A Suspicion of Ghosts

"Boom!" A tremendous peal of thunder tore through the night sky and the heavy curtains of rain, flooding the little courtyard with light.

Old Wang lay sprawled on the ground, most of his head missing, clearly reflected in Gao Xian's eyes.

Gao Xian shuddered. Old Wang with half his brain gone was fucking terrifying!

His mind had cleared by now. He couldn't wait any longer; it would be harder to dispose of the body once day broke.

He reassured himself that what was done was done. All he could do now was deal with it properly and make sure it didn't affect him.

Gao Xian had killed Old Wang mainly because he was afraid of being implicated. He didn't feel the slightest guilt.

On the contrary, he felt a rush of satisfaction. Old Wang hadn't just tried to rob him; he'd tried to kill him too. Old Wang had deserved to die!

It was only the gruesome, frightening state of the man's corpse that made Gao Xian feel a little uneasy.

Having steeled himself, Gao Xian walked over, grabbed Old Wang by the belt, and lifted the body.

Old Wang had been skinny to begin with, and now most of his head was gone. He'd lost who knew how much blood, so the corpse wasn't heavy when Gao Xian hoisted him up.

Gao Xian figured Old Wang weighed around a hundred pounds at most. With his second-layer Qi Refining physique, lifting two hundred pounds would be no problem.

After carrying Old Wang a couple of steps, Gao Xian realized something was wrong. The old man was still dripping blood...

The rain was heavy, but it might not wash away all the bloodstains.

Besides, he had to retrieve the White Plum Needles. They were valuable magical artifacts, and he couldn't afford to waste them. He also had to dispose of the murder weapon properly!

Fighting back his nausea, Gao Xian rolled the old man over. Thanks to his sharp eyesight, he even managed to find the four White Plum Needles embedded in the old man's chest in the dark.

Pulling them out, he felt a tight, rough resistance that struck him as odd.

He lightly pressed a hand against the old man's chest. The surface felt tough, hard, and smooth—not right at all.

After hesitating, Gao Xian still opened the old man's robe, revealing a layer of shiny black scales.

"It's an inner armor..."

Gao Xian understood at once. No wonder the old bastard had been able to withstand the White Plum Needles. He'd wrongly blamed Huang Ying.

Gao Xian fell silent. Old Wang's inner armor looked light and snug, and, most importantly, it really worked.

Was it wrong to take Old Wang's things? But the man was already dead. There was no need to worry about the details.

He decided not to think about it. Everything had been for the sake of staying alive. Taking something from a dead man might not be honorable, but his own life mattered more!

Gao Xian was good at talking himself around. He'd already killed the man, so why fret over such details? Without another thought, he stripped off Old Wang's inner armor.

Though it was dark and raining hard, Gao Xian could still make out the general shape of things. And his Lightning Dragon Hand was extraordinarily nimble; a quick feel along the armor led him straight to the clasps beneath the arms.

Gao Xian soon had the armor off. That first step made it much easier to go through Old Wang's pockets.

Old Wang hadn't carried much: a dozen or so Spirit Stones, a few talismans, and several bottles of pills.

Gao Xian didn't look too closely. He gathered everything together and brought it inside.

He took Old Wang's sword too. It was a good sword, after all. It would be a waste to leave it behind.

At last, Gao Xian remembered one important thing: there might still be two White Plum Needles lodged in Old Wang's head.

He had to use Water Control Art, gathering a large ball of fire in his palm.

By its light, Gao Xian forced himself to search around inside the old man's half-head for a while.

To make sure, he even felt around the remaining back of the old man's skull, but couldn't find any puncture marks.

Gao Xian was relieved. The two needles must have been blown away by the Flame Bomb.

After checking, his hands were covered in blood, but he'd grown used to it.

Aside from being a little disgusting, it wasn't any worse than working overtime!

Gao Xian used Ice Art from his Water Control Art to freeze the old man's half-head. That way, it wouldn't keep dripping blood.

After dealing with the body, Gao Xian went back to his room for a rain hat. He walked out a few steps, then hurried back to find a piece of cloth to cover his face before carrying the old man outside.

The rain had eased considerably, but the road was especially muddy.

The upside was that no one would be going out at this hour, and Gao Xian's nerves slowly began to settle.

He trudged through the mud for a long time, until he reached a grove outside Flying Horse Market.

Gao Xian had planned to find a secluded spot, but the shadowy depths of the grove made him uneasy. It was as if something were lurking in the dark, watching him.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed at the edge of his vision, and every hair on Gao Xian's body stood on end.

He hurriedly turned to look, but saw nothing.

Gao Xian stared in that direction for a long while, but still found nothing. He figured he'd probably imagined it.

Even so, Gao Xian was spooked. He tossed Old Wang into a random clump of bushes and hurriedly turned to leave.

