Chapter 154 – Stuck with the Carpenters Workshop, A Dangerous Steward - Part 1
Li Yuan continued testing his new discovery.
Before long, he realized the wooden doll’s purpose. When he held his own doll, any door he opened led straight into the carpenter's workshop. If he returned the doll to his equipment slot, then the doors he opened returned to normal.
But just because he could open that door didn’t mean the carpenter ghost suddenly had no hostility toward him, nor did it guarantee his safety if he actually stepped into the shop. At least, it was something he couldn’t prove.
Li Yuan suspected his five candareen purchase only covered a one-time curse, not immunity from all future curses. If he ever broke the rules again, odds were high he would get slapped with another carpenter's workshop curse.
“This is such a headache,” he muttered.
Li Yuan couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t stumble across the carpenter's workshop again, since that carpenter ghost was sitting openly in Flowerpath. And the old notion of nothing bad happening so long as he didn’t actively step into a ghost domain was clearly starting to unravel. No one knew if it had always been a misconception or if something had changed, causing ghost domains to become more active.
After all, the ghost servants in the mass grave had already crossed county lines, and now one could inadvertently open the carpenter's workshop door just about anywhere. Compared to that, the black market ghost domain was practically harmless; ever since that major flare-up two winters ago, it had kept a low profile.
Flowerpath, Gemhill, and Southsky were all right next to each other. If any one county collapsed, the others would inevitably be caught in the fallout. But where could people go? These counties were already out on the frontier, and neighboring ones weren’t much better off.
Although Li Yuan had broken the curse and unlocked his equipment slot, the worry in his heart remained. He forced aside the lingering dread and focused on the nature of equipment and what he was beginning to understand about this world.
“I suspect there are two major powers at work in this world.