Eternal Life: I Can Sell Everything

Song Ciwan heard the husband and wife in the house start to argue.

The husband said anxiously, "She’s Lady Liu, so we should save her! She brought her family’s valuables. Have you forgotten they sell tofu? Their family must be well-off."

The wife shot back angrily, "What? Are you saying my family isn’t rich enough for you? And why aren’t we rich? It’s all because you, you good-for-nothing, are so unambitious! All that talk about studying, passing exams, and cultivating Talent... but what came of it? You never earned a title, but you sure managed to squander every penny this old lady worked so hard to earn all these years!"

"And now you have the nerve to complain about my family’s wealth? Have you no conscience? How dare you? All that studying... I guess it wasn’t for fame and fortune, but to thicken your own skin?"

The wife’s sharp tongue left the husband red-faced and sputtering.

The husband, now furious, retorted, "You... why must you be so unreasonable! When did I ever say I thought your family’s wealth was lacking? I just said *her* family must be well-off. We can save a life and get some money out of it. What’s wrong with that? Don’t tell me you don’t want to be the wife of a titled official anymore?"

"Don’t you want me to be successful? To continue my studies?"

The wife was momentarily speechless. "I..."

But she quickly recovered and shot back, "You... even if you need to study, do you have to take her money? Why should she give it to you? Oh, right! She kept saying she wants to be your concubine! Tell me, go on, tell me! Have you been carrying on with her behind my back?"

The husband shoved her and flung her hand away. "You-you’re being ridiculous! How could you slander me like this? A gentleman does not covet another’s wife. I am a respectable Scholar! Is that how little you think of me?"

The wife immediately retorted, "Then swear it! Swear that if you let her in, it’s just to do a good deed, and you will absolutely not take her as a concubine!"

The husband immediately pointed to the heavens and swore, "What’s so difficult about that? That Lady Liu is Brother Liu’s widow. A gentleman does not take another man’s wife as his own. I would never betray Brother Liu! My dear wife, rest assured. If I deceive you, may my heart be pierced by ten thousand ghouls..."

The wife quickly clapped a hand over his mouth and spat, "Don’t say such nonsense! Who told you to make that kind of oath? Hurry up and open the door!"

"Alright, alright! Now that’s my good, virtuous wife! Wait just a moment, my dear. Your husband will be right back."

...

And so, the sound of footsteps echoed in the small courtyard as the husband indeed hurried to open the door.

Song Ciwan, standing outside the door, witnessed this turn of events with a complicated, indescribable feeling.

’Honestly,’ Song Ciwan thought, ’I really didn’t expect this. The creature outside hasn’t even tried any clever tricks. Just a couple of different lines, and the couple inside reasoned their way to opening the door all by themselves.’

Was the creature’s deception brilliant?

However, there was no doubt about it—the creature’s deception wasn’t brilliant in the slightest!

Not only was it not brilliant, it could even be called crude.

Or was it that the City Patrol Department’s warnings weren’t thorough enough? Or that there hadn’t been enough examples of gruesome tragedies caused by these creatures?

That couldn’t be it, either. In a world of Demon Fiends, who didn’t harbor at least a sliver of vigilance in their heart?

This only went to show that people often underestimated the greed of Human nature.

Faced with someone so determined to walk into their own doom, Song Ciwan couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to save them, even as she was about to witness them step into the Abyss.

There were too many suffering people in the world. And this kind... while their actions didn’t warrant death, it felt like she had no compelling reason to save them, either.

Song Ciwan shifted her feet, preparing to slip through her own doorway and head straight home.

Just then, the neighbor’s door swung open.

The Scholar, surnamed Sun, wore a smile as he said, "Is that Lady Liu? Please, come in..."

Before the words had even left his mouth, the beauty from outside threw herself straight into his arms.

As she fell against him, she cooed, "Master Sun, you finally came... I was so scared!"

The moment she finished speaking, the beauty instantly raised a hand.

The tips of her fingers glinted with a cold light as sharp claws shot out three inches long, thrusting violently toward the Sun Family Scholar’s chest.

The creature was going for his heart!

Young Master Sun’s eyes bulged and his mouth hung open. He was so terrified he couldn’t even let out a scream.

In that sliver of a moment between life and death, just as he was about to be killed on the spot...

Suddenly, a flash of white light streaked over the neighboring wall.

A white figure leaped over the wall, charging straight for the claws in the nick of time.

In a flash, Young Master Sun hadn’t managed to scream, but the beauty attacking him let out a blood-curdling shriek.

"AHH!"

"HONK!"

SWOOSH!

The white figure knocked the beauty’s body to the ground. Then, accompanied by a series of "HONK HONK"s, came the sound of a goose’s beak pecking: THWACK, THWACK.

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

"HONK! HONK!"

"KANK! KANK!"

"ONK! ONK!"

It was the Big White Goose, bursting onto the scene, leaping over the wall to save the neighbor.

The Big White Goose had a rich vocabulary of calls. The creature could only shriek "Ahh! Ahh!", but the goose could majestically and domineeringly change its tune: one moment a "HONK HONK," the next a "KANK KANK," then an "ER-ER," and then a "THWACK-THWACK!"

Its beak was sharp and powerful, its feathers as hard as iron.

The creature’s sharp claws couldn’t pierce the defense of its feathers, and its body was no match for the pecking of the goose’s beak.

"AHH! AHH!"

The creature shrieked ceaselessly, crying out, "Save me, my lord! Young Master Sun, save me!"

But Young Master Sun was scared stiff.

He stood frozen on the spot, so frightened it felt like half his soul had flown out of his body. How could he possibly have the strength to save her?

The Big White Goose pecked countless bloody holes into the creature’s body. Blood gushed out, spattering around the courtyard like a torrential downpour.

This was an amount of blood no normal Human could possibly lose. A moment later, Young Master Sun finally snapped out of it and let out a belated scream, "AHH! A ghost! Wife, save me!"

He scrambled and crawled back into the house, slipping and sliding through the pools of blood on the ground.

The Sun Family Lady shrieked as well. She cursed as she yelled, "You good-for-nothing, what are you shouting for? Here, come over here!"

The Sun Family Lady grabbed a rolling pin, charged into the courtyard with a THUMP THUMP THUMP, and yelled at her husband while the Big White Goose was still fighting the creature: "You good-for-nothing, get behind me!"

While shouting, she used all her strength, waiting for an opening in the fight between the Big White Goose and the creature. Seizing her chance, she viciously smashed the rolling pin against the creature’s head and face.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The rolling pin struck the creature’s body again and again, and its head was suddenly knocked clean off.

BOOM!

A torrent of dark red blood sprayed out, about to splash onto the Sun Family Lady’s face. The Big White Goose beside her flew up and, with a flap of its wings, batted the spray of blood away.

TSSSSSS!

The deflected blood fell back onto the creature’s body, which instantly burst into flames.

"AHH!"

The creature’s headless body fell to the ground, thrashing about.

Meanwhile, its severed head leaped up from the ground and, still shrieking, lunged at the Sun Family Lady to bite her.