Chapter 1: Dealing with Scum, Tianbao Mall!

Ying Zhao stood by the riverbank, feeling absolutely miserable!

She had experienced a long, harrowing nightmare. In the dream, her body had been possessed by a wandering ghost. She could only watch helplessly as that fake version of herself, wearing her face, shamelessly flattered a hypocritical scoundrel, allowing him to take whatever he desired.

What she found most unbearable was that the fake had even caused the death of her entire family! And there was even a "female lead" following behind, who would use her body to be reborn and stage a counterattack for revenge.

Furious, she had tried to fight to reclaim her body, only to suddenly see a flash of golden light before waking up.

Ying Zhao’s face was grim.

She had just woken up, and waking up to find herself standing here gave her a very bad premonition!

Suddenly, a piercing conversation drifted from behind her—

"Brother, look! That foolish woman is indeed waiting there! Do you think she's been waiting there this whole time?"

"Keep your voice down! Don't let her hear you."

"What's the big deal? We're far away, she can't hear us. Brother, once we get the money, I want to buy some rouge."

"Don't be foolish! That money is for something very important!"

"Then let her take a bit more, her family is rich anyway."

Ying Zhao: "..." Very well, she knew exactly what was happening.

In the nightmare, the scoundrel the fake had been licking up to was named Su Qi. He had a sister, Su Xi; neither of them were good people. Relying on the fake's shamelessness, the two of them had swindled a significant amount of money from her.

Since the fake didn't know how to earn money, where would she get it? Naturally, she would ask her father and mother for it. Later, when her parents realized something was wrong and stopped giving her money, she would steal!

It was this very time!

Su Qi had demanded a large sum from the fake. When the fake couldn't find the money, she actually stole her mother's jade pendant to give to Su Qi. As a result, because of that jade pendant, she had brought a death sentence upon her entire family!

At this thought, Ying Zhao subconsciously reached into her bosom. Sure enough, her fingers brushed against a hard object—the shape and size were exactly like her mother's jade pendant!

She immediately clenched her fists in rage, wishing she could drag that fake out and tear her apart alive!

Then, she suddenly remembered that at the end of the nightmare, she seemed to hear a piercing, tragic scream. Could it have been the fake?

Before Ying Zhao could think further, she heard Su Xi's laughing voice from behind: "Zhao Zhao, are you waiting for my brother? We intended to come earlier, but we were delayed by something on the road. When did you arrive? Have you been waiting long?"

Ying Zhao turned around, looking at Su Qi and Su Xi with cold eyes. She had found this pair of siblings disgusting in the dream, and seeing them in person made her feel even more revulsion.

The fake was not only stupid but also blind, actually treating these hypocritical, venomous snakes like good people!

These two were shrouded in blood-lust and were cunning and cruel; they had clearly taken lives!

Looking at Ying Zhao's expressionless face, Su Qi felt an inexplicable sense of panic. He had always known Ying Zhao was beautiful, but for some reason, every time he tried to get close, she would act as if she were avoiding a plague, as if he were a terrifying beast.

Therefore, even though Ying Zhao was always fawning and possessed unparalleled beauty, he could never bring himself to like her; he only felt repulsion.

Yet, he hadn't expected that when her face was cold, her aura would be so intimidating, much like those high-born ladies of the great clans.

Su Qi's panic lasted only a moment before he dismissed it. He had known Ying Zhao for a year; this woman was a spineless coward, how could she compare to a noble lady?

He figured she was just being moody because she had been waiting too long!

"Zhao Zhao, did your family scold you?" Su Qi said, watching Ying Zhao's reaction closely, his face full of feigned concern as if he were deeply heartbroken. "Did they even hit you?"

Ying Zhao said nothing, and the siblings took her silence as a confession.

A flash of schadenfreude crossed Su Xi's face before she indignantly cried out, "What? They actually hit you? That's too much! How could they treat you like—ah!"

Before she could finish, her words turned into a terrified scream.

