CHAPTER 127: CHAPTER 127: JEALOUSY (SECOND UPDATE)

However, since there was dialogue, there was obviously a corresponding plot. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to follow the line: "Since I’ve come, of course I want the full range of flavors. Where can I buy the ingredients?"

"Having the full range isn’t impossible, but may I ask which realm’s spices the esteemed guest desires? Immortal, Mortal, or Ghost? Picking one flavor from one realm is the simplest; if you want all five flavors from the Three Realms, it’s not just a matter of money."

Got it, this cutscene is letting me choose the difficulty level!

The harder the instance, the more variety of spice rewards you get.

I don’t know if the instance can be archived multiple times. To be safe, I should try the most difficult one. If it’s too hard, I’ll take it slow, and if I can’t do it, I can quit anytime. It’s better than breezing through and finding out I can’t redo it, losing a lot of spices will surely be a disadvantage in the future.

"Since I’m here, I want all five flavors from the Three Realms."

"Bold choice!" The beast on the rooftop let out a deafening laugh and pointed to the street where undead ghosts were roaming, "Last night, some undying ghosts escaped from the Netherworld’s vinegar workshop where aged vinegar is produced, carrying a Dust-avoiding Pearl. If you can retrieve it, I will show you the way."

NPC quest issued, this process is so familiar.

But Jiang Yuan still asked, "How do I retrieve it? Do I have to search each one manually?"

"Hahaha, the Dust-avoiding Pearl is from here, but the undead ghosts are not. You only need to kill them, and the Dust-avoiding Pearl will naturally drop. If you can’t even handle the undead ghosts, you should leave quickly while you can still save your life."

Having said that, the beast on the rooftop flew down and squatted in front of the second house of green bricks at the corner, transforming into a giant stone beast, with a golden halo above its head, indicating to find the key item and return to submit the quest.

[Instance Quest 1: Find the Dust-avoiding Pearl. Reward: ???]

He had to land the golden eagle, then put it away and pull out two paper-made oxen, blowing on them to transform them into sturdy oxen to keep by his side.

[Ghost Ore +1]

[Essence Fragment +1]

...

Fighting the undead ghosts wasn’t too hard; with the paper oxen’s help using their horns to pin them down, he just needed to knock them out with a cudgel.

Combining the explanation from the beast that issued the quest, he could vaguely guess that after he and his group left Riverfront Village yesterday, Fierce Ghost Ding Zhuzi must have done something crazy, causing Wufeng City to forcibly merge in. These souls that had already died and been swallowed by him regained freedom and were polluted, returning to their corpses to become mindless zombies.

After fighting six undead ghosts, his Storage Bag automatically picked up a Dust-avoiding Pearl.

Jiang Yuan went in front of the stone beast to submit the quest.

[Instance Quest 1 completed, current rewards are doubled]

The quantity of Ghost Ore and other objects collected in his Storage Bag immediately doubled, even the amount of monsters he defeated was doubled, upgrading his Combat Skills to Level Two, Attack Power +10.

"Not bad, indeed. Completing the task in such a short time, esteemed guest, please follow me." The stone beast shook off fragments of stone and transformed into a tall bald man in armor, opened the door of the green brick house, and invited: "Welcome to the Netherworld Vinegar Workshop. We’re currently preparing a batch of aged vinegar for Ghost City, you may check the quality of the raw materials."

Jiang Yuan peeked inside, seeing only black and nothing else, but with the sour smell of vinegar wafting in, he became cautious and carefully stepped over the doorstep.

"Clang!"

The door closed, and rows of lanterns suddenly lit up inside the workshop, casting dim candlelight that made the "raw materials" appear ghastly pale!

"How about it? These are all top-notch selections." The bald man boasted with pride.

Jiang Yuan, however, took a sharp breath, his liver trembled in fright.

Not far away, there was row upon row of people—or rather, ghosts. Their chests were slit open, revealing their livers wrapped in plant roots, used as raw materials for vinegar—plants similar to sorghum but shorter and bushier with more fruit were growing from their livers.

These neatly "planted" ghosts were still alive but unable to move. Hearing the commotion, their eyeballs collectively turned to stare at him. Jiang Yuan could even see their lungs puff up and contract as they breathed.

Little ghosts responsible for harvesting carried large bamboo baskets and only needed to shake the plants for them to drop their plump fruits, ready for the next step in production; to the far left, two blue-faced tusked big ghosts were pushing a mill, grinding shriveled, weak little ghosts into powder.

The fine powder was used as fertilizer, and the faint blue Spirituality contained within was nurtured into seeds.

Jiang Yuan couldn’t help but feel his stomach turn as nausea welled up.

"What’s the matter, esteemed guest doesn’t like watching the production process?" The bald man maintained his mismatched enthusiasm, explaining: "Little ghosts are useless and can only be drained, their pulverized Spirituality is cultivated into seeds, and their powder as fertilizer grows food on the ghosts. This food is then fermented to brew the most popular vinegar in the Netherworld Ghost City. When the crop-producing ghosts wither, they are sent to the mill, and other ghosts take their place, self-produced and self-consumed without any waste."

"Isn’t that..." he muttered under his breath with a frown, "ghosts eating ghosts?"

The bald man burst into laughter, "Big ghosts eat little ghosts, it’s always been that way. The second test you must accept is to find the evil ghost that eats its companions among the many raw materials and kill it to maintain food production."

Receiving the new quest, Jiang Yuan suppressed his nausea as he ventured through the "fields" to defeat monsters...

About two hours later, he finally completed all the tasks, obtaining a Netherworld Aged Vinegar Trading Permit;

Entering the next mortal world flavor task, the scene resembled a genuine civilian vinegar workshop, diluting much of his previous resistance.

"Esteemed guest, look, our mortal world vinegar workshop still uses the best raw materials to make various vinegars." The bald man’s eyes shone with a strange light as he explained: "As everyone knows about the Six Paths of Reincarnation, those who have sinned greatly became livestock, while the truly evil ones are ground into powder, turned into mosquitoes, and those whose spirituality is fragmented into pieces become plants.

So, the crops grown in the fields, and the meat on the plates, are essentially still human. In other words, big ghosts eat little ghosts, and humans, being weak, are guilty by nature and must be devoured!"

Jiang Yuan couldn’t help but shiver at the thought.

"It has always been this way throughout history, like those roaming undead ghosts in Wufeng City who worked hard in life but never had enough to eat. But the three major surnames perched high eating their fill, what were they eating? Is it grain? Wild delicacies? No, that’s called the fat and blood of the people; essentially, they were consuming humans!"

With the paper constructs assisting him, the tasks weren’t too hard, just a bit tedious. Jiang Yuan suppressed his discomfort and completed all the mortal vinegars tasks.

Entering the next scene, he wondered if the Celestial Realm’s Immortals wouldn’t be so disgusting? At least Immortals wouldn’t eat Immortals. But the Celestial Realm vinegar workshop, with its dreamy atmosphere, surprised him even more—there was only one beautiful vinegar vat and nothing else.

"Welcome esteemed guest to the Celestial Realm Vinegar Workshop. Do you wish to know what the raw materials brewing in the vat are?"

The NPC was about to explain again, which he really didn’t want to hear.

Let alone the instance rewards vinegar meant for cooking; after this instance, even hearing the word vinegar made him feel uncomfortable all over.