Chapter 130: Chapter 101: Offering Herself in Exchange

Qingqing frowned slightly, "Why is this woman so foolish? She suspected something was wrong halfway through the gamble, could she not stop in time?"

Gu Haitang also seemed puzzled, but only Chu Xuan sighed slightly, "A person has two hearts: one is greedy, and the other is unwilling to accept defeat."

"At the beginning, if you win a little, you’ll become greedy and want more, but if you keep winning, sooner or later, you will lose it all back."

"At this point, you will feel unwilling and will inevitably continue gambling."

"If you start by losing, you’ll similarly feel unwilling, thinking ’once I break even, I will stop’; but often, you can’t break even, and the more you lose, the greater the despair, until you bet everything you have."

"Even if you luckily break even, how many can curb their greed? At this time, greed takes over again, and the two hearts alternate, dragging most gamblers into the abyss."

"So, it’s best not to gamble at all from the beginning; once you get involved with this, there’s often no good outcome."

Lan Cai’er nodded slightly, with a mournful expression, "Young Master Chu’s insight into human nature is profound; it is so."

"Later, I grew up in the Hehuan Sect, and although the sect treated its disciples very strictly, I must thank the sect for giving me an opportunity for cultivation..."

Lan Cai’er continued her story, she devoted herself to cultivation and vowed to rescue her parents, but in the early stage, there was very little freedom until after the Golden Core Stage when she could travel outside to gather information.

Unfortunately, the ghost market had long disappeared, and later, she heard about news from the ghost street, faintly perceiving a connection between the two but could not find a way in.

Not until Lan Cai’er reached the Fourth Realm did the circle she was in improve overall, gaining more importance within the sect and thus obtaining more clues.

She first entered ghost street, trying various methods to make connections with the ghost cultivators there to extract information about the ghost market from them.

In the end, after much maneuvering, she finally managed to enter the ghost market and personally see her parents.

Speaking of this, Lan Cai’er couldn’t help but shed tears again, "They no longer recognized me, completely transformed into muddle-headed ghost creatures, being used by the owner of the gambling house."

"During this time, some tried to tempt me onto the gambling table, but I remembered my parents’ teachings, no matter how they tempted, I refused to gamble."

"Although there are powerful presences among those ghosts, they seemed bound by certain rules, unable to force me."

"From then on, every time the ghost market opens, I linger within, trying to find a way to rescue my parents."

"Upon my observation, the real owner of the ghost market isn’t a human cultivator, but an ancient and powerfully terrifying ghost, similar to the ’one lord’ of ghost street, with mysterious origins."

"Unlike ghost street, in the daily management of the ghost market, traces of ghost cultivators can be seen."

"I suspect it’s either the Ghost City or the Nine Nether Sect, one of these evil sects has formed a cooperative relationship with that ancient ghost."

"They are responsible for luring more cultivators to the ghost market, on the one hand, to make its transactions more prosperous; on the other hand, to tempt people into the gambling house, my mother was tricked in this way back then."

"Afterwards, that ancient ghost will provide certain benefits to the cooperating sects, including but not limited to giving them longevity."

Chu Xuan became skeptical at this point, "When cultivators win longevity, can it really be directly added to themselves? Add as much as they want? Is there such a good thing."

Lan Cai’er shook her head, "There is an upper limit, depending on the individual’s realm, they can only increase anywhere from ten to thirty years of longevity, which honestly isn’t much different from consuming a spiritual object."

"The so-called ’increasing a thousand years of longevity’ claim is really a huge scam."

Chu Xuan nodded, like the Silver-scaled Flying Fish of Broken Sword Mountain, eating one can extend life by three years, but after eating three, it’s ineffective.

Lan Cai’er continued, "Even though I’ve lingered in the ghost market for a long time, the more I understand it, the more I feel powerless; this ghost market isn’t something I can contend with alone..."

Gu Haitang suddenly asked, "Why don’t you try to seek help from your sect, instead of resorting to Chu Xuan?"

Lan Cai’er looked forlorn, "I have sought help long ago, but this is my personal vendetta, even from the previous generation."

"Also, my parents aren’t disciples of the Hehuan Sect, the sect may offer me some aid in the name of camaraderie, but they cannot wage war against other great forces for me."

The thought is reasonable, evil sects are inherently selfish, and in such a case, the Hehuan Sect is probably willing to offer some assistance only because Lan Cai’er is already a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Then Qingqing also asked, "Have you ever considered using your lifespan to buy back your parents?"

"In theory, a Nascent Soul cultivator has a lifespan of nine hundred years, isn’t that enough to trade back two Foundation Establishment cultivators?"

Lan Cai’er gave a bitter smile, "My current lifespan is less than eight hundred years; I don’t know how many years of yin longevity my parents each pledged, but the ghost gambling house sees my lifespan and sets the price right at eight hundred."

"Naturally, this is to force me onto the gambling table. Otherwise, even if I find some slightly cheaper spiritual objects that increase life by only a year or two and consume them to barely reach eight hundred; I would still be a doomed person."

"Earlier I said, I had been lurking in the Lingshu Pill Sect for over a decade for this reason."

Chu Xuan suddenly realized, "Did you steal a bottle of Nine Revolutions Life-extending Pill?"

In this world, spirit pills are divided into four grades: low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade, supreme-grade, and above them are true immortal pills.

The Nine Revolutions Life-extending Pill is a supreme-grade spirit pill, extremely precious in value, consuming one can extend life by a hundred years, a bottle containing three pills, consuming all can immediately increase life by three hundred, with no effect afterwards.