Chapter 71

The middle-aged male ghost’s face turned ugly. It had just gained so much yin energy and experienced such power—how could it easily return it all to Qi Xu?

Qi Xu also knew it was reluctant, so what she demanded first was that thirty jin of yin energy. “Then return the thirty jin of yin energy to me first. We can talk about the rest later.”

Even just thirty jin of yin energy made the middle-aged male ghost unwilling. But since Qi Xu had shown some leeway, it felt it could negotiate further. Now that it had so much yin energy, it did not want to fall out with her over mere thirty jin. Because Qi Xu had just said, “If you borrow and return, you can borrow again without difficulty,” which proved—it could still find ways to get even more yin energy from Qi Xu!

Rip her off for 150 tons!

Greedy desire filled the middle-aged male ghost’s mind, even causing it to overlook the potential danger. It believed it had Qi Xu pinned down with her fear that Xia Zhiming would lose her life, so it brazenly revealed its ugly true face.

If Qi Xu truly had fifteen jin, 150 jin, 1,500 jin, or even 150 tons of yin energy, how could a mere middle-aged male ghost like it pry any away? It was just that the carrot dangling in front was too big, making it cast all that aside.

Greed—the original sin engraved in the human soul.

Qi Xu seemed to see that the middle-aged male ghost did not want to return the yin energy. She made a proposal it could not refuse. “You don’t have to return it, but you must tell me why you wanted me to kneel and pledge loyalty to you while I was still in human form.”

She had puzzled over this for a long time, so she asked the middle-aged male ghost directly. She had no intention of beating around the bush or engaging in verbal sparring. Qi Xu lacked that kind of skill. Even now, influenced by negative effects and appearing calm and composed, she still could not wield that art of language.

So Qi Xu chose to cut straight to the point.

This question clearly troubled the middle-aged male ghost as well. Its beady green bean-like eyes stared at Qi Xu for a long while, seemingly weighing the value of the yin energy against the answer. Finally, it began to haggle with her. “Thirty jin is too little for this answer. At least eighty jin.”

“Fine.”

“…” Qi Xu agreed too quickly, making the middle-aged male ghost regret it a bit. It should have asked for more.

But Qi Xu did not care because she had far too much yin energy. To her, yin energy was not important at all.

The Trading Tea Tray had already acknowledged this transaction, so the middle-aged male ghost could not alter it anymore. After pondering for a moment, it said, “Actually, a Daoist told me that if I could make you kneel and swear loyalty, I would become the king of all ghosts and the most powerful fierce ghost.”

Qi Xu’s eyelids twitched. The middle-aged male ghost was telling the truth, but definitely not the whole truth.

“Did that Daoist say why?”

“…No.”

—He definitely did.

But it showed no intention of saying more. Qi Xu actually wanted to try some tricks, but she had already offered up to 1,500 jin of yin energy, and it still would not talk. It lowered its head and told her directly, “Don’t ask me. I do want that yin energy, but I can’t. That Daoist used a special method. If I say it, my soul will scatter to the winds.”

At that point, Qi Xu stopped asking.

She could not get it out of it.

But with the eighty jin wiped off, there were still one hundred jin left.

This brought things back to square one. The middle-aged male ghost definitely would not hand it over, nor would it answer the question. So Qi Xu felt there was no need to tangle with it further. She spoke up and laid out the nasty idea she had been mulling over before.

“You have to return it eventually, right? And I didn’t lend it to you for free—there’s interest. In your line of work, you’ve surely heard of a certain term. I think it’s called… Nine Out Thirteen Return. Let’s go with that.”

Nine Out Thirteen Return was a legitimate usury formula. It meant that if you borrowed 100 bucks, the lender would only hand over 90, pocketing the 10 themselves. But when repaying, you had to pay triple interest on the original amount—totaling 130 bucks.

Such high interest rates had long been outlawed by the state. Only rates below 24% annual were legally protected. Above 36%, they received no protection at all; even if the borrower had paid that interest, they could reclaim it through the law. Between 24% and 36%, it was considered natural debt—the borrower could voluntarily repay without court interference, but if they did not, the lender had no legal recourse to sue.

Qi Xu had learned this from legal programs. The concept of Nine Out Thirteen Return had left a deep impression on her. She found those usurers utterly outrageous.

But—the middle-aged male ghost was not human. The law had no say in matters between them.

Moreover, judging by the room’s setup and the ghost’s fat, well-fed appearance, Qi Xu could guess it had probably been in that line of work in life. Faced with Qi Xu’s Nine Out Thirteen Return proposal, the middle-aged male ghost’s eyes widened.

It blurted out two words: “Crooked dealer!”

