extend my life!"

"Instructor Jin, if I recall correctly, haven't your family's assets already been squandered?"

A martial artist's sarcastic remark drew laughter from the crowd.

Jin Song was so enraged he nearly fainted.

The last time a century-old Treasure Fish appeared was forty years ago. It was said that martial artists who consumed its flesh would live longer, their bodies strengthened to the point where they no longer felt hunger and could live fifty years more.

Some martial artists had even used the Treasure Fish's meat to advance to the innate realm.

Jin Song's eyes turned red, sweat beading on his forehead as his depleted Blood Essence made him tremble. "Shopkeeper Chen, I'll pay five hundred taels for half a pound of the fish meat!"

But soon, his unwilling gasps were drowned out by the bids from the various martial arts halls.

"Sanshan Hall bids ten thousand taels for the century-old Treasure Fish!!"

"Qingsong Martial Arts Hall bids twelve thousand taels!"

"Our Baihe Martial Arts Hall bids thirteen thousand taels for just half the Treasure Fish!"

Shopkeeper Chen smiled, as if he could see mountains of gold and silver piling up.

"My apologies, everyone."

"The century-old Treasure Fish is not something our Fuyang Merchant Association can decide on. Once it's butchered, we will proceed with an auction for bargaining."

"That's understandable."

"Shopkeeper Chen, we've cooperated for many years, we won't make things difficult for you."

The marketplace was filled with pleasantries, but the martial arts halls were secretly engaging in deception.

Yang He's gaze was also burning with desire. He felt restless in the tea house, his internal ghost eyes affected and becoming unusually excited.

If nothing unexpected happened, the mundane item would be in the stomach of the century-old Treasure Fish.

After all, the mundane item was the key to entering and exiting the Lore World, and according to the current plot progress of the Ghost Lotus, Nezha was not far from resurrection.

Once Nezha was resurrected, it would likely signify the end of the Ghost Lotus.

"Given the amount of yin qi in the Main World, it will take ages to advance to the Hungry Ghost stage. I must find a way to obtain the mundane item..."

"But I need to stay calm. The sudden appearance of Treasure Fish in large quantities is definitely not a good thing. Who knows what's really involved."

Yang He's expression returned to normal as he took a sip of tea to calm his nerves.

"Especially this Fuyang Merchant Association, the more I look at it, the more I feel something is wrong."

"No, I have to figure out what's really going on."

"Check, please!"

Yang He called out to the waiter and hurried out of the tea house.

Not long after, he arrived at the marketplace. Just then, the carriage carrying the century-old Treasure Fish slowly drove in, the infant cries continuing.

Waa, waa, waa.

The carriage shook violently, and the four horses seemed unable to bear the weight.

"Whoa~~"

The driver tried to stop the startled horses, but they knelt down in unison, their legs snapping. White bone was exposed at their knees.

A flicker of astonishment flashed in Yang He's eyes. His Spiritual Vision detected the abnormality of the horses.

There was a thin line on the horses' abdomens, as if they had been cut open and then sewn back together. Blood was seeping from the wound.

The driver flicked his whip hard.

Crack.

The horses struggled so violently that the thread snapped. However, they managed to struggle to their feet, enduring the intense pain to walk the last hundred meters.

Yang He, through his Spiritual Vision, saw an astonishing sight.

There was someone inside the horses' abdomens; to be precise, the horses were transformed from people!

"Art of Beast Taming?"

A seldom-used term flashed in his mind.

Immediately, the system panel displayed information.

[Skin Painting Dao (Beast Tamer)] [Once mastered, the Skin Painting Ghost transforms into a tattoo on the skin's surface, using it to cast the Art of Beast Taming. The skin must be peeled off once every ten days, otherwise, the Skin Painting Ghost will replace the user's own skin.]

"As expected, the proliferation of Treasure Fish is not normal. Things that are too unusual must have a demon behind them!!"

