36 Ghost Market (I)
◎Who else will come to save you except me?◎
The fear of having his life hanging by a thread just now suddenly surged back. Li Jintang slowly turned his gaze to Xie An, forgetting even to say "thank you". His eyes were fixed on his hand. "Xie An, you... are injured."
She felt guilty - Xie An had just been injured while saving her, yet she still blamed him for letting Tian Heng go...
Xie Changyan's eyes passed over her palm: "Aren't you the same?"
The girl hid her bleeding hand, tilted her head slightly, and explained seriously, "It's different. Mine was hurt by the handle of the knife, and yours..." She paused and asked cautiously, "You just said that the snake was poisonous. Are you okay?"
"Won't."
The pure white sleeves concealed the crimson blood, as if nothing had happened. He walked back to the cabin nonchalantly, downing the rest of the wine in the glass. Only then did the burning sensation in his throat gradually subside.
"Atang, I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable," Qu Lingfei wiped his face, praising her with a mixture of surprise and delight. "If you hadn't helped us disperse the school of fish, we really wouldn't know how to deal with that giant python."
Li Jintang was also thankful that he had followed his father down the mountain. "Brother Qu, you're too kind. I was just lucky."
The people who had been hiding in various corners came out one after another and started to repair the hull. The ship had been sailing for a long time at this time, and looking into the distance, they could vaguely see the swirling white mist rising from the opposite bank.
"How do you feel?"
Seeing that the others were staring at the lake and keeping watch, Li Jintang slowly returned to the cabin, walked over to the young man and sat down, hesitating for a moment before asking.
Xie Changyan was silent for a long time, then he lifted his sleeves without looking away, and poured a whole pot of wine on the girl under her astonished gaze.
"You..." Li Jintang's hand had already reached out to grab the wine jug before her brain could react. The two of them were too close. She saw him frown and move to the side, his shoulder hitting the wall. He quickly let go of her hand and stumbled, "Doesn't it hurt?"
Pain? This pain was not even a fraction of what he had experienced before. "It's just a snake, why would you need to use your spiritual power?"
Li Jintang knelt on the ground, looking up at him slightly, his eyes gradually becoming serious. "My spiritual power is used to save people. What difference does it make whether the injury is minor or major?"
He raised his eyes and teased her half-jokingly: "You like saving people?"
"I just hope I can help them," Li Jintang didn't hear the sarcasm in his words. She was silent for a moment, then lowered her voice. "For example, right now, I hope I can help you."
Xie Changyan looked away disapprovingly, his hands on the ground as he tried to stand up. "What do you want to help me with? I've already taken care of it."
"There is a way to avoid the pain, why do you have to make yourself suffer?" Li Jintang stood up quickly and blurted out.
Why? He had never thought about this question.
He just wanted to save trouble, and no one ever cared about whether it hurt or not, including himself.
He paused for a moment, then uttered the same words as before: "It's none of your business."
The lush green trees on the shore gradually became clearer. When the boat docked, several people stepped off the gangplank one after another. They could still hear the boatman's loud call: "Young masters, how was your fun?"
"That's great!" Nangong Xiu replied with full energy, "At least you kept us busy."
The wind from the shore was slightly cool, blowing away the mist floating over the lake.
"Brother Nangong, where should we go next?" Qu Lingfei stared at the map in his hand and urged.
Before the crowd could get a response, they saw the person walking in front suddenly stop, then swing his hand and chop down fiercely. The scream almost pierced their eardrums.
"What kind of evil spirit dares to plot against me?" Nangong Xiu took a step back, his feet stained with thick brown mud.
"Brother Nangong, why are you..." Qu Lingfei's eyes suddenly widened when he finished speaking. He saw a hand hanging in the air, shaking weakly back and forth like a withered grass.
A yellow face emerged from the bubbling swamp that looked like thick phlegm, and its lips, smeared with mud, opened and closed: "Save...save me..."
What kind of monster is this?!
Li Jintang took a few steps back and saw that the "monster" wiped its face with one hand, as if trying to wipe off the mud. Unexpectedly, the more it wiped, the dirtier it became. In the end, it could only let its body slowly sink, revealing a pair of dark eyes looking at them.
"Tian Heng?!"
Nangong Xiu took a step forward, took a closer look, and recognized him. "Isn't he a very good runner? How did you get trapped here?"
That guy turned out to be Tian Heng, the one who had attempted to escape but failed? Everyone looked around and saw that every few steps there was a swamp hidden underground. If they hadn't encountered him, there was no guarantee that one of them would have accidentally fallen in.
There was a brief silence in the air. Qu Lingfei frowned and opened his mouth, saying, "Pull him up."
