Chapter 371: Chapter 253: A Million Merits; The Ghost Festival is Coming Soon!

Ghost Market.

Inside the Horror House.

Xu Yang sat cross-legged in the depths of the Horror House, his brows furrowed into the shape of a river.

How long has it been?

Not even three hours!

There are only eight ghosts left in the Horror House!

There are many ghosts in the Ghost Market, and this time there are a lot of ghosts from other places.

But the local ghosts…

After playing in the Horror House last time, they have psychological shadows, and not many came this time.

As for the ghosts from other places, not many came because of distance issues.

After all, it’s a long journey with dangers along the way. They might encounter Daoists, martial artists, or even powerful evil yin spirits and malevolent beings who would capture and kill their own kind to strengthen themselves!

After the last eight ghosts ran out of the Horror House crying and shouting for their fathers and mothers, no other ghost dared to enter!

“…”

Xu Yang: “Damn, these ghosts are too weak, aren’t they? Not even one had a second challenge?”

He glanced at the system attribute panel.

[Merit value]had just broken 600,000.

Subtracting the consumption from practicing the “Great River Sword Manual” yesterday, in these three hours… he had gained about 300,000 merit points in total.

“I have practiced too many Daoist skills, most of which are at the Entering Dao Realm level. To improve, I need a huge amount of merit… Not to mention, I also have to improve my martial arts, divine powers, and cultivation. 600,000 merit points are nowhere sufficient!”

Xu Yang had an idea and strode out of the Horror House.

The Ghost Market only opens once every half month. How could he be satisfied with just earning 300,000 merit points?

As soon as he left the Horror House, he saw many terrified ghosts gathered outside, discussing and exchanging their “experiences” and encounters in the Horror House, waiting in line to collect their money.

“Oh my god!”

The round-faced ghost from Helan Mountain also came to challenge the Horror House this time. His eyes were red, and he looked as if he had just cried; he shouted, “It’s so horrible, so… horrifying! I’d rather die than go through that again!”

“That’s right! Although it’s all a dream, the dream is too real!”

“Wuu wuu wuu, I committed suicide by jumping off a building when I was alive, and this time in the Horror House, I jumped for a full 8 minutes… Have you ever jumped off a building? Do you know the fear one has in the short moment before they hit the ground?”

“I experienced that fear for a whole eight minutes!”

Some of the newly arrived ghosts, who had initially planned to challenge the Horror House, were scared and trembling after hearing these conversations. They stepped back and changed their minds.

Xu Yang’s face darkened and he shouted, “Shut up!”

All the yin spirits and malevolent beings quieted down, looking at Xu Yang without even daring to breathe.

“Ding!”

“The fierce ghost was frightened, merit points +30.”

“Ding!”

“The long-tongue ghost was frightened, merit points +20, Bagua+1.”

“Ding!”

“The female ghost was frightened, merit points +10, flute playing +1.”

“Ding…”

With a series of system prompts coming to his mind, Xu Yang was initially pleased… thinking that getting more merit points like this wouldn’t be difficult. Even if these ghosts didn’t enter the Horror House, he had plenty of ways… But then he was suddenly shaken!

He looked at a delicate female ghost and asked, “You, what’s your name?”

The female ghost pointed at herself, and the rumors about Xu Yang in the Ghost Market sprang to her mind. She immediately fell on her knees, pale-faced, “Master, spare me… My name is Wang Xiaoxiao. I am from the Ming Dynasty, and I was 28 when I died. My best skill is flute playing.”

Xu Yang: “Is your flute playing skill legit?”

Wang Xiaoxiao kowtowed repeatedly, “Yes, it’s very legitimate.”

Xu Yang then let out a sigh of relief, “Then play something for me to see.”

“Uh… this… ”

Wang Xiaoxiao tightened her lips, glanced around, and whispered with a flushed face, “Master, there are too many people here… How about we find a quiet place for me to play for you?”

Xu Yang: “…”

Damn!

Could you seriously call this “legitimate”?

And why would the system give me such a skill as a grown man?

Xu Yang waved his hand discontentedly, signaling Wang Xiaoxiao to get lost. Then he looked at the ghosts waiting in line to collect their money and said, “Brothers and sisters here, most of you came from other places, right?”

All the ghosts nodded, not knowing why Xu Yang was asking.

Xu Yang smiled and said, “As the host of the Xi Xia Ghost Market, I apologize for my inadequate hospitality. I hope you won’t take offense.”

“No, no, no… We don’t blame you!”

“Master Xu is too polite!”

With these words, all the ghosts were shocked and quickly responded.

Although they were ghosts from other places, they knew Xu Yang’s reputation as the “Iron Hammer Daoist” after entering the Xi Xia region… This man had single-handedly overthrown the Xi Xia Ghost Market and taken control of it as a living person, which was unprecedented in the history of the nine major ghost markets of Xi Xia!

“How can this be called polite?”

Xu Yang pulled out his iron hammer with a flip of his hand and sternly said, “I, Xu Yang, am somewhat famous in the yin and yang realms of Da Xia. If this gets out, people will think I don’t know how to treat guests!”

“Ah!”

A timid ghost fell to his knees and cried, “Master Xu, rest assured, we will not spread it! Master Xu, please don’t kill ghosts and silence them…”

“Huh?”

