Chapter 72 Baked Snails She could already smell the roasted lamb coming from the palace...

The underworld was empty. After walking for a long time, I didn't see a single ghost.

Li Zhou couldn't help but sigh: "Sure enough, the evil ghosts are in the human world."

Yin Chan and the green-feathered parrot on her shoulder turned their heads together and looked at her.

Yin Chan asked carefully, "Is this hunger the same as hunger?"

Li Zhou thought: "You mean the greedy ghost? This kind of ghost should not be harmful."

Yin Chan: “…”

Everyone was silent for a moment, and they didn't agree with it.

After walking for a while in the underworld filled with dark miasma, a tall figure covered in blood finally appeared in the distance.

This figure was wearing fine scale armor, a tiger-head helmet on his head, and a white cloak on his shoulders. The cloak was covered with bloodstains, and the corners of the clothes were burning with flames, which seemed to never go out.

This should be a general who died in battle.

Li Zhou breathed a sigh of relief: "Finally I saw a ghost."

Everyone: “…”

The ghost of Witch Lady Lu still had her eyes covered with white film, but now she volunteered: "Dr. Tan, I'll go ask for directions."

Li Zhou nodded.

Witch Lu took a step forward, used her magical power to shrink the distance, and appeared in front of the ghost general the next moment.

"Excuse me, may I ask how I can find the Lord?"

The ghost general turned his head, his eyes also reflected raging flames, and in his hand he held a giant axe with a gap in it, but it still exuded a strong murderous aura.

Yin Chan called out softly, "Mother-in-law."

Song Gang clenched his fists and hurried forward.

The ghost general just stared at Witch Lu woodenly without saying a word.

Instead, it was Witch Lu who stretched out her trembling hand and touched the broken badge on her chest.

It was a ferocious beast with golden eyes, an iron head, and mane like a lion, just like the legendary mythical beast Suanni.

The scholar Mei Tang was surprised, then he understood and sighed, "This general should be the vanguard under the command of the eldest princess. It is said that a general wearing this badge can defeat a hundred monsters. Although there are less than 500 of them, they have all made great achievements in the front line of resisting the invasion of monsters."

As she spoke, Witch Lu had already put down her hand and returned to her normal state.

"Master Immortal, she seems to have lost her mind. Let's ask someone else."

Yin Chan looked hesitant, and the green-feathered parrot tilted its head and said, "Old friend? Friend?"

Witch Lu smiled and shook her head: "Although I have served under the eldest princess, I don't recognize her."

A little crystal flashed across the corner of her eyes, and disappeared the next moment, as if it was just an illusion.

Mei Tang was thinking and was about to say something when several roars were heard. Everyone looked up and saw that it was a group of tiger monsters, wolf monsters, leopard monsters, and bear monsters.

The eyes of these demons were filled with bloodthirstiness and cruelty, without any intelligence at all.

Demon Hunter Yu Miaoluo whispered, "This is exactly the same as the state of the ghosts that are chasing us!"

There really was something wrong with the underworld. All those crazy ghosts and zombies on the ground had escaped from the underworld!

Everyone was shocked. Witch Lu, Mei Tang and Yin Chan all thought of the Lord's illness and looked serious.

Li Zhou counted the number of demons and ghosts in his mind, and was about to be an open-minded person and let them all live in his heart.

The ghost general had a wooden expression and looked at the demons with a pair of eyes that reflected flames.

She raised her giant axe, her burning cloak flying up, and, just like countless times in her life, she charged towards the demons that were several times larger than herself.

"kill!"

Evil spirit surged out in an instant, the ghost general's roar and the demon's howl mixed together, and every time the giant axe fell, a demon would be reduced to ashes.

Yu Miaoluo murmured: "No wonder..."

Yin Chan turned her head: "What's the matter?"

Yu Miaoluo said: "No wonder the only people chasing us are ghosts."

It turned out that it was the Ghost General who was guarding the gate of the underworld and killed all the demons and ghosts who wanted to rush out of the underworld.

