With that, the vengeful spirit Zhuo Lan's story was complete. He foamed at the mouth with rage on the dream ground, having recounted his story of woe.

Meanwhile, the greedy merchant Sen Yu trembled where he stood.

"I...I did nothing of the sort! I don't know what you're talking about! You're crazy, Zhuo Lan! You've gone mad!"

"I'm not mad!" Zhuo Lan hissed and foamed. "I'm DEAD, you idiot dirtbag! DEAD! BECAUSE OF YOU! I should've known something was up when you insisted on selling rat traps! Waiting to get a monopoly on the market, my ass! You were waiting for a rat infestation that you started yourself!!!"

He grunted and growled again, baring his sharp teeth. Sen Yu shrieked in fear, hiding behind me.

"Immortal Xia! High Immortal of Wisdom! Don't let him hurt me! Save me! Save me!"

I sighed and put my tea into the air for later.

"Sen Yu, this is a serious question. I can look into your mind and see if you're telling the truth about being innocent or not. Are you truly innocent here? Did you not make a deal with a rat demon that was once sealed in a relic, and set a plague of rats on Guangzhou?"

Sen Yu trembled under my awesome immortal gaze. He lowered his shiny bald head.

"I...I-I...I..."

He fell to his knees, groveling — again with the groveling, geez! — and sobbing into my dream robes.

"Immortal Xia, have mercy on this immoral old man! Have mercy on this merchant! I just wanted to be successful...to reach the top, and take out my competition...it was a natural human desire! Have mercy, have mercy and save me from this evil spirit..."

Zhuo Lan gnashed his teeth on the ground.

"See? I told you! You're nothing but filth! Sen Yu, you rat of society! All you do is eat up all the riches around you, leaving nothing for anyone else! You crush anyone who stands in your way in the name of success! Your soul is the soul of a nasty, dirty rat! A dog! Sen Yu, come here! Come here so I can bite your fat head off! ARGHHHHHH!"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Sen Yu shrieked again in fear, still sobbing snottily into my robes. Gross.

"SAVE ME, IMMORTAL XIA! SAAAAAVE MEEEE!"

"SHUT UP, YOU RAT! ALL I DID WAS SHOW YOU YOUR TRUE COLORS! GET OVER HERE! COME CLOSER, DAMMIT!!!!"

I massaged my temples. It was getting a little too loud in here for my liking.

"You two, shut it."

Immediately, their screeching voices were silenced. Finally.

"All right. I'm going to sum up the situation, and I'm going to do it quick. According to the sacred Law of Just Revenge, it is justified for a vengeful spirit to take revenge on a person who has harmed them in their life, provided the revenge is proportional to the harm done. I'd say having creepy nightmares about turning into a rat is a lot less harmful than murdering a city with poisonous rats. So, it comes down to you two working it out with each other. I'm not getting involved in that stuff. Sen Yu, I've shown you what the source of your nightmares is. I'm not interfering, all right? Maybe you should try an apology and donate all your riches somewhere, or something. It's up to you to satisfy the revenge of your former colleague Zhuo Lan."

Sen Yu whimpered behind me at Zhuo Lan's leering grin.

"Now, before I head out, there's one last hole in this. Sen Yu, speak. Where is the relic that contained the rat demon you made a deal with decades ago?"

Sen Yu's throat was unsealed. He whimpered again.

"I...I threw it in the back of my treasury. I-It was a jade rat...a-and it was too precious for me to throw away...I don't know where it is now. I o-ordered my servant, Zi Yu, to give objects from that storage as gifts when needed...I-It has probably been given away by now..."

"Did you say...a jade rat? A jade rat figure?"

Sen Yu trembled, looking like he was about to faint from the fear of my and Zhuo Lan's presences combined.

"Y-Yes...Immortal Xia...a j-jade rat..."

Where had I seen a jade rat recently?

Hold on...

Shit.

So that's where.

When this greedy old merchant Sen Yu's servant, Zi Yu, climbed up the mountain to find me, he'd dumped a bag of gold, jewels, and jade figures at my feet.

And among those figures, was a shiny green jade rat.

Basically, he'd unknowingly gifted me a hungry rat demon.

Shit.

I cleared my throat. "This immortal is now out of here. Conduct yourselves respectfully in resolving this issue. Remember, my name is Immortal Xia Yue. And, Sen Yu...seriously, it's impractical to live in a house of gold. All right, bye!"

I deactivated the Dreamwalking Technique on myself, woke up gracefully like a professional immortal, and zoomed out of that gold house to head straight for the Glittering Mountains.