Chapter 182 Extra: "A Ghost—"...

The final runes were drawn around the execution platform. Now, all that was needed was the right moment—at noon tomorrow, the jailers would escort the condemned prisoner to the execution ground for execution, and blood would be splattered on the platform. No matter where the woman was, the blood array of punishment here would capture her alive.

At that time, he will use the Blood Array to imprison Bai Yuan in Mizhou. The resentment will transform into shackles within the Blood Array, binding her with inescapable chains, just like at Beiqu and Fengling Ferry, ensuring absolute safety. As for Ting Fengzhi chasing the Gu Master to the distant sea realm, even if Zhou Yaren were given ten pairs of wings, he wouldn't be able to return to Mizhou to get in his way.

Xu Fu plotted that this would be the best opportunity for him to eliminate Bai Yuan, provided that he could kill the two of them one by one.

He was defeated by that woman, losing his hard-earned longevity and a thousand years of painstaking efforts in an instant. How could Xu Fu possibly let this go? Now that he is dead, he is not completely defeated.

Since he was going to see an old friend, it was best to show his true colors. He planned to return as Xu Zhangfang, or rather, as Xu Fu, to give her a huge surprise.

But his physical body had long since turned into a pool of bodily fluids in the summer heat, and now, wearing a disfigured human skin shroud, he couldn't even reveal his true identity. No one could recognize him as Zhang San or Li Si.

After much deliberation, Xu Fu decided to put on the mask.

Unfortunately, his smiling face melted in the fire of Zhongtiao Mountain. Xu Fu had no choice but to exchange two steamed buns for a wooden mask at a street stall. The steamed buns were given to him by a kind-hearted vendor at the west gate of the government office.

With a day and a half left before noon, he had nothing to do, so he sat down on the curb and began to carve the grinning mask.

He personally took matters into his own hands, making alterations and repairs. His trouser legs and the ground were covered in sawdust as he shaved the grimacing face into a smiling one.

Xu Fu revised his painting; even if the mask couldn't be exactly the same, it should at least capture nine-tenths of the spirit. He had already become familiar with that woman and Tingfeng Zhi using this smiling face, ensuring they would feel like old friends upon meeting him.

Yes, and the Autumn Decision Blade is also essential; they are indispensable.

Fortunately, he retrieved the Autumn Executioner's Blade from the Yellow River.

The Autumn Execution Blade was tucked into a crevice beside him, waiting for the right moment to be drawn.

Xu Fu finally finished carving the mask. He blew away the dust and wood chips, examined it for a moment, and then, very satisfied, put it on his face.

Once Bai Yuan is eliminated, he can go to Xu Qian with this smiling face—when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter, and who knows where that good-for-nothing fool has gone.

Xu Fu patted the wood shavings off his thigh, nearly pricking his hand with the sharp fragments. He immediately and carefully withdrew his hand; this was the only human skin he had, and he couldn't afford to break it. So he cautiously brushed it off with his sleeve.

Just as Xu Fu was about to get up, a sudden commotion and commotion erupted from the crowd.

Someone shouted, "Thief! Thief!"

"Don't run, stop!"

"Grab him quickly!"

"Get out of the way!"

Then a man charged around recklessly, pushing everyone he met. He pushed a vegetable vendor carrying a load of vegetables so hard that he spun around in place, his load flying out and knocking down a bunch of people.

Xu Fu suddenly dodged, but a donkey cart carrying firewood was startled and crashed into him. Xu Fu retreated quickly, and his lower back slammed into something.

The man rushed out of the kitchen carrying a kitchen knife, shouting "Thief!" Before he could even take another step, he was blocked by someone's back.

The kitchen knife in his hand was stuck right in the man's lower back.

Blood splattered all over his hand, but when the cook looked down, he saw that what had splattered his hand was not blood, but a murky, fishy liquid.

"Ah—murder—"

A scream erupted from the ground, and the crowd erupted in chaos once again.

