Peninsula: I'm being supported by a top idol.

"This is your incense offering plan. There are three copies in total. We will keep the original, and you can keep one copy for yourself."

Cui Shi'an took the box: "What about the other one?"

"Find a shrine and hang it up yourself. As long as someone is willing to make offerings to you, you will receive incense offerings."

Upon hearing this, Cui Shi'an recalled the shaman Duoling who had proposed making offerings to him that day: "Making offerings means I should become a ghost immortal?"

"Ghost Immortal?" Hera scoffed. "That's a dead soul stealing incense offerings, a rootless duckweed. Every bit of incense offering used is gone. But your physical body is still here, and your soul is intact. Incense offerings can be transformed into your own abilities."

"My own ability?"

"Hmm." Hera thought for a moment, then looked down at the cup on the table. "Let me give you an example."

She walked over, picked up the cup, and shook it: "Just imagine the ghost immortal as this cup, and the water inside as its incense. Every time it uses its power, the incense inside diminishes. To restore it, you have to wait for new incense to fill the cup. Do you understand?"

"Okay, I understand." Cui Shi'an nodded. "And what about me? What am I? An evil spirit?"

"Now that you have the incense offering chart, how can you still be considered an evil spirit? The incense you receive will directly strengthen you. If you can absorb enough incense to reach the mountaintop..."

Cui Shi'an's expression turned serious: "What will happen if we reach the summit?"

"..." She stared at him for a long while, then finally waved her hand: "Let's not be so ambitious. I've never heard of anyone succeeding in this kind of thing. Anyway..."

She looked at Cui Shi'an and spoke slowly and deliberately:

"In human terms, ghost immortals are unlicensed, illegal operators, and you..."

"A deity operating legally?"

"I'm a certified 'ghost'! After all, you have a physical body." Hara puffed out her small chest, speaking with righteous indignation, as if it were some kind of glorious title.

Cui Shi'an stroked his chin, his eyes subtly revealing his thoughts: "Really want to be a ghost?...That doesn't sound like a good thing."

"Tsk, why are you so stubborn?" Hera looked like she'd never seen anything like it before.

"It's just a name. In some places it's called the Feathered Serpent God, in others it's called the Angel, and in still others it's called the Door God or the Head of the Officials. In the end, it all means the same thing. The only difference is the uniform. Besides, people are burning incense and kowtowing to you and calling you 'Master,' so you're at least a minor deity."

Cui Shi'an curled his lip: "Those must be some kind of heretical or unorthodox deity, right?"

"In short," she waved her hand, ending the topic, and began outlining her business plan:

"Incense offerings are cash flow! As long as you work hard and guide your 'offline agents' to develop more high-end clients, offer packages for warding off evil spirits and disasters, and protect the home for peace, and increase the average order value... paying off your debts will only be a matter of a few years!"

She became more and more enthusiastic as she spoke, her eyes shining: "Think about it, how many wealthy people in Seoul are afraid of death or misfortune? This is a blue ocean market!"

"But besides knowing a little about exorcism, I haven't studied anything like fortune telling!"

"That's okay." She gave me that look that said, "You're being petty."

"Exorcism is the core competitive advantage! Think about it, when other people's spirits possess someone, they have to dance and chant for ages, but here—the customer just says your name, and you 'whoosh' over, grab your invisible knife, and chop down the evil spirit. It's fast and ruthless, and your reputation will naturally grow!"

She lowered her voice, her tone seductive: "In this day and age, customers want efficiency and stress relief. That's what you call 'precision strike, ultimate experience'!"

Cui Shi'an curled his lip. It's easy for you to say. What if you run into a military commander like the one last time?

But then he suddenly remembered that this girl was known for her investment acumen during her lifetime, and she's still active even after death. She really is a "capital genius"...

"So you mean... I can possess other people's bodies?"

"As long as you find a capable sorcerer who is willing to make offerings, and you carry the incense image with you while performing rituals, you'll have entered the first stage. There's nothing you can't do. If you're lazy, you can even earn this money while lying in bed. Convenient, right?"

"So, does that mean I can freely enter and leave the North District?" Cui Shi'an asked, addressing the question that concerned him most.

