Five Ghosts

Clothes, silver, books, medicinal herbs, bottles and jars.

A pile of miscellaneous items lay scattered across the table.

Even the small pile of silver and silver notes beside it failed to snap him out of it.

Chen Mu stared blankly at the red leather pouch inside the wooden box.

"I should have thought of it earlier."

There were Yin Soul Monsters and magical artifacts, so naturally there were also those who cultivated immortality and sought the Dao.

The bag was just a bit strange. It did not quite match his fantasy of storage pouches and spatial rings.

Sooner or later, I have to see what immortals look like!

Chen Mu quickly calmed his tangled emotions and looked away.

He closed the wooden box and carefully put it away. It was a treasure and could not be lost.

But now was not the time to try using it. After all, it sucked blood. That was a little dangerous.

"Let's check the spoils first." Chen Mu put on the Sheepskin Gloves.

He carefully set the bottles and jars aside, worried there might be poison inside.

He placed the silver, silver notes, and other valuables together.

After counting them, there were more than four hundred and thirty-three taels in total.

"A windfall!" Chen Mu grinned.

He tossed the clothes into a Wooden Basin, intending to take them out and burn them later.

Chen Mu placed several books before him. These were what interested him.

Killing someone and getting secret manuals as loot—wasn't that standard in novels?

"It'd be even better if there were another Body Tempering Technique."

With that thought in mind, Chen Mu picked up the top book.

"Precious Manual of Cherishing Flowers."

"A manual..." Chen Mu eagerly opened it.

After reading just one page, he expressionlessly shut the book.

Then he looked through the others.

"Records of Appreciating Flowers," "Tale of the Fox Spirit"...

"Using a treasure capable of storing Mount Sumeru in a mustard seed to hold dirty little books... what a talent!"

Chen Mu tossed the books into the bamboo basket and casually grabbed the last bright yellow scroll, pulling it open.

If this turned out to be some gorgeous beauty painting used as a banner...

I'm not looking if the artwork's bad!

The moment he opened it, dense writing filled his vision.

Chen Mu hurriedly looked at the title at the beginning—"Thousand Mountains Scripture: Five Ghosts Moving Mountains."

This... was a real drop!

"So it's called the Five Ghosts Bag." Chen Mu carefully examined the scroll.

Its contents were all related to that red pouch.

At the beginning was a scripture of two or three hundred characters.

The wording was obscure and difficult, with the beginning and end making no sense together.

He recognized every character, but put together, they were nothing but gibberish.

Most of the rest described how to make a Five Ghosts Bag.

The materials alone were rather bizarre.

The main material was the stomach pouch of a type of toad.

This toad was called a Hong Hu. It was the size of a fist, yet its belly contained its own little world and could hold many things.

Those five little figures were even stranger. They had been modified from Yin Soul Monsters.

The crafting process was complex and utterly inexplicable.

For example, after the Five Ghosts Bag had roughly taken shape, it had to be dried in the sun for seventy-two days, dried in moonlight for thirty-six days, then placed atop a mountain on a moonless, starless night to be blasted by cold winds for eighteen days.

Once the bag was finished, one could control the Five Ghosts Bag through the scripture at the beginning and activate the wondrous technique, Five Ghosts Moving Mountains.

It could command the Five Ghosts to carry things, block attacks, and kill enemies.

If the Five Ghosts Bag was refined to a profound level, it was said to be capable of moving mountains.

As for how to refine it, one simply had to feed living flesh and blood to the bag.

"It doesn't just suck blood... it eats meat too?!"

The whole thing was getting more and more bizarre.

As for when the bag would reach completion, the scripture did not say. Chen Mu figured it was probably just fooling people.

"It's a good item, but how exactly is this scripture supposed to be used?"

It was nothing more than gibberish made from three hundred-odd characters.

"It must be some kind of code," Chen Mu thought unwillingly.

To learn its true meaning, he needed either the correct arrangement or a method to extract the right characters according to some pattern.

"This is troublesome." Chen Mu frowned. "A secret like this is very likely passed down orally."

For three days straight, Chen Mu pondered the strange scripture while eating and sleeping.

Unfortunately, he gained nothing.

"Forget it. I'll figure it out slowly." Chen Mu let it go.

He had the Proficiency Cheat. As long as he did not act recklessly, his strength would keep improving. Sooner or later, he would come into contact with supernatural power.

Five Ghosts Moving Mountains was not his only option.

He had been so absorbed in the scripture these past few days that it had affected his Medicine Crafting practice.

