Seeing Ghosts in Broad Daylight

"Where's my congee?"

Lin Chen nearly dropped the bowl of pickled vegetables.

In the span of just a few minutes back and forth, not only was the congee gone—even the pot had vanished.

He looked around the area but found nothing.

Lin Chen tried to set down the pickled vegetable bowl, but when he glanced at his hands—

Empty.

The bowl was gone too.

Lin Chen plopped down onto the ground.

"Broad daylight, and I've run into a ghost!"

It wasn't that he was a coward. In a world where even immortality cultivation existed, ghosts were perfectly normal, right?

He scrambled under the table, trembling.

Maybe it was because he'd transmigrated here, but he had a natural fear of spirits.

At that moment, sweat beaded on his forehead, his teeth chattered, and he clasped his hands together, eyes shut, muttering a spell.

"Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, please don't come looking for me..."

After chanting for a long while with no other sounds, Lin Chen slowly opened his eyes.

The moment he cracked them open, he vaguely saw a pair of shoes in front of the table.

Terrified, he shut his eyes again, cold sweat streaming down.

He slowly turned to the other side.

Another long wait, still nothing.

Lin Chen started comforting himself. "It's broad daylight—how could there be any ghosts? I'm just scaring myself."

He psyched himself up, then snapped his eyes open.

He saw an upside-down head hanging beneath the table, long hair trailing to the ground, a pair of eyes staring dead at him.

Lin Chen screamed and passed out.

At that very moment, a sword-bearing young woman was lying on top of the table, her head hanging down on one side and her feet dangling on the other, watching Lin Chen with great interest.

Seeing him faint, she flipped over and crouched on the ground.

She grabbed Lin Chen by the foot and dragged him out.

Then she lightly patted his face. "Hey, don't sleep. Your congee was really good—got any more?"

She called out for a while, but Lin Chen didn't wake up. Finally, she sighed and drifted away.

Who knows how long passed before Lin Chen slowly came to, finding himself lying on a bed.

Senior Brother Ming Bufan was sitting at a nearby table, reading a book.

Hearing Lin Chen stir, Ming Bufan put down the book and came to the bedside. "You're awake?"

"Senior Brother, I..."

Remembering the scene before he fainted, Lin Chen's eyes filled with terror again.

"Senior Brother, I saw a ghost!"

Ha ha ha...

Ming Bufan was amused by his expression and reached out to help him sit up.

A stream of pure spiritual energy flowed over.

Lin Chen's mind instantly calmed, and the fear on his face gradually faded.

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

Lin Chen quickly got off the bed.

The two walked into the courtyard. When Lin Chen saw the stone table, he paused mid-step.

Ming Bufan took his arm and led him to the table, pointing at the empty pot.

"Second Senior Sister ate that pot of congee. She was also the one lying on the table teasing you."

Lin Chen hadn't seen Jian Rushuang's face up close.

So he hadn't recognized her.

"Don't take it to heart. She's a natural sword fanatic—aside from practicing swordsmanship, she only fights. She doesn't know how to get along with people, and she never eats anything from others, not even what the master gives her."

At this point, Ming Bufan's face showed a rare hint of delight.

"She ate your congee—that means she acknowledges you."

Ming Bufan patted Lin Chen on the shoulder. "You're pretty good."

"By the way, the ingredients I had someone buy just now are all placed in the Kitchen."

"Since you can cook, make plenty—everyone will come eat and get to know each other."

Lin Chen took a deep breath, untying the knot in his heart. "Senior Brother, I'll cook at noon then. You all come eat—I guarantee it'll be so fragrant you'll be dazed."

This wasn't bragging. Lin Chen had loved fine food in his past life, mastering frying, stir-frying, boiling, and deep-frying alike.

He'd even fused Chinese and Western cuisines, creating original dishes.

With that skill alone, he'd raked in a fortune.

A pity... but this place wasn't bad either.

Thinking of this, Lin Chen quickly asked, "Senior Brother, I'd like some seeds to plant on that empty land outside. It's too wasteful lying fallow."

"No problem. Give me a list, and I'll have someone procure it." Ming Bufan handed him a Jade Slip.

Lin Chen took the Jade Slip and gave an awkward smile. "Senior Brother, this... how do I use it?"

"Ah, my memory." Ming Bufan slapped his forehead, then gathered a light orb at his fingertip. "Don't resist!"

