Chapter 14 - 13: Phonograph

Chapter 14: Chapter 13: Phonograph

Lu Jing’an had originally just planned to pass on the message. Looking at Kui Shan’s expression now, there was clearly a story here. Conveniently, Lu Jing’an also intended to learn a bit about this Void Evil God.

"Senior Kui Shan, I am quite curious about this Evil God. I wonder if you could enlighten me a bit," Lu Jing’an asked.

Hearing Lu Jing’an’s question, Kui Shan instinctively wanted to snap back at this rich kid. However, the words died on his lips. This boy’s Cultivation had already reached the Qi Blood First Transformation. No matter how talented Lu Jing’an was, considering his age and lack of foundational Child’s Skill, the suffering he must have endured to break through in such a short time was imaginable. This sheer willingness to endure hardship set him apart from those idle dandies who only knew how to walk their birds and make crickets fight.

Kui Shan merely disliked ignorant, incompetent rich kids. Someone like Lu Jing’an barely managed to catch his eye. Thinking of this, Kui Shan began to explain, though his tone was full of disdain and contempt. "The so-called Evil Gods are nothing more than a bunch of unpresentable rats hiding in the gutters."

Kui Shan was extremely dismissive of these Evil Gods.

Lu Jing’an recalled the Nine-fingered Yama’s prayer from before and said, "But Senior, these Evil Gods are able to allow believers to contact and be controlled by them through prayer alone. Such methods are likely beyond human capabilities."

Kui Shan sneered at his words. "These are just the dregs that our Huaxia discarded long ago."

Lu Jing’an was taken aback. The Void Evil God was something Huaxia discarded? He thought that statement was a bit too arrogant.

Seeing that Lu Jing’an was somewhat skeptical, Kui Shan immediately asked, "Have you ever heard of the Incense and Candle Divine Dao?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jing’an immediately understood. This method of praying to an Evil God really was the exact same concept as the Incense and Candle Divine Dao. In that sense, what the Void Evil God practiced truly was the leftovers of the Great Xia.

Having grasped the root of the matter, he continued to ask, "Then is there any fundamental difference between this Evil God and our Incense and Candle Divine Dao?"

Kui Shan said with a fierce glint in his eyes, "They are much worse, much more malicious. They are entirely formed from the condensation of negative emotions. Those who are controlled and influenced by them will only turn into absolute seeds of pure evil."

Looking at Kui Shan’s demeanor, Lu Jing’an could tell there was a lot of history here.

"Senior, may I ask what exactly happened between you and this Evil God?" Lu Jing’an asked tentatively.

"No," Kui Shan refused, his attitude extremely resolute.

Seeing this, Lu Jing’an didn’t plan to press further. Although he dropped the topic, he could still relay everything about the Nine-fingered Yama in full detail to Kui Shan. With this information, he figured Kui Shan should be able to uncover quite a bit. If Kui Shan could resolve the matter, it would be the best possible outcome for Lu Jing’an.

Lu Jing’an explained things in such great detail that Kui Shan felt embarrassed to just let him talk without offering any hospitality.

"Wen Ling, serve tea!" Kui Shan shouted toward the door.

A moment later, Wen Ling walked in carrying tea, wearing a faded, washed-out Yin Dan Forest qipao. It had to be said that Wen Ling’s figure was a perfect match for a qipao. This kind of cheap clothing was completely unworthy of her.

Lu Jing’an’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before he smiled and asked, "Sister Wen Ling, why aren’t you wearing that beautiful qipao today?"

Wen Ling smiled warmly at his words. "Such an expensive qipao can naturally only be worn when going out." 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Life at the Anping Bureau was indeed a bit tough.

With a sudden thought, Lu Jing’an asked, "Sister Wen, has the compensation from that Lamp Cultivator been delivered to the Anping Bureau yet?"

Kui Shan immediately replied, "It’s already been delivered."

Lu Jing’an didn’t acknowledge him, but instead looked at Wen Ling and asked again, "Sister Wen, has it really been delivered?"

Wen Ling immediately understood his intent. "Not yet."

Hearing this, Lu Jing’an feigned immediate anger. "How do these people do things? Don’t worry, Sister Wen. I’ll write a check for you later."

Wen Ling smiled sweetly. "Then I must thank you so much."

Kui Shan ruined the mood from the side, saying, "Don’t think you can buy us off just like this."

Lu Jing’an once again chose to ignore Kui Shan and spoke directly to Wen Ling. "Sister Wen, I noticed that Lamp Cultivator had a pretty high level. Ten thousand silver coins should be enough to compensate you, right?"

The number Lu Jing’an casually tossed out instantly choked back whatever else Kui Shan had been about to say.

Wen Ling beamed, repeatedly nodding. "It’s enough, more than enough! You are so thoughtful!"

