059. Love and Hate
"You called my name again, Qingling." Shang Changheng half-lay on his side, his posture as if protecting Qingling inside.
Qing Ling was still a little dazed. He unconsciously reached out to grab Shang Changheng's sleeve and murmured, "I dreamed of you."
"Yeah." Shang Changheng lowered his eyes and glanced at his sleeves that were being grabbed. "You called me Changheng just now. Did you dream about something in the past again?"
Qingling didn't answer, just shook his head.
Not the past, but... the future.
This was the ending he had been waiting for.
"Oh, it was just an ordinary dream." Shang Changheng lowered his head, and kissed him in a low voice, "I was in your dream."
Qingling looked into those eyes.
Shang Changheng's appearance was extremely flamboyant and sharp, handsome, like a red plum blossom in full bloom on a branch, but his eyebrows and eyes always carried a sinister and gloomy look. In fact, he seldom smiled, and even less often did he smile sincerely out of joy. Perhaps it was because of this face, when he smiled with his thin lips and raised the corners of his eyes, he looked playful and sarcastic.
He remembered Shang Changheng's smile on the city wall, as if he had unloaded a heavy burden, relaxed and gentle.
"I dreamed..." Qing Ling didn't know why he didn't explain what he dreamed about. After a pause, he said to him seriously, "Smile a little, Shang Changheng."
Shang Changheng didn't understand why. He tried to smile, but couldn't. He held Qing Ling's face with one hand and pecked her soft lips lightly, "Why?"
"I saw you smile at me in my dream." Qing Ling also felt that his request was abrupt. After thinking for a while, he pushed Shang Changheng's shoulder and asked, "What time is it?"
"It's still early, you should sleep a little longer." Shang Changheng didn't bother him. He stepped back a little and lay down beside Qingling.
Ghosts don't need to sleep and of course they don't dream.
Shang Changheng would not be like other evil spirits who only knew how to kill and lost their minds. He was always awake and could not stop to rest.
Qing Ling was actually very tired, but he kept thinking about the dream he had just had. He always wanted to live a good life after everything was settled, but what did it mean to live a good life?
He was young and inexperienced, and when he first entered the world, he was hit by wave after wave. Before he could understand what was going on, he was already exhausted.
"Can't sleep?" Shang Changheng suddenly asked.
Qingling lay on his side with his back to him, not saying a word. He had read many books, but had met too few people. He knew many principles, but did not understand them yet.
Just like he felt that he should have hated Shang Changheng, but now he didn't seem to hate him that much. This actually didn't seem right to him. Why could joy, anger, love and hate be entangled into a mess?
But he had no one to ask.
Zhu Lezhi is a girl younger than him, Miaoyuan is a monk with pure mind, and the evil ghost beside him... never mind, it’s better not to ask.
Qing Ling said in a muffled voice: "No."
Shang Changheng fiddled with Qingling's hair which was spread on the couch. The little guy tied his hair casually and looked unruly, but he was very well behaved and quiet when he slept. Even when he turned over, his hair was not messy at all.
I don’t know what’s bothering him right now, maybe it’s because of the dream he refuses to tell about.
"No, why are you still awake?" Shang Changheng pinched his ear again.
Qingling's ears are very hard, and he will cry out in pain if you pinch them hard. Shang Changheng had heard in the army many years ago that men with soft ears are afraid of their wives, while men with hard ears are the heads of the family.
Qingling brushed his hand away, and was silent for a long while before she finally couldn't help it and lay down flat.
"The book says to clearly distinguish between love and hate, but I don't understand."
Shang Changheng asked: "What don't you understand?"
"If it's so clear, why is it that even an honest judge can't make a judgment on family affairs?" Qing Ling was really confused, and he hid his thoughts in his words, "Why is it so difficult to make a judgment? Family affairs are also inseparable from right and wrong, love and hate, so why can't they be clear?"
This was totally unrelated to what they had just said. Shang Changheng thought for a while before saying, "Some things can be clearly explained, such as killing someone and paying with one's life, and paying off debts. But the world is full of twists and turns, and people's hearts are fickle. Sometimes there are not so many reasons to explain. Aren't you afraid of death and want to live? You are born between death... There are more things and reasons that cannot be explained. Just like the order of heaven, doesn't it allow this inn to change the life span?"
Qingling was in deep thought.
In the end, there is only one answer: some things just don't make sense.
Suddenly, Qing Ling raised his eyes to look at Shang Changheng and asked softly: "How much do you remember?"
The words just now didn't sound like something this evil ghost would say.
In Qingling's opinion, Shang Changheng has a very bad temper and once provoked, it would be fatal.
Shang Changheng didn't answer, but leaned over and kissed his lips, whispering: "Sleep for a while, and when you get into the city, find a decent inn and rest for a few days before continuing on your journey."
Qingling turned his back again.
He secretly reached out and touched the corner of his lips.
Shang Changheng’s kiss was also cold, but very...soft.
He fell asleep in a daze, with a heavy heart.
.
Shang Changheng didn't take the Nine Spirits seriously, but he wouldn't be so arrogant as to wait for people to come. He had already spread the evil energy around the inn, just waiting to lure people into the trap.