The cook shuddered in fright, pulled out his knife, and murky liquid gushed out. Xu Fu, who had been stabbed, panicked and rushed toward a boiling pot of soup in front of him. However, he only managed to take a few steps before his shroud, which had been ripped open, collapsed to the ground, becoming an empty, shrunken human skin.

The cook, who witnessed this scene, was completely terrified. He was only jolted back to his senses by screams of "Murder!" He then cried out in a panic, "A ghost—!"

Unfortunately, Xu Fu, who was still adjusting to being a mere puppet, never imagined that he, a man of great wisdom, would be stabbed by a cook.

Just a cook...

And so, in full view of everyone, a murder occurred—or rather, a ghost killing.

I heard that a group of Taoist priests from Taihang Mountain recently came to Mizhou City. They insisted on inviting the Taoist priests to perform a ritual. In particular, the cook who accidentally killed the ghost was the first to arrive upon hearing the news.

The sight of the smiling mask on the human skin caused the Taihang Mountain youths to change color drastically. The relentless pursuit of Bai Yuan and Ting Fengzhi by Xu Zhangfang had left them with profound psychological trauma. No one dared to be careless in this matter. Li Liuyun personally went to the government office to inquire about it, bringing back not only the human skin and the smiling mask, but also an Autumn Execution Blade.

Lin Mu's face turned pale with fright, because he had once returned from Pinglu with the Death-Reporting Umbrella, personally experienced the great battle on the Yellow River, and even witnessed Bai Yuan behead Xu Zhangfang.

They all knew that killing this traitor would be extremely difficult, especially considering that last night they had followed Tingfeng all the way to the execution ground west of Mizhou City...

The boys never imagined they would see a wronged person in shackles and torture on the execution platform.

She glanced up at the large group of Taihang Dao disciples who had come to the scene, her tone as arrogant as when she first met Bei Qu.

"Oh, such a big commotion, are you here to plant flags and exorcise evil spirits again?"

Lin Mu was utterly astonished: "You..."

A hint of surprise flashed in Li Liuyun's eyes, and he hesitated slightly: "You're alright?"

A few clueless people, didn't they see she was shackled? Bai Yuan chuckled and stretched out his hand, still bound by the chains, toward Zhou Yaren: "Can you do me a favor?"

Being too restrictive doesn't look very good.

Now, several teenagers surrounded Li Liuyun, and laid out the human skin, the smiling mask, and the Qiu Jue knife that they had brought back from the yamen in front of Tingfeng Zhi and Bai Yuan.

The white hair was frosty at the temples, making it look like several patches of white hair.

Lin Mu knew very well that after Bai Yuan was seriously injured by Qiu Jue Dao, she would often show this state when she was being cared for in that small courtyard in Pinglu, unable to hide the cold aura emanating from her.

As the teenagers stepped into the room, they could clearly feel that they had moved from late summer into early winter.

She must be badly injured.

Lin Mu was very worried: "Xu Zhangfang isn't dead?"

"He's dead." Bai Yuan was very certain. She had killed him with her own hands, which was why all the grievances she had committed against Xu Fu had been resolved.

Lian Zhao said, "This is clearly a 'wangxiang' (a mythical creature).

Yu Heqi said, "But why is Wang Xiang wearing the same smiling mask as Xu Zhangfang, and also carrying the Autumn Decision Blade?"

Lin Mu: "This Autumn Execution Blade is the one that Xu Zhangfang always carries."

"If Xu Zhangfang is already dead, who set up this blood array at the execution ground in Mizhou?" Li Liuyun asked. "Who was with him?"

Zhou Yaren reached out and touched the smiling mask with his fingertips. He had a guess: "This mask might be Xu Zhangfang."

The boys looked at him in shock: "What?"

"How could this cloak of an elephant be Xu Zhangfang?"

How could Xu Zhangfang have turned into Wang Xiang?

Bai Yuan had pretty much anticipated this after the teenagers brought back the human-skinned smiling mask.