Lin Chen nodded.

Ming Bufan flicked his finger, and the light orb struck Lin Chen square between the brows.

Immediately, a surge of memory flooded his mind.

[Ding! Detected Yellow Grade Elementary Technique Divine Seal Art. Can exchange 1 Gold Coin for one year of cultivation to reach Beginner level. Host, do you wish to cultivate?]

"Cultivate!"

With such low cost, there was no need to hesitate.

As the exchange completed, Lin Chen understood—this was a minor technique of mental and spiritual energy application.

It allowed one to imprint information they wished to preserve into a Jade Slip using mental and spiritual energy.

Those proficient in it, with strong cultivation, could even leave images within.

The person obtaining the Jade Slip would experience it like watching surveillance footage.

At higher levels, one could inscribe complete inheritances within, passing them down through the ages.

[Ding! Beginner achieved. Can consume 10 Spirit Stones to exchange for ten years of cultivation, advancing Divine Seal Art to Proficient level. Host, do you wish to cultivate?]

"Cultivate!"

Lin Chen now had 900 Spirit Stones; ten was a drop in the bucket.

[Spirit Stones deducted. Exchange successful.]

Memory flowed through his mind, and Lin Chen closed his eyes to absorb it.

In just a few breaths, Divine Seal Art reached Proficient!

He opened his eyes, picked up the Jade Slip, and pressed it to his forehead.

He imprinted all the supplies he needed into it.

Including various vegetable seeds, small fish and shrimp, chickens, ducks, geese, and more.

In mere moments, he finished inscribing and handed the Jade Slip to Senior Brother.

Ming Bufan saw this and looked astonished. "You learned it?"

"Mm!" Lin Chen nodded. "If anything on here isn't available, find something similar to substitute."

Ming Bufan eagerly took the Jade Slip, examined it, and his shock deepened.

"In just over ten breaths, you've cultivated Divine Seal Art to Proficient level?"

Lin Chen nodded again. "I have high comprehension; I learn everything quickly."

Ming Bufan's expression turned odd.

"It seems our Sect Leader Peak has gained another little freak."

Haha!

He let out a loud laugh, clouds rising beneath his feet as he turned and soared away.

His voice echoed back to Lin Chen's ears. "I'll have everything procured before noon. I'm waiting for your food."

Lin Chen smiled and nodded.

Truly, a pillow arrived just as drowsiness struck—he'd been wondering how to write his story scripts.

And Senior Brother had delivered the Divine Seal Art.

It was practically tailor-made for him.

Only, just inscribing that small amount of information had consumed a great deal of spiritual and mental energy.

Given his current cultivation and soul strength, three such uses would exhaust him.

If he used this method to inscribe story scripts, he'd likely be dead tired.

Not only that—his earlier use of the red flame from Flame Primer to light the cooking fire also drained a massive amount of his spiritual power.

In short, his foundation was insufficient.

His cultivation level was too low.

"System, how many Spirit Stones does it take to advance to the third layer of Qi Condensation?"

[Ding, based on current data standards, for the host to advance to the third layer of Qi Condensation, it requires... requires 90 Spirit Stones, granting 90 years of cultivation.]

"System, are you trying to cheat me again? Even if my Five Elements Root is trash, it shouldn't take this long!"

Lin Chen clearly remembered that the first layer of Qi Condensation cost 10 Spirit Stones, and the second cost 62.

He wouldn't complain about those two times, but where was he now?

He was on Sect Leader Peak, the place with the densest spiritual energy in Green Mountain Sect—and it still needed 90 years?

[Host, the system's evaluation standards are extremely strict; there will never be an error.

Each additional Qi Meridian condensed in the Qi Condensation Realm doubles the difficulty. It's only because this place has rich spiritual energy that the time hasn't doubled as well.]

Lin Chen was momentarily speechless. What the system said did seem to make sense.

"Exchange it for me!"

He quickly accepted reality.

The third Qi Meridian instantly condensed into form.

The aura of the third layer of Qi Condensation stirred a gentle breeze, spreading outward.

At the same time, Ming Bufan abruptly turned his head, staring at the mountain peak.

"Third layer of Qi Condensation? And this is a Five Elements Root?" Ming Bufan began to doubt his own understanding. "This is damn monster, isn't it?"