Chapter 426: You're a Ghost, What Do You Need Money For?

"Which malevolent faction do you belong to? Are you from the Nine Nether Sect?!" Zhao Po barked, borrowing prestige from his superiors to interrogate the drowned ghost.

The drowned ghost shook his head vigorously, insisting he meant no harm: "My arrival here was entirely an accident, truly."

"I was originally a fisherman of the Eastern Sea. After drowning, I harbored bitter resentment and transformed into a vengeful soul. By chance, my corpse encountered a piece of Yin-Wind Stone, and thus I became a drowned ghost."

"The Eastern Sea is boundless, teeming with myriad living things and schools of swimming fish. I secretly absorbed the yang energy of various marine races, gradually elevating my cultivation. From a drowned ghost who couldn't bear the sun, I advanced to the Qi Refining stage, gaining the power to protect myself."

"Once I could protect myself, I grew lax and wandered the Eastern Sea, occasionally leaping above the water's surface to frighten humans. My courage grew greater and greater; I wished to venture into the depths of the Eastern Sea, a place I dared not go when alive. I had just left the safe waters when I encountered a royal fish weighing over a hundred catties. With one snap of its jaws, it nearly sucked me inside."

"Seeing that things were going awry, I hurriedly fled back to the safe waters, firmly making up my mind never to leave them again!"

"I cultivated slowly within the safe zone, devouring the yang energy of fish schools, and sometimes secretly eating the sacrificial offerings of fishermen."

"We fishermen have the custom of sacrificing to the Eastern Sea. Since I drowned regardless, it was clear that sacrificing to the Eastern Sea could not guarantee peace, so I ate the offerings with peace of mind."

"Later on, I did not even know what realm I had cultivated to. I simply buried my head and cultivated frantically, acknowledging no one. One day, I met a cultivator who wanted to capture and refine me. I drove him away with great ease and obtained his storage ring and some cultivation methods. Only after studying those methods did I realize I had already reached the late Foundation Establishment stage. By then, I had been dead for two hundred years."

"Possessing a clear direction for my cultivation, I continued to practice. Another eight hundred years passed, and I finally cultivated to the mid-Nascent Soul stage. Throughout this entire period, I never stepped foot outside the safe waters."

"I originally planned to leave the safe waters after reaching the Soul Formation stage, but who could have foreseen it? Someone ambushed me, knocking me unconscious with a single slap. By the time I woke up, I had already arrived in this pool of water." website.

Lu Yang interrupted the drowned ghost's confession: "In other words, you do not know who brought you here either?"

"I do not know."

"Did that person have any distinguishing features?"

"Stronger than me."

"....Continue your story."

"Several days passed before I finally figured out the situation. As it turned out, this place is near Hanshui City in the Desolate Province of the Great Xia Dynasty. It is the westernmost edge of the Central Continent, separated from the Eastern Sea by an unknown number of tens of thousands of miles."

"A being in my condition cannot board a flying boat or anything of the sort, so I could only stay here."

"While scouting the surroundings, I met a married couple in Baishui Village. The man is named Liu San, and the woman is named Huang Zao'er—this is the very person." The drowned ghost pointed to the woman lying unconscious beside them.

"At first, the two of them were terrified when they saw me. Later, seeing that I intended no harm, they grew bolder and asked if I could create the illusion of Huang Zao'er drowning, making it convenient for them to defraud the insurance and share a portion of the compensation with me."

"At that time, I was penniless and in dire need of money, so I agreed to their request."

"With my abilities, creating the illusion of Huang Zao'er drowning was exceptionally easy; even the coroner could not tell truth from falsehood. After they obtained the compensation, Huang Zao'er was buried on the surface, but in reality, she was hidden here with me."

"The couple planned to leave Baishui Village and live in another city once the storm blew over."

"But I never expected that we are currently in a period of severe crackdowns on ghost disturbances. The imperial court has cooperated with some Corpse Driving Sect specifically to target me."

