Even though Lu Chengfeng practiced martial arts, a chill still crept down his spine. He turned and glared viciously at the broker. Since this fellow was a local bully in this line of work, how could he possibly not have known about this?
"Uh, th-that slipped my mind... I..."
"Hmph!"
The registrar shot him a glance and spoke.
"Actually, our yamen specifically investigated this residence while pursuing the culprit, but found nothing. We even invited monks, Taoists, and masters to conduct rituals there. As for what the residence truly is like, everyone has their own story. I am but a lowly registrar, merely fulfilling my duty by warning you!"
Having said that, the registrar stroked his beard and looked at Lu Chengfeng.
"Young Master Lu, do you still wish to buy this residence?"
Lu Chengfeng hesitated. Since this house was suspected to be a truly ominous haunted house, he naturally could not buy it. Even the government office's register had such things written in it. If it were true, would buying it not harm Mister Ji?
"Ah, since it's a haunted house, then I..."
Wait!
Lu Chengfeng was stunned halfway through his sentence. He suddenly remembered who he was buying this residence for.
That was Mister Ji—the master who had made the tiger demon of Niu Kui Mountain kneel and seek instruction with a disciple's rite! An absolute powerhouse! A fierce man!
Then he suddenly recalled what Mister Ji had said when he decided to buy a residence: Such a cheap and elegant residence—why not buy it? It merely had a bit of dust; cleaning it up would do!
A bit of dust? Clean it up?
If this so-called haunted house was real, could Mister Ji fail to see through it? If it was fake, then there was even less of a problem!
"Registrar, I shall still buy this residence. However, it will not be for Lu's own residence, but for one of my elders."
The registrar stared at him in surprise. The other yamen runner in the room likewise could not hide his shock, while only the broker secretly rejoiced.
"Young Master Lu, have you thought this through? Since it is for an elder, you should weigh it even more carefully! You... are certain you wish to buy it?"
"Please rest assured, Registrar. Lu understands!"
The registrar shook his head and did not try to persuade him further. He had fulfilled his duty. The claim that it was a haunted house had no solid proof to begin with. He pointed to the brush on the brush rack and the inkstone at one side.
"Very well. Please sign the household register on behalf of your elder, Young Master Lu, then pay thirty-six taels of patterned silver!"
Lu Chengfeng said nothing more. He took the brush, dipped it lightly in ink, and wrote two characters in the register. He returned the brush to its rack and handed over three ten-tael banknotes from the local money shop and one five-tael banknote, then took out a one-tael ingot.
The registrar accepted the money, carefully inspected the banknotes and weighed the silver ingot, then put them into a drawer. He turned the register around and saw the neat characters "Ji Yuan." Thinking carefully, he did not recall such a person among the nine who had fought the tiger.
"Good. Please wait a moment, Young Master Lu. I will retrieve the house and land deeds."
The registrar stood up and searched the several large bookshelves behind him according to their labels. He then took a stack of paper documents from a wooden box, found the deed belonging to that residence, turned around, and handed it to Lu Chengfeng.
"Here, keep it safe!"
"Thank you, Registrar!"
After thanking him, Lu Chengfeng took the deed and glanced over it. The official seals, document annotations, and detailed provisions were all present.
"Here, this is your commission! One tael and eighteen zhu in total."
The registrar pushed the silver and a small pile of copper coins to the corner of the desk, where a small scale rested.
"Ah, g-good!!"
Unable to suppress his grin, the broker hurriedly accepted his commission from the registrar. Without even weighing it, he stuffed it into his money pouch.
If a transaction was completed, the seller paid the commission. The pricier the residence, the more he received, with the highest amount reaching ten taels. If the deal fell through, then as a broker, he could only take the small fee the buyer paid him for showing him around.
Afterward, Lu Chengfeng and the broker left the yamen office where the registrar worked together. The instant the latter stepped outside, he vanished like a wisp of smoke, afraid that Lu Chengfeng would settle accounts with him.
"Hmph, nothing but a market rogue!"
Watching that fleeing back, Lu Chengfeng gave a cold snort. He truly had wanted to kick him just now, but that fellow had slipped away faster than a loach, making even a martial artist like him miss the good opportunity. Chasing him down to beat him now would only lower his own standing.
Yunlai Inn was a rather fine inn in Ning'an County, close to the City God Temple and the market streets. It was bustling by day and quiet at night. The nine young heroes and Ji Yuan each had a superior room.
Ji Yuan was presently sitting in his room, the window open, blankly listening to the hubbub outside.
He had been in this world for several days now, and Ji Yuan was actually quite lonely.
Lu Chengfeng, Yan Fei, and the others were fairly decent people, but he neither wanted nor could continue following them forever. Ji Yuan had quietly asked several doctors in the city, but all of them were helpless regarding his vision problem. As for the immortal destiny he had hoped for, there was even less of a clue.
