Eternal Life: I Can Sell Everything

Half an hour later, the Big White Goose was sound asleep in Song Ciwan’s Spirit Beast Bag.

Ever since she had performed the Spirit Nurturing Technique in her dream and formed a master-servant contract with the Big White Goose, the barrier between them in the real world had been invisibly broken.

From then on, Song Ciwan could touch the Big White Goose, and the goose, in turn, could interact with the real world. This was similar in principle to the existence of the Black Insect from the Five Poison Jar.

The difference, however, was that the Black Insect was a Poisonous Insect. After several battles and advancements, its actual combat power had long since surpassed that of the Big White Goose.

But the Big White Goose possessed sentience—a trait determined by its species. Although it hadn’t yet evolved to the Spirit Communication Stage, geese are naturally quite intelligent. Moreover, the Big White Goose in Song Ciwan’s home was exceptionally gifted and had a remarkable degree of spirituality.

Therefore, the Big White Goose and the Black Insect weren’t really comparable. To Song Ciwan, the Black Insect was purely a tool, while the Big White Goose was not just a pet, but a partner.

With the Big White Goose by her side, Song Ciwan no longer had any worries about leaving things behind.

She paced around her house one last time, then with a flicker of movement, she activated Escape into the Night. A few breaths later, Song Ciwan had left the street block.

Just as she left, her neighbor, Young Master Sun, finally recovered from his terror. With Lady Sun’s help, he dazedly took a bath to calm his frayed nerves. After changing his clothes, the husband and wife lit a lamp and sat facing each other in the bedroom.

Young Master Sun spoke in a tone still tinged with panic, "My dear, we absolutely cannot let this lamp go out. Let it burn from the deep of night until dawn. The... things outside surely won’t dare to come back."

After saying this, he asked again, "My dear, are you sure the doors and windows are all shut tight? And the Peach Talismans are all hung up? The Door Gods... right, shouldn’t we go pray to the Door Gods again?"

He rambled on endlessly. Lady Sun was already exhausted and couldn’t help but raise her voice. "Is there a single day I don’t pray? When... that thing got into the house just now, was it because I didn’t pray to the gods or didn’t lock the doors and windows? Wasn’t it all because your mind was clouded by lust...?"

"Hey, my dear!" Young Master Sun lunged forward to cover her mouth. Seeing her brows shoot up in a rising fury, he grew anxious and blurted out, "My dear, listen! Hasn’t the honking from next door stopped?"

His words struck a nerve. Lady Sun instantly forgot her anger and perked up her ears, listening intently for any sound from next door.

After listening for a moment, she said in a panic, "It’s... it’s true, it’s gone. It seems like it’s been a while... the White Goose Immortal hasn’t made a sound."

Young Master Sun grew frantic. He shot up from the table and said anxiously, "What are we going to do? If the White Goose Immortal isn’t honking, and some strange thing comes knocking on our door again tonight, how... how will we handle it?"

Lady Sun composed herself and tried to comfort him. "Perhaps it’s just late, and the White Goose Immortal needs to rest, too. It doesn’t usually honk all night long. Don’t worry, don’t worry. The White Goose Immortal is the kindest of souls. If we’re in danger again, it will surely come to our aid."

As she spoke, she turned, clasped her hands together, and began to pray in the direction of the neighboring Song Family’s house.

She prayed with great piety, mumbling under her breath, "Great Immortal, please protect us. Great Immortal, please protect us. This faithful servant dares not disturb you, but I only ask that you grant us your protection in times of crisis and save my husband and me. This faithful servant is willing to offer incense in the morning and evening, and present fruits and melons..."

As she spoke, a formless strand of energy, white with a hint of azure, suddenly shot out from the top of her head like a stream of light.

Song Ciwan had just turned onto another street when she suddenly felt a strand of pure energy shoot toward her. Her Escape Technique halted, and the Heaven and Earth Scale manifested beside her, automatically collecting the incoming energy.

