027. Raising evil
It is not easy to serve a fierce ghost who has forgotten all his past. Qing Ling took Shang Changheng to a clothing store in the city and used the Qing family's money to buy a few sets of clothes for this evil spirit.
Qingling has been reading history these days. A thousand years ago in the Zhou Dynasty, clothes were mostly made of cotton and linen. The nobles mostly wore cross-collared and curved-hem robes, and wore jade hooks and leather belts around their waists. But now, the trade in Daxia is prosperous, and clothes are mostly made of silk and satin. Men mostly wear round-necked robes with sleeves of varying widths, which are more casual. The sleeves can be tied up with silk ribbons, and the waist belts are also decorated with various gold, silver, pearls, and jade.
When choosing clothes, Qingling originally thought that Shang Changheng's simple and austere demeanor should be suitable for moon-white material, but then he thought that ghosts in white clothes were really scary, so he eliminated the three colors of black, white and red, and finally chose navy blue and dark blue. He wore a pearl and jade waist belt with darker cool tones, and then went to another store to choose a hair crown and hairpin to match the outfit. After taking it back and burning it for Shang Changheng, the man was wearing a navy blue wide-sleeved robe with intricate landscape embroidery on the hem, and auspicious clouds and rising sun on the lapels.
The clothes of Daxia were not restricted to embroidery patterns, but included all kinds of flowers, auspicious animals and small beasts.
For example, the green clothes that Qingling herself wore had elegant bamboo or orchid embroidered on them, but Shang Changheng changed into new clothes and half-tied up his long hair. Although he looked handsome, he was more indifferent. This thousand-year-old pine tree was not happy. It just lowered its eyes and looked at the lapels of his clothes for a long time, its fingers repeatedly circling the pendant decorated with jade beads and tassels on the waistband.
Ever since he saw the dragon pendant, Shang Changheng has been in a bad mood and seems to have no interest in anything.
That night, Qingling was still reading a book. He had practiced hand gestures for a long time during the day, and at night he took out a few miscellaneous notes he had just bought when he went out, hoping to glimpse some clues left over from thousands of years ago.
However, the name Shang Changheng has never existed in either official or unofficial history. Qingling even found the names of many famous generals during the Zhou Dynasty, but they were just names. The history of Emperor Ling of Zhou and Shang Changheng did not even record the wars they had experienced. Perhaps it was because of the chaos that lasted for more than two hundred years afterwards, so that words could not record the past that was too long ago.
Qing Ling had a vague feeling that the story was some kind of taboo that could not be known to others.
Including Shang Changheng.
Because the capital of the Zhou Dynasty was called Luyuan at that time, it was located to the west and was a fertile plain. It is now also an ancient capital of Daxia, named Luzhou. It is too far away from the small city of Lincang, separated by thousands of mountains and rivers. However, the royal family member Shang Changheng was buried far away here and was sealed by the Qing family. They even guarded here for generations, absorbing his luck and surviving for a thousand years.
Without thinking too much, you know that Shang Changheng died at such a young age, there must be something strange about it.
Qingling raised his head and looked at Shang Changheng who was sitting in front of the window. He was staring at the dragon pendant that Qingling had placed on the table under the window, as if he was trying stubbornly to remember something by staring at it.
Suddenly, Qingling stuffed a book in front of Shang Changheng.
"Take a look too, maybe you'll remember something." Qing Ling said calmly, "Nowadays, books are made of paper, and the writing is a little different from back then, but you can recognize it if you look carefully."
Shang Changheng picked up the book. He had never seen anything like it in his broken memory. They were all rolls of bamboo slips and clothes in mostly monotonous dark colors. His slowly recovering memory did not show any ripples, but Shang Changheng, who was already able to control his evil spirit and not lose his mind at any time, finally realized belatedly that this was no longer his era.
He sat here, trapped in the forgotten past. His obsession, his unwillingness, and his resentment had nothing to do with this stable and peaceful country at this moment.
But he could feel that there were unfinished causes and effects. His resentment and hatred were being pulled around and deeply engraved into his soul, like the pain of a silk thread being slowly ground and cut, constantly reminding him that he couldn't just leave like that.
Shang Changheng didn't do anything, and the book automatically turned a page.
His eyes fell on the book, and he suddenly said, "Accompany me back to Zhanlong Mountain once."
Qing Ling just turned around, but turned back when he heard the voice and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Shang Changheng said calmly: "Go and bury my body."
Qingling didn't understand.
Shang Changheng’s tomb is at the foot of Zhanlong Mountain. He has been buried in peace... maybe not that peacefully, but where should he be taken if he is to be buried again? Find a new place to give him a grand burial?
But Shang Changheng said nothing else.
.
Zhanlong Mountain is just outside the city. Qingling also left two horses. Miaoyuan has been feeding them for the past two days. As soon as the sun rises, they harness the carriage and head out of the city. Miaoyuan also goes with them.
When passing by the county government office, he happened to see the runners taking away Luo Qingxiang, who had taken off his official hat and robe. The official who had been so aggressive a few days ago now had a look of despair on his face.
Miao Yuan, who was driving, thought of Qing Ling's words that Lord Luo's glory would not last long, so he asked, "Did you do this?"
Qingling just closed the car window and briefly told Miaoyuan about the matter.
