Sure enough, the temporary Luck stat she had drawn from the divination lot had rendered great service!
The old temple keeper truly was her benefactor!
Nan Zhi cheered inwardly, though she showed none of it on her face. She quickly agreed to the Big Bellied Ghost's words and promised to visit them often in the future.
She wasn't joking—she still had a daily divination lot to draw!
Seeing how earnest Nan Zhi was, the ghosts grew even more delighted, thumping their chests as they vowed to be her eyes and ears, guaranteeing they would track down every last mouse and wild fox in Dingyuan County.
Just then, Chen Jingui called out to her from outside the hall. Nan Zhi packed up her things and hurried out with her bamboo basket.
...
The mud ghosts huddled together, gazing wistfully at her departing silhouette as though they had just been abandoned.
A gust of wind swept through, extinguishing the candles within the main hall. The weeping of the hanged ghost echoed eerily through the chamber:
“Sob, sob, sob... It wasn't easy to finally run into a little lady who can see us. Big Belly, don't even think of stopping me this time.”
As she said this, her face remained expressionless, yet the other wandering spirits in the hall didn't dare make a peep, merely cowering in their corners and playing dead.
“Sigh...”
Only after a long silence did the Big Bellied Ghost let out a sigh:
“Wanniang, why must you do this? You aren't like us. Wouldn't it be better to reincarnate into a new life early?”
Crash! Bang!
Clatter, clatter—
The hanged ghost whipped her long hair, shattering the porcelain plates on the offering altar across the floor.
Pitch-black strands of hair sprouted continuously from her head at astonishing speed, writhing like squirming snakes.
In the blink of an eye, the entire hall was submerged beneath this inky deluge. Even though it was broad daylight outside, the hall became so pitch-black that one could not see their own fingers before their eyes.
The woman's shrill laughter mingled with her wails, sending eerie gusts of yin wind sweeping across the hall:
“Back when the City God was still here, I endured it! Now that the temple's enfeoffed god is gone, who else can stop me?!”
The mud ghosts dared not show their heads at all, scattering in every direction to hide.
Shrouded in black hair, the Big Bellied Ghost shook his head, the exasperation and fury on his face deepening. After a long pause, he forced out a sentence through the gaps in the tangled hair:
“Do as you like, do as you like! It's all up to you, fine! You crazy woman, dead for decades and only growing more mad with each passing year!”
—Who knew why the Lord City God, upon being promoted, hadn't taken this ghost along with him, instead leaving behind such a massive menace!
“Giggle, giggle, giggle...”
Seeing that the Big Bellied Ghost had relented, the hanged ghost, Wanniang, let out a chuckle. The long black hair receded like a tide, and before long, a mournful song resonated through the hall:
“Heheheh... My lord, your concubine has searched for you with such bitter longing. Wait for me a little longer, just wait a little longer...
The moon above the sky, gazed upon from afar, resembles a cluster of clouds.
The night grows deep, the watches pass, the wind blows cold and stiff, blowing away the clouds beside the moon for your concubine, shining down upon that heartless man...”
Inside the hall, the song drifted with bitter sorrow.
Outside the hall, the old temple keeper cast a glance backward.
His expression remained completely calm as he lowered his head once more, continuing to rub paper money.
...
“Brrr, freezing to death! Did someone turn the office AC down too low?”
Nan Zhi looked up from her work to hear the colleague next to her complaining loudly:
“Overtime again! Every Friday at five-thirty they call a meeting, and the moment we meet, they dump tasks on us. Welp, say goodbye to having a nice weekend.”
“Count your blessings,” Zhang Qiuyu chimed in as she walked past holding a mug, leaning over. “Our company is considered relatively decent—we only work overtime once in a while. I heard the game company on the twenty-seventh floor is truly miserable. Working past midnight is practically an everyday occurrence for them, okay?”
“The twenty-seventh floor? Isn't that the company where someone jumped off the building?” Nan Zhi suddenly recalled something and asked, “By the way, didn't people say the advertising company downstairs was haunted? How did they end up handling it?”
“Huh? Nan Zhi, aren't you usually the one who doesn't believe in ghosts and gods at all?” Zhang Qiuyu stirred the coffee in her mug, a bitter aroma wafting out. “How else could they handle it? They gave it the cold shoulder. Management banned discussing it in WeChat groups, while privately hiring Taoist priests and Buddhist monks to chant scriptures.
They even picked an auspicious day—the fifth of next month, I think. Said that day was the birthday of some deity with heavy yang energy. Who knows if it'll actually work.
If you ask me, that advertising company downstairs was just unlucky. It was the twenty-seventh floor that drove someone to death, yet in the end, they were the ones who had to bleed money.”
“Haha, I was just curious, just asking.”
