Eternal Life: I Can Sell Everything

Chapter 240: Chapter 236: The Mysterious Second Young Master, Liuhe Academy

Song Ciwan worked diligently in the Washing Room for a whole day.

The day had been quite a harvest.

The Demon Refining Platform had been closed for fifteen days, so a large number of Demon Fiend corpses had already piled up, waiting to be processed.

Furthermore, at the start of the new year, the old and new energies intermingled, causing an increase in Demon Fiends and monsters everywhere. During the Night Parade of Hundred Demons on the fourteenth day of the first month, it wasn’t just specters that came out. Many unintelligent Little Demons also took the opportunity to stir up trouble and wreak havoc on the Mortal World.

The City Patrol Department had a field day slaughtering them, and the Lantern Hanging Department wasn’t idle either. Add to that the fact that some independent Cultivators had a habit of sending the Demon Corpses they killed to the Demon Refining Platform. As a result, by the time the Demon Refining Platform reopened on the sixteenth day of the first month, the Washing Room’s storerooms were nearly overflowing.

The Washing Room even had to open an extra gate just to hire more Demon Cleaners.

Song Ciwan had a productive day, Washing more than thirty Little Demons. In addition, there were two Spirit Communication Level Demons. While cleaning them, Song Ciwan was able to see glimpses of their past lives through their mutilated limbs.

The Little Demons weren’t worth mentioning, but the two Spirit Communication Level Demons had apparently been captured outside the city.

During the Night Parade of Hundred Demons on the fourteenth, some Demons had infiltrated a village and were feasting on the vital essence and blood of the living. Although the villages outside the city were protected by an Earth God, he was just a minor deity. He couldn’t be everywhere at once, and an Evil Demon had exploited this weakness, devouring many villagers alive.

The incident was later reported to the County Mansion, and a Demon Extermination Envoy from the Lantern Hanging Department was dispatched from the city to slay the Evil Demon, preventing the tragedy from escalating further.

Seeing such a scene left Song Ciwan silent.

’No wonder the common folk in this world suffer so much,’ she thought. ’Disaster and crisis can strike at any moment.’

’The Court might offer protection, but you can’t always wait for a savior to appear. It’s better to rely on yourself than on anyone else.’

At that moment, Song Ciwan had no other thoughts; she was simply more determined than ever to pursue the Dao.

When she finished work in the afternoon, Song Ciwan’s Heaven and Earth Scale had accumulated a total of eight jin and seven taels of ordinary Malice, and three jin and five taels of Malice from Spirit Communication Level Demons.

When Song Ciwan was still in the Qi Transformation Stage, one tael of ordinary Malice could be exchanged for ten years of Lifespan, and one jin could be sold for a hundred years.

Now that her Cultivation had reached the Qi Refining Stage, one jin of ordinary Malice was worth ten years of Lifespan, and Spirit Communication Level Malice was worth ten times that.

She didn’t waste a second, quickly selling off the Malice: [You have sold eight jin and seven taels of Demon Fiend Malice and gained eighty-seven years of Lifespan.]

[You have sold three jin and five taels of Spirit Communication Level Demon Fiend Malice and gained three hundred fifty years of Lifespan.]

In the blink of an eye, Song Ciwan’s maximum Lifespan jumped from 712 years to 1,149 years!

Such a Lifespan was comparable to that of an Earth Immortal.

Not only had she instantly recovered the thirty years of Lifespan lost from the Divination, but she had gained a significant amount on top of that.

It just goes to show, the Demon Fiends that piled up during the Demon Refining Platform’s fifteen-day closure hadn’t gone to waste.

And this was just the beginning. The Stewards of the Washing Room had said, "Everyone, push yourselves! It’ll be hard work for the next ten days or so, but anyone who can tough it out will get double pay!"

Sure enough, when work ended for the day, all the menial workers received double their wages.

Humans die for wealth as birds die for food. As Song Ciwan was collecting her pay, she overheard a worker next to her say, "I’m going all in! My life’s been shit anyway! Might as well live it up day by day. With double the pay, I’m heading straight to Dai’s Stall to buy ten jin of braised meat. Better to die with a full stomach than an empty one!"

Who could argue with that?

Someone else chimed in, "Exactly! Who knows when you’ll kick the bucket? The night before last, a whole bunch of my neighbors died, but hey, I got lucky and survived. Seems even Heaven doesn’t want me yet, so I damn well deserve this pay!"

