Stranger Danger

Candle Spirit answered, “If you give up your uprightness, you will lose the ability to discern right from wrong, and good from evil. You will act as you please, kill on a whim, so on and so forth.”

“Makes sense,” Ye Qing nodded before asking another question, “And what would happen if I give up my familial love?”

The corners of Candle Spirit’s lips curled upward. If you give up your familial love, then you will lose all feelings toward your family. To put it simply, you will treat them just like you treat a stranger. Of course, this won’t affect your daily life. Who knows, you might lead a freer life without the shackles of familial bonds to hold you down?”

Ye Qing pressed, “What if I’m an orphan who had to grow up all alone?”

Candle Spirit chuckled. “You might not have a family now, but you will have one eventually. Your wife and your children are your family, is it not? Of course, if you choose to never have a family, then we will take something else of equal value.”

In other words, the pawn shop would never come out of a deal as the loser.

Ye Qing nodded in understanding before launching into a deduction, “In other words, I will never love again if I give up my love, and I will never have friends if I give up my friendship. Is that correct?”

Candle Spirit nodded in affirmation.

Ye Qing fell into thought for a moment before asking another question, “How does pawning my dreams and future work?”

Candle Spirit answered succinctly, “If you pawn your ambitions, then you will lose all motivation to improve and be satisfied with your current status. If you give up your future, then you will always remain exactly where you’re currently at in life. You will never change until you die.”

Ye Qing frowned deeply when he heard this. He could tell that Candle Spirit was trying to downgrade the severity of the consequences without outright lying to his face. Losing a certain emotion already had a serious impact on one’s life, but to lose one’s dreams or future could only be described as life-changing.

Could you really call a human who was missing an entire aspect of their emotions a human?

Was there any difference between a human and a salted fish if he lost his ambition?

And why even live if you would never have a future?

Speaking of the future, suppose he was fine with pawning off his emotions or whatever and went on to live the life he dreamed of. However, life was full of obstacles, and it was only a matter of time before he encountered something that he couldn’t solve. He would be tempted to visit the pawn shop again and pawn something else to obtain a solution to his problem.

It wouldn’t end there though. A human’s greed and desire was bottomless, and once they had something they would want more of it. Pawn Shop No. 8 could carry him all the way to the top if he was careful with their deals, or it could slowly lead him into the abyss and cost him everything. If there came a day where he truly lost everything, who could say that they would be strong enough not to pawn off their own soul to the devil?

Having understood the pitfalls and traps laid by Pawn Shop No. 8, Ye Qing visualized the Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method to keep his head clear and asked, “Can you tell me what I can pawn to obtain this agate then?”

Candle Spirit smiled. So what if Ye Qing knew that Pawn Shop No. 8 was dangerous and treacherous? He would still enter their trap because that was just how humans were: greedy, slothful and full of desires.

“There are many things you can pawn, dear customer. For example, you may pawn your uprightness, your friendship, your intelligence, your conscience, your lifespan, your martial talent, your emotions and more.”

“Wow! I have a lot more stuff than I thought!” Ye Qing sounded a little excited, “I feel like I can exchange a lot of useful stuff with what I have!”

Candle Spirit’s smile grew even warmer and coquettish, “In that case, what will you give in exchange for the agate of the Moon Seeing Stone, dear customer?”

Ye Qing replied, “I will give you… my money, of course.”

“I-I’m sorry?” Candle Spirit was taken aback. “I thought you were going to give up something more… substantial?”

Ye Qing answered matter-of-factly, “You said it yourself they’re quite substantial. Why would I give up my treasures when I can sit on them instead?”

Candle Spirit: “...” So, you’re saying that I wasted all that breath for nothing?

Candle Spirit tried to change his mind, “The agate of the Moon Seeing Stone is quite valuable, dear customer. I’m afraid that you’ll have to pay through the roof if you wish to pay in mundane currency. In fact, intangible things like emotions are worth a lot more to our shop then tangible things like gold and silver. Why pay through the roof when there is a much cheaper option?”

“Exactly! That is why I cannot pawn off my intangible stuff!” Ye Qing answered matter-of-factly, “Also, I have a ton of cash!”

Given enough money, can money buy everything? Yes! Yes, it can!

Candle Spirit was feeling a little distraught. Why is he getting more obstinate the more I try to persuade him?

Ye Qing didn’t pull out his cash immediately though. He asked, “You claimed that Pawn Shop No. 8 adheres to the principles of fair trade, but why should I believe you? How can I be sure that you won’t intentionally raise the price of the agate or devalue my money?”

By now, Candle Spirit realized that Ye Qing couldn’t be persuaded, so she simply waved her hand and summoned a divine-looking, penta-colored deer into the shop. The Stranger was also carrying what seemed to be a scale on its back.

“Is that the Deer of Balance?” Ye Qing blurted in surprise.

“Correct! It is none other than the Deer of Balance!” Candle Spirit responded, “Do you trust me now?”

Ye Qing nodded. A Deer of Balance was a very special Stranger that was, in some ways, quite similar to the Oathbearer. Powerful but kind, it almost never attacked a human or Stranger unless it was attacked first. There was nothing it loved more than to evaluate items for humans and ensure fair trade.

If someone tried to cheat the other party or facilitate unfair trade though, the Deer of Balance would get angry, and the scale behind its back would be imbalanced. The Deer of Balance would carve up the wrongdoer bit by bit and place their body parts on the plate until the scale was balanced. Only then would it stop and cease its rage.

This was why the Deer of Balance was also known as the Deer of Fairness by merchants. It was also why its symbol was often inscribed on weighing scales as proof of fair transaction.

