Starting with the Earth God, the path to immortality is deduced!

Several evil spirits who were gambling nearby also cast unfriendly glances and slowly surrounded them.

Several rotting spirits, reeking of decay, extended their sharp claws and blocked the way.

Although they are only the lowest level of evil spirits, they are numerous and have been immersed in the yin energy of the ghost market for many years, making them much more ferocious than the wandering ghosts outside.

Ma Ling'er's expression changed, and she secretly grasped a talisman.

"Don't do it!"

Zhou Yuan quietly stopped her, his gaze calmly fixed on the three-eyed, one-legged ghost.

"We'll be leaving now, no offense intended."

He helped up the still-shaken Uncle Wang and turned to leave.

"Trying to leave?"

"It's not that easy!"

A ghostly creature let out a shriek and pounced forward, its pale claws aimed straight for Zhou Yuan's back!

Zhou Yuan's eyes turned cold.

"court death!"

He didn't dodge or evade, but instead threw a punch with his backhand!

The fist, now imbued with the [Sturdiness] divine power, was harder than refined iron!

"Bang!"

A muffled thud!

Before the wandering spirit could even let out a scream, it was punched so hard that its soul disintegrated and turned into a wisp of green smoke!

Zhou Yuan's heart stirred, and he secretly activated "Strange Tales of Gods and Monsters".

[Sacrifice]!

An invisible suction force abruptly drew the dissipating wisp of smoke into the book!

A faint light flashed across the pages, and a thin wisp of yin energy quietly gathered.

[I've gained a slight understanding of the Daoist arts of communicating with the spirit world, and my ability to track traces of spiritual entities has become more acute.]

A line of small characters appeared in Zhou Yuan's mind.

That's it!

Offering sacrifices to evil spirits of the same type can also replenish the corresponding Taoist arts!

This sudden turn of events stunned all the evil spirits.

No one expected that this seemingly sickly poor boy would have such a powerful physique, capable of shattering a wandering soul with a single punch!

"Attack him together! Tear him apart!"

The three-eyed, one-legged demon roared angrily.

The remaining few wandering spirits and two low-level corpse monsters roared and swarmed forward!

"roll!"

Zhou Yuan's eyes flashed with a cold light. Instead of retreating, he advanced, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep!

Now that his muscles and bones are fully developed, his fists and feet move with the force of the wind, and each strike contains immense power, specifically designed to counter these ethereal spirits and rigid corpse monsters.

"Bang bang bang!"

After several loud explosions, those evil spirits were all smashed to pieces, their souls scattered!

Zhou Yuan resorted to the same old trick, sacrificing them one by one.

Several more streams of yin energy entered the tent, and the insights into "communication with the underworld" in "Strange Tales of Gods and Monsters" became increasingly clear.

This ghost market was a treasure trove for him!

Ma Ling'er watched in stunned silence.

This was the first time she had ever seen someone use pure fist and foot techniques to "exorcise demons" so violently!

Is this still the same Zhou Yuan who needed Taoist arts and magical artifacts to deal with evil spirits?

"Walk!"

Taking advantage of the chaos at the gambling den, Zhou Yuan grabbed Uncle Wang and Ma Ling'er and rushed out.

"stop!"

The three-eyed, one-legged demon tried to stop him.

Ma Ling'er reacted extremely quickly, throwing a talisman at him with her bare hands!

"I beseech the immortals to break the spell by consuming iron!"

The talisman spontaneously combusted without fire, transforming into a miniature iron-eating beast phantom that bit into the three-eyed one-legged ghost's single leg!

"Aww!"

The three-eyed, one-legged demon let out a miserable scream, and its aura instantly weakened.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the three of them rushed out of the gambling den!

"Chase!"

A series of angry roars came from behind.

But Zhou Yuan and Ma Ling'er were extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye they disappeared into the chaotic crowd of the ghost market.

Shortly after they left, a figure dressed in a long robe and holding an ebony abacus appeared silently at the entrance of "Paradise Hall".

He merely glanced indifferently at the chaotic gambling den, then flicked the abacus beads.

"Clatter".

A soft sound.

The injured three-eyed, one-legged demon's body disintegrated and vanished silently, like sand.

All the evil spirits around them fell silent instantly, not daring to even breathe.

……

They escaped back to the mortuary without any major incidents.

Uncle Wang collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his face filled with relief and lingering fear at surviving the ordeal.

"Thank you... thank you all..."

"Zhou Yuan, if it weren't for you, I... I would have lost my life and my very soul!"

Zhou Yuan handed him a bowl of water.

"Uncle Wang, what exactly happened? Why did you go to a place like that?"

