After waking from the Mortal World, Chen Miao did not immediately check his notebook. Instead, he sank into thought.
Last night, he had used Mist Condensation and Water Binding to scour all of Qingjiang Town from the hour of the Rat through the hour of the Ox, four full hours, yet he had found only eighteen ghosts! That was not what he had expected.
Previously, using the yōkai Smoke Wraith, he could deal with four to six ghosts in less than an hour after midnight.
And Smoke Wraith's range had covered only the area around the Paper Effigy Shop, perhaps less than a tenth of Qingjiang Town. Yet last night, four hours spent searching the entire town had yielded only eighteen ghosts!
Something was wrong!
Could someone have cleared out Qingjiang Town's ghosts beforehand, leaving me to pick up the scraps last night? Have new ghosts not formed yet?
Chen Miao frowned.
If that's the case, after I cleared out eighteen last night, won't there be even fewer tonight?
If that were true, the results fell far short of his expectations.
The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment?
Chen Miao sighed, then consoled himself. It's fine. It's still better than being trapped in the Paper Effigy Underground Palace and only getting out once a month. With that thought, he finally opened his notebook, ready to cheer himself up.
Last night's eighteen ghosts had earned Chen Miao three taels and six qian of yin virtue, eighteen Memory Fragments, eighteen obsession fragments, and an assortment of materials. As before, no legacies had dropped.
The three taels and six qian of yin virtue improved Chen Miao's mood considerably. After all, he had barely exerted himself last night.
Though subsequent gains might decline, daily yin virtue income was guaranteed, something Chen Miao had