Ita Era

Chapter 135 Ghost Market
Skills are divided into many categories. One category is a special type called the "Wordless Heavenly Book," which occupies the item slot and is a skill that comes with the item itself, such as the Star-Breaking Sword of the Red-Clad Woman.

One type is skills that come with or are fused with from playing cards, which occupy skill slots. The other type is those learned through comprehension, such as the skill books for Dugu Nine Swords and the Splitting Palm. The advantage of comprehension-based skills is that they don't occupy skill or item slots, but the disadvantage is that they require comprehension. You can't consume skill books; you must learn them through comprehension—simply put, you have to pass an exam.

Taking the "Splitting Palm" technique as an example, this skill book has 21 pages, a small portion of which is illustrations, and a small portion is difficult-to-understand text. It ranges from the creation myth of Pangu to aerodynamics. A weekly system assessment is available; a score of 80 indicates mastery, allowing the user to unleash 60% of the "Splitting Palm's" power. A score of 90 allows for 80% power, and a perfect score allows for 100% power.

Ding Shi was also learning skills in this way for the first time, and asked, "How are you doing with your Dugu Nine Swords?"

Su Su sighed, "I'm still memorizing the general formula. I can only start learning one of the techniques after passing the general formula exam."

Ding asked curiously, "What general formula?"

Su Su recited: "Gui Mei moves towards Wu Wang, Wu Wang moves towards Tong Ren, Tong Ren moves towards Da You. Jia turns to Bing, Bing turns to Geng, Geng turns to Gui, blah blah blah... When learning a move, there are not only written tests but also martial tests. The written test is on the sword technique, and the martial test is on the movements."

Ding Shi had a headache: "Alright, alright, I'll take you to a good place."

Su Su immediately became alert: "Are you trying to kidnap me? I might not agree." The middle of the night, a nice place, and a brother... It didn't sound like a good thing at all.

Ding Shi ignored her, grabbed Su Su's shoulder and clothes, and with his other hand touched the teleportation array, he drew 20 points of Yin virtue and teleported to the Ghost Market.

The sky was dark, with countless pale green will-o'-the-wisps floating in mid-air, and translucent spirits swimming overhead.

Before them stretched a long bluestone street, with shops on the left and stalls on the right. Each stall had a lantern with a ghostly glow, and the street was bustling with people.

The first stall owner was a hanged man with a long, protruding tongue. Various bottles and jars were displayed on the ground. Upon seeing a potential buyer, he greeted him enthusiastically, "Gulp gulp!" Due to his tongue, he couldn't speak very fluently. The hanged man was obviously aware of this and put his tongue back in: "Antiques, antiques, collectible, all genuine."

Su Su was first shocked, then incredulous, and then shook Ding Shi's shoulder: "Ding Ding, why didn't you tell me about such a fun place sooner?"

"Calm down, calm down," Ding Shi reassured him.

The hanged ghost peddled, "Brother, Five Emperors Coins, absolutely genuine Five Emperors Coins."

Su Su pushed Ding Shi aside, stared at the copper coins on the stall, and asked, "Which five emperors?"

The hanged ghost: "Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Wu of Wei, Emperor Wu of Song, Emperor Wu of Chen, and Emperor Wu of Liang."

Su Su looked at the hanged ghost: "Although I don't understand, I don't think it's these five emperors."

Ding Shi said, "It should be the Yellow Emperor, the Supreme God, the Jade Emperor, the Heavenly Emperor, and the Emperor."

The hanged ghost patted Ding Shi on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up: "A role model for us all. Since we're all just lowlifes, I won't hold back. We won't talk about the copper coins. Sir, please take a look: the Demon-Revealing Mirror. Absolutely genuine, try looking into it on me."

Su Su curiously pointed the mirror at the hanged ghost, and a handsome scholar appeared in the mirror frame. The hanged ghost said, "This is my original form."

Ding Shi took the demon-revealing mirror and looked it at the passing ghosts. Finding it quite interesting, he asked, "How much?"

The hanged ghost stuffed his protruding tongue back in and stuck out two fingers covered in saliva: "Two thousand."

Ding sighed, "I can't afford it." Then he turned to leave.