The ending tone rises, obviously seeking the opinions of others.
"If you don't mind the dirty talk, Brother Qu," Xie Changyan smiled and stepped aside, "feel free to do as you please."
A moment later, when the mud covered Tian Heng's nose, Nangong Xiu reluctantly followed Qu Lingfei forward, grabbing Tian Heng's arms on the left and right, trying to pull him out.
Unexpectedly, the other party screamed even more miserably: "My hand, my hand is broken..."
"Brother, his shoulder." Qiu Yan's eyes lit up and he quickly reminded.
Sure enough, they saw a thorny vine tightly wrapped around Tian Heng's arms, trapping him firmly in the swamp. The two tried to reach out and pull it out, but to no avail.
Qiuyan reached for her waist, but felt a chill in her heart - just now on the boat, her sword had been swept into the lake by a giant python.
Qu Lingfei took the time to turn his head and said helplessly, "Xie Brother, can I borrow your sword?"
Xie Changyan frowned slightly, but remained indifferent in his previous posture.
Who would want their sword to be stained with such filth?
“…”
"Let me try." Li Jintang drew her dagger and took a few steps forward. Suddenly, a flash of sword light appeared beside her, followed by two snapping sounds. She looked back in confusion. When she saw it clearly, the sword had returned to the boy's waist, and the vines wrapped around Tian Heng's arms had snapped.
Tian Heng had just been pulled halfway out of the swamp when the ground suddenly shook. The swamps from all directions converged together, and vines stretched out like spider webs, tightly covering them.
All the sounds around seemed to disappear in my ears.
The darkness lasted for an unknown amount of time. As her consciousness gradually became blurred, a beam of light suddenly came in from nowhere. Through her eyelids, she felt a hint of heat.
There was a rustling noise in my ears, intertwined with the rustling of leaves.
Li Jintang opened her eyes, still not used to the world suddenly becoming bright again. She raised her hand to block the glaring sunlight, sat up straight, and quickly scanned her surroundings.
Strange, did they just reach the bottom of the swamp?
But how can there be sunshine here?
She had a bad feeling - were all the swamps in this place not simple?
Someone tapped her shoulder from behind. She hurriedly reached out to pick up the knife that had fallen not far away, and then she heard a familiar voice: "Atang, you're finally awake."
Li Jintang's tense heart gradually relaxed. She looked up at the people standing around her, quickly dusted off her clothes, and stood up. There was a hint of apology in her words: "Have I slept for long? Did I delay everyone's journey?"
"Not really," Qiuyan patted her shoulder again and said with a smile, "You're just too nervous. No one will blame you."
Seeing everyone gathered together peacefully, she smiled easily, and then heard Nangong Xiu say, "We are lucky. We stumbled upon the right road by accident. We are not far from Huidu now."
Li Jintang opened his eyes slightly, with surprise mixed with a little disbelief - they got there so quickly?
However, from the time she first came to this place until today, several months have passed, which is not short either.
"After I get out of here, can I go home?" She gently patted the fortune book that had not been spoken for a long time and asked softly.
Mingshu patted his chest and assured, "When have I ever lied to anyone? Don't worry, I will definitely get you home."
The journey was strangely smooth, with only one or two monsters of very low cultivation appearing occasionally, but they were all dealt with one by one.
The sun shines through the gaps between the leaves, and the air is filled with the faint fragrance of grass and trees. Everything is peaceful and a little eerie.
No one spoke among them, as if everyone was trying hard to get the key as soon as possible and leave.
After walking a little further, we saw a series of steep mountains.
Li Jintang felt more and more that something was wrong. She stopped and couldn't help but shout, "Brother Qu..."
Everyone stopped and looked at her. She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Do you feel that something is amiss?"
"What's wrong? Everything's going so smoothly," Qiuyan interrupted, teasing her with a smile, "Atang, I told you you were too nervous. You'll be leaving here soon, aren't you happy?"
"Of course I'm happy, but..."
But isn't this journey too smooth?
She always felt that the mountain seemed to have eyes, staring at them fiercely, as if once they stepped into it, they would fall into a hell from which there was no escape.
"It's the last step, Atang. Are you scared?" Qiuyan blinked and made a face at her: "Coward."
Just as he raised his hand, Li Jintang saw a flash of light passing by from the other person's clothes.
It was a sword.
Wasn’t Qiuyan’s sword lost?
Li Jintang's heartbeat accelerated violently. She pressed her solar plexus to force herself to calm down, but her hand had already reached into her arms. She pulled out the Book of Life with lightning speed and smashed it hard at the other person's face!
