Large Items

"What should I do now?"

Chen Shaojun had a headache.

Strike directly?

Setting aside whether he could win, if the commotion grew too great, it would inevitably alert the other apprentices. How would he explain himself then?

A haunting?

What a joke. They could not see ghosts.

All they would see was him shouting and throwing punches by himself, displaying martial strength far beyond anything they could imagine.

That would be the real trouble.

"Should I just leave it alone?

After all, the ghost is only after Zhang Ke. It probably won't threaten anyone else for the time being."

Chen Shaojun muttered as he walked to his bed, looking back every three steps.

Still fully clothed, he lay down and truly ignored it.

When it came to dealing with ghosts, he chose to make long-term plans.

He had to be absolutely certain. And even after dealing with the ghost, he would still need to keep himself out of the matter.

"But why would this ghost latch onto Zhang Ke for no reason?

Right, Zhang Gao.

Third Appraiser Zhang Gao."

Lying on his bed, Chen Shaojun naturally could not sleep.

No one could remain calm knowing they were sharing a room with a "ghost."

His thoughts spread outward, and he quickly understood the reason.

Earlier, when Zhang Gao had called for apprentices to help appraise treasures, Chen Shaojun had already guessed that he harbored ill intent.

From Ayong, he had learned even more inside information. All three appraisers had the habit of calling apprentices to assist with appraisals, using them as substitutes in death to wear away Killing Intent.

Now that he saw Zhang Ke haunted by a ghost, how could he not understand the root of it all?

"Then can I shift this trouble onto Zhang Gao?"

It was not that Chen Shaojun had suddenly become kind-hearted and wanted to save Zhang Ke.

He simply sensed danger.

Today, Zhang Gao had chosen Zhang Ke to die in his stead. Tomorrow, he might choose Chen Shaojun—especially since Chen Shaojun had been his target from the very beginning.

Of course, if today's incident had not happened, Chen Shaojun probably would not have involved himself too deeply. At the end of the day, he was also a self-interested man, without the fearless spirit of selfless sacrifice for others.

But things were different now.

Zhang Ke had already brought the ghost into the dormitory.

The trouble had arrived, and it could fall upon Chen Shaojun at any moment.

Naturally, he would not sit still and do nothing.

At the thought of that ghost clinging to Zhang Ke like a koala, a chill ran through his heart.

"The Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique is an evil art.

As long as the technique succeeds, harm can be transferred elsewhere.

But used well, it can still be an extraordinary technique.

Zhang Gao was no good man to begin with. Using evil to fight evil, using wickedness to restrain wickedness—it was rather fitting."

Chen Shaojun considered its feasibility and decided he could not sit and wait for death.

The next day.

Chen Shaojun was the first to wake.

In truth, he had not slept at all.

Remaining vigilant, he spent the entire night visualizing the Tai Shang Perception Scripture.

And the progress was obvious.

In one night, he gained twenty threads of "qi." Gathered together, they made two wisps. Added to the few wisps he already had, he was nearly at ten wisps.

Ten wisps formed a cluster. Chen Shaojun estimated that once he reached that point, he should be able to truly mobilize the "qi" within his body.

In fact, even now, he could faintly mobilize this "qi," because he discovered that with its aid, he could also use the Spirit Eye Technique and the Divine Gaze Technique.

It was only that there was too little of this "qi." Even if he wanted to draw upon it, he could not unleash much power.

The moment he opened his eyes, Chen Shaojun used the Spirit Eye Technique and looked toward Zhang Ke.

But his expression soon froze.

Gone.

That ghost was gone.

He hurriedly swept his gaze around the room.

The bone-chilling yin aura from before had also vanished without a trace. There was no sign of the ghost anywhere in the room.

"Could everything last night have been an illusion?"

Chen Shaojun muttered.

He looked at Zhang Ke again.

At this moment, Zhang Ke's complexion was countless times worse than before. His whole face was pale with a bluish tint, heavy bags hung beneath his eyes, and even the hair atop his head had turned somewhat dry and yellow, as though too much of his vital essence had been drained and his body had already been harmed.

It was obvious.

What he had seen last night was no illusion.

He simply did not know why the ghost had suddenly disappeared.

That let him secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

This was good too.

He would not have to face that ghost directly.

Soon, people on the beds woke one after another, and Zhang Ke was also pushed awake by the person beside him.

"Brother Zhang, did you not sleep all night?"

Du Hao beside him saw Zhang Ke's face and asked in surprise.

"I don't know why, but my head feels muddled. I also had nightmares all night."

Zhang Ke said weakly, slowly getting up to dress.

Chen Shaojun was speechless when he heard that.

After being entangled with that ghost all night and having his human vitality drained all night, if Zhang Ke did not have nightmares, who would?

However, although the ghost had disappeared, Chen Shaojun did not lower his guard.

After the others left the room, he went to Zhang Ke's bed. Faintly, he could still sense a chilly aura.

Then, beneath Zhang Ke's pillow, he found several strands of hair.

He still intended to proceed according to plan.

Using Zhang Ke's and Zhang Gao's hair as a medium, he would cast the Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique.

It would be best if Zhang Gao could eliminate the ghost. If not, it should at least greatly weaken the ghost's strength.

In any case, he could not allow danger to come near him.

After breakfast, Zhang Ke headed straight for Third Appraiser's Water Cloud Retreat as he had in the previous days.

The other Appraiser Apprentices stood inside the storeroom, waiting to receive items for appraisal.

What they received today was still old stock.

However, to Chen Shaojun's surprise, there were actually several "large items" among the treasures.

"Large items" generally referred to treasures that were larger in volume and higher in value.

Their prices were usually above one hundred taels.

Of course, some were cheaper, but those were mostly very unusual.

At present, there were four large items in the storeroom.

They included one Bronze Cauldron, two metal Buddha statues, and a lacquerware piece resembling a golden alms bowl.

Such treasures normally would never fall into the hands of Appraiser Apprentices. The things they appraised were mostly small objects; even higher-value jade pieces would not be of particularly fine quality.

Clearly, these large items had also been stored away in the pawnshop's treasure vault. The shopkeeper probably believed their Killing Intent was not too heavy, which was why he took them out and handed them to these Appraiser Apprentices for appraisal.

The apprentices received treasures one by one.

Everyone knew that appraising large items was thankless hard work, so no one chose them.

When it was Chen Shaojun's turn, however, he did not stand on ceremony. He swept all four large items onto his tray.

At this moment, he could no longer care about the others' astonished gazes.

The ghost's reappearance had greatly intensified his sense of crisis. He desperately hoped to appraise treasures again and gain more, stronger means of preserving his life.

To him, these large items were opportunities.

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