Chapter 25 The General Draws His Bow at Night

When the tilted ghost ship fell from the sky to the center of the river, Cang Ming's mind went blank. He only felt that he would have to catch ghosts for hundreds of years to make money to compensate You Xiao.

At the last moment before the boat entered the water, Cang Ming formed a spell with his hands and shouted softly: "Ice Blade!"

The ship stopped falling. The Ice Blade Sword shot forward, supporting the bottom of the ship again.

Wu Lu and Xi Sheng cheered, only Cang Ming saw a few seagulls flying by imperceptibly and steadily catching the other end of the boat bottom.

Those seagulls were as transparent as flower petals wet by rain; one could almost see the surging waves and ghostly shadows through the thin, dark-lined pages.

Cang Ming quietly pinched Wei Ci's arm to express his gratitude, and then he and Xi Sheng dragged Hua Yi into the cabin. Hua Yi's eyes barely opened a crack, and then closed weakly again.

Wu Lu grabbed Zhong Wu Qi's neck, wishing he could strangle him to death: "Who did you give Tongduo Mountain to? Speak!"

Zhong Wuqi's throat gurgled, and he suddenly pointed at Cang Ming and said with difficulty: "If it weren't for the unlucky star, how could our sect have declined to this point?"

Cang Ming: "...You guys are the ones who want to hunt me down and fight against each other."

Xisheng and Wulü both turned their heads away and remained silent.

Zhong Wuqi suddenly ripped open his clothes. Wu Lu was so surprised that he forgot to pinch his neck: "What are you doing?"

A silver chain was tied across his bony chest, and a small, flat silver box dangled from the center. Zhong Wuqi licked his fangs with his tongue and said grimly, "Do you want the contract?"

Wu Lu grabbed his chest, and he slipped out from under Wu Lu's arm like a loach. "Who did you mortgage Tongduo Mountain to? It's written in the deed."

The two of them chased each other, Cang Ming was afraid that they would overturn the boat again, so he changed his hand gestures in an instant: "Land!"

The Ice Blade Sword carried the Ghost Ship slowly down to the shore. The Ghost Ship was limp and half-dead, looking as if it had been stranded there for years.

This place was dozens of miles away from the scene of the demon-ghost war. The sky had turned lake green again, the river curved back, and the riverbank looked like a harbor. Occasionally, strange-looking ghosts and demons passed by, paying no attention to the fighting and killing of living people.

When Zhong Wuqi saw the boat land, he immediately became very proud and jumped onto the ground and ran dozens of steps: "Give me the Weiyang Crown! Otherwise, I will destroy this contract."

Wu Lu ran with his crutches, following closely behind him: "Stop! Shameless villain, desperado, poor ghost..."

With just a little force, he got a stitch in the side.

Cang Ming had already caught up and slashed at Zhong Wuqi with his palm. However, without the sword in his hand, he was still a little short of the mark and was dodged by Zhong Wuqi as he rolled over.

Zhong Wuqi looked up and found himself rolling at Wei Ci's feet. Wei Ci followed Cang Ming closely and said in a soft and pleasant voice, "General, the terrain of the underworld is strange and changeable. Don't run too far."

Cang Ming turned around and said, "Yeah, okay."

Zhong Wuqi seemed to have just noticed Wei Ci: "Who are you, little bastard?"

There was a loud bang.

Wei Ci stared at Cang Ming with his eyes wide open. The latter had just delivered a lightning-fast punch to Zhong Wuqi, then slowly withdrew his fist and snorted angrily.

Zhong Wuqi lay on the ground, spitting blood from his mouth. Cang Ming said coldly, "Old bastard."

Wei Ci murmured, "General..."

"What's that sound?" Wu Lu suddenly raised his crutch and listened carefully. "Is something coming?"

A screaming black shadow appeared on the horizon and surged into view. The vast group of poor people from earlier rushed towards them, tumbling and crawling like potatoes, some holding their faces, others folding their arms behind their backs to cover their heads.

Every ghost tried their best to rush forward, no one wanted to be in the last row.

The dozens of poor ghosts in the lead were tall, holding burning branches or roots in their hands, and shouting loudly: "Fire! Fire!"

Hundreds of tree spirits followed silently in pursuit, just like a hundred acres of woods moving silently along the ground, sweeping across the harbor in a dark mass.

