Ghostly Shadows in a Small Village

Having temporarily escaped danger, Lu Qingshan took the chance to tally his gains.

As Corpse Refining Cave's second senior brother, Si Xuesong had only one defensive Spirit Artifact on him—a crystalline, snow-white bracelet.

--------

Golden Essence Ring

Grade: Mid-grade Mortal Artifact

Description: A Spirit Artifact forged from Golden Essence Stone.

Spirit Artifact Effect: Automatically triggers the first-grade spell Golden Light Shield when damaged (time until fully charged: 11 hours).

--------

As a mid-grade Mortal Artifact, it was indeed far stronger than the Earth Spirit Pendant. First, its spell triggered automatically, requiring no deliberate activation.

Spirit Artifacts that automatically triggered defensive spells were highly practical in battle. Then there was the charging time: the Earth Spirit Pendant took three days, while the Golden Essence Ring required only one.

Lu Qingshan swiftly slipped the Golden Essence Ring onto his hand.

After that, it was time to inspect Si Xuesong's Storage Bag.

The items in Si Xuesong's Storage Bag were clearly much more plentiful than those of his two junior brothers.

But that was only compared to his two junior brothers. In Lu Qingshan's eyes, Corpse Refining Cave was nothing but a den of paupers.

Fortunately, they were all paupers. None of them had even a single offensive Spirit Artifact, which was why he had been able to bulldoze his way out.

Si Xuesong's Storage Bag contained over sixty First-grade Spirit Stones—more than three times the combined wealth of his two unlucky junior brothers.

There were also several Jade Slips containing the Qi Guiding Technique and spells. Those were things for Magic Cultivators; as a sword cultivator, Lu Qingshan had no use for them at all.

As for pills, besides another bottle of Bigu Pills, there was unexpectedly a bottle of Qi Condensing Pills. This was probably his greatest haul of the day.

A bottle of Qi Condensing Pills, containing twelve pills, was worth one hundred and twenty First-grade Spirit Stones. Qi Condensing Pills were only suitable for Qi Refining cultivators. Once one's cultivation surpassed Qi Refining, their medicinal effect would greatly diminish.

Lu Qingshan pulled out the stopper and took a look. Eight round Qi Condensing Pills remained inside the bottle.

Qi Condensing Pills could assist cultivators in their cultivation and speed up their progress. They were just as valuable to players.

Because in Nine Heavens, players could also meditate and cultivate techniques like NPCs to gain experience points—AFK farming.

For players, the Qi Condensing Pill's effect of accelerating cultivation translated into increasing the experience gained through AFK farming.

Lu Qingshan estimated that with this body's aptitude, if he cultivated for four shichen a day, it would take roughly two days just to gain 1 experience point.

--------

Qi Condensing Pill

Grade: First-grade medicinal pill

Description: After taking the pill, circulate one's cultivation technique to absorb the spiritual power contained within it, rapidly increasing cultivation. After consuming more than 10 pills, the medicinal effect is halved. After consuming more than 20 pills, they will no longer produce any effect.

Pill Effect: Experience +10

Note: As long as you swallow enough pills, even a mortal can become immortal.

--------

Qi Condensing Pills did not take effect the instant they were swallowed. One still had to spend time circulating one's cultivation technique and absorb the spiritual power within before gaining experience points.

But compared to dry, bare meditation, the efficiency was certainly higher by far more than a little.

Lu Qingshan returned the pills to his Storage Bag, then tied the Storage Bag inside his robe. At this moment, there were already three Storage Bags hidden beneath his robes.

That reminded him of a saying that was widely circulated among players.

Storage Bags were merely the lowest-grade storage Spirit Artifacts, with very limited space. Yet during the early stages of the game, players could not afford high-grade storage Spirit Artifacts. To meet their storage needs, they often had no choice but to carry multiple Storage Bags.

Players with a spirit of self-mockery in the style of Ah Q jokingly claimed to belong to the Beggars' Sect, ranking their seniority by the number of Storage Bags they carried.

Lu Qingshan's current situation made him a Three-Bag Elder.

What left the deepest impression on Lu Qingshan was that in his previous life, there had been a ruthless player from Asan Country who had unleashed his racial talent and strapped a full hundred Storage Bags onto himself. He called himself the Hundred-Bag Elder, the Beggars' Sect Leader.

Following the river downstream, Lu Qingshan walked for several more shichen. Just as his legs began to go weak, he finally spotted several village girls and women washing clothes by the river ahead.

The village women laid their clothes on stones, using soapberries mashed into balls as detergent. They continuously beat the clothes with wooden paddles, their hands busy without pause and their mouths no less occupied as they gossiped about household affairs.

"Did you see that Daoist master the village chief brought back from the city a few days ago? Pointy mouth, monkey cheeks—if you ask me, he didn't have even a trace of a Daoist immortal's bearing."

