Chapter 62: Time to Get Paid
There were no taxis, so Yang Haoran had no choice but to walk back to the city. In the past, he'd dreaded walking at night, worried he might encounter something terrifying. But now, he hoped to encounter something terrifying.
However, throughout the walk, he did see a few passing vehicles, but as for Wánglíng or similar entities, he couldn't sense even one.
Before he became a Night Watcher, he'd thought countless ghosts and monsters must be lurking in the shadows of this world. But now, it seemed there weren't as many as he'd imagined.
He walked all the way into the city, still unable to sense the presence of a single Spirit Body. With no other option, he could only return to his convenience store first.
Back at the convenience store, it was still early. While opening the door and resuming business, he picked up the few books Master Jiang had lent him again.
Having already read them once and memorized a good deal of the content, his second reading progressed much faster.
The night passed quietly. The next morning, Yang Haoran received a call from Master Jiang.
Seeing Master Jiang's incoming call, Yang Haoran was a little surprised. Master Jiang rarely called him proactively, but whenever he did, it was certainly for a reason, never just idle chatter.
As expected, Master Jiang's call indeed had a purpose, and it was something important.
However, for office workers who didn't get paid at the end of the month, today was a more difficult day. The closer it got to month's end, the tighter their finances became, and the less they dared to go out and splurge.
These thoughts were only for ordinary people. For Yang Haoran and the other Night Watchers, today was also a day of exchanging effort for reward, which could also be understood as getting paid.
Master Jiang had mentioned this matter to him before, but he had forgotten about it recently. If Master Jiang hadn't reminded him, he wouldn't have even remembered such a thing existed.
"Today's payday, but. . ."
A bitter smile appeared on Yang Haoran's face. He took out his Soul-Gathering Bead, which contained only two Soul Threads.
With only two Soul Threads, he didn't know exactly how much Soul Qi he could exchange them for, but he could be certain it wouldn't be much.
As the Soul-Gathering Bead was taken out, High Liang and Wang Qing inside seemed to sense something. Both of them manifested their faces and snarled at Yang Haoran, looking fierce. Judging by their appearance, it was as if they wished they could swallow Yang Haoran, who was outside the Soul-Gathering Bead, whole.
The two of them cursed angrily inside the Soul-Gathering Bead, but their voices couldn't escape. However, by watching their lip movements, Yang Haoran could still guess what they were cursing about.
Seeing their reaction, Yang Haoran's lips curved upwards, revealing a smile.
He knew that Wang Qing now knew High Liang had been incited by him, which was why she had been scared to death.
As for High Liang, he definitely also knew that Yang Haoran had tricked him; the so-called "letting him have Wang Qing" was just locking him up with Wang Qing.
Having understood all this, the two of them naturally didn't show Yang Haoran any good will. Cursing him upon seeing him was also reasonable.
"May you grow old together, and may you be blessed with children soon."
Yang Haoran smiled as he offered his blessing, then put away the Soul-Gathering Bead. Although he knew the two of them couldn't possibly hear his blessing, his expression and lip movements would allow High Liang and Wang Qing to guess what he'd said.
It would have been better if Yang Haoran hadn't said those words. The moment he did, High Liang and Wang Qing were so enraged their Spirit Bodies nearly burst.
However, Yang Haoran had no interest in appreciating their reaction. After putting away the Soul-Gathering Bead, he fell into deep thought.
According to Master Jiang, if one had an important matter at the end of the month, one could ask Emissary of Death Deng Feng for leave. After all, it was one's own payment; if you didn't go, the Emissary of Death wouldn't force you.
Given the current situation, Yang Haoran felt he could indeed find an excuse not to go. But taking leave right after joining the Night Watchers—wouldn't that be too disrespectful of the rules?
Moreover, he also wanted to go and see the other Night Watchers in all of Lecheng besides himself. And furthermore, he wanted to personally witness the Soul Qi infusion.
After much deliberation, he still decided to go and see.
The payment location was not inside Emissary of Death Deng Feng's villa, but had always been set at the South Lake Death God Temple. The time was set to start at 9 AM. Checking the time, it was already 8 AM.
Since he had decided to go, Yang Haoran didn't delay. He closed his convenience store, hailed a taxi, and hurried towards the South Lake Death God Temple.
Usually at this time, the South Lake Death God Temple would surely have temple keepers about, but now, not a single one could be seen in the entire South Lake Death God Temple; it was all believers bustling about.
In the eyes of these believers, at this time every month, the temple master would gather all the temple keepers for a meeting. Not just the temple keepers from their Death God Temple, but also those from other Death God Temples within Lecheng would come here for meetings. The believers had long grown accustomed to this and found it unremarkable.
After Yang Haoran arrived at the Death God Temple, he called Master Jiang. Soon after, Master Jiang appeared in his line of sight.