The surrounding ghosts looked at the timid ghost with anger and said, “Damn! what are you going to spread? Master Xu invited us to play in the haunted house for free and even gave us money… He’s such a kind person. Is there anyone else in this world who treats you like this? Did your parents treat you this way?”

The timid ghost, already scared, dissolved into a wisp of smoke with a bang.

“Ding!”

“Congratulations, you have gained merit for guiding the souls of the dead: Merit Points +100.”

Xu Yang: “……”

True to his name, this timid ghost was scared to death just like that?

After a few seconds of contemplation, Xu Yang said, “Ma Long, for these brothers from other places, give each ghost an extra 10 million.”

The crowd of ghosts cheered, thanking and praising Xu Yang.

Xu Yang added, “You guys have come a long way to our Xi Xia Ghost Market. I appreciate your effort… Today, I will give all of my brothers and sisters here another chance to play in the haunted house.”

“……”

The ghosts, who were overjoyed just now, were dumbfounded.

Xu Yang threw the big iron hammer from his left hand to his right, and from his right hand to his left, weighing it repeatedly, and said, “This is my goodwill, and you must not refuse… if anyone refuses, they are disrespecting me, Xu Yang… Ma Long, have the underworld soldiers guard all sides and don’t let any of the brothers here escape!”

He turned around and entered the haunted house.

Soon after, a ghost was pressed by the soldiers and forced into the first floor of the haunted house.

Seeing the data increasing again in the “Merit Points” section of his status panel, Xu Yang urged the “Dream Creation Skill” with all his might and exhaled deeply and thought, “Indeed… I should be kinder to these ghosts. If I invite them to play in the haunted house one more time, won’t my merit points rise?”

Until just before dawn.

Xu Yang finally closed the doors of the haunted house.

He leisurely returned to the mortal world with Ma Long.

Liu Shishi and the girls did not come back. They were ghosts and unlike humans, they did not have to return before dawn and could even live permanently in the ghost market… After the market was over, they had many tasks to do, such as recording the sales of the grocery store to facilitate future restocking.

Apart from that, Xu Yang made a few new plans for the ghost market that required them to be in charge of the publicity.

There was only Xu Yang in the empty villa.

He returned to his bedroom, took a bath, sat cross-legged on the bed, and opened the system status panel in his mind—

[Name]: Xu Yang

[Age]: 22 years old

[Daoist Arts]: Divine Ascension Scripture

[Daoist skills]: Fire Manipulation Skill (Entering Dao), Water Manipulation Skill (Entering Dao), Wulei Rules (Divine Transcendence), Paper Cutting Skill (Entering Dao), Earth Escape Skill (Entering Dao), Dream Creation Skill, Land Spirit Skill (Entering Dao).

[Martial Arts]: Land Flight Skill (Complete), Soul Searching, Disguise Art, Eight Forms of Famous Sword Skills (Complete), Great River Sword Manual (First Layer)

[Cultivation]: Early Stage of Divine Transcendence Realm.

[Daoist Artifact]: Supreme Purification Seal (Daoist Artifact), large iron hammer

[Merit Points]: 980,000.

[Storage Space]: 100 cubic yards

“What a pity.”

“The merit points were just about to break the million mark… Next time the ghost market opens, I have to find a way to get more ghosts into the haunted house.”

Xu Yang sighed.

The next time the ghost market opens, he would place great importance on it.

Because…

The next opening of the ghost market will be on Lunar July 15th!

July 15th is a special day in the lunar calendar, commonly known as the Hungry Ghost Festival. It is also referred to as the Ancestor Worship Festival or Half-July by the commoners. In Buddhism, it is called the Ullambana Festival!

All these names can be collectively called – the Ghost Festival!

On this day, the Ghost Gate will open wide, and the dead Yin spirits will return to the mortal world from the Underworld Palace!

Moreover, the ghosts in the mortal world will become active too.

If this year was like the previous ones, the Yin-Yang Path would be cut off, and the Yin spirits of the Underworld Palace would not be able to come to the mortal world. However, now that the Yin-Yang Path is about to be reconnected, some Yin spirits and malevolent beings may even enter the underworld if they are lucky.

On the other hand…

The living beings in the underworld also have a chance to enter the mortal world!

For example, Yue Niang is a case in point!

The Ghost Gate, which has been closed for nearly 600 years, will open this time. Who knows what kind of beings will descend to the mortal world?

“Wang Hou and Grandmaster Chengming have been saying that there is going to be turmoil in the mortal world…”

“If there really is a great disturbance in the mortal world, I’m afraid the Ghost Festival will be the beginning!”

Xu Yang is not the same rookie who knew nothing about the Dao when he first started.

He has a lot of understanding of the secrets of this world and the Underworld Palace, and his own guesses and judgments. In a flash of thought, he suddenly remembered his late grandfather who had been dead for four years.

“I wonder how my grandfather is doing in the underworld now… will he have a chance to return to the mortal world this Ghost Festival?”

“I need to find Elder Wang and ask him about my grandfather’s situation!”

Xu Yang took a long breath, looked at the status panel, and prepared to spend all the merit points he had earned tonight to improve his Daoist skills!

……

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