Hey? How could it say that about her? Qi Xu was merely giving it a taste of its own medicine. Calling her a crooked dealer was going too far!

She was not even a merchant!

No matter what the middle-aged male ghost said about Qi Xu, with its Trading Tea Tray present—and the tray siding with her—the deal went through right before its eyes. Moreover, the Trading Tea Tray applied an even more special formula.

It set the interest at 1.5 times, due in ten months.

Qi Xu figured that if so, the middle-aged male ghost would need to return 250 jin of yin energy to her. That was even more than Nine Out Thirteen Return. It seemed the Trading Tea Tray really wanted to follow her. To stay with her, it had schemed ruthlessly against its former master.

The middle-aged male ghost’s eyes bulged, though, because it knew the amount due in ten months was not 250 jin, but—over 50,000 jin! Because the Trading Tea Tray calculated compound interest, rolling and rolling without end, enough to crush any ghost.

This Trading Tea Tray!

The middle-aged male ghost could not hold back anymore. In life, it had often used this formula to fleece the living. That resentment had made it a powerful ghost after death. Its cherished tea tray and other tools from life had absorbed karma and hatred, becoming special cursed items.

Whether as human or ghost, it had gotten along splendidly with them. It never imagined that one day, this tea tray would use its own methods against it for another ghost!

It could not pay it back—impossible to pay back. From the moment it accepted the deal, the interest began rolling endlessly. It would not even return the one hundred jin it had fleeced from Qi Xu, let alone hand over its own yin energy with interest piled on?!

It was utterly unwilling—so it decided to tear up the deal.

The middle-aged male ghost had shredded thousands of deals in life. It knew plenty of ways to nullify unfavorable ones. Now, it wanted to do the same. The best method was to destroy the Trading Tea Tray first.

Without the tray, Qi Xu would have to face it head-on, pitting raw power. Thinking of this, its beady eyes darted around. It raised its thick, fatty arm and attacked the Trading Tea Tray directly.

But… it failed.

Black Fog enveloped the Trading Tea Tray, neutralizing the middle-aged male ghost’s attack. It naturally knew this was Qi Xu stopping it. It turned to her, about to say something, but at that moment, the Trading Tea Tray clearly sensed its intent. To prevent damage, it began enforcing the transaction, forcing the middle-aged male ghost to return the Black Fog.

The originally damaged black cup reappeared on the Trading Tea Tray. Yin energy from the middle-aged male ghost’s body turned into wisps of mist and flowed into the cup.

“No, no! That’s my yin energy! Mine!”

As the yin energy drained bit by bit, the middle-aged male ghost’s eyes widened in disbelief. Its own yin energy was truly being sucked away. The yin energy materialized as light, ethereal white mist, but when the ghost reached out to grab it, it slipped through its fingers, falling bit by bit into the cup.

Soon, the cup filled with clear water, which then gradually turned black.

The loss of yin energy made the middle-aged male ghost’s body shrink. From its originally bloated, massive frame, it reverted to nearly bursting the chair, then back to the form Qi Xu had first seen.

Yet even then, the water in the cup continued changing.

It passed the state it had been in when Qi Xu first handed it over—like witch’s brew—growing darker and thicker bit by bit. After a while longer, it turned jelly-like, with black mist bubbling on the surface.

The price was that the middle-aged male ghost became a scrawny monkey, skin and bones after losing its yin energy. Even its yells lacked their former vigor. “Give it… my yin energy… it’s mine…”

But the Trading Tea Tray did not spare it. Shortly after, the middle-aged male ghost’s soul scattered to the winds, not even a scrap left behind.

Qi Xu lowered her gaze slightly and looked at the liquid in the black cup on the Trading Tea Tray. It no longer resembled liquid but a black jade stone, lying quietly in the cup.

This black jade stone seemed quite tasty. Qi Xu’s ghost body judged calmly. The Trading Tea Tray showed no reaction, seemingly waiting quietly for her to take the yin energy and accept its loyalty.

Normally, most ghosts would gladly accept.

But Qi Xu was not willing. She had no intention of accepting.

Neither this cup of yin energy nor the Trading Tea Tray—she wanted none of it.

What a joke. Qi Xu did not lack yin energy; on the contrary, she hoped to have less. Why would she want this cup? Not to mention, this yin energy had condensed from that middle-aged male ghost—disgusting to even think about. She wanted no part of it.

As for the Trading Tea Tray…

How could she possibly take it over?

Qi Xu would never in her life go down the path of usury, nor borrow lives or shares from others. The Trading Tea Tray held no use for her. Moreover, it was no ordinary item. The middle-aged male ghost was dead, yet Ghost Domain remained, and so did the Trading Tea Tray. This proved that the true foundation of Ghost Domain was the Trading Tea Tray itself.