Emerald Willow Lake: Trading Chickens for Lives

I hid behind the flower bed and watched everything unfold.

I didn't dare make a sound or even breathe too heavily.

I just crouched there, silently observing.

The woman squatted on the ground and ate for about two or three minutes before finally getting up in satisfaction and heading west.

Her steps were still as strange as ever, rising onto her toes with every step.

Water dripped from her all along the way.

But after she had taken ten steps, she vanished.

At that moment, I inexplicably felt a wave of comfort.

It was as if an incredibly fresh breath of air had drifted into my nose, making me feel completely at ease.

It felt similar to when I sent Zhang Qiang away last night, only much stronger.

Perhaps this was what Master had meant when he gave me my Dharma name.

After receiving a Dharma name, I would be able to feel it clearly and directly whenever I gained Fortune Blessing.

"Does this count as gaining another helping of Fortune Blessing?"

I muttered to myself and took a deep breath, feeling smooth and comfortable all over.

Master's method really worked.

Everything I had done just now had been worth it.

I didn't come out right away, instead waiting in place for a while longer.

Only after repeatedly confirming that it was safe did I climb out from behind the flower bed.

I glanced at the offering of White Rice. It was completely untouched.

Only the scent of rice was gone, and the incense and candles had burned out.

I could only replace the rice, incense, and candles.

Following the previous method, I took an offering incense stick in my hand.

Then I went to the shore and dragged the dead yellow chicken back onto land.

But this time, the yellow chicken I pulled ashore had already been mangled beyond recognition, its belly even hollowed out.

It looked horrifying.

I untied the rope and took out another chicken, looping it around the bird.

Perhaps this chicken had sensed its coming death, because it struggled violently.

It also kept clucking, "Cluck, cluck, cluck."

I grabbed its wings and said to it,

"Sorry, Chicken Brother. I'll burn you two baskets of them later."

After saying that, I lifted the yellow chicken and threw it out.

With a splash, the yellow chicken fell into the water again.

Like the previous one, it kept struggling on the surface.

The few huge fish sticking their heads out vanished the next second.

The lake water began churning again.

The crashing sound of water against the shore grew louder and louder.

I quickly hid behind the flower bed and silently watched it all.

Just like last time, the yellow chicken struggled a few times before being dragged down to the bottom of the lake.

Three or four minutes later, the incense in my hand suddenly began burning down at a visibly rapid pace.

At the same moment, the rope tied to the chicken suddenly pulled taut.

With the experience from last time, it didn't snap against my hand this time.

It only made the tree branch behind me creak and thump.

I gripped the rope and started pulling it back.

But this time, I found it incredibly difficult.

It took far more effort than pulling up the previous one.

This was hard physical labor and drained a lot of strength.

The last one had been pulled ashore in just a few minutes.

But this time, I pulled for a full ten minutes.

Only when I dragged him ashore did I realize that this time, it was a fat man.

He was extremely obese, definitely over two hundred pounds when he was alive.

No wonder he had been so hard to pull up.

After coming ashore, he acted just like the previous ghost.

He glanced around before kicking the chicken at his feet back into the lake.

Then he rose onto his toes and headed toward the incense and candles I had lit.

Seeing the offering incense and rice, the ghost flopped straight onto the ground and began eating like a pig.

My face twitched as I watched. Just how long had he been starving to become like this?

Only after he had finished eating did he leave in satisfaction.

After he left, I once again felt a breath of incredibly fresh air drift into my nose.

That powerful sense of freshness made my entire body feel comfortable.

The corpse spots on my body had also become much lighter.

Such rapid changes filled me with energy.

Seeing that three huge fish still remained on the lake surface, I continued repeating the previous sequence.

The third one I pulled up was a middle-aged woman.

The fourth one I pulled ashore was a tall, thin young man.

After coming ashore, they acted just like the Drowned Ghosts before them.

The first thing they did was kick the chicken back into the lake.

After eating the rice and incense, they headed west.

After they left, I could also smell a breath of fresh air.

And whenever the yellow chicken was dragged back ashore, the fish in the lake had torn it into a bloody mess.

Just when I felt everything was going smoothly and threw in the last chicken—

Just when I thought I would soon send off all five Drowned Ghosts in the lake, gain five helpings of Fortune Blessing, and finish the cleanup—

An unexpected problem arose.

The fifth one I dragged ashore was a Female Ghost.

She was short, about five feet tall, and very thin.

She was the easiest one to pull ashore.

I barely had to use any strength to drag her onto land.

Her face was exceptionally pale, and after she came ashore, I could clearly feel an intense chill.

But after I pulled her ashore, she was very different from the previous four Drowned Ghosts.

After coming ashore, she did not kick the chicken at her feet back into the lake.

Instead, she stared in my direction along the rope.

Because I had the experience of the previous four times, I could say that I was hiding extremely well.

Even after dragging her ashore, I instinctively held my breath, my body completely motionless.

Yet the Female Ghost gave me the feeling that she knew someone was behind the flower bed, that she knew I was hiding there.

And she simply stood at the shore without moving.

She stared in my direction for four or five minutes.

Those four or five minutes scared the hell out of me.

Every breath I took was extremely cautious.

I even covered my mouth and breathed in tiny little breaths.

That icy chill kept washing over me from time to time.

My heart was filled with unease and tension.

I was terrified that she would suddenly charge at me.

I held the incense in one hand and touched the Fish Bone Sword with the other, not daring to move at all.

After waiting for quite a while, she finally turned her head away.

She looked toward where I had placed the incense, candles, and offerings.

Still on tiptoe, she began walking toward the offerings.

When she reached the offerings, she was different from the other Drowned Ghosts as well.

The others had all been desperately hungry.

The moment they saw the incense and rice, they would begin wolfing it down.

The second fat ghost had even shoveled it into his mouth like a pig.

But this final Female Ghost stood completely still, as if she feared the food was poisoned.

She stood before the incense, candles, and offerings for another four or five minutes before slowly crouching down.

She began inhaling the incense and picked up the lunch box to eat.

But she took only one bite of the rice before immediately spitting it out.

When I saw her spit out the offered rice, I frowned slightly. This Female Ghost was probably no good.

The next second proved my guess right.

After spitting out the rice in her mouth, the Female Ghost directly put down the lunch box.

Squatting on the ground, she slowly turned her head toward where I was hiding.

Her faintly glowing eyes stared directly at the flower bed where I hid.

In a ghostly voice, she said,

"The rice doesn't taste good. I want to eat something else..."