Chapter Twenty-Nine: I Am Not a Thief Like Cao

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Listening to the shopkeeper’s somewhat long-winded explanation, Feng Xue finally understood why Ninth Aunt had described the ghosts here as “expensive.”

Compared with the wandering souls and wild ghosts that could be summoned by the handful from a mass graveyard, these carefully selected artificial lives, tempered by the passage of time, were expensive for very good reason.

What was more, they carried no entangling karma, so commanding them would not damage one’s virtue.

Seeing that Feng Xue seemed to understand, the shopkeeper knew he could start raising the price. Unlike the low-end goods he usually sold to spoiled young masters—ghosts that might dissipate at any moment—this customer clearly intended to purchase a guardian spirit ghost. Spirits of this caliber belonged to the more expensive tier even among spirit ghosts.

Getting someone to spend money was easy enough. Getting him to spend it willingly, and to return for more business in the future, required making him understand why the expensive goods were worth their price.

The shopkeeper walked over to a shelf and took down a porcelain bottle that looked expensive at a glance.

“After all that, I still haven’t asked what sort of spirit ghost you need. If you’re looking for one to protect you, the one attached to this bottle would be ideal. The porcelain came from the imperial palace of the Song dynasty. Legend says it was a beloved treasure of one of the empresses. The spirit ghost within wears ceremonial robes and a phoenix crown. Even if her original incarnation was not truly an empress, several centuries have allowed her to gather a considerable amount of the power of faith. With proper cultivation, she might even develop a thread of phoenix aura, drawing the dragon aura of the human realm to protect you. Truly an excellent choice.”

Feng Xue immediately shook his head. He was not short of money, but a palace porcelain bottle from the Song dynasty was far too alarming. Seeing that the shopkeeper was about to reach for a piece of blue-and-white porcelain, he hurriedly said, “I’m not demanding when it comes to spirit ghosts. Preferably, she should be something of a scholar. She needn’t be accomplished in everything, but she should at least know one or two of the four arts—music, strategy games, calligraphy, or painting. She should also be quiet and not too excitable. And finally, she has to be able to eat…”

“Er…” The shopkeeper was taken aback by this request. “Sir, I can understand everything you said before that, but this business about being able to eat…”

“My cultivation method is characterized by abundant vital energy and enduring magical power,” Feng Xue explained calmly.

The shopkeeper was somewhat unconvinced. Vital energy was, in the end, transformed from a person’s vital essence. No matter how abundant it was, there was no reason to waste it. Was the customer worried about stuffing a ghost to death?

Still, the customer had made a request, and as a businessman he had no reason to argue. In any case, the moment a spirit ghost’s original body was liberated from its bonds, the karma was settled. Even if this man later nourished his ghost with human lives, it would not implicate the shopkeeper. If anything, he might even earn another sum later by removing the spirit.

After making a quick selection among his stock, the shopkeeper moved a few steps to a shelf filled with scrolls. He took down three scrolls and placed them on the display table in the center of the room.

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Feng Xue glanced over the scrolls and felt slightly reassured. Given the casual way they had been handled, they were probably not ancient paintings.

The shopkeeper, unaware that Feng Xue was still assessing their value, picked up one of the scrolls and introduced it as he unrolled it.

“When it comes to talented women, aside from the ‘female poet’ I mentioned earlier, these three are the finest. First, this one. The painter is unknown, but the woman depicted was a famous courtesan a century ago. Countless celebrities wrote poems and painted portraits for her. This particular piece is not the finest of the lot, but it happens to have a spirit ghost attached to it. That ghost absorbed the fantasies and yearning of successive owners for the peerless beauty portrayed here. She is proficient in music, strategy games, calligraphy, and painting, while her appearance and figure are of incomparable beauty.”

Feng Xue looked at the woman in the painting and secretly nodded. Unlike many of the ancient paintings he had seen in his previous life—works that could certainly be called exquisite, yet whose aesthetics differed somewhat from those of modern people—the woman in this painting genuinely struck him as elegant and beautiful.

