A master of comedy!

Chapter 123 The Cicada Awaits
The Eight Immortals Pawnshop, warehouse.

When Zhou Sheng cautiously peeked out, he found himself surrounded by darkness and a stench of decay permeating the air.

The warehouse was large, but it was covered in bloodstains and marks from knife and sword cuts.

It was cold, damp, and smelled like rat droppings.

Zhou Sheng looked around and found that there weren't many valuable items; most of them were wedding dresses, long hair, worm-eaten fox fur coats, and rusty longevity locks pawned by ghosts...

The room was filled with extremely heavy yin energy, and most of the items in the room were related to the underworld.

More than a hundred years ago, the rebel army of Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant rebellion, looted this place, and most of the valuables should have been taken away.

Of course, Zhou Sheng also saw some good things.

For example, jade, calligraphy and paintings, inkstones, land deeds...

In short, all sorts of things filled the wooden shelves of the warehouse, a dazzling array, densely packed.

Some of them even move and hiss inside the jar, resembling venomous snakes.

Even if they could sneak in, it would be wishful thinking to try and find the sacred object that Li Zicheng had hidden among this vast sea of ​​objects.

The old Taoist priest must have known the more specific location.

Zhou Sheng closed his eyes and began to have the Luo Shu divine.

Unfortunately, the Luo Shu trembled slightly before returning to calm, indicating insufficient energy.

Zhou Sheng was not worried but happy.

This means that the value of that sacred object is extremely high, even more astonishing than he had anticipated.

……

Outside the Eight Immortals Pawnshop, a middle-aged man with a veiled face lingered for a long time, looking at the signboard illuminated by red lanterns, his body trembling slightly, his eyes filled with fear.

Unexpectedly, following the old Taoist's instructions, he actually arrived at a ghost town and saw the Eight Immortals Pawnshop, which had been burned to the ground more than a hundred years ago.

That place is full of dead people...

Touching the amulets in his pocket, he finally mustered his courage, took a deep breath, and stepped into the pawnshop.

It was very quiet inside. The counter was ten feet high, so he had to stand on tiptoe to reach the wooden window.

This is also a rule of pawnshops: the counter must be deliberately set high so that the shopkeeper can look down on people and exert psychological pressure on them.

Pawn or redeem?

The shopkeeper glanced at the man, his eyes gleaming with a faint blue light. His aged face appeared unusually stiff, like a wax figure, and he struggled to make any expression.

The man trembled inexplicably. He avoided the other man's gaze and, as instructed by the Taoist priest, handed over the pawn ticket.

"Redeem...redeem".

Upon hearing the word "redemption," the shopkeeper's eyes gleamed, and a stiff smile appeared on his lips.

He gently stroked the pawn ticket with his fingers and read aloud the words on it.

"Counter No. 444, Earth Character, March 8th, 16th year of Linjia, Li Feng—"

The sound stopped abruptly, and the old finger seemed to suddenly freeze, rubbing back and forth on the fingerprints of the pawnbroker.

"W-what's wrong?"

The man seemed to have a bad feeling, and forced himself to say, "Does the pawnbroker have to be present to redeem the items?"

"Of course not, pawnshops only recognize tickets, not people."

The shopkeeper spoke again, but his voice was much colder, and the dim light in his eyes flickered like a candle flame.

Several men had already quietly gathered around and surrounded the man.

Blood seeped from their necks, waists, and faces, as if they had been slashed by knives or swords. They remained silent, but their eyes were extremely frightening.

"Then...then why don't you give me the thing?"

The man's voice was trembling; if he hadn't been a tomb raider and possessed considerable courage, he probably would have collapsed by now.

"Because this pawn ticket of yours... is fake." The shopkeeper's words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back, causing the man to completely break down. He shouted, "Impossible! The Taoist priest wouldn't—ah!!"

A scream rang out, and the men rushed up, tearing at his flesh. When they realized he was alive, they were overjoyed.

Even in death, the man clutched those useless amulets tightly in his hands.

Blood flowed across the floor, soaking into every crevice.

"It turns out he was a living person, but his birth chart is Yin, which makes him a good candidate to become a ghost."

The shopkeeper said calmly, "Since you dared to use a fake ticket, according to the rules, you can stay in the pawnshop forever. It just so happens that we are a little short-staffed recently."

A hazy figure stood in place; it was the man's soul, which had just become a ghost and was still somewhat delirious.

"Take him to the backyard first and have him do some chores."

……

Zhou Sheng searched the warehouse for a long time, but found nothing.

As it turned out, finding the relic in a short time seemed unrealistic, and just as he was about to give up, the warehouse door suddenly opened.

A few rays of moonlight shone through.

He burrowed underground, then quietly peeked out from a corner and saw the middle-aged man entering the warehouse accompanied by a shop assistant.

"Since you're new to the pawnshop, start by doing some odd jobs cleaning the storeroom..."

The worker gave a few instructions, and after seeing the man start working, he gave him a few more pointers before hurriedly leaving.

The man continued working, as if under some kind of curse, only knowing how to work numbly.

Just then, Zhou Sheng's ears twitched as he heard a clear, ringing sound.

The sound of the bell was ancient and deep, seemingly possessing some strange magic that made people's minds wander.

Zhou Sheng possessed profound magical powers and was naturally unaffected.

But the middle-aged man's soul jolted upon hearing the bell, then immediately stopped what he was doing, slowly floated to a wooden shelf, and reached out to the box number 444.

It was a locked copper box, covered in dust, only the size of a fist, and quite inconspicuous among the other items.

A glint flashed in Zhou Sheng's eyes, and he knew that the box contained the sacred object.

It is also the secret behind Li Zicheng's rise to power!

At the same time, he understood the old Taoist's plan. In order to take away the sacred object quietly, the other party had really gone to great lengths.

Without the help of earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to escape underground), an inside agent is needed.

The old Taoist priest deliberately sought out people shrouded in yin energy to redeem the sacred object with fake tickets. Firstly, such people were more likely to enter the ghost city undetected, and secondly, such people were more likely to be favored by the shopkeeper after death and be kept as employees.

Third, and most importantly, such people make it easier for the old Taoist priest to use underhanded methods and manipulate their souls.

Scheming, cunning, and ruthless.

This old Taoist priest is truly remarkable, but unfortunately, he's the one stalking the cicada behind the scenes.

At that moment, Zhou Sheng's mind raced, his gaze fixed on the box, facing a choice.

Should we seize the sacred relic right now?

He was absolutely confident that he could get the item and leave if he acted now, but the ringing of the bell earlier also suggested that the old Taoist priest was watching nearby.

Once he makes a move, he will alert the enemy, and if they escape, he may not be able to capture them.

After a moment of contemplation, Zhou Sheng quietly sank underground and fled into the distance, deciding to calm down and proceed according to the original plan.

He wanted to take the things.

He will kill people too!

……

(End of this chapter)