Uncle Wang took a sip of water, his eyes still showing signs of shock.

"I don't know either!"

"The night before last, I was sleeping soundly when I heard someone whisper in my ear that there was a place outside the city where I could make a fortune, and that I should go and take a look..."

"I was like I was possessed, and I just followed along in a daze."

"When I came to my senses, I was already in that godforsaken place!"

"They gave me a handful of black copper coins, saying that was my capital, and told me to gamble..."

"At first, I kept winning, winning so many... But then I started losing, I couldn't win a single game, and I lost everything..."

"That place is terrifying! There's a manager, everyone calls him 'the accountant,' and he can decide a ghost's life or death with just a few calculations! Even the fiercest evil spirits are afraid of him!"

Accountant!

Zhou Yuan and Ma Ling'er exchanged a glance, both seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

Sure enough it was him!

This "accountant" is not only the mastermind behind the ghost market, but also the mastermind behind setting traps with ghost money to lure the souls of the living!

He is the mastermind behind the storm in Fengzhou City!

Ma Ling'er frowned. She took out a piece of yin coin from her bosom, and then took out several strange witchcraft artifacts, as if she wanted to perform some kind of tracking technique.

She muttered incantations, forcing a drop of blood from her fingertip onto the joss paper.

However, the moment the blood touched the ancestral coins, it hissed and turned into a wisp of black smoke, disappearing completely.

Ma Ling'er groaned, her face instantly turning pale.

"No!"

She shook her head, her face full of disbelief.

"This 'ghost money' is imbued with an extremely powerful isolating force, like a 'heavenly rule,' the source of which my witchcraft cannot trace!"

"This ghost market is definitely not just an ordinary gathering place for evil spirits!"

"Behind this, there must be a master of formations and rules orchestrating this!"

Zhou Yuan's heart sank completely.

Even the secret techniques of the Ma family of Beizhou couldn't be tracked down. This "accountant" was a thousand times more troublesome than he had imagined!

Their purpose is far more than simply accumulating wealth or harming a few people.

What exactly does he want to do?

After calming down Uncle Wang, who was still shaken, we told him to go and rest.

Zhou Yuan and Ma Ling'er returned to their room, where the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

"What do we do now?"

Ma Ling'er asked.

"We definitely can't force our way in. That ghost market is full of experts; if the two of us go there, we'll just be easy prey."

Zhou Yuan analyzed the situation calmly.

"That accountant, since he went to such lengths to cause so much trouble, he must have something on his mind."

"He hides in the shadows, while we are in the light."

A glint of light flashed in his eyes.

"Since I am the local head of the mortuary, and now that Uncle Wang has 'disappeared' and 'returned,' I can use my position as deputy manager to mobilize the mortuary's resources and investigate through official channels!"

"I refuse to believe that such a large ghost market in Fengzhou City wouldn't leave even the slightest trace!"

"in addition……"

Zhou Yuan looked at his palm, as if he could see the invisible book of gods and monsters.

"I received some benefits tonight, and I need some time to process them."

He made his decision.

Tonight, we will use the dozen or so streams of Yin energy obtained from the sacrifice to fully develop the [Netherworld Connection] Dao technique!

He sat cross-legged on the cold ground, his eyes closed.

His mind sank into the sea of ​​consciousness that only he could "see" in an instant.

The ancient pages of "Strange Tales of Gods and Monsters" floated silently.

At the bottom of the page, there were more than a dozen solidified yin energies, like a dozen black dragons, swirling and circling.

These are all spoils of war obtained from sacrificing those wandering souls and corpse monsters in the "Paradise Palace"!

"Deduction!"

Zhou Yuan had a sudden thought.

As if receiving a command, those dozen or so yin energies suddenly roared up and plunged into the pages of "Strange Tales of Gods and Monsters"!

Om-!

The ancient books emitted a faint, eerie light.

Zhou Yuan's soul was instantly pulled into a profound and mysterious realm.

In his perception, all his insights, runes, and mental techniques regarding the Daoist art of "Tong You" transformed into countless shimmering points of light, rapidly rotating around him.

Those dozen or so streams of Yin energy transformed into the purest fuel, burning wildly and propelling these points of light to recombine, analyze, and evolve at an incredible speed!

A wisp of yin energy, a month of arduous cultivation!

A dozen or so strands of Yin energy represent the results of more than a year of cultivation!

At this moment, under the great power of "Strange Tales of Gods and Monsters", this long process was compressed into a short instant!

Zhou Yuan's soul body was experiencing waves of tearing pain.

But what followed was an indescribable clarity and understanding!

He "saw" it.

He saw the essence of the soul and the composition of the spirit.

