Chapter 94

Chapter 94

The ragged beggar merely grinned at my words, showing his stark white teeth, but continued blocking my way.

I grew annoyed and frowned.

“I know you’re hungry, and I know you’re pitiful, but I truly didn’t bring any money.”

The beggar shook his head. “I don’t believe you. Rich people like you are the best liars. You have money but claim you don’t. You have food but refuse to give me any.”

Speechless, I pointed at my school uniform.

“Open your eyes and look. I’m a poor student. How am I rich?”

The beggar still refused to let me pass, and his expression turned strange.

In an eerie voice, he suddenly said, “If you have no money, take me home. Let me eat and drink my fill, and then I’ll leave. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

After he said that, I fell silent.

Then I stared at him with wide eyes and smiled too.

“You’re a troublesome panhandler. You won’t let me leave without money, and now you want to follow me home? Fine, fine. If you insist on coming home with me, let’s go.”

“Panhandler” was the Sichuan-Chongqing dialect term for a beggar.

Hearing this, the beggar rubbed his filthy hands together in triumph and nodded repeatedly. “You said it yourself. You can’t change your mind.”

I smiled and answered seriously, “Don’t worry. I absolutely won’t change my mind. Of course, you asked to eat at my home, so you can’t change your mind either.”

The beggar grinned and waved his hands, saying of course he would not.

Then he followed beside me toward town.

The beggar said nothing along the way and appeared very quiet.

I was busy considering recent urgent matters and worrying about the monthly exam results due the day after tomorrow. I had no time to bother with him.

After walking for another ten-odd minutes, we entered the street where the coffin shop stood. We were almost there.

Several nearby streetlights had recently broken, leaving the area so dark that the road was barely visible.

Except for Old Cao’s coffin shop, which was both open for business and occupied at night, all the surrounding buildings were stores. They opened during the day, but no one lived inside.

Because the outage only affected one person, the town’s power company was not especially enthusiastic. Repairs moved slowly, and the lights remained broken after a full week.

Efficiency in the late 1990s could not compare with today. The power bureau also genuinely had few workers. As far as I could tell, the whole of Lianghe Town had only two electrical repairmen, and I recognized both of them.

Besides, it did not greatly affect Old Cao or me, so we had not pestered anyone. We could wait for the power bureau to fix it at their leisure.

Thinking about all kinds of things, I walked through the dark street toward the coffin shop.

The beggar, silent beside me until then, suddenly spoke.

In a strange tone, he said, “Um… young man, let me ask you something. It’s pitch-black, without a single light. How can you see the road? Aren’t you worried you’ll fall walking like this?”

I continued walking and answered calmly, “It’s just as dark for you, but you’re walking perfectly well without falling. I live here and know the road very well. This is your first visit, yet you can walk without seeing too.”

“That’s different. You and I aren’t the same. I’m… Wait!”

He stopped abruptly and exclaimed in astonishment, “Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong with you. I don’t want the food at your home. I’m not going with you. I’m leaving–I have to go!”

The beggar turned to leave as he spoke.

I sneered. “Hehehe… You want to leave now? Too late. When I met you beside the road, you refused to believe I had no money. I said I was hurrying home, but you insisted on following me for a meal. I’ve brought you all this way, and now you want to change your mind?”
As I spoke, I grabbed his wrist.

An icy sensation instantly traveled through my fingers.

The beggar’s skin held no warmth. It felt like a block of ice or a piece of rotten wood.

But with a thought and a movement of my elixir field, a tiny amount of qi flowed from my fingertips. The cold sensation vanished instantly, and my hand clamped firmly around the beggar’s wrist, preventing his escape.

“Hey! Let go! Let go of me!”

The beggar panicked and struggled desperately.

But no matter what he did, he could not break my grip.

“Come on. You’re eating at my place!”

Ignoring his struggles, I dragged him toward the coffin shop.

How strong could a scrawny old beggar be?

The shop was only twenty or thirty meters away, and I soon reached the door.

The lights inside were still on. Old Cao was working on the rosewood coffin–it was a truly important commission, so he naturally devoted tremendous energy to it.

Still gripping the beggar, I stood outside and called, “Old Cao, I’m back.”

Perhaps my voice sounded dejected, because Old Cao stopped working. He teased me as he looked up.

“It was difficult, wasn’t it? I asked whether you wanted my help. I’m old and have no attachments, so I don’t mind sharing your karmic debt… What the hell! Why did you drag a panhandler ghost home? Starving ghosts like that are weak and unlucky. Why would you capture one for no reason? Don’t tell me you want to follow an evil practitioner’s path and command ghosts. If Master finds out, she might purge you from her school.”

Old Cao stared in astonishment at the beggar I refused to release.

I pouted. “Master would never expel me. She said our lineage has no taboos and acts without restraint. We consult only our own hearts, never outsiders. It just happens that I’m a good person, so I don’t want anything to do with evil methods.”

I patted the beggar on the shoulder and asked, “Did I forcibly capture you and bring you back?”

At this point, the beggar was no fool. Of course he knew he had kicked an iron plate!

His face crumpled as he hurriedly shook his head. “No, no! Why would a revered young adept spare a glance for a lonely wandering ghost like me? Greed blinded me, and I tried to beg a meal from you, Young Adept. But then…”

He–or rather, it–could not continue.

That was right!

This fellow was not human at all, but a ghost.

It was a panhandler ghost–a lonely wandering spirit formed after a beggar froze or starved to death.

It was a variety of starving ghost, relatively weak and not terribly harmful.

Such ghosts often lingered where they had starved in life and continued their old profession–panhandling, or begging for food.

But as ghosts, they possessed certain abilities.

If a passerby could not give them the money they wanted–spirit money–that person suffered bad luck. They might return home listless for several days or contract a moderately serious illness.

Alternatively, the ghost might demand to follow them home for a meal.

Panhandler ghosts were inauspicious and carried misfortune. Allowing one into your home for a meal would not endanger anyone’s life.

But in the short term, the household would probably lose a certain amount of money.

A thief might suddenly visit, for example, or someone might accidentally lose their wallet…