Outside the window lay a completely different scene. The present world was bathed in blazing sunlight, while Hell was drenched by torrential rain, the water level silently rising past one's knees.
Yang He's expression turned grave. The century-old Treasure Fish at the market entrance had already been dismembered.
The butcher was smoking its stomach and had yet to remove the debris inside, making the material tougher for later processing.
Mundane Item: Lotus Born Lotus Associated Lore: "Ghost Lotus." Consume 1 point of Spiritual Vision to enter the Lore World?
"This time, I have to improve my cultivation as much as possible in the Lore World."
Consume 0.5 points of Spiritual Vision to bring 263 Great Replenishing Pills into the Lore World? Consume 1 point of Spiritual Vision to bring the Blood Copper Coin Sword into the Lore World?
Yang He considered it carefully. Cailian Town was already crawling with monsters and demons, so the black cat's warning was of little use. The Copper-Coin Sword, however, needed to be brought along to give him a better chance of survival.
"I can't worry about whether the Copper-Coin Sword might be damaged now. The Main World is in imminent danger, and every trip into a Lore World is invaluable."
After hesitating again and again, Yang He recalled the Child-Mother Ghosts filling Qing Lake and simply decided to bring it as well.
Consume 0.3 points of Spiritual Vision to bring the Grudge-Soaked Red Rope into the Lore World?
"Confirm."
Identity "Clay Figurine Vendor" has died and cannot be selected for portrayal.
Clay Figurine Vendor: You made a living selling clay figurines in Cailian Town. One day, you discovered that the figurines you molded seemed to have come alive. Refusing to believe it, you paid it no heed, only to die in the street the next day.
Yang He breathed a sigh of relief. Since the Night Watchman role had not died, the situation before he left the Lore World should have been relatively safe.
He did not refresh the identities. The Daoist boy was his advantage.
Three faces appeared.
Daoist Boy (Green): You followed your master to Cailian Town and discovered that the place was infested with evil entities. Your master was temporarily trapped outside the town, leaving you to handle the situation with only your family's Qi Gazing Technique.
Night Watchman (White): Since Cailian Town imposed its curfew, the night has no longer been safe. How many nights can you survive?
Lotus Root Harvester (White): You are the sole survivor among those who stole lotus roots at night. Discovering that disasters kept occurring in Cailian Town, you did not return home and could only scrape by beside Qing Lake.
If no identity is selected, you will enter the Lore World in your true body for portrayal.
"Choose the Daoist boy."
Consume 4 points of Spiritual Vision to enter the Lore "Ghost Lotus"?
"Confirm."
The instant Yang He regained consciousness, he sensed an indescribable weakness throughout his body. Then he heard Wu Hong's anxious call beside his ear.
"Immortal Master!"
"Immortal Master, are you alright?!"
Wu Hong looked around. Malice seemed to be watching from the shadows.
"I... I'm fine."
Yang He forced his eyes open. Everything around him was dim; he was still deep in the alley from before, while a third arm writhed beneath the skin of his chest.
Then the Force Ghost drilled back into his flesh and vanished somewhere within his body.
"Immortal Master, you..."
Wu Hong was full of worry. Yang He's face was deathly pale, without the slightest trace of blood.
Yang He was about to speak, only to find that he did not even have the strength to open his mouth. Then, little by little, his limbs began to lose sensation.
The Pupil Ghost opened its eyes on its own, guiding the outside Yin energy into his body.
It wanted to slow the rate at which Yang He died.
Unfortunately, when he left the Pawn World last time, he had exchanged away his remaining Yin Meridian. The Pupil Ghost was now equivalent to a Weak Ghost that had only recently been born.
Yang He inwardly cursed his misfortune, and his vision could not help but blur.
"I'm going to die."
The Daoist boy was only eleven or twelve. Madam Yin's Yin energy had severely injured him, and constantly taking Great Replenishing Pills had prematurely exhausted his life force.
With a glance from the corner of his eye, Yang He saw that the Daoist boy's Yang Fire was already on the verge of going out.
"Grandmaster Taiyi is really unreliable. If he already stepped in to save me, shouldn't he have also treated his disciple's body? What a cheap master!"
His organs immediately began to fail, and livor mortis spread across the surface of his skin.