*Splash!*

Ying Zhao grabbed the gloating, performative Su Xi and threw her into the river.

"Ying Zhao!" Su Qi was instantly shocked and enraged. "How could you..."

*Thud!* Ying Zhao didn't bother listening to him; she threw a punch and kicked him into the river as well.

*Splash!*

A family, after all, should stay together.

These two siblings were inseparable, always working together to deceive and bully that fake. Now, she would do them a favor and let them go to the river together to wash up!

To think such disgusting people had actually played that fake like a fiddle! Even more disgusting was the fact that the fake was using *her* body!

Fortunately, she had woken up now. Otherwise, if things had gone like in the dream and she had let the fake hand over the jade pendant, her family would have been in grave danger!

In the water, Su Xi thrashed and roared, "Ying Zhao, you're crazy!"

How dare this wench!

Ying Zhao reached for a branch nearby and began slapping Su Xi and Su Qi across the face with a series of *slap, slap, slap!*

Why wouldn't she dare?

With trash like this, if she didn't teach them a lesson, was she supposed to save them for the New Year?

Besides, there was no one around; even if she beat them to death, no one would know.

But she wouldn't kill them. These two pieces of trash still owed her money! Even if they were to die, they had to pay her back first!

"Within three days, return the ten taels of gold you owe me, or don't blame me for being ruthless!"

【Congratulations, Host, on successfully punishing the scum. Reward: two Merit Points.】

"Huh?" Ying Zhao was instantly startled. Where did that voice come from?

【Don't look around, I'm in your head! Remember that golden light? That was me!

Someone used evil arts to steal your soul and even attempted to seize your physical body—truly an atrocious crime!

Do you remember that dream? If you hadn't reclaimed your body, everything in that dream would have happened.

You must be very angry right now, right? Do you want revenge? Do you want to become stronger? Do you want to know who harmed you?

As long as you work hard to earn Merit Points, you will be able to exact your revenge and make everyone in this world kneel at your feet!】

Ying Zhao: "..."

She suspected this thing was mentally ill!

She tentatively asked in her mind: 【Do you want to possess me too?】

【Of course not! How would I dare! I am just a tiny Mall Spirit, here specifically to help you!】

Ying Zhao suddenly became interested: 【A Mall?】

【Yes, yes, yes! It's the Heavenly Treasure Mall. As long as you have Merit Points, you can buy anything! Why don't you take a look first?】

Before Ying Zhao could refuse, a strange interface suddenly appeared before her eyes, filled with a dazzling array of goods.

She asked in surprise: 【This is the Heavenly Treasure Mall? You are the Mall Spirit?】

【That's right! You can call me Tianbao or Xiaobao. The mall has everything! Would you like to buy something?】

Looking at the vast array of goods, Ying Zhao's heart raced.

Fine, even though this was incredibly bizarre, she found herself undeniably tempted.

Moreover, for some reason, she had an intuition that this Tianbao would not harm her.

However, its attitude was a bit too fawning; it was quite strange.

"Ah! Help!"

"Zhao Zhao, don't be impulsive!"

Just as Ying Zhao snapped back to reality, she heard the siblings still splashing in the water, crying for help.

【Host, do not believe them! They are doing this on purpose, trying to use a "bitter meat tactic" to make you feel guilty!】

【I know.】

Ying Zhao gave them a look of disgust and reminded them, "Don't forget to pay me back. I'm only giving you three days!"

With that, she turned and walked away, not worrying that they would drown. With pests like them, how could they die so easily?

Trying to use a pity play? She was no pushover!

...

Ying Zhao walked all the way home, constantly recalling the plot of the dream while simultaneously studying the Heavenly Treasure Mall.

The variety of goods in the mall was immense: food, clothing, housing, transportation, rare beasts, heavenly treasures, divine weapons, supreme martial arts... it could be said to be all-encompassing.

Simply put, as long as she had enough Merit Points, she could buy anything in the mall—except for people.