Chen Mu immediately put away the scroll. He hid it in the wooden box together with the Five Ghosts Bag.

He only copied the two- or three-hundred-character scripture separately.

Whenever he had spare time each day, he would look at it and treat it as a change of pace.

Five days later.

Chen Mu handed a ping-pong-ball-sized pill to Jie Jia.

"Give it a try."

"What is it?" Jie Jia brought it close and sniffed it.

A faint sweet fragrance mixed with the scent of medicine drifted into his nose.

"A Fasting Pill." Chen Mu said solemnly.

Jie Jia looked at Chen Mu expressionlessly and said nothing.

"It's actually just a Rice Ball with tonics added. It fills you up." Chen Mu shrugged with a smile.

Jie Jia nodded.

After more than half a month of research, Chen Mu had finally created an ancient version of a Compressed Biscuit with his Medicine Crafting, which had just entered Tier 3.

Jie Jia inspected it twice, then curiously took a bite. He still trusted Chen Mu's Culinary skills.

The savory-sweet flavor made his eyelids lift slightly.

"Not bad."

"I'll send you some later." Chen Mu smiled.

"Need something?" Jie Jia said flatly.

He knew this routine well. This scholar only acted so attentive when he needed a favor.

"Look at this." Unbothered, Chen Mu tossed Jie Jia a Porcelain Bottle.

Jie Jia's heart stirred.

He opened the Porcelain Bottle, and a familiar scent wafted out.

"You really replicated it?!" Jie Jia was slightly moved.

This was a Secret Medicine monopolized by Zhu Yi Pavilion. It was not as if no one had tried to replicate and decipher it before, but no one had ever succeeded.

"It was a little troublesome, but it worked out." Chen Mu chuckled.

Zhu Yi Pavilion had added misleading ingredients to create an encrypted lock. Ordinary Alchemists could not figure it out.

Fortunately, Chen Mu had Tier 3 Medicine Crafting.

The instant he broke through, his sense of smell and taste had been enhanced, allowing him to detect the flaw.

Zhu Yi Pavilion had mixed two useless medicines together, producing a scent almost identical to that of another valuable medicinal herb. The various test reactions were also exactly the same.

Who knew how many imitators they had misled.

"Ten pills per bottle. I'll give you each bottle for eight taels. Help me sell them. Deal?" Chen Mu tempted him.

Jie Jia had strength and connections. He was not afraid of others coveting the goods or investigating him.

Chen Mu only needed to make them, while Jie Jia took on all the trouble. He could earn big money safely.

"Two taels." Jie Jia bargained without changing expression.

Internal members of Zhu Yi Pavilion could buy one bottle for eight taels.

At the Ghost Market, one bottle sold for at least twelve taels!

When it came to making money, Jie Jia drove a hard bargain.

"Too little. Seven and a half taels at minimum!" Chen Mu looked reluctant, though inwardly he was delighted.

The Three Yang Six Gentlemen Pill looked complicated, but the complexity lay in its process. The ingredients were not expensive.

A bottle cost at most a little over one tael to make. Produced in bulk, the cost could even fall to half a tael.

After some back-and-forth, they finally settled on six taels per bottle.

The moment the deal was reached, both men smiled at the same time.

One old and one young, they looked like two foxes that had just stolen a chicken.

At the Settlement market.

Wearing a conical hat, dressed in Yang Zhi's identity, and carrying a bamboo basket on his back, Chen Mu found Old Man Liu.

"I've prepared all the medicinal herbs for you. Took me quite a bit of effort," Old Man Liu said, handing Chen Mu a burlap sack.

Chen Mu said nothing. He opened the sack and took out the Small Cloth Bags inside. Out of habit, he checked them one by one.

Jie Jia had cheated him too many times.

After a while, Chen Mu stood and tossed Old Man Liu a cloth bag. "Thanks."

With this batch of medicine, not only could he make money, but his injuries would also heal faster.

Old Man Liu squeezed the cloth bag, and his face immediately broke into a Smile.

Chen Mu nodded, tossed the burlap sack into his bamboo basket, and left with it on his back.

He had only taken two steps.

Several Yamen Runners passed beside him carrying a Stretcher.

A familiar face followed alongside them. Constable Lu.

Ever since Qingshan County had changed hands, Chen Mu had not gone to the yamen to draw wanted posters again.

He had not seen Constable Lu in a long time.

Noticing the bloodstained gray cloth covering the corpse, Chen Mu frowned slightly.

Another beast attack?