Infinite Professions from a Pearl Collector

De Yi Building was the most magnificent structure on the street. It boasted three stories of flying eaves and ornate brackets, with two rows of large red lanterns hanging by the entrance. Even in broad daylight, one could glimpse the bustling silhouettes inside and hear the melodious chatter of women.

Chen Ye didn’t go inside.

He found a seat by the window on the second floor of the teahouse across from De Yi Building. He ordered a pot of tea and watched the Money Pit with a calm gaze, like the most patient Hunter observing his prey.

「Night fell, and the lanterns were lit.」

De Yi Building truly came alive. A lively cacophony of clamor, music from string and bamboo instruments, and the coquettish laughter of women filled the air.

Chen Ye finally set down his teacup, left money on the table, and disappeared into the night.

...

「De Yi Building, Third Floor, Heaven-Grade Private Room.」

Gong Chen was feeling quite pleased with himself.

With a woman in each arm and a table laden with delicacies before him, his face was flushed red from drinking.

His narrow escape from the Green-haired Zombie’s claws hadn’t filled him with lingering fear. On the contrary, it made him feel as if he possessed a Celestial Mandate.

Later, he sold intelligence on another mission, extorting a hefty fee from another Hunter. With his pockets suddenly full, he was feeling flush.

He felt his life had reached its Peak.

"Come, beauty, have another drink!"

Gong Chen raised his cup, about to pour it into the mouth of the girl beside him.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Who is it? Can’t you see I’m having fun? Scram!" Gong Chen roared impatiently.

"Sir, your hot water," a slightly hoarse young voice came from outside the door.

Gong Chen frowned but waved his hand impatiently anyway. "Come in!"

The door was pushed open, and a young man in servant’s clothes walked in, carrying a wooden basin.

His head was bowed, his face unclear.

After putting down the wooden basin, he closed the door behind him and slid the bolt shut.

"What are you doing?" Gong Chen sobered up a little, feeling something was wrong.

The attendant slowly raised his head, revealing a grim smile.

"Gong Chen. Been keeping well, have you?"

The moment he saw the face, Gong Chen froze as if struck by lightning, his mind going completely blank.

"Chen... Chen Ye?!"

He shrieked, his body jolting up from the soft couch, stumbling backward and knocking over the table and chairs behind him.

"A ghost! You’re a ghost!"

He had been spending all his time wining and dining at De Yi Building and hadn’t returned to the Demon Slayer Department at all, so naturally, he didn’t know that Chen Ye had not only survived but had also personally beheaded the Green-haired Zombie.

’In his mind, what else could this person be but a ghost? He was supposed to have died in that ruined temple.’

"Of course I’m not a ghost." Chen Ye advanced on him step by step. The long blade in his hand was already unsheathed, its steel reflecting a cold, eerie light in the candlelight. "A ghost wouldn’t come to settle accounts with you."

An icy killing intent, as if tangible, enveloped Gong Chen.

Gong Chen trembled violently, but his survival instinct quickly pulled him out of his fear.

He was a man who’d tasted blood before, after all.

"Brother! Brother Chen Ye! Let me explain!" he said urgently, forcing a smile that looked worse than a grimace.

"That day... I was scared out of my mind! I didn’t mean to push you! I even went back to look for you, but you were gone! I thought you were... I was devastated, really! You have to believe me!"

Chen Ye watched his performance expressionlessly, his advance never slowing.

Seeing that his feigned sincerity had no effect, Gong Chen’s expression instantly twisted into a ferocious snarl, raw killing intent flaring in his eyes.

"You’re pushing your luck, you bastard! You really think I’m afraid of you?"

Before the words were even out of his mouth, he lunged at Chen Ye.

Gong Chen’s skin took on an ominous, bruised hue. His fingernails shot out, long and black as ink, and a foul, poisonous stench wafted from his body.

He was a Cultivator of the Dietary Stream, a completely different path.

The Dietary Stream was originally a school focused on finding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects, concocting them into elixirs, and using them to strengthen the body. But with such Spiritual Objects being so rare these days, the path had gradually degenerated into a lesser, heretical art.

Gong Chen was no exception. He tempered his body by consuming deadly poisons.

Yet, in Chen Ye’s eyes, it was all laughable.

Instead of retreating from the ferocious lunge, Chen Ye advanced, his long blade humming.

SHING!

A flash of cold steel.

Gong Chen’s charging body suddenly stiffened. He looked down in disbelief at his right arm, which had been severed clean at the shoulder.

Dark, poisonous blood sprayed out.

"AHHH—!"

The intense pain made him let out a blood-curdling howl.

But the agony only served to ignite his savagery.

"I’ll kill you!"

Looking like a madman, Gong Chen lunged forward again.

He was going to self-detonate his Poison Essence to take Chen Ye down with him!

And in that instant, Chen Ye activated his Bloody Vision Talent.

The world before him instantly slowed to a crawl.

Gong Chen’s frenzied expression, his supposedly fatal strike—it all became slow and clear in Chen Ye’s eyes, riddled with flaws.

Chen Ye could even see the volatile Poison Essence swirling beneath Gong Chen’s bruised skin. The weak point at its core lay exposed in his sight.

’Now!’

With a slight shift of his feet, Chen Ye evaded the poisoned palm as his long blade flashed like lightning.

Needlepoint!

THUNK.

The soft sound of a blade piercing flesh.

The long blade accurately pierced the weak point three inches below Gong Chen’s Dantian.

The frenzied look on Gong Chen’s face froze. He deflated like a popped balloon, the violent aura of his Poison Essence vanishing in an instant. The bruised color of his skin rapidly faded.

He looked down at the wound in his abdomen, then back up at Chen Ye, his eyes filled with a mixture of bewilderment and resentment. Then, he collapsed.

The two courtesans in the room, long since huddled trembling in a corner, didn’t dare to breathe.

Chen Ye didn’t even glance at them. He walked straight to the table, picked up an untouched jug of wine, and took a few large gulps.

The burn of the liquor down his throat washed away the last lingering knot in his heart.

His mind was finally at peace.

Then, Chen Ye offered the women a slight smile. "Sorry for the intrusion. I’ll have to trouble you to clean this up."

With that, Chen Ye turned, pulled open the door, and departed with composure.

The Pimp and the guards, drawn by the commotion, arrived only in time to see a composed figure walking away. Seeing the corpse lying in a pool of blood inside the room, not a single one of them dared to step forward and block his path.