Ghost Cultivator's Shady Tricks

Hogwarts did not have anything called winter break. Instead, students were given a two-week Christmas holiday around Christmas.

Students could choose to leave school and spend Christmas with their families, or stay at school and enjoy the pleasant extended break.

The school did not schedule any classes during those two weeks. Students were free to rest, play, dine together, and chat in the castle.

After completing a huge number of orders, the members of the Flying Broom Workshop could finally enjoy the rest of their holiday in peace. Ron especially had not even gone home, all so he could earn a few more Galleons.

Mrs. Weasley's Howler had even been sent to Hogwarts. The furious mother loudly demanded to know in the letter why Ron had not gone home for Christmas. His eldest and second eldest brothers had both returned from abroad, yet he, the sixth child, had stayed behind at Hogwarts.

"You shouldn't neglect family ties just to make money," Zhang San said. "You can never earn all the Galleons in the world. It doesn't matter whether the orders are completed a few days earlier or later. But you only get one chance each year to share Christmas dinner with your family. Once you miss it, it'll never come back."

Although he was an orphan in this life, he had had a family in his previous life. His previous life had been ordinary, but the companionship of his family had always kept his heart warm.

"I just wanted to give my family a surprise. The Weasley Family has been poor for too long. There's only one pathetic Galleon in our family vault," Ron said dejectedly.

Zhang San nodded. "Thanks to your hard work, the Weasley Family has already escaped poverty and become prosperous."

Originally, Arthur Weasley alone had borne the burden of raising and educating the Weasley children. But after the Flying Broom Workshop was founded, the three youngest Weasley boys had gained the ability to earn money independently, and they were even making more than their father.

Even a department-level employee at the Ministry of Magic only earned a little over a hundred Galleons a month. That amount was nowhere near enough to give the family a good life.

In any case, Ron had had enough of being poor: secondhand robes, secondhand textbooks, secondhand cauldrons, secondhand pets... even his wand had been secondhand.

Now that I, Ron the Sixth, have money, is it wrong for me to work desperately so I'll never be troubled by money again?

Before Bill started working there, the enchanting work for the flying brooms all rested on Ron's shoulders. Fred and George produced the physical components far faster than Ron could enchant them, so they could finish early and go home for Christmas, while poor Ron had to stay at school working overtime to finish the job.

After being blasted in the face by the Howler, Ron looked like an eggplant wilted by frost. His sorrowful aura was utterly out of place amid the joyous Christmas atmosphere, to the point that Zhang San almost wanted to take a draw from him.

Negative emotions were premium cultivation material for Zhang San, a ghost cultivator at the Yin Gathering Realm. Ron's frustration was simple and pure, with barely any impurities. It was practically a natural tonic.

Zhang San had drifted around Hogwarts for half a year without ever encountering such pure depressive energy.

They were buddies, so taking a couple of draws wouldn't hurt! Zhang San secretly floated behind Ron and took a huge breath. The abundant, pure frustration filled him so thoroughly that he let out a satisfied belch.

"Burp~~~"

That felt good!

"Huh? I suddenly feel much better." Ron, whose depressive energy had been sucked away by Zhang San, perked up considerably, and his low spirits vanished without a trace.

Zhang San was somewhat surprised as well. Directly sucking away negative emotions in person could have a therapeutic effect? Truly, one never stopped learning!

He had absorbed plenty of emotions at Hogwarts before, but he had always absorbed them collectively—though the total amount of emotional power was great, each individual contributed only a negligible amount, so it was impossible to see what effect having their emotions absorbed had on any one person.

But today, Zhang San had individually drained a wave of Ron's emotions. The immediate result was that Ron looked refreshed and invigorated.

He had never expected Nine Nether Soul Refinement Chapter to have such miraculous effects. Zhang San could practically change careers and become a psychologist now. No injections, no medicine—he only needed to suck away a patient's negative emotions to return them a healthy, sunny state of mind.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Zhang San and Ron found Harry in the middle of another episode.

"Thinking about Cho Chang again?" Zhang San asked.

Harry nodded with a dreamy look in his eyes. "She's so beautiful... She looked gorgeous and so cool when she rode her broom after the Golden Snitch."

Analyzing the matter rationally, Zhang San said, "By Eastern beauty standards, Cho Chang isn't a top-tier Eastern beauty. I'd give her eighty points at most."

"Are our beauty standards really that different?" Harry Potter was greatly surprised. To his looks-obsessed eyes, Cho Chang's beauty was simply breathtaking.

Zhang San nodded. "They really are. But when it comes to falling in love, it's all about whether you feel a connection. A fortune can't buy willingness. We also have a saying in the East: 'Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.'"

"What does that mean?" Harry Potter could not understand Eastern proverbs, so he could only wait for Zhang San to explain it again.

Zhang San said, "It means that as long as you like someone, she'll be the most beautiful woman in the world in your eyes."

"No, Cho Chang is beautiful," Harry protested seriously.

Zhang San: ...

He was beyond saving. Drag him out and bury him!

Come to think of it, wasn't lovesickness an emotion too? With a clever turn of his little brain, Zhang San quietly floated behind Harry and took a huge breath.

"Burp..." Zhang San was stuffed again.

His little body at the Yin Gathering Realm was still too weak. Swallowing even a little too much emotion left his stomach round and full.

Harry Potter, whose emotions had been devoured by Zhang San, suddenly shivered. Then he turned to Ron. "Let's have an exciting game of Wizard Chess. I got a beautiful chess set from my godfather for Christmas."

"You don't miss Cho Chang anymore?" Zhang San asked sneakily.

Harry rubbed his head. "I don't know why, but I suddenly don't feel like thinking about her anymore. Maybe Siri was right. She's just an eighty-point girl."

Zhang San's pupils shook. This emotion-devouring ability of his really was something else. One moment Harry Potter had been pining for her as if he were dying, and the next he had let go just like that...

Am I really a demon? Messing with people's hearts like this would send me to hell, wouldn't it?

It seemed he would have to use this ability carefully in the future. Emotions had far too much influence on people. When cultivating later, he could not keep targeting one person and sucking them dry. Group emotions were still more abundant and satisfying.

For example, Professor Binns's History of Magic class was an excellent cafeteria. Ever since Professor Binns regained his rationality, History of Magic had completely changed.

Professor Binns was practically a walking history of magic. Over the past three hundred years, nearly every great wizard whose name had gone down in magical history had attended Professor Binns's History of Magic class.

The child showed the man. This ghost professor, practically a living fossil of Hogwarts, could recount the merits and faults of those historical figures as though they were family, and could even casually tell embarrassing stories from their school days.

As a result, the popularity of History of Magic soared, and the classroom was filled with cheerful energy. Every time, Zhang San could absorb enough emotional power for cultivation.

Wizards possessed far more abundant soul power, and the quality of their emotional energy vastly surpassed that of ordinary people. Guarding Hogwarts was like living atop a vein of spirit stones for Zhang San; every class was an opportunity to cultivate and nourish himself.

In History of Magic, he devoured happiness; in Potions, he devoured fear; in Astronomy, he devoured exhaustion...

In any case, Zhang San had a strong stomach. He could devour any emotion and use it for cultivation. As long as he guarded the moonlight each month to cleanse his soul, he could ensure that nothing went wrong with it.

When it came to cultivation, steadiness came first. A solid foundation would always be more important than speed. Zhang San had plenty of yin lifespan, enough for him to take things slowly and complete his ghost cultivation step by step.

Then New Year's Day arrived before long. 1991 quietly passed, and a new year began.