Yin Luan’s team split up to take action.
The Little Snake Demon and the Little Radish Spirit each grabbed a hundred Ghost King Coins and began wandering through the venue.
Unlike the scattered ordinary venues, the Midnight Venue was enormous. It took quite a bit of time just to walk from one end to the other.
“Ren Tan won three thousand seven hundred with just twenty. Winning five thousand with a hundred shouldn’t be too much, right?”
With that in mind, Yin Luan picked a game she understood and joined in.
Bet on big or small.
The rules were simple: five dice shaken inside a gourd. The side that guessed correctly took the loser’s chips.
Not many people were playing this one—just about a dozen—and the stakes were relatively low. Perfect for practice.
The Little Snake Demon tossed a Ghost King Coin onto the “small” area.
“Small!”
She won!
Small again.
“Small!”
She won again!
Hee hee, in a bit she could pull out a huge stack of chips and give her two companions a real scare!
Moments later.
“Big… how is it small again?”
The Little Snake Demon swallowed hard, staring at the chips in her hand that had shrunk by half. She hurried away.
Too hard. No more. There had to be a catch!
“Customer, care for a round of Ghost King Cards?”
Someone called out to her.
“Ghost King Cards?”
Yin Luan looked around and saw quite a few people playing. A servant who looked fairly professional was handling one customer at a time—a one-on-one game.
“Yes, the rules are simple, and you can bet whatever you like. Even one Ghost King Coin works…”
Listening to the explanation, the Little Snake Demon regained her confidence and focused all her attention on the battle.
Another moment passed.
“What a shame. You were just a little short this time too…”
“Farewell!”
Staring at the single Ghost King Coin left in her hand, the Little Snake Demon felt like bursting into tears.
She had only played two games, and her hundred coins were down to one. Ren Tan had said she could come back for more anytime if needed, but Yin Luan just couldn’t bring herself to do it…
A single Ghost King Coin was worth an ordinary family’s yearly expenses. In just a short while, she had squandered ninety-nine years’ worth.
No more playing. Time to gather intel properly!
“Customer, would you like to exchange for chips?”
A beautiful maidservant approached her and whispered softly in her ear.
“Uh, how does that work?”
The Little Snake Demon asked.
“Please follow me.”
The maidservant led her to one of the bars providing drinks and food. A burly middle-aged man with a “Ghost” tattoo on his forehead, drooping brows, triangular eyes, and a sinister, fierce face greeted her.
There were plenty of such bars throughout the venue—easy to find within a few steps, very convenient.
“What do you want to exchange?”
The man asked in a raspy voice.
“What can I exchange?”
Yin Luan countered.
“Anything,” he replied. “Your wealth, your promises, your dignity, your body, your soul… everything you have.”
“I get the promises part… but how does dignity work?”
The Little Snake Demon asked curiously.
The man didn’t speak. Instead, he pointed to the side.
There, a handsome young man with sword-like brows and starry eyes was on all fours like a dog, licking the toes of a forty-something rich woman draped in mink fur. She was short, fat, and wealthy.
“Work harder!” the rich woman scolded. “If you slack off, I’ll stomp you to death!”
“Yes, yes, yes…”
“Who told you to say ‘yes’? How should you answer?”
“Woof! Woof woof woof!”
The Little Snake Demon’s eye twitched. She turned her head back and asked, “How much is his dignity worth?”
“Five coins.”
“Five…?”
“We rarely accept dignity from people,” the man explained indifferently. “It’s worthless to the Ghost King. Mostly, it’s trades between customers, with us as guarantors. Usually a few coins to a few dozen. When you’re down to nothing, those chips might just turn things around.”
When you’re broke, compared to other things, the cost of dignity did seem lower to many…
This completely upended the Little Snake Demon’s worldview.
“As for the body,” the man continued, seeing she wasn’t asking, “it depends on the specifics to assess the value.”
The “Ghost” mark on his forehead flickered. Then he looked at her with some surprise.
“Customer, your body has high value. Just one eyeball could be exchanged for… ten thousand Ghost King Coins.”
“Oh?”
Yin Luan stared at the mark on his forehead.
Just now, she seemed to sense a faint, elusive scrutiny. This mark appeared to possess some special power.
“How much is a normal person’s body worth?”
“Dozens to a few hundred, depending,” the man replied. “Unless it’s an Innate Realm expert, it’s hard to exceed a thousand.”
His tone grew a touch more polite, likely because the Little Snake Demon’s “price” far exceeded the norm, leading him to assume she was some formidable expert standing before him.
