Seeing Sugar-Coated Haws Again

Gu Qingfeng looked at the bustling street and grinned. "Finally, something interesting."

He stepped into the street, admiring the prosperous scene around him with great interest.

"Candied hawthorns, delicious candied hawthorns! If they don't taste good, they're free!"

A peddler selling candied hawthorns pushed his cart past him.

Seeing this scene, Gu Qingfeng was momentarily brought back to an unpleasant memory from the past. Back in Black Water Village, he had seen a peddler selling candied hawthorns and subsequently lost two copper coins.

And to this day, he still hadn't found those two copper coins.

His mood instantly soured. No matter how he looked at this peddler selling candied hawthorns, he found him to be an eyesore.

"Hey, are they really free if they don't taste good?" Gu Qingfeng called out.

The peddler immediately stopped in his tracks, his face plastered with a wide smile. "Of course it's true. Have a taste first, sir. If it's not delicious, you don't have to pay."

As the peddler spoke, he hurriedly took down a skewer of candied hawthorns and handed it to Gu Qingfeng.

"Would this young lady like a skewer as well?"

Yan Lingyu was just about to decline. She wouldn't dare eat anything from the Yellow Springs Ghost City so carelessly.

But the peddler had already handed the candied hawthorns over.

Looking at the peddler, who appeared no different from a normal human, and the bright red candied hawthorns, Yan Lingyu hesitated. She knew very well that there couldn't possibly be normal humans in the Yellow Springs Ghost City; this place was filled with numerous taboos.

Therefore, if she didn't accept the candied hawthorns, would it incur the wrath of a ghost or deity?

Or would taking it be the beginning of her troubles?

However, on the other side, Gu Qingfeng had already taken his skewer of candied hawthorns.

Seeing this, Yan Lingyu had no choice but to accept hers as well.

But the moment the originally bright red candied hawthorns landed in her hand, something bizarre happened.

That skewer of candied hawthorns actually turned into a skewer of eyeballs, bloodshot eyeballs!

Yan Lingyu's expression instantly changed slightly. She looked at the peddler, who still had a wide smile plastered on his face. However, that smile seemed frozen, remaining completely unchanged.

"Dear customers, please have a taste. It's really delicious," the peddler urged with a smile.

Gulp. Yan Lingyu nervously swallowed a mouthful of saliva. She knew very well that disobeying ghosts and deities in the Yellow Springs Ghost City would absolutely trigger a taboo.

But that skewer of bloodshot eyeballs seemed almost alive, each one staring fixedly right at her. There was no way she could bring herself to eat them.

At this moment, she blamed Gu Qingfeng a little, wondering why on earth he had insisted on stopping the candied hawthorn peddler when anyone with eyes could see that there was something bizarre about this place.

She subconsciously glanced at Gu Qingfeng. Sure enough, the candied hawthorns in Gu Qingfeng's hand had also turned into a skewer of bloody eyeballs.

But Gu Qingfeng's reaction was entirely different. His expression remained unchanged as he stared at the candied hawthorns in his hand, confirming once again with the smiling peddler, "Are they really free if they don't taste good?"

The peddler nodded, his tone seemingly a bit more urgent than before. "Yes, customer. Please taste it quickly."

"Then this Emperor shall have a taste."

Saying so, Gu Qingfeng brought the candied hawthorns to his mouth, and then, under Yan Lingyu's horrified gaze, he bit one off.

Pop!

Like a burst of juice, the candied hawthorn exploded in Gu Qingfeng's mouth, transforming into dense ghost energy that he swallowed down.

Gu Qingfeng's eyes lit up slightly. The taste was actually quite good!

These eyeballs were naturally not real eyeballs, but manifestations of dense ghost energy. With just this one bite, his entire body felt comfortable and refreshed.

Thus, Gu Qingfeng directly pulled the stick through his mouth, swallowing all the remaining candied hawthorns in one go.

Beside him, Yan Lingyu's pretty face had gone deathly pale, and she felt her stomach begin to churn.

The peddler selling candied hawthorns was slightly taken aback, but then his smile grew even wider.

Because whether Gu Qingfeng ate it or not, his fate was doomed to be death.

If he didn't eat it, it would be rejecting the goodwill of a ghost or deity, thereby violating a taboo, which would allow the ghost or deity to strike.

But once he ate it, the ghost energy would enter his body, gradually eroding him, and he would similarly be unable to escape death.

Therefore, seeing Gu Qingfeng eat a skewer of candied hawthorns, the peddler smiled even more joyously. With his ghost energy inside him, it wouldn't be long before this human was assimilated.

"Customer, how is the taste?" the peddler asked with a smile.

"Give me another skewer, I didn't quite catch the flavor," Gu Qingfeng said, holding out his hand.

