Chapter 38 – The Rusty Twin Blades

Su Ming: “So do you know roughly how much money the butler left for me?”

Waiter: “You’re in luck. The money from last month that the auntie who came to cause trouble hasn’t taken yet—it’s about three million gold coins.”

Su Ming scratched her head: “Somehow it feels like not too much, but not too little either…”

Waiter: “There was no auction last month, so the money is naturally a bit less. However, we also have loan activities here, which are part of our regular income.”

Su Ming: “That auntie from earlier—do you know who she is?”

Waiter: “I don’t know, and I dare not know. In Half-Ghost City, the fewer questions you ask, the better, and the fewer words you say, the better. It’s easy to bring death upon yourself.”

Su Ming looked at her with interest: “But you’ve said quite a lot to me just now.”

Waiter: “I can sense that your desire for money isn’t as deep as those people’s. And you’re the boss—if you ask and I don’t answer, I die.”

Su Ming smiled: “It’s not really that extreme. I’m not that bloodthirsty.”

Waiter: “Then would you like me to withdraw the money for you?”

Su Ming: “Can you? I need one million gold coins right now.”

Waiter: “This is your home, so of course you can. And with your VIP Card, you can withdraw money directly, and we can report it to the butler afterward.”

Su Ming took out her VIP Card and bank card: “Then I’ll trouble you with this. After I finish my business, I’ll give you a reward.”

The waiter took the cards respectfully: “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare.”

Soon, Su Ming left with a bank card holding 1.4 million, and gave the waiter ten gold coins—roughly her monthly salary—asking her to keep her identity a secret for now.

Arriving at the antique shop the system had mentioned earlier, she went inside and found that there were indeed plenty of good items.

A dazzling array of treasures filled the place—such as the fleshy sword from Lao Ai’s body, the match-3 game Fang Xiaoru once played, and Zhu Yuanzhang’s immunity plaque…

Of course, there were also many divine weapons, though they were all quite old, and naturally, the prices were steep.

Su Ming wove through the various goods, searching for that pair of twin blades.

The boss was drawn over by Su Ming’s adorable appearance: “Little miss, do you need help?”

Su Ming: “Looking for something.”

The boss said with a hint of ill intent: “Looking for what? Uncle here can help you find it.”

Su Ming stayed vigilant and didn’t directly say she wanted the twin blades:

“I want to buy a weapon that suits me.”

The boss made a gesture of invitation: “Little miss, follow me.”

Su Ming followed the boss into a room filled with all kinds of weapons.

Su Ming’s eyes lit up—these weapons all looked so impressive…

The boss smiled faintly, not believing this little girl had enough money to buy any of them.

Su Ming picked up the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade and asked doubtfully: “This thing is rusty. Is it genuine?”

The boss scratched his head awkwardly: “Just scrape off the rust and it’ll be… fine, right…”

Su Ming was speechless. Do you think I’d believe that…

Then she picked up something labeled Vermilion Bird Feather Fan. Good grief, it was absurdly fake—she couldn’t feel a trace of Vermilion Bird’s power from it…

Su Ming demanded: “Do you have any genuine items here?”

Boss: “Well… actually, there are quite a few. It’s just that the ones you happened to pick up are all fakes.”

Su Ming asked Vermilion Bird: “Is that true?”

Vermilion Bird: “It’s true. There are only five fakes in total.”

Su Ming: “Uh… Am I really that lucky?”

Su Ming looked up abruptly and spotted two rusty blades lying below. She immediately pulled them out and examined them closely—sure enough… they were covered in rust…

Su Ming took out the photo and compared them. The patterns matched, the dimensions matched, but the aura and presence were far too different!

The photo showed legendary treasure blades, but what she was actually looking at seemed more like two firewood choppers…

The boss said, “These two blades have been sitting here unsold for a long time and haven’t been well maintained. Would you like to purchase them?”

Su Ming thought it over. After all, the Black-Robed Man was the one who wanted them—what did it have to do with her?

“Buying them! How much?”

The boss replied, “One thousand gold coins in total. Thank you for your patronage.”

Su Ming thought carefully—it was actually quite expensive, since converting to outside market prices that would be one million.

But considering the unusual material of these blades and the unique aura she could genuinely sense from them, the price seemed about right.

Su Ming pulled out a thousand gold coins: “Here you go!”

The boss hadn’t expected that Su Ming would end up buying only these two cheap blades. Quite unexpected…

Su Ming spoke up: “I recall you have ghost creatures for sale here.”

The boss was startled: “How do you know about that?”

In truth, Half-Ghost City did not permit the sale of ghost creatures. After all, it was called Half-Ghost City—a place where humans and ghosts coexisted peacefully. How could such trade be allowed? It was one of the rules set by the city lord.

Su Ming said, “Don’t worry about that. I want to buy a ghost. I wonder if you have one here that suits my fancy.”

The boss felt uneasy inside. Not long ago, someone had been caught selling ghost creatures and was tortured by the city lord for seven days and seven nights before dying. What if this little miss…

Su Ming said, “Don’t worry. My purchasing a ghost creature also violates the rules. We’re in the same boat.”

In truth, Su Ming hadn’t thought that far ahead. After all, the Ghost General she was looking for was right here.

While the boss was still hesitating, Su Ming activated her adorable act skill once more, and the boss’s heart instantly melted. However, this also gave rise to some wicked thoughts.

The boss led Su Ming down to the cellar while instructing his men to prepare. If Su Ming didn’t have the money, they would take her down directly, enjoy themselves, and then kill her.

Su Ming looked at the Ghost General, bound by over a dozen chains made of special materials, barely clinging to life: “This… can he still fight?”

The boss sighed with emotion: “His strength is too great. To suppress him, we had to drain all the energy from his body and use these chains to keep him from recovering.”

Su Ming asked, “What’s his combat power?”

The boss explained patiently: “He’s only at the Third Realm now, but he originally had the strength of the Seventh Realm. Once you take him back and nurture him, he’ll recover quickly.”

Su Ming continued, “What if I contract him and he betrays me?”

The boss said proudly, “We have special contract methods. If he dares to betray you, he’ll suffer soul scattering instantly! And you’ll be perfectly safe.”

Su Ming was shocked. This was the first time she’d heard of such a contract—how terrifying was that…

At that moment, the Ghost General seemed to sense something. He opened his eyes and saw the familiar figure of the boss, feeling nothing but deep hatred.

Back then, he had died defending the Imperial Palace of the Zhu Kingdom. After being captured by the city lord, he had changed hands several times before finally falling into this scoundrel’s grasp.

Every so often, the man would extract his ghost blood and ghost soul. Now he was covered in wounds, and seeing that he was near death, the man wanted to sell him off for some profit. What a black-hearted bastard.

The Ghost General looked at the little girl beside him. Strange—why did she feel so familiar, yet he couldn’t quite place who she was at that moment…

Just then, Su Ming asked, “How much? I’ll buy it.”

The boss, seeing such an adorable little girl like Su Ming, let his small head override his big one and lied about the price: “One million gold coins.”

Su Ming was taken aback. “Wait, it’s in this condition, and it’s that expensive?”

The boss was completely charmed by Su Ming’s cuteness, and at this point, he couldn’t care less about the rules:

“Brothers, take her down. Once I’ve had my fun, it’ll be your turn! It’s been a long time since we’ve had a fresh catch…”