The hanged ghost seemed to be quite the businessman. He grabbed Ding Shi and thought for a moment, saying, "I have something here worth two hundred. I don't know if you can handle it." He then took out a die that looked very ordinary, but instead of numbers, it had "Great Luck," "Medium Luck," "Slight Luck," "Slight Misfortune," "Medium Misfortune," and "Great Misfortune" on it.

The hanged ghost said, "Six gambling ghosts are trapped inside the dice. If you roll a lucky one, the gambling ghosts will help you for 10 minutes, during which time your primal force will not be depleted. A medium lucky one is for five minutes. A minor lucky one is for one minute. But if you roll a minor unlucky one, the gambling ghosts will drain your primal force, leaving you paralyzed for one minute, and so on."

Ding Shi took the dice, weighed them in his hands a few times, and said, "They're not solid."

The hanged ghost was immediately embarrassed. You, who don't even know anything about Five Emperors Coins, actually know about dice.

Su Su asked, "What do you mean?"

Ding Shi said, "This is a cheating die. If you think you can outsmart six gamblers, then this is a good thing. Let's go."

"Wait a minute," the hanged ghost said. "Just because you are the first pair of living people to come to the ghost market in thousands of years, I, Old Hang, am determined to make this deal with you today."

As he spoke, he took out a bamboo scroll from the side and said with an extremely solemn expression, "The wordless heavenly book, not 999, not 888, only 488 today."

Su Su opened the bamboo slip and exclaimed in amazement, "It really is a wordless book; there isn't a single word on it."

Ding Shi was stunned by the two for a few seconds, then silently took out his wordless book.

As the Heavenly Book unfolded, text surged forth. The bamboo scroll rolled up, and Ding Shi grasped one scroll in his palm, revealing four large green characters: "Shooting Arrows Without a Direction." This skill, activated once and effective for one hour, allows for the continuous firing of eighteen arrows.

Ding Shi flicked his hand, and arrows shot into the void with tremendous force.

The hanged ghost, mouth agape, watched Ding Shi's performance, then picked up his tongue and pushed people away, shouting, "Go, go, go!"

Su Su asked in surprise, "Old Diao, what do you mean?"

"Go, go quickly."

Ding Shi said, "It means he can't fool us, and he wants us not to bother him."

The two left the stall, and the Black and White Impermanence figures floated overhead, surveying the situation on the street.

Su Su ran excitedly to a stall and shouted, "Ding Shi, musket!"

The stall owner must have been electrocuted; his whole body was sizzling with smoke. Ding Shi asked curiously, "Are you a player?"

The electrocution ghost, who had been sitting there in a daze, suddenly looked at Ding Shi upon hearing this and asked in surprise, "Ita is connected to the underworld?"

The stall owner was indeed a player who died in a dungeon and went to the Four Symbols City. In the Four Symbols City, he threw trash from a high place, killing someone, and was sentenced to death. After his execution, the stall owner went to the Three Talents City.

Sancai City is a ghost town. In Sancai City, the stall owners live as spirits, needing neither food nor water, nor to excrete or sleep. Sancai City provides free leisure and entertainment, including mahjong, video games, and everything else imaginable.

The downsides are that there's no sun, no greenery, and you can't leave.

Residents of Sancai City can travel to Liangyi City after ten years. As for what lies inside Liangyi City, no one knows. It is said to be a time realm, but what a time realm is, and who said so, is completely unknown.

The stall owner sells things because good deeds can reduce imprisonment time; 1,000 points of good deeds can offset a year's imprisonment. One can also accumulate good deeds to travel to the City of Two Elements.

The Ghost Market and the Ghost City are two separate areas, and invasive species are not allowed to enter the Ghost City.

After visiting a few more stalls, even Su Su realized that they were either selling things to scam ghosts or junk sold by players who had died in the game.

Ding Shi said, "Let's go to the store and take a look." At least since they have a store, their average credit rating should be relatively high.

Ding Shi and Su Su first went to a two-story restaurant called "Hundred Ghosts Night Banquet".

Upon entering, one sees a man dressed as a Qing Dynasty scholar calculating on an abacus, while a human with a short knife stuck in his chest stands beside him, asking, "How many guests are there?"

Ding Shi asked in surprise, "What are you doing? Are you going to kill me on the spot?"

"I'm Xiao Er."

Ding Shi nodded: "Two people."

The waiter led the two to a seat and took out a menu: "Sir, please take a look, this is our shop's menu."

