How come I was born a deity?

Chapter 38: The Secluded Old House

The person who makes sachets?

Does that mean we have to go directly to the supplier?

Led by Yao Ning, the three of them left the bedroom and walked along a small path next to it, which led them into a secret staircase leading deeper underground.

Walking ahead, Shen Nianxu suddenly whispered to Chen Qi, "What level are you at in your Star Chart now?"

"Let me take a look." Although he didn't know why Shen Nianxu would ask him this question at this time, Chen Qi still took a look at the star map inside his body.

But you don't know until you see it, and even Chen Qi himself was shocked when he saw it.

Last night, he used the stars he had gathered to draw exactly one hundred people from the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" scroll. Even though he continued his usual practice this morning, trying his best to gather stars to depict his own star map, the progress of his star map completion still changed dramatically.

Chen Qi's star map, at some point, had already drawn more than two hundred people!

What's going on?!

How did my progress suddenly jump so much?

Even Chen Qi himself didn't realize that, even with his progress this morning, there was an extra progress of nearly a hundred people out of nowhere. He had no clue about this progress; it was as if it had just popped up out of nowhere.

"What's wrong?" Shen Nianxu noticed the change in Chen Qi's expression and asked with concern.

"No...it's nothing," Chen Qi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "it's just that the Star Map is progressing faster than I expected."

Shen Nianxu: "..."

No, it's one thing for me to be frightened by your talent for cultivation, but how can someone be frightened by their own talent?

Are you even human?

Qin Bo didn't know what they were talking about, but he listened to their conversation with great curiosity.

"In any case, let's prepare first," Shen Nianxu's eyes darkened slightly. "Demons are demons after all. They don't have human values. They're only behaving themselves now because there are people above them who can keep them in check."

"No one can predict when they might take any extreme actions."

"Don't worry," Qin Bo nodded slightly, giving an affirmative answer, "I still have the ability to protect myself. You just need to take good care of the boss."

Shen Nianxu raised an eyebrow slightly. "I didn't intend to protect you either."

Chen Qi: "..."

Led by Yao Ning, the three of them walked down a series of stairs and soon arrived at a secret room on the second basement level.

Despite being called a secret room, it feels more like a hidden boudoir.

A red upside-down "福" (good fortune) character is pasted on an antique wooden door, and two red paper lanterns hang in front of the door, giving people an extremely eerie feeling.

Standing in front of the door, Yao Ning reached out and gently knocked on the wooden door.

Dengdengdeng-

"Manager," Yao Ning said softly, "Shen Nianxu from the bookstore, Chen Qi from the bookstore, and Qin Bo from the Qin family firm wish to see you."

Qin Bo corrected him, "I am now the CEO of the bookstore."

Unfortunately, nobody paid any attention to him.

squeak-

Although no one answered from inside, the door opened by itself.

A harsh, scraping sound rang out, and a dimly lit bedroom came into view.

A large bed from a wealthy family in ancient times is placed deep in the room, its contents hidden by gauze curtains on both sides.

Near the entrance is a round wooden table, surrounded by several cylindrical wooden chairs placed on the ground.

A dressing table was placed in the corner of the room, and a bronze mirror stood on the dressing table, reflecting the blurry images of everyone.

Yao Ning led the three to the bedside. "Manager, I'll lift the curtain now."

After saying that, she reached out and slowly lifted the gauze curtain.

On the bed lay an elderly woman who looked to be in her twilight years.

The demonic features on her body were no longer very obvious, and even Chen Qi could not tell what kind of demon she was.

However, judging from the current situation, the old woman is clearly nearing the end of her life and is barely breathing.

"This is the manager of our Ten Thousand Demons Guild," Yao Ning stepped back to the side of the bed and introduced, "He is also the one who makes sachets."

Upon seeing this, Shen Nianxu frowned. "How come I remember seeing her a few years ago? She wasn't like this at all? How could she have aged so much in just a few years? Aren't demons supposed to have very long lifespans?"

On the bed, the old woman, barely breathing, suddenly gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Who knows? Perhaps it's my fate. After all, I've done too many wicked things in the past. Maybe this is my tribulation..."

"How could this be a heavenly tribulation?" Shen Nianxu looked at Yao Ning. "What on earth is going on?"

Yao Ning sighed deeply, "The shopkeeper has been possessed by a ghost."

Possessed by a ghost?

Seeing Chen Qi's innocent expression upon hearing the new term, Qin Bo explained, "It means being haunted by a ghost."

Chen Qi: "Thank you for your explanation, otherwise I would have been kept in the dark."

"Being possessed by a ghost is a very troublesome thing. If it's just an ordinary little ghost, you can get rid of it and at most get a minor illness."