When they were at the Three Gates of Shanzhou, the Gu Master told Zhou Yaren, "Fangxiandao threw the Undying People into the alchemy furnace, refining them alive into pills, which were then given to the boys and girls who were testing the medicine. Oh, those were the boys and girls who went to sea with Xu Fu to search for immortality. During the testing process, they were poisoned, died suddenly, and most of them met a terrible end. To cover their tracks, Fangxiandao secretly threw their corpses into the river mound. The boys and girls who were testing the medicine ingested the Undying People who had been refined into pills, and after they died suddenly, their flesh and bones rotted in the river mound. The pills that were not absorbed and digested dissolved in the corpse water, decomposing from the rotting corpses, dripping into the great river, becoming the Wangxiang we see today."

The Gu Master explained it very clearly and it's easy to understand.

Zhou Yaren understood immediately: "Xu Fu consumed elixirs refined by the immortals, and after his death, he became like those young boys and girls, turning into a ghost."

“But I have a question,” Lin Mu said. “The Wangxiang are the remnants of the Undead, so the Wangxiang who follow the Gu Master are the consciousness of the Undead, and do not think that they were those boys and girls in their previous lives, and they hope to return to their homeland. But this Xu Zhangfang, after dying and becoming a Wangxiang, did not join them, but stayed alone in Mizhou... wearing a mask and Autumn Execution Blade, and still using the wrongful case and blood array to deal with Bai Yuan. So even though he became a Wangxiang, I feel that he is still the same Xu Zhangfang, and does not think that he was an Undead in his previous life.”

Lian Zhao nodded: "That's right. You can tell from these behaviors that Xu Zhangfang, who has become a 'Wang Xiang,' is different from the group of 'Wang Xiang' around the Gu Master."

It seems that Xu Zhangfang's ethereal form has not regained the consciousness of the immortals.

Bai Yuan analyzed: "According to the Gu Master's words, the unabsorbed pills dissolved in the corpse water, decomposed from the rotting corpse, and dripped into the river, turning into the Wangxiang. The key point should be that they were not absorbed and digested. Xu Zhangfang has lived to this day since taking the pills, and he has long since absorbed and digested them completely. Therefore, after his death, he turned into the Wangxiang, which is naturally the form of Xu Zhangfang, and not just the form of the Undying People."

Li Liuyun said, "If that's the case, then it makes sense."

Yu Heqi: "So Xu Zhangfang is now..."

He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something, and everyone looked at the shriveled human skin on the table, the meaning of which was self-evident.

Lin Mu tentatively replied, "...Died again?"

If he hadn't died, after Bai Yuan was imprisoned by the Blood Array at the Mizhou execution platform, this old man should have jumped out long ago. The reason he didn't appear for so long—no, he's already appeared in full view of everyone.

“Yes,” Bai Yuan said, “He was killed by that cook.”

The young people were utterly incredulous and speechless when faced with the human skin that appeared to have been worn by Xu Zhangfang.

Bai Yuan suddenly remembered something, turned around and looked up to ask, "Didn't the cook ask you to perform a religious ceremony?"

Lin Mu seemed to choke for a moment, then nodded with a forced smile: "...Mm."

Bai Yuan waved his hand, signaling them: "Go ahead and do it."

The teenagers: "..."

Seeing that they were not moving, Bai Yuan asked, "Aren't you cold standing here? Don't catch a cold later."

She was clearly trying to get rid of them, so the boys tactfully picked up their "Xu Fu three-piece set" and left. They paused at the foot of the last tree in the forest, turned to Bai Yuan, who was covered in frost, and asked, "Do you want to come out and bask in the sun?"

Bai Yuan smiled and said, "No need."

Lin Mu glanced at Ting Fengzhi, who was still standing there, and hesitantly said "Oh". Just as he stepped out, a gust of wind suddenly rose behind him and slammed the door shut, shutting out the cold air inside.

...

That night, Li Liuyun sat under the eaves for a long time, lost in thought, reflecting on everything he had encountered and seen along the way: Tingfengzhi, Xu Zhangfang, the Undying People, Wangxiang...

Li Liuyun murmured to himself, "If people could achieve immortality, could dynasties also prosper forever?"