“The body is only worth that much…” The Little Snake Demon mused. “In many games, the smaller your starting capital, the harder it is to make a comeback.”
“Exactly,” the man agreed. “Unless your opponent slips up and gives you an opening, when the stakes are that lopsided, the game might not even get off the ground.”
“Then,” Yin Luan turned to him, “what about a soul? What’s the price on that?”
“That’s where the real value lies. It varies by individual, of course, but even an ordinary person’s soul can fetch at least ten thousand Ghost King Coins.”
The man paused before adding, “I’ve seen folks trade their souls for as much as a million Ghost King Coins.”
“Hearing it like that, yeah, it’s valuable—nearly a hundred times what a body goes for…”
Losing your body? Worst case, you’re dead.
But lose your soul, and you’re worse off than dead.
“So?” The man flashed an awkward smile. “What would you like to exchange, miss?”
“Not quite yet.” The Little Snake Demon smiled back, jiggling the lone Ghost King Coin in her hand. “I’ve still got some chips left, don’t I?”
“Fair enough.” He didn’t bat an eye, responding with perfect courtesy. “Come back anytime you need.”
The Midnight Venue had only just gotten underway, so the bar wasn’t crowded yet. But as the Little Snake Demon walked away, she spotted people with bloodshot eyes and bulging veins bellowing things like, “How much for my arm? Cash it in!” “That’s not enough—no deal!” “What about my eyes? Are they worth more? Then exchange ’em!”
It was easy to imagine: as time wore on, the losers would pile up, and the line for trades would only grow longer…
Yin Luan flicked her remaining Ghost King Coin idly with her finger as she wandered the venue.
She eyed every passerby—their faces burned with fanaticism, features twisted in agony. One moment they were riding high, the next plummeting into despair. Some couldn’t take the hit and collapsed unconscious, only to be hauled off to a corner like so much trash.
Desire was devouring reason.
Truth be told, she and her companion were no different. They’d boarded this ship for the Soul-Reviving Pill, too.
For now, they could still keep their heads, but that was only because they operated on a higher level than these poor souls. What happened later, when desire ballooned out of control? Could they really stay true to themselves?
“Sigh. If you ask me, it’d be better to just muscle our way out of this…”
The Little Snake Demon muttered to herself.
“Not a good idea,” came a sudden voice in her ear—one she’d heard somewhere before. “Even with your Treading the Void cultivation, you’d best not go down that road. This is the Ghost King’s domain. As long as it stays put, it’s practically invincible.”
“Eek—another ghost popping up out of nowhere?”
Yin Luan flinched, ducking her head.
This time, though, the speaker didn’t vanish, sparing her the doubt of whether she was just talking to herself again…
“The Ghost King Ship isn’t just some ordinary vessel.”
She turned toward the voice. The speaker was a woman in a flowing white robe, her long hair cascading down, exuding a melancholic air of refined elegance. She looked a few years older than Yin Luan.
Her features were stunning, with the delicate charm of a fragile beauty, though her pallor was deathly white, lending her an almost sickly aura.
“It’s you,” Yin Luan said, mouth agape. “The one who calmed me down back in the venue…”
Hiss.
Something was off about her scent.
The woman’s aura was faint to the point of near-invisibility—not quite like the blank slates of the ship’s servants, but nowhere near a normal person’s either.
Either she’d cultivated some technique akin to the Divine Dragon Qi Concealing Art to suppress it… or there was something seriously wrong.
“Hello.” The sickly beauty gave a slight nod. “Sorry if I startled you. I’m Mei’er.”
“I’m Yin Luan, a pure and innocent girl…” The Little Snake Demon scratched her head. “And thanks again for your help earlier.”
“It was nothing.” Mei’er offered a faint smile. “To continue our earlier chat—on the Ghost King Ship, using force is the last thing you want to consider.”
“Oh, I was just venting…”
Yin Luan looked her up and down before whispering.
“Um… are you a servant on the ship?”
Mei’er smiled and shook her head, pulling an identity token from her sleeve.
A guest.
“Uh, sorry. I just thought from your appearance…”
Yin Luan withdrew her gaze, her tone carrying a hint of apology.
“I know,” the frail beauty replied. “The impression I give people is easy to mistake for one of the ship’s servants, but there is a way to tell the difference…”
With that, she gently took the Little Snake Demon’s hand and placed it against her own chest.
