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nTranslator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

nShortly after the courier left, a black sedan slowly drove past the gate of the Wang family’s small villa; a man in the front passenger seat swiftly took photos of the villa from various angles using the SLR camera in his hands. He then activated his wristwatch and made a call. “Lord, from our tail on the Shun Feng God Express courier, we finally know the delivery address for the stone ghost mask.”

n“What took you so long?” a deep voice asked on the other end of the line a little discontentedly.

n“It’s mainly because this family lives too far away… it’s on the outskirts of Songhai city and this is the only family in the vicinity.”

n“The only family in the vicinity?”

n“Yes, Lord. I think if we send someone in to grab it…”

n“This is now a lawful society, understand? The world is so beautiful, why be so grumpy?” There was a “hehe” laugh on the line. “To still buy a house in the outskirts in this current era, this family is probably nothing much. Have you investigated their background?”

n“Not yet, but our technicians have already secretly infiltrated the local cultivation police station to check the population census; we should have some idea very soon,” the man replied.

n“I see, I’ll send someone round tomorrow to negotiate. If you can use money to solve something, there’s no need to be so violent, understand?”

n“The Great Lord is truly kindhearted!”

n“Unexpectedly, we were in the end still too late. If we had been quicker in buying the stone ghost mask from that shop, we wouldn’t have to go to so much trouble now.” The person on the other end of the line couldn’t help sighing. “Bear in mind, you must keep an eye on them. The stone ghost mask is very important to us and on no account can it be allowed to fall into the hands of outsiders. The best would be for us to own it.”

n“Lord, if this subordinate may be so bold as to ask a question… is the reason why you’re so afraid of the stone ghost mask falling into someone else’s hands because you’re worried about the strength of the mask’s curse?”

n“That is only one aspect of it.”

nThe voice sounded a little sombre. “It’s true that the mask’s curse can bring bad luck. But the real horror is the power of Devil Emperor Gua Pi, the God of Darkness spawned by this stone ghost mask… if an ordinary person wears the mask for any period of time, there’s a high chance that the mask will force them to seal an agreement with it sooner rather than later. In the end, it will change into a superior ghost form, and obtain great power that cannot be suppressed. According to our current intelligence, the method by which the stone ghost mask forces an agreement is very simple and crude: as soon as a person puts it on, the hooks on both sides of the mask will pierce their cheeks, thus sealing the agreement.”

n“Then isn’t this family in a lot of danger?”

n“The stone ghost mask also has requirements when choosing a host. It’s not interested in the old or the weak, and only loves young bodies…”

nHearing the Lord of the Castle’s reply, the man was momentarily startled. He remembered that the person who had come out to receive the delivery had looked like a student…

n“Last question, Lord! Then, if the stone ghost mask has sealed an agreement by tomorrow, what do we do?”

nOn the other end of the line, the tone turned heavy. “Then the only thing you can do is kill the other party before the mask achieves its superior ghost form, then take it away by force. That’s the only way I can think of. When you go in tomorrow, take careful note and see if anyone in the family has wounds on their cheeks from the stone ghost mask.”

n“I understand.” The man nodded solemnly and then directly ended the call.

n…

nIt wasn’t like Wang Ling hadn’t had experience with online shopping before, and he had also already heard about Shun Feng God Express. This delivery company, which claimed that all their deliveries were made within twenty-four hours, enjoyed an excellent reputation in the whole of the cultivation world. With fast delivery, assured security of their goods, and a high level of service as the company standard…

nReturning to his room with the delivery package, Wang Ling stared at the ten crispy noodle snack packets on his table and was lost in deep thought. It was no wonder that positive ratings for Shun Feng God Express had been the highest in the industry for many years. This sort of temptation… who could resist it!

nWang Ling was itching to open the package; the inside of the box had been layered in plastic foam which was not only shock-absorbent but also waterproof. The somewhat old-looking stone ghost mask had been wrapped with a layer of plastic and lay placidly inside a mold in the box.

nThis cursed mask, which had scared the seller so much that they were anxious to sell it off, looked a little sinister, as if every frightening thing had been assembled into it. There was a fang at each corner of the mouth; furthermore, there was a long hook protruding from each side of the mask which looked like claws… at first glance, it resembled a crab’s. The eyes were made of synthetic resin and coated with a red film that reflected the light a little.

nWhen Wang Ling turned off the light, the mask’s eyes had a fluorescent effect.

nLooking at it up close, Wang Ling could see details that hadn’t shown up in the online image: there were fine cracks in the mask that were definitely not the result of wear and tear.

nWang Ling’s preliminary guess was that when the mask had been made, the merchant hadn’t known that they were using primordial black crystal to make it. It was inevitable that using subpar techniques on a high grade material would result in some structural breaks in the finished product.

nFortunately, it wasn’t anything serious, just minor cracks which couldn’t be photographed at all and wouldn’t show up in an online pixelated image — they were impossible to see without close scrutiny using the naked eye.

nIn the end, it was a five-yuan mask, express delivery included, sent over along with ten crispy noodle snack packets… Wang Ling felt that if he gave the seller a bad review for such an insignificant reason, he would be too inhuman.

nHe had a habit of reviewing goods which he bought online.

nAfter confirming receipt of his package and giving the seller a five-star positive rating, he then started to write his review.

nJust as he was writing his comment, he received a private message from the customer service girl of the New Century Cultivation Mask Shop: “It seems that cultivation friend has received the goods without any problems! Thank you for your five-star rating!”

nWang Ling thought it was probably a set auto-response, but unexpectedly the customer service girl sent a second message: “Someone gave us a call yesterday to say that the express delivery may have been lost, which really gave us a scare…”

nSomeone had called for information?

nStaring at the chat window, Wang Ling was a little startled.

nHe hadn’t made any call at all!

nWas this a coincidence, or was someone investigating him?

nWang Ling cupped his chin as he pondered.

nHowever, he didn’t ask her for too many details.

nIf he considered the worst case scenario and someone was probing his online shopping records, then there was a possibility that they were monitoring the chat window and his conversation with the customer service employee.

nHe stared at the stone ghost mask, his eyebrows raised. Had he gotten himself involved in some troublesome matter?

nWang Ling stood in front of the mirror and put the mask on, careful to pay attention to how it felt.

nThree minutes later…

nHe took off the stone ghost mask.

nFrom a preliminary appraisal, the mask didn’t seem to have any damn use…

nBut given the seller’s story about the curse, he felt that for the time being, there was no harm in keeping the mask with him for observation.

n“Son, come down for dinner!” At that moment, Mother Wang’s yell came from downstairs.

nWang Ling nodded, then casually put the mask down on the desk.

nThump !

nAfter the room door closed shut, the stone ghost mask on the desk suddenly shuddered, and the hooks on both sides couldn’t help shivering.

nThis was the first time in years that the stone ghost mask had come across a person with such thick skin!

nBloody hell!

nThe hooks couldn’t pierce his skin at all, f**k!

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