After killing a wave of demons, the Ghost General lowered his bumpy giant axe and entered a wooden state again.

Everyone looked at each other and felt a sense of urgency in their hearts. Killing the evil spirits by the Ghost General could only be a temporary solution. If they wanted to cure the root cause, they had to find the Lord of the Mansion as soon as possible.

To help the seriously ill Lord to recover, the miracle doctor Tan is their only hope.

Yin Chan suddenly said, "I heard that the Lord of the Mansion is a warm and hospitable person."

Mei Tang was stunned for a moment, then quickly nodded and said, "When I was on a ghost mission, the Lord of the Mansion often called me over to eat and drink."

Li Zhou thought, why didn’t you tell me such an important thing earlier.

Of course, she was not a glutton and did not care what delicious food the Lord had.

She said nothing, but just silently quickened her pace.

She didn't even think about it. If Mei Tang really had such great ability and could become the Lord's guest of honor, how could she not know where to find the Lord?

Except for Song Gang, everyone immediately realized that Mei Tang and Yin Chan were performing a duet.

People who understand will naturally not sabotage. Everyone looked at each other and quickly followed.

The ghost general stood where he was, watching them go away with his flaming eyes.

…

As they go deeper into the underworld, more ghosts and apparitions appear before everyone.

He looked up into the void, glancing at the nonexistent list of top-ranked scholars, his expression half crying and half laughing: "I didn't get it... How could I not get it?"

Mei Tang shuddered and said to himself, "Fortunately, I gave up the imperial examination a long time ago."

The skinny laborer, with seven or eight bags of goods on his back and his waist bent, was still talking to the air beside him: "Add one more bag... It's okay, I can carry it."

Song Gang sighed: "When I was escorting a caravan, I often saw such hard-working porters."

The demon hunter holding a magic sword, slashing randomly, shouting "Don't come over here";

The mother whose skin was cracked and she squeezed blood out of her fingers to feed it to her daughter;

The mother-in-law, who was swollen all over, struggled to lift the child;

The embroiderer who couldn't see the road clearly, with needle holes all over her fingertips, was selling her embroidery.

The washerwoman raised the mallet again and again, hitting the clothes, her hands swollen like carrots...

It seems that every ghost is trapped by the obsessions of his previous life, repeating his past self in vain.

Everyone walked in silence until they came to a broad river. The water was so clear that one could see transparent fish swimming at the bottom.

Yin Chan lowered her head and took a closer look. The moment she saw the fish clearly, she and the parrot on her shoulder were both frightened and stood up suddenly.

They were dead faces so white that they were almost transparent. They were peeled off from someone's body and fell into the river. Over time, they accumulated and became densely packed, slowly floating with the water flow.

Li Zhou's nostrils twitched as she smelled a fishy and salty smell of canned food. She looked away in disgust and refused the pre-prepared food.

"Dear guests," a boatman wearing a bamboo hat and a straw raincoat asked with a smile, "Do you want to cross the river?"

Mei Tang's eyes lit up, and he bowed and said, "We are looking for the residence of the Lord. Could you point the way?"

The boatman said, "This is the Wangchuan River. Take my boat. After you cross the river and go another two miles, you will see the palace where the Lord lives."

Mei Tang was overjoyed and asked, "May I ask how much the boat fare is?"

The boatman said cheerfully, "We are familiar with each other from the first sight. I will give you a free ride."

Mei Tang paused, glanced at his companions, then smiled as usual, "In that case, I'll have to trouble you, Excellency."

The boatman held the bamboo pole and rowed the boat to the riverside. He enthusiastically helped everyone get on the boat, and when everyone was seated, he shouted, "Hold on tight!"

He just pushed the bamboo pole lightly, and the boat rushed to the other side as if it was equipped with a speed talisman.

At this speed, we can cross the river in a few breaths.

However, when the boat reached the middle of the river, it stopped suddenly, the bow lifted up, and the stern sank, almost sinking into the Forgetful River.

