Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 238: Haunted House

“I was right. The 49 domains are all different in some way. Compared to the 39^th domain, the 49^th one felt like barren land. I can’t even compare the two,” thought Gu Suihan as he felt the thick layer of qi around him. The most obvious sign was the streets filled with humans, unlike Fengyang, which was filled with barbarians, demons, and other strange monsters of all shapes and sizes.

After more than a thousand years of being mixed with humans, only a few creatures still had traces of what they used to be. Most of them at least had a human-shaped body and human features.

Gu Suihan couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head. Humans looked like a foolish and lowly race, but they were selfish and greedy. They were even scarier than the devils in the Devil Abyss, who represented carnal desires.

That was because all other living creatures and races would find some similarities between themselves and humans. That was something terrifying to actually think about.

“Senior, judging from your appearance, it’s your first time here?”

Just then, a young and fresh-looking cultivator who looked like a servant approached Gu Suihan with an ingratiating smile.

“That’s right.” Gu Suihan’s gentle gaze and the strange yet aggressive air around him worked well together. The combination didn’t make people find him awful, but it made sure that nobody looked down on him too.

“My name is Wen Xinglong, and I’m a local. If you have any questions, I could answer them for you. Just leave a few spiritual stones behind if you can,” said the young man after a discreet scan of Gu Suihan’s clothing. His heart thumped nervously in fear, and he quickly bowed low.

If his observations were correct, that shawl that was as white as jade was the hide of an Origin Core demon of sorts. The creature clinging onto the hilt of the saber was actually alive. Upon closer inspection, that creature was at Origin Core, but it was so obedient that it didn’t move an inch. It was clear that this new person in town was someone more powerful than Origin Core cultivators. Such a person was definitely super-rich. A small fraction of this man’s wealth was enough for him to cultivate for a long time.

“You’ve got a keen eye,” said Gu Suihan with a smile when he sensed what the young man was looking at.

If the young man wasn’t observant enough, he wouldn’t have realized that the murderous black snake around his saber’s hilt was alive and not just decoration.

“You’re too kind. I rely on such skills to survive, so it’s really not worthy of a compliment,” said Wen Xinglong modestly as he scratched his head.

Gu Suihan looked at the young man. He was polite and knew how far to go. He looked young and awkward, but he was certainly someone who had gone through tough times. That was Gu Suihan’s conclusion.

He flicked his finger and threw a few dozen spiritual stones to the young man. “I need a house, a couple of maids. I want a quiet location.”

“Got it!” Wen Xinglong hugged the spiritual stones and subconsciously swallowed some saliva to moisten his throat. He quickly kept the spiritual stones properly and said with a big smile, “There’s a house in the west of the city near a temple that’s anxious to sell. It’s a triple courtyard estate, so there are nine rooms and six yards. I’m sure you will be pleased with it. Except…”

“Oh? Bring me there, then. What’s wrong with it?”

Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow. He didn’t expect Wen Xinglong to have an answer for him immediately but got him to lead him there anyway.

“It’s all very strange, really. I have no idea what sort of karma that family has accumulated, but they seemed to be tormented by ghosts or something. The owner has paid cultivators to take a look, but for some reason, all of them refused to say anything. And now, the family is declining steadily. It’s such a pity. The owner’s ancestors were powerful cultivators, but the current generation doesn’t have anybody with much talent for it. Life is truly unpredictable,” explained Wen Xinglong with a sad look on his face and a long sigh.

“You’re very bold, huh,” said Gu Suihan suddenly.

The young man was very bold indeed for daring to scheme against Gu Suihan. The owner of that house must have given some benefit, which made Wen Xinglong feel bad and so, he was hoping to use Gu Suihan to repay the favor and end the karmic connection between them. Alternatively…perhaps he was in cahoots with this owner to fool cultivators who were new in this place like Gu Suihan.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Wen Xinglong’s heart sank and his expression instantly turned to one of horror. The change in Gu Suihan’s attitude toward him was terrifying.

“Hoho…” Gu Suihan chuckled but did not respond. A red light swirled in his eyes and fiendish qi appeared, swallowing up Wen Xinglong’s soul in an instant and leaving behind a lifeless shell.

He hated being schemed against, regardless of whether it actually hurt him or not. The problems of other people had nothing to do with him.