The shopkeeper did not stop there. He opened another scroll, but instead of a portrait, it contained a piece of calligraphy. The strokes conveyed a rigid, forceful quality, hardly resembling the work of a woman.

“This piece is a rare original. The name Shen Xian alone would be enough to fetch an astronomical price at that Sotheby’s auction house in the Weiguo Republic. These words were written as an abbreviated elegy for his deceased wife, and people say that—”

“The next one!” Feng Xue decisively interrupted him. He had no interest in another man’s wife, even if she was merely an artificial intelligence generated by running code based on that man’s wife.

“Oh, oh. That sort of preference is perfectly normal…” The shopkeeper nodded. Spirit ghosts did not actually suffer from such limitations. With proper cultivation, one could even change their appearance—or their sex—without much difficulty. Still, he had encountered traditional mystic cultivators before. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered that he had another spirit ghost that might suit the customer.

He promptly put away the third scroll as well, then took a brocade box from the corner.

“Those famous talented women from history were either already spoken for or came from the pleasure districts, so I imagine you would not care for them. Why not take a look at this one…”

As he spoke, the shopkeeper unrolled a small ink-wash landscape. The technique should have been bold, even uninhibited, yet here it carried a persistent hint of restraint. Though Feng Xue was no specialist in the art, he could still sense something awkward about it.

Seeing Feng Xue frown, the shopkeeper’s heart tightened, and he immediately explained, “This painting was created by the daughter of a former prime minister. Her father once took part in a struggle for the succession and was defeated. The painting came onto the market when his household was confiscated. The resentment within it was not particularly deep; two months after I acquired it, it had completely dispersed. The spirit ghost born from the painting, however, is exceptionally tenacious. Even after a century, she has shown no sign of fading.

“Such cases generally occur when the original owner’s obsession is transferred to the spirit ghost. Spirits of this kind possess greater awareness and potential, but they also consume far more resources during cultivation. If you had not specifically requested one that ‘can eat,’ I would never have recommended her.”

As he spoke, the shopkeeper even pointed at the painting. At first, Feng Xue thought it was merely a blot of ink. But when both his over-the-shoulder perspective and his physical eyes focused on it, he suddenly saw the blot move.

Only then did Feng Xue notice something strange—

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Unlike the other objects in the room, he could not directly see the spirit ghost’s phantom anywhere on this painting.

“You guessed correctly. That blot of ink is the spirit ghost. Several times I thought she had already dissipated, only to discover upon closer inspection that she was still inside the painting. She seems to regard herself as part of the artwork.”

The shopkeeper even pulled a high-powered jeweler’s loupe from his pocket and handed it to Feng Xue.

“Don’t let her size fool you. Her figure and appearance are both first-rate. Just magnify her and you’ll see!”

Listening to the shopkeeper’s ridiculous sales pitch, Feng Xue kept his face impassive as he accepted the loupe. When the lens came into focus, the tiny blot in the painting unfolded into a slender figure.

She sat by the water’s edge, her long hair spilling casually around her and blending with the ink strokes that formed the stream. In that tiny face, he could even make out a trace of sorrow.

Feng Xue had to admit that this was precisely his kind of woman. He lowered the loupe, adjusted his emotions, and said, “Name your price.”

The shopkeeper was quietly delighted to see that Feng Xue was satisfied. It was not a particularly valuable item, but selling off something that had been sitting in his inventory was still a good thing.

He had only himself to blame for his inexperience back then. He had assumed that anything with a ghost attached to it had to be a treasure, and had ended up keeping this one for nearly a century. A work like this would never command the price of an antique no matter how long it was stored. With painting skills like these, he could not even pass it off as the authentic work of a famous master, much less deceive a gullible buyer. And if the spirit ghost ever came to her senses one day, he would suffer a total loss.

Still, whatever the circumstances, the price could not be lowered. He calculated what he had paid for it all those years ago, weighed the matter carefully, and finally named a figure.

“Sixty strings of cash, no bargaining! I’ll throw in the painting for free, along with a complete set of accessories. How does that sound?”

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