Su Su leaned over and glanced at it briefly before frowning. (She was wearing Latin dance clothes.) Let's go.

Ding Shi remained unmoved and continued looking at the menu.

Su Su glanced at Xiao Er's big yellow teeth as he smiled at her, and a thought suddenly struck her. She typed in the tribe group: "Ding Shi, let's go. The food here is not fit for human consumption."

The group function cannot be used in the instance, but the Ghost Market is not an instance. Ding Shi did not check the group and said to the waiter: "Yellow Springs Wild Vegetables, wolf-hearted and dog-lunged, infamous for ten thousand years, plus a pale and emaciated one. Okay, that's all for now."

The waiter asked, "Sir, would you like another snack?"

Ding Shi glanced around and said, "Then let's get a bastard."

"Alright, please wait a moment, sir."

Seeing the waiter leave, Su Su asked nervously, "Is this food for humans?"

Ding Shi replied, "I don't know, but it's cheap; a dish costs only three points of Yin virtue."

Su Su: "Hidden virtue?"

Ding Shijing: "You still haven't realized that the currency here is Yin De (a form of yin virtue)?"

Su Su answered honestly, "I didn't find anything."

"Silly girl, give it a try."

The first dish served was wild vegetables from the underworld, tossed in soy sauce. This preserved the fresh aroma of the vegetables and the unique, rich flavor of the underworld, making the combination very appetizing.

"Infamous for eternity" refers to rotten meat, which looks appalling and smells incredibly foul. However, there's an ironclad rule in the culinary world: anything that smells bad has a specific audience—like stinky tofu or durian. Normally, people only eat smelly plants; this is the first time Ding Shi and Su Su have tasted rotten meat.

With a gentle touch of chopsticks, it was like a piece of rotten thigh flesh easily peeled off, mixed with black juice. There were holes in the skin, and inside the holes was a white substance. It was either maggots or fat.

It's disgusting no matter how you look at it.

The two had their own thoughts, but dared not say them outright, for they couldn't afford to lose face as humans in the ghost realm.

Su Su gloated in the group chat: Go ahead and eat it.

Ding Shi: I'll eat the wild vegetables first.

Su Su: The wild vegetables are mine.

Ding Shi: Let the juice soak first.

Su Su: Hmph, if you dare to eat me, I'll be your granddaughter.

Red-clad: What are you eating?
Su Su took photos and posted them in the group chat. The woman in red zoomed in on the first photo and almost threw up. The second photo showed Ding Shi picking up shredded meat, which still had some white fat on it. The third photo showed Ding Shi putting the food into his mouth.

Ding Shi exclaimed with delight, "Not bad!"

Su Su swallowed hard: I don't believe it.

Ding Shi picked off half a piece of meat and put it in his bowl, then started eating it in silence.

Su Su was torn between two possibilities: one, the food was awful, and Ding Shi, holding back, would drag her down with him and make her vomit. Another, the food was awful, and Ding Shi, for the sake of his pride, endured it. And yet another…

Seeing that the soup was almost empty, Su Su stamped her foot anxiously: "Ah, leave some for me, I want to try it too." She reached out with her chopsticks, scooped out a little bit of shredded meat from the soup, bravely put it in her mouth, chewed it, and then her eyes lit up: "Waiter, give me another dish called 'Infamous Forever'!"

SuSu's review: It tastes better than any meat I've ever eaten in the mortal world.

Group question mark: The living world?

Su Su: Ding Shi and I are in the ghost realm. This is the Hundred Ghosts Restaurant run by Mr. Pu Songling. (Takes a picture of Pu Songling at the entrance.) Pu Songling responds with a kind smile.

Next, Su Su dealt with various questions in the group chat. Ding Shi, who wasn't looking at the group chat, leisurely enjoyed his food and took a sip of Huang Quan's tea. It was worth it; he should come to this shop often.

Next, the two went to Meng Po's herbal bath and soaked for half an hour. Their bones felt incredibly soothed and numb, and they felt like they were floating on air. If it weren't for the fact that each guest could only soak for half an hour a day, Su Su would have stayed in the bath forever.

Then it was Judge Bao, the Fifth King of Hell, who was judging the case. The thief ghost had also stolen the head of the witness ghost, and now there were three suspects for the witness ghost to identify. Su Su noticed a loophole in Ghost A's speech and jumped out to expose him. Judge Bao was very pleased and rewarded her with 10 points of good karma.

