104. Meeting

At the beginning of September, Qingling and his party had not yet left Ningzhou. Shang Changheng was injured and could no longer use ghosts to lead the way. The rain that had lasted for nearly a month had made the roads muddy. If Ningzhou was in such a situation, Qingling in Dingzhou, which was the hardest hit, could imagine what the situation was like.

There was certainly no way to count on the autumn harvest, and those who survived the flood didn't know how to survive. While resting in the city, Qingling heard someone in the restaurant say that Daxia's Crown Prince Zhu Hongxu was personally escorting relief grain and money to Dingzhou.

After hearing this, Zhu Lezhi sighed and said in a low voice, "The Crown Prince is the legitimate son of the Empress. He is said to be both civil and military. In his early years, he personally led troops into the mountains to suppress bandits. But later, for some reason, the outside world sang praises of him, and the Crown Prince himself almost disappeared. In the past two years, whenever there was something going on outside, it was his younger brother, the Third Prince Jing Wang, who came forward. But we common people dare not comment too much on the affairs of the royal family. This time, the Crown Prince personally delivered the food, so there will be less exploitation along the way, and the people of Dingzhou can live longer."

It is indeed a good thing, but Qingling really doesn't care about any family grudges between His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and King Jing.

He was more worried about Shang Changheng.

Although he was only hit by one bolt of lightning, if it were another evil spirit, that bolt of lightning would be enough to turn it into ashes. Even when thinking about it now, Qing Ling still feels a lingering fear and puts down his chopsticks and sighs silently.

There is a way to make the evil ghost recover as soon as possible, just let it devour the negative energy and evil spirits of its own kind. However, the ghosts encountered recently are all ordinary wandering souls, and Qingling dare not summon ghosts at will. What if he gets something powerful and can't eat it, it will make Shang Changheng's situation worse.

Suddenly!

Qing Ling frowned and raised his head, looking around the small restaurant where there were not many people. There were only four tables of guests eating. Apart from them, the other three tables were quite far away from each other. In the middle were two young men, by the window were three people who looked like scholars, and near the door were two sturdy men dressed like gangsters. They spoke loudly and were talking about which brothel in the city had the most tender girls.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Lezhi and Miao Yuan looked at each other and their expressions changed slightly.

Whenever there is any movement, Qingling is always the first to discover it. It's not because he is so sharp because of his many years in the martial arts world, but his intuition that is comparable to divination is indeed terrifying.

"Donor Qing." Miao Yuan asked quietly, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, I just feel like..." Qing Ling hesitated, then carefully expressed the subtle feeling: "Someone is watching us..."

In an instant, cold sweat broke out on the backs of the two people who were eating next to them.

This is really scary.

Especially when they didn't feel anything, Qingling said someone was watching them...it was almost like someone putting a knife to the back of their necks.

Seeing the two people's ugly faces, Qing Ling hesitated and said: "It's not that kind... I don't feel any danger."

"That's good, that's good." Zhu Lezhi breathed a sigh of relief, and kept glancing at the people in the restaurant. He even looked at the waiters who were busy around, and couldn't help but whispered, "There's no Yin energy here, so it's probably not some powerful evil spirit. Could it be a human? Let's eat quickly and leave quickly, and go to Yinzhou right away to do everything we need to do."

They didn't complain in this small town. After eating, they got on the carriage and left. At this time, two inconspicuous men at the middle table looked at each other. One of them said, "He's quite perceptive. He only took a glance. How did he find something wrong?"

"This group of people is very evil. They might try to escape. We can't let them go." Another said, standing up and slapping the money on the table, "Let's go."

Before the carriage left the city, Miao Yuan, who was driving, suddenly tightened the reins and stopped the carriage on the road not far from the city gate.

In front of the city gate stood two men in simple clothing and ordinary looks. They stopped the carriage and shouted, "Wait a minute, my master wants to see you. Please go ahead."

Miao Yuan said coldly: "May I ask who your master is?"

"It is inconvenient to disclose." The man shook his head and said meaningfully, "But my master is of extraordinary status. It is not a bad thing for you to go on this journey. Otherwise, if you make enemies, you will be in real trouble."

Qingling in the carriage felt that the tone was quite familiar.

...It sounds quite like the tone of those people in official circles, and every word carries a sense of superiority.

Miao Yuan also discovered that the two were in the restaurant, and at that time Qing Ling noticed that someone was looking at them - he narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a cold voice: "No, get out of the way."

The two men probably didn't expect that the monk had such a bad temper. He refused without any room for redemption, and their faces changed for a moment.

The man who had never spoken smiled politely, "Master Miaoyuan, why are you so angry? Our master has no other intentions. It's just that...something bad happened, so we want to ask you, the girl from the Zhu family, and Mr. Qing to take a look."

He revealed the identities of the three people at once.

Now even Qing Ling in the carriage changed his expression. He exchanged a glance with Zhu Lezhi. Miao Yuan also opened the carriage door and looked at the two people inside, asking with his eyes, "Are you going or not?"