"I was unwilling to let matters blow out of proportion. Whenever I saw someone, I ran; if I couldn't run, I would scare them away. Just a few days ago, I scared away a Golden Core stage cultivator, and now the four of you Golden Core stage cultivators have arrived!"

The drowned ghost wore an expression of deep grievance. For a bit of compensation money, he had nearly forfeited his life.

The four would not rely solely on the drowned ghost's one-sided story. Lu Yang asked, "How did Huang Zao'er lose consciousness?"

"I knocked her out. Allowing her to live freely in the water consumes too much magical power; it is better to simply knock her out and encase her in a barrier to save effort."

"Wake her up."

"Understood."

The drowned ghost dared not disobey. Executing a minor spell, a speck of light flashed from his index finger, waking Huang Zao'er.

Huang Zao'er, dazed and oblivious to what had transpired, found herself surrounded by four people and a corpse, the sense of pressure overwhelming.

When had Huang Zao'er ever witnessed such a formation? She answered every question posed to her, and her account aligned closely with the ghost's—it was indeed the couple who had conceived a wicked idea to defraud the insurance, conspiring with the drowned ghost to cheat the merchant guild out of compensation.

"That still isn't right. Why would a ghost want money?" Meng Jingzhou narrowed his eyes, keenly detecting a logical loophole in the drowned ghost's confession.

The Yin energy of ghostly entities was too heavy, instinctively causing mortals discomfort. Ghosts were too conspicuous, making even entering a city exceedingly difficult, requiring immense effort to disguise themselves, let alone buying items on the streets.

As for visiting a merchant guild, that was even more impossible; the guilds were filled with cultivators who could see through a ghost's disguise at a single glance.

Furthermore, how much money could a mortal's compensation possibly amount to? Added together, it might not even equal a few spirit stones. A grand mid-Nascent Soul stage ghost, a presence that summoned wind and rain in the Eastern Sea—why would he want this pittance of money?

Look at Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu, and Xiao Qi, those three glamorous ghosts who provided door-to-door services every night, working hard until dawn without charging a single coin.

"What audacity, you still dare to deceive us!" True fire erupted around Meng Jingzhou's body as he glared furiously at the drowned ghost.

"I truly am not! Even for a ghost, there are places where money is needed!" The drowned ghost cried out his innocence, hurriedly explaining.

"Look, I am a fisherman who drowned in the sea. I have lived in the sea all this time; I am a saltwater ghost. Now that I have arrived in this cold pool, although the Yin energy is sufficient, it is freshwater after all, and I am unaccustomed to living in it."

"I intended for the Liu San couple to use the defrauded compensation money to buy salt and pour it into the pool water. That way, the pool water could turn from freshwater into saltwater."

Lu Yang: "..."

Meng Jingzhou: "..."

Man Gu: "..."

Zhao Po: "..."

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

Lu Yang secretly sent a voice transmission to Zhao Po: "Your Desolate Province has many ghosts. Have you ever heard that water ghosts are split into saltwater and freshwater varieties?"

"Our Desolate Province is separated from the Eastern Sea by an entire continent. This is my first time seeing a ghost from the Eastern Sea." Zhao Po felt his knowledge was severely lacking.

Man Gu was accustomed to such bizarre occurrences, even taking pride in them.

By following Brother Lu and Brother Meng, one could broaden their horizons wherever they went.

The Immortal Fairy rolled around on the bed, her small feet kicking back and forth as she mocked Lu Yang's narrow mind: "Lacking knowledge, aren't you? Have you forgotten the two types of first-grade Golden Cores I told you about? One is called the Three Rivers Five Lakes Core, and the other is called the Boundless Great Sea Core. The greatest difference between the two is that one holds saltwater, and the other holds freshwater!"

"My lord, did you not use the Universe in the Sleeve to suck away the pool water? You will know with one taste!" The drowned ghost was still searching for evidence to prove he spoke the truth.

With a darkened face, Lu Yang asked, "Then where did the fish in the pool go?"

"They all died of the salt."