"It's possible, but it's best to avoid it for now."

Why?

"I told you before, some messengers of hell really like to extort money..."

"Just like you?"

Hera rolled her eyes. "Those guys are way more ruthless than me. Go ahead and try to leave, but you'd better not cross the river. Don't blame me for not warning you beforehand, hmph!"

Cui Shi'an understood; it seemed that he would have to prove himself through his actions.

Thinking of this, he suddenly fixed his gaze on the petite girl in front of him.

"hey-hey."

"What?" Hera was startled when she noticed his eyes suddenly turn into dark gold vertical pupils and took a big step back.

"Envoy-nim~" Cui Shi'an clenched his fist in the air, and an invisible hilt of a sword fell into his palm:

"Could we... spar a bit? So we don't run into other messengers of hell next time~"

Hara's eyes narrowed: "Want to die?"

Before he finished speaking, Cui Shi'an stepped forward, his right hand clenched as if holding a knife, and thrust straight at him.

The air was cut by an invisible force, producing a faint buzzing sound.

Hera raised an eyebrow, gracefully retreated, and casually waved her left hand.

The feather duster in the corner suddenly flew up and hit Cui Shi'an directly in the face.

Cui Shi'an did not dodge.

His eyes gleamed with a dark gold, and his vertical pupils flickered slightly—not at the duster, but at the faint white trail of light clinging to it, before he flicked his wrist.

With a soft "hiss," the trajectory of the spiritual light was abruptly severed.

The feather duster went out of control and fell to the ground with a "thud".

"Oh?" Hara was a little surprised.

With a wave of her hands, a mop, a pestle, a ceramic jar, and a jumble of other odds and ends in the room floated into the air and rained down on Cui Shi'an from all directions.

Cui Shi'an made a move.

The footwork was short, even a bit stiff, but each step was precisely timed to catch the gaps between the incoming debris.

His right hand swung or slashed, the blade flashing but each strike landing precisely on the spiritual node connecting the miscellaneous objects.

Snap, snap, snap...

The objects whose connections had been severed fell to the ground one after another.

In just five or six breaths, only Cui Shi'an remained standing in the center of the room, surrounded by a mess.

Hera lowered her hand and stared at him for two seconds.

"Fine." Her voice was unreadable, and her slender body suddenly floated up, her hair standing on end, and her pupils turning blood red.

Boom—

A muffled rumble of thunder echoed in the room, a dark cloud seemed to gather on the ceiling, and flashes of lightning occasionally streaked across the room.

Its imposing presence was just as grand as when it used to scare people on the roadside.

Then, the dark cloud swooped down on him.

Cui Shi'an's vertical pupils darted around, capturing the trajectory of the clouds and mist. He gripped the hilt of his sword and thrust it into the clouds and mist with all his might!

No sound.

But Hara clearly felt as if something had "pierced" her.

Although it was only for a moment, the gap had already appeared.

Cui Shi'an burst out of the gap, landing with a scorched patch on his right shoulder—he had still been grazed, and it stung painfully.

But he stopped, turned around, and his empty right hand, still holding a knife, pointed at Hera.

Hera did not make any further moves.

She floated in mid-air, her gaze lingering on Cui Shi'an's charred shoulder for a moment, then sweeping over the mess on the ground, and finally...

It landed on the cuff of his left sleeve.

There, at some point, a slit about an inch long had been cut open. The cut surface of the fabric was eerily neat.

The air was silent for two seconds.

Cui Shi'an also saw the opening and was stunned: "Wait, this isn't me—"

"Cui, Shi, An".

Hara's voice was soft, but it sent a chill down Choi Si-an's spine.

She landed gently, walked up to him, tugged at her sleeve, and brought it close to his eyes:

"Look closely. Chanel. The latest season. I've been working on this for three months."

"I really didn't touch it—"

"Pay me." She interrupted him, letting go of his hand and crossing her arms. "The debt is for my coffin lid, plus this. Interest will be calculated as usual."

"No, this could be yourself—"

"Besides you, who else in this house uses a knife?" Hera squinted.

"Or do you want to fight another round and see if I can make you lose even more?"