Chapter 14: Invited to a Birthday Party

After what happened last night, Zhou Chen knew that the official cultivation organization of the Yanhuang faction would not suspect him again anytime soon, so he could accelerate the absorption of soul energy.

Zhou Chen planned to go to the psychiatric hospital to help the mentally ill find relief.

Of course, this was limited to those who were completely paralyzed vegetative patients.

Living like a lifeless object, unable to control even basic bodily functions, was truly worse than death.

Zhou Chen had asked the Soul Devouring Mother Worm if there was a way for a life to have its soul devoured without pain.

The answer was that the Soul Devouring Mother Worm could launch a natural attack called Soul Pierce, which directly crushed the target soul’s will, causing instant death, allowing the soul to be devoured without suffering.

It was not the soul that reincarnated, but the will that truly controlled the soul, also known as the mind.

The soul was merely a product formed by the fusion of soul energy, memories, and will.

Zhou Chen did not know whether the underworld existed, but even if it did, a person’s soul reincarnating there meant only the will reincarnated; everything else was left behind.

Soul Pierce was an innate attack ability of the Soul Devouring Mother Worm, and after reaching level 2, the Soul Devouring Larvae could also perform it.

Before Zhou Chen had a chance to witness the Soul Pierce of the Soul Devouring Mother Worm, he received a QQ friend request from Cai Yameng.

Zhou Chen was a little puzzled but agreed anyway.

Recently, because they had been mutually guiding each other’s studies, their relationship was not very close but at least they communicated, unlike before when they hardly exchanged a word.

Zhou Chen: Is there something you need?

Cai Yameng: Today is my birthday. There will be a birthday dinner at my house at 6 pm. I want to invite you.

Zhou Chen: I have plans. You can invite other classmates.

Cai Yameng: There are other classmates coming, and Teacher Gu will be there too.

Zhou Chen: If they come, that’s enough. One more or one less won’t make a difference.

This was not the first time Zhou Chen had refused Cai Yameng’s invitation.

Cai Yameng: Alright then...

Zhou Chen: Happy birthday.

Cai Yameng: Thank you!

The reason Zhou Chen repeatedly declined was that he felt no real connection with her.

Moreover, the conflicts between their parents led Zhou Chen to deliberately distance himself from Cai Yameng.

Meanwhile, Zhou Xiang also received an invitation from Cai Yameng’s father, mainly to find an opportunity to have a proper conversation and express apologies from the past.

Like Zhou Chen, Zhou Xiang was headstrong and firmly declined.

Unexpectedly, Cai Yameng’s grandfather took her father’s phone.

Zhou Xiang respected the elderly gentleman but really did not want to attend Cai Yameng’s birthday party.

So he arranged for his son, Zhou Chen, to attend in his place.

Just after rejecting Cai Yameng, Zhou Chen received a call from his father.

It left him feeling helpless.

He wanted to refuse his father as well, but Zhou Xiang was resolute that he must go.

Zhou Chen: Is it at 6 pm tonight? Send me the location.

Cai Yameng: Didn’t you say you had plans?

Zhou Chen: I’m free now.

Cai Yameng: Oh.

After receiving the detailed address, Zhou Chen found that two thousand yuan had been transferred to his bank card by Zhou Xiang.

He was to buy a piece of jewelry from a jewelry store as a birthday gift for Cai Yameng.

Two thousand yuan was a considerable amount for Zhou Chen’s family of five.

But there was no way around it. When his elder sister Zhou Yuting went to university, it was Cai’s grandfather who had helped her get into a prestigious school.

The hospital was busy today, so Zhou Chen had to take on the task of buying the jewelry.

Besides, young people understood young people’s tastes better. As long as he wasn’t swindled, buying a fine jade bracelet wouldn’t be a problem.

With Zhou Chen’s intelligence, there was no worry about being cheated.

After all, a student with full marks in all subjects couldn’t be foolish.

Resigned, Zhou Chen gave up on going to the psychiatric hospital for the time being.

Originally, he had planned to buy a bracelet directly from a downtown jewelry store but suddenly had a thought.

In many urban novels, places like antique streets or jade streets often had bargains waiting for the protagonist.

He might not be the protagonist as a cultivation heretic who played with bugs, but with his current soul strength at the eighth level of Qi Refining, maybe there really was a pleasant surprise.

After all, ancient cultivators and modern practitioners did exist on Earth. Perhaps some treasures had been preserved since ancient times!

He checked the map and took a taxi to an antique street over twenty kilometers away.

He had intended to go to the jade street, but after looking around, there wasn’t one nearby; it was in a neighboring city.

Upon arriving at the antique street, Zhou Chen wanted to curse.

Those pretentious novels were lies!

The antique street had only about ten stalls selling a mix of items, many of which were modern artworks, some even tagged.

There were only a few antique shops; most of the street was filled with snack shops and milk tea stores.

There was nothing like the scenes in movies or novels, where antiques were everywhere.

How could there be any bargains here?

Still, since he was already there, Zhou Chen decided to take a look.

He didn’t dare touch the so-called antiques casually; if something “accidentally” broke and the owner demanded a million, what would he do?

So he pointed casually at a jade vase and asked, “How much for this?”

The stall owner replied without hesitation, “This is a Qianlong period blue-and-white porcelain. A similar piece was auctioned for over fifteen million yuan at last year’s Xiamen auction.”

Zhou Chen was speechless: “Why didn’t you tear off the tag first? It says fifty yuan here.”

The stall owner scratched his head without embarrassment: “Sorry, I misspoke. This is the Qianlong blue-and-white porcelain. That jade vase is a modern craft piece, but it feels quite good. Young man, if you’re sincere, I’ll sell it to you for two yuan less.”

Zhou Chen used the Soul Devouring Worm’s shared eye to scan all the items on the stall, hoping to find a bargain.

Unfortunately, there was not a single one.

He then sent out seven Soul Devouring Larvae to fly around and inspect all the other stalls.

Without exception, none of the items showed any special soul fluctuations.

“Huh?”

One of the Soul Devouring Larvae suddenly detected a very unusual soul fluctuation while passing by an antique shop.

Zhou Chen was overjoyed, not expecting to find a bargain after all!

Suppressing his excitement, Zhou Chen entered the antique shop.

He glanced this way and that before finally focusing on the item emitting the special soul fluctuation.

It was a jade Pisces pendant, very ancient in style, without a cord, placed in the corner of the shop.

Zhou Chen knew immediately there was a chance; items placed in the corner were usually not expensive.

He just didn’t know if his two thousand yuan could secure it.

Through the shared eye, Zhou Chen sensed a special soul fluctuation on the Pisces pendant.

In other words, it was a magical treasure!

Perhaps it couldn’t be called a true magical treasure, as its level was very low and lacked the power of a treasure.

It was a medium-grade spirit stone carved into a Pisces pattern, inscribed with runes, and refined into a protective artifact.

However, the runes on the Pisces pendant were damaged, with cracks and severe loss of spiritual energy.

He could detect it mainly because the former owner’s soul imprint remained, though partially broken.