This was a seemingly unremarkable shop. Behind the store was a door, and it was wide open.
As soon as Shui Miao followed Master Ghost Valley through the door, he heard a series of loud snores coming from inside the shop.
Master Ghost Valley’s grandson was lying bare naked on a bamboo bed like a fat pig. The edges of his triangle underwear were covered with black “wool threads.” Beside the bed were several plastic bags filled with leftover food, and more than ten beer bottles were scattered messily on the floor. The room was filled with a stench so strong it could kill mosquitoes with just the smell of smelly feet!
“Never mind, let’s just talk outside.”
Covering his nose, Shui Miao turned and walked out.
A tiger father has no dog son, but a dog son must have five tiger fathers. This fat pig grandson’s shop was dirty, smelly, messy, and disgusting. His father was a criminal who had been executed, so one could imagine what kind of good qualities his grandfather, Master Ghost Valley, could possibly have. If he himself were upright, would his son have turned out that way? If he constantly sent dreams to his grandson, why would his grandson still end up like this? It was obvious that Master Ghost Valley was no good either.
Master Ghost Valley hurriedly said, “Come here, go to the basement. The air is better there.”
If the air on the ground floor was already this bad, how good could the basement possibly be? Doubtfully, Shui Miao followed Master Ghost Valley down the stairs into the basement. Not even fully inside, he caught a strong whiff of a pungent moldy smell, immediately turned around and left. He thought that ghosts couldn’t smell, so it was understandable for Master Ghost Valley, but as a living person, he had no reason to suffer like this.
After coming out, Shui Miao breathed in the fresh air.
Master Ghost Valley followed him out, and surprisingly, he looked unhappy and angrily questioned Shui Miao, “You little brat, do you really want to learn or not? If you don’t want to learn, forget it, I don’t even want to teach you.”
Suddenly getting angry, Master Ghost Valley left Shui Miao puzzled.
What did he mean? Did he think he was so great?
Shui Miao licked his lips and frowned, “I mean, Master Ghost Valley, what do you mean? Are you acting like I’m begging you? You want me to go into a place filled with such a foul smell, and you think I’m begging you? I really doubt whether you have any real skills at all! You’ve been talking nonsense all this time, making up this ‘duality of void’ thing, and now that I’m interested, you’re trying to intimidate me with words, aren’t you!?”
“You, you… you…”
Master Ghost Valley was caught off guard by Shui Miao’s words and was momentarily at a loss for words.
Shui Miao casually took out a herb from the Shengyuan Ring. This herb had been the most expensive one on display at Blue’s counter. He tore off a leaf and waved it in front of Master Ghost Valley, “Recognize this? If you want it, first of all, you need to show some respect. Then, you must honestly share your research findings with me. If they are useful and not just nonsense, I will give you the medicinal ingredients you desire, and I guarantee you’ll get more than your money’s worth. But if you keep talking nonsense and trying to fool me, and you push me too far, not only won’t I give you the herbs, but I’ll also set your grandson’s shop on fire.”
Shui Miao waved his hand and indeed summoned a pure yang immortal flame.
Seeing this, Master Ghost Valley immediately panicked. Someone who dared to provoke even the City God, what wouldn’t they be capable of!?
“Immortal, immortal, don’t get angry! I was wrong, I really was wrong! I’ll talk, I’ll talk, okay!?” Master Ghost Valley hurriedly said, “The duality of void means that after merging your realm with your dantian, you will possess two realms. In other words, besides your original realm, a new one will emerge.”
“How do you merge them?”
Frowning coldly, Shui Miao pressed further, worried that Master Ghost Valley might be lying, he quickly activated his immortal powers, focused his mind, and tried to sense what Master Ghost Valley was thinking.
Master Ghost Valley blinked his sly little eyes and suddenly fell silent, seemingly pondering something.
Suddenly, Shui Miao sensed Master Ghost Valley’s thoughts: This brat is treating me like this—I must make him suffer a bit.
To his surprise, Shui Miao actually managed to sense it.
“Damn it! You think I don’t know what you’re thinking!?” Shui Miao grabbed Master Ghost Valley by the neck, pulled out his curved blade, and stabbed him in the abdomen, roaring, “You want to make me suffer? I’ll cut you open first and see if you even have a dantian! Anyway, you’re a ghost doctor, so if you don’t, it won’t be hard for you to stitch yourself back up.”
Master Ghost Valley felt an intense pain in his abdomen. Shui Miao pulled out the knife and reached into the wound with his hand but couldn’t feel a dantian at all! Seeing that Master Ghost Valley still wouldn’t talk, Shui Miao aimed the curved blade at his head, “Since there’s nothing in the dantian, it must be hidden here. Let me split your head open and see what’s inside your realm.”