They said the forests in the surrounding mountains were full of wild beasts and all sorts of demon beasts. Old Wang's corpse would probably be eaten before long...

Gao Xian emerged from the shadowy grove without incident, and some of the tension drained from him.

On the way home, though, he kept feeling as if something were following him.

He looked back several times, but never saw anything.

When he got home, Gao Xian shut the door and peered through a crack in the window for quite a while. Only after seeing no movement did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

After trudging back and forth through the night rain, Gao Xian was soaked from head to toe.

Once he'd caught his breath, he felt uncomfortable all over.

Cleansing Art wouldn't solve a problem like this.

Gao Xian boiled a pot of water. He didn't have a wooden bathing tub, so he made do with a wooden basin to hold the water.

He found a strip of cloth and scrubbed it clean, then dipped it in the hot water and wiped himself down.

Gao Xian spent the better part of half an hour cleaning himself up. Then he used Cleansing Art twice to make sure there wasn't a trace of blood or its stench left on him.

Finally, he changed into fresh underclothes, shorts, and socks, then put on a clean robe and his Ten Directions Shoes. He tied his long hair back into a fresh Daoist bun.

Clean and refreshed from head to toe, Gao Xian finally relaxed.

The fight earlier, Old Wang's death, the shadow that had flashed past—all of it seemed less important now.

Gao Xian wanted nothing more than to get a good night's sleep. But he couldn't yet; there were still a few loose ends to tie up.

As he straightened his robe, he found several fragments of the Golden Body Talisman in its sleeve.

After a talisman was activated, spiritual power flowed through it and most of it crumbled to ash, leaving only a few fragments the size of fingernails.

He emptied everything from his robe, then washed the clothes he'd changed out of in hot water. He also scrubbed clean the Black Scale Inner Armor he'd stripped off Old Wang.

Gao Xian had also wanted to scrub his shoes, but the cloth shoes had fallen apart after soaking in water. He had to toss them into the courtyard for now and deal with them after daybreak.

With all that done, Gao Xian carried the Black Scale Inner Armor, the sword, and the other odds and ends back to his bedroom.

The oil lamp glowed dimly, and a faint fishy odor lingered around it.

Gao Xian didn't know what kind of oil it contained. He guessed it came from the fat of some kind of demon beast.

He usually didn't use an oil lamp. For one thing, his eyesight was sharp enough to make out most things in the room. For another, at night he either cultivated or slept, so there was no need to light a lamp.

Today was different. He wanted to take a proper inventory of his spoils.

The most important item was naturally the Black Scale Inner Armor. It looked like a thick leather vest and weighed about two pounds. Its exterior was covered in fine scales, while the inner layer was made of thick, supple hide.

The armor had four eyelets beneath the arms, with polished black scales used as buttons. The design was quite ingenious.

Gao Xian couldn't resist trying it on. He was much taller than Old Wang, but the armor stretched well. It fit him like a tight shirt, clinging snugly without restricting his movements.

To his surprise, the armor, despite looking so thick, was remarkably breathable. He didn't feel stifled wearing it.

He took it off again and tried stabbing it with his sword a couple of times. Even using seven or eight tenths of his strength, he couldn't damage it at all.

Gao Xian was very pleased with the Black Scale Inner Armor. Wearing it was like having a bulletproof vest!

In theory, he shouldn't wear stolen goods in case someone noticed them.

But it would be such a waste to leave a fine piece of armor like this unused.

Old Wang's sudden attempt to rob him had made Gao Xian realize just how dangerous Flying Horse Market was. He didn't feel safe at all.

After thinking it over, Gao Xian put the Black Scale Inner Armor on beneath his clothes. His life mattered most; everything else came second.

The sword Old Wang had left behind was excellent quality. It was slimmer than Gao Xian's own sword and weighed a full ten pounds. Though its edge was riddled with tiny chips, it was still very sharp.

It was a fine sword, but it didn't fit his hand, and a sword had to be carried out in the open. Just walking around with it would draw too much attention.

Gao Xian decided to hide it somewhere safe. The toilet, for instance, seemed suitable.

There were only fourteen Spirit Stones left. For someone at Old Wang's level of cultivation, having only a few stones was truly pathetic.

There were several talismans: one Golden Body Talisman, one Ice Arrow Talisman, and two Flying Feather Talismans.

Gao Xian guessed the old man had been too stingy to use his talismans. He didn't hesitate to tuck them into his sleeve. The only problem was that this robe had a simple sleeve pocket, so everything was jumbled together and awkward to retrieve.

Having taken care of everything, Gao Xian let out a long yawn. He'd been busy all night and had used up a great deal of energy. He was exhausted.

He ate a Foundation Strengthening Pill, forced himself to sit in meditation, and circulated the Five Elements Technique through thirty-six cycles. Then he closed his eyes and went to find Sister Lan to cultivate the Great Idol Spirit Method...

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