"A... another skewer!?" The look in Yan Lingyu's eyes as she gazed at Gu Qingfeng completely changed, as if she were looking at a demonic god who devoured humans without blinking.

She now completely believed Gu Qingfeng's previous words when he said that the Senluo Ghost Domain was his home.

The peddler also failed to react for a moment. "Customer, wh-what did you say?"

"This Emperor said to give me another skewer, are you deaf?" Gu Qingfeng said in displeasure.

The peddler was a bit dumbfounded. He had encountered some living humans before who, in order not to violate the taboo, forced down their disgust and ate the candied hawthorns, but they usually just took a small bite and then left.

This was the very first time he had seen someone like Gu Qingfeng, who devoured an entire skewer at once and still felt it wasn't enough.

However, the peddler did not act stingy either. In his mind, he thought: Eat up. The more you eat, the more the ghost energy will invade your body, and the faster you will die.

So, he handed Gu Qingfeng another skewer of candied hawthorns.

Gu Qingfeng's appetite was greatly stimulated. Without a word, he stripped the skewer with his teeth, devouring all the candied hawthorns in one mouthful.

"The taste really isn't bad. Give me another skewer," he said, continuing to hold out his hand.

The smile on the peddler's face grew somewhat stiff.

"What the hell are you standing there for? This Emperor eating your candied hawthorns is giving you face. Hurry up and give me another skewer, or else this Emperor will flip your stall over!"

Gu Qingfeng's arrogant words provoked a hint of anger in the peddler's heart.

A mere living human, coming to the Yellow Springs Ghost City and daring to be so arrogant. Fine, don't you like eating? Then I'll let you eat your fill!

Once you are completely invaded by the ghost energy, I will devour you!

It was nothing more than losing a little bit of ghost energy. Anyway, he would get it all back with interest in a short while.

The peddler faked a smile, then took out another skewer of candied hawthorns and handed it over.

In less than three seconds, Gu Qingfeng had finished it again.

"Another skewer."

"Right away, customer."

"Not enough, another."

"Right away, customer!"

"One skewer at a time is too slow. Give this Emperor ten skewers."

"Right away! Customer!!"

Just like that, the two continued, one dared to give, and the other dared to eat.

And there was one who dared to watch.

Beside them, Yan Lingyu stared blankly as Gu Qingfeng consumed dozens of skewers of candied hawthorns without even blinking an eye.

Refusing to believe this anomaly, the peddler's eyes had turned red. The fake smile on his face had completely vanished, replaced by the madness of a gambler.

Ghosts and deities were paranoid and obstinate. He believed that if Gu Qingfeng ate the candied hawthorns, his body would be invaded by ghost energy, so it absolutely had to happen. The only reason it hadn't succeeded yet was that he hadn't eaten enough.

"Another ten skewers."

The peddler reflexively reached to grab more candied hawthorns, but he ended up grasping at air. The rack of candied hawthorns was empty!

The peddler stood dumbfounded on the spot, as if waking from a dream. They were gone...

The candied hawthorns that he had painstakingly condensed by expending countless amounts of ghost energy were all gone!

He looked up at Gu Qingfeng.

That fair and handsome face was filled with a man-eating greed, staring fixedly right at him.

That greedy look seemed to say: If there are no more candied hawthorns, I'll eat you!!

For no apparent reason, the peddler began to panic.

Having eaten so much ghost energy, he surprisingly showed no signs of being invaded by it whatsoever. What the hell was this guy!

"C-c-customer... there are no more."

"What!" Gu Qingfeng's voice suddenly rose an octave, his eyes emitting a chilling, eerie glow, just like a greedy, starving wolf.

"You sell candied hawthorns, yet you don't have any candied hawthorns? Are you looking down on this emperor?"

The bone-chilling voice sounded as if it came from the Nine Nether Underworld, making the vendor, despite being an evil spirit himself, shudder in fear.

"G-Guest... I only run a small business. I am really out, you have eaten them all," the vendor said with a miserable expression.

"Heh heh heh..." A terrifying, sinister laugh rang out.

Gu Qingfeng stared intently into the vendor's terrified eyes, and slowly said, "Who said you are out? Aren't there two more right here?"

The vendor froze. Two more? Where?

When he realized that Gu Qingfeng's gaze was fixed on his eyes, he was instantly struck with terror.

"G-Guest, you must be joking. These are my eyes, how could they be candied hawthorns?"

"If this emperor says they are candied hawthorns, then they are candied hawthorns! Hand them over!"

Gu Qingfeng's two fingers struck out like lightning, followed immediately by a bloodcurdling scream.

"Ah!"

The vendor collapsed to the ground in agony, clutching his eyes and shrieking, "My eyes! My eyes!"

Yan Lingyu was completely dumbfounded by the scene.

Just... who exactly was the evil spirit here?!

And who exactly had broken whose taboo?