Eight Beds, Nine People

The growing number of apprentices made the entire rear courtyard livelier.

Although many apprentices were listless after their first appraisal, it did nothing to curb their appetites.

Inside the dining hall, the newly arrived pawnshop appraiser apprentices wolfed down their meals, their faces full of happiness and satisfaction.

Almost all of them had fled here from various places. They had gone hungry one meal and eaten the next, making a single flatbread last three days; sometimes, they could only fill their stomachs with leaves and bark.

A place like the pawnshop dining hall, where food was freely provided, had appeared only in their dreams.

"The old goods appraised today didn't carry much Killing Intent. I appraised three in a row before I felt mentally exhausted.

"If this keeps up for a few more days, I reckon I'll be able to collect one tael of silver this month."

Zhao Hu sat beside Chen Shaojun, his face wreathed in smiles.

"I handled four today.

"But when I got to the third one, I nearly capsized in a gutter. That item actually contained the most troublesome Poisonous Baleful Intent. Luckily, my Divine Gaze Technique has improved somewhat lately. Otherwise, it really would have been dangerous."

Du Hao sat opposite them, still looking shaken.

"So your Divine Gaze Technique has reached the proficient level too?"

Zhao Hu's eyes widened in surprise.

"Not quite.

"But I'm close—just one kick from the threshold."

Du Hao chuckled, somewhat pleased with himself. Then he looked up and happened to spot Zhang Ke. Though Zhang Ke held a food bowl in his hands, he looked absent-minded, as if weighed down by worries. Du Hao could not help calling out, "Brother Zhang, what's wrong?"

"N-Nothing..."

Zhang Ke came back to his senses and forced a stiff smile. Instead of sitting in the seat beside Du Hao, he deliberately took a longer route and sat alone in an empty corner.

By then, even Zhao Hu noticed that something was off. He could not help asking, "What's wrong with him? Whenever he saw us gathered together before, wasn't he always the first to come over and brag about what he'd seen while serving the Third Appraiser?

"Especially when Brother Chen was around, he couldn't wait to announce to the whole world that he was more highly valued than Brother Chen..."

"Something is indeed off."

Chen Shaojun furrowed his brows and glanced at Zhang Ke.

Usually, Zhang Ke strutted about with his head held high. Now, he looked like a rooster defeated in battle, his face pale and his eyes vacant. For some reason, he also gave off a lonely, chilling feeling. It was exceedingly strange.

Still, whatever was going on with others had nothing to do with him.

Zhang Ke had never been friendly toward him, so Chen Shaojun had no wish to concern himself too much with him.

That night, after completing his usual martial arts training, Chen Shaojun returned to his room.

His sleeping spot was at the very innermost end of the communal kang bed. Just as he was about to enter his own space from the narrow passage along the bed's edge, he suddenly felt a chilling aura sweep over him. His entire body shuddered, and his scalp prickled faintly.

"What's going on?"

His expression changed slightly.

He was no longer the man he had been before.

His Body Tempering had borne fruit, and his senses had become keen.

He could detect any minute change affecting his body, much less this stress response that felt as though danger had descended upon him.

Is there danger?

He hurriedly turned his gaze toward its source.

"That trace of chilling aura is coming from the middle of the communal bed?

"But there's nothing around there?"

A strange look appeared on Chen Shaojun's face.

With his naked eyes, he saw that everyone was already asleep. There was nothing unusual.

Yet for some reason, he could clearly sense a chilling aura continuously spreading outward from the middle of the communal bed.

"In the middle are four sleeping apprentices: Du Hao, Zhang Ke, and two new apprentices.

"Wait, Zhang Ke?"

As Chen Shaojun analyzed the situation, he suddenly recalled Zhang Ke's pale face and strange behavior earlier. Alarm immediately rose in his heart.

He hurriedly cast the Spirit Eye Technique.

The moment the Spirit Eye Technique was activated, a cool sensation settled over his eyes.

Only then did he turn his gaze toward Zhang Ke.

Bright moonlight shone through the paper window onto the beds. There were nine sleeping spaces lined up in all. Aside from the one at the very edge belonging to Chen Shaojun, which was empty, apprentices lay asleep in all the others.

Everything looked perfectly normal, as though nothing was different.

Yet Chen Shaojun stood frozen in place, a chill creeping through his heart.

Nine people.

Nine people lay across eight beds.

Other than his own empty sleeping spot, one of the beds held two figures pressed tightly together.

Chen Shaojun looked over and discovered that it was Zhang Ke's bed.

Zhang Ke was sleeping soundly at the moment, though his sleep did not seem peaceful. His face was bloodless, and his closed eyeballs kept rolling, making his eyelids twitch wildly, as though he had fallen into a nightmare.

Beside him was a child who looked eleven or twelve years old, tightly hugging his neck and taking a breath from him from time to time.

"A ghost—"

Chen Shaojun's heart trembled, and faint sweat appeared on his forehead.

It was a terrifying sight.

Especially in the silent darkness of night, the repeated scene of that thing taking a breath of human vitality from time to time made his scalp go numb.

"It really is a ghost. What do I do?"

Chen Shaojun's face turned slightly pale.

Though his Body Tempering had borne fruit and he had reached the Body Tempering Realm, Eighth Layer, with vigorous qi and blood, making him no weakling among martial artists—

He was still somewhat helpless when facing ghosts.

After all, this was only the second time he had encountered one.

The first time, he had actually relied on the Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique. With prior preparation, he had trapped the ghost inside a black dog, then used a wooden carving to kill it.

But now, caught off guard by a ghost with no preparation whatsoever, he was immediately thrown into confusion.

The Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique required advance preparation. As for martial arts, neither the Tiger Demon Body-Tempering Fist nor the Eight-Step Cicada Catcher was an offensive technique. All he could rely on was his vigorous qi and blood, thick as smoke.

As for spells, the Spirit Eye Technique was useless. The Divine Gaze Technique... could it truly have an effect on this ghost?

He had no confidence.

Perhaps Chen Shaojun's strange actions had caught the ghost's attention. It suddenly turned its head slowly and looked in Chen Shaojun's direction.

In an instant, Chen Shaojun's body stiffened.

"It saw me. Do I have to fight?"

Chen Shaojun gritted his teeth, preparing to stake his life on his vigorous qi and blood and the Divine Gaze Technique against the ghost.

Suddenly, the ghost slowly turned its head back, drew another breath of human vitality from Zhang Ke's mouth, then curled up in Zhang Ke's arms again, looking peaceful and content.

"What is this situation?"

Chen Shaojun was dumbfounded.

He stood rigidly where he was.

Only after a long while did he come back to his senses in a daze.

This ghost was not interested in him?

Or was it only interested in Zhang Ke for the time being, with no intention of troubling anyone else?

Still, that should be good news for him... right?

He hesitated.

I only managed to get this out now. The next chapter will have to wait until tomorrow. Sigh, this damned procrastination of mine.

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