Qi Xu wondered why she had agreed to give her yin energy to the middle-aged Toad male ghost. It was because she wanted to reduce her own yin energy. Her yin energy was too heavy, which was not conducive to her fully recovering her human body.
That was why she had given it so readily when the middle-aged Toad male ghost asked just now.
But after giving it away, she discovered that these 15 jin of yin energy were simply a drop in the bucket for her. The small tentacle that had just delivered the yin energy even wanted to take credit with Qi Xu. She irritably dispersed it, turning it from a small tentacle back into a shapeless black fog that obediently lurked at her feet.
At that moment, Qi Xu more or less understood that her black fog was essentially no different from Tiger Granny’s white fog on Rowboat Mountain. Both were condensations of yin energy. The only difference was in quantity. Only when the quantity reached a certain level could it cause a qualitative change, turning white fog into black fog.
Hadn’t the black fog turned into white fog once it left Qi Xu and reached the cup? It was the same principle.
30 jin of yin energy was a drop in the ocean for Qi Xu. Giving it away wouldn’t change the yin energy in her body at all.
This made Qi Xu even more puzzled— was she really that strong, really that hated by others? Otherwise, how could her yin energy be so abundant! Moreover, after giving away those 30 jin of yin energy, she could clearly feel that the yin energy from all over the world surged toward her again.
As long as Qi Xu maintained her ghost body and sat there, even without doing anything, the yin energy wandering between heaven and earth, as well as the yin energy floating around the middle-aged Toad male ghost that hadn’t condensed into its possession, would all rush to gather with the other black fog beside Qi Xu.
No, 30 jin was completely useless.
With this thought, Qi Xu looked at the middle-aged Toad male ghost across from her.
30 jin had no effect on Qi Xu, but for the middle-aged Toad male ghost, it was a great supplement. Unlike its usual trickery to deceive humans for tiny bits of hatred and tiny bits of yin energy, these 30 jin of yin energy had condensed into liquid, a quantity so large that it couldn’t believe it.
After downing this cup, its body grew a bit larger. The middle-aged Toad male ghost had originally been squeezed into the chair. Now, with this expansion, the fat on its body nearly burst the chair apart. Fortunately, it was all fat without any bones or blood, so the fat flowed out like viscous liquid through the gaps in the wooden chair. Then it was pulled back by the skin, hanging limply there.
It felt itself become much stronger. Compared to these 30 jin of yin energy, its previous idea of making Qi Xu kneel and acknowledge it as master had faded quite a bit.
Making Qi Xu acknowledge it as master wasn’t just to become stronger? Now that it could grow stronger through other means, why bother with something so thankless? That human-form Qi Xu was too desireless, which annoyed it greatly.
Just as it narrowed its eyes, preparing to think of a way to get more from Qi Xu, she suddenly spoke.
Her voice was completely different from when she was alive—flat, emotionless, and excessively cold.
“30 jin enough? Doing business like this is too timid. If it were me, I’d ask for 150 jin.”
150 jin?!
The middle-aged Toad male ghost widened its eyes, then smiled broadly. “Right, right, 150 jin!”
Greed had flooded its brain, but it still had a shred of reason. It asked Qi Xu, “What’s your purpose in proposing this? Playing with me?!”
“I want you to let Xia Zhiming go.”
This one sentence made the middle-aged Toad male ghost drop its guard. It pulled out all its ancient coins from the pocket of its pants, which were about to burst. One by one, ancient coins inscribed with “Heaven-Granted Qilin” fell onto the Trading Tea Tray, quickly piling into a small mountain.
Exactly 150 coins, filling the entire table.
Qi Xu looked at those ancient coins and nodded. “Good, I’ve received them.”
The black small tentacles climbed up again, found the black cup, and slowly injected the yin energy. But as the yin energy was stuffed in, Qi Xu’s expression grew increasingly ugly. The middle-aged Toad male ghost watched her face and thought she was reluctant to part with the yin energy.
Who wouldn’t feel heartbroken seeing a full 150 jin? If this yin energy were taken from the middle-aged Toad male ghost, it would instantly turn into an empty sack of skin, perhaps even scattering into ashes.
The denser the black water in the cup became, and the uglier Qi Xu’s expression grew, the happier the middle-aged Toad male ghost became.
‘Hahaha, little girl, don’t cry at the end.’
Besides, it hadn’t agreed to let Xia Zhiming go. It had only agreed to exchange 150 ancient coins for 150 jin of yin energy. Their deal didn’t include letting Xia Zhiming go.
The middle-aged Toad male ghost was lost in its beautiful fantasies, completely unaware of Qi Xu’s true thoughts. The reason Qi Xu’s expression was so ugly was— after giving away so much yin energy, why hadn’t the yin energy in her body decreased at all?!
Was this right?