The Deer of Balance in front of Ye Qing had five-colored fur with starry spots that looked like stars in the sky. An auspicious cloud hung between its horns, and its eyes were brimming with life and intelligence. The mysterious scale on its back was glowing with hypnotic, auspicious colors as well.

There was no mistake. The Deer of Balance in front of him was the genuine article. There was no way this was a fake conjured by Candle Spirit.

“Shall we begin the exchange then, dear customer?” Candle Spirit said and placed the bottle of agate on one of the weighing plates. The scale slowly tilted in that direction.

In response, Ye Qing pulled out fifty thousand silver certificates [1] from his Nature’s Shell and placed it on the opposite plate. However, he nearly suffered a heart attack when he discovered the scale had barely moved at all.

The scale was only slightly tilted on one side, so he initially thought that the agate was cheaper than he thought. He wasn’t expecting fifty thousand silver, which was almost half of all the money he had, to be worth so little.

It would seem that money really was near worthless to Pawn Shop No. 8.

Ye Qing stopped wasting his silver and added the goods he just got from the four stall owners to the plate instead. He didn’t recognize the large majority of the items, but who knows, maybe some of them might turn out to be valuable? They were wasting space in his Nature’s Shell and meant little to him anyway, so he might as well pawn them off to Pawn Shop No. 8.

Ye Qing didn’t deposit his items one by one on the plate. He was the one who decided to show off his wealth. If he acted like a miser now, it would utterly ruin his heroic image. Therefore, he unloaded every item he thought had no value to him on the plate in one go.

The plate was average-sized at best and could not seem to accommodate a large number of items, but in reality not a single one of his items—hundreds of them—had fallen to the ground. It was as if the plate contained infinite space.

It wasn’t too surprising. A seed could hold a mountain after all. [2]

After Ye Qing was done depositing his items, the horn of the Deer of Balance slowly brightened with colorful, divine light. It was a soft, gentle glow that set him at ease. A short while later, a small pile of the items were thrown out of the plate and in front of Ye Qing. When Candle Spirit saw Ye Qing’s confused expression, she giggled, “Dear customer, the Deer of Balance threw those items out because they’re completely worthless.”

After the worthless items were discarded, the plates slowly tilted toward the center. When they came to a stop though, Ye Qing discovered that the scale needed one last push to be truly balanced.

“It looks like your items still aren’t enough, dear customer,” Candle Spirit commented with a smirk.

Ye Qing didn’t panic. He thought for a moment and placed the Strange Artifacts and martial arts manuals he didn’t need onto the weighing plate such as the Skinner, the Burial Shirt of the Dead, the Chang Bone, the “Iron Hand”, the “Floating On Water” and more. The scale slowly evened out with every addition.

However, Ye Qing did not notice Candle Spirit smiling eerily as he was adding his Strange Artifacts onto the plate. The candles on the ebony rack abruptly turned black and swayed in eerie harmony.

Keke, you’re dead.

Candle Spirit’s smile grew wider and wider as the scale slowly evened out. She had used a special ability to mask the true value of Ye Qing’s Strange Artifacts. As soon as the Stranger noticed that something was wrong with the Stranger, it would definitely think that Ye Qing was trying to trick it and attack him. It did not matter if the Deer of Balance killed him or maimed him. Either outcome would be favorable to Pawn Shop No. 8.

If Ye Qing was grievously injured, he would need to heal himself before he returned to the Strange Market. Otherwise, he might as well be committing suicide. His only choice would be to negotiate a new deal with Pawn Shop No. 8 and treat his injuries. When that happened, she would get exactly what she wanted.

It was even better if the Deer of Balance killed him outright. His soul would go directly to Pawn Shop No. 8.

My plan is flawless!

Candle Spirit nearly burst out in laughter as she marveled at the ingenuity of her own plan. In fact, she had tricked many customers using this exact tactic, and so far no one had managed to escape her trap.

Ye Qing had no idea that a grave danger was right on top of him. He even let out a mental sigh of relief when he saw that the scale was about to even out.

It was at this moment the Annon Sutra suddenly flashed black. Then, a single silver dragon-serpent rune slowly vanished from its surface.

The second the dragon-serpent rune was gone, words slowly appeared on its surface,

“Ye Qing had played Candle Spirit like a fiddle, and the resentful Stranger was unwilling to take the humiliation lying down. So, she used her innate ability to conceal the true value of Ye Qing’s items and provoke the Deer of Balance into killing Ye Qing. This way, she would be able to lay claim to Ye Qing’s soul.”

“Unfortunately, she was so pleased with herself that she accidentally let slip a hint of energy. As a result, the Deer of Balance found out her ploy. Enraged beyond reason, the Deer of Balance killed Candle Spirit on the spot.”

When the words “killed Candle Spirit on the spot” manifested, it started fading immediately almost as if it couldn’t bear the power of fate it was imbued with. But right before they would disappear, all sixteen silver dragon-serpent runes on the Annon Sutra suddenly shone a bright silver light. Six of them disintegrated into nothing, and the six words abruptly regained its form:

“KILL CANDLE SPIRIT”

1. Hey, fifty thousand silver ingots is heavy. For big numbers they have paper cash just like we do. ☜

2. This is a reference to a Chinese folk tale. I’ll keep things simple, but once upon a time someone questioned a Buddhist monk saying that his claim that a seed could hold a mountain is ridiculous. In response, the Buddhist monk asked him if he had read ten thousand books. When the man said yes and bragged that all the books he read were inside his head, the Buddhist monk asked how is that possible when his head couldn’t possibly fit that many books. And so the man was enlightened. ☜

AI art for Deer of Balance. Try and pretend that scale isn\'t growing out of its ass, or that the angle is all off.