Chapter 3: Business Is Business

The boat lurched violently, and Xie Suoyan stumbled, nearly falling over.

Two ghosts and one radish teetered precariously on the narrow vessel.

Just as Xie Suoyan managed to steady himself, a few Soul Threads silently slithered over and cruelly tied his long tongue into a tight knot.

Xie Suoyan: …

Every debt has its debtor! I wasn’t the one who said “bathwater”!

He scrambled to untie it, but Qi Jiangyuan’s knot was both tight and wickedly clever. If he focused on his tongue, he couldn’t keep the boat steady.

The little boat wobbled across the thick, viscous water, and the more he tugged at the knot, the tighter it got.

Xie Suoyan finally gave up, letting the knotted tongue dangle from his chest. At least it wasn’t dragging on the ground anymore, though the strain at the root of his tongue throbbed painfully. Resigned, he continued poling the boat forward.

Little Radish was completely oblivious to the chill radiating from Qi Jiangyuan, still chattering away, “You really can’t drink this water. It’ll kill you. Oh—sorry, I forgot you’ve been dead for ages.”

Xie Suoyan clamped his mouth shut, watching silently as Little Radish dug his own grave.

Surprisingly, despite being nagged for so long, Qi Jiangyuan didn’t react at all.

Instead, Can He noticed Xie Suoyan’s amused expression, stuck out his tongue at him, and mimicked his knotted tongue with a silly face, mocking his awkward state.

Xie Suoyan was furious!

He’s doing it on purpose—this black-hearted radish is absolutely doing it on purpose!

His rising emotions made the boat rock even harder, and Qi Jiangyuan’s icy gaze swept over.

Xie Suoyan instantly fell in line.

He kept poling the boat, passing through a dense, heavy fog.

The deeper they went, the more Can He felt like he’d fallen into an ice cellar. His limbs were stiff with cold.

Around them echoed the resentful murmurs of countless ghosts, their wails piercing and mournful, boring straight into the bones.

Beyond the mist, a vast marsh spread out before them.

But the water was thick and dark, like congealed black blood. Wisps of ghostly fire floated on the surface, casting an eerie glow that revealed shadowy shapes beneath the water.

Can He wrinkled his nose and suddenly reached out toward the water.

“Don’t touch that!” Xie Suoyan caught it out of the corner of his eye and nearly had a heart attack.

Qi Jiangyuan moved even faster, seizing Can He’s delicate wrist in a flash.

But he was still a moment too late—Can He’s fingertips had already brushed the black water.

Qi Jiangyuan’s face darkened as he held the boy’s hand, staring at it intently… yet there wasn’t a single scratch.

He lifted his gaze thoughtfully to look at Can He.

Can He, startled by their reactions, blinked. “What? Is the water so polluted here that I’m not even allowed to comment on it?”

He muttered under his breath, “It’s pitch black, full of trash. Doesn’t look like the kind of place you’d grow ginseng at all.”

The chill from Qi Jiangyuan’s palm seeped through their contact. Can He felt uncomfortable and tried to pull away, but Qi Jiangyuan held him tight, only releasing after a thorough inspection confirmed he was unharmed.

Xie Suoyan let out a sigh of relief and snapped, “There are strict rules here. Living souls in the ghost realm shouldn’t go poking at everything out of curiosity!”

Can He grumbled inwardly—if they had time to scold him, why not clean up the water? It was so dirty it could be used as gravy!

He looked more closely into the water and realized the shifting shadows weren’t debris, but corpses, their bodies tightly entangled in long, black hair like underwater weeds.

Occasionally, a half-rotted face would float to the surface.

Can He nearly vomited up the ginseng root he’d eaten that morning.

“Any living thing that falls into this water will dissolve in an instant—bones and all,” Xie Suoyan said, glancing at Can He’s still-pristine fingertips and muttering in confusion, “Guess you got lucky.”

He really came out unscathed.

Can He couldn’t blame him for not warning him earlier—it was his own fault for being reckless and reaching out without asking.

Now that he’d heard Xie Suoyan’s explanation, a wave of dread washed over him.

His hand might be fine, but the thought of having touched water steeped in corpses made his whole body itch.