Not only had it not decreased, but the yin energy between heaven and earth seemed to sense that Qi Xu’s yin energy was flowing out, so it rushed over eagerly to fill the rare vacancy. Even if the spots were already taken by other yin energy particles, it still squeezed in, not minding being piled up.
Qi Xu’s mentality was on the verge of collapse.
She glanced at the middle-aged Toad male ghost, her expression grim.
The middle-aged Toad male ghost didn’t care at all, thinking Qi Xu was regretting it.
She did regret it a little— all this effort was useless. Qi Xu regretted playing this game with the middle-aged Toad male ghost for so long. With that time, she could have just killed it sooner and gone to watch Xia Zhiming’s excitement.
Qi Xu didn’t think Xia Zhiming would hold back from attacking Zhuo Zi’ang out of kindness. If Zhuo Zi’ang provoked her, she would definitely strike directly. But Xia Zhiming was a civil servant and not a bad person, so she wouldn’t casually take a life.
Qi Xu really wanted to know what Xia Zhiming would do.
But thinking of Xia Zhiming, a wicked idea flashed in her mind. She looked at the middle-aged Toad male ghost across from her, already having a plan.
After a while, the 150 jin of yin energy finally condensed into a cup of indifferent black water. Compared to the previous cup, this black water was even denser. The previous one had been clear with just a black tint, but now it was overly thick. Black bubbles occasionally rose from the bottom of the cup, giving it a viscous feel… rather like the soup brewed by witches in Western tales.
The middle-aged Toad male ghost didn’t find this cup unappetizing; instead, it drooled. Almost the instant Qi Xu’s small tentacle black fog retracted, it eagerly picked up the cup and, raising its layers of chins, downed it in one gulp.
After drinking, its body expanded visibly again. The chair was directly shattered by its size, with wooden fragments flying everywhere. Qi Xu’s black fog blocked them, preventing any from hitting her ghost body or human body.
Not only was the chair shattered, but its already fraying clothes also turned into fragments, barely covering its body.
Qi Xu looked at the middle-aged Toad male ghost but didn’t feel like she was looking at a male body with any awkwardness. At this level of fatness, it was hard to discern any sexual characteristics anyway. It stood there purely as a pile of meat.
Layers of fat stacked on its body, like piled-up truck tires. Besides gaining more fat, it had also grown much taller, its head directly bumping the ceiling, forcing it to look down at Qi Xu.
The current middle-aged Toad male ghost could drop three words and just be called Toad ghost. With its huge body and short four limbs, wasn’t it just a thief-fat Toad?
—Well, even that was a bit insulting to Toad.
After obtaining yin energy from Qi Xu, the Toad ghost became smug and forgot itself. It even started blustering in front of Qi Xu, its greedy face fully exposed. “Give me all your yin energy! 150 jin isn’t enough, give me 1500 jin… no… 150 tons! Otherwise, I’ll kill Xia Zhiming!”
Hearing the last sentence, Qi Xu sneered coldly.
But she still appeared nonchalant. “No rush. Since it’s business, you need to sit down and talk properly. Don’t make businessmen look like killers all day.”
The Toad ghost stared at Qi Xu for a while, then grunted and sat down. Its chair was already shattered, so it plopped its butt on the ground. Even so, it was still huge, far larger than Qi Xu.
Its head was held high, with an expression of looking down on her.
Qi Xu didn’t care about its demeanor and slowly said, “As the saying goes, repay what you borrow and borrowing again won’t be hard. When will you repay the yin energy you borrowed from me?”
The Toad ghost clearly hadn’t expected this. It was stunned for a moment, but its brain turned quickly and soon came up with an excuse. It pointed at the pile of ancient coins on the table. “Aren’t these what I exchanged for? You’ve taken them, so where’s the talk of repaying yin energy?”
Qi Xu shook her head. “No, these are your collateral. You used them as collateral to borrow 30 jin plus 150 jin of yin energy from me, totaling 180 jin. If you repay, besides this collateral, we’ll have to auction off your other assets to settle your debt.”
The Toad ghost felt that what Qi Xu said sounded familiar.
But it had no choice now. Its magic was useful, but it was a double-edged sword. It had always been in the Toad ghost’s hands, and others didn’t know its function, so it had been invincible with this trick.
But Qi Xu was now in ghost body form, her level far above the Toad ghost’s. Her ghost body’s perception was much stronger than her human body’s. Just one glance at the Trading Tea Tray told her what it was and how to use it.
It was the same type as the compass, talismans, and Copper Coin Sword that Xia Zhiming used—just a tool powered by yin energy instead of yang energy. Moreover, when Qi Xu looked at it, it even seemed delighted, as if ready to betray the Toad ghost and join Qi Xu’s side.
With such a traitorous tool, the Toad ghost could never win against Qi Xu.
It was also at this moment that Qi Xu’s claim about the yin energy loan was established, and she could rightfully demand her yin energy back from the Toad ghost.
