073. Water Ghost
Qingling woke up from his dream.
He often dreams of Shang Changheng recently, and has witnessed many battlefields with his own eyes, but most of them were just small confrontations. This time was different. Shang Changheng did not lose the Battle of Lingshui, because after this battle, Da Zhou got a month of rest time, but he did not win either. Those who died on the battlefield can never return home.
It was still dark, the boat was rocking on the water, and the oil lamp was still on.
"Are you dreaming again?"
Shang Changheng still hugged him and said, "It's still a long way to go before dawn."
Qing Ling closed his eyes lazily. To him, it was just a nightmare, but to Shang Changheng, it was his past.
When Qingling first glimpsed Shang Changheng's past, he was secretly envious, but he did not think much about it at that time until he found the unerased history in "Guangyouzhi". The demise of the Zhou Dynasty was already doomed, and those loyal ministers and generals who defended the Great Zhou with their blood would not have a good ending.
Knowing it is one thing, but seeing the soldiers’ tragic deaths with your own eyes is another.
Suppressing the bitter emotions, Qing Ling whispered: "Yeah, I dreamed of you."
He opened his eyes and calmed down.
"That must not be a good dream." Shang Changheng seemed to be sighing, "Go back to sleep."
Indeed, Qingling thought to himself, but he could not forget the pain that Changheng felt in his dream after seeing Zuo Baichuan's corpse, but he could only cry briefly. The commander-in-chief of the three armies could not collapse because of the death of a general. If he made a mistake in deploying troops, it might lead to the annihilation of the entire Zhou Dynasty at that time. Shang Changheng could not make a single mistake.
And every time he turned the tide in those wars, the price was the lives of his own men.
Qing Ling raised his head and looked at Shang Changheng. Shang Changheng's appearance in the dream was almost the same as it is now. He was only 25 years old when he died.
"Can't sleep?" Shang Changheng lowered his head.
Eyes meet.
Qing Ling smiled at him and did not mention the dream. Instead, he said softly, "It seems so. It will take a few days to reach the dock. When I think about staying here for a few days, I feel a little breathless."
Qingling, who grew up in the mountains, is not actually a spoiled child, but he really can't adapt to life on the water. He feels more at ease staying down to earth.
After saying that, he changed the subject and said, "But it's rare to be safe. I've always been worried that some evil ghosts will emerge from the water. After all, many people have died in the water throughout history. When I was young, I heard Yu Bo tell the story of a water ghost looking for a substitute. I was very scared at the time."
Shang Changheng hugged him tighter and whispered, "With me here, the last thing you have to fear is evil spirits."
Qing Ling tilted his head and thought for a moment, "That makes sense."
What kind of evil spirit can withstand Shang Changheng, a thousand-year-old ghost? The water bandits are more terrifying. Shang Changheng cannot kill them, and he himself may not be able to defeat them.
This panic was not groundless. Although Daxia was peaceful, there were still mountain bandits and water bandits. Especially since Ningshui was surrounded by many mountains, there were bound to be a few villages. However, the owners of the passenger ships would pay money to those owners every year to prevent their passenger ships from being intercepted. Not to mention the cargo ships, they had to pay tolls.
Thinking about it this way, Qingling felt that these pirates had an easy life. They didn't have to wield swords and guns to kill people, but could just take money for free and live a carefree life.
Just as he was thinking about it, Shang Changheng suddenly sat up with a slightly gloomy expression.
"What's wrong?" Qing Ling half-propped himself up, not knowing what was going on. Shang Changheng's yin energy filled the surroundings, and he could not feel anything.
Before Shang Changheng could speak, there was a knock on the door, and Miao Yuan's voice came through the door: "My two donors, something is approaching. I will go to the deck to take a look first."
Qingling: "..."
You can't even have a single day of peace, right?
Qing Ling was already feeling very uncomfortable on this broken boat, so he didn't move. Instead, he pushed Shang Changheng and whispered, "Go and take a look."
As soon as he said that, he regretted it and sat up to put on his clothes. "Forget it. I feel uneasy when you are not around."
So Qingling hurriedly put on his outer robe and hastily tied up his hair. When he went out, Miaoyuan had already left. When he went up to the deck along the wooden ladder, he finally felt the strange Yin energy. Yin energy is the most obvious evidence to judge the strength of evil spirits. However, it does not prevent some evil spirits from pretending to be pigs and eating the tigers, and deliberately restraining their breath, and each of their methods are different.
Many people had gathered on the deck, and the strong smell of alcohol lingered. Miao Yuan and Zhu Lezhi were not far away, and Qing Ling saw the source of the yin energy at a glance. A small boat was floating on the river, with a plain silk hanging on the boat. A figure in mourning was kneeling on the bow, and in front of it was a brazier for burning paper. A blue-green flame was burning in the brazier, and piece of yellow paper was thrown in and devoured one by one. The man was holding paper money that looked like copper coins in his other hand, which fluttered down on the water.
The muddy water was very wide, with mountains on both sides. Such a spiritual boat suddenly appeared in the middle of the night, and there was not even a pole on the boat.