“The owner of that house does have a karmic connection with you. When you were about to starve to death, a daughter from that family gave you a bun. What a cheap deal you are…” Gu Suihan flipped through Wen Xinglong’s memories within a second and picked out the important parts. “You have a younger sister, and both of you only have each other. You have a poor talent for cultivation, but your younger sister has a high rank of aptitude. In order to gain resources for your sister to cultivate, you’ve secretly hit the streets to find ways to earn money. What a good older brother!”

Gu Suihan didn’t even look at the lifeless body and turned to walk toward the supposedly haunted house. Shortly after he left, a bright-looking girl in a simple white dress suddenly came running over. When she saw that Wen Xinglong was no longer breathing but still standing by the roadside, she immediately burst into tears.

“This is the place?”

Gu Suihan instinctively narrowed his eyes when he looked at the rather majestic estate in front of him. He could see the presence of a very vicious fiendish qi in the house. It was so malicious the qi almost looked like a solid object.

“Who…are you?” The guard outside the house almost yelled at Gu Suihan when he saw Gu Suihan just standing in front of the gate, but took on a polite tone when he saw how Gu Suihan was dressed.

In this world, those who weren’t observant enough would lose their lives very quickly. This didn’t only apply to cultivators. It applied to ordinary people too.

Gu Suihan looked carefully at the guard and had an idea of what was going on.

“I’m here to buy the house,” said Gu Suihan with a chuckle as he looked up at the fiendish qi in the air that ordinary people couldn’t see.

A moment later, a plump, middle-aged man came running out and bowed as he held an arm out. “This way, please!”

“I heard the house is haunted?” Gu Suihan looked at how pale the maids, servants, concubines, and family members were and were even more confident of his judgment.

Someone inside this house was refining fiendish qi. Or rather, they were gathering it.

Fiendish qi did not only comprise murderous or violent qi. There was the spiritual type, the yin type, the yang type, and even a sword type. This house was clearly cultivating a yin type.

“Hoho…using your own blood relatives to refine fiendish qi…that’s quite vicious!” said Gu Suihan with some interest as he sat down.

“Sir, what do you mean?” asked the plump middle-aged man anxiously.

“Call your entire family out here, including the families of your second wives and all. Let me take a look.”

Gu Suihan narrowed his eyes. He was determined to get this house. Why, you might ask. It was purely because Wen Xinglong said it was near a temple. And what was inside a temple? What else? There wouldn’t be anybody else besides one of those hypocritical deities.

These things enjoyed the offerings of their believers and used them to wash their godly souls and solidify their godly crystals. The essence contained in these crystals was of a much higher quality than anything an ordinary cultivator could refine. Even though the gods here were definitely way more powerful than those in Fengyang, Gu Suihan had a way to kill them anyway.

These lofty gods seemed powerful, commanding the wind and rain and enjoying the respect and sacrifices of the people. But unless you were powerful enough for your godly crystal to change shape, gather into a godly body and rise to the highest level of godhood, you were nothing more than a spirit.

Besides, the speed at which one cultivated in the Way of Godhood cannot be controlled at all. Your level of cultivation was directly proportionate to the number of believers you had. If nobody offered anything to you, you were nothing. That was why those who had become a divine spirit made sure to carefully cultivate as much as they could and to get as many believers as they could. They were all afraid that some cultivator would slap them dead if they were too weak, just because the cultivator didn’t like their face.

“That person’s not here.” Gu Suihan scanned the close to hundred people in front of him and became even more excited.

“In that case…there’s only one possibility.” Gu Suihan snorted, then turned to ask, “Where’s your clan’s ancestral hall?”

If his guess was right, one of their ancestors was behind this. He was probably trying to use fiendish qi to gather his soul so that he could become a god.

The saber hanging from Gu Suihan’s belt suddenly let out a howl. A cold wind began to blow and a murderous aura filled the whole place, instantly slicing through the almost solid fiendish qi in the house.

“If you’ve cultivated for a thousand years, then you’re qualified to get attacked by me,” said Gu Suihan in a mocking voice. He flew into the air to chase after the fiendish qi that had fallen apart and was escaping. Every step he took was bringing him nearer to the hiding place of the one who started this whole thing.

Anyone who could gather fiendish qi so openly like this had to be someone pretty formidable.

As he watched where the fiendish qi was escaping to, his heart became surer of what was going on. He held his saber up and brought it down hard. The wind and clouds shook, all the qi within a hundred-mile radius gathered to become a giant blade that contained violent qi. Thunder roared loudly as the blade of qi came hurtling down on the temple in the distance.

“Let me say hello first.”