...

Song Ciwan’s response to all this was to try to Wash Demons even faster.

The more Demons she Washed, the more Malice she would absorb, which meant the people around her would absorb less.

When others were tainted by Malice, their lives were shortened, and they could die suddenly. But when she was tainted, her Lifespan increased. If she didn’t absorb more, who would?

If it weren’t for the need to maintain a low profile for the long run, Song Ciwan could have Washed every single Demon in the Washing Room by herself!

When work ended, Song Ciwan was again allotted a set of Pork Demon offal and a pile of Mouse Demon entrails.

As usual, she stir-fried the Pork Demon offal and traded it for Strengthening Pills. The Mouse Demon entrails were sold directly and turned into Spirit Plant Fertilizer.

These two items were of little value and not very useful to the current Song Ciwan, but in the spirit of being frugal and managing her "household," she wouldn’t let anything go to waste.

Besides, the Heaven and Earth Scale offered opportunities to sell things every day, and some of those slots had to be used up selling all sorts of miscellaneous junk anyway.

It was worth mentioning that Song Ciwan had previously picked up the Light Net Magical Artifact that Lv Yun had used. She now sold the shredded net as well.

[You have sold the damaged Upper Grade Magical Artifact, the Hundred Blades Net. You have obtained ten zhang of Golden Threaded Demon Silk, two taels of Beichen Golden Essence, and one Unstable Flying Crystal.]

It turned out the Light Net Magical Artifact that Lv Yun had thrown was actually an Upper Grade Magical Artifact. By selling it, Song Ciwan had unexpectedly reaped a bounty of materials!

It was a pleasant surprise.

As night fell, Song Ciwan finished tidying up. With three selling opportunities still left on her Heaven and Earth Scale, she transformed into Xin Mian and slipped out under the cover of darkness, heading to the Seven Treasures Tower to meet Xie Yunxiang.

Mu Dalang by day, Xin Mian by night, and sometimes even taking on other identities—Song Ciwan was certainly getting her money’s worth out of the Celestial Spirit Daoist Skill, Fetal Transformation and Shape-shifting.

Upon seeing Xin Mian, Xie Yunxiang was as enthusiastic as ever, sending a puff of energy to the Heaven and Earth Scale the moment he saw her: [Human desires. The joy, sorrow, and worry of a Qi Transformation Stage Cultivator. Five taels and seven qian. Sellable.]

"Brother Xin." he called out in a low voice, then pulled Song Ciwan toward a corner.

Once in the corner, Xie Yunxiang handed Song Ciwan a specially made Black Cloak.

"Brother Xin, put this on. It can temporarily block Spiritual Sense and all kinds of Investigation Magic. The effect lasts for three hours!"

Song Ciwan took the item and, out of habit, scanned it with her Great Derivation Birth Skill. Finding nothing wrong, she immediately put it on.

Xie Yunxiang donned a Black Cloak himself and hurriedly said to Song Ciwan, "Brother Xin, did you hear? Something major happened in the city last night."

Song Ciwan asked, puzzled, "What happened?"

Xie Yunxiang said, "Someone was audacious enough to beat up the Second Young Master’s handmaiden. Today, the Second Young Master spread the word throughout the city: whoever can catch the person from last night, the Second Young Master will recommend them for a spot to study at the Liuhe Academy!"

Song Ciwan didn’t know what the Liuhe Academy was. She only asked, "This... Who exactly is this Second Young Master? Why would hitting his handmaiden..."

She had been about to ask, "Why is hitting his handmaiden such a big deal?" but Xie Yunxiang cut her off.

"SHH." Xie Yunxiang raised a finger to his lips and sent a voice transmission, "Brother Xin, you can’t say things like that. You just need to know that the Second Young Master is from ’up there.’ In our Cangling County, he’s basically a god... His Lordship doesn’t like to get involved in things, and we normal folk would never cross paths with him anyway. In short, respect him and stay far away from him. Understand?"

Song Ciwan fell into thought. She then asked, "Then this Liuhe Academy..."

Xie Yunxiang’s face immediately filled with yearning. With a look of admiration and reverence, he said, "The Liuhe Academy is in the Central State, in the Imperial Capital! Brother Xin, seven or eight out of every ten Celestial Prides of the Human Race have attended the Liuhe Academy!"

As he spoke, Xie Yunxiang faced north and clasped his hands in a gesture of distant respect.