Yao Ning seemed to be on Chen Qi's side, and thoughtfully explained, "But the ghost that's clinging to the shopkeeper... is very strange. It's been absorbing the shopkeeper's lifespan."

No wonder the manager of the Ten Thousand Demons Club aged so much in just a few years; it turns out that his lifespan was sucked away by ghosts!

Living people have abundant yang energy, while demons have long lifespans. If one is only focused on lifespan, then targeting demons is indeed the best choice.

However, ghosts are a very special kind of existence, and it is difficult to fight them in a normal way. Therefore, many monsters that are entangled by ghosts can only be tormented by the latter, like a mantis and a horsehair worm, until their value is completely squeezed out.

"You're not trying to tell me... that because the shopkeeper was possessed by a ghost, the sachets he made naturally carried a ghostly aura, which led to the death of an ordinary person, are you?"

Shen Nianxu stared at the shopkeeper on the bed and Yao Ning beside the bed and asked, "With your shopkeeper's strength and connections, finding a way to deal with the vengeful ghost shouldn't be too difficult."

Both the shopkeeper on the bed and Yao Ning beside the bed had much gloomy expressions at this moment.

"What does this ghost have to do with your Ten Thousand Demons Guild?"

"Miss Shen..."

On the bed, the shopkeeper struggled to get up. Yao Ning, who was standing beside her, wanted to help her, but was stopped by the former.

"Regarding this matter, I have to tell you a story..."

Shen Nianxu's expression remained unchanged. "Make a long story short."

The shopkeeper replied, "Back when I was being chased all over the city by your bookstore, I met a man who was running a small foot massage parlor at the time. But after learning about my plight, he didn't despise me because I was a demon. Instead, he generously helped me and provided some of my companions with places to stay and work."

"And that foot massage parlor was the predecessor of our Wan Yao Club."

The shopkeeper coughed and continued, "I will never forget his help, and we can never repay his kindness to our Ten Thousand Demons Guild."

Chen Qi thought to himself, "Are you sure he's not just helping you out so he can hire low-priced, high-quality technicians for his foot massage parlor?"

However, people are different, and Chen Qi couldn't say for sure that the other person had such thoughts. After all, it was an objective fact that he had helped others, so he didn't speak.

"But, he suddenly passed away some time ago." Yao Ning's opening line was a tragedy.

Upon hearing this, Shen Nianxu said, "So... he has now become a ghost, clinging to your shopkeeper and constantly devouring her lifespan, but your shopkeeper, out of guilt and affection, has allowed it to continue to drain her life force instead of driving it away?"

Although Yao Ning and the shopkeeper didn't reply, the answer was already obvious.

"Foolish," Qin Bo said rationally. "When a person dies, they are dead. Once they become ghosts, they become enemies of the living world. They will not have any memories of the living world. Keeping a ghost by your side is just wishful thinking on your part."

Shen Nianxu raised her hand to interrupt Qin Bo, "If this is your own problem, then it's none of my business."

"But now, because of this ghost, ordinary people have been killed, so the situation is completely different."

"There are rules in the cultivation world that you must never interfere with the lives of ordinary people. Since you have broken this rule, don't blame me for breaking up this couple."

The throwing knife slipped between Shen Nianxu's right fingers.

"This ghost must be driven away today!"

The moment she finished speaking.

A terrifying sense of oppression instantly descended upon everyone in the room!

The stench unique to corpses spread throughout the room.

The pitch-black shadows that obscured the room's light source radiated outwards.

pat-

pat-

The sound of bare feet stepping on the ground rang out. Outside the door, the red paper lanterns moved erratically without any wind, and the candlelight inside went out in an instant.

A ghost was already standing behind them!

"Miss Shen, you've got it wrong," Yao Ning said calmly. "It's not that the sachet was 'unfortunately' tainted with ghostly energy, but rather that I deliberately introduced ghostly energy into the sachet."

"The only goal of a ghost is to devour the lifespan of its inhabitants; it doesn't care whose lifespan it devours."

"Although the shopkeeper was willing to have his lifespan consumed, he just wanted to spend more time with me while he was still conscious. So, in order to prolong the shopkeeper's life, I resorted to this desperate measure."

Her gaze swept over the three people in front of her one by one.

"And the lifespans of the three of you should be able to buy the shopkeeper a few more days."

Only then did Shen Nianxu finally realize that Yao Ning's target had always been them!

No wonder Wang Shande didn't come himself; it turns out he knew there was a very difficult task here!

"I'm sorry, Ms. Shen, this may be the last time I apologize to you."

Yao Ning's smile carried a hint of sadness.

"goodbye."