Chapter 4

"Even in the ghost realm, the most reliable way to become stronger is through cultivation!" Li Hao said.

"Cultivation? Then let's cultivate. What's so difficult about that?" Jiang Wei was puzzled.

"The difficulty lies in the fact that you don't have any money to buy cultivation techniques. Without these techniques, you can't cultivate at all!" Li Hao said bitterly. "Even the cheapest technique, the 'Soul Condensation Technique,' costs a thousand ghost coins, and you can only observe it for one day! I've lived in the ghost realm for ten years and still haven't saved up a hundred ghost coins. To save up a thousand ghost coins, I might not even be able to do it before my lifespan runs out!"

"Ah!?" Jiang Wei was shocked. "It's so hard to earn money!?"

"Of course it's hard! —— Ordinary ghosts like us have no way to earn money in the ghost realm. We can only get a few ghost coins when people in the human realm worship us." Li Hao explained. "If someone in the human realm sincerely worships me once, I get one ghost coin. In a year, I might not even get ten ghost coins."

"Uh..." Jiang Wei couldn't help but think of the scenes from his life when he went to mourn the deceased. Although there were always many people at each memorial, most of them were just there to go through the motions. Among them, there might not even be one person who sincerely worshipped.

"I wonder how many people will sincerely worship me..." Counting on his fingers the people who might sincerely worship him, Jiang Wei sadly realized that his annual income in the future probably wouldn't be higher than Li Hao's!

"What a tragedy!" Jiang Wei said gloomily. "I really want to borrow a body and go back to tell them to worship me every day!" But as soon as he said it, Jiang Wei fell silent again; those who would sincerely worship him might not even survive the disaster that befell the sect.

"Don't daydream! I had the same dream when I first died!" Seeing Jiang Wei's sorrow, Li Hao suddenly changed the subject. "Wei, tell me the truth, did you sincerely worship me when you did?"

"Damn!" Jiang Wei cursed. "Absolutely sincerely!" This was no lie; although he didn't worship Li Hao often, he was always sincere when he did.

"Ah..." Li Hao sighed. "I don't know whether to be happy or sad..."

"Of course you should be happy!" Jiang Wei said. "I worship you so sincerely, why would you be sad?"

"What makes me sad is... my future income will be even lower..." Li Hao said with a mournful face.

"Uh..." Jiang Wei was speechless.

After a moment of silence, Li Hao said, "Now you know how hard it is to cultivate, right? Spending a thousand ghost coins to observe a technique for one day, and no one guarantees whether you can succeed! —— Many ghosts work hard for decades to save up a thousand ghost coins, then go excitedly to observe the technique, but end up learning nothing and get so angry they reincarnate on the spot..."

"Uh... those poor ghosts!" But Jiang Wei soon realized that he didn't even have the qualifications to be a poor ghost. Those poor ghosts at least managed to save up a thousand ghost coins, and during the process, they had hope. But a low-income ghost like himself didn't even have the chance to hope!

How tragic is that!

"Xiao Hao, is there no other way to become stronger?" Realizing that this path was not feasible, Jiang Wei couldn't help but ask.

"There is!" Li Hao said. "But this is already the most reliable method. Relying on other methods to become stronger is even harder!" Li Hao said firmly.

Jiang Wei was not discouraged: "For example...?"

"For example... devouring ghost souls." Li Hao thought for a moment.

"Devouring ghost souls?" Jiang Wei was taken aback, his eyes involuntarily glancing at the ghosts on the road.

"Are you crazy, what are you looking at? You're not thinking of 'eating people,' are you!?" Li Hao said.

"You said devouring ghost souls, didn't you?" Jiang Wei was confused.

"The ghost souls in the City of Original Sin are all human souls; cannibalizing them, do you think your sins are not enough?" Li Hao said helplessly. "When I say devouring ghost souls, I mean going outside the city to devour the souls of other species, like wolf souls, lion souls, tiger souls..."

"Wait!" Jiang Wei suddenly interrupted. "Wolf souls, lion souls, tiger souls? Can we even fight them!?"

"We can't!" Li Hao said without hesitation. "With our strength, if we leave the city, we're basically just providing supplements for other species..."

Jiang Wei and Li Hao's souls were quite strong, ranking above average among ordinary ghosts. But even so, becoming stronger was still extremely difficult for them.

"If we can't become stronger..." Jiang Wei really wanted to avenge his enemies, but he also understood that with his current strength, even if Meng Feiyun appeared again, he could only run away and had no chance of fighting back.

But to become stronger?

It's hard!

...

The moon, as large as a millstone, hung high in the sky.

In the ghost realm, the moon never sets; countless ghosts bathed in the moonlight, absorbing pure, natural, and free energy, like photosynthesis. Under the moon's light, their strength would slowly improve.

