Chapter 39: Harvest! Refining

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As soon as he entered the room, Zhang Lingshan immediately closed the doors and windows, then asked, "Where are your clothes?"

Li Fu pointed to a spot with great caution.

Zhang Lingshan hurriedly changed into the clothes. They were clean and fresh, feeling much more comfortable than the sticky blood he had been covered in just moments ago.

Only then did he finally feel a sense of relief.

Next, he found the candles in Li Fu's house and lit them, inspecting the items he had just taken from Fang Qiuyue by the candlelight.

There was a booklet, two small porcelain vials, two silver notes of one hundred taels each, and a money pouch filled with silver fragments.

'I got two hundred taels all at once. This is a massive profit!'

Zhang Lingshan was overjoyed.

Because of that woman, he had just spent 10 energy points to save his life, and now she had effectively repaid him with two hundred taels in silver notes.

If he converted this into medicinal herbs, wouldn't 10 energy points be easily replenished?

However, that woman seemed quite formidable; how could she only have two hundred taels? She was truly all show and no substance—a hollow shell.

After putting away the silver notes and fragments, Zhang Lingshan set the money pouch aside and picked up the two small porcelain vials to examine them closely.

The small vials had no markings; the only difference was that one was white porcelain, while the other was blue and white porcelain.

He carefully opened the white porcelain vial.

A faint medicinal fragrance wafted out. Zhang Lingshan's spirit immediately lifted, his fatigue vanished, and he suddenly felt a surge of excitement, even feeling like singing a song.

'What is this? It's so strange. An stimulant?'

Zhang Lingshan quickly pressed the wooden stopper back in, fearing that if he inhaled for much longer, he might start dancing uncontrollably.

Fortunately, checking his panel revealed no flashing energy points, which meant it wasn't poison. He put it away to study later.

Then, he opened the blue and white porcelain vial.

This time, no medicinal scent wafted out; instead, there was a faint, fishy smell. He poured it out to look closely and saw over a dozen pills, each smaller than a pinky nail.

'What are these?'

Zhang Lingshan didn't dare eat them randomly. He put them away to research later.

Finally, he flipped open the booklet.

Ugh...

He couldn't read a single character. He sighed at the sight of the words.

The script of this world resembled the traditional characters of his previous life, but the writing was more complex, with strokes that twisted and turned. Having never studied it, he couldn't recognize them at all.

'It seems I'll need to find an opportunity to learn how to read,' Zhang Lingshan thought to himself.

After all, these were items obtained through killing and looting. If he took them to someone to help translate, who knew what was written inside? He might be cheated, or worse, leak information and invite trouble.

He had to learn to read. How could one have a bright future without literacy?

'I can't read the book, I'm afraid to eat the pills in the vials, and for now, the biggest gain is the two hundred taels in silver notes. But I can't just exchange these notes haphazardly, lest I attract the attention of those with ulterior motives. Sigh...'

Zhang Lingshan sighed inwardly. 'I am still too weak. I'm restricted in everything I do.'

At this thought, he looked toward Li Fu's family of three.

If he could refine this family of three just like he had burned the Greedy Ghost, he would both accumulate energy and save a significant amount of money. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

"Don't—don't—don't come any closer! What are you trying to do? I was wrong! I shouldn't have cursed you, please spare us!"

Seeing the look in Zhang Lingshan's eyes, Li Fu's face paled in terror. He fell to his knees, begging for mercy.

Unfortunately, as a spirit—and a cowardly one at that—his abilities were extremely poor. He couldn't even kneel steadily on the ground; instead, he would slowly drift upward.

Zhang Lingshan ignored his pleas and reached out to grab him.

Swish!

His right hand passed directly through Li Fu's ethereal body. He felt only a chill in his arm, and he failed to grasp Li Fu.

As Zhang Lingshan withdrew his arm, he saw red spots and marks appearing on it, quite similar to the wounds on his back and abdomen from the Greedy Ghost.

'It seems this is the method of evil spirits. They don't need to attack deliberately; they can damage the human body using only Yin energy,' Zhang Lingshan analyzed silently.

"Haha!"

Seeing that Zhang Lingshan could not grab him, Li Fu immediately jumped up and laughed loudly. "He's all show! He can't hurt us at all! Don't be afraid! We just need to pass through his body to wear him down until he dies..."

While he was laughing, he saw Zhang Lingshan suddenly take a step forward and strike a pose with both hands supporting the heavens.

