Chapter 41 The Red Dust Visitors

Both sides were stunned for a moment in disbelief. Suddenly, that familiar pale face lit up: "Ah... It's the Taoist Master!"

"Youxiao?" Cang Ming stretched out his hand and lifted him up. He stepped out of the dark room tremblingly, his body light and frailer than last time.

"I was captured by an old man!" You Xiao's face was pale, even more miserable than the day he bravely entered the Spring and Autumn Ferry after becoming a ghost. "I was having a great time in the human world when suddenly a lecherous old man appeared... I was carrying the amulet you gave me, but he accidentally knocked it over!"

"Lewd old man?" Cang Ming frowned. After his mind was no longer obsessed with Weiyang Guan, his mind suddenly became clear, and he suddenly realized what was going on.

Cang Ming asked, "Is that old fellow wearing a pink and white dress with long sleeves, pretending to be a concubine?"

A layer of shameful red appeared on You Xiao's face. "That's right! Master Daoist can actually tell fortunes for people. It truly is the power of divine eyes!"

Cang Ming sighed and said, "Thank you so much. Now I understand everything."

As early as the moment I saw the flood of embroidered shoes, I should have realized that the person hiding in the mountains was none other than Old Ghost Lotus! It can be said that it was easy to get.

In this case, although this old man may not eat living people, he loves to eat ginseng dolls. No wonder Wei Qiang went to Shiqiyan to dig ginseng.

You Xiao continued, "I actually ran into a friend of yours, Taoist Master, and drank the soup he gave me. Your friends are all kindhearted people!"

Cang Ming hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, let me just say this. Wu Lu probably explained the boat thing to me when he met you. At that time, we encountered a group of ghosts fighting, and we accidentally damaged the boat. I will compensate you for the repair costs..."

You Xiao waved his hand and said, "No, the old man is in very good health and is not injured at all. Don't worry, Taoist Master. Speaking of which, after I drank the soup that day, I looked just like a living person. I was wearing my favorite clothes and carrying my favorite fan..."

After recounting a series of stories about visiting temple fairs, drinking sugar porridge, and taking children to fly kites, You Xiao finally got to the point: "Then I was captured by that old man! But the effect of the decoction soon wore off, and I turned back into a ghost. I scared him, and he threw me into the pile of dead bodies..."

Cang Ming looked at the dark room behind the wall. It was small and cramped, and empty.

You Xiao fearfully grabbed Cang Ming's elbow, pulling her back and telling her not to go forward.

Cang Ming suddenly felt a light flash from the corner of his eye. This time, he saw not only the tip of the high ponytail, but also a cold face that flashed by. The gloomy eyes seemed to be frozen, and even had a hint of resentment.

"Not yet?" She pounced towards the silver light, but her hands only touched the cold wall. Where was the shadow of the Demon King?

Although Cang Ming was wearing a positioning hair crown on her head, and although Wei Ci had a grudge against her... but no matter what, the Demon King probably would not give up his comfortable life in the antique shop and travel across thousands of mountains and rivers to scold her.

Cang Ming shook his head and said, "I've been really confused and dizzy all the way here."

You Xiao seemed to think she was trying to catch ghosts by fumbling around. He whispered, "This kind of small room is used to detain newly captured people. Once they become that kind of thing, they're transferred to the main prison."

Cang Ming's heart began to miss Wei Yang Guan again. After hearing this, he asked, "What did it turn into?"

"Horrible things." You Xiao pointed at the canal at the base of the darkroom wall and said, "Those red embroidered shoes came in through the drain hole and ran away along the canal. This canal seems to lead to the prison."

Cang Ming squatted down to take a closer look. Sure enough, there was a canal on the right side of the dark room, which led to the next drainage hole. Looking into the cave, he could see another dark room behind the wall. Beyond that, it was dark and hazy, unfathomable.

Cang Ming deduced, "I think this canal runs from the altar to the prison, passing through every small room along the way. So every time Embroidered Shoes makes a trip, it means she's patrolling and checking the rooms."

"I see." You Xiao shuddered. "The ghost imprisoned next to me has turned into that thing. He was carried away by a group of embroidered shoes, saying they were sending him to the prison. They sang a strange song, saying something like... the corpse has accumulated a thousand years of blessings, and has been reborn to be easy to work with."

Cang Ming stabbed the drainage hole in the dark room with a sword, and sure enough, the wall cracked, revealing a small room below. The ground was covered with scratches and drag marks, as if the prisoner had been tortured.

In the next room, there were only some broken bones on the ground. You Xiao shook his head and said, "Oh no, oh no, these have become that kind of thing."

Cang Ming held onto the wall and turned to You Xiao, saying, "It's quiet and deserted here, and breaking through the wall is so easy. There must be something fishy going on. I'll get you out of the mountain first, and then come back to save that thing."

You Xiao, however, swore to his death that he would not leave alone, saying that he and the Taoist priest had to rescue the ghosts together and that there was no time to lose. Cang Ming, also worried that if they delayed any longer, more innocent ghosts would become "those things," so he nodded and said, "Then you must follow me closely. If anything goes wrong, escape immediately. There is no need to wait for me."

The two of them broke through the walls layer by layer, clearing their way through the mountains. They had no idea how deep they were. Most of the darkrooms were empty, but two still contained living ghosts who were still conscious, but were too frightened to stand. Cang Ming had no choice but to store them in a jar to recuperate, and he handed the jar to You Xiao, who held it carefully.

The last wall shone with gold, and gems were arranged into a lotus totem, as if telling the world clearly that what was hidden behind the wall was extraordinary.

Cang Ming sneered: "Still so pretentious."

