Master negotiator

"You're not allowed to speak ill of the Taoist!"

The three Ghosts reacted as though he had struck their mortal weakness, letting out piercing cries in unison. Each revealed a hideous deathly visage and lunged toward the doorway.

Black mist spread, and icy winds gusted.

A wave of cold hit Lin Bai head-on. He shivered and instinctively stepped back.

White light flashed.

An invisible barrier stopped all three inside.

Watching the three Ghosts claw and thrash, Lin Bai let out a soft breath. Fine, the old Taoist was a good man. At least he had given Lin Bai the courage to face Ghosts head-on.

But the spell trapping the Ghosts also put Lin Bai on his guard.

Immortals really did exist in this world. Given the players' growth rate and characteristics, they would eventually master these wondrous Immortal Arts and martial powers.

Unless he hid his identity and lived under an assumed name.

If he actively pursued system quests, he would inevitably become the most dazzling of all the NPCs.

Lin Bai knew his own personality. He was destined never to spend his life in obscurity.

The road ahead is fraught with hardship. I can't afford to stop trying for even a moment!

The three Ghosts panted heavily, glaring furiously at Lin Bai as though they wanted to tear him into ten thousand pieces.

Day one of missing the negative emotion quests!

Lin Bai looked at the three Ghosts, their rage practically lifting their hair. Great. They were die-hard fans, too.

The little Ghost clawed and flailed. "You villain! You're not allowed to speak ill of the Taoist! He's our family's benefactor..."

"Benefactor?" As long as they could not get out, Lin Bai did not care how vicious they looked. He could just treat it as a live horror movie. Standing outside the doorway, he said, "All the world bustles for profit; all the world jostles for gain. You were merchants before you died. You should understand that principle.

"A Taoist who takes subduing demons and exorcising evil as his duty was hired to get rid of ghosts. Yet he was willing to defy basic human decency and leave this enormous property abandoned for ten years just to keep you here. I find it hard to believe he did that out of compassion."

"Don't assume everyone is like you. Just because you aren't a good person, does that mean there are no good people in the world?" the female Ghost said.

"Those not of our kind are bound to have different hearts. Whether someone is good or bad isn't determined by what he says, but by what he does." Lin Bai smiled. "If he truly sympathized with you, why didn't he deliver your souls so you could reincarnate and become human again? Wouldn't that be the best destination for three wandering, homeless ghosts?"

"The Taoist kept us here to guide us onto the path of cultivation and eventually make us immortals," the little Ghost said.

"That's exactly the problem." Lin Bai snapped his fingers. "If he wanted to guide you onto the path of cultivation, why didn't he take you with him and teach you himself? Why cast a spell and trap you here for ten whole years instead?"

"He cast the Immortal Techniques to keep us from hurting people." The female Ghost's rebuttal grew much quieter.

"Then why didn't he seal this shop completely? Why still let living people come and go? Couldn't that mean he deliberately left a loophole for you to become Vengeful Ghosts?" Lin Bai gave a mocking smile. "Tell me, if he wanted to guide you onto the path of cultivation, did he teach you any cultivation methods?"

The three Ghosts stood tongue-tied, unable to speak.

"I honestly can't tell whether you're innocent or stupid. The old Taoist drew you a picture of a pie, and you willingly agreed to spend ten years imprisoned here." Lin Bai shook his head. "To be honest, I can't see anything good about him."

The male Ghost said fiercely, "The Taoist had no reason to harm us. His powers were vast. He could have destroyed us with a flick of his hand, yet he spared the lives of our family of three..."

Lin Bai glanced at him. "One correction: you're already dead."

"Fine, even if we're already dead." The black mist around the male Ghost rippled. "Tell me, what does he gain by doing this?"

"What does he gain? That fire burned everything around here to ashes, yet your shop alone remained completely unscathed. That's strange enough in itself," Lin Bai said. "Maybe there's something unusual about the building. Maybe there's something unusual about the feng shui here. I know nothing about Cultivation Arts, but putting myself in his shoes, if a Taoist passed up a chance to earn fame and universal praise, then keeping you alive must be more useful than killing you..."

As he tried to persuade the Ghosts to surrender, Lin Bai's own thoughts gradually became clearer.