The branches of the dead trees transformed into sharp arrows, clusters of spikes forming a sea. The treetops shook in unison, and the forest suddenly swirled, sending countless arrows flying. Along with the arrows came several water ghosts, who had been clinging to the dead branches.

The poor ghosts were shot by arrows and fell to the ground one after another, and many were tightly grabbed by water ghosts and dragged into the water.

The water ghosts thought they had turned the tables and that one day they would be able to drown others. They were all excited and said, "We can drown others too!"

After saying that, the water ghosts grabbed their trophies, jumped high, fell heavily into the water, and disappeared in a big wave.

Many sharp arrows were blown off course by the wind and whizzed towards the ghost ship.

"Oh no, Xisheng is guarding the boat alone!" Wu Lu hurriedly ran towards the boat with his crutches.

With a snap, a yellow leaf talisman was affixed to Zhong Wuqi's chest. Cang Ming leaped back onto the boat and threw the jeweled leaf, breaking each incoming arrow in two.

Wei Ci had already stood half a step in front of Cang Ming, casually splitting a few torches that flew in from the chaos. A few poor ghosts crawled over crying and picked up the extinguished fire, but were immediately shot by the tree spirit with an arrow and collapsed into a pile of skin.

Xisheng held a pipa in his hand and swiftly shot back an arrow. The moment the arrow struck the pipa, it plucked the strings, and the instrument rang out a tinkling sound.

Before the string music stopped, Xisheng hit the second arrow back, and another note sounded.

Arrows flew like heavy rain, and a pipa flew up and down in the air, playing a song to subdue demons. Several little ghosts who were climbing onto the boat immediately felt dizzy and fell to the ground with a thud.

Cang Ming shouted, "Xisheng is very skilled! If you practice martial arts, you will become a martial god!"

Wu Lu swept his crutch and slammed an arrow in front of Xi Sheng: "Here's another one for you!"

Xisheng responded with a pipa, and the music continued, one wave after another.

Not far away, the chaotic army of demons and ghosts was shocked by the music and involuntarily retreated. A clever tree spirit shouted, "It's the Taoist priest! The Taoist priest is coming!"

Suddenly, the tree spirit and the poor ghost changed their previous hostile and murderous attitude and showed signs of forming an alliance. They put their arms around each other affectionately and approached the ghost ship step by step.

"Why are you coming towards us!" Wu Lu cried in despair, "Are you kidding me?"

Xisheng, holding the pipa in one hand, said curiously, "Why didn't you run away when you saw the Taoist priest?"

An old tree roared, "Hand over your magic weapon, and I'll spare your life!"

Xisheng laughed out of anger.

Wei Ci whispered to Cang Ming, "It's common in the underworld for demons and ghosts to steal Taoist magic weapons and sell them for money."

Cang Ming also replied in a low voice: "No wonder the big ghosts often have some rare things in their hands."

The old tree opened its bloody mouth, its trunk almost splitting in half. It took a deep breath, and was suddenly surprised and delighted: "It smells like a child! It's tender!"

The tree spirits and poor ghosts swarmed in, densely packed and black.

The Ice Blade Sword was still pressed against the bottom of the boat, so Cang Ming had no choice but to imitate Wei Ci's moves and fight with his bare hands. He slapped the tree spirit with a slap, causing it to grit its teeth in pain. He couldn't help but say to Wei Ci in admiration, "Are your hands made of iron?"

He smiled before saying goodbye.

Xisheng used his old trick again, striking the tree spirit with his pipa, the branches catching the strings and causing them to ring continuously. Inspired by Xisheng's move, Wulü struck the poor spirit with his walking stick, making a bang-bang sound full of rhythm.

The music and rhythm complemented each other, and the wave-beating Huasheng array reappeared, tightly surrounding the ghost ship. The dryad retreated rapidly, but the poor ghost, looking back and unable to see the magic array on his chest, continued to charge forward. Then, he was pierced by the golden light of the magic array and fell to the ground in a mess.

The poor ghost fell several times and finally realized that he should retreat, so he turned around and ran away. Now everyone was facing the ghost ship and only then did they see the Taoist priest on the ship.