"What kind of madness is—"

Before Li Fu could finish his mockery, he felt a wave of heat rush toward him. Invisible tongues of flame licked at his body, causing him to grimace in pain as his entire ethereal form began to deform.

"No! Mercy!"

Screaming in agony, Li Fu bolted away to save his life.

Zhang Lingshan did not chase him. Instead, he stopped to check his panel. Seeing no increase in energy points, he continued forward and performed the Hunyuan True Yang Stance.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Invisible tongues of fire lunged toward Li Fu along with his fists.

Li Fu scrambled to dodge, pushing his son, Li Dong, in front of him.

Li Dong seemed somewhat dim-witted; he didn't even know how to dodge. He stumbled blindly toward Zhang Lingshan and was burned into nothingness by a few bursts of flame.

*Puff.*

There was no scream; he simply dissipated lightly, like a passing fart.

'That weak?'

Zhang Lingshan was speechless.

Looking at the energy points on his panel, there was still no change.

'Is it because he was too weak to provide energy, or because he was burned to death outside?' Zhang Lingshan pondered.

Deciding to conduct another experiment, he said soothingly, "Uncle Fu, do not fear. I will not harm you. We have no deep hatred for one another, so why make things so ugly?"

"You... you really won't harm me?"

Li Fu looked terrified, hiding behind his wife and refusing to come out.

On the contrary, his wife seemed to have been driven mad by fright. With a sudden, shrill cry, she lunged at Zhang Lingshan.

Zhang Lingshan quickly took a deep breath through his nose.

*Whoosh.*

The Yin wind from Li Fu's wife's ethereal body blew past, making Zhang Lingshan shudder.

As if the attack had worked, Li Fu's wife became even more excited and charged at him again.

This time, Zhang Lingshan tried to suck her in through his mouth.

However, just like before, he could not pull her into his body.

With no other choice, he used the Hunyuan True Yang Stance to burn the creature into nothingness.

"Mercy! Mercy!"

Li Fu's terror grew.

Zhang Lingshan said, "Uncle Fu, I will give you one last chance. Voluntarily crawl into my belly. If you are lucky, you might be able to possess my physical body."

"I won't, I won't! You must be... Hahaha!"

Li Fu shook his head at first, but once he saw Zhang Lingshan standing there with his mouth wide open, he burst into excited laughter and rushed straight into Zhang Lingshan's throat.

"He actually opened his gates to let me in! I will make your intestines burst and your organs shredded..." Li Fu shouted triumphantly.

Suddenly, a wave of heat rushed toward him. A vortex of heat instantly tore him apart, and the fragments of his ethereal body were roasted by the flames.

Finally, with a *puff*, he vanished into nothingness along with his wife and son.

'It worked!'

Zhang Lingshan was overjoyed.

Just as he had suspected, these evil spirits had to be sucked into the body to be refined; killing them outside was a pure waste.

Unfortunately, not all evil spirits possessed Li Fu's intelligence. If they were unwilling to enter, there was nothing he could do.

For instance, Li Fu's wife and son had simply charged forward to offer their lives.

'I remember Li Dong was a gambler, but he wasn't an idiot. Why did he become a fool after turning into a ghost? And Li Fu's wife was the same; it seemed she only possessed the obsession to kill me. Only Li Fu retained some intelligence, though not much. And he loved his son so much in life, yet he just pushed him in front of me to take the hit...'

Zhang Lingshan found it hard to believe.

Clearly, once Li Fu became a ghost, his nature had completely changed, becoming the polar opposite of who he was in life.

It was evident that something unknown had happened during the process of this family of three becoming ghosts.

'Whatever the change was, if it provides me with energy, it's a good change.'

Zhang Lingshan did not dwell too much on the details; with his current strength and knowledge, he wouldn't be able to figure it out anyway.

He immediately sat cross-legged and checked his panel.

**Name:** Zhang Lingshan **Martial Arts:** Wind-Settling Stance (Entry), Mountain-Splitting Axe Technique (Uninitiated+), Red Line Fist (Small Success), Hunyuan True Yang Stance (Perfection) **Energy:** 49.7

'That little Li Fu actually provided 40 energy points, which is 10 more than the Greedy Ghost. But it felt easier to refine him than the Greedy Ghost. Is it because my strength has increased and my blood and qi have become more vigorous?'

Zhang Lingshan was ecstatic.

The blow he had taken from Fang Qiuyue had been compensated by the confidence he regained here.

He admitted that he was currently inferior to powerhouses like Li Ziming, but as long as he kept improving, sooner or later, he would make Li Ziming and Fang Qiuyue reunite!

(End of Chapter)