Cracking open his head would surely kill him.
Master Ghost Valley felt a sharp pain in his head and was immediately terrified out of his wits. He frantically shouted, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Actually, this medical technique wasn’t my discovery at all—it’s actually the ‘Feng Hua’ method of entering the underworld. You sit on Feng Hua Mountain in the underworld and allow your soul to disintegrate until only your dantian and realm remain. Then they fuse together. Once your dantian and realm merge, your power increases several times over, and then you can reform your soul and become one of the underworld gods.”
Master Ghost Valley was so scared he was almost wetting his pants. At this point, there was no way he was lying—he was speaking too fast.
Shui Miao didn’t let go and asked, “Then why did you lie to me?”
“I’ll tell, I’ll tell…” Master Ghost Valley, trembling with fear, waved his hands frantically and quickly explained with a tearful voice, “I just wanted to get some medicinal herbs. I wanted to marry a concubine, but I had no money, so I planned to trick you into giving me some herbs to sell… and then marry a concubine…”
“Damn it! So you really are a fraud! Then that dual cultivation method you mentioned—it was also a lie, wasn’t it?”
Shui Miao’s killing intent surged. He moved the curved blade slightly, causing Master Ghost Valley to scream in pain once again.
“No, no, that part is real, absolutely true! I look so human precisely because I married nine wives and practiced yin-yang dual cultivation for a long time, which allowed me to become like this!” Master Ghost Valley howled like a slaughtered pig.
Slowly lowering his blade, Shui Miao said, “Old man, I’ll believe you this once. But I’ll go consult experts later. If I find out you’ve lied even a little, I’ll come back and cut you into pieces, then burn you with pure yang immortal fire until your soul is scattered and gone forever.”
Any ghost feared pure yang immortal fire.
Master Ghost Valley dared not act recklessly. He waved his hands repeatedly, insisting that everything he had said was true, with not a single word of deception.
Shui Miao let go and thought to himself that he should find a way to cultivate his spiritual power in the future to better perceive others’ inner thoughts—it was just too important. If he hadn’t sensed Master Ghost Valley’s evil intentions today, he might have been in big trouble, not knowing how badly he would have been deceived.
But then, Shui Miao suddenly thought of something else—something was off! Master Ghost Valley’s dantian wasn’t inside his body. According to his own words, he should have already gone to Feng Hua Mountain in the underworld and fused his soul and realm into one! If that were true, he should already be one of the underworld gods. So why was he so weak?
“Damn it! You’re still lying to me!”
Shui Miao couldn’t help but become furious. This old Master Ghost Valley was nothing but a fraud, not a single word of truth in his mouth.
Shui Miao stepped forward again and grabbed Master Ghost Valley by the neck, “Talk! Where is your dantian?”
“I moved it to another place,” Master Ghost Valley was just about to take out a needle and thread to sew his wound when he was grabbed again. Fearfully, he pointed at his chest. Shui Miao slashed with his blade, causing Master Ghost Valley to grimace in pain. Sure enough, there was a dark, small, round ball spinning inside his chest.
“At least you were smart enough not to lie to me again.”
Seeing how pitifully Master Ghost Valley had been dissected, Shui Miao felt a bit of mercy. He gave him a leaf from each kind of herb. This made Master Ghost Valley so happy that he knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly…
“If you had just told the truth earlier, you wouldn’t have had to suffer like this!”
Shui Miao shook his head in confusion, turned to leave, but was called back by Master Ghost Valley, “Immortal, please wait! Actually, your injury can be easily cured with the Soul Ginseng from the Nine Hells. Other herbs won’t be very effective—they’ll just be a waste. If you have many herbs, you can make a Nine Cauldron Incense Burner and refine the medicine yourself.”
“Self-refining is too difficult. I don’t know how to do it, nor do I have time to learn,” Shui Miao’s heart stirred slightly and he casually asked, “By the way, do you know if after merging your realm and dantian on Feng Hua Mountain, you can ascend to immortality again?”
“Yes, absolutely. Only benefits, no drawbacks,” the old Ghost Valley, having just gained benefits, immediately forgot all the pain he had just endured, “Immortal, you don’t know—the Nine Cauldron Incense Burner is no ordinary treasure. As long as you provide it with holy spirit fire, it will refine the medicine on its own. You just need to give it the herbs.”
“Such a pill furnace exists!?”
Instantly interested, Shui Miao asked excitedly, “Where can I get one?”
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