Something's wrong with this demon.

Chapter 15

"What do I need to be?"

Behind the shop counter, a pale-faced woman stared blankly at the boy in front of her.

"Soul".

Luo Qingchen spoke calmly, as if she were talking about something very ordinary.

"How much silver can it be pawned for?"

He asked.

The woman looked him over again and said, "In the past, this would only be worth fifty taels of silver. However, these days, the higher-ups are in dire need of souls. If you sign the contract today, I can give you eighty taels."

Luo Qingchen was taken aback: "Eighty taels? That's so little?"

A soul? Eighty taels?

The woman smiled faintly: "That's quite a lot, eighty taels of silver. An ordinary medicine doctor might need to earn that much in a lifetime."

In reality, most people who work in the pharmaceutical industry would never earn that much.

Because they won't live that long.

Luo Qingchen paused for a moment, then said, "I am a cultivator."

He took out a wooden plaque engraved with his name and identity, handed it to the counter, and said, "Souls should be worth more, right?"

"A cultivator?"

The woman took the wooden plaque, examined it carefully for a few moments, and nodded, saying, "For cultivators, a stronger soul naturally makes them more valuable. If you sign the contract today, I can give you three hundred taels."

"Three hundred taels..."

Luo Qingchen murmured the same sentence, remained silent for a few moments, reached out and took back her wooden plaque, and prepared to leave.

Three hundred taels is still a long way from eight hundred taels.

If we can't raise eight hundred taels, there's no point in selling this soul.

As he turned to walk out of the shop, the woman suddenly spoke again, "How many do you want?"

Luo Qingchen stopped and turned around, saying, "Eight hundred taels."

Upon hearing this, the woman sneered, "Eight hundred taels? What kind of spirit do you think you are? Made of gold or silver?"

"I need eight hundred taels."

After speaking calmly in the early morning, Luo prepared to leave.

The woman added, "I'll give you five hundred taels at most. Take it or leave it. After today, the price may not be the same."

Luo Qingchen paused, then shook her head.

As he lifted his foot and stepped across the threshold, the woman suddenly slammed her hand on the counter and exclaimed, "I'll give you another hundred taels! Six hundred taels!"

Luo Qingchen didn't stop and went straight out of the shop.

The woman snorted coldly, stopped calling him, muttered a few words under her breath, and sat down.

A moment later, Luo Qingchen reappeared outside the door, looked at her, and said, "Add another hundred taels, seven hundred taels, is that alright?"

The woman sneered, about to utter a few sarcastic remarks, when she heard him say, "I need eight hundred taels of silver to save my sister. I can borrow the remaining one hundred taels. But if I'm still short two hundred taels, I might not be able to borrow them. What's the point of selling my soul if I can't save my sister?"

Upon hearing this, the woman stared at him for a few more moments, pondered for a moment, then took out the contract from under the counter and said calmly, "Then seven hundred taels it is. If it weren't for the fact that they're in dire need of souls, you shouldn't even think about this price!"

Luo Qingchen silently walked into the shop, her gaze falling on the contract on the counter.

The woman pointed to the words on it and explained, "One-month deadline. If you can come and repay the money within one month, this contract will be returned to you. We lent you seven hundred taels, and whether you repay it tomorrow or on another day within the month, you must repay us nine hundred taels. If you cannot repay the money after one month, then your soul will belong to us. At that time, you will come and have your blood dripped to make a token. After you die, we will come and collect your soul immediately."

"Also, don't even think about running away or cheating. I've already memorized the identity badge you just showed me."

The woman gave a stern warning.

"If we discover that you are trying to escape or break the contract, we will immediately send someone to collect your soul, whether you are alive or dead."

Luo Qingchen didn't speak. After silently reading the contract, she took out a dagger, cut her thumb, and pressed her fingerprint onto the two contracts.

His sister's soul was in imminent danger, and he had no other choice.

As for the one-month period...

Let's see if he can live for another month.

The woman stamped her seal, handed him one of the contracts, and asked, "Do you want banknotes or silver?"

"Silver notes, please."

The amount of silver was too heavy; if others found out, he might not even survive the night.

After a while.

He left the pawnshop with a huge sum of seven hundred taels of silver in his pocket.

From this moment on, his physical body and soul no longer belonged to him.

He raised his head and glanced at the sky above.

The sky was gray and gloomy, with not a ray of sunshine in sight.

This isn't the sky; it's a dark, sunless prison.

He is in a cage.

The streets were deserted, and the vendors were listless.

He glanced at the grocery store as he passed by and continued walking.

He was still short one hundred taels of silver, and he had to raise the money as soon as possible.

At the corner, he suddenly stopped and turned to look behind him.

There was nothing unusual about what was behind them.

But for some reason, he felt that someone had been following him.

He glanced around a few more times, touched the dagger in his sleeve, and continued walking forward.

Soon, he arrived at Zhao Shi's stall.

Zhao Shi was pale, and his right wrist was wrapped in gauze, clearly indicating that it had also been squeezed and bled that day.

Next to Zhao Shi sat a middle-aged man with gray hair, who was cleaning the mud off his shoes.

Luo Qingchen also knew this man; his name was Zhao Laosan, and he was Zhao Shi's father.

