Chapter 34: The Art of Persuasion

"In the end, you filthy cultivator, you still insist on opposing me?" Feng Sanniang said, her face ashen.

"You possess great merit; if you kill, that merit will dissipate. It is a loss that outweighs the gain," Chu Tian replied, looking at her.

"They took my life, devoured my heart, and sealed my physical form. How is that to be reckoned? I do not care for my own merit, so why should you?" Feng Sanniang sneered at him. "Since you can see the merit I carry, you should know that if you stand in my way, you will have to bear the weight of the karma yourself!"

"They are human!" Chu Tian said sternly. "Even if they are to die, they must not die by your hand!"

"They ate my heart and practiced parasitic arts on others; how could they be allowed to die so easily?" she retorted.

"If you kill them today, I will surely stop you," Chu Tian declared. "But if you only wish to reclaim your demonic power and fortune from their bodies, I will not stand in your way."

"What?" Meng Anren and Fan Shishi’s expressions changed drastically upon hearing this. "Master Chu, do you know what you are saying? You accepted our money!"

"The two of you still have one lifetime of lifespan remaining," Chu Tian said, looking at them. "I am no match for Feng Sanniang. If I protect you today, you get to live out that life. If I fight her, we will both be crippled, and you would certainly die. After all, Feng Sanniang doesn't care about losing her merit, but the pittance you paid me is not enough to buy the lives of my family!"

Feng Sanniang’s brow arched at this. You... you can't beat me? Wasn't it you who whipped me with a chain yesterday? Though she didn't understand Chu Tian’s true goal, it seemed... this man... was actually on her side?

"Master Chu, that is not the way to put it. We are human, she is a demon; how can you stand with her?" Meng Anren protested.

"If I were on her side, I would have stood by and watched," Chu Tian replied. "And what is this? Are you finally admitting that you are indeed Meng Anren and Fan Shiniang?"

"You..." Their faces turned ghostly pale at his words. They had stolen the secret of immortality and tasted its sweetness; how could they be willing to lose it now? Humans are strange—always complaining that life is boring while they are alive, yet clinging to it desperately when death approaches. It is much like modern youths who claim they do not fear death, yet panic at the slightest abnormal indicator on a medical checkup. Their creed is simple: I say what I want, but my body must remain perfectly healthy.

"Feng Sanniang, what say you?" Chu Tian asked.

Feng Sanniang looked at him, then at the couple, and said, "I will listen to you, little cultivator. But you can protect them for a day; how can you be sure you can protect them for a lifetime?"

"Since I have given my word, I will guarantee their remaining lifespan," Chu Tian said. "As for whether I can protect them, after today, you can see if you are even capable of leaving this haunted house! I do not wish to fight you to the death, but I can certainly keep you trapped here."

Feng Sanniang fell silent. After a long pause, she agreed, "Very well, we shall do as you say."

Chu Tian stepped aside, leaving Meng Anren and Fan Shishi exposed. The two stood like lambs to the slaughter, awaiting their fate. It must be said that their aptitude was truly like rotten wood; despite consuming the heart of a meritorious fox immortal and living for hundreds of years, refined by her demonic essence, they had failed to cultivate even the slightest foundation. Their only talent was survival.

As Feng Sanniang approached, they knelt and begged for mercy. It was a pathetic display, yet it failed to move anyone present. With two sharp cries, the demonic power "stored" within them was ripped away by Feng Sanniang. Deprived of that power, their parasitic cultivation base collapsed, leaving them looking weak and withered. Even so, they helped each other up and scrambled out of the house. As they crossed the threshold, however, a wisp of yin energy from the house drifted into their bodies.

Watching them retreat, Feng Sanniang turned to Chu Tian. "You really intend to keep me trapped here? They still have at least sixty years of life left."

"Do you think they will live another sixty years?" Chu Tian asked.

"What trick did you play on them?" Feng Sanniang demanded. Not only she, but everyone in the room had sensed that wisp of yin energy.

"The parasitic arts they practice require Meng Anren to harvest the yin of virgins; each time, he gains twenty years of life," Chu Tian explained. "Then, he and Fan Shishi, who also consumed your heart, would engage in dual cultivation to balance the yin and yang. The women they drained died before their time. Where do you think they go? Naturally, they linger in the vessels of those who stole their remaining years."

"Wait, Boss, are you saying the ghosts of the women they killed... are all inside them?" Song Shiyun exclaimed.

Chu Tian nodded and looked at Feng Sanniang. "As long as they held your demonic fortune, your aura acted as a shield against those spirits. Now, that suppression is gone. And having stepped into my house and absorbed my yin energy, those spirits—whose lifespans they stole—will find them one by one and possess them."

"Feng Sanniang, I know you want revenge, but you aren't the only one," Chu Tian continued. "In this world of karma, every debt has a creditor. Those women must have their vengeance. From now on, they will never sleep, haunted by ghosts. These spirits are bound to their souls and their very lifespans; no cultivator will help them, because to exorcise those ghosts would be to shorten their own lives, and they would never allow it."

"Even so, what of my karma?" she asked.

"While they live, you let those women have their revenge. Once they die, you may do as you please with their souls," Chu Tian said. "As long as they do not die by your hand, your merit will remain intact."

"Their souls after death? Do you expect me to help them cultivate into ghost-demons?" she asked.

"Ordinary ghosts would be destroyed by your torment," Chu Tian said, a cunning smile appearing on his face. "That is why I have a career opportunity for you. Interested?"

"What career?" she asked, her beautiful eyes narrowing.

"Once they are dead, no matter how weak their souls are—even if they are like a candle in the wind—you can torment them as much as you like," Chu Tian said. "Rest assured, they won't last long, but they lived for hundreds of years because of you. It is only fair they spend hundreds of years suffering under you after death, isn't it?"

Feng Sanniang pondered this, then asked, "What is the job?"

"Ghost Messenger."