The carriage let out strange infant cries, frightening the surrounding townspeople into retreating.
The instructors from the various martial arts halls had already known about the century-old Treasure Fish. Their faces burned with excitement, and the greed in their eyes was impossible to conceal.
Yang He even spotted Jin Song, who had not shown himself in a long time.
"None of you are stealing it from this old man!"
Leaning on his cane, Jin Song argued until his face turned red. "This old man will be in the grave within a year or two. I need century-old Treasure Fish flesh to extend my life!"
"Instructor Jin, wasn't your entire fortune squandered long ago?"
A Martial Artist mocked him, drawing endless laughter from the crowd.
Jin Song nearly fainted from rage.
The last century-old Treasure Fish had appeared forty years ago. It was said that after Martial Artists consumed its flesh, they would enjoy greater longevity. They would no longer feel ravenous while tempering their bodies and could live fifty extra years.
Some Martial Artists had even used Treasure Fish flesh to advance to the Innate stage.
Jin Song's eyes reddened. His nearly depleted vitality left him drenched in sweat. "Shopkeeper Chen, this old man will pay five hundred taels for half a catty of fish flesh!"
But soon, his unwilling gasps were drowned out by the bids from the martial arts halls.
"Sanshan Hall offers ten thousand taels for the century-old Treasure Fish!!"
"Qingsong Martial Arts Hall offers twelve thousand taels!"
"Our Baihe Martial Arts Hall offers thirteen thousand taels for just half the Treasure Fish!"
Shopkeeper Chen wore a smile, as though he could already see mountains of gold and silver piled before him.
"My apologies, everyone."
"The century-old Treasure Fish is not something our Fuyang Merchant Association can decide upon. Once it has been slaughtered, we will hold a bidding auction."
"Fair enough."
"Shopkeeper Chen, we've worked together for years. We won't make things difficult for you."
The entrance to the market was filled with cordiality, but the various martial arts halls were already scheming against one another in secret.
Yang He's gaze was equally fervent. Sitting in the teahouse, he could barely keep still. The Ghost Eye within him had been affected as well, growing unusually excited.
As expected, the mundane object was inside the century-old Treasure Fish's stomach.
After all, the mundane object was the key to entering and exiting the Lore World. Judging from the Ghost Lotus's current story progression, Nezha's resurrection was not far off.
Once Nezha was resurrected, it would likely mean the Ghost Lotus had come to an end.
"With the yin energy in the Main World, when will I ever advance to the Hungry Ghost stage? I have to find a way to obtain that mundane object..."
"But I need to stay calm. A massive number of Treasure Fish appearing out of nowhere is definitely not a good sign. Who knows what exactly is involved?"
Yang He's expression returned to normal as he took a sip of tea to steady himself.
"Especially this Fuyang Merchant Association. The more I look at it, the more wrong it feels."
"No. I need to find out what's really going on."
"Check!"
Yang He called out to the Shop Assistant, then hurriedly left the teahouse.
Before long, he had arrived at the market entrance. Just then, the carriage carrying the century-old Treasure Fish slowly approached, its infant cries continuing without pause.
Waa, waa, waa.
The carriage rocked violently, and the four horses could barely bear the weight.
"Whoa~~"
The driver tried to stop the frightened horses, but they dropped to their knees in unison. Their limbs snapped, and white bone protruded from their knees.
A trace of astonishment flashed through Yang He's eyes as Spiritual Vision revealed something strange about the horses.
A thin line ran across their bellies, as though they had been cut open and sewn back together. Blood continuously seeped from the wounds.
The driver drew his whip and cracked it hard.
Crack.
Because the horses struggled too violently, the threads snapped. Yet they still forced themselves back up and endured the agony as they covered the last hundred meters.
Through Spiritual Vision, Yang He witnessed an utterly shocking sight.
There were people inside the horses' bellies. More precisely, the horses had been transformed from people!
"Beast Taming?"
An obscure term flashed through his mind.
Then the panel revealed its information.
Skin Painting Dao (Beast Tamer) Once mastered, the Skin Painting Ghost becomes a tattoo upon the skin, allowing the Art of Beast Taming to be used. One must skin oneself once every ten days, or the Skin Painting Ghost will replace one's own skin.