Yang He didn't look directly at the coachman.

He turned his head away, pretending to chat with others, while observing the coachman from the corner of his eye.

The coachman was seventy or eighty years old, with white hair and an empty sleeve on his right arm. He looked like an ordinary disabled old man.

But in his Spiritual Vision, he was completely different.

The coachman was emitting dense yin qi, his skin an unnatural black-gray. What made Yang He's blood run cold the most was his right arm.

What appeared to be a missing right arm from a normal perspective could be seen in his Spiritual Vision.

It was a deformed right arm, over half a meter long.

The deformed right arm exuded extremely dense yin qi, and from the palm to the elbow, it was split in two and covered in sharp, dense bone spurs.

It formed a hideous maw that was constantly opening and closing.

"Damn it, a Hungry Ghost has revived!!!"

The coachman seemed to vaguely sense Yang He's scrutiny. He smiled and looked around, his maw-like right arm constantly dripping saliva.

The right arm made a motion as if sniffing the air, then chewed unsatisfactorily up and down.

Yang He broke out in a cold sweat, but showed no outward signs of alarm.

He knew that his Spiritual Vision had nothing to do with ghosts, because it didn't emit yin qi. The coachman definitely wouldn't be able to detect that it was him spying.

However, to be safe, Yang He didn't immediately leave the market.

[Hungry Ghost Path (Martial Artist)]

According to the information revealed by his Spiritual Vision, the coachman had a Hungry Ghost integrated with him.

Yang He nonchalantly joined the crowd in their cheers, while simultaneously circulating the technique taught by Grandmaster Taiyi, concealing his ghost eyes as much as possible.

"So, there's another cultivator from the Skin Painting Dao in the market?"

Yang He could feel that the Hungry Ghost occupying the coachman's right arm was already at the Hungry Ghost stage, and it was a Hungry Ghost that had already undergone one revival.

A Hungry Ghost merging with a limb was a sign of revival.

But one point was completely different.

The coachman didn't seem as crazy as Song Zhi.

He could control the revived Hungry Ghost while maintaining his sanity!

Yang He noticed that since the coachman appeared at the market entrance, the number of constables around had increased, but they were merely maintaining order.

The coachman's lips curved upwards, but out of caution, he bent down and got into the carriage.

"Heh heh."

Yang He closed his eyes and listened carefully to the sounds inside the carriage.

Spiritual Vision wasn't just for sight; it encompassed all five senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. That was why he could directly face the reality of the Eighteen Layers of Hell.

"Sun Qi, don't think you can do anything to us just because you have a bunch of Chāng ghosts."

"Why can't you accept the fact that you're already dead? Heh heh, how much longer can you hold on? A month? Or two months?"

The coachman said no more. Yang He opened his eyes and squeezed out of the surging crowd. At this time, the century-old Treasure Fish had already been brought to an open space.

The butcher cut open the cloth bag that was binding the century-old Treasure Fish.

The crowd fell silent, none of them expecting the century-old Treasure Fish to be so ferocious and terrifying.

Its fine scales were covered in flesh tumors. Normal Treasure Fish had eyes that faced upwards, but the century-old Treasure Fish was even more exaggerated, its eyes being a full half-meter wide, as if they would burst at any moment.

Most horrifyingly, the century-old Treasure Fish actually had four limbs that resembled human ones.

When the century-old Treasure Fish lay on the ground, crawling, it resembled a newborn infant.

A flicker of fear flashed in Shopkeeper Chen's eyes. The century-old Treasure Fish seemed to be staring at him. He was stunned for a few moments before regaining his composure.

"The century-old Treasure Fish will take seven to eight days to butcher, and the fish meat from each part will be auctioned promptly."

"Don't worry, our Fuyang Merchant Association is honest with everyone, and we will immediately..."

Yang He didn't continue watching the century-old Treasure Fish. He turned and headed towards the southeast corner of the market.