Little Radish shot a wary glance at Qi Jiangyuan. Seeing he wasn’t paying attention, he quickly wiped his fingers—those that had touched the water—on Qi Jiangyuan’s dark robe.

Ah, much better.

Feeling thoroughly cleansed, Can He drew his hand back. But when he looked up, he found himself staring straight into Qi Jiangyuan’s unfathomable gaze.

…Why does he always catch me in the act?

The boy immediately straightened his back, pretending nothing had happened.

The boat docked.

Can He followed the two ghosts ashore. Ahead was a bridge made entirely of pale white skulls.

The skulls’ eye sockets were deep, empty hollows staring blankly at the sky. Their jawbones dangled half-loose, clacking in the wind with a sound like grinding teeth.

At the end of the bridge stood Wujian Prison¹, the Ghost King’s residence, perched on a lone island at the center of the Black Marsh.

Its dark green walls loomed high, oppressive enough to make even a radish feel suffocated.

As Qi Jiangyuan stepped onto the bridge of bones, Can He glanced at Xie Suoyan—his face still twisted from the tongue knot—and decisively chose the more handsome Ghost King. Shivering, he pressed close to him, shut his eyes, and charged blindly onto the bridge.

Qi Jiangyuan lowered his gaze slightly, his hand resting absentmindedly on Can He’s waist.

If one listened closely, they’d hear that with every step the little radish took across the field of white bones, he muttered, “Sorry, excuse me, I didn’t mean to.”

He chanted all the way to the other side, and only upon stepping into the territory of Wujian Prison did he finally relax.

Can He opened his eyes, trembling with fear.

Thankfully, the inside of Wujian Prison wasn’t as terrifying as the outside. Pavilions and towers stood everywhere, not much different from the grand sects of the Human Realm.

Still, he was sorely disappointed.

“Where’s my water? And the soil here’s not great either.” Can He pointed at the sky in protest. “There’s not even a sun! You lied to me!”

Looking around, aside from the unusable Black Marsh outside, there wasn’t even a single well inside Wujian Prison!

The soil’s spiritual energy was far inferior to that of the Longevity Ruins, and the sky was heavy and oppressive, not a single ray of sunlight breaking through.

Little Radish: QAQ I’ve been scammed!

Qi Jiangyuan gave a half-smile. “What, you really want to make a deal with me?”

Can He froze.

There was nothing here, and he still expected him to heal someone?

Overwhelmed with despair, Can He grabbed the iron chain wrapped around Xie Suoyan and started winding it around his own neck.

“Then let’s just all die! You die early and become a wretched ghost, I’ll die early and become a ginseng ghost! I’ll turn Wujian Prison upside down while you’re gone, so you won’t have peace even in death!”

Xie Suoyan was horrified and yanked his chain back in panic. “If you want to take someone down, go after His Highness! Leave me out of it!”

Qi Jiangyuan: …

He was momentarily stunned by Can He’s shameless tantrum. Lifting Can He by the collar with a strand of Soul Thread, he brought him to a patch of medicinal herbs inside Wujian Prison.

“There’s your soil.”

The little radish stopped wailing, opened his eyes, squatted down, and dug into the dirt with a finger.

The soil wasn’t top quality, but it was just barely good enough to sleep in.

He looked up, his eyes still watery from crying, and asked hesitantly, “What about water?”

Liqueur Spring was hard to find, but he could wait a little longer and give Qi Jiangyuan some time.

But there had to be at least some normal water, right?

Qi Jiangyuan casually pointed to the side.

Can He turned his head and saw a well standing nearby—Xie Suoyan was currently using his long tongue to rinse it clean.

Can He: …

The radish started acting up again. He picked up a stone from the ground and made as if to bash his own head with it. “I think I don’t want to live anymore.”

“I’ll find the Liqueur Spring. For now, I’ll have other fierce ghosts bring in water for you,” Qi Jiangyuan said, already getting a headache from the fuss.

Can He immediately put down the stone. “What about the sun?”

With a casual flick of his sleeve, Qi Jiangyuan tore open a perfectly round hole in the thick clouds that had shrouded Wujian Prison for tens of thousands of years. Golden sunlight pierced through the ghostly mist, landing right on Can He, bathing him in a gentle halo.

Xie Suoyan stood in the shadows, completely dumbfounded.

Wandering souls feared the light, and ghostly realms were naturally shrouded in eternal darkness.