A splash of river water fell towards the cabin, and was about to soak everyone.

Yu Miaoluo sneered and performed a water-blocking technique. A circle of invisible light flashed and blocked all the river water.

The river water splashed onto the deck. The boatman holding the bamboo pole turned around with an inexplicable look on his face: "Sir, you have great kung fu! However, on this Wangchuan River, all escape methods are forbidden. If you want to cross the river, you can only rely on my boat."

Yin Chan rolled her eyes: "Stop talking nonsense, what do you want?"

Song Gang spat: "I just asked you about the boat fare, but you didn't want it. Now you are talking about this again."

The boatman smiled and said, "I don't want any money anyway."

He took out a ball of silk from his bosom and threw it into Meitang's arms: "You are all educated people. When you answer the questions on the silk, I will send you across the river."

Mei Tang unfolded the silk cloth, and everyone lowered their heads to look at the words written in red on the cloth:

[A three-legged round fish and a six-eyed turtle, together in a deep pool under a mountain, ninety-three legs floating in the water, one hundred and two eyes spying on people, appearing and disappearing, going east and west, leaning on the railing to watch but unable to tell, someone has calculated without error, good wine is poured again and several cups are given. ＊]

Mei Tang raised his head abruptly: "Isn't this the test question for the underworld to select underworld officials?"

The boatman's smile froze.

Yu Miaoluo, who had studied hard and passed the cultural subjects twice, suddenly looked displeased and said, "You actually cheated!"

Yin Chan, who was still reviewing and could only be considered an official craftsman after passing the exam, was furious: "You actually cheated!"

The boatman was scolded twice and couldn't hold it in any longer. With a fierce look in his eyes, he decided to throw all these people into the Forgetful River to prevent the matter from being exposed.

Finally, after reading all the contents on the silk cloth and roughly understanding what this passage meant, Li Zhou slowly raised his head, expressionless: "You actually tested us with math problems."

The boatman looked strange and was about to say, "Is this what you are focusing on?"

Li Zhou didn't even turn his head: "Song Gang?"

She had already seen that the escort didn't like reading very much.

Then let him vent his anger.

Song Gang, who was dizzy, immediately jumped up, rolled up his sleeves, and rushed onto the deck: "Looking for a fight!"

He grabbed the boatman who was trying to dodge and beat him with his fist as big as a clay pot until he looked like a human sandbag. He had a dent in his throat. "You want to test Dr. Tan? Who do you think you are?"

The boatman was beaten so hard that he saw stars and screamed. After a while, he raised his hands and begged for mercy: "No more, no more, I will take you to the other side right away, stop beating me, or I will kill you!"

Song Gang beat him for a while before he stopped panting. He turned back to look at Li Zhou. Seeing that the anger on Li Zhou's face had disappeared, he kicked the boatman and said, "Let's row the boat."

The bruised and battered boatman nodded hurriedly, rowed the bamboo pole, and impatiently took the boat to the other side.

Before getting off the boat, Mei Tang confirmed, "Is the Lord of the Mansion really in front?"

"I guarantee it's authentic. I guarantee it's authentic." The boatman said with a sad face, "Can you give my things back to me?"

Mei Tang looked down at the silk cloth with the test questions written on it, rolled it up, and threw it into the Forgotten River.

As soon as the silk cloth entered the water, it was like entering an oil pan. The river water was boiling and bubbling. Countless faces rushed forward and tore the silk cloth into pieces in a blink of an eye.

The boatman stared at the scene blankly, his heart ached, and he knelt down on the shore.

Without the test papers, I have to wait another ten years before I can register for the exam...

Li Zhou nodded, looked at Mei Tang approvingly, turned around and looked forward.

A palace with flying eaves, carved beams and painted buildings is already vaguely visible.

Li Zhou thought that the Lord's house was quite big, so there wouldn't be enough space for the feast.

She could already smell the aroma of roasted lamb legs and baked snails emanating from the palace!

Um?

Why did the aroma of roasted lamb leg suddenly disappear?