Chapter 19: The Divine Beast's Return of Gratitude "Does this kind of magic really exist?!...

The divine beast repays the favor!

Xie Bian's eyes gleamed, and he grabbed Xuan Chi's arm: "I'm also responsible for saving you!!!"

Xuan Chi nodded gently and asked him, "What are your recent wishes?"

"Wishes..." Xie Bian blurted out, "What I want most is paid vacation. Fifty years of paid vacation... But you can't help me with that, so how about a cash discount?"

Si Ling rolled his eyes in front of Xie Bian.

Xuan Chi smiled and said, "I can cast a karma curse on you."

Si Ling was stunned: "Karma spell?"

Xie Bian blurted out: "Does this kind of magic really exist?!"

Hyun Chi nodded quietly.

Xie Bian sucked in a breath of cold air and subconsciously dodged backwards. "No, no... I, uh... I can get some time off on my own. It's not worth it to cause a bad chain reaction over such a small matter!"

Xuan Chi smiled, a smile that only lingered on his lips, never reaching his eyes. But his expression remained charming. "No. The Karma Curse requires cultivation, but its advantage is that it won't cause too many chain reactions. It will accomplish what it seeks, and it will also repair any problems it creates."

"Use cultivation as a price?!" Xie Bian accurately grasped this key information and asked angrily, "Then how much cultivation will this cost me?"

"It's hard to say." Xuan Chi lowered his eyes and pondered, then estimated, "Probably twenty years."

"Hiss—" Xie Bian waved his hands repeatedly, "No need, no need! I can't do anything to help..."

Twenty years in exchange for fifty years sounds like a good deal, but even for a divine beast, cultivation is accumulated day by day.

Xie Bian felt that he was unworthy of having given up twenty years of his vacation.

Xuan Chi thought about it thoughtfully, then said, "I can also transform it into a pill and give you my cultivation."

Twenty years of cultivation?

Xie Bian still felt unworthy, but he was damn moved.

Xie Bian hesitated for a moment, then struck a balance between greed and kindness. "Can it be split in two? My brother, Hei Wuchang, is also involved in this. I'll split it with him."

Each of the two people obtained ten years of cultivation, and Xie Bian did not feel that he was too ashamed of it.

"Okay." Xuan Chi nodded without hesitation.

Lucifer listened to the bargaining quietly, not emphasizing his own contribution. Although his influence on this matter was crucial from some perspectives, he hoped that Xuan Chi could stay in the Ghost Academy, even if it was only temporarily, rather than asking for a little cultivation.

——He could imagine how ugly Satan’s face would be when a powerful evil spirit transformed from an ancient mythical beast from the East joined the Ghost Academy.

Xuan Chi's gaze turned back to Si Ling. Si Ling held his cheek with his left hand and took a bite of the freshly rolled roast duck with his right hand. "Can your karma spell help me ascend to immortality?"

"Okay." Xuan Chi nodded.

Si Ling asked again: "How many years of cultivation will it take?"

Xuan Chi pondered the difficulty of a fierce ghost becoming an immortal: "A few thousand years."

"Just pretend I didn't ask." Si Ling curled his lips, swallowed the roast duck in his mouth, and let out a long sigh. "Actually, I don't feel like you owe me anything, but since you asked me what I want—well, I also hope you'll stay for a while and find out what happened first. Anyway, the worst result is that you won't find out. Then, if you go to the Heavenly Palace again, the result will be the same as going directly now, no worse."

Xuan Chi was silent for a moment, then said tactfully, "I can help you cast that karma spell."

"Cause and effect are triggered one after another, and I may not be able to ascend to immortality faster than completing the mission of Ghost Academy." Si Ling shrugged lightly, "So compared to this, I hope you will consider my request just now."

Xuan Chi hesitated several times before finally accepting his savior's request: "Okay."

Lucifer's heartstrings suddenly relaxed, and he raised his glass with a smile: "Welcome, it's a pleasure to work with you."

The four of them clinked their glasses together, making a pleasant sound. Lucifer looked at Xuan Chi kindly and said, "If you need anything during your stay, please let me know. The Ghost Academy will wholeheartedly provide you with all the services you need. I have only one additional request—since I contacted some friends in the East to find you, I hope you can agree to it."

Lucifer finally laid out his chips at the right time, and Hyun Chi stared at him: "What?"

Lucifer spoke frankly, "My immediate superior is Satan, and our relationship, um... isn't very good. If he hears about you, I think he'll come to the Ghost Academy to ask for you. But considering your identity and your cross-cultural relationship, he can't be too forceful. I hope you can refuse."

"Okay." Xuan Chi still said the same word. He agreed to the requests made by everyone who helped him without hesitation.

Such smooth communication allowed everyone to get what they needed, and the meal was naturally a great success for both the host and the guests. However, Si Ling felt a little sorry for Hyun Chi, because in her opinion, Hyun Chi's attitude of being almost manipulated was not just because of his good temper, but because of his indifference to the future.

——He just wanted to see the Emperor of Heaven and give himself an explanation. He didn’t care what happened afterwards.

She had painted a very effective pie for him by promising him an audience with the Emperor of Heaven, which had temporarily dispelled his thoughts of self-destruction and given him a desire to survive, but this did not mean that he really wanted to live like this.

After dinner, the four of them returned to the Ghost Academy together, and then Xie Bian went back to the East.

Lucifer went to do his thing, and Si Ling and Xuan Chi returned to the top floor of the dormitory area and went back to their respective rooms.

The next morning, Si Ling heard someone knocking on the door while washing up. Yang Yin replied, "Wait a moment," and the knocking stopped.

She wiped her face with a towel, dried the water droplets and went to open the door. It was Xuan Chi outside.