Nan Zhi set the document back onto her desk, though inwardly she muttered to herself.
Honestly, now that she could cultivate immortality, the existence of ghosts wasn't really that surprising.
Still, a game was a game, and reality was reality.
Just because she could laugh and chat with ghosts in the City God Temple inside the game didn't mean she wanted to see a ghost in real life!
Thinking of this, Nan Zhi sped up her work.
Better hurry up and make time to cultivate.
...
The Big Bellied Ghost was a man of his word.
Early the next morning, Nan Zhi logged online right on time.
As the rooster crowed three times, she opened her door and saw a fresh mulberry leaf lying on the ground before the threshold. Densely drawn diagrams covered its surface, along with countless tiny notes written in minute, fly-head script.
Nan Zhi picked up the mulberry leaf and looked around, but saw no sign of any mud ghosts.
The writing on the leaf was as tiny as pearls, written with who-knew-what kind of brush. Strangely enough, Nan Zhi could see every stroke with crystal clarity without even having to hold it close.
【Map feature unlocked.】
【Current Location: Nan Family Courtyard, Lingbai Alley】
【Faction Favorability unlocked.】
【Dingyuan City God Temple Faction: Dingyuan City God (Vacant), Day and Night Wandering Gods (Vacant), Mud Ghosts (8), Wandering Spirits and Wild Ghosts (25), Temple Keeper (1)】
【City God Temple Favorability: 1 Heart (Casual Acquaintance, the mud ghosts do not dislike you)】
【Special Buff: Within the City God Temple area, Luck +5, Constitution +5; Praying to gods has a certain chance to receive a response from the temple's enfeoffed god】
【Nan Family Faction: Nan Dazhuang, Chen Jingui, Nan Yi, Nan Ye】
【Nan Family Favorability: 9 Hearts (Life and Death Bond, you are forever a part of this family)】
【Special Buff: Within the Nan Family Courtyard, Constitution +15, Combat Power +15; In combat, there is a certain chance to summon family members to assist in battle】
Beyond this, Nan Zhi noticed an additional name on her Favorability panel: 【Wanniang】
【You have gained the favor of a ghost, achieving the achievement “Friend of Ghosts (I)”, obtaining Heavenly Treasure Tree Lottery Ticket ×5】
Nan Zhi racked her brain for a good while before finally remembering that this was the name of the hanged ghost in the City God Temple.
“Two hearts of Favorability? I don't recall doing anything special.
Wasn't it just offering a little wine and meat? Five lottery tickets... this hanged ghost is pretty generous.”
She muttered a few words, deciding to save up ten tickets before rolling.
She prayed that a ten-pull would guarantee a gold!
She declared it!
Tapping the map icon that appeared in the upper-left corner of the screen, she saw that, sure enough, it was a map of Dingyuan County seat.
On the map, countless small green dots representing “Friendly” and small yellow dots representing “Neutral” were constantly on the move, with only a few scattered small red dots that remained stationary.
—Red represented the “Hostile Faction.”
Nan Zhi tried filtering out unfamiliar NPCs and zoomed in on the map. Sure enough, she spotted the little green dot representing Nan Yi at the 【County Yamen】.
The green dots for Nan Dazhuang and Chen Jingui were at the pork shop, while Nan Ye's dot remained unmoving in her room.
The eight mud ghosts from the City God Temple were still at the temple, while the small yellow dot representing the grey rat spirit had stopped at a restaurant.
—Presumably, it had relocated its entire family to the restaurant.
Nan Zhi tested and verified it several more times, observing that the little dots were shifting continuously, which meant they represented real-time locations.
“Doesn't this mean I can track the movements of other NPCs at any moment? This is basically a real-time surveillance system!”
Rubbing her hands in excitement, she began searching the map based on the information provided by the Big Bellied Ghost.
【Water Ghost Wang Wu】
【Grasshopper Spirit】
【Red Fox】
【Great Wild Boar】
【Wild Cat】
There were quite a few red names on the map.
These were all experience points waiting to be harvested!
Nan Zhi noticed that the surroundings of Dingyuan County were shrouded in a thick mist. Within that mist, a prominent red name circling the periphery of the county seat stood out starkly.
Surrounding that red name was a cluster of smaller red names:
【Mountain Lord】
【Chang Ghost Liu Sheng】
【Chang Ghost Mei Niang】
【Chang Ghost Ma Dalang】
【Chang Ghost Li Po】
While the map gave no indication of what sort of demon or monster this 【Mountain Lord】 was, taking one look at its level made Nan Zhi lean back in respect.
Whoa! A Level 49 Big Boss leading a pack of Level 15 minions!
Can't mess with that, definitely can't mess with that.
Forget it—she'd better go find some softer targets to bully first.
Rate on N.U.
