They say money can make even ghosts turn the millstone.
Su Yaoyao had just robbed Yama Stronghold, and with several hundred thousand taels of Great Yan’s wealth in her hands, she was feeling invincible.
Without even getting out of the carriage, she had Su Zhen carry a chest of gold ingots over and smash open the doors of the bankrupt shop across the street.
The shop’s former owner had been so distraught that he was nearly ready to hang himself. But the moment he saw an entire chest of gleaming gold ingots, he immediately signed over both the land deed and the property deed.
Not only that, the former owner thoughtfully packed up his belongings that very night and rolled out of the capital of Great Yan.
The three-story commercial building on the main street thus fell neatly into Su Yaoyao’s hands.
“Dad, get to work! We’re not sleeping tonight—we’re renovating!”
After nightfall, the three-story wooden building was wrapped tightly in thick black cloth.
From inside came the constant clanging of electric drills and the screech of metal being cut.
For Su Yaoyao, who possessed a portable interstellar storage space, this was child’s play.
When the first rays of morning sunlight spilled over the streets of Great Yan’s capital, Su Zhen yanked down the enormous black cloth covering the shop.
Swish!
The cloth fell to the ground.
The commoners and street vendors along half the block collectively sucked in a breath.
The building before them had been transformed beyond recognition.
The ancient wooden doors had been replaced with sleek, silver-white automatic sliding doors brimming with futuristic technology.
The enormous sign hanging from the roof of the third floor was even more eye-catching.
A wooden plaque would have been far too ordinary.
Su Yaoyao, of course, was not ordinary.
The sign was assembled from brightly glowing LED neon tubes!
The five characters “Scientific Cultivation Clinic” flashed in a dazzling rainbow of colors, complete with a sweeping marquee effect that nearly blinded everyone who looked at it.
Even in broad daylight, the sign shone brightly enough to bathe most of the street in a riot of colors.
Outside the main temple of the Netherworld God Church, the Red-Robed Deacon, who was in charge of the church’s finances and the collection of offerings from its believers, stretched lazily as he prepared to welcome a new day of incense money.
The moment the main gates opened, a blinding rainbow of neon light smacked him right in the face.
The Red-Robed Deacon covered his eyes as tears streamed down his cheeks.
“What in the world is that? Which lunatic set that up across the street?”
After rubbing his eyes and getting a clear look at the multicolored sign of the Scientific Cultivation Clinic, he was so furious that his nose nearly went crooked.
The capital of Great Yan!
The headquarters of the Netherworld God Church stood directly across from it!
Someone actually dared to open a clinic and steal their business?
And they were even using some ridiculous name about cultivation?
This was a blatant provocation!
A direct slap in the face!
The Red-Robed Deacon stomped around in fury and snapped the horsetail whisk in his hand.
“This is rebellion! Utter rebellion!”
“Men! Surround those ignorant fools across the street!”
At the Red-Robed Deacon’s command, a large group of church shamans dressed in religious robes and adorned with bizarre facial markings charged noisily across the street.
They blocked the automatic doors of the Scientific Cultivation Clinic so thoroughly that not even a drop of water could pass through.
The shamans held battered gongs and spirit-summoning banners as they beat the gongs and drums outside the entrance.
They performed a wild exorcist dance while scattering sheets of yellow paper and imitation spirit money into the sky.
Standing at the very front, the Red-Robed Deacon used his inner power to project his voice across the street to the onlookers.
“All citizens of the capital, listen up!”
“This clinic is committing a grave desecration against the Netherworld God!”
“I’m putting this plainly: anyone who dares set foot inside that building is showing disrespect to the gods!”
“After death, you will not only be cast into the Eighteenth Level of Hell—you will be fried in a cauldron of oil until not even ashes remain!”
“Even if you fall ill and die in the street, you are forbidden from seeking treatment there!”
The Netherworld God Church’s influence in the capital of Great Yan ran bone-deep.
Ordinary people usually went out of their way to avoid even passing the church’s gates, let alone openly defying a deacon’s orders.
Upon hearing such a vicious curse as “fried in a cauldron of oil,” the onlookers scattered like frightened birds.
The few who had still been curious about the glowing sign hurriedly covered their faces and fled without a trace.
The street fell empty.
Aside from the shamans dancing wildly at the entrance, not even a stray dog dared come within ten paces of the Scientific Cultivation Clinic.
Watching the clinic he had successfully sealed off, the Red-Robed Deacon smirked proudly.
