Chapter 10 The Hanged Ghost Was she kneeling and worshipping the hanged ghost?

"What are you good for? You can't even keep an eye on a little girl!"

"No, boss, we're digging here, and besides, we've tied her up..."

"You tied her hands but not her legs! Didn't you know to tie her to the door first, you idiot?!" Lu Bing yelled as he chased after her, almost having a heart attack from anger at his two useless teammates.

Knowing he had done a poor job, the constable tried to calm Lu Bingshun down, panting as he said, "It's alright, boss. There are four of us grown men. We can't let a little girl get away. Once we catch her, I'll tie her up tightly!"

As Qin San rushed towards the entrance of the death row cell, his slender body running desperately in the moonlight, a group of people chased after him one after another, stepping on the silvery light that fell upon him...

A gust of wind swept in from the small opening, hitting their faces with a damp chill and a mournful murmur: "I am innocent—"

That low murmur was incredibly distant, as if it came from across mountains, across seas, across two different times and spaces, while a cacophony of cries for justice surged in like a tide:

"I've been framed—"

"I'm innocent!"

"I'm innocent!"

The screams were clearly heart-wrenching, but when they reached our ears, only a faint echo remained, neither loud nor shrill.

The damp chill swept into Zhou Yaren's arms, seeping into the musical pipe tucked at his waist, producing a low, short, sharp sound. Zhou Yaren's steps suddenly halted, and then he saw at the end of the long, narrow path, in the silvery moonlight as thin as gauze, a door vaguely revealed that harbored a lurking tiger beast—the Bi'an Gate.

"Lu Bing!"

He almost blurted it out, but Lu Bing and two of his men had already rushed in.

The white jade pendant at Zhou Yaren's waist swayed incessantly, and the musical pipe rang out a second syllable intermittently. It was somewhat hoarse and almost inaudible in the wind, but he could hear it very clearly with his keen hearing.

"South wind." He could tell the rhythm from the wind, and upon hearing the sound, his heart sank. "The sound of death."

Without hesitation, Zhou Yaren rushed out of the death row cell, but the Bi'an Gate, hidden in the moonlight, vanished like a phantom. He was startled, and heard the chaotic footsteps of several people chasing each other. He seemed a little confused about the situation and called out again, "Lu Bing."

The person who had already run several feet away replied, "Hey! Yaren, you don't need to follow. I'll go catch that girl... wait, where did that brat go? How come she's faster than a rabbit?!"

The pitch pipe hanging at Zhou Yaren's waist emitted another syllable, as if it were a dying breath, like the first sound a mute makes when trying to speak. Zhou Yaren chased after it, urgently saying, "Lu Bing, don't run around, it's dangerous! The pitch pipe at my waist is ringing, it's a south wind, there's a deathly sound, someone could die, hurry..."

Hei Zi shouted, "She's here!"

Lu Bingqian abruptly stopped and turned to head towards the front hall where Hei Zi was.

Qin San stood there, disheveled and filthy. Even though the yamen runners had spotted her, she didn't intend to run away. Instead, she stood frozen in place, staring blankly ahead—several people were hanging from the beams of the courtroom.

Their necks were hung from white silk, their bodies hanging straight in the air, lifeless, filling an entire row.

"I'll let you run! Run away..." Hei Zi's arrogant voice suddenly stopped.

The others who arrived one after another all stood frozen in place, like wooden stakes, staring in terror at the row of corpses hanging from the beams of the courtroom. In the silvery moonlight, it was almost possible to make out that the people were dressed in official robes; one of them wore the robe of a county magistrate, while the others were dressed exactly like Lu Bing and the two bailiffs.

Their scalps tingled with fear, and their minds immediately flashed back to the scene twelve years ago when the county magistrate and his yamen runners hanged themselves in the courtroom. This scene suddenly appeared before their eyes, as if they had been hanging there all along, for twelve years.

"Injustice..." a faint voice murmured, "...Injustice..."

A woman knelt in the center of the courtroom, her head bowed low and her back hunched, making a kowtowing gesture.

