“Items at the Tide Auction are bound to be authentic.”
“That is one of the reasons the Tide Auction can maintain its footing on the high seas. Not only do they have powerful backers, but the quality of their items is guaranteed.”
“The 《Record of Cultivating Character and Prolonging Life》 was the finale of the last auction. If it were a fake, their reputation would be ruined...”
The Ghost Face Captain trailed off, but his meaning was clear.
There was no law on the sea; a trading venue like an auction valued its reputation and brand above all else.
The Tide Auction would not destroy its own name.
“That’s certainly one way to put it—a ruthless pirate actually believing in someone else’s reputation,” Yue Shi remarked.
The Ghost Face Captain’s breathing was weak, but he still retorted, “I don’t believe in their reputation; I believe in their intelligence.”
“Why would the people at the Tide Auction sell something as good as a longevity secret instead of using it themselves? If you can think of that question, others certainly can too.”
“So many people fought to snatch this ancient book, so it must have value. It’s just that...”
He paused, choosing his words carefully. “When it comes to immortality and longevity, perhaps there are severe side effects? Or maybe the conditions are too demanding?”
Yue Shi raised an eyebrow. This pirate captain didn't seem particularly bright, his IQ fluctuating wildly, but he had actually hit the nail on the head with that last comment.
On the surface, the 《Record of Cultivating Character and Prolonging Life》 looked like a manual for alchemy or a recipe book, but in reality, it was a corpse-eating ritual. It used recipes as a metaphor for consuming the dead to borrow their lifespan.
Wei Xi was the corpse oil of a thousand-year-old cadaver. Great Excellence was the ash from incinerated zombie bones. Dried Ginger referred to human-shaped corpse fungi or fetal corpses.
On a moonless night, the practitioner would ingest the essence of these transformed corpses, gradually undergoing physiological mutation to achieve the goal of extending their life.
Unfortunately, using this longevity secret would make one increasingly non-human.
“Have you already deciphered this ancient book?” The Ghost Face Captain stared fixedly at Yue Shi.
Yue Shi simply said, “If a mortal seeks longevity but does not follow the righteous path, they must borrow the power of the dead.”
“The 《Record of Cultivating Character and Prolonging Life》 causes a person to gradually transform into a non-human creature to obtain longevity.”
“Transform into a non-human creature?” the Ghost Face Captain muttered to himself, a look of disgust crossing his face.
“No wonder the Tide Auction put this up for sale. So it had side effects like that.”
Yue Shi asked him, “You seem quite resistant. What’s so bad about transforming into a non-human creature?”
The Ghost Face Captain said without hesitation, “I don’t want to discard my human identity or abandon my own race.”
“Why?” Yue Shi was puzzled.
The Ghost Face Captain said solemnly, “Even though I’m a bad person, I’m at least a person. I don’t want to betray my own kind and become a non-human monster.”
“Eating the heart of a siren can turn you into a new siren and grant you longevity, but very few people pursue that method of long life.”
The pickpocket nodded in agreement from the side.
Yue Shi asked curiously, “Then... if giving up your human identity meant you could become the Sea God, would you still refuse?”
The Ghost Face Captain froze on the spot, his mouth hanging open. He had spoken so firmly just now about not betraying his race, yet he was clearly wavering.
The pickpocket, watching from the side, was also stunned. If one could become a god, a human identity... didn't seem all that important.
Yue Shi chuckled. “What’s all this talk about not wanting to give up your human identity or betray your race? The price simply wasn't high enough.”
“A siren’s status is too low; it’s not worth betraying humanity to exchange for a siren’s immortality.”
“But if giving up your human identity allowed you to become an immortal, the Heavenly Dao, the ruler of the universe, or the world’s consciousness, would your choice still be so firm?”
The Ghost Face Captain panted heavily, stammering for a long time before finally saying, “Don’t use that kind of thing to test me. After giving up my human identity to become the Sea God, I could still continue to stand on the side of humanity.”
Yue Shi nodded perfunctorily, losing interest in continuing the conversation.
He closed the 《Record of Cultivating Character and Prolonging Life》 and set it casually next to the nuts. He looked up at the Ghost Face Captain still hanging in mid-air.
The man’s right arm had completely mutated into an ink needle, glowing with a sickly bluish-black light. He seemed to have accepted his fate.
Yue Shi stood up and walked beneath the Ghost Face Captain.
In the next second, both of them disappeared from the spot simultaneously.
The pickpocket craned his neck to look, then quickly pulled back.
Gone?
He blinked hard, confirming he wasn't hallucinating.
...
Inside the mysterious space, the Ghost Face Captain was slammed heavily onto the ground.
He was finally free from the ceiling, but having been hung upside down for so long, the blood hadn't returned to its proper flow yet, leaving his limbs limp and weak.