The deafening gongs and drums outside did nothing to disturb the peace inside the clinic.
On its first day of business, the Scientific Cultivation Clinic opened, as expected, to a bleak scene of deserted doors.
The spacious, brightly lit lobby on the first floor was paved with spotless, sterile white tiles.
Su Zhen, the Tyrant of Great Yuan, sat behind the pure-white reception desk, bored out of his mind.
He wore a custom-made white lab coat that Su Yaoyao had specially designed for him.
With his murderous expression, he looked less like a doctor who saved lives and more like a butcher who had just walked off an execution ground.
At that moment, this Living Yama let out an irritated sigh.
In his hand was a square seal carved entirely from flawless white jade.
Clearly engraved across the bottom were eight characters:
“By Heaven’s Mandate, may it endure forever.”
That was right. This was the Imperial Jade Seal, the priceless symbol of supreme imperial authority in Great Yuan—an object capable of commanding the entire realm.
Su Zhen held the priceless treasure over a pile of hard-shelled walnuts on the reception desk.
Smack!
He brought it down with all his strength.
The walnut shattered, and Su Zhen skillfully picked out the kernel and tossed it into his mouth, chewing with a satisfying crunch.
“Sweetheart, it’s already been all morning, and not a single ghost has walked through the door.”
As he used the Imperial Jade Seal to crush another walnut, Su Zhen complained with deep resentment.
“That pack of shamans outside is making my head hurt. How about I go out and smash them all to pieces with one punch?”
“Sitting here crushing walnuts is making my hands rust.”
“My saber is already aching for blood. Why is earning money in Great Yan so difficult?”
Su Yaoyao, seated on a luxurious leather sofa in the lobby, was the exact opposite of her impatient father.
The eight-year-old girl was also wearing a miniature white lab coat tailored to fit her perfectly.
She lounged there with one leg crossed over the other, her little feet swinging back and forth in midair.
In her hands, Su Yaoyao held a cup of iced bubble tea taken from her portable storage space.
She bit down on the straw and happily slurped away.
Hearing her father’s complaints, she slowly spat out a plump black tapioca pearl.
“Dad, don’t be so impatient.”
“Fighting and killing is a low-level strategy. What we’re doing now is a high-level business devoted to saving lives.”
“Let those shamans outside dance all they want. We can treat it as free entertainment for our grand opening.”
Su Zhen rolled his eyes and crushed another walnut.
“What good is free entertainment? No one’s coming! Won’t our golden signboard be ruined if we can’t get a single customer?”
Su Yaoyao waved her little hand, her small face full of confidence, as if everything had already been planned.
“Dad, your perspective is too narrow.”
“Our Scientific Cultivation Clinic is taking the high-end luxury route.”
“If we want to become an overnight sensation in the capital of Great Yan, and if we want to smash my mother’s business across the street…”
“Then we have to make a spectacular debut.”
Su Yaoyao took a large sip of bubble tea, a cunning light gleaming in her big eyes.
“We have to wait.”
“We need to wait for a top-tier ringer—someone important enough, rich enough, and sick enough!”
“Once we cure him, our signboard will truly be established in the capital.”
Su Zhen understood only half of what she meant, but he still felt bored.
“So when is this top-tier ringer going to drop out of the sky?”
Su Zhen had just finished speaking. The Imperial Jade Seal in his hand had not yet had time to come crashing down again when—
At the corner at the end of the street.
Suddenly, a chaotic chorus of terrified cries rang out.
The horses, startled, let out shrill, agonized whinnies.
The quiet street descended into chaos.
“Clear the way! Quick, get out of the way!”
“The Imperial Uncle’s carriage has run amok! Everyone, move!”
A lavish redwood carriage, extravagantly decorated and drawn by four towering horses, charged wildly down the main street as though possessed.
The coachman had already been thrown clear, while the four horses foamed at the mouth, their eyes bloodshot.
Most alarming of all were the heart-wrenching, pig-like screams of agony coming from inside the violently jolting carriage.
They were enough to make anyone’s scalp prickle.
Through the curtain billowing in the wind, one could clearly see—
The Regent of Great Yan’s most trusted confidant, the all-powerful Imperial Uncle of the imperial court,
rolling around inside the carriage with absolutely no regard for his dignity.
He clutched his round belly with both hands, drenched in sweat, his features twisted in agony.
Like a shrimp tossed into boiling water, he writhed and rolled across the priceless carpet.