Qingling nodded slightly to him.

They were going deep into the mountains and forests all the way, and sometimes they didn't even go into the city for the convenience of traveling. However, the other party was able to block them here. Even if they didn't see each other today, they would probably still bother them in the future.

Qingling subconsciously touched the dragon pendant hanging on his chest.

The dragon pendant also felt slightly cold, as if Shang Changheng inside was comforting him softly, "I'm here, don't be afraid."

.

So the carriage turned around and stopped in an inconspicuous and hidden alley.

Zhu Lezhi jumped out of the carriage first, looked at the small gate and courtyard and couldn't help saying: "...This big shot is quite mysterious, he is hiding in the city."

Qing Ling then got off the carriage and was about to say something when he saw Zhu Lezhi's expression suddenly changed.

Now it was Miaoyuan and Qingling's turn to look at him.

But Zhu Lezhi frowned tightly, and was unwilling to even enter the courtyard gate. She turned to the two people who led the way and said, "The cause and effect are too serious, we can't intervene, you two should ask for help from others."

The two were stunned when they heard it.

Unexpectedly, the person showed up and said something even more extreme before he even entered the door. The one who played the good guy earlier coaxed him in a gentle voice: "Since you three are here, it doesn't matter if you go in and take a look, right? If you are also helpless, then this... is also destined, but you can't just turn around and leave when you get to the door, right?"

Zhu Lezhi shook her head and said firmly, "No, the karma here is as black as charcoal. Instead of asking us for help, it's better to let the person inside think about what he has done. In short, even if you ask my grandfather to come out of the grave, he can only stay away. He can't do anything about it. No one can interfere with the karma of other people's families without permission." She turned to Qing Ling and said, "Young Master Qing, let's go. This matter--"

Before she finished her words, there was a sound of a door opening in the yard, as if someone pushed the door open from the house, followed by two weak coughs. The person walked into the yard step by step, and spoke with a weak voice, "Miss, you are really serious, cough..."

Zhu Lezhi suddenly felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy and even took a step back.

I heard the person inside walking forward slowly and unsteadily. There were probably servants inside the gate, because before the person took a few steps, someone opened the gate from inside.

The first person Qing Ling saw was the young man who had just walked out of the room. He looked to be a handsome young man in his twenties, wearing a crimson brocade robe, with his long hair neatly tied up with a hair crown. He was tall but too thin, and his face was so pale that it looked bloodless.

Frankly speaking, judging from his appearance, he doesn't look like a... wicked person.

But it is not a good idea to judge a person by his appearance. Those people in the Qing family look decent, but they dare to do anything behind the scenes. However, Qingling always feels that there is a subtle sense of incongruity about this young man.

He looked extraordinary, even though he looked frail and skinny now, his back was still very straight, and every step he took seemed to have been measured. Qingling felt that he looked familiar, until the man came closer step by step, then he suddenly remembered that his posture was somewhat similar to Shang Changheng's.

Miaoyuan looked left and right, clutching the rosary, not knowing for a moment whether to leave or stay.

Qingling looked quietly into the eyes of the frail young man.

Only Zhu Lezhi's expression changed again and again, first with disbelief, then with confusion.

No one spoke for a moment.

After a while, Zhu Lezhi stretched out his hand and pushed Miao Yuan, and whispered: “Young Master, I think my eyes are either blind or blind.”

Miao Yuan showed an indescribable expression, slowly opened his mouth and uttered one word: "Ah?"

The shaky young man chuckled and sighed, "Miss Zhu, what have you seen? Even though I am not a virtuous saint, I have never done anything wrong. Could the karma you mentioned be the result of your past life?"

“Impossible.” Zhu Lezhi said flatly, “There is no such thing as repaying debts from past lives in this life. When people die, the underworld will naturally decide how to repay them. Once they are reincarnated as humans, they will have no connection with their past lives. You…you…”

Cause and effect is a very mysterious thing.

Qing Ling understood this deeply. The Qing family had owed Shang Changheng a lot of favors, so it was reasonable for Shang Changheng to collect debts from them. However, since they had already been reincarnated once, everything in their previous lives was written off. Naturally, they did not need to repay any debts from their previous lives in the next life, and the tortures in hell in the underworld were not for show.

But the person in front of him was obviously a little weird.

Qing Ling couldn't tell what was wrong, but he always felt that there was something weird about this person, as if... he shouldn't be like this. Even his facial features looked a bit weird and inconsistent, and there was even a bit of... cold resentment in him.

"He has something on him." Shang Changheng's voice suddenly sounded. Qingling turned around and saw him standing beside him.

However, the frail young man who had always looked calm suddenly changed his expression, as if he was shocked and surprised. Qingling also instantly noticed that there was something wrong with the other party's eyes. After taking another look, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

——That person was looking at Shang Changheng.

He can see ghosts!