Chapter 90: The Strange Villa

A middle-aged man shook his head and explained, “Young friend, you may not understand the finer points. Ghost-repelling arts are a humble craft, but they come in many forms—sending ghosts on, taking ghosts in, raising ghosts, and more. Two spirit stones would not be enough to trade for them.”

Shen Xin asked without hesitation, “How many spirit stones for the art of sending ghosts on?”

What he really wanted was only to learn it, hoping that on his next rebirth he might be able to save those three girls who had jumped from the building.

“Two spirit stones will do. Young friend, do you need anything else?”

Of course I do, Shen Xin thought.

But since this was their first meeting, he did not press the matter. He took out two spirit stones and exchanged them for the ghost-sending manual.

The man accepted the stones and, true to his word, produced a small booklet. “Young friend, if you have spirit stones in the future, just come find me. My surname is Zhang, and my name is Zhi Jie. I am of the Zhang family of the Holy City.”

Shen Xin took the booklet. Seeing how sincere the man was, he said, “Boss Zhang, if I have spirit stones in the future, I’ll naturally come to you.”

After a moment’s thought, Zhang Zhi Jie took out a peach wood sword and a bronze bell, then smiled. “Young friend, since you seem so interested in ghost-repelling arts, let me go all the way and give you these as well. With this peach wood sword and bronze bell, in combination with the Ghost-Sending Scripture, there will be no ghost you cannot escort away.”

Shen Xin cupped his fists in thanks, put away the sword and bell, and asked curiously, “Senior, you must have a storage pouch, right?”

Zhang Zhi Jie glanced at Chen Shi beside him, and Chen Shi tactfully got up and left the private room.

Only after Chen Shi had gone out did Zhang Zhi Jie lower his voice and say, “Indeed I do. The younger generation of the Zhang family who can cultivate generally all have storage pouches. But storage pouches are not for sale, and no amount of spirit stones can buy one. Moreover, only cultivators can use them.”

“May I ask, how large is a storage pouch in general? If you’d rather not answer, that’s fine. I’m only curious.”

“Heh, no matter. Usually about a cubic meter or so.”

Shen Xin nodded, thoughtful. His own gourd space was far larger than that, and it grew a little every single day.

The two chatted a while longer before parting in good spirits.

After returning to his new home, he set about training his body. Having taken the Bone-Strengthening Pill, he repeatedly tempered himself.

He released the Iron Armor Beast and fought it head-on, using repeated impacts to help his body absorb the pill’s medicinal power as quickly as possible.

As for martial combat, he did not even glance at it. He had teleportation and spatial distortion, and in the future he could even cultivate sword control. Why would he waste time learning hand-to-hand fighting? Wouldn’t that be putting the cart before the horse?

The Iron Armor Beast was a simple-minded brute that could not endure even the slightest provocation, and so it trained with Shen Xin.

After more than a hundred collisions, both Shen Xin and the beast were exhausted and collapsed.

Shen Xin lay on the ground for a while, then sprang up in a carp leap, laughing. “You dumb brute, that was satisfying. Tomorrow we’ll duel again.”

With that, he dragged the Iron Armor Beast by the tail and shut it back inside the iron cage.

Afterward, he rode the big goose to an empty river to practice diving, leaping down from a height of several dozen meters.

“Yee-haw!”

Thud!

Shen Xin crashed heavily onto the water’s surface, sending up spray several meters high. Frightened, the goose swooped down and grabbed him while he was still dazed.

The goose let out a few puzzled honks, thinking its master must have had water in his brain.

“Too good! Again. Goose, let go of me and drop me.”

“Honk!”

The goose ignored him completely.

Shen Xin gave the goose’s thigh a tiny twist of space.

“Honk!”

In pain, the goose released Shen Xin, and he fell again from dozens of meters up, smashing headfirst into the water.

This time the goose was furious. It landed on the surface and watched coldly from the side.

After a spell of dizziness in the water, Shen Xin immediately struggled back up to the surface.

“Big goose, grab me into the sky!”