"Good morning." Si Ling greeted him and opened the door for him to come in, but he had no intention of going in. He just handed him a box and said, "Please help me contact Mr. Xie. This is the pill for him."

Si Ling took the box and opened it casually. Inside the box were two shiny light gray pills.

The pills transformed by ghosts' cultivation are all black or gray, those of gods are mainly in the colors of the five elements, and those of monsters are varied.

But cultivation is cultivation, it is applicable to gods and ghosts, and even mortals who practice cultivation can use it, there is no difference.

Si Ling closed the lid and told him solemnly, "I'll tell him right away."

"Thank you." Xuan Chi extended his hand again, "This is for you."

Si Ling was stunned and looked down. He was holding a bracelet in his hand.

The bracelet appeared to be made of black jade, measuring five or six centimeters wide, with delicate veins along its sides. Si Ling took a closer look and discovered that the veins resembled feathers, making the entire bracelet appear as if it were formed from a single, curved feather. If this had been the work of a craftsman, the carving, so lifelike, would have been a true feat of skill.

Si Ling guessed something and grinned at Xuan Chi: "Did you... uh, pluck your hair?"

Xuan Chi did not deny it and nodded: "Refined feathers can help improve cultivation and can also protect the body."

Si Ling took it with a complicated expression: "Thank you."

Xuan Chi hesitated for a moment, his starry eyes sizing her up: "Can I bother you for a moment?"

"Ah what?" Si Ling raised his head and saw apology in his eyes.

Xuan Chi raised his left hand: "Would you mind teaching me how to use this?"

It's a plate for the underworld.

…She forgot about it!

"Of course!" Si Ling laughed, stepped out of the room and closed the door. "Let's go, let's go eat first. I'll teach you while we eat."

Xuan Chi nodded, left the dormitory with her, walked through a long corridor, and headed to the cafeteria on the first floor.

As soon as they walked into the cafeteria door, the conversation in the entire cafeteria stopped and all the ghosts looked over at them.

It's not their fault. Hyun Chi was tall, long-legged, and dressed in black scale armor. Even with his wings hidden, he still stood out too much, completely out of place in a room full of modern-looking ghosts. Plus, the fact that he'd flown out the window the previous day, forcing Si Ling to use the Clone Spell to stop him, had already drawn quite a bit of attention. Now, many people were curious about this "new classmate."

Si Ling was at a loss for words. He glanced around and saw that Ah Zhu had already arrived. He pointed at that table and said to Xuan Chi, "Her name is Ah Zhu, and she's also from China. You go sit over there first. I'll go take the order."

"Okay." Xuan Chi nodded in response, strode to Azhu's table, and sat down in the empty seat opposite Azhu.

"..." Ah Zhu was intimidated by this majestic appearance and uttered a word stiffly, "Good morning."

Xuan Chi: "Good morning."

"Tsk, another Oriental exchange student?" an unfriendly Italian voice rang out, tinged with obvious mockery. "Look at what's growing on this guy's head? Horns? Or bird feathers?"

Si Ling, who was waiting for custard buns at the window, raised his eyebrows and turned around. The person who spoke was the fat Italian vampire Aurelio again.

She thought that Aymeric had learned his lesson, but now it seems...

He probably learned his lesson, but only towards her.

The lesson of Aymeric made him appear submissive but actually dissatisfied, so when he saw another visitor from the East, he thought he had found a way to vent his dissatisfaction.

It’s a pity——

Before Aurelio could finish his words, he felt a surge of eerie ghostly aura sweeping over him. Not only Aurelio, but everyone in the cafeteria felt it. The pupils of the students in the lower-level classes with the weakest magic power suddenly tightened, and some of them hid under the tables in panic; the students in the intermediate classes were slightly better, but they could not help trembling.

The students in the advanced class Si Ling knew well—werewolfs, vampires, and ghosts like her—felt a chill run down their spines, a chill piercing their hearts. Ah Zhu, standing so close to Hyun Chi, felt her scalp tingle. She lowered her head, awe-inspiring, afraid to even glance at Hyun Chi, yet cold sweat still streamed down her forehead.

Aurelio was terrified. He looked at Xuan Chi in disbelief. He pretended to be calm and picked up the goblet to drink the wine, but his hands were shaking violently and the wine spilled out.

The hobbits and Irish goblins in the kitchen suddenly felt a strong pressure without knowing what was happening. The goblins screamed, and the hobbits accidentally knocked over two portions of food, one of which was Si Ling's custard buns.

Um……

Si Ling was very happy that although Xuan Chi was indifferent to the future, he would not allow himself to be bullied. But in this situation - how to say it, this was why she chose to force Aymeric to come forward instead of taking action herself to intimidate him.

She sighed helplessly and walked over: "Hey." She patted Xuan Chi's shoulder, bent down and lowered her voice, "Keep a low profile, there are not many 'old people' like us here, you scared the hell out of me!"

Xuan Chi looked up at her, and at the same moment, the oppressive feeling that filled the room disappeared instantly, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Some little goblins from the lower-level classes crawled out from under the table, wiping their tears in fear.

Then, when everyone gradually recovered, some careful ghosts showed another surprise.

——Because they found that under such terrifying magical suppression, Si Ling remained calm.

This shows that they are at least on equal footing.

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Author has something to say: Si Ling: Give me back my custard buns [expressionless.jpg

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I added a note earlier, and I'd like to add one more here: the "Suhuang" species of Xuanchi is purely a personal creation, and can probably be understood as a water-attributed phoenix. I'll mention later that it doesn't appear in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and there are other reasons for it in the plot, but it really doesn't exist in reality (.)

I hope this will not cause unnecessary misunderstanding to anyone.

I made it up.

I made it up.

I just made it up!!!

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I'll give out red envelopes to 50 random comments on this chapter.