Ghosts and monsters come and go, disappearing in an instant. Everything is between reality and illusion, just like a chaotic dream in the underworld.

"Zhong Wuqi!" Wu Lu suddenly remembered the important matter, shouted, turned around to catch the man, but jumped back in fright.

Zhong Wuqi had gotten on board at some point and was standing behind a few people, grinning devilishly.

Cang Ming said awkwardly: "The leaves are ineffective."

Xisheng sneered, "It's strange. He's reluctant to leave even though we asked him to."

Zhong Wuqi said: "What's the point of leaving? I haven't won the Weiyang crown yet, haha."

Wu Lu pointed his cane at his throat and said, "I won't argue with a mortal like you. Hand over the contract and get out."

Zhong Wuqi suddenly jumped onto the railing and shouted indignantly, "If you don't give it to me, I'll destroy it!"

Wu Lu grabbed nothing. Zhong Wuqi dove into the river, grabbing a water ghost with one hand and tearing at the silver chain on his chest with the other: "Soak in water... Soak in water... Just wait..."

The water ghost greedily grabbed him with his backhand and sank with him.

With a splash, Wu Lu jumped down and, as luck would have it, hit the head of Zhong Wuqi who had just surfaced again.

Zhong Wuqi was thrown back into the water, still roaring angrily: "Weiyang Crown... give it to me..."

Wei Ci folded his arms and snorted, then calmly watched the excitement: "General, let them fight."

The two of them were struggling in the water. Cang Ming stretched out his crutch to hook them several times, but each time he missed.

After a while, the two of them disappeared.

Cang Ming was horrified and turned to Wei Ci and said, "Wei Ci, go help Xi Sheng guard the boat!"

She threw down her cloak and scabbard and jumped into the water. The moment she entered the water, she seemed to feel Wei Ci exclaim, "General!"

The underwater world was like an icy blue mist, quite different from the ghost river Cang Ming had imagined. It wasn't freezing cold, nor was it pitch black and hopeless. The lake-blue light of the underworld filtered through the water, casting a faint halo overhead.

The water ghost had long been scared away. Wu Lu and Zhong Wu Qi slowly sank, tangled and struggling as they drifted away, leaving only their backs in a mess.

Cang Ming held his breath and treaded water, swimming silently towards them. His long hair and skirt floated like clouds and smoke, sometimes curling and sometimes relaxing.

The Spring and Autumn Ferry was ordinary, but it made it difficult for the dead souls to cross and they perished one after another. It was so bizarre and unbelievable.

Just as he was about to imitate the mermaids and wag his tail, a faint singing voice came from the bottom of the river.

At first the singing was vague, as if frozen in water. Then the lyrics gradually became clearer. It was not the sarcasm sung by a ghost, but the tune a mother sings to her child.

"The forest is dark and the grass startles in the wind. The general draws his bow at night. At dawn he searches for the white feather, but it is buried in the stone edge."

…

This is not a nursery rhyme like "The Moon is Round" and "Lin'erjing". This song tells the story of a general.

Amidst the mother's humming, the children's giggles echoed like leaves in the wind.

"Mother, General, General..."

"Being a general is so impressive. When you grow up, you want to be a general too..."

A thrill of excitement spread throughout his body. Cang Ming suddenly stepped on the water and swam eagerly towards the direction of the singing: "Mother! Mother!"

It is silent underwater, and the call is just a string of bubbles.

The further he swam, the farther the singing became. Cang Ming stretched out his hands and shouted desperately, "Mother! I'm here! Where are you going, mother?"

Ahead was a whirlpool, like an underwater tornado, and the singing seemed to come from there.

Without any hesitation, Cang Ming plunged into the whirlpool and was swept along by the current. She yelled, "Mom! Don't abandon me!"

There was no one in the whirlpool, even the singing had disappeared.

Cang Ming seemed to lose his heartbeat and slowly sank. Where did the water end? No matter how deep he sank, there was only a bottomless abyss.

Before closing her eyes, she saw the light veil draped over the headboard. Outside the window, the Milky Way stretched across the sky. Deep in the night, the bamboo forest lay still and quiet. A beautiful woman sat by the bed, smiling, and extending her hand, which was about to touch her face.

Cang Mingmo vaguely thought, how nice it would be if he could be touched by his mother's hand again.