The goose paid him no mind at all and busied itself fishing in the water.

Shen Xin did not care. He used teleportation to send himself into the air, then let himself fall freely. The thrill of striking the water was simply irresistible.

After more than an hour of this, Shen Xin was bruised and swollen around the eyes before he finally rode the goose home. The Bone-Strengthening Pill’s effects had been mostly absorbed, and his body felt stronger as well. By then, his stomach was growling with hunger, so he opened his phone and quickly ordered takeout.

Not long after, the food arrived. He took it and placed it on the stone table in the courtyard, then fetched a bottle of beer from the fridge. Eating grilled skewers while drinking ice-cold beer—that was truly bliss.

Bang!

The courtyard’s iron gate was kicked open!

“Outrageous! Who dares kick in my gate? Show yourself and let me flatten you!”

“Heh, brother, you still want to hit me?”

Tang Zi Ran walked into the courtyard wearing a cold smile.

“Ah, Zi Ran, you’re back already?”

“Hmph, and you still have the nerve to say that? You only ever lie to me, making me run back and forth for nothing.”

Shen Xin gave an awkward laugh. “You didn’t know even the most basic things yourself. Don’t be mad—sit down and have some skewers, cool off a little.”

Tang Zi Ran was not one to stay angry. She sat down generously, turned her ire into appetite, and ate with big bites.

Seeing this, Shen Xin quietly ordered another portion.

After eating for a while, Tang Zi Ran suddenly said, “Brother, when I came back, I saw several ambulances pass by our gate. Isn’t that strange?”

Shen Xin put down his phone and looked up. “Ambulances? I didn’t hear any sirens.”

“They weren’t exactly ambulances, I guess. The vehicles just looked like them. And there are only two households left beyond us, right? Both places are usually empty.”

Shen Xin immediately became alert. “That is odd. I’ll go take a look tonight. Let’s eat first.”

If it had been anywhere else, he probably would not have bothered. After all, he could not watch over everything, and if he died everything would reset anyway; worrying over it would hardly change much.

It would only be another tragic loop of events.

But if it was happening right by his own front door, then he had to check it out. There were still several thousand spirit stones stored at home. If anyone found them, that would be a disaster.

A little after eleven that night, Shen Xin stood on the rooftop and teleported to the summit of the back mountain. The other two households were on the far side of the mountain, and from the peak he could see everything at a glance.

He discovered that one large villa still had lights on, and guessed the people must be living there.

After two teleports, he landed without a sound on a great camphor tree outside the villa.

He looked toward a room on the second floor. On the bed inside lay two young pregnant women. They were not sleeping; instead, they were scrolling on their phones, laughing softly.

Seeing nothing unusual, Shen Xin changed his angle and found the same thing in another room: two young pregnant women. This time they were not on their phones but chatting and laughing together.

From their conversation, he learned that these women were surrogates, and that a single surrogacy paid more than a hundred thousand.

Once he knew the truth, there was no need to investigate further. He went to the street and used a public phone booth to call the police.

After making the report, he returned to continue sitting in meditation and cultivating.

The next day, somewhat curious, he stepped out of the courtyard. Somehow, in the entire night, he had not heard a single siren.

Still curious, he went again to that villa and saw that everything inside was normal. No one had been taken away, and the place had not been sealed off.

“So they’ve got some background,” Shen Xin said helplessly with a shake of his head. He did not want to meddle anymore, so he let it go.

He had originally thought that if everyone simply stayed out of one another’s way, they could live in peace. But the number of vehicles entering and leaving the villa each day rose to dozens, and it was all happening deep into the night.

It seriously affected his cultivation.

Shen Xin grew somewhat angry. That night, he once again came to the villa, intending to cause some sort of damage and force the other side to back down and move away.

This villa had three stories, with about ten rooms on each floor, though the first floor had fewer.

Using his wall-passing art, he checked every room and discovered that the villa contained two offices, one operating room, and that all the other rooms were occupied by two pregnant women each. Counting them up, there were nearly fifty pregnant women in total.