Hell's Eatery, Raking in Gold Daily

The next day, a Bronze Gate stood at the passage between yin and yang.

A ferocious ghost totem adorned the gate, wreathed in yin energy and utterly vicious.

Ao Ding stepped forward. The ferocious ghost abruptly opened its mouth, and a brass key flew from its pitch-black maw.

An account statement came out with it.

"First day: thirty pots of fragrant meat stew sold. Guests were highly pleased. Provisional price: one hundred Underworld Jade per pot."

Good grief, they really dared to ask that much!

Ao Ding was startled.

Underworld Jade was the currency of the underworld. According to Sun Chen, the Six Sects' bulk transactions involving the Northern Yin Ghost Dao used Underworld Jade and bei leaves at a one-to-one conversion rate.

"A hundred bei leaves... they really dared to name that price."

Ao Ding had only planned to sell the Wolf-Soul Pearls he refined himself for a few dozen bei leaves.

On second thought, he understood. "True enough. What market is there in the mortal world for yin-netherworld spiritual items like Wolf-Soul Pearls? In the underworld, on the other hand, these things are hot commodities."

The same reasoning explained why pure-yang spiritual items cost far more than yin-netherworld spiritual items of equal quality in the mortal world.

On the back of the statement was a ghost marking shaped like a green eye.

Ao Ding pointed at it, and the marking immediately turned into a mirror, playing a recording before him.

It showed a scene of the eatery that the Green-Eyed Ghost had deliberately let him see.

In a cold, gloomy hall, ghostly guests filled more than a dozen tables and chairs. Some had blue faces and fangs, others long tongues and severed arms, and others indigo bodies...

Large porcelain basins sat before the ghosts, each containing half a stewed wolf.

"Ah-they even split them up? Right, each of my pots held five or six wolf ghosts. An ordinary hungry ghost probably couldn't afford one."

The Green-Eyed Ghost had divided up the fragrant meat stew brought back. Each pot yielded roughly ten to twelve basins of wolf meat, sold for ten Underworld Jade apiece.

It was good food at a low price, and it could fill a ghost's belly.

During the process, Ao Ding's curse power also helped "refine and deliver" them, leaving the ghosts refreshed and clearheaded while dispelling their turbid energy, making them more willing to patronize the eatery in days to come.

After watching the recording, Ao Ding nodded in satisfaction and continued reading the account book.

The Green-Eyed Ghost had left a message at the back:

"Whenever I collect stock, we'll settle the earnings for that period. You can choose bei leaves or Underworld Jade, and I'll exchange them for you beforehand. Let me say this first: because bei leaves are relatively scarce in the underworld, the exchange price will be slightly higher than the official rate."

Bei leaves, of course.

Ao Ding chose that option without hesitation.

He looked back at the Oil Cauldron Hell.

This was a business with no capital costs to begin with. How much he earned did not matter, so long as the ghost domain was dealt with. The number of bei leaves he earned was immaterial.

"Let's keep watching for now."

Ao Ding then returned to the stone house to continue reading.

Another half day passed before an urgent message came through the Bronze Gate.

"All seventy pots sold! Urgent! Send stock!"

Afraid Ao Ding might miss it, the gate spat out one slip after another.

Business was that good!

Surprised and delighted, Ao Ding hurriedly moved another three hundred pots over. If they could sell three hundred pots a day, there was hope of clearing everything out within three years!

Fortunately, the "fragrant meat stew" was ghost food of the underworld and kept relatively well, so there was no worry about it spoiling for now.

Ao Ding simply stayed, sitting upright before the Bronze Gate with the Northern Yin Iron Writ in hand to practice his arts.

Time trickled past-

Suddenly, as the jade wheel turned, a mass of spiritual essence faintly coalesced within the Oil Cauldron Hell.

Ghost Dao Dharma Treasures differed from those of the immortal sects.

Ghosts were beings of consciousness and thought alone. Dharma Treasures that truly suited them were not physical objects, but treasures of divine thought forged from mental power.

Now, as Ao Ding circulated the "hell art," he successfully evolved the embryonic form of the spiritual treasure corresponding to the Nine-Boil Chain-Shaped Karmic Cleansing Great Method.

It was a great cauldron of oil for frying all living beings-the Nine Netherworlds Burning Refinement Boiling-Form Cauldron.