As soon as the words fell, the wall crackled as if it understood human words, and the outlines of golden bricks appeared, and the bricks separated from each other. Each brick burst into white smoke with two bangs, and turned into a huge golden bead in the smoke.

When the smoke and dust cleared, what appeared before our eyes was a huge curtain of golden beads, hanging from the sky, so wide that it seemed endless.

Strings of golden beads dangled and swayed, so densely packed together that it was impossible to discern the layout of the cave dwelling behind them.

Cang Ming suddenly whispered, "Tian Xin Shu."

"Who?" You Xiao held the jar and carefully peeked behind the curtain through the gaps between the beads.

"This cave is the masterpiece of that old man's daughter, Tian Xinshu." Cang Ming felt as if he had just woken up from a dream. "I have been to one of Tian Xinshu's palaces before. It was also built in the mountains, with many layers vertically downwards."

The underground palace in front of us has many large and small halls built horizontally towards the depths of the mountain. Each hall is just a reorientation of the vertical layers of the underground palace.

Even the bead curtain that Tian Xinshu loved so much was brought in.

Cang Ming clutched his sword, his face livid. Tian Xinshu had repeatedly claimed she had no part in Old Ghost Lian's scandal, convincing everyone in Xi Garden to believe her. Yet, the palace she built ultimately became Old Ghost Lian and the Embroidered Shoes' daily residence... The group of Red Shoes even ran around to the morning and evening bells, like they were in formation!

"Then let's see who is behind this pearl curtain." Cang Ming slowly raised the Ice Blade Sword. The golden light of the pearl curtain was reflected on the sword, shimmering like the setting sun.

With a clang, the tip of the sword struck the golden beads, like a stone dropped into calm water. Strings of beads rippled outward, then strangely froze in mid-air, as if lifted by a hand.

Behind the half-open pearl curtain was a training ground paved with white marble, with clusters of strange trees planted on the edge. Their branches were actually burning red candles, like coral reefs.

Cang Ming strode in, You Xiao followed cautiously, and the pearl curtain fell and closed behind him.

The branches of the red candles in the sky suddenly rang out incessantly, and a faint noise like an earthquake came from far away.

"Be careful!" Cang Ming swept his sword across, deflecting the sudden onslaught of red water chestnuts. They were wax dripping from the branches, but instead of falling downwards, they flew in all directions.

One by one, bodies that looked like humans but were not human crawled out of the woods with their heads lowered. You Xiao shouted, "That thing!"

They were dead men, dressed in linen and wearing blood-red embroidered shoes. Their heads nodded as they walked, and in a blink of an eye, they filled the entire training ground.

You Xiao cried out with a sad face, "Master Taoist, please be careful!" He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for Cang Ming to take out the donkey hoof, the exorcism water, and the peach wood sword.

However, those dead people seemed not to notice that there were two living people here, and began to practice boxing and kicking in the open space. Their limbs were dragging and their heads were tilted to one side, which was creepy to watch.

Cang Ming cursed inwardly, "Isn't it enough for Tian Xinshu to raise an army of demons and ghosts? He's even recruiting soulless dead people?"

At this moment, a dead man, with his head drooping, began to cry out in a buzzing voice: "When the king comes, there will be silence!"

You Xiao opened his eyes a little and asked, "What are you shouting about?"

Cang Ming shook his head and said, "I don't quite understand either. Let's wait and see what happens next."

All the dead stood with their heads down and their hands hanging, and shouted in unison: "The king is coming, the king is coming!" Even the red candle branches began to shake violently, and many wax dripping hidden weapons were thrown out, but were deflected by Cang Ming's sword.

There was a clanging sound overhead, and several dead men in red shoes dropped from the sky carrying a sedan chair. They all hung their heads and kicked their legs in unison in the air. After landing, they stuck to the ground and did not move.

The corpse who had led the chanting at first walked up to the sedan chair with half-closed eyes, raised the curtain, and said, "The King welcomes you."

Cang Ming held his breath.

Two sleeves flew out like dragons and headed straight for Cang Ming's face.

"Retreat!" Cang Ming raised his sword and slashed. The two sleeves were like living things fighting with the sword. In a blink of an eye, dozens of moves were exchanged, and the battle was turned upside down.

The dead all stared blankly, seemingly at a loss. You Xiao whispered anxiously, "So, don't wear these embroidered shoes! If you use them for too long, you can't get them back!"

As if she was tired of fighting, she suddenly pulled her sleeves back, gently landing on the white ground, and twisted a few times seductively like a snake. Cang Ming immediately got goose bumps all over his body, and kicked him in despair: "Get out!"

With a soft laugh, the pale old ghost lotus gracefully stepped out of the sedan chair. He still wore an open folding fan on his head, and the fresh lotus flowers scattered on it had changed their colors, their petals still covered with dew.

You Xiao scolded bitterly, "You old villain, you've caused so much harm to others!"

Old Guilian didn't even look at him, twisting his waist and saying to Cang Ming: "Little actor, we meet again."

Cang Ming already held a stack of yellow leaf talismans in his hand and asked coldly, "Where did these dead people come from?"

Old Guilian said coquettishly, "Finding a dead body isn't easy. Just go dig in the graves and you can catch some little ghosts to make up the numbers. If that's not enough, you can turn the living into the dead once you put on the shoes."

Cang Ming recalled the first day she arrived in Fengyan City, when a pair of embroidered shoes jumped into an ordinary family. She sneered, "You finally admitted it."

Old Guilian chuckled and said, "Aren't these embroidered shoes good?"

As he said this, he waved his hand, and all the dead people in the field suddenly began to stir.