"This thing just appeared and followed us." Zhu Lezhi came closer and whispered. She was a little drunk, but still sober. "The one kneeling on the boat is probably a ghost. But the evil spirit will definitely not kill just one person. The boatman said that there has never been any evil thing in the muddy water. I don't know how we ran into it."
Qing Ling sighed, "Don't come here to look for me."
At one point, Miao Yuan also looked over, and together with Zhu Lezhi, they stared at Qing Ling and said in unison, "It's hard to say."
Sneaky ghosts know how to seek good and avoid evil, but if a rare treasure appears, they can smell the scent and chase after it from a long distance. This little boat has no idea which corner the evil ghost is hiding in, and it must be asking for something if it appears here.
The manager of the boat also came. He was a middle-aged man with a big waist and a beard. He was shirtless. When he saw the small boat blocking the passenger ship on the lake, his face turned pale. "Where the hell did this dirty thing come from? We have been using this waterway for so long, but there has never been any accident. Why don't we go around it?"
The boatman who followed him had a bitter face and also looked frightened. "No, boss, we can't get around it. Let's turn around. This thing is blocking the way. We have already offered sacrifices to the ancestors before leaving the house. Otherwise, let's just bump into it. Who knows, it might be a trick."
People on the boat were in panic and everyone was whispering.
"This is so unlucky! Could it be that we have really run into something unclean?"
"That's right. Didn't you see that thing? No one is rowing it. It's just floating around and blocking our way!"
"That can't be possible. A gentleman doesn't talk about strange things. There are no gods or ghosts in this world. Maybe they are just pretending to be a ghost on purpose."
"Yes, there might be someone who is good at holding his breath under the boat. Who knows, some master might appear on our boat and ask us for money to exorcise ghosts!"
As he spoke, his vague eyes fell on Miao Yuan, the only monk.
The eight winds of wonderful affinity are unmoved.
Zhu Lezhi rolled his eyes.
She asked in a low voice: "Senior Shang, I didn't feel this thing approaching at all before, it just appeared so suddenly, did you find it before?"
"No." Shang Changheng said, "When Miaoyuan came and knocked on the door, I only noticed the Yin energy."
Miao Yuan whispered beside him, "I was the same. I noticed the evil spirit, so I first alerted Donor Qing and Donor Shang, and then came to the deck. However, the evil spirit did not have a lot of evil spirit, nor did it have any evil spirit. It looked like... a newly dead ghost."
"A new dead ghost won't appear so quietly." Qing Ling took a step back behind Shang Changheng and whispered, "Besides, he doesn't look like a ghost to me. Don't come here to catch me. Shang Changheng, can you do it?"
Shang Changheng said firmly: "It can be done."
While the four people were whispering in a small circle, the man on the boat had run out of paper money. The fire in the brazier was burning brightly, and he stretched out his hand - a pale hand, with wrinkled and torn skin, as if it had been soaked in water for a long time, and his long nails were sharp.
Qingling just wanted to say, he is indeed not a human being.
"My money is gone." The thing lowered its head, with the white cloth on its head covering its entire face, and when it spoke, a hoarse and strange voice came out.
Qing Ling whispered again: "It sounds very evil, Shang Changheng, if you make such a sound, I will definitely never talk to you again."
Shang Changheng: "...even a ghost should have some dignity."
The person below just stretched out his hand blankly.
The people on the boat saw the horror of the hand, and no one dared to respond for a moment. Only the scholar who had always disdained evil things and said it was a scam stepped forward and sneered, "Look, it really wants money."
The people who were traveling with him tried to pull him, but he was pushed away. The captain also hurried over to pull him back, "What did you say to him? Don't kill everyone on the ship!"
The man didn't listen. While being dragged back, he said to the evil spirit in mourning below: "You want money? I don't have paper money, but I do have silver bills. Do you want some?"
The evil spirit did not answer, but only asked: "You give it?"
The captain hurriedly covered his mouth, but failed to do so during the struggle.
The scholar-looking man sneered: "Here, come up and get it."
Miao Yuan and Zhu Lezhi's expressions became solemn, and Qing Ling felt something was strange since the beginning of their conversation. This evil creature was too calm, showing no murderous intent or evil spirit at all, and was so peaceful that it made people uneasy.
But after the man finished speaking, the evil spirit only said one word: "Okay."
"It's over, he won't get on the boat!" someone exclaimed.
The man who was being dragged away by the captain suddenly froze, his eyes wide open as if he had seen something horrible, his mouth slowly opened as if he wanted to say something, but in just a few breaths, he didn't even utter a sound, and died with a terrified and twisted expression.
The captain of the boat suddenly let go and said quickly: "It wasn't me who did it. How come he is dead?"
The onlookers became even more panicked.
Qing Ling said: "Look below."
A piece of yellow paper slowly floated down from the sky. The evil spirit kept stretching out his hand, caught the yellow paper with his disgusting hand, and threw it into the brazier. The distorted face of the scholar seemed to be printed on the yellow paper.
Zhu Lezhi said: "That person's soul is gone."
Qing Ling said in a hoarse voice: "So that piece of yellow paper... is his soul."
This way of killing is simply...too weird.
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