“？！”
Softness: top-grade! Shape: inverted bowl! Size: a perfect handful! Lingerie: thin! Elasticity…
In an instant, a flood of colorful data raced through the Little Snake Demon’s mind.
“Can you feel it?” the frail beauty asked. “I have a heartbeat… even if it’s very faint.”
“Mm, mm. Yours does. You have a heartbeat…”
The Little Snake Demon nodded vigorously, feigning utmost seriousness.
“A heartbeat means I’m still alive,” Mei’er said as she released her hand. “Only the living can board this ship.”
Alive… though she hadn’t specified the state of that life.
It was their first meeting, so Yin Luan didn’t press the issue and changed the subject instead.
“Why did you approach me?”
“Because you’re special,” she said with a smile, gesturing to the guests all around them. “On this ship consumed by desire, you alone remain completely unaffected.”
“You’re overpraising me. I lost a hundred coins and only have one left…”
The Little Snake Demon felt a little embarrassed.
“You’re different,” Mei’er insisted. “That’s why I want to be friends. Is that okay?”
Friends?
The other woman’s aura was so faint that it interfered with Yin Luan’s ability to detect lies—she couldn’t “sniff out” the truth behind those words.
But even a guess told her the reason couldn’t be that simple.
From her earlier comments, it was clear this woman had a deep understanding of the Ghost King Ship. This might not even be her first time aboard.
What could someone like that possibly want from her?
“Sure,” the Little Snake Demon said after a moment’s thought, nodding. “You can never have too many friends.”
“Wonderful,” Mei’er replied, her lips curving into a charming smile. “Then, friend—could you lend me a Ghost King Coin?”
“So that’s what making friends was about—borrowing money from me…”
Yin Luan joked as she tossed over her last chip.
Mei’er led her back into the crowd. After scanning the options, she chose the first game the Little Snake Demon had tried: guessing big or small.
The Little Snake Demon stood by and watched.
At first, Mei’er’s expression remained calm and focused as she observed. Then her brows lifted in mild surprise. Soon after, her eyes went wide, her jaw nearly dropping to the floor.
She won. Again and again, every single bet.
Before long, she walked away from the table with sixty or seventy coins.
“Let’s go,” Mei’er said with a laugh. “Time for a different game.”
They moved on to Ghost King Cards, a more complex game whose rules had been the source of Yin Luan’s earlier crushing defeat.
The result was just as expected.
Their stack of chips soon swelled past four hundred.
Mei’er only played a few hands at each game before switching tables. In no time at all, that original single coin had ballooned into “4321.”
“You’re the real gambling goddess!”
The Little Snake Demon cried out in awe, tempted to drop to her knees and beg to be taken under her wing.
Eldest Young Lady Ren Tan turning twenty coins into three thousand seven hundred had seemed godlike to her. But this woman had taken a single coin and made it into four thousand three hundred twenty-one!
Terrifying!
“How did you do it? X-ray vision? Can you see what kind of underwear I’m wearing?”
Yin Luan pressed excitedly.
“Second tip,” Mei’er explained with a smile. “On the Ghost King Ship, it’s best not to rely on crude cheating tricks. The servants possess powers granted by the Ghost King himself—they can detect traces of many spells.”
“No cheating? Then how do you win?”
“Through observation and calculation,” she replied patiently. “If you track the chip distribution at every table over time, patterns emerge. Even games that seem perfectly fair have win rates that fluctuate.”
Yin Luan froze for a moment, then furrowed her brow. Finally, realization dawned.
“Hey, wait—you’re saying the game hosts are… tampering with things?”
The Little Snake Demon bit her tongue, swallowing the word “cheating” just before it slipped out.
“Right,” Mei’er said. “You need to understand that the Ghost King’s purpose isn’t simply to summon people here and let them gamble freely. What significance would that hold for her? Her true intent is to gradually lead the vast majority down the path to utter ruin… That’s the most captivating part of this venue. It’s not those proficient in gambling techniques who rise above the rest, but those who can spot the underlying patterns.”
“This…”
The Little Snake Demon, upon learning the truth, was left wide-eyed and speechless.
“Of course, those patterns shift constantly,” Mei’er continued. She handed the four thousand three hundred and twenty face-value Ghost King Coins to the Little Snake Demon, keeping just one for herself, and smiled. “This is the first stage of the gambling game—and also the simplest one.”
“Let’s wrap it up here for tonight. The game will carry on for a few more days, until the numbers dwindle to the Ghost King’s satisfaction.”
“Remember these words… Don’t forget the reason you boarded this ship.”
