Are You Human or Ghost?

Duan Yun vaulted over the wall and entered his new home, only to find the backyard overgrown with weeds, the sort of place that looked perfect for hiding snakes.

He waded through the growth all the way to the front courtyard and found two trees.

One was a plum tree, and the other was also a plum tree.

The courtyard containing the two plum trees was spacious, but after years of neglect, stubborn weeds had filled every crack between the broken flagstones.

The long row of houses had likewise fallen into disrepair, with cobwebs everywhere.

Duan Yun noticed that one of the rooms had especially dense webs, looking like a spider silk cavern.

Then he saw two spiders at least the size of palms crawling around inside.

To be honest, Duan Yun was not especially afraid of spiders, but their size was a little too much for him.

If they kept growing, would they not turn into spider demons that ate people?

Thinking that this was his own home, and that he could not allow such things to exist here, kindhearted Duan Yun sent the pair of giant spiders on their way with two Sword Fingers.

Whether cobwebs or weeds, neither was much of a problem for Duan Yun.

His Body-Breaking Sword Qi was always particularly handy for clearing weeds and cobwebs.

What worried him now was whether there was any room that could shelter him from wind and rain.

This manor was truly huge. If it did not have forty rooms, it had at least thirty, yet every one of them was full of holes.

Just like at Clear Tea Market, all he wanted from a place to live was somewhere that could keep out the wind and rain and make daily life convenient. If that was impossible, he would first have to patch up two rooms.

After passing through two long corridors, Duan Yun finally found two rooms that could still be salvaged.

With a light leap, Duan Yun landed on the roof.

The roof was not without holes either, but at least its frame remained fairly intact.

He pulled some roof tiles from the neighboring roof and barely patched the holes.

The broken windows, however, were another matter. He would have to go into town and buy some rough-edged paper.

Thus, Duan Yun left through the manor's main gate, rode Little Gray to Jade Town, and bought rough-edged paper and paste for repairing the windows, along with some cooked food.

Honestly, this was very much like his days at Clear Tea Market, only an enlarged version.

The houses at Clear Tea Market had been old and dilapidated, while Sworn Sister Manor was bigger and even more broken-down. Outside the houses at Clear Tea Market had been a graveyard; here, it was directly beside Grave Mountain.

There had been a lake at Clear Tea Market, and there was one here as well. Even more absurdly, he spotted a similar box in this lake.

The box lay submerged in the lake water, surrounded by aquatic weeds, and looked like a coffin.

The last box in the lake had contained a bear with a human brain sewn onto it after he opened it. What would this one contain?

Having learned his lesson last time, Duan Yun did not even spare it another glance and headed straight back to the manor.

Was there something wrong with his brain? Who would randomly open some unknown treasure chest like that?

The weather was gloomy today, and it might rain tonight. He had to patch the windows as soon as possible.

Anyone who often created their own cultivation techniques knew that it was an exceptionally difficult undertaking. Even a one-in-ten-thousand swordsmanship prodigy like him needed a good environment to make proper progress.

After returning, Duan Yun immediately began repairing the windows, while he let Little Gray graze in the courtyard.

Yet the donkey seemed somewhat afraid of the residence and did not dare wander too far.

Duan Yun glanced outside.

Some of the wild grass was nearly half a man tall. In an environment like this, snakes were unavoidable.

Little Gray would probably be frightened even by the two large spiders he had killed earlier.

But that was only temporary. Once he had pasted up the window paper today and settled in for the time being, the next step would be clearing the weeds.

Duan Yun rather enjoyed this process of reclaiming wasteland, especially when he watched an old place like this come back to life because of him. It gave him a sense of accomplishment.

The key was that the house was free.

By then, the sky had grown darker and darker. Dark clouds pressed down over the heavens, creating a stifling atmosphere.

In this abandoned manor, everything naturally seemed even more eerie.

Duan Yun cut the rough-edged paper to size and began patching the windows.

