Chapter 418: Why Does a Ghost Like You Want Money?

"Which vengeful ghost are you? Are you from the Nine Nether Sect?!" Zhao Po, acting fierce, interrogated the drowned ghost.

The drowned ghost shook its head vigorously, emphasizing its harmlessness: "My presence here is purely accidental, truly."

"I was originally a fisherman from the East Sea. After drowning, my resentment turned me into a wronged spirit. Coincidentally, my corpse encountered an Eerie Wind Stone, and I became a drowned ghost."

"The East Sea is boundless, teeming with countless creatures and schools of fish. I secretly absorbed the Yang energy from various sea creatures, gradually enhancing my cultivation. I rose from a drowned ghost unable to face the sun to a Qi Cultivation stage drowned ghost, gaining the power to protect myself."

"After I could protect myself, I relaxed and roamed the East Sea, occasionally leaping out of the water to scare people. My courage grew, and I wanted to venture into the deep parts of the East Sea that I hadn't dared to explore in life. As soon as I left the safe waters, I encountered a hundred-pound fish king. Its mouth opened, and it nearly sucked me in."

"Seeing that this wouldn't do, I quickly fled back to the safe waters, determined never to leave them again!"

"In the safe zone, I slowly cultivated, devouring the Yang energy of fish schools. Sometimes, I would also steal the offerings of fishermen."

"We fishermen have a custom of offering sacrifices to the East Sea. Since I drowned, it was clear that worshipping the East Sea couldn't guarantee safety, so I confidently ate the offerings."

"Later, I don't know what realm I cultivated to; I just kept cultivating diligently, ignoring everyone. One day, I encountered an immortal cultivator who wanted to capture and refine me. I easily drove him away, obtaining his storage ring and some cultivation techniques. After studying the techniques, I realized I had reached the late Foundation Establishment stage. By then, I had been dead for two hundred years."

"After understanding my cultivation path, I continued to cultivate. Eight hundred more years passed, and I finally reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage. During this entire period, I never left the safe waters."

"I had originally planned to leave the safe waters only after reaching the Soul Transformation stage. But to my surprise, someone ambushed me, knocking me unconscious with a single slap. When I woke up, I was already in this pond."

Lu Yang interrupted the drowned ghost's account: "So, you don't know who brought you here?"

"I don't."

"Did that person have any distinguishing features?"

"They were stronger than me."

"...Please continue your story."

"It took several days for me to figure out my surroundings. It turned out I was near Hanshui City in Huang Prefecture, Daxia Dynasty—the westernmost part of the Central Continent, countless millions of miles away from the East Sea."

"Given my condition, I couldn't use a flying boat or anything similar, so I just had to stay here."

"While exploring the area, I met a couple in Baishui Village: a man named Liu San and a woman named Huang Zaor. That's her." The drowned ghost pointed to the unconscious woman lying nearby.

"At first, they were terrified of me. But later, seeing I had no ill intentions, they grew bolder and asked if I could create the illusion of Huang Zaor drowning, so they could claim insurance and give me a portion of the compensation."

"At the time, I was penniless and desperately needed money, so I agreed."

"With my abilities, creating the illusion of Huang Zaor drowning was extremely easy; even the coroner couldn't tell the difference. After they received the compensation, Huang Zaor was seemingly buried, but in reality, she was hidden with me."

"The couple planned to leave Baishui Village and live in another city once things quieted down."

"But I didn't expect that it's currently a period of severe crackdown on ghostly disturbances. The imperial court is cooperating with the Corpse-Driving Sect to specifically target me."

"I didn't want to cause a big fuss. If I saw people, I'd run, and if I couldn't run, I'd scare them away. Just a few days ago, I scared off a Golden Core stage cultivator, and now there are four of you Golden Core stage cultivators!"

The drowned ghost looked wronged; it had almost lost its life for a bit of compensation.

The four wouldn't simply listen to the drowned ghost's one-sided story. Lu Yang asked, "How did Huang Zaor fall unconscious?"

"I knocked her unconscious. Allowing her to live freely in the water consumed too much of my spiritual power. It's less strenuous to simply knock her out and encase her in a protective barrier."

"Wake her up."

"Alright."

The drowned ghost didn't dare to disobey. It subtly cast a spell, and with a flick of light from its index finger, Huang Zaor was awakened.

Huang Zaor, still groggy, didn't know what was happening. She saw four people and one corpse surrounding her, creating an astonishing sense of pressure.

Huang Zaor, never having witnessed such a scene, answered every question, confirming that she and her husband had conceived the malicious idea of insurance fraud and conspired with the drowned ghost to swindle compensation from the merchant guild.

"Wait a minute, why would a ghost like you need money?" Meng Jingzhou narrowed his eyes, keenly detecting a logical flaw in the drowned ghost's statement.

A ghost's Yin energy is too potent, making mortals instinctively uncomfortable. Ghosts are too conspicuous, making it extremely difficult even to enter a city, requiring significant effort to disguise themselves, let alone purchase things on the street.

As for going to a merchant guild, that would be even more impossible. Merchant guilds are full of cultivators who can see through a ghost's disguise at a glance.

Moreover, how much compensation could mere mortals offer? It probably wouldn't even amount to a few spirit stones. What use would a dignified mid-Nascent Soul stage ghost, a being capable of summoning wind and rain in the East Sea, have for such a paltry sum?

Look at Little Five, Little Six, and Little Seven, those three succubi. They provide services door-to-door at night and don't even charge for a night's hard work.

"How dare you! You even tried to deceive us!" Meng Jingzhou's True Fire blazed, and he glared angrily at the drowned ghost.

"No, truly! Even ghosts have reasons to need money!" The drowned ghost cried out, quickly explaining.

"Look, I was a fisherman and drowned in the sea, so I've always lived in the sea. I'm a seawater ghost. Now I'm in this cold pond. Although there's enough Yin energy, it's freshwater, and I'm not used to living in it."

"So I asked Liu San and his wife, after getting the compensation, to buy salt and pour it into the pond water, so it could turn from fresh to salt water."

Lu Yang: "..."

Meng Jingzhou: "..."

Mang Gu: "..."

Zhao Po: "..."

It was the first time they had ever heard that water ghosts were categorized into seawater ghosts and freshwater ghosts.

Lu Yang secretly transmitted a message to Zhao Po: "You have many ghosts in Huang Prefecture. Have you ever heard that water ghosts are divided into seawater and freshwater types?"

"Our Huang Prefecture is separated from the East Sea by an entire continent. This is my first time encountering a ghost from the East Sea." Zhao Po felt his knowledge was insufficient.

Mang Gu was accustomed to such novelties and even took pride in them.

Following Brothers Lu and Meng, they always gained new insights wherever they went.

The Immortal Fairy rolled around on the bed, wiggling her little feet, and scoffed at Lu Yang for his lack of broad thinking: "See, you're so narrow-minded! Have you forgotten the two kinds of first-grade Golden Elixirs I told you about? One is called the Three Rivers and Five Lakes Elixir, and the other is the Boundless Sea Elixir. The biggest difference between them is that one is used in saltwater, and the other in freshwater!"

"My lord, didn't you just use Sleeve Universe to drain the pond water? You can taste it for yourself!" The drowned ghost was still trying to find evidence to prove it was telling the truth.

Lu Yang asked with a dark expression, "Where did all the fish in the pond go, then?"

"They all died from the salt."