She was crying out for justice, kneeling before a row of hanged ghosts on the main beam, her cries barely audible, as if she were about to die.

"Who?" Lu Bing opened his mouth to ask, but no sound came out.

Was she kneeling and worshipping a hanged ghost?

Why would someone with a grievance not go to the county government to file a complaint, but instead come to this godforsaken government office to kneel and cry out for justice before a row of hanged prefectural officials?

Perhaps the scene was too horrifying, even more so than the skeletons scattered all over the death row. Lu Bing was not only unable to make a sound, but was also so frightened that he could not move. His body seemed to have been acupunctured, and he suddenly lost the ability to move.

The woman's head hit the ground and she never straightened up. A pool of blood accumulated beneath her, slowly spreading and staining the hem of her skirt red.

Zhou Yaren, smelling the strong fishy smell, held her breath for a moment, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

The crimson blood soaked the runes on the ground, covering a small area while extending outwards. As it meandered and flowed, the blood added new strokes and lines to the original runes, spreading out little by little, even growing larger and larger. It was as if someone was writing, trying to tamper with the talisman used to suppress the demons on the ground.

In the instant everyone froze in fear, Zhou Yaren stepped forward and stepped on one of the winding streams of blood.

Blood stained the tips of his shoes, and he frowned, his gaze passing over the kneeling woman, "seeing" a bronze mirror filled with blood placed above her head where she was worshipping.

Under the cold moonlight, the bronze mirror gleamed with a bloody light, reflecting a group of hanged ghosts who had committed suicide by hanging.

The woman gripped the edge of the bronze mirror tightly with both hands, blood flowing from her lacerated wrists into the mirror and then overflowing from it.

A foul wind rushed into Zhou Yaren's arms, once again striking the violin at his waist, producing a melodious and poignant tune.

As he bent down and placed his hand on the woman's shoulder, a flash of blood-red light appeared in the bronze mirror. Zhou Yaren's expression hardened, and she quickly retreated.

However, he had only taken half a step back when he suddenly felt a push from behind, as if a strong wind had shoved him hard, causing him to lose his balance and lean forward.

Before him, a blood-red light slashed toward his face like a blood-red blade. Zhou Yaren spun around quickly, barely dodging the sharp edge. The blood-red blade severed a strand of hair that was flying by his ear.

In his panic, he accidentally touched the woman who was prostrate on the ground. She fell down lifelessly, still clutching the bronze mirror tightly in her hand, as if it were a deity, offering her life as a sacrifice.

What is she offering as a sacrifice?

Who are we offering sacrifices to?

Zhou Yaren only had a fleeting thought, because he didn't have time to think it through. The blood-stained rune array on the ground swayed slightly, and a blood-stained blade with a hooked rune suddenly rose up in the stench, heading straight for Zhou Yaren's lower abdomen.

He spun around to avoid it, but the sharp hook still managed to tear a small part of his sleeve.

Then the second and third runes came one after another. Zhou Yaren dodged and weaved amidst streaks of blood, her waist bending backward into an extreme bow, and then flipping over to the side of her neck the instant the blade slashed.

Lu Bing finally snapped out of his shock and drew his sword, ready to step forward: "Ya Ren..."

"Don't come any closer!" Zhou Yaren shouted sharply. "Get back!"

The countless, intricately intertwined blades began to overwhelm him...

Lu Bing watched in horror: "What exactly happened?! Ya..."

Kuroko suddenly stammered, "There...there...there...a ghost..."

Another constable stared wide-eyed, his teeth chattering as he stammered, "Ghost...ghost...ghost..."

They stared intently at the woman lying in a pool of blood, and from her cold body, a human figure gradually materialized.

The human figure resembled a transparent wisp of mist, or even a faint wisp of a departed soul, gradually condensing into a blurry outline in the void.

She was dressed in white, her long hair cascading down into the pool of blood—no, she was like a ghost that had sprung from this pool of blood, pale and eerie.