It was no longer an ethereal mass of energy, but a peculiar existence woven from countless subtle thoughts and fragments of memory.

It was as if an invisible shackle had snapped from the depths of his soul.

His perception extended infinitely outward in an unprecedented way!

At this moment, he could even "see" in the next room that Ma Ling'er was idly fiddling with the ends of her hair, radiating a lively and spirited aura.

He could "hear" that in a corner of the mortuary, several lonely ghosts were gathered together, exchanging their daytime experiences with silent thoughts.

He could even "smell" the complex emotions emanating from Uncle Wang, a mixture of fear and relief, stemming from his near-death experience.

The world, in his perception, became clearer and more "three-dimensional" than ever before!

At that moment, a new line of small golden characters slowly appeared on the page of "Strange Tales of Gods and Monsters".

You have mastered the art of communicating with spirits: Spirit Insight.

[Spirit-Seeking Technique: An advanced supernatural ability of the Daoist arts of communicating with the spirits. Your perception of spirits has reached a level of subtlety, allowing you to directly touch spirits and peer into their surface memory fragments.]

Become!

Zhou Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

His soul seemed to have an invisible connection with the spirits in the surrounding world, as if they were his own limbs.

"Are you...are you alright?"

Ma Ling'er walked in at some point and saw that Zhou Yuan's face was pale and his forehead was covered in sweat. She asked with concern.

"Your aura just now was so strange."

"One moment it felt like falling into an ice cave, and the next it felt like being burned by fire."

Zhou Yuan let out a long sigh, shook his head, but the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"fine."

"But, there were some gains."

This expense is negligible compared to the benefits gained!

……

After settling everything in, the two went to visit Uncle Wang again.

The old man had changed into clean clothes and drunk a bowl of hot ginger soup, and his complexion looked much better.

But the fear in his eyes had not yet dissipated.

Upon seeing Zhou Yuan, Wang Bo grasped at a straw and struggled to rise and bow.

"Zhou Yuan... no, Brother Zhou! I can't thank you enough!"

"If it weren't for you, these old bones of mine... no, I wouldn't even have come back to life!"

Zhou Yuan quickly stepped forward to support him.

"Uncle Wang, what are you doing?"

"You watched me grow up, this is what I should do."

Uncle Wang shook his head repeatedly, tears welling up in his cloudy eyes.

"It's different, it's completely different!"

"That place...that place is no place for a human to live!"

"The moment I close my eyes, I see those blue-faced, fanged monsters, and that 'accountant' with the abacus..."

He trembled all over, clearly terrified to the core.

"You saved my life, but I'm afraid I can't take care of this mortuary anymore..."

Uncle Wang sighed, his eyes dimming.

"I've developed a mental illness from this; I can no longer bear to see those evil spirits."

As he spoke, he suddenly grasped Zhou Yuan's hand tightly and said in an extremely solemn tone:

"Zhou Yuan, you are incredibly capable and have a righteous heart!"

"With Brother Liu gone, this mortuary cannot be left unattended."

"I...I want to discuss something with you."

"From today onwards, you will be the deputy manager of this mortuary, how does that sound?"

"Nominally, you're my deputy, but in reality, you're the one who calls the shots in this mortuary!"

Ma Ling'er's eyes lit up as she listened.

To put it bluntly, a Tu Gong is just a servant who takes charge of things.

The deputy steward is a different story; he's a prominent figure in Fengzhou City!

Zhou Yuan's heart stirred.

He was worried about not having a suitable identity to mobilize resources and investigate the ghost market from an official perspective.

This is like a pillow being delivered to someone who's just fallen asleep!

He feigned reluctance, saying, "Uncle Wang, this is inappropriate; I'm too young..."

"Perfect! Of course it's perfect!"

Uncle Wang shook his head vigorously, like a rattle.

"These days, ability is the most important thing! You're more capable than this old man, so you deserve it!"

"As the deputy manager, you'll have complete control over the staff at the mortuary and the files in the archives!"

"If there are any cases of evil spirits in the city, the people in the government will inform you first!"

"This... will definitely help you investigate that ghost market!"

Although Uncle Wang is honest, he is not stupid.

He could tell that Zhou Yuan was determined to get his hands on that ghost market.

Since things had been said to this extent, Zhou Yuan no longer declined.

He bowed respectfully to Uncle Wang.

"Since Uncle Wang trusts me."

"Then, young man, it would be impolite to refuse."

"From now on, I will definitely take good care of this Fengzhou mortuary for you and Uncle Liu!"

When Uncle Wang saw that he had agreed, a genuine smile finally appeared on his face, as if a huge boulder had been lifted off his feet.

"Great! That's wonderful!"