"As expected, something is wrong with this flood of Treasure Fish. When something is abnormal, there must be a demon behind it!!"
Yang He did not look directly at the driver.
He turned his head and pretended to chat with those nearby while sizing up the driver from the corner of his eye.
The driver was already seventy or eighty years old, with a head full of white hair. His right sleeve hung empty, and he looked like nothing more than an ordinary disabled old man.
But under Spiritual Vision, he was completely different.
Dense yin energy seeped from the driver's entire body, and his skin was an unnatural dark gray. What made Yang He's scalp prickle most was his right arm.
The missing right arm from his normal perspective could be seen through Spiritual Vision.
It was a deformed right arm over half a meter long.
The deformed arm emitted extremely dense yin energy. From the palm to the elbow, it had split in half and was covered in sharp, densely packed bone spurs.
It formed a hideous, gaping bloody mouth that opened and closed continuously.
"Vegetable merchants had, an Evil Ghost has revived!!!"
The driver seemed to faintly sense Yang He's scrutiny. Smiling, he looked around, while his mouth-like right arm constantly dripped saliva.
The right arm sniffed at the air, then chewed up and down in dissatisfaction.
Cold sweat streamed down Yang He's back, but his expression revealed not the slightest flaw.
He knew Spiritual Vision had nothing to do with ghosts, since it emitted no yin energy. The driver absolutely could not detect that he was the one watching him.
But to be safe, Yang He did not immediately leave the market.
Hungry Ghost Path (Martial Artist)
According to the information revealed by Spiritual Vision, the driver had contained a Hungry Ghost.
Yang He joined the crowd in cheering as though nothing was amiss, while circulating the method Grandmaster Taiyi had taught him to restrain the Ghost Eye as much as possible.
"In other words, there's another Skin Painting Dao cultivator in the market?"
Yang He could tell that the Hungry Ghost occupying the driver's right arm was already at the Evil Ghost stage, and it was an Evil Ghost that had completed one revival.
The fusion of the Hungry Ghost with a limb was proof of a revival.
But one thing was completely different.
The driver did not seem as insane as Song Zhi.
He could control the revived Hungry Ghost while retaining his sanity!
Yang He noticed that after the driver appeared at the market entrance, the number of constables nearby began to rise sharply. However, they only maintained order.
The driver's lips curled upward, but out of caution, he still bent down and crawled into the carriage.
"Heh heh."
Yang He closed his eyes and carefully listened to the sounds within the carriage.
Spiritual Vision did not merely affect sight. It encompassed all five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—which was why it could face the true reality of the Eighteen Layers of Hell.
"Sun Qi, don't think a pack of tiger ghosts will be enough to deal with us."
"Why can't you accept the fact that you're already dead? Heh heh, how much longer can you hold on? One month? Or two?"
The driver said nothing more. Yang He opened his eyes and squeezed out through the bustling outer edge of the crowd. By then, the century-old Treasure Fish had already been pulled into an open space.
The butcher cut open the sack binding the century-old Treasure Fish.
The crowd fell silent. None of them had expected the century-old Treasure Fish to be so savage and terrifying.
Its dense scales were covered in fleshy tumors. Ordinary Treasure Fish had upward-facing eyeballs, but the century-old Treasure Fish was even more exaggerated. Its eyeballs were a full half meter wide, as though they could burst at any moment.
Most horrifying of all, the century-old Treasure Fish actually had human-like limbs.
When the century-old Treasure Fish crawled upon the ground, it resembled a newborn infant.
A flicker of fear crossed Shopkeeper Chen's eyes. The century-old Treasure Fish seemed to be staring at him, and only after several breaths did he regain his composure.
"The century-old Treasure Fish will take seven or eight days to slaughter. Fish flesh from every part will be auctioned off promptly."
"Don't worry. Our Fuyang Merchant Association is fair to young and old alike. We will be the first to..."
Yang He did not continue watching the century-old Treasure Fish. He turned and headed toward the southeastern corner of the market.
Before you continue