He felt that his conjecture was the truth.

Perhaps, if he took over this shop, the difficulties he would face would include not just the Ghosts inside, but also the mysterious old Taoist who treated them as a reserve food supply.

A casually cast spell could last ten years. The Taoist had to be stronger than Lin Bai had imagined—at least a major Boss.

Still.

Fortunately, only three years had passed. He had at least seven more years to grow.

Seven years.

Enough time for many things to happen.

The Ghosts returned to human form.

Conflict flickered across the male Ghost's face, and his voice grew hoarse. "We were just three ordinary people. Even dead, we're only ordinary ghosts. What could he possibly get from us?"

"Who knows? I'm not a Taoist." Lin Bai shrugged, his gaze passing over the three Ghosts in turn. When he looked at the male Ghost, he said, "Maybe he wants to refine you into a magical artifact, like the Ten-Thousand Ghost Banner."

Looking at the female Ghost, he said, "Maybe he wants to harvest the yin energy you've accumulated over the years to nourish himself. Nothing shameful about doing it for cultivation!"

Looking at the little girl Ghost, he said, "Maybe he wants to steep you in liquor..."

Every word Lin Bai spoke struck precisely at the softest spot in their hearts. He was good at this. Honestly, he was starting to miss the negative emotion quests again.

Their faith crumbled.

The Ghosts' minds reeled violently, and the black mist around them began to churn out of control.

"Why would this happen?"

"Why would this happen?"

"Daddy, Mommy, I don't want to be steeped in liquor."

The three Ghosts seemed to have lost their minds. Their eyes went vacant, black mist poured from all seven facial orifices, and their faces began twisting into hideous, grotesque forms.

"..." Lin Bai stared, dumbstruck.

They're turning into Vengeful Ghosts!

Is their ability to handle stress really this poor?

I knew there had to be more than one way to turn into a Vengeful Ghost.

"There's a way to solve this." Everything he had done before was groundwork. This was his shop, so naturally Lin Bai could not stand by and watch them turn into Vengeful Ghosts. When the Ghosts failed to respond, he continued, "You three, you can never wait for someone else to arrange your fate. Lean on a mountain, and it may collapse; rely on water, and it may run dry. Only by holding your fate in your own hands can you see a brighter tomorrow...

"I know that learning the truth has left you in pain, bewildered, even desperate...

"But because of that,

"Are you going to give up on yourselves?

"Maybe that Taoist wants you to become Vengeful Ghosts!"

"You've already been trapped here for three years. Why not give yourselves a little hope?

"It's been three whole years. Don't you want to know the truth at all?

"And taking it a step further, even if that Taoist really means to harm you, don't you want revenge?

"Your daughter looks barely into her teens. She hasn't even seen what this dazzling world is really like..."

Perhaps it was the mention of the little Ghost.

The two adult Ghosts' emotions gradually settled.

The male Ghost looked at Lin Bai, his eyes filled with despair, but his emotions had steadied. In a hoarse voice, he asked, "How do we get revenge?"

Just as I thought.

The Emotion System was right. Learn to stir other people's emotions, and you become the master of the world.

As things stand, the system quests can't keep pace with my progress anymore. That lousy system ought to hand out all its rewards at once, then leave the stage of history and make room for another system.

After silently singing his own praises, Lin Bai smiled. "We can work together."

The male Ghost smiled scornfully. "Work together? You have no idea how powerful that Taoist is..."

"You're stronger than me, too, but there's nothing you can do to me. Meanwhile, I can easily twist you around my little finger." Lin Bai smiled confidently and pointed at his head. "Sometimes, intelligence matters more than force. Every creature has its conqueror. No matter how strong the Taoist is, he still has to live in this world. He's still a person, and every person has weaknesses. We have seven years to prepare. If we're ready and he's unsuspecting, that's plenty..."

"You're just an ordinary person..." the female Ghost said.

Lin Bai wrestled with himself for a moment, then decided to give them some hope. "I'm a bad person."

He looked at the three of them with pity and sighed. "It takes a villain to grind another villain down. Even if I'm still weak now, why not give yourselves some hope? Even if you have a thousand reasons to give up, as long as you have one reason to go on, you should keep fighting!"