However, this improvement was extremely slow; even if one spent their entire lifespan basking in the moonlight, the increase in strength would be quite limited. Li Hao, who had basked in the moonlight for ten years, had only grown from a child's level to an ordinary adult's level.

Under the bright moon, by the long wall, Jiang Wei was sitting there.

The price of real estate in the ghost realm was extremely high, and only a few successful ghost warriors could afford it. Thus, poor ghosts like Jiang Wei and Li Hao could only wander around the City of Original Sin, homeless.

At this moment, Li Hao had gradually fallen asleep; but Jiang Wei, who had just arrived in the ghost realm, had no sleep at all.

In fact, sleep was optional for ghosts; however, the sleep state was undoubtedly the state with the lowest energy consumption. Sleeping while basking in the moonlight was also a good way to increase strength, even if the increase was still not very noticeable.

"The moon in the ghost realm is indeed very round and large..." The moon most easily evokes thoughts of home, especially for a newly deceased ghost like Jiang Wei.

Actually, Jiang Wei was quite lucky — most ghosts, when they first entered the ghost realm, were alone and without family. It took a long time of fear and depression before they could gradually integrate into the ghost realm. But Jiang Wei, upon arriving in the ghost realm, met his old friend and quickly became familiar with the environment and accepted life in the ghost realm.

However, when Jiang Wei was alone and quiet, an overwhelming nostalgia for the human world swept over him; especially when the moon hung high and the surroundings were silent, this feeling of longing became even stronger.

"Master must have come to the ghost realm too... I wonder how Xiao Qing is, if she managed to escape... And the other disciples..." Jiang Wei grew up in the Wuxiang Sect, with no parents; thus, what he most missed were the masters and fellow disciples in the sect.

After a moment of nostalgia, Jiang Wei suddenly laughed bitterly. "I'm already a ghost, why do I still think about these things from my past life? If we meet again in the ghost realm, it will be fate; if not, thinking about it won't help!" Gradually, Jiang Wei's expression turned cold and fierce. "But even if I am destroyed, I will drag Meng Feiyun to his death with me!"

If it weren't for the traitor Meng Feiyun, the Wuxiang Sect would still be peaceful, and Jiang Wei would probably still be in the human realm, dreaming of his future life.

It was Meng Feiyun who destroyed Jiang Wei's beautiful life.

"Meng! Fei! Yun!" Jiang Wei gritted his teeth, but thinking of Meng Feiyun's strength, he felt a wave of helplessness. The gap in strength was so great that Jiang Wei didn't even have the chance to fight.

In the midst of his thoughts and hatred, Jiang Wei suddenly felt a sense of dizziness. A faint, illusory yet familiar voice echoed in his mind.

"Brother Wei..."

The voice was very illusory, but Jiang Wei immediately recognized it as Lü Qing's voice.

"Xiao Qing!" Jiang Wei's spirit was suddenly invigorated, and he looked around, but saw no sign of Lü Qing.

However, the illusory voice did not stop.

"Brother Wei, are you doing well down there?..." The voice was clear and sweet, yet filled with sorrow.

In fact, people in the human realm generally believed that after death, the soul dissipates, and the dust returns to the earth. Few people believed in the existence of the ghost realm, including Lü Qing. However, when a loved one passed away, many people, even if they didn't believe in the ghost realm, still hoped it existed, hoping the deceased could go to another world.

Lü Qing was now in such a state of mind.

"... I managed to escape and met a few fellow disciples who also narrowly escaped. They don't know that the treasure is with me, and I dare not tell them..."

"I'm very scared, I want to talk to someone, but I don't know who to talk to, so I can only talk to you in my heart..."

"Xiao Qing!"

"Xiao Qing!"

Jiang Wei called out in his mind and even shouted out loud, but the illusory voice continued to speak on its own. Clearly, what Jiang Wei wanted to say couldn't reach Lü Qing's mind.

"Xiao Qing..." Finally, Jiang Wei could only accept the pain of being able to listen but not speak. "I'm listening, I'm always listening!" Jiang Wei wanted Lü Qing to know that he was always listening to her in his heart.

"... My father and the other masters haven't returned; I don't know if they will ever come back..."

"... You saved me, but I hate you because the road ahead is now only for me to walk... I will walk it with strength, no matter ten years, twenty years, fifty years, I will avenge the elders and fellow disciples of the sect! When the great revenge is achieved, I will commit suicide and come down to be with you; if I fail and am killed, it will be fine, as I will come down to be with you..."

"Wait for me..."

Lü Qing didn't believe in the existence of the ghost realm; when she said she would commit suicide, she was actually preparing to end her life completely. Of course, before that, Lü Qing still had a long road of revenge to walk.

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