He struggled to prop up his upper body. He didn't know where he was, and through his blurred vision, he could only see a strange machine behind the long-haired man.
The Ghost Face Captain didn't know what it was, but he felt an instinctive terror.
Yue Shi didn't give him a chance to ask questions. He leaned over, grabbed the captain by the collar, and dragged him toward the machine like a piece of cargo.
A broken sound squeezed out of the Ghost Face Captain’s throat. “You...”
Yue Shi didn't answer.
He tossed him into the machine’s intake.
There was no scream.
The Decomposition and Synthesis Machine began to run. After a short while, something spat out from the exit at the bottom.
Clang.
Yue Shi looked down.
Ignoring the residue, there was a tattoo needle.
The whole thing was about half a palm long. The grip was a deep dark green, and one could vaguely see the texture of dried flesh shrunken tight against the bone.
The tip of the needle was extremely fine, glowing with a bluish-black light identical to the ink needle the Ghost Face Captain’s fingertips had turned into.
This tattooing tool emitted a cold aura. Yue Shi reached out and picked it up; it was icy to the touch, with no sense of life in it.
It was a bit like a ghost—the rule-based kind of ghost he had caught with his fishing rod.
Yue Shi toyed with it for a few seconds before casually tucking it into his sleeve and leaving the mysterious space.
Back in the restaurant.
Yue Shi reappeared beside his chair.
Everyone saw it—the Ghost Face Captain was gone.
The man with the fearsome reputation, who had been ransacking the entire entertainment ship ten minutes ago, had simply vanished without even leaving a final word.
Yue Shi now had a tattoo needle in his hand.
The pickpocket’s eyes bulged, his teeth began to chatter again, and he was on the verge of losing control of his bowels.
Yue Shi didn't care about the others at all. He just looked down at the tattooing tool in his hand, wondering where he should draw his first tattoo.
His gaze swept over the restaurant, passing the pirates who still had a breath left in them and the trembling tourists and crew.
Finally, his gaze stopped on a middle-aged man in a gray jacket with a large bloodstain on his chest.
He was a pirate.
An ordinary pirate lackey with a scar on his right cheek. Because he was hanging upside down, blood had rushed to his brain, turning his face purple.
He was scared half to death when he saw Yue Shi’s gaze land on him.
“No, no...”
Yue Shi moved in front of him.
Using that ghostly tattooing tool, he pressed the needle tip against the pirate’s neck.
The pirate’s whole body convulsed. His legs were embedded in the ceiling, making it impossible for him to even dodge.
Yue Shi made the first stroke.
He had no foundation in drawing.
Three minutes later.
Yue Shi took a half-step back to examine his work.
The pirate now had a tattoo on his neck.
It wasn't a ghost face.
It was a fish.
A fish that looked like a primary schooler’s doodle. It rose and fell with the pirate’s pulse, as if it were swimming beneath the skin.
The pirate panted heavily, tears and snot streaming down his face, but then he suddenly froze.
He looked down at his chest. There had been a sword wound there that had been seeping blood.
Now, the wound was gone. There wasn't even a scar left on the injured area.
“What... what is this?” the pirate’s voice shook uncontrollably.
Yue Shi didn't answer.
He made another stroke.
This time, he tattooed a closed eye on the pirate’s collarbone.
The pirate’s breathing suddenly became long and slow.
He had fallen asleep.
Despite the painful upside-down position, his breathing was steady and the corners of his mouth relaxed slightly.
Yue Shi withdrew the needle.
It was effective. This was a good item.
The tattooing tool could do more than just ghost faces.
The ghost face was for control and enslavement—the method the Ghost Face Captain used to manipulate his crew.
But the true power of this tattooing tool went far beyond that.
The fish tattoo healed wounds, and the eye tattoo induced sleep.
Then what if he tattooed a sword, a shield, a cow, or simply wrote a string of text...
A flash of interest crossed Yue Shi’s eyes.
He turned around to find his next experimental subject.
“Wait a moment!”
A raspy, trembling voice that struggled to maintain composure rang out from the crowd.
Yue Shi stopped.
The speaker was a man in his fifties. He was covered in dust but still managed to look somewhat respectable.
“I am a merchant from the Kingdom of Alabana. Your strength is unfathomable, Excellency, and we have absolutely no intention of being your enemy. If we live today, it is entirely thanks to your mercy.”
“I am not much, but I know all the shipping routes in the nearby waters and have quite a few connections. If you need to handle mundane affairs, purchase supplies, or gather information, I am willing to serve you with everything I have.”
“I only beg for your pity, Excellency. Spare my life, and I shall be driven by your will from now on, with no second thoughts.”
He spoke with extreme humility.
The restaurant fell silent for a moment.
The other surviving tourists and crew, and even a few dying pirates, all strained their eyes to look at Yue Shi.
Some let out muffled sounds of agreement from their throats.