Lu Jing’an picked up his teacup and was just about to take a sip.

Wen Ling raised her delicate hand, brushing past his lips to hold down the cup. "This tea isn’t very good. I’ll go fetch you some better ones."

A moment later, when Wen Ling returned, she had changed into the beautiful qipao and silver-rimmed glasses from the other day. The tray in her hands now held a delicate white porcelain tea set, emitting a refreshing fragrance before he even took a sip.

Watching this scene, Lu Jing’an truly felt the urge to let Wen Ling give him some thorough "tutoring."

Kui Shan really couldn’t bear to watch.

Lu Jing’an took a sip of the tea and praised, "Good tea indeed."

"Of course. These are the leaves from a Plant Cultivator’s core tea tree; they can cure a hundred poisons," Wen Ling introduced.

Hearing this, Lu Jing’an immediately picked up his cup and took a few more sips. The tea was good, but no system prompt appeared. He figured it was likely because there were no actual tea leaves in the cup, and the quantity was simply too small. However, he quickly thought of another method.

"Sister Wen Ling, I’m extremely curious about all kinds of Cultivators. So, I’d like to buy some items used by Cultivators," Lu Jing’an said.

Wen Ling frowned upon hearing his request. "It’s not that I don’t want to help you. Firstly, Cultivators would never sell their core Spiritual Treasures. Secondly, even if they did sell them, they wouldn’t easily sell them to you."

Lu Jing’an understood the underlying meaning in her words. However, he didn’t need anything core to a Cultivator, nor did he even need them to be whole. After all, he had the Zhengqi Furnace.

"Sister Wen Ling, I don’t need a core Spiritual Treasure. A Treasure will do, and it doesn’t even need to be intact. I’m mainly just curious and plan to take it home to study."

Hearing this, Wen Ling instantly realized a few things. Her eyes lit up. "If that’s the case, then I do have a few things I can sell you."

She thought for a moment before suddenly recalling something. "Wait a minute, I’ll go get it for you."

"AHEM."

Kui Shan felt that Wen Ling’s behavior was simply too disgraceful, immediately letting out two coughs to remind her of her manners.

Lu Jing’an directly paved the way with silver coins. "Sister Wen Ling, regardless of the item’s size, I’ll offer a starting price of at least five thousand silver coins."

The words that had reached Kui Shan’s lips instantly took a sharp turn. "Be careful, don’t break the item."

Wen Ling agreed and walked away on her long legs.

When she returned, she was holding a delicately styled red phonograph in her arms. Lu Jing’an hurriedly stepped forward to help her carry and put it down.

The moment he touched it, Lu Jing’an received a reaction.

[Refining/Repairable item detected. Please choose.]

Seeing this prompt, Lu Jing’an knew this trip had been well worth it.

The two worked together to place the phonograph on the table. After catching her breath, Wen Ling began to explain it to him.

"This is a Treasure that Yin Futou made a few days ago, but his skills weren’t quite up to par, so it failed."

Lu Jing’an asked, "Sister Wen Ling, does this thing have any special function?"

Patting the phonograph, Wen Ling explained, "This was originally custom-ordered by a wealthy man in his seventies. He planned to use it to listen in on his concubines and see if they were doing anything behind his back. Unfortunately, Yin Futou’s craftsmanship isn’t quite refined yet. The finished product produced extremely muffled sounds, and you couldn’t make out anything at all. In the end, the client returned it."

Listening to Wen Ling’s explanation, Lu Jing’an felt this was truly a great gadget.

If it could be repaired, that would definitely be the best outcome. If it couldn’t, he figured the entry extracted from Refining it wouldn’t be bad either.

Lu Jing’an slapped the machine and declared, "Sister Wen Ling, I’ll take it." He paused for a moment before continuing, "However, for such a large item, five thousand silver coins is a bit low. Let’s make it ten thousand silver coins. Including the compensation, that comes to twenty thousand silver coins in total."

As he spoke, Lu Jing’an took out his checkbook. SCRITCH SCRATCH. He directly wrote out a check for twenty thousand silver coins.

"Here you go, Sister Wen Ling."

Lu Jing’an completely bypassed Kui Shan. He had a general grasp of Kui Shan’s personality. Even if he handed the check to him, it wouldn’t earn him any pleasant words. He might as well give it to someone who was beautiful and spoke sweetly.

Sure enough, Wen Ling accepted the check, her eyes shining as she stared at it for a long moment before saying coquettishly, "Thank you so much."

"Sister Wen Ling, if you get any more items like this in the future, you can have them sent straight to me."

Wen Ling eagerly agreed. They were just some semi-finished products anyway. It wouldn’t count as violating any regulations.

In the end, Wen Ling personally escorted Lu Jing’an out to his car. Right before he got in, she discreetly slipped a piece of paper into his hand.