"Ah Chen!"

Zhao Shi was in a daze when he saw him, his eyes lit up and his face was full of joy.

Hearing this, Zhao Laosan also raised his head.

Luo Qingchen greeted them: "Uncle Zhao, Brother Shi."

Old Zhao looked him up and down, his face full of disbelief. "Ah Chen, I heard from Shi Tou last night that you've become a cultivator? Is that true? Weren't you a student before?"

Zhao Shi, standing to the side, said, "Father, of course it's true. How could I lie to you? I was also very surprised when Ah Chen told me about it yesterday."

Luo Qingchen nodded and said, "Uncle Zhao, I have indeed become a cultivator, and I'm working at Baixianglou now."

"Baixianglou..."

Zhao Laosan frowned, as if he wanted to say something, but hesitated and didn't speak.

Zhao Shi, who was standing nearby, asked, "Chen, did anything happen to you last night? Did you see Yun?"

Luo Qingchen said, "I haven't seen it yet; the night patrol only starts tonight."

He hesitated for a moment, and was about to explain his purpose when a furious shout suddenly came from the street not far behind him: "Where did this little beggar come from? Get lost! You stink!"

Luo Qingchen turned her head and saw a thin figure with disheveled hair and tattered clothes hurrying away from the front of a shop with his head down.

"Oh, it's that little mute girl. Isn't she going mining today?"

Zhao Shi asked, somewhat puzzled.

Luo Qingchen asked, "Little mute?"

Zhao Shi looked at him and said, "Ah Chen, don't you remember her? She's that little mute from our Qingshui Town! You and Xiaoyu used to help her and her sister a lot. She came here before us. But she's really mentally challenged. She's so thin and small, yet she chose to go mining, something only men can do. Women who come here to survive either sell themselves in brothels or voluntarily become living corpse slaves of those Demon-Slaying Sect disciples. At least they have food and clothing, and they don't have to donate blood or waste their energy."

"Is it her?"

When Luo Qingchen looked at the thin figure again, the person had already turned into the alley and disappeared.

He remembered that girl.

The other party also has an older sister. The two sisters are often abused and beaten by their parents. Every time I see them on the street, they are disheveled, dressed in rags, covered in injuries, rummaging through garbage to eat. In the dead of winter, they wear thin clothes full of holes, shivering from the cold, and they don't even have shoes on.

Several times the two sisters fainted from hunger, but luckily he and Xiaoyu saw them and saved them.

Xiaoyu often brought food for the sisters and also gave them a quilt and some clothes to wear.

The town's children often bullied the sisters, calling them "little mute" and "little beggar" while throwing things at them. Every time he and Xiaoyu saw this, they would stop the children.

"Ah Chen, you'd better stay away from that ruthless little beast from now on!"

At this moment, Zhao Laosan seemed to remember something, his face showing lingering fear.

As Luo Qingchen was wondering, Zhao Shi whispered, "Achen, you may not know this, but the day before the incident in Qingshui Town, that little mute girl poisoned more than twenty members of the Wu family with rat poison, cut off their heads, and then went home and personally stabbed her parents and younger brother to death..."

"Killing your parents, killing your brother, you're worse than an animal!"

Zhao Laosan cursed under his breath.

Luo Qingchen paused, her gaze returning to the alleyway where the slender figure had disappeared, and asked, "Do you know why?"

Zhao Shi said, "According to Aunt Shui, Master Wu took a fancy to her and offered two taels of silver to buy her. She refused, even at the cost of her life, and slashed her face with scissors. Her father was a gambler and had already gambled away the two taels of silver Master Wu gave him. When he got home, he beat her half to death and then had no choice but to send her older sister to Master Wu's mansion. But her sister also refused, and Master Wu and his family broke her legs. She crawled and threw herself into a well to commit suicide. Master Wu lost both his money and his wife. The next day, he came to her house, and her parents tied her up and let Master Wu take her away..."

At this point, Zhao Shi trembled slightly and lowered his voice, saying, "Who knew she was so ruthless? She secretly brought rat poison and killed the entire Wu family that very day, then returned home that very night..."

"Aunt Shui was there too. She came back with her hair disheveled. When her parents saw her, they started cursing and beating her, and were about to tie her up and send her back. Her younger brother also told her to get out of there..."

"Then she suddenly pulled out a sharp knife and stabbed them to death... According to Aunt Shui, she stabbed her father many times and cut off his head. When she left, she was covered in blood and looked like a demon..."

At this moment, Zhao Laosan couldn't help but curse again: "You ungrateful and unfilial wretch, worse than pigs and dogs! Your parents gave birth to you, and whatever they asked you to do, you should have obediently done it. So what if they sold you? You actually dared to kill your parents, you deserve divine retribution, and after death you will go to the eighteenth level of hell, never to be reincarnated!"

Zhao Shi chimed in, "That's right! That little mute should be sent to the deepest hell, never to be reincarnated!"

Luo Qingchen remained silent and did not speak.

He didn't mention the loan again, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then took his leave.

When I passed through that alley, it was deserted, except for a few black fallen leaves, swirling and dancing gently in the cold wind.

He quickened his pace and left the area.