“I am a navigator. I am useful too, and I’m willing to join you.”
“My father is Liu Bei, the richest man in Shu City on the Jinlong Continent. He can give you a lot of money.”
Yue Shi listened, tilting his head as if seriously considering the feasibility of these proposals.
Then he smiled, a smile that was both malicious and brilliant.
He walked directly to the man who had spoken first and raised his hand.
The needle tip pressed against the center of the man’s brow.
“You...”
The merchant from Alabana’s pupils dilated suddenly, the rest of his sentence forever stuck in his throat.
Yue Shi made his stroke.
It was simple—it barely counted as a tattoo, just three intersecting blood-red marks blooming on the man’s brow.
The light in the merchant’s eyes went out.
His body remained hanging, but his limbs went completely limp. There was no more sound.
Yue Shi withdrew the needle without giving him a second look.
“Noisy.”
Everyone shut their mouths.
The experiment continued.
The third person chosen was a silent middle-aged man.
He was hung in a corner, dressed inconspicuously. His knuckles were large and covered in calluses, and a faded wristband was wrapped around his right wrist.
When Yue Shi’s gaze swept over, the man said nothing, only staring fixedly at him.
Yue Shi recognized him.
He was one of the hidden transcendents on the ship. Earlier, when the pirates were rampaging, Yue Shi had glimpsed him silently taking down a pirate.
“Who are you?”
The man remained silent.
Yue Shi didn't care.
The needle tip fell.
This time, the tattoo was on the palm.
The man’s body convulsed violently, his teeth grinding together with a clicking sound, but he didn't make a single noise.
The tattoo pattern featured a heart as the main body, with demon wings extending from both sides, tapering into a pointed tail at the bottom, along with some vine-like decorations.
Yue Shi, who was poor at drawing, found himself remarkably adept when drawing this sort of thing.
The moment the tattoo was completed, the man’s eyes snapped open, his breathing became rapid, and his face flushed.
“What did you do?”
Yue Shi didn't answer.
He had already turned toward the next target.
The restaurant had become a tattooing workshop.
Yue Shi held the tattooing tool, drawing haphazardly everywhere.
He tattooed wings.
On a pirate’s shoulder blades, he left a pair of wings that had yet to unfurl.
The pirate let out half a scream before fainting. When he woke up, he had gained the ability to hover in the air, but unfortunately, he still couldn't break free from the ceiling and remained suspended.
He tattooed eyes.
On a crew member’s nape, he tattooed an open eye.
The man’s whole body went stiff as he perceived a gaze that didn't belong to him peeking out from the back of his head, able to see through flesh and darkness. He nearly went insane.
Yue Shi played for a while longer before becoming bored.
He put away the needle and looked around.
Some had been hung to death, some had died from excessive blood loss, and some had been killed by the tattoos.
Not many people were left alive in the restaurant.
Yue Shi raised his hand, and space rippled again.
The suspended transcendents were pulled out of the ceiling.
In the next second, they were tossed into the mysterious space one by one.
The Decomposition and Synthesis Machine went to work, and a pile of small items began to emerge from the bottom.
They were all little trinkets. He casually sorted these products and piled them in different corners of the mysterious space.
Then he looked at the ordinary people.
The method of disposal was simple.
Whether living or dead, whether crew, tourist, or pirate, they were all tossed into the sea to feed the fish.
The waves were high, and when those people fell into the sea, they were swallowed by the billows, leaving no trace of a struggle.
A few pirates were excellent swimmers. After falling into the water, they thrashed with all their might, trying to swim toward the pirate ship.
Then they discovered that something seemed to be waiting for them in the water.
Beneath the surface, several moving shadows were vaguely visible. They opened their mouths and dragged the people into the depths.
The screams were brief.
A few wisps of blood slowly spread across the surface before being washed clean.
The restaurant became completely silent; the entertainment ship had been cleared.
Aside from Yue Shi, there was only one living person left.
The pickpocket’s face was deathly pale, and he was shaking uncontrollably. He wanted to appear calm, but his muscles had a mind of their own and refused to obey.
He had witnessed Yue Shi harming everyone on the ship—those who begged, those who resisted, those who were useful, and those who weren't—all were killed.
Not a single one survived.
The pickpocket was terrified, likely on the verge of wetting himself. He finally realized that this handsome, long-haired man was far more cruel and malicious than any pirate.
Yue Shi turned around, his gaze landing on the pickpocket.
The pickpocket froze.
Yue Shi looked at him.
“You dared to steal from me and even dared to take my money. How should I deal with you?”
The pickpocket’s lips were pressed into a thin line.
The silence lasted for about three seconds.
To the pickpocket, it felt as long as three centuries.
Then Yue Shi picked up the 《Record of Cultivating Character and Prolonging Life》.
“Why don't you try this longevity secret?”
Rate on N.U.
