Lantern Monster

Chapter 4: Lantern Monster [Thanks to "Ziche Ju" for the Silver Alliance reward]

The next morning, Yue Wen received news that the job was his.

Actually, as soon as his quote was released, everyone in the group knew there was no suspense. He was taking the job for a thousand yuan, so why would anyone else compete?

This job might take two to three nights, averaging three to five hundred yuan per night. To earn this little money, he'd have to stay up late. He might as well go work as a male escort at a bar.

Yue Wen just smiled at the indignation of his peers.

Who told him he could get extra Demon Suppressing Coins from hunting monsters? Compared to that, real money wasn't as important. He could only push the others to work harder.

Let my peers suffer, I'll bear the infamy.

After arranging to meet the client in the evening, Yue Wen could spend the day at the Firm handling his own affairs.

He first created a recruitment notice.

"Now recruiting one assistant demon hunter. Must have cultivation, realm not limited, male or female, old or young. Estimated monthly salary from three thousand to one hundred thousand (base salary three thousand, five-five split on mission rewards), no upper limit. Interested parties, act fast."

After finishing, Yue Wen looked it over and added another sentence.

"Limited spots, first come, first served."

If he relied solely on the three thousand base salary, it would be difficult to attract even an intern college student, let alone a cultivator. Therefore, he had to offer a higher commission—other similar Firms wouldn't even offer a five-five split to their partners.

"This should be attractive enough, right?" Yue Wen muttered.

After all, he had no cultivation requirements.

Cultivators in Jiang City weren't that precious.

Five hundred years ago, Blue Star, which originally had only pure technological civilization, suddenly experienced a significant increase in Spiritual Energy concentration, quickly reaching a stage where all things in the world gained sentience.

Descendants of ancient Immortal Sects emerged, stating that the world's Spiritual Energy was like a tide, rising for three thousand years, declining for three thousand years, and becoming depleted for three thousand years.

One rise and fall spanned ten thousand years.

Now that the period of Spiritual Energy depletion had completely passed, the mortal world was entering a full three thousand-year period of Spiritual Energy increase, until its peak.

People were initially ecstatic, calling it "Spiritual Energy Revival."

But they soon discovered that this revival brought immense chaos to the world. Not only could humans develop spiritual intelligence, but the earth's creatures, mountains, and rivers transformed into primordial wilderness; all living things gained sentience, and Demonic Evils sprang up everywhere.

The greatest threat came from the spatial barriers that loosened with the surge in Spiritual Energy.

Numerous realms outside the mortal world became restless, and powerful otherworldly demonic monsters descended, bringing almost apocalyptic disaster to Blue Star, whose cultivation civilization was just beginning.

For nearly a hundred years, the human world was nearly destroyed, and survivors lived in constant fear and dread.

Spiritual Energy Revival was subsequently called "Spiritual Energy Catastrophe."

Finally, human cultivators gradually accumulated strength. Coupled with a group of Immortal Sect descendants who, according to ancient records, found the legendary Four Seas Dragon Palace and retrieved a large number of Immortal Treasures left from the previous Spiritual Energy era, they were able to turn the tide and restore order to the mortal world.

To this day, although there are still large areas of Wasteland and forbidden zones outside the satellite cities, and monsters of various levels still exist, at least humans in the cities can live and work in peace, and have also resumed their past technological lives.

Foreign realm demonic monsters can only descend through occasional spatial rifts, and large-scale invasions have not occurred for many years.

In these past few hundred years, cultivation civilization has developed more and more vigorously. Although people who possess spiritual intelligence and can cultivate are still one in ten thousand, on a planet with billions of people, one in ten thousand still amounts to millions. Furthermore, with the addition of some evil cultivators who were transformed later, this number is even more substantial.

Naturally, the lower the realm, the more people there are. Among the nine realms of cultivation, the lower three realms account for over seventy percent. And those who are just cultivation "enthusiasts" who remain in the First Realm their entire lives are incredibly numerous.

Yue Wen's requirements weren't high, and he didn't need the assistant to do much; it was merely to comply with the Supervision Bureau's regulations.

Hiring an enthusiast would be enough.

Soon, the day passed. Yue Wen cultivated alone in the Firm all day, with no visitors.

The reputation of "Yue's Cultivation Firm" was still too small.

On a small utility pole, advertisements were crammed together: "Seeking Child with Heavy Reward," "Cheap Exorcism," "Same-Day House Calls," "No Diet Weight Loss"... It was hard to believe that one of these was genuine.