That day in prison, he asked Shang Changheng to take advantage of the fact that he was a ghost and no one else could see him, and go find evidence of Lord Luo's guilt. The county magistrate looked very experienced in asking for money, and he must have done it many times. Reporting to the higher authorities might not be useful, and Shang Changheng actually found something useful. He used a sleight of hand to deceive a yamen runner and sent the evidence to the prefectural government.
It's not that he hadn't thought about officials protecting each other, but Qingling relied on the presence of Shang Changheng. If the prefect didn't care, he would do the same and take down the prefect as well.
Thinking of this, Qingling stroked the ancient jade dragon pendant hanging on his chest. Shang Changheng now lives here, and Qingling can use him to do things easily, but he did not expect Shang Changheng to be willing to help.
Of course, the carriage could not enter the mountain, so Qingling could only walk into the mountain with Miaoyuan. When they reached the cliff where A Yuan died, the Huanlong Pendant suddenly exuded a cold breath. Qingling paused and saw Shang Changheng, who had changed his clothes, appear.
The abyss under the cliff was dark and invisible. Looking down a little, there was a bottomless abyss. The people standing on the shore seemed so small. Qing Ling didn't dare to look down, so he simply looked at Shang Changheng and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I left in a hurry that day and forgot about the ignorant creatures down there." Shang Changheng smiled sinisterly and cruelly again, like a beast crouching to hunt. He grinned and said, "Your servant died here. It's not necessarily because he misstepped. A wandering soul that didn't even make it to the seventh day of death almost turned into an evil ghost to harm people. It was all caused by the creatures down there."
Miao Yuan also lowered his head and looked down. His magic eyes could see evil spirits, but the yin energy in the deep valley was too heavy, and there was miasma, so he really couldn't see anything. When he entered the mountain that day, Shang Changheng's aura covered the entire Zhanlong Mountain, so he couldn't detect the trick under the cliff at that time.
Qingling vaguely knew what Shang Changheng wanted to do.
Shang Changheng stretched out his hand and grabbed downwards. Countless voices screamed together from the bottom of the cliff: "What are you doing?!"
"What is that?" Qingling asked Miaoyuan.
Miao Yuan pondered for a moment and whispered, "It looks like some evil spirit transformed from corpse qi, not like a soul. Countless people have died under this cliff, and their souls have gone to the underworld or dispersed, but there is always resentment left. In this bottomless place where yin is strong and yang is weak, it has become an evil spirit over time, especially this Zhanlong Mountain... The terrain is too bad. When I came here that day, I wondered how there could be a tomb in such an extremely dangerous academy, and sure enough, it gave birth to an extraordinary thing."
Qingling was sure that the "incredible" thing was referring to Shang Changheng.
Because the so-called evil spirit under the cliff had been forcibly pulled out by Shang Changheng, and turned into a ball of black mist whose shape could not be seen clearly. It was rolling violently in Shang Changheng's palm as if struggling, and miserable screams of men and women could be heard from it, as if countless people were shouting at the same time, mixed with begging for mercy and cursing. Even so, the black mist gradually shrank in the palm with distinct joints.
Miaoyuan clenched her rosary and frowned worriedly.
Qing Ling saw it and asked, "What's wrong?"
"He is absorbing the evil spirits of evil creatures." Miao Yuan deliberately lowered his voice. "After death, the soul leaves the body, but not everyone who harbors hatred can become a ghost. Those who can become ghosts or even evil ghosts are all coincidental. But he... is clearly a ghost cultivator. If the evil spirits continue to accumulate like this, sooner or later he will not be able to control himself, and the Heavenly Dao will pay more and more attention to this unacceptable thing in the world."
Qing Ling then asked: "What will happen?"
Miao Yuan was silent for a moment, then said, "Either he will become a ruthless evil ghost who only knows how to kill, or he will be wiped out by the heaven. On the Dragon Boat Festival, these wandering evil ghosts will not be able to hold on and their souls will be scattered. An evil ghost like him will not be able to stay in the human world for too long. Donor Qing, you have already made a marriage contract. Whether you voluntarily go or stay in the human world until your soul is scattered, do you think he will let you go? The evil ghost's paranoia is not trivial."
Miao Yuan spoke frankly and honestly, but his words and even his tone were filled with regret. He had never seen a thousand-year-old evil ghost that could remain rational like an ordinary person. Even if it was wrong for this evil ghost to kill people, it was undeniable that the people he killed were not innocent. The Qing family had harmed countless people with their evil methods. They stepped on those poor and innocent corpses and lived a life of luxury. They were even more hateful than evil ghosts.
And Qing Ling finally understood the situation between him and Shang Changheng.
The more powerful Shang Changheng becomes, the more the mysterious laws of nature will notice him, just like a fish that shouldn't be in the pond. No one may care at first, but as the fish grows bigger and becomes more and more noticeable, it will attract the attention of the supervisors and even be killed.
Therefore, Shang Changheng no longer had that much time to slowly recall the cause and effect.
He was a deceased person who died a thousand years ago. From the moment of his death, he no longer belonged to the human world, let alone the human world a thousand years later.
But the dead ghost was unwilling to give up. He walked so stubbornly in the strange world of the living a thousand years later, in search of the unfinished cause and effect and obsession from his previous life. Qingling didn't know what could make Shang Changheng, who had lost his memory, so worried about it.
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