A spiritual radiance of Yin Virtue faintly clung to the oil cauldron. Though vicious, it also carried a measure of compassion and sanctity.

"Hm? Could this Yin Virtue be..."

A thought stirred in Ao Ding's mind, and he immediately contacted the Bronze Gate.

Soon, a message came from the other side. "I followed your instructions and found a way to take two pots of fragrant meat stew to the hungry ghost pit. I tried feeding some hungry ghosts and helped them recover a little spiritual awareness-I was thinking, if you have no objection, I plan to hire some hungry ghosts and expand the eatery. Right now, the two of us are running a stall in the city. But starting tomorrow, I'd like to build an eatery near here. It would conceal the entrance and save us some tax money. It would also make collecting stock here more convenient."

"Sure."

Ao Ding readily agreed.

If the Yin Virtue he received really did come from the work being done on the other side...

Then this was not merely business, or the purification of a ghost domain, but a form of his own cultivation as well.

Ao Ding decisively took out three hundred pots of fragrant meat and sent them across.

"Is that enough? I'll get more if it isn't-"

"Enough for now!"

The Green-Eyed Ghost ended the communication and immediately bundled up the three hundred fragrant pots to supply the city.

Upon entering the gate, the ghost soldiers forcibly squeezed out a payment. On leaving, they squeezed out another.

Hmph-

No matter what, the eatery had to be built as soon as possible!

In the days that followed, Ao Ding advanced rapidly along the Northern Yin path. One after another, he evolved hell Dharma Artifacts such as the Grand Netherworld Nine-Turn Form-Erasing Mill, the Dust-Transforming Nine-Shed Form-Peeling Hook, the Netherworld Edge Nine-Blade Karma-Cutting Saber, and the Sky-Supporting Nine-Dust Jade Pounding Pestle. Of the five spiritual treasures of divine thought, the oil cauldron was the most solid and the most powerful-after all, the contribution of a million wolf ghosts lay behind it.

Faced with this unexpected gain, Ao Ding voluntarily proposed changing the contract from a thirty-seventy split to forty-sixty.

"No need. Let's leave it as it is for now. The goods are yours. I'm helping you sell them; thirty percent is plenty."

The Green-Eyed Ghost politely declined Ao Ding's kindness, then asked, "Are you short of money right now? As for bei leaves, if you aren't in a hurry to exchange them, you could leave them for now... The exchange rate between the yin and yang worlds is fluctuating at present. Something seems to be about to happen."

"Oh, it doesn't matter-keep them with you for now. Bei leaves... I can manage without them. Pure-yang spiritual items, cultivation methods... you can try buying anything connected with the world of the living. I want all of those."

"Understood. You want to trade goods between the yin and yang worlds? Sure... that's a business we can do." Having wandered the underworld for many years, the Green-Eyed Ghost had seen plenty of ghost kings conducting similar trades with mortal cultivators. Some went further still: ghost kings would ambush living cultivators "taking a shortcut through the yin roads," seize their possessions, and sell them back to the world of the living.

Things needed in the underworld were cheap in the living world, and things needed in the living world were cheap in the underworld. Naturally, profits could be made from the difference. Many people traded between the two, and they had a special name-"Yin-Yang Traders."

After some time, the Green-Eyed Ghost's opinion of Ao Ding had improved somewhat.

This hell-path cultivator with such brutal, ruthless methods seemed rather fair?

Moreover, with Ao Ding's help refining and delivering many hungry ghosts, the Green-Eyed Ghost began considering a long-term partnership, intending to make a proper business of this venture started on a whim-this could also provide wandering, forsaken ghosts with a place to call their own.

"Lately, I've been leading quite a few ghosts and monsters in running the eatery. Its current size can no longer keep up, so I'd like to expand it further-"

"Mm-hmm, do as you like." Ao Ding was utterly unconcerned. With money coming in and Yin Virtue accumulating, what else did he need to say?

"Besides expanding the estate, do you have any other recipes? Some ghosts have started complaining that eating the same thing every day is getting tiresome."

"Tiresome?" The youth raised his brows. "What do you even have to eat in the underworld? Having food at all is good enough, and now they're getting picky?"