Additionally, there were two categories of goods in the Heavenly Treasure Mall that were currently locked and required unlocking before they could be purchased.

The first was various secret techniques and supreme arts, including cultivation methods, martial skills, medicine, poisons, alchemy, talismans, blacksmithing, mathematics, agriculture, animal husbandry, papermaking, printing, and even embroidery, dancing, calligraphy, chess, culinary arts, recipes, poetry... in short, a vast and diverse array.

Ying Zhao was profoundly shocked.

One had to realize that even bamboo slips were extremely precious, and various secret techniques were monopolized by great clans and noble families, never to be shared.

Yet, in this Heavenly Treasure Mall, there were massive amounts of secret techniques available! As long as she successfully unlocked them, she could purchase them with Merit Points!

How could Ying Zhao not be shocked?

For a commoner, obtaining even a single scroll was as difficult as ascending to heaven, let alone supreme martial arts?

Now, she had the chance to buy them at will!

Ying Zhao swallowed hard and hurriedly checked the unlocking conditions, only to frown.

The unlocking conditions for ordinary skills were not difficult. For example, for recipes, as long as she obtained a certain ingredient, she could randomly unlock a recipe related to that ingredient. If she followed the recipe to make the dish, she might unlock basic culinary skills. Once purchased, she would receive a basic culinary skill buff.

However, the more profound the skill, the harder the unlocking conditions became.

For instance, those secret techniques and supreme arts could only be unlocked after encountering a "person of destiny."

Furthermore, the mall contained various seeds. Many were species Ying Zhao had never seen before, yet they boasted extremely high yields.

However, all the seeds were currently locked and could not be purchased. Fortunately, the unlocking conditions were not difficult; it would just take some time.

In addition to direct purchases, there was a lottery system in the mall.

For every thousand Merit Points earned, she could draw once.

The prizes were the goods in the mall, and what she would draw depended entirely on luck. If she were lucky, she might even draw heavenly treasures or divine weapons.

The more Ying Zhao looked, the more tempted she became. The problem was, she only had two Merit Points, so the things she could buy were very limited.

So she asked Tianbao: 【Tianbao, how do I earn Merit Points? You said earlier that I was rewarded two points for successfully punishing the scum?】

Tianbao's explanation was very detailed. After listening, Ying Zhao summarized it.

There were roughly four ways to earn Merit Points: first, punishing scum and "slapping faces"; second, saving lives; third, preventing villains from turning evil; and fourth, teaching and resolving doubts for others.

The methods and the targets varied, and the resulting Merit Points were different.

For example, Su Qi and Su Xi were currently just ordinary people. Her previous "punishment" hadn't caused them much harm, so she only received two points.

If the two were irredeemable villains who had committed countless atrocities, killing them would grant her a massive amount of Merit Points.

The same applied to saving lives. The higher the status and the greater the impact of the person saved, the more Merit Points she would receive.

Ying Zhao guessed that preventing a villain's descent into darkness and teaching others would also yield large amounts of Merit Points.

With Merit Points, she could not only shop in the Heavenly Treasure Mall but also use them to increase her strength.

Unfortunately, she couldn't remember much of the dream's plot; she could only recall the general outline and didn't know if she would be able to remember more later.

Furthermore, she suspected there were other methods besides these four, but Tianbao seemed to be under some sort of restriction and couldn't say much. It only reminded her to earn more Merit Points and increase her strength as quickly as possible.

Ying Zhao probed a bit more to gather information, and once she had learned enough, she arrived at her doorstep.

She steadied her nerves and stopped overthinking.

However, looking at the familiar door of her home, she suddenly felt a sense of trepidation, like a traveler feeling nervous upon approaching home.

She had been in a state of deep sleep for the past year, and that fake had caused quite a stir, infuriating her parents and leaving behind a mess of problems.

Since the fake had stolen the jade pendant, her mother was likely extremely angry.

Ying Zhao took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and pushed open the door.

(End of Chapter)