However, Yue Wen remained optimistic. As long as he hired an assistant and obtained a formal business license, he could openly use more advanced advertising methods—like handing out flyers on the street.

Seeing that it was almost time, he locked up the shop and set off on his electric scooter.

Heading east, he arrived at the edge of Satellite City No. 7. In the distance, he could already see a chaotic, blurry light screen ahead, reaching the sky and stretching boundlessly.

Satellite cities encircled the main urban area, and arrays protected the satellite cities. Outside the light screen of this city-protecting array was the vast Wasteland.

This array couldn't block all Demonic Evils; some individual Evil Spirits could still slip through the cracks. However, once the aura of an invading Demonic Evil reached a certain level, the array would trigger, preventing large-scale monster tides and protecting the overall safety of the city.

The East City Cemetery was located in this suburban area.

The evening sky was dim. At a glance, in the areas separated by the trees on the mountainside, there were countless protruding tombstones. Many of them were blank, or only had the date of death written on them, waiting in case a family member came to claim them one day.

In this era, the living space for ordinary people had actually worsened, with a considerable number of accidental deaths each year.

At the beginning of the Spiritual Energy Revival, a group of ordinary people felt fear towards cultivators who controlled powerful forces, worrying that the rampant use of power would cause social chaos. At that time, some experts even advocated, "Everyone cultivates, and then it won't be chaotic."

Thinking about it made one laugh.

On the mountainside next to the cemetery stood a small house, where the tomb keeper lived. Yue Wen rode his electric scooter with a sputtering sound to the outside, parked, and locked it.

A somewhat disheveled, balding old man emerged from the house. He smiled and greeted him, saying, "Young man, you're here to clear out Evil Spirits, right?"

"That's right, sir," Yue Wen replied.

"My surname is Huang, and I'm the cemetery manager. The nights from now on are in your hands. If you get tired from work, you can come in and rest." The old man led Yue Wen into the small house and gave him a tour.

"Don't worry, Uncle Huang, I'll handle it," Yue Wen said with a smile.

The furnishings inside the small house were simple, mostly everyday appliances and a yellowed bed.

"This cemetery is for ordinary people, so no major Evil Spirits will appear. It'll definitely be fine," Old Man Huang pointed. "There are a few stacks of yellow paper in the drawer; feel free to use them if you need to."

"Got it," Yue Wen nodded.

There were plenty of preparations, but he hadn't learned any Talisman Arts, so these wouldn't be of much use to him.

"There are a few cucumbers in the refrigerator; feel free to eat them if you need to," Old Man Huang pointed again.

"Understood," Yue Wen nodded again, thinking the old man was quite thoughtful.

"There are a few 'yellow books' on the shelf; feel free to use them if you need to..." Old Man Huang pointed towards the bookshelf.

"I don't have that kind of need," Yue Wen quickly shook his head.

Good heavens.

Does everything in this house have to have your surname on it?

I'm a decent person, sir.

"That's true, the internet is so advanced these days," Old Man Huang sighed and smiled, as if lamenting that the new era no longer had a place for his kind.

As dusk settled, after leaving the key with the little yellow duck charm for Yue Wen, Old Man Huang rode away on a small yellow electric scooter, puttering off.

Left alone in the house, Yue Wen flipped through the books on the shelf—purely out of curiosity.

As expected, they were all titles like I Can't Be a Goddess, Slay Demons, My Lady, The Fairy Commands... works that, judging by their names, were not exactly proper.

He casually passed the time, and when the sky had completely darkened, signaling the time for Yin creatures to become active.

Yue Wen walked out of the small house and entered the cemetery grounds.

Compared to demons with physical forms, "Nightmares" like these Evil Spirits, formed from the residual mental energy of living beings, were more ethereal and elusive. They left no trace in daylight but could regenerate in the darkness of night.

Yue Wen hadn't taken more than a few steps when he saw a ball of eerie green ghost fire floating from the distant woods. Although it wasn't his first time seeing one, out of caution, he put on his Demon-Slaying Mirror, concentrated his true qi, and tried to identify its information.

Besides revealing the aura of Evil Spirits, the Demon-Slaying Mirror could also discern their origins and analyze their combat strength, providing a lot of crucial information. The weaker the Evil Spirit's spiritual energy, the more information it revealed.

A perception immediately surfaced in Yue Wen's mind.

[Lantern Monster: A Nightmare Object formed by the residual resentment of a corpse attaching itself to a piece of old paper. It is undoubtedly the weakest Evil Spirit in the world. Its adult combat power is roughly equivalent to a quarter of a healthy elderly human woman.]