"The panel's power is the highest-order, most miraculous existence I've ever seen. Great Black Yama didn't sense its existence, which means its order is even higher."
If he used the Bamboo Grove Vihara's power, perhaps he could give it a try.
"Tell me the method for 'divining fate,'" Qu Zan said, pressing his left hand against the Ghost Book.
"Your Majesty, that will consume a great deal of flesh, blood, and souls." Words continued to appear on the page.
"The flesh, blood, and souls of five people."
When he saw that number, Qu Zan's heart sank. That was a hefty price indeed.
"Fortunately, this offering can be deferred." Thinking this, Qu Zan felt that five people's worth seemed acceptable after all.
But then he came to his senses. This fellow was rather like those buy-now-pay-later services from his previous life.
On the surface, they let you postpone payment for your benefit, but in reality, they were encouraging you to spend in a roundabout way.
That was why, in his previous life, he had never used those services, credit accounts, credit cards, or the like.
Qu Zan took stock of the "debts" he currently owed: one human heart, two eyes, a heart and liver...
That already required at least two people. I can't keep spending in advance like this. Otherwise, when the year is up, won't I be carrying thousands upon thousands of lives in debt, reduced to working for this Ghost Book?
It had only been a few days, yet Qu Zan felt as though capital had set a trap for him.
"I'll agree this time, and repay the flesh, blood, and souls I owe him within seven days." Qu Zan set himself a deadline.
Of course, the flesh, blood, and souls he sought would belong to utterly vicious criminals.