Under Master Jiang's lead, Yang Haoran walked into a secluded small room. He had stayed at the Death God Temple for a period, doing all sorts of odd jobs, including sweeping, so he knew about this small room.
Normally, however, he hadn't seen anyone enter this small room; its door had always been tightly locked, so he had never known what was inside.
Today, the small room's always-closed door was wide open. After Yang Haoran walked inside, he found that there was nothing special about it. It was a very simple room, with simple decorations and simple furniture; nothing peculiar about it.
Besides Yang Haoran and Master Jiang, there was no one else in the small room.
"This is. . . " Yang Haoran's face couldn't help but show confusion.
"Wasn't it time to get paid?"
"Aren't there other Night Watchers?"
"Why is it just him and Master Jiang?"
Master Jiang saw the confusion on Yang Haoran's face and chuckled, "Don't be impatient."
As he spoke, Master Jiang walked towards a nearby wall. This wall was against a rock face and looked just as ordinary.
However, if Master Jiang walked towards the wall at this moment, then it certainly wasn't as simple as what met the eye.
Thinking of this, Yang Haoran suddenly remembered his Ghost Eye.
"Didn't they say things invisible to the naked eye could be seen by activating the Ghost Eye?"
With this thought in his mind, Yang Haoran wanted to try it. He didn't hesitate and softly commanded in his mind.
"Ghost Eye, activate!"
With the Ghost Eye activated, the ordinary wall immediately looked different. Faint Yin Qi was actually emanating from it.
Not only that, Master Jiang's body also radiated Yin Qi. However, this Yin Qi was much denser than the Yin Qi emanating from the wall.
Master Jiang turned around and looked at Yang Haoran with a smile. Meanwhile, Yang Haoran saw the presence of the Death God Seal on Master Jiang's brow.
The Death God Seal, the size of a fingertip, was currently emitting wisps of black smoke from Master Jiang's brow, wondrous yet eerie. This was invisible to the naked eye normally, but under the Ghost Eye, it was clearly presented before Yang Haoran's eyes.
"Heh heh, you're quite clever," Master Jiang chuckled, then pointed to the wall and continued, "Come here."
Yang Haoran smiled, deactivated his Ghost Eye, and came before this seemingly ordinary wall.
"Today is your first time here," Master Jiang said, "so I'll lead the way for you. In the future, when you come here again, you won't need me to guide you anymore."
"Please instruct me, Master Jiang," Yang Haoran said with a smile.
"It's not really instruction," Master Jiang said. "Just inject a wisp of Spirit Power into this wall, and you'll understand what's happening."
Yang Haoran nodded, didn't ask further. He channeled the Spirit Power within his body to his hand, and immediately, visible black smoke rose from his palm.
He lightly pressed his palm against the wall; a wisp of Spirit Power flowed into it. The wall emitted a series of creaking sounds, a black light flashed, and the wall split into two, moving in opposite directions, slowly revealing a passage leading into the rock face.
"This passage can only be opened normally by members of our Underworld Office," Master Jiang explained. "Those who are not from our Underworld Office and do not possess Spirit Power within their bodies cannot open this passage through normal means."
Master Jiang's words made Yang Haoran perceive a different implication. He asked, "Opening this passage normally requires Spirit Power, but are there abnormal means?"
"Yes," Master Jiang explained. "Some powerful individuals have countless methods at their disposal; even if they don't have Spirit Power, they can still open this passage. However, there aren't any secrets inside this passage of ours. What powerful individual would come here for no reason? The main purpose of sealing this passage is to prevent ordinary people from accidentally stumbling in."
Yang Haoran nodded, indicating his understanding. Master Jiang then continued, "Every month, we will submit souls to the Emissary of Death here. From now on, at the end of each month, you only need to come here, then open the passage and enter."
Yang Haoran nodded again.
"You go in first," Master Jiang said. "I am the temple master here; I must stay here to welcome the others."
Yang Haoran bowed to Master Jiang, and after thanking him, stepped into the passage.
As he fully entered the passage, the wall slowly closed. After a few breaths, the wall looked exactly as it did before, with no apparent issues to the naked eye.
Yang Haoran had originally thought this passage would be dark and damp, and filled with Ghost Qi, just like in the movies, with the ground paved with flagstones and torches lining the walls.
But after stepping into the passage, everything before him made his eyes light up. It was completely different from what he had imagined.
There were no torches, no flagstones. Instead, there were glistening tiles. Not only was the ground tiled, but exquisite tiles also covered the passage's sides and ceiling.
Furthermore, along the passage's ceiling, large lamps hung at regular intervals, illuminating the passage brightly.
Not only that, various types of potted plants were placed at regular intervals inside the passage. A brand-new red carpet stretched from the passage's entrance all the way into its depths.
Walking on the red carpet, Yang Haoran could hardly believe his eyes.
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