So when the breath that was obviously different from that of ordinary people appeared on the mountain road, Shang Changheng, who had closed his eyes, suddenly opened them. He was a ghost, and he could move without any sound, and his figure just disappeared in the room.
On the winding mountain road, a man in brocade robe, holding a folding fan, strolled leisurely, but with every step he took, his figure appeared strangely ten feet away. He walked to the inn at the foot of the mountain. The inn seemed no different from the past, but the man still stopped.
A voice that sounded like a man or a woman sounded strangely: "When you have guests, you must follow the rules."
Suddenly, a cold wind started to blow.
The same sinister sneer came from the inn: "What kind of rules do you dare ask me to follow?"
The overbearing evil spirit surged out wantonly. It was the breath of an evil ghost, filled with murderous and cruel aura.
Jiu Ling looked like a young man, dressed like a man, but it was hard to tell whether he was a man or a woman. Even Shang Changheng couldn't figure him out for a while. He just felt that he was neither human nor ghost. He had a gloomy aura but no life in him, but he didn't look like a ghost at all.
When they were testing each other, Jiu Ling's expression remained as if he was smiling but not smiling, without any change at all, which made it seem even more weird.
"There is nothing in the inn that cannot be exchanged, including life span and cultivation." Jiu Ling's voice was ethereal. "Sir, you have to exchange it with your merits. You destroyed my store, but you are a thorn in the side of Yuzhou Yinxing."
Shang Changheng stood inside the door and frowned.
It was a bit difficult to know where to start. The other party just stood outside the door and made a lot of noise, but didn't come in or take any action.
But he kept his composure.
He didn't know the other party's background, and this guy could control ghosts. He had long understood the principle of "better safe than sorry", so he was not in a hurry. Instead, he hid his figure and slowly pushed open the door of the inn with his Yin Qi.
"I'll smash it, what can you do to me?"
The two of them made quite a lot of noise, especially Shang Changheng's Yin Qi was really overbearing. Zhu Lezhi and Miao Yuan, who were on the second floor, had already reached the first floor and saw the figure in a long robe standing not far from the door. However, Qingling's room was wrapped tightly by Shang Changheng's Yin Qi, and no noise from outside could be heard inside.
"Young Master, have you figured out his background?" Zhu Lezhi asked in a low voice.
Miao Yuan shook his head. "The yin energy is very strong, not like a living person. To deal with this kind of thing, the Zhu family should know more."
The Zhu family has been passed down since the ancient witch era, and they have never interfered with the imperial power and dynasty changes in the mortal world. They have been wholeheartedly cultivating their own ways, walking the path of the living and managing the affairs of the underworld. Wunian Temple cannot compare to them. Zhu Lezhi also knows more about these strange things.
What's more, she has a pair of eyes that can see qi.
"Not a living person." Zhu Lezhi clicked his tongue, "I've never dealt with ghost masters. Anyone can control a little ghost, using coercion or bribery. But those who know how to control ghosts all have their own natal ghosts. It is said that they are passed down from generation to generation. The natal ghost of the apprentice is the master, so the true ghost masters are getting worse with each generation. Do you think the one standing outside is the real body or the natal ghost?"
Miao Yuan's mind was a little confused, and she frowned: "You said that thing was not a living person."
"I don't know what it is." Zhu Lezhi took out a whip, "Why don't we try it? I'm a little scared standing outside like this."
Trying it out doesn't mean just rushing up and fighting.
When the Zhu family reported to the mountain gate, they would also say "Three whips of the whip startled the ghosts and gods", which was about the ability of the Zhu family. Moreover, her whip was a spirit, as the name suggests.
Zhu Lezhi swung the whip violently, and there was a loud noise in the air.
The negative energy in the surroundings stagnated because of this.
The figure outside the door did not move.
Zhu Lezhi then whipped him twice more.
The man still did not move, but smiled slowly and said, "I am a friend of the Zhu family in Tongzhou. I have also heard the sound of your whip. We had dealings in the past. I heard that Mr. Zhu Huixuan passed away a few years ago. It's a pity that he didn't live a good life in his later years. If he didn't like to meddle in other people's affairs, he might not have ended up like this. He might have lived a few more years. For people like us, what is more important than being alive? You are a young man, you should think more clearly."
Zhu Lezhi's expression became solemn.
She was not irritated, but rather felt intimidated.
This thing didn't react to the whip. Either it was as powerful as Shang Changheng, or... he wasn't some evil spirit.
Zhu Huixuan was the patriarch of the Zhu family in the previous generation, and Zhu Lezhi’s grandfather. When he was young, he was injured in a battle with someone and was also cursed. The Zhu family tried every possible means to save him, but to no avail. In the end, he died in a very...unpeaceful way.
It was also from then on that the art of controlling ghosts disappeared from the public eye.
"Senior Shang." Zhu Lezhi whispered, "This thing is a bit strange, you have to be careful. If it is your own ghost, it's not a big deal, but I'm afraid the person who controls the ghost has some secret method in his hands."
"Um."
Shang Changheng appeared again and stood in front of the inn, looking more like a human than the thing opposite.
"Ah, evil spirit." The man's voice was still light and weak, but it was full of greed. "What a good thing! A rare opportunity."
Shang Changheng sneered, "It's an opportunity to send you on your way."
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