He could, however, consider matters concerning martial arts. After all, Lu Chengfeng and the others truly possessed martial arts, unlike those fake costume dramas he had watched on television in his previous life. Their techniques were genuinely fierce, and they could climb walls and walk on roofs.
But in the eyes of outsiders, he was blind, while in the minds of those people, he was a Hermit Master. Asking for secret manuals? Begging them for guidance?
That seemed somewhat inappropriate.
As he sat there in a daze, Ji Yuan once again recalled the Rotten Axe Chess Game. Why did I have to run into it? If I hadn't gone in back then, if I hadn't rashly played that Tengen Move, would I...
"Zzz..."
Amid an almost inaudible sound within his body, his arm went numb as though jolted by electricity. It was like accidentally striking one's elbow, the numbness shooting straight to his fingertips—except this time, it was his index and middle fingers.
A Phantom of a Chess Piece appeared at his fingertips, wreathed in wisps of electric coils.
"Fuck!"
Ji Yuan blurted out a curse, and his mood instantly surged with excitement. The miraculous phenomenon that had appeared on his body after Lord Lu left was still vivid in his memory.
After descending the mountain these past few days, he had secretly tried several times. He had even imitated Spider-Man shooting webs, trying every ridiculous pose he could think of, yet nothing had happened. He had not expected it to appear again now.
But here came the question: what could this do? Open up the Conception and Governor Vessels?
Unfortunately, no miracle of Words Become Law appeared. Ji Yuan felt no change in his body, nor did he manage to open any meridians or circulate his qi through a full circuit.
Yet a faint breeze gradually rose within the room, as though an indistinct current of air was being drawn in from outside the window.
Ignoring the soreness, Ji Yuan suddenly opened his eyes halfway. He discovered wisps of Azure Spirit Qi appearing around the phantom chess piece at the fingertips of his right hand.
Together with the faint breeze in the room, Ji Yuan seemed to think of something and turned his head toward the window. From time to time, he saw threads of Azure Spirit Qi drifting over.
When his gaze returned to his fingertips, the Azure Spirit Qi swirled around the phantom chess piece, forming a subtle vortex. The breeze in the room also grew from barely perceptible to slightly stronger, causing the curtains and other objects to sway from side to side.
At that moment, all of Ji Yuan's attention and focus were fixed on the changes he had caused. When an epiphany came, a thought stirred in his mind, and all that azure qi rushed in unison into the chess piece.
"Knock knock knock..."
"Mister Ji, it's me, Chengfeng. I'm back from the county yamen!"
Startled by the knocking, Ji Yuan's concentration loosened. The chess piece in his hand dissolved back into his fingertips and vanished.
Ji Yuan stared somewhat blankly at his fingers, still immersed in the miracle from moments ago. He was not particularly annoyed at having been interrupted. Since it had appeared once, it would naturally appear a second time.
"Mister Ji, are you in there?"
Lu Chengfeng asked again from outside the door. Only then did Ji Yuan come back to himself and call out over his shoulder.
"Come in!"
Only then did Lu Chengfeng outside push open the room's door, but he was stunned before he had even stepped inside.
It was the feeling of being swept by a peculiar aura, accompanied by a brief electric numbness and itching throughout his body.
The fresh breeze circling the room had not yet fully dispersed. Ji Yuan rested his right elbow on the table, his hand loosely formed into sword fingers. The curtains rose and fell, the hanging brushes on the desk swayed, and the breeze seemed to circle around him. Yet once the door opened, it swiftly faded away, leaving the room calm and still.
Moreover, as everything gradually settled, Lu Chengfeng found even his thoughts slowly calming. With every breath, his body felt light and comfortable. He stood dumbly at the doorway for quite some time without moving.
Ji Yuan was still recalling the sensation from before. After the chess piece dissolved back into his body, his limbs and bones felt wonderfully refreshed, like someone exhausted who had just received gua sha and a massage. Then he finally noticed that the dazed Lu Chengfeng had yet to enter.
"Young Master Lu, why are you standing there in a daze at the door?"
"Uh, Mister Ji, may I come in now?"
"What could possibly be inconvenient about it?"
Ji Yuan was quite convinced that the main changes involving the chess piece had dispersed when the knocking began. At most, Lu Chengfeng had merely seen a bit of wind. It was no big deal, especially since the window was open.
"Oh, right. Mister Ji, I have already bought that residence for you. Here are the house and land deeds, as well as the key."
Lu Chengfeng entered the room and took the paper documents, contracts, and copper lock key from his robe.
Yet Ji Yuan was slightly distracted. As he carefully savored the feeling that had just run through his body, he looked over the densely packed words on the house and land deeds, the government office clauses, the bright red seal, and his own name, Ji Yuan, written on the documents.
From his previous life until now, this was the first house Ji Yuan had ever bought for himself.
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