Eternal Life: I Can Sell Everything

The Sun Family Lady took a step back, just as the bizarre head was about to catch her, when the Big White Goose leaped in from the side.

It flapped its wings again and again, hacking at the bizarre head as if its wings were cleavers. In moments, it had diced the screaming head to pieces.

Finally, the shattered head rolled to the ground. The moment it touched the blood that was everywhere, it let out a sizzling sound.

Flames spontaneously erupted. The shattered head only had time to open its mouth and utter its last words: "Master Sun, how could you have wronged me so..."

Its eyes, which had popped out of their sockets, dangled beside its cheeks, staring straight at Young Master Sun, who was trembling under the eaves. The sight terrified him so much that his legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.

The flames blazed higher. Faintly, a hollow, mocking laugh seemed to echo from within the inferno...

"Ah, to die..."

The blood covering the ground burned, finally reducing the bizarre corpse and its head to ash.

In the end, the blood was gone, and the strange corpse and head had vanished with it.

Lady Sun hopped around, dodging the flames until they, too, flickered out and vanished as if they were nothing more than burnt-out firewood.

A few moments later, the entire courtyard was serene.

If it weren’t for the various items scattered about the courtyard—an overturned basket, for instance, or the loose bricks littering the ground—one might have wondered if it was all a daze. Had this place... truly just been struck by a supernatural disaster?

It felt both real and illusory, like a dream or a nightmare, making one look up at the heavens, completely losing track of time.

The Big White Goose flapped its wings, lifted its head, and let out a "HONK HONK."

Lady Sun, as if waking from a dream, let out a cry. "Oh! Goose, white goose... No, White Goose Immortal! Thank you, thank you for saving me!"

She tossed the rolling pin behind her, wiped her hands on the front of her clothes again and again, and beamed, looking at the Big White Goose with an expression of both wonder and reverence. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

She tried to approach, clasping her hands in a gesture of respect toward the Big White Goose. "White Goose Immortal, you... may I be so bold as to ask where you reside? You’ve just saved our family. I—I... This humble believer, yes, how should this believer properly worship you?"

"Are you hungry? We have some leftovers, fish and meat both. Would the Great Immortal care for some?"

"Oh, no, that’s not right!" Lady Sun babbled, then abruptly slapped herself lightly on the mouth. "Oh, dear, listen to me, spouting such nonsense! How could I possibly offer leftovers to a Great Immortal?"

"Great Immortal, you..."

The Big White Goose lifted its neck and let out a "HONK HONK," cutting her off.

It tucked its wings at its sides and began to strut about, its webbed feet pacing back and forth. Although it remained silent, an air of pride and majesty simply radiated from it.

Song Ciwan, who was standing nearby, saw a wisp of formless qi drift up from the top of the Big White Goose’s head.

This was the first time Song Ciwan had ever seen the Big White Goose’s formless qi—

Of course, before she had stepped through the gate from Illusory Nether City, Song Ciwan hadn’t possessed this special sight. Even when the Big White Goose’s emotions had been strong enough to generate formless qi, she would not have been able to see it with her naked eye.

But while the Song Ciwan of the past lacked this special sight, she did have the Heaven and Earth Scale!

’The Heaven and Earth Scale has never collected any "human desires" from the Big White Goose... Oh, wait. The Big White Goose isn’t a Human; it doesn’t have human desires. So what does it have?’

Song Ciwan casually snatched the ball of formless qi from above the Big White Goose’s head.

The Heaven and Earth Scale registered its collection: [Demon Heart: The joy, pride, and smugness of an Energy-Introducing Stage Goose Demon. Three jin, two taels. Exchangeable.]

’At some point, the Big White Goose underwent Demon Transformation!’

’It went from being a low-class Mortal Demon to a proper Energy-Introducing Stage Demon Beast!’

’For a Mortal Beast to undergo Demon Transformation is no easy feat. The Big White Goose’s life is finally on a path of change, starting now.’

Song Ciwan, too, felt a surge of pleasant surprise.

She was still in the Otherworld, so the Big White Goose couldn’t see that she was there.

After strutting about with its neck held high, the Goose Demon suddenly flapped its wings.

SWOOSH!

Its iron-hard wings kicked up a great gust of wind in the night. Then, like a proud swan, it took to the air.

In an instant, it had flown atop the wall of the adjacent courtyard.

As it crossed the wall, it looked back over its shoulder and gave Lady Sun another "HONK HONK."

The honk seemed to be a proud declaration: ’A knight-errant doesn’t ask for a reward! Hmph, mortal, you underestimate me!’

With a light flap of its wings, its white form quickly vanished behind the wall.

Meanwhile, Song Ciwan took the opportunity to snatch several more balls of qi from above the heads of Young Master Sun and Lady Sun.

From Young Master Sun: [Human Desires: Shock, terror, and fear. Five jin, two taels. Exchangeable.]

Just like that, Young Master Sun registered as Qi Over Five Jin. He was clearly terrified.

He produced more than one ball of qi. Song Ciwan even snatched a second one from him that was over five jin: [Human Desires: Terror, shock, and worry. Five jin, one tael. Exchangeable.]

Lady Sun also had a ball of qi exceeding five jin: [Human Desires: Lingering fear, terror, and gratitude. Five jin, six taels. Exchangeable.]

Song Ciwan snatched them all. Then, with a flick of her sleeve, she passed through the wall without a trace and returned to her own house.

Next door, Lady Sun stomped her foot and cried out, "Oh! This... this White Goose Immortal... could he be the goose from our neighbor’s house?"

Then, she scurried over to close her courtyard gate—

Young Master Sun had opened it earlier, letting the bizarre entity in, and it had remained open this whole time.

Lady Sun was terrified as she closed the gate. Her steps were frantic. She hid her body behind the gate door, craning her neck to take a panicked look outside.

The world beyond the gate was empty—nothing but endless darkness and an indescribable terror that lurked within it.

Lady Sun’s heart hammered in her chest as she hurriedly slammed the gate shut.

BANG!

The gate was shut. Lady Sun quickly threw the bolt and even dragged a stone stool to brace it from behind.

After all that, she began to mutter, "All this time, I only knew a young girl moved in next door and was raising a goose. I had no idea the goose was so incredible! Hey, husband, you useless lout, the goose flew back home. Tomorrow, should I..."

She turned around and continued, "Should I put together a little something tomorrow and go thank our neighbor?"

"It’s strange, now that I think about it. It’s been over ten days, right through the New Year, and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of that little girl next door. If I didn’t hear her goose honking every now and then, I’d think the house was empty."

"Tell me, how can a little girl like her be so... peculiar?"

Her muttering came to an abrupt halt as she let out a piercing scream.

"AH—!" she shrieked.

And why did she scream, you ask?

Song Ciwan thought she had run into more danger, and her Spiritual Sense immediately reached out to perceive what was happening.

Then, she discovered that Lady Sun hadn’t met with any new danger. It was Young Master Sun. At some unknown point, he had collapsed to the floor and wet himself.

Lady Sun began to curse him furiously. "You—you useless lout! You coward..."

Next door, Song Ciwan immediately retracted her Spiritual Sense, completely dumbfounded.

She then casually sold off the "Demon Heart" she had just acquired from the Big White Goose.