No one knew how long this manor had been abandoned. The window paper had long since rotted through, leaving only the frames.

Many of the window frames were badly damaged as well, so he went to other rooms to find frames that were barely usable.

Finally, it was time to paste on the paper.

This rough-edged paper was quite tough and could keep out wind and rain without issue. It was nothing like in television dramas, where a finger dampened with saliva could poke through it with a light jab.

Of course, his fingers could.

Because his finger skills were formidable.

After all that work, Duan Yun had repaired the windows of one and a half rooms. Half a room remained, but he did not feel like fixing it for the moment.

He was hungry. As long as he had one room to sleep in tonight, that was enough.

Duan Yun had just set down the rough-edged paper and was about to eat when a faint, ghostly voice rang out. "Could you help patch up my side too?"

It was already dusk, and the sky was dark. Such a voice suddenly echoing through this old residence gave even the legendary Duan Old Devil a fright.

He had really seen a damned ghost!

With a Sword Finger formed in his hand, he scanned his surroundings and soon looked toward a rolled-up straw mat beneath a broken table.

He had noticed that straw mat earlier and assumed it was merely discarded junk. Only now did he see that, in the haziness, there was a human figure lying inside it.

The sight easily called to mind a corpse wrapped in a straw mat.

Goosebumps rose all over Duan Yun as he asked uneasily, "What exactly are you, human or ghost?"

At that moment, the straw mat shifted, revealing the face of a man with disheveled hair.

The man's complexion was white as paper, and in the dim surroundings, he looked deeply unsettling.

"Of course I'm human," the man replied faintly.

"If you're human, why are you lying here?" Duan Yun found it strange and remained on guard.

"This is my home. If I don't lie here, where should I lie?" the man answered.

"This is your home?" Duan Yun asked in shock.

He had not expected that besides himself, there was another oddball who treated this place as home.

"Of course this is my home. Jade Pearl Manor was originally my property. Under the third floorboard to the right of your foot lies this place's deed," said the person lying there.

Duan Yun crouched down and reached for the floorboard the other person had mentioned.

To his surprise, there really was a deed underneath it.

This was awkward.

After working all day, this broken ghost residence actually had an owner.

Had he not worked for nothing, then?

"My friend, it's about to rain. Help me patch it up."

The man remained motionless inside the straw mat, like a corpse.

Duan Yun could not help asking, "Why don't you patch it yourself?"

"I'm lazy. If I wanted to patch it, I would have done so a year ago," the man said with complete seriousness.

Duan Yun was stunned. "You've been lying here for a year?"

He realized that he had been shocked more times today than he usually was in an entire month.

"More or less. A year passes just like that when you lie around."

Seeing that Duan Yun had not moved, the man continued, "I won't make you do it for nothing. As the master of Jade Pearl Manor, I permit you to live here. The rent is negotiable."

Duan Yun looked as though he had seen a ghost. "You charge rent for a house like this?"

It was as absurd as calling this Ghost Manor "Jade Pearl Manor."

"I charge it, of course I charge it! As the manor lord, I'm lying here. Since I've seen you, how can I let you freeload?"

Duan Yun's expression immediately turned serious. "I, Duan Yun, never freeload!"

At that moment, the lazy ghost lying there said, "I never expected you to share a name with that Duan Old Devil."

Duan Yun blinked. "You lie around in this ghost residence all day, and you still know about Duan Old Devil?"

"Two days ago, some people were worshipping their ancestors outside the wall. I heard them talking about him."

Duan Yun said, "Aren't you afraid that I really am Duan Old Devil?"

"If you're Duan Old Devil, then I'm the Retired Emperor—the Retired Emperor who specializes in sleeping with emperors' mothers."

Hearing that, Duan Yun could not help laughing. "I'm not Duan Old Devil, and you definitely aren't the Retired Emperor. Then who are you?"

"My surname is Murong. My name is Murong Brothers."

"What the hell?"

For a moment, Duan Yun felt like his brain could not keep up with the pace.