All things have spirit and can be believed in. The pious Wish Power of a mortal, weighing two jin and six liang, can be traded.

’I actually obtained a strand of Wish Power out of thin air!’

Human desires were easy to come by, but Wish Power was rare. Song Ciwan was stunned for a moment. She turned her head, extending her Spiritual Sense, and seemed to perceive something.

’This... this Wish Power seems to have come from Lady Sun.’

Although Lady Sun’s pious faith was directed not at Song Ciwan but at the Big White Goose, because the goose had now become Song Ciwan’s Spirit Beast, the Wish Power directed at it was automatically collected by the Heaven and Earth Scale.

The causal link here was actually quite logical.

The Big White Goose’s growth up to this point was inseparable from the effort Song Ciwan had poured into raising it.

Just considering the Spirit Pills and Poisonous Insects she had fed it, there was no need to calculate how many Spirit Pearls they were worth. Simply put, these were resources that no ordinary person could possess, let alone something a common, mortal goose could ever come into contact with.

Combined with the Spirit Nurturing Technique, which bound the Big White Goose firmly to Song Ciwan’s cause, this connection explained why the Heaven and Earth Scale had acted on its own.

Song Ciwan seemed to come to a realization.

She glanced back again. In the darkness, her current position was already two streets away from the Sun Family’s home.

Normally, when the Heaven and Earth Scale collected formless qi, there was a clear distance limitation.

When gathering qi, Song Ciwan could not be more than ten zhang away from the source.

Even now, that restriction didn’t seem to have been lifted.

But Wish Power, especially "pious Wish Power," seemed to be special.

’It can cross spatial distances!’

’I just don’t know what the maximum range of this ’crossing’ is.’

Song Ciwan waited in place for several dozen breaths, but no new Wish Power arrived. So, she resumed her original journey, using her Escape Technique to cross another street.

Even then, a second wave of Wish Power did not come.

It was hard to say if a second wave would ever come. Song Ciwan waited only a moment longer before deciding not to waste any more time.

Her body dissolving into a shadow, she continued to travel farther away.

What Song Ciwan didn’t know was that in the brief moments she had spent waiting and pondering, a new episode had unfolded between Lady Sun and Young Master Sun.

After Lady Sun had piously prayed to the White Goose Immortal, Young Master Sun, who was beside her, had a shifty look in his eyes and suddenly said, "My dear, you’re praying so earnestly. Have you ever considered that the goose next door is just a watch-goose raised by that young lady?"

Lady Sun frowned, confused. "What’s that? Husband, what do you mean by that?"

Young Master Sun rubbed his hands together, looking both nervous and expectant. "Since she’s the one raising it, why don’t we pay her a visit tomorrow and ask to buy the goose? Wouldn’t that be perfect? We can spend one tael of silver... no! Ten taels of silver! For ten taels of silver to buy a goose, who could possibly... OUCH!"

Lady Sun had lifted her arm and slammed her elbow right into Young Master Sun’s mouth!

A jolt of pain shot straight to the crown of his head. He jumped to his feet, crying out in pain, "OUCH, THAT HURTS! You vicious woman, what are you... OUCH! What are you doing?!"

Lady Sun unleashed a flurry of scratches and elbow strikes, beating Young Master Sun until he was scurrying away with his head in his hands, crying out incessantly.

"Pah! I never should have spoken to you nicely!" Lady Sun said angrily. "You ungrateful wretch! It saved your life, and now you’re scheming to buy it? And with ten taels of silver? You think that’s a lot? I spit on that!"

"Do you think you’re the only smart person in the world? And everyone else is an idiot?"

"Pah, pah, pah! How dare you scheme against the Great Immortal? Do you have a death wish?"

Young Master Sun wailed dramatically, "Mercy, Wife, have mercy! Stop hitting me! Ouch, stop hitting me!"

...

His cries of pain echoed through the night.

They actually managed to scare away several groups of low-level ghoulish creatures lurking in the darkness.

It was all absurdly comical.