The ghosts of the underworld muddled through in a daze. Though many had been cooks in life, those who failed to become ghost cultivators after death could not cook "ghost food." Even if they took up their old trade again and entered the Dao through it, they still lacked the opportunity to find abundant ingredients with which to hone their skills. Furthermore, most ghosts and departed souls lived in peace in the Northern Yin Ghost Kingdom. Among the ghosts and monsters wandering the ghost domains' wastelands, left to fend for themselves, "chef ghosts" were rare. Even when there were any, surviving the cruel wastelands was difficult.

Thus, food in the underworld's wasteland regions was extremely monotonous, which was why Ao Ding's "fragrant meat stew" could attract so many ghosts.

"We have to consider the future. If we want to expand, we can't rely on a single card."

"I don't have any other recipes for now. Even if I did, I wouldn't have the ingredients."

Where would I find another million wolf ghosts willingly coming to their deaths?

Such an opportunity was far too rare.

Besides, Ao Ding's main purpose in doing business with ghosts was to clear out the ghost domain.

He was a proper cultivator who would seek a master in an immortal sect in the future. How would he have the inclination to seriously run some eatery?

"Ah-then I'll think of something else-hm... adding ingredients to the stew, changing the seasoning or something. Salty-Crispy Beetle Flakes, Sour-Pickled Fire-Rat Eyeballs, Snake-Intestine Stink Sauce, Ox-Liver Powder, things like that-"

"What even are those things?"

A look of disgust hung on Ao Ding's face.

Clearly, those bizarre flavors had come from the demon ghosts of the Demon Court. What normal ghost would concoct those?

"Some seasonings from the underworld. Sometimes they can serve as little appetizers too."

"..."

Ao Ding's features twisted. Merely thinking about those things made him sick.

"How about this: can you find some proper spices over there? I'll try adjusting the flavors. Five-spice, numbing-spicy, sour broth... Making the flavors more varied might help. If you really can't find any, I'll try the Meal-Painting Art."

"All right, I'll give it a try."

The Green-Eyed Ghost readily agreed.

Human and ghost said their farewells, and Ao Ding turned to head back.

But halfway back, something occurred to him, and he returned.

"Still there?"

"Yes, yes. Was there something else?"

"Are you only running the eatery?"

"From the sound of that..."

"Interested in rouge and face powder? Help me find out what the female ghosts of the underworld prefer. I'd like to try making some-"

"No need to ask anyone else. I can tell you." The Green-Eyed Ghost spoke excitedly, describing a great many everyday hardships and troubles suffered by the underworld's ghosts.

Was dressing up something the ghosts of the underworld did not want to do?

Wasn't it simply that they lacked resources?

Ghost cultivators looked down on rouge and face powder made by ordinary underworld ghosts. Incense-Eating Ghosts who specialized in the arts of fragrance were exceedingly rare, and most were recruited by the Northern Yin Ghost Kingdom. Ordinary ghost cultivators roaming abroad-especially female ghosts-could only conceal their appearances with illusions.

"Besides, ghosts' appearances are affected by how they looked when they died in the mortal world. Because of their gruesome deaths, many ghost cultivators end up hideously ugly. Unlike mortals who seek beauty, ghost cultivators' most basic requirement for cosmetics such as rouge and face powder is concealing their gruesome death appearances."

For instance, hanged ghosts had long tongues protruding after death.

Ghosts who had been beaten to death were covered head to toe in bruises.

"..."

Listening to the Green-Eyed Ghost, Ao Ding fell silent.

The plight of these underworld ghosts was rather pitiful.

"Besides covering it up with rouge and face powder, is there no other way?"

"There is. Eating-why do you think the eatery's business is so booming? Nourishment from yin substances lets ghost cultivators gradually adjust and repair their ghostly appearances. It's just an extremely long process. Even ten or a hundred years may not be enough to repair them completely. Of course-some excessively disfigured ghostly appearances are already engraved deep in the soul, almost like 'heaven-bestowed features.' Even nourishing food has difficulty repairing those. They can only temporarily conceal them with external things for comfort-or change them with immortal medicines a thousand or ten thousand years old, but such opportunities are far too rare."

Hearing of the underworld ghosts' miserable plight, Ao Ding's benevolent heart stirred, and alongside the eatery, he began tinkering with another enterprise together with the Green-Eyed Ghost...