Chapter 9: The Housekeeping Ghost, Little Flower!

Just captured a few demons!
And caught several more fiends!
Spirits and monsters—how can there be so many of them?
(Hey! Take this, from old Sun’s staff!)
I’ll beat you till your soul flees and your spirit falls apart.
Even gods tremble and ghosts shudder; the beasts and brutes have nowhere to hide!
Through the night, he forged ahead fiercely.
Through the night, he faced rugged obstacles.
Chu Tian finally understood what towering mountains and treacherous waters truly meant!
Chen Meng, this sly fox spirit, also learned what it meant to be stuffed, bloated, nauseated, overwhelmed, resigned, and utterly defeated.
After ascending to the Leopard Tail class of the Demonic Envoy, Chu Tian’s healing that night completely mended Chen Meng’s injuries.
Not only were her wounds healed, but her cultivation advanced to a higher level.
She was utterly subdued by Chu Tian’s strength, entirely transformed into his image!
Originally, Chu Tian had told Chen Meng not to call him before noon the next day, but when noon arrived, Chu Tian woke up while Chen Meng was still sound asleep.
Pinching the furry root of the tail just above her rear, Chu Tian withdrew his hand from Chen Meng’s backside.
Rubbing his head, he thought the previous night had been a bit too wild.
“Wait, let me get rid of the tail and ears first!”
“No need, I want the tail and ears exactly as they are. This is what I want!”
Seeing Chen Meng still half asleep, Chu Tian slipped on a pair of beach shorts, bare-chested, and left the bedroom to freshen up in the bathroom nearby.

After Chu Tian finished washing up, a domestic ghost maid was carrying lunch out of the kitchen.
“Honored Ghost Envoy! Lunch is ready. Today is Wednesday, your usual home-cooked dishes: braised pork, sweet and sour pork strips, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, winter melon soup, rice, and stir-fried greens. Also, noticing you were a bit tired last night, I added a stir-fried kidney dish. Would you like to try it?” The maid, dressed in a maid uniform, placed her hands in front of her stomach and bowed respectfully to Chu Tian.

This domestic ghost maid was called Xiao Hua. When alive, she worked in housekeeping. Her family was poor, she couldn’t afford school, and her father had a broken leg and couldn’t work. So Xiao Hua learned to cook to support her family and dreamed of opening a small shop one day. However, she encountered a vile man while working as a housekeeper. When she resisted his advances, she ended up falling from the upper floor.

That family tried to cover it up as an accident, but they didn’t expect Xiao Hua’s resentment to turn her into a vengeful spirit.
Normally, after Xiao Hua killed that family, she would have evolved into a powerful haunting ghost, but Chu Tian subdued her beforehand. Knowing her story, Chu Tian investigated and discovered that family’s corruption. Using some subtle means, he sent the evidence to the authorities.

The culprits were imprisoned, and their executions were scheduled for the following month.
As Chu Tian said, he was a ghost envoy, a bureaucrat of the underworld who tried to interfere as little as possible in the living world. But once that family passed on to the afterlife, Chu Tian would help Xiao Hua "judge their sentence" properly—letting Xiao Hua deliver justice herself.
Only this way could Xiao Hua’s grudge truly be laid to rest.

Now, Xiao Hua was essentially Chu Tian’s “part-time ghost.” She helped him with chores and prepared three meals a day, while Chu Tian secretly sent money to her family every month. After Xiao Hua’s death, only her father, mother, and younger brother attending elementary school were left.

That said, Xiao Hua was a graduate of culinary school, and her skills were impeccable. Simple dishes not only smelled delicious but looked vibrant and appetizing.
“Xiao Hua, your cooking has improved again,” Chu Tian praised, tasting the sweet and sour pork strips. “If you keep this up, I’ll have to raise your salary.”
“Please don’t say that, sir. You’ve already been so kind to me,” Xiao Hua said shyly despite being a ghost. “If it weren’t for you, my family wouldn’t know what to do.”

Without Chu Tian, her family would have lost a major breadwinner after her death. After all, who would pay a ghost?
But Chu Tian did—five thousand a month, until Xiao Hua’s brother came of age.
So Xiao Hua could stay at Chu Tian’s home in peace, suppressing her resentment until that family faced justice.

After finishing lunch, Chu Tian noticed Chen Meng still hadn’t gotten up.
Xiao Hua returned to the kitchen to clean the dishes, while Chu Tian sat in the living room and took out the tiger demon soul essence he had collected the night before with the Soul Lock Chain.
The tiger demon soul resembled an amber-colored transparent billiard ball, with golden veins tracing the fierce tiger’s markings inside.

The Demonic Envoy order is divided into Leopard Tail, Bird Beak, Fish Gill, and Wasp classes, corresponding to beasts, birds, fish, and insects. This correspondence doesn’t just mean capturing souls of those creatures but that the Leopard Tail class can refine the essence from captured beasts to strengthen themselves after soul capture.
For example, the tiger soul in front of him, once refined, could grant Chu Tian the strength of a tiger. If he became a Bird Beak, he could refine the essence of eagles and raptors to enhance speed and agility.

Previously, Chu Tian had wanted to first become a Day Patrol Envoy, hoping to use ghost envoy powers during the day. But he now realized that after officially becoming a Ghost Envoy, daytime use of his powers was no longer restricted. Instead, the Demonic Envoy’s physical enhancements were his best choice now.

With his current strength and cultivation, refining the tiger soul essence was about all he could handle; refining more might overwhelm his body. Otherwise, Chu Tian wouldn’t mind visiting a slaughterhouse just to experience the strength of a hundred oxen in one tiger!

Swallowing the essence into his abdomen, the tiger soul’s power gradually spread through Chu Tian’s body, transforming him.
Feeling his body grow stronger by the moment, Chu Tian thought he should learn some martial arts.
After all, if he had been skilled in hand-to-hand combat when facing that tiger demon last night, he might not have needed to ascend just to overpower it!

“Once you wake up, ask Xiao Hua for something to eat. I’m heading out for a bit,” Chu Tian said as he returned to the bedroom, dressed, speaking to Chen Meng who was still reluctant to leave the bed.

Chen Meng, half-covered by the blanket, her bosom partially exposed, waved her hand at Chu Tian, then turned around, leaving her back to him, and fell asleep again.
By the time she woke up, her strength would have risen another great deal.