But Wujian Prison had no wandering souls, so the ghosts here weren’t afraid of sunlight. Still, expending such cultivation just to part the ghost mist for a single radish? That was absurdly extravagant.

Can He looked at Qi Jiangyuan standing in the sunlight, his robes fluttering in the breeze, and couldn’t help but let out a soft “Wow.” He mimicked Qi Jiangyuan’s majestic gesture and tried to sweep his sleeve grandly.

…Nothing happened.

The boy awkwardly lowered his hand.

No matter. Once he rested up and regained his strength, he’d definitely make this evil ghost suffer and serve him!

The more Can He thought about it, the happier he became. He pointed imperiously at the ground. “Clear out all those messy weeds. I want a bigger plot. Then dig a pit.”

“What weeds? These are precious Spiritual Plants!” Xie Suoyan gasped. Seeing that Qi Jiangyuan didn’t object, he could only sulkily summon other ghost servants to help.

Can He raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips. “I don’t want you guys digging. I want His Highness to do it himself!”

The moment he said that, Xie Suoyan froze, delighted to watch the show.

After all, there weren’t many ghosts willing to do such backbreaking labor.

After speaking, Can He turned to Qi Jiangyuan. “You’re not going to refuse, are you? You’re the one who needs my help. If you won’t do it, then I won’t heal you.”

Qi Jiangyuan was silent for a moment, then manipulated his Soul Threads to dig a small pit in the soil.

Can He immediately transformed into a round white radish and jumped in. The Soul Threads even thoughtfully covered him with soil and gently patted it down.

Xie Suoyan was truly beyond shock at this point: …

That was Soul Thread—Soul Thread! The kind that made beings across realms tremble in fear!

And today, His Highness had used it to—

Pull up a radish, dig a hole, and bury the radish?!

Can He adjusted his position in the dirt, snuggling in comfortably, and patted the soil with his little stubby hands.

When he looked up and saw the two ghosts still staring at him, he shrank down in embarrassment, leaving only his leafy green top poking out of the ground.

“Don’t look at me like that. I haven’t even been able to get a proper rest.”

Only then did Xie Suoyan look away.

Little Radish still didn’t feel quite comfortable. In a soft, delicate voice, he added, “It still feels… a bit too hard. Could you make it a little softer?”

As he spoke, he shifted back into human form, rolled up his sleeve, and held out a fair arm in front of Qi Jiangyuan.

Sure enough, faint red marks were visible on his skin, making him look pitiful and fragile.

Qi Jiangyuan stared silently for a moment. Then the Soul Threads extended once more, carefully loosening the soil for Can He.

Xie Suoyan’s mind began to drift.

After all this, the other precious herbs in the garden had been pitifully squeezed into the corners, while one ordinary radish now occupied most of the spiritual field.

Can He crouched down and pinched the newly softened soil, his face lighting up with joy as he prepared to jump into the pit.

But just as he moved, the back of his collar tightened—Qi Jiangyuan had grabbed him again.

Can He asked in a small voice, feeling inexplicably guilty, “Do you still need something?”

“It’s getting late,” Qi Jiangyuan said calmly. “Time to treat my illness.”

After all that fuss, the sun really was about to set.

Can He snapped back to his senses.

It came this soon?!

He hadn’t even come up with a plan yet. He clutched at his sleeve, stammering, “Your Highness, I haven’t prepared the things I need to treat you…”

Qi Jiangyuan replied, “No need to prepare anything.”

Can He blinked, dumbfounded. “Then how am I supposed to treat you?”

Qi Jiangyuan lowered his gaze to him. “Come to my bedchamber.”

Xie Suoyan: ?

Can He: ???

Go to Qi Jiangyuan’s bedchamber?!

Little Radish was so shocked he could barely speak. He stammered, “Your Highness, we agreed that I’d treat your illness, and in return, you’d provide water, soil, and sunlight. As for anything else, we still need to negotiate…”

Qi Jiangyuan gave a leisurely “Mm.” “What are you trying to say?”

“What we talked about earlier was the price for treating your illness.”

Can He lowered his lashes, fingers twisting the sash at his waist, his voice barely above a whisper. “Serving in your bed²… that costs extra!”

Translator’s Notes