The old shopkeeper's hand, which was stuffing tobacco into his pipe, suddenly trembled.
He looked me up and down warily: "Just buy medicinal herbs, why are you bringing up all this nonsense?"
I leaned closer to him, deliberately letting my sleeve slip down to reveal the faded soul-suppressing rope on my wrist: "The crematorium workers who collect corpses, the tomb raiders, the antique dealers... these professions are all tainted with yin energy. Do you know why old objects are so eerie?"
I tapped the sack containing Chen Ai with my fingertips: "Most of the bronze artifacts dug out of the tomb are tainted with the resentment of the tomb owner. The old jade bracelet might even contain the remnant soul of its former owner. That thing looks like a treasure, but it's actually a death warrant."
The old shopkeeper's Adam's apple bobbed, and his pipe clattered rapidly on the wooden stairs beside him: "Nonsense! I've been selling medicinal herbs for half my life..."
"Medicinal herbs are the most dangerous!"
I slammed my hand on the stairs, startling the dust that fell down in a flurry: "Just think about it, how much essence of the sun and moon has thirty-year-old wormwood absorbed? There might be spirits living in a hundred-year-old ginseng! Some medicinal herbs, when stored for a long time, may look like dried goods, but in reality, they have long become a breeding ground for spirits."
I pointed to the beetles crawling in the sack: "These insects look ordinary? They feed on the yang energy in medicinal herbs, and eventually they become soul-eating insects!"
The old shopkeeper took a half step back, his lower back bumping against the cabinet behind him, causing the bottles and jars to clatter: "Don't, don't talk nonsense! This shop has been run by my family for three generations..."
"Three generations?"
I lowered my voice: "Haven't you ever seen medicinal herbs move by themselves in the middle of the night? Haven't you ever heard someone sighing in an empty warehouse? Those precious medicinal herbs gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, making them the most attractive to evil spirits. Why do you think this Chen Ai has worms growing on it?"
I grabbed a handful of mugwort floss and brought it close to the oil lamp: "It's been corrupted by resentment!"
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