Yang He looked helpless. He could not even ask Wu Hong to help take out the Great Replenishing Pills.
He tried communicating with the Pupil Ghost, but its intelligence was incomplete. It only knew how to continuously absorb Yin energy, which instead hastened the further extinguishing of his Yang Fire.
"Was I really going to waste a chance to enter the Lore World for nothing?"
"Why not try... the Inner Elixir Art?"
Gritting his teeth, Yang He decided that the purpose of this journey was the Inner Elixir Art. If the Daoist boy died from containing the Force Ghost, at least it would not be entirely worthless.
He silently recited the Inner Elixir Art, then communicated with the Pupil Ghost and made it absorb Yin energy even faster.
According to the cultivation method of the Inner Elixir Art, one had to consume specially prepared talisman water upon initiation to suppress the second ghost. Furthermore, the higher the realm of the first ghost, the more likely the pill refinement would succeed.
Where was Yang He supposed to find talisman water? He directly drove the Yin energy to subdue the Force Ghost.
The Force Ghost at the Weak Ghost stage hid among his organs. When it was not transformed into a third arm, it was merely a faint, almost intangible piece of cartilage.
The Yin energy circulated along a specific route, weaving an invisible net through his blood vessels and meridians.
Once the Force Ghost sensed the Inner Elixir Art, it reacted with extreme violence, as though invisible arms were constantly stirring his insides.
Pfft.
Yang He spat out black blood. The moment it fell to the ground, it hissed and sizzled.
Even the Daoist boy's blood had become mixed with Yin energy. In that state, he was no different from a dead man, yet he still retained a sliver of life.
The Yin energy contracted. The Pupil Ghost failed to suppress the Force Ghost, and the two fell into a stalemate.
A sharp pain erupted from Yang He's organs. His skin turned grayish-white; forget livor mortis, he was already giving off a faint stench of decay.
"As expected of an Immortal Master! Our Cailian Town is finally saved!"
Wu Hong's face was filled with excitement. He noticed the ghostly figures around them disappearing, while tangible Yin energy spilled from Yang He's entire body.
Crack, crack, crack.
As the sound of bones shattering rang out, Wu Hong's pupils shook. A third arm more than half a meter long had appeared behind Yang He.
"Immortal!!!"
He repeatedly kowtowed, not caring in the slightest when his face scraped bloody against the paving stones.
Yang He's expression was strange. His consciousness sensed the third arm's existence, and he hurriedly controlled it to take out ten Great Replenishing Pills and swallow them.
The third arm disappeared, and the medicinal power soon began to take effect.
Warmth from his stomach continuously spread through his blood vessels and meridians.
His Yang Fire reignited, even burning a little too fiercely.
Yang He's livor mortis vanished, though his skin remained grayish-white. His body temperature was no different from a corpse's, and his heart beat extremely slowly.
Only after recovering a little strength did he realize that he had formed a faint connection with the Force Ghost.
Though the connection was very weak, by paying a great deal of Yang energy, he could barely command the third arm for a short time.
"It was probably an arrangement Grandmaster Taiyi made in advance, preventing the Force Ghost from devouring me in backlash."
"The Inner Elixir Art hasn't succeeded, and the Force Ghost hasn't been refined, yet I can somehow command it now."
Yang He examined himself. His current half-human, half-ghost constitution was also a factor.
The Daoist boy was alive, but there was practically no difference between him and a corpse.
Grandmaster Taiyi had mentioned that the Daoist boy was born on a yin year and yin day, making his Yang Fire weaker than that of ordinary people. After all this strain, he was like a cracked clay jar that had to be constantly refilled with water.
If Yang He did not take Great Replenishing Pills now, his Yang Fire would go out.
The moment his Yang Fire went out, he would immediately stop breathing.
"More than two hundred Great Replenishing Pills should last me for a while, right?"
Yang He sighed. Still, it was not entirely without benefits. After becoming half-human and half-ghost, at least he digested Yin energy far faster than ordinary people.
"Wu Hong, you Night Watchmen should also be under the Yamen, right?"
"Take me to the Yamen."
"Alright!"
Wu Hong's face flushed red. He already regarded Yang He as a living immortal.
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