Su Su was so happy she wanted to roll around in the street, but then Ding Bapi took away her 10 points of Yin Virtue, citing travel expenses as the reason.

In the ghost realm, one can trade merit points, and the trading method is similar to that of currency in the mortal realm. The difference is that merit points can only be traded in the ghost realm.

The Fifth Court of Hell also has a function to exchange Yin Virtue for Luck Points. Every 100 points of Yin Virtue can increase the Luck Point by one tier. Currently, the human Luck Points are 1-10, and the second tier is 11-20. Ding Shi originally wanted to exchange for four tiers, but considering that he hadn't finished eating all the dishes at the restaurant, he only exchanged for two tiers, raising his Luck Points to 21-30.

Ding Shi: "Brother, what's the highest level of luck?"

The constable in charge of exchanging the currency replied, "I don't know."

Ding Shi: "What is the maximum exchange value?" He took out 10 Yin De Coins. The Yin De Coins were semi-transparent soul-like in shape.

The constable accepted the Yin De coins, sat up straight, and answered seriously, "I really don't know. What I can say is that luck is a very elusive thing. For example, a spinning wheel with a hundred numbers on it. If your luck value is 1, the pointer will stay at 50 after spinning. What if your luck value is ten million? The pointer will still stay at 50. Because the objective conditions such as friction and wind resistance are exactly the same."

Seeing that Ding was about to lose his temper, the yamen runner hurriedly said, "But I don't think it's necessarily true that luck is completely useless."

Ding Shi's expression immediately changed, and he nodded repeatedly: "That's right, that's right." He had just spent two hundred merits.

The constable said, "For example, our meeting was due to a stroke of luck."

Ding Shi was speechless upon hearing this.

The constable said, "Don't underestimate this. Perhaps it's because you wasted time talking nonsense with me that you weren't swallowed by the accident, and that you unexpectedly gained wealth. Going left or right isn't fate, it's destiny."

Ding Shi tried to see remorse in the constable's eyes, but all he saw was greed and a gesture of giving money. So, the foolish Ding gave him another 10 Yin De coins.

The bailiff took the money, opened a drawer, took out a card, and stamped it with a red seal.

The constable said, "There's an old ghost weapon shop at the end of the street. The weapons we constables use, and even the magical artifacts of the Black and White Impermanence, are all made by the old ghost. This is a permit. With this permit, you can buy an item from the weapon shop, or provide the funds and materials to have the old ghost process it into a magical artifact or weapon for you."

Ding Shi's eyes lit up, and he reached for the permit, but the yamen runner stopped him, saying, "This is against the rules. I need to think about it."

Ding Shi, being shrewd, immediately offered another 10 units of Yin Virtue. The bailiff glanced at it but didn't move. Ding Shi offered another 10 units, and the bailiff hesitated again. Finally, the amount was increased to 50 units. The bailiff looked around and quietly pocketed the money. Ding Shi then accepted the permit.

After obtaining the permit, Ding Shi couldn't wait to pull Su Su out the door. Su Su frowned and said, "Ding Shi, this is not good. The root of corruption in many countries is the corruption of the entire population. Too many people are like you, only good at playing petty tricks."

Ding Shi gave a thumbs up: "Wow, the nation and the world, I admire you."

Su Su: "No, you're already very outstanding, with strong abilities in all aspects. Many things are not important to you."

Ding Shi said, "I've already fallen into the dye vat, so soaking for a minute less or a minute more makes no difference."

Su Su sighed and said helplessly, "You'll suffer the consequences of doing this sooner or later."

Ding Shi shrugged indifferently: "We'll talk about it sooner or later."

And then it will happen sooner or later.

Old Gui held the permit for a long time and stared at it: "Permit? Why do I need a permit? If I'm only going to sell things to the government, why would I open a shop?"

That makes so much sense!
Ding Shi placed one hand on Su Su's shoulder, swaying precariously. Su Su asked smugly, "Do you know what you did wrong now?"

Ding Shi reflected, "A kind human in his twenties can't defeat an ancient ghost that's been around for thousands of years. They bully outsiders."

Su Su sighed. "Never mind, I won't say anything more. It's not a good thing, but it's not a bad thing either."

(End of this chapter)