Almost at the same time, she saw the faces of the other people distorted and screams filled her ears. She didn't dare to stop for a moment, turned around and ran away aimlessly.
They aren't real, and this place isn't real...
Was she lost in fantasy again? Where did it all begin?
Maybe from the beginning.
Suddenly, she felt something trip her feet and she lost her balance and fell forward. However, the fall did not make her faint, but instead she shuddered and her eyelids were opened again.
What she saw was a pitch-black darkness. She was startled and hurriedly closed her eyes, then opened them carefully again.
It was still dark.
"Book of destiny?" She shouted in panic, and fortunately heard the familiar voice sounding beside her.
Li Jintang groped his way over and was about to ask it to light a lamp, but he paused and changed his words: "If I leave here, can I go home?"
"Well... well..." Mingshu's voice was a little guilty, and he turned the tables on her: "Why are you in such a hurry, kid? You're already an adult, and you're still thinking about going home?"
She smiled comfortably - it seemed that this time it was not an illusion.
A faint blue light emanated from the fortune book, reflecting on the pale face of the person next to him.
Only then did she realize there was another person next to her.
*
"What are these guys doing here? Are they trying to mess things up?"
"Should we wake them up?"
"What are you yelling about? They dared to disrupt our business. If it were me, I would just throw them into the river!"
“…”
Curses filled her ears one after another. The girl's curled knuckles moved and she opened her eyelids that felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
What caught the eye was a large group of feet, with toes sticking out of shoes. At first glance, they looked like several worms wriggling.
Qiuyan sat up with a somersault, her elbow slamming to the side. Her eyes widened slightly, and she wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
"What's wrong?"
The person next to her had his arm across his face and was muttering something like a trance. Qiu Yan glanced at him. His face was still as pale as paper, but his heartbeat was gradually stabilizing.
Fortunately, she is not alone.
But this feeling of relief soon disappeared - she somehow found herself lying with Qu Lingfei, surrounded by several people in strange clothes, pointing and talking at them.
The slight joy she had just felt immediately turned into unspeakable shame, and her face flushed red.
"Stop sleeping." Qiu Yan was inexplicably angry. She reached out and pushed him hard, but when the other opened his eyes, she quickly buried her head in her knees.
Qu Lingfei understood immediately, wishing he could take her hand and leave two red marks on his face. After being watched for so long, what would he do if he ruined his junior sister's innocence? It was all his fault. He hadn't woken up in such a long sleep.
"That's not the case." He supported himself on the ground with his hands and stumbled several times in a hurry before he could barely stand up. "This girl and I, we have nothing..."
But the group didn't think about it at all. One of them shouted, "Who are you? What's your purpose here?!"
When he shouted, everyone started talking in a mixed voice:
"Tell me, are you guys here to mess things up?"
"How could someone like you, who looks like a decent person, do such a thing?"
“…”
Qu Lingfei was completely baffled by these words. A bewildered look appeared in his eyes. "May I ask, everyone, what did we... do?"
They just fainted in the street for unknown reasons. At least they were dressed appropriately and didn't do anything out of the ordinary. They shouldn't be guilty of the death penalty, right?
A woman's face was filled with anger: "You really don't know?"
"I, a junior, would never dare to lie, and I dare to ask for your advice."
But a gap was made in the crowd, and everyone had different expressions on their faces, and their eyes were all fixed on the faces of the two of them.
Qu Lingfei was very confused. He looked along the opening and was suddenly shocked - all the trees on both sides of the road were uprooted, and all kinds of shops were crushed in them. As far as the eye could see, most of the houses had been destroyed.
"This...we..." Qu Lingfei was speechless and didn't know where to start.
Qiuyan's blush had faded by then. She lowered her hand and glanced at him. Knowing her senior brother wasn't very vocal, she took over the conversation: "Did you misunderstand something? My senior brother and I woke up here and have no idea what's going on."
Seeing the men's eyes widen and their faces grow even more angry, she coughed lightly and continued slowly, "Instead of blaming innocent people, why not allow us to work together to repair this place?"
She saw those people looking at each other, and then they all showed a half-belief, half-doubt expression: "Can we trust you?"
Qiuyan raised the corner of her lips and nodded immediately: "Yes."
The market was filled with the sounds of labor and smoke hung in the sky. About two hours later, the entire market was basically back to normal.
Qu Lingfei slumped on the ground, looking at the smiling faces of the townspeople, feeling an indescribable joy in his heart. He turned and smiled at Qiu Yan: "Junior sister, I never thought that one day my magic would be used to build a house." Then he looked up at the sky again: "Finally, I can finally breathe."