"Hey, you can't judge a person by their looks. Daoist Bai Piao is a somewhat renowned Daoist even in Yuanshan City.

"A few years ago, no one knew what filthy thing the neighboring village had offended, but several people became possessed. They invited Daoist Bai Piao to perform a ritual. Afterward, those possessed villagers supposedly returned to normal that very day!"

"Then this Daoist master will surely be able to deal with the evil thing in our village. That's wonderful! My child has been frightened by that ghost so badly he hasn't slept peacefully for days. It's awful."

"Shh, that's hard to say. I heard from my man that the evil thing in our village this time is very likely a big one.

"When Li the Second got up in the night that day, he caught sight of a ghostly shadow in his backyard. It bared its fangs and brandished its claws, calling itself something like the Hegemon of Western Chu. It scared the daylights out of him."

The oldest-looking woman among them suddenly cut in, immediately drawing several cries of alarm.

"The Hegemon of Western Chu?!"

"That's right. Our village may very well be where this Hegemon of Western Chu died.

"This Hegemon died before achieving his grand ambition, so naturally he was unwilling to accept it. Harboring resentment, it accumulated over the years and became a Vengeful Spirit. Now it has come out to stir up trouble!"

"Hiss—"

Of course Lu Qingshan did not believe the village women. A ghost capable of calling itself the Hegemon of Western Chu would be an existence capable of leaving every living thing within an entire prefecture dead and desolate.

If it really were the Hegemon of Western Chu, would you village women still be alive to wash clothes here?

Still, there was no smoke without fire. The appearance of a ghost was most likely real.

And if it could call itself the Hegemon of Western Chu, that meant it already possessed intelligence. It should be a Yin Soul, not a Vengeful Spirit.

Vengeful Spirits were vicious ghosts born from those who harbored resentment before death, refused to enter the Six Paths of Reincarnation, and lingered in the mortal world. They had lost their minds, retaining only a beastlike instinct for slaughter. They were creatures of great evil.

Yet Vengeful Spirits were also excellent materials for evil sect cultivators to refine Spirit Artifacts. If a Vengeful Spirit were refined into a Spirit Artifact as its artifact soul, its power could increase by at least thirty percent.

Therefore, when most cultivators encountered a Vengeful Spirit causing trouble, they were quite willing to subdue it. Not only could they rid the people of harm, but after subduing it, selling the Vengeful Spirit to an Evil Cultivator would bring in another hefty sum.

If Vengeful Spirits were valuable, then Yin Souls were true treasures.

Unlike Vengeful Spirits, Yin Souls were spiritual creatures. Having awakened their intelligence, if they possessed a suitable cultivation technique, they could cultivate like human cultivators and continuously increase their strength. After Foundation Establishment, they could even condense a new body once more.

If one could subdue such a Yin Soul as a Ghost Pet and nurture it well, it would undoubtedly become a capable fighter for a cultivator—and the kind that could keep leveling up.

A Yin Soul appearing in a small village, while the villagers who had seen it were somehow still alive, indicated that this Yin Soul was most likely newly born. It had yet to obtain a cultivation technique suitable for ghosts and could only rely on a few innate abilities to play petty tricks.

Lu Qingshan's heart stirred.

"Ma'am, I just heard you mention the Hegemon of Western Chu and Daoist Bai Piao. Might I ask what exactly is going on?" Lu Qingshan walked forward and asked with a bashful smile.

Seeing that the newcomer was a harmless-looking youth, the village women were rather welcoming. They did not hide much and chattered away. "Things had been going along just fine, but half a month ago, poultry in the village started disappearing all the time.

"At first, we didn't think much of it. We figured it was just some dog-born little thief with a craving, stealing chickens and ducks for meat.

"So we sent a few people to hide outside the chicken coop, wanting to catch that little thief.

"But who would've thought—not a single shadow appeared, yet two chickens still vanished from the coop. It went on like this for several nights in a row.

"Then we began to suspect the place was haunted. It wasn't until a few days ago, when Li the Second saw that ghostly shadow with his own eyes, that we confirmed there really was a ghost in the village. We hurriedly had the village chief go into the city and invite a Daoist master to perform a ritual and drive it away."

A Yin Soul that stole chickens?

Lu Qingshan vaguely felt that something was off.

"May I ask when the Daoist master will perform the ritual to eliminate the ghost? I am deeply interested in these ghost-expelling Daoist arts. Would it be possible for me to observe?"

The oldest village woman gave Lu Qingshan a surprised look. "You're quite bold, young man. The Daoist master said he would set up the altar and perform the ritual at You hour.

"If you're interested, wait here a while. Once we've finished washing the clothes, you can return to the village with us."

Lu Qingshan cupped his hands. "All right. Then I'll thank you in advance, ma'am."