Chapter 8. Hidden effect

For the past few days, Kai had gotten into a nice routine. In the morning, he would go to the shop and sit down at the counter after making sure it was clean with the help of a servant. Shen Mu would sit next to him after that as they sipped tea and waited for the first customer of the day.

Today, Shen Mu noticed that Kai had a smile plastered on his face as he sipped his tea. Even his skin was looking a bit clearer.

"Young master, did something good happen?"

"Well, yes." Kai nodded his head. Actually, he was still happy about progressing through ranks and that's why he was so happy.

He didn't like being weak, so it was the best thik for him.

"Can you tell me what it is?"

He looked at Shen Mu when he asked that. For a second, he wondered if he should tell him. After all, he was the only one for him in this world and had helped him a lot.

Still, after thinking, he postponed telling him for later.

He wanted to hide it for now.

"It's just the shop is running well. I'm very happy about it."

"Ah, yes." Shen Mu nodded at that. "The shop is running way better than I have ever expected. Like this, we would be a very profitable business."

If he was being honest, he hadn't expected the shop to do such good business in just a few days. The magical artifact that Kai had gotten had really saved up their reputation and like this, the cash flow would just increase.

"It's still not enough." Kai said, thinking about his new quest. He wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

Although the offer had attracted people to his shop, he needed to create more impact for his next quest.

As he was thinking like that, the door suddenly burst open and two familiar faces walked in.

They were obviously Tang Yan and Fang Qiyan who had come all the way from the academy here after realising that watching the movie has given them more mental toughness.

Kai was surprised to see them here again today.

'Have they gotten addicted to getting scared?'

He thought in his mind as both of them looked at him.

"I want to watch the movie again."

"Hey, I entered the shop first. I will watch it first."

Both of them said and glared at each other, looking like they had run all the way here as their hair looked untidy. Kai sighed seeing that and shook his head.

"Both of you can watch together. No need to fight when the room is set up in a way for a lot of people to watch together."

"I'm okay with it." Tang Yan was the first to nod to that.

"Yeah, me too." Fang Qiyan also followed suit, knowing that he had no choice.

They were in a hurry to get their mental fortitude to even better. They didn't know how but after watching <The Conjuring>, they have benefited a lot.

For cultivators, having control over their minds was a very important thing.

Seeing their enthusiasm, Kai couldn't help but ask, "Why are you two back here today anyway? I thought you were too scared to watch more."

Hearing that, Tang Yan smirked.

"Owner, you should know that better than us. You didn't tell us that your magical artifact has such an effect that it could increase our mental fortitude."

"So, you found out about it?" Kai simply asked, not too surprised. This was one of the things he has kept to himself as he didn't have much idea on how it would play out.

"So, it's true?" Tang Yan looked at him with a strange glint in his eyes. "Watching the movie will help us get better mental fortitude."

"Yes, but the effect will only work for the first time. Once you watch a movie once, you can't expect the same effects by watching it again."

"That's okay." Tang Yan nodded, very pleased with the information.

Actually, when he had gotten the system, Kai had checked the information on <The Conjuring>.

[<The Conjuring> - A supernatural horror movie about the story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators who came to the rescue of the Perron family who experienced increasingly disturbing events when they shifted to their farmhouse.

*Watching it would increase mental toughness and resistance.

*It would only work on the first watch.]

It has shown this and due to that, he knew of the effect, but he hadn't publicised it because a magic artifact like this always has a prize as it wasn't easy to permanently increase your mental resistance without any big side effects.

The same thing was going on in the mind of Fang Qiyan who had dealt with a lot of magic artifacts.

"Owner, are you sure this has no side effects? Or a curse?" He asked, looking unsure. Even Tang Yan took a step back.

"Nothing more than you getting nightmares of the evil spirits because you got too scared by it." Kai snickered. "If there was any curse on it, you would notice some kind of disturbance in the qi in my shop, but there's nothing like that."

That explanation was enough for the both of them to pay and enter the room again.

This time, they did used one of the techniques they have learnt to detect any curses or demonic qi, but they found nothing and feeling relieved, they started watching the movie.

This time, they knew of the jump scare and prepared beforehand.

"I need to reach the climax no matter what." Fang Qiyan muttered as the explanation about Annabelle began.

"Let's see who finishes it first."

Their eyes met and they glared at each other, but it was only for a short time. Soon, they were enjoying the movie, even noticing other details they have missed before.

Having watched the movie once, albeit not whole, they were able to prepare better and didn't even scream at every other thing.

But they were still lacking.

Just before the climax, when the backstory of the evil spirit was being revealed, they got too scared and ran out of the room, shuddering and shaking.

Kai clicked his tongue seeing them like that and instead of consoling them, he put a hand forward.

"You two failed the bet. Give me my money."

Hearing that, both the young masters had solemn expressions on their faces. They have lost a lot of money on the shop already and it didn't seem like they would be able to stop until they finished the movie.

***

In the next week, Tang Yan and Fang Qiyan became regular customers of the shop. Both of them would come daily and try to watch the whole movie and despite reaching very close to the end, their fear would overtake them.

After failing a few times, they have almost lost all their savings, but as it was helping in their mental resistance training, there was no complaint.

They were even able to touch the 40 minute mark in the chamber.

Aside from that, other customers also came to his shop to try out the bet, but hardly anyone was able to even go past the first act of the movie.

Kai was almost printing money at this point.

But he also knew that the bet wasn't going to continue always. So, noticing that both Tang Yan and Fang Qiyan has reached very close to finishing the movie, he made some changes in the shop and removed <The Conjuring> from the bet.

Instead, he put <Annabelle>, an unknown horror movie that no one has tried yet.

Like this, he would be able to continue his marketing scheme for a while longer, while not losing any money.

For Kai, this was the ultimate money glitch and he was a shrewd businessman!