It reminds one of the paper figures in a paper craft shop.

Her face was as pale as paper, and she held an unopened black umbrella upside down in her hand. Her deep black eyes wandered in the void for a moment before finally meeting the gaze of Hei Zi in the room.

Kuroko, who was inexplicably being stared at by a "ghost," trembled and yelled, "A ghost..." Then, with a speed he had never experienced before, he shot out like an arrow.

"A ghost!" Another constable cried out in wailing, then vanished like a hurricane.

Only a few earth-shattering howls remained in the entire ghostly government office.

"There's a ghost!"

"Help!"

"It's haunted!"

Qin San rolled his eyes and fainted from fright.

Lu Bing also wanted to run, but his legs were weak and he could only keep himself from falling.

Zhou Yaren saw her clearly and was greatly shocked. She asked sharply, "What is that?"

"Things?" the pale, eerie "person" spoke, its voice as cold as if seeping from a graveyard, its lips exuding a frosty chill. "Me?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yaren was inexplicably startled. He took a step back in a panic, but in the blink of an eye, or even faster than the blink of an eye, because he didn't even blink, the frost-like woman disappeared into thin air, suddenly appearing behind him, close to his ear, and exhaling a breath of frost, "How rude."

Zhou Yaren felt a chill run down her spine; her ear felt as if it were covered in frost. The moment he made his move, the thing reappeared in her original spot as if by magic.

Zhou Yaren quickly glanced at the blood array. The face of the sacrificer was reflected in the blood array, and his appearance was completely different from the woman who suddenly appeared in white. So the two were not the same person at all.

Zhou Yaren's expression was cold and stern: "Who exactly are you? Why are you here?"

"Why?" She appeared and disappeared like a ghost, but her range was limited to the talisman array in this government office. She stirred up gusts of cold wind and played the tune on the pipe at his waist. She spoke softly in the mournful melody, and said "Hmm" in a drawn-out tone.

At the same time, Zhou Yaren seized the opportunity, made a hand seal, and stabbed the illusory figure that traversed the magic array with her bamboo staff.

A single, decisive blow!

Zhou Yaren heard the other person utter the last two words in a drawn-out tone: "Announce the death—"

“What…” Zhou Yaren stared in disbelief. The illusory figure suddenly dissipated into a cloud of white mist, which turned into a cold wind and rushed over him.

A chill ran down my spine, and only the words "announcing the death" remained in my ears, gradually fading away in the lingering sound of the pipes.

At the same time, the woman who had fallen to her death loosened her grip, causing the bronze mirror to crash onto the floor, spilling a pool of accumulated blood that slowly seeped into the cracks in the stone.

Zhou Yaren stood frozen, her body tense until her muscles ached. The eerie wind gradually subsided, and the rhythmic pipe at her waist quieted down. Only then did she realize that the woman had indeed vanished without a trace.

“No…it’s gone…” Lu Bing’s voice trembled as he finally managed to utter a few words.

The ghostly female ghost disappeared, as did the row of hanged ghosts hanging from the beam. Lu Bing finally couldn't hold on any longer, his knees buckled, and he knelt down.

As Zhou Yaren walked toward the blood-stained bronze mirror, she heard the sudden thud of someone kneeling. She stopped abruptly, turned her head, and asked with concern, "Lu Bing, are you alright?"

"...No..." After a long pause, Lu Bingcai managed to squeeze out a voice, "I just... my legs are weak..."

His legs were too weak; he couldn't stand up.

Hearing rumors about demons and monsters before was one thing, but seeing it with my own eyes this time was another.

Lu Bing was so weak he couldn't even clench his teeth; it was terrifying, he was really scared to death.

Zhou Yaren stopped in front of the woman's corpse, lowered her eyes and murmured, "Did you summon it?" The thing summoned by sacrificing her life.

The corpse could not possibly answer him. Zhou Yaren squatted down and picked up the bronze mirror that had been used as a blood offering. Upon touching it, he realized that it was a funerary object, a funerary item used to bury the dead.

A note from the author:

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