"How much is this book?"
Hayato directly picked up the book, the undisguised fondness clear in Hayato's eyes.
"This?"
The half-bald owner, over sixty years old, glanced at the book casually.
Seeing the look of fondness on Hayato's face, his eyes darted, and he immediately quoted a high price.
"One million yens!"
He had bought this book for one hundred thousand yens from a guy who claimed to be a descendant of a declining Onmyoji family.
The item was old, but the era was not too distant, and most importantly, it was a local Japan item.
The pictures on it were all stories and legends of gods and ghosts, and it was clear at a glance that it was a storybook made up by old people to trick children.
Therefore, its value was not high.
"I'll take it."
Hayato didn't even bother to bargain, directly swiped Hayato's card, and had the owner bag the book.
"These Monks are really rich and foolish."
The owner looked at the payment information on his phone gleefully and muttered in a low voice.
This kind of book wasn't even worth five hundred thousand yens.
He quoted such a high price just to give this guy room to bargain.
But who knew, this foolish Monk didn't even bargain and just bought it directly.
Made him a lot of money.
On the other side, Hayato, who had left the antique shop, looked at the illustrated book in his hand, unable to hide the surprise in his eyes.
He hadn't expected that just casually browsing an antique shop would allow him to buy such a good thing.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this book probably isn't even worth ten thousand yens.
But for him, this book, let alone a million yens, even a hundred million yens wouldn't make him bat an eye.
Hayato looked at the book's cover.
The cover only had five simple large characters: Hundred Ghost Night Parade Records.
Turning the pages, a rich spiritual energy and Yin energy rushed out.
A somewhat ferocious-looking ghost image came into view, with lines of introductions written below in small characters.
From the ghost's habits and abilities, to its weaknesses and preferences.
It could be said to be quite detailed.
This book is not an ordinary ancient book.
But a guide written by a Master with great magical power, using his heart and soul.
It records many Evil Spirits and Yokai from the legends of Japan.
Among them are detailed records of Yokai like the Ripped-Mouth Woman and the Zashiki Warashi.
Hayato opened the guide and found the page that recorded the Ripped-Mouth Woman's information.
The guide depicted a tall Woman with a beautiful face, but with a ferocious large mouth.
[Ripped-Mouth Woman]
[Usually an Evil Spirit formed from the resentment of a beautiful Woman who has been cursed or brutally harmed.]
[Appearance: A tall and alluring Woman, with a huge slit from the corners of her mouth extending to her ears, suspected to have been cut by a sharp weapon. She usually likes to cover her face with something.]
[Weapon: Wields an extremely sharp red scissor, incredibly sharp, capable of easily cutting through anything in its way.]
[Abilities: Extremely fast, immense strength, uses a strange smile and terrifying slit to confuse and intimidate enemies, making them fall into fear and panic.]
[Weakness: Fears strong light; strong light exposure will slow down its movements.]
[Appears in dark and quiet environments, has a strong aversion to beautiful men and women, likes to cut open the corners of others' mouths with scissors, making everyone as "beautiful" as her.]
Hayato looked at the introduction in the guide.
Ripped-Mouth Woman does not represent a single Yokai, but refers to a type of Yokai.
The Evil Spirit that Tanaka Saya transformed into actually belongs to the Ripped-Mouth Woman type.
Hayato compared the information recorded in the guide with Tanaka Saya. Although not exactly the same, they were very close.
As for the remaining one or two points of difference, it was purely individual variation.
Therefore, this guide is essentially a large encyclopedia recording the demons, ghosts, and gods of Japan.
Hayato flipped through a few pages and found that the handwriting in this book was not the same, and it seemed to have been repeatedly revised multiple times.
It recorded the habits and weaknesses of hundreds of types of ghosts and Evil Spirits in total, which is not a workload that can be completed by one person.
It is estimated that more than one Master put their heart and soul into this guide.
That's why it has such a rich spiritual energy.
"With such rich spiritual energy, I wonder what effect it will have after strengthening."
Thinking that he still had one strengthening opportunity unused, Hayato directly used it on this Hundred Ghost Records.
He didn't have high expectations in his heart.
After all, the stronger the spiritual energy of something, the smaller the chance of successful strengthening.
Although this guide is not a magic tool, strengthening it won't be too simple either.
It's estimated that it will fail at least three to five times before succeeding.
Just consider it padding.
As Hayato was thinking this, he suddenly saw a faint dark light bloom from the Hundred Ghost Records.
This is, successful?
Hayato raised his eyebrows, not expecting his luck to be so good, hitting the mark on the first try.
As the strengthening was completed, dense incantations instantly appeared on the surface of the Hundred Ghost Records' cover.
The incantations slightly wriggled, flickering with a faint dark light.
A chilling and eerie aura rushed out, as if connected to a strange world.
Hayato opened the first page of the Hundred Ghost Records.
He found that the drawing paper on the first page was filled with various ghost images.
Each one was lifelike, as if it could leap off the paper at any moment.
The second page was blank.