The two smiled at each other, and suddenly felt several gazes coming towards them. Turning around, they saw that the townspeople who had been busy and happy just now all stopped what they were doing, as if a switch had been touched, and all their eyes were directed towards them.
Qiuyan felt uneasy being stared at. She crossed her arms, feeling unhappy. "The streets have been swept clean, the houses have been repaired, what else do you want?"
One of them pointed a finger at Qu Lingfei: "What did you just say?"
Qu Lingfei was completely dumbfounded now - he had just been chatting with his junior sister, so how did he irritate these people?
The man was clearly getting impatient, and his voice was even harsher than before: "What did I ask you?!"
A small voice in the crowd responded: "The kid just said he needed to take a breath."
The crowd suddenly became agitated, with terrified eyes, as if they were facing a powerful enemy.
"H-They need to breathe?"
"They can actually breathe?!"
The two men were stunned for a long time. Before they could figure out what was going on, they saw the group of people draw their blades in an instant. In an instant, white light flashed and gathered on them.
"Don't worry about it, just run!" Qiu Yan jumped up and grabbed the arm of the person next to her and pulled him up from the ground.
There was a sound of killing behind them, but for some reason they could not catch up with them. After a while, the two of them turned into an alley and left the gang far behind.
"Junior Sister, do you remember the last time we ran so hard?" Qu Lingfei stopped, bent over, hands on knees, panting heavily, and looked up at her with bent eyes. "It was because we accidentally destroyed the flowers that Master raised, and we were chased for half an hour?"
"What do you mean last time?" Qiuyan was surprised and delighted to see that he could still remember something from so long ago, but she said, "I don't know how many times I've run here since I came here. Who knows when the last time was?"
After saying that, she leaned sideways and stuck her head out. She took a step forward and waved at him, saying, "Come out quickly. They're not following us."
Qu Lingfei followed his instructions and walked out, still thinking about what had just happened. "Why do you think they keep repeating the word 'breathing'?"
"Who knows why? Maybe they've been wanting to drive us away for a long time and are just making up a random excuse," Qiuyan folded her arms, a look of worry on her face. "They've separated us again this time. I don't know what's happening with Atang and the others."
Qu Lingfei turned his head away and couldn't help but pat her shoulder. He said softly, "She's with Fellow Daoist Xie and Fellow Daoist Nangong. She'll be fine."
*
That night, the stars and the moon were obscured by dark clouds, and the sky seemed like a bottomless black hole. Several crows hung from the Bodhi tree, their cries of grief continuing.
"The Lord said that he has no spiritual roots, so he is a useless person!"
"Then if we beat him to death, does that count as getting rid of garbage?"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
The young man held his head with his hands, his clothes had already been torn into several holes, and the ground was stained with blood. The endless laughter reached his ears, giving him a splitting headache.
Someone kicked his hind legs hard. He gritted his teeth and tried to straighten his body, but his legs went limp and he knelt down weakly.
"I'm not..." He raised his eyes, his dark eyes filled with murderous intent.
"If the Lord says you are you, then you are it. Do you want to disobey the Lord?"
"Look, he dares to stare at me. I'll beat him to death!"
"You all should hold back a little. Don't really beat him to death. What if the Lord blames you?"
Fists and kicks rained down like raindrops. He closed his eyes and was kicked in the abdomen. His whole body hit the door. An evil wind rushed into the house through the open hole and blew out the candle on the stove.
The surroundings were instantly shrouded in darkness, and the shouting had completely faded. He remained in that position for a long moment before slowly lowering his hand and fumbling to light the lighter.
"Xie An."
The young man was startled and turned his head stiffly to look at the person half-kneeling beside him. A ray of light flooded into his bottomless eyes.
He didn't know how she got in, but he didn't want to dwell on the issue right now.
"Does it hurt?"
Slender fingers touched the bloody wound, and the dense touch spread like an electric current throughout his limbs. He grasped the hand as if possessed by a ghost, and the warm current seemed to bring him back to life.
"Why did you come?"
The girl let the coldness envelop her palms. She blinked and smiled softly, "I'm here to save you."
"You are so pitiful. No one will come to save you except me, right?"
The young man was slightly startled, his eyelashes slowly drooped, casting a shadow under his eyes.
It's so ridiculous. I know clearly that this is not her, but I still hold on to that bit of warmth and don't want to let go.
He laughed at himself - yes, this time, she saved him again.
A gust of north wind swept in, and after it calmed down, she felt something cold covering her face. She raised her hand and gently twisted it off. It was a broken leaf.
The blue light shot higher and higher, almost jumping onto the long eyelashes of the person in front of him who had his eyes closed.
Li Jintang supported himself on the ground with both hands and slowly moved over. His gaze lingered on his face for a long time before he called softly, "Xie An?"
The boy sat quietly with his back straight, his head slightly drooped, his chest rising and falling slightly - after all, he was not a sculpture.
She was silent for a moment, then hesitated and stretched out her hand. At the moment when her hand was about to touch the other person's forehead, a ray of sunlight poured down and shone on her fair wrist.
Li Jintang immediately retracted his hand, his heart pounding - could this be another illusion?
She looked around. The sunlight gradually enveloped the entire flower field. The flowers and plants around her were even taller than when she sat down.
What is this place?
Li Jintang's temples jumped twice, and she touched the boy's hand tremblingly. A burning heat instantly passed through the thin sleeves to her palm.
It's not an illusion, but... he seems to have a fever.
She lowered her head and took out two pills from her purse, then reached out to feed him. When her lips touched his, he suddenly opened his eyes.
Why did you suddenly... wake up?
Li Jintang noticed that their current position was a bit awkward, so she quickly placed the pill in his palm and explained, "You have a fever. Take the medicine quickly."
His eyelashes drooped, his fingers trembled, and in an instant the two pills turned into powder.
"I don't have a fever."
Li Jintang looked at him for a long while, then he moved to the side, "Come closer."
"how?"
"These are... aphrodisiac flowers that can cause hallucinations."
Xie Changyan was silent for a long time, but finally he leaned over as he was told.
The aphrodisiac flower can infinitely magnify all desires and greed in a person's heart. If you indulge in it for too long, it will harm your body and your sexuality. Li Jintang was entangled in his thoughts for a moment, then suddenly turned around and moved closer.
He instinctively leaned back, frowning and asked, "What are you doing?"
"You stayed in the illusion for too long," Li Jintang paused, sensing his resistance, and didn't move forward. "Once the poison from the aphrodisiac flower enters your body, if it's not expelled in time, it will cause damage to your spiritual energy."
"I've never been to a fantasy world," he pressed her shoulders and pushed her away with a cold face. "I don't know what aphrodisiac flowers are. Stop talking about it."
The flowers were left behind. Li Jintang stopped and bent down to brush off the flower seeds stuck on his clothes.
"Can you walk slower?" Xie Changyan rubbed his eyebrows impatiently. The sunlight shone on his face, forming two forked rays.
Li Jintang looked at the person who had distanced himself from her, pursed his lips, and lowered his voice: "You walked too fast..."
Before she could finish, he walked back and stood in front of her, his eyes slightly drooping.
"What's wrong……"
A cool touch crept up his wrist. Li Jintang looked down and saw a flickering spiritual rope between his sleeves.
She was pulled forward without much effort, and her feet suddenly felt a lot lighter.
There was the sound of gurgling water, and looking out into the distance, I saw a clear river winding down from the other bank, with a wooden bridge across it. The sound of footsteps was carried by the wind, and I didn't expect there were people walking on the bridge.
If you zoom out, you can vaguely see a few houses not far away.
"Is this bridge walkable?" Li Jintang knew he was being dragged along, with no choice, but he still asked worriedly, "Is there anything strange going on?"
He didn't answer until his foot touched the creaking wood. Then he turned his head slightly and said in a warning tone, "If you don't want to die, don't speak or breathe."
Before Li Jintang could ask why, he pulled her onto the wooden bridge. She had no choice but to hold her breath as he said, her eyes curiously scanning the people passing by.
The wooden bridge was quite long, and Xie Changyan walked slowly in front. Suddenly, he felt his sleeves were blown by the wind. The girl took a few quick steps and rushed to him.
She looked back as she walked, her eyes blinking innocently - she really couldn't hold it back any longer.
The moment her feet left the bridge, she looked up at him, hesitantly wanting to ask, "Can I breathe now?" Before she could say anything, someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind an empty corner.
"Okay."
He let go of his hand, and Li Jintang felt relaxed all over. He took a few breaths and felt like he was reborn.
After a pause, she gave him a puzzled look. Before she could say anything, he raised his hand, pointing in the direction of the end of the wooden bridge.
Li Jintang stared at him for a long while but couldn't figure out what was going on. Noticing that his peripheral vision was still on her, she didn't dare to ask any more questions. She nodded, half understanding, "So that's how it is."
"What?"
“…”Why are you asking back?
She choked, raised her head a little stiffly, and saw a fleeting curve at the corner of his mouth.
"There's no movement in their chests; they can't breathe." Seeing she was still confused, he sighed and then reminded her, "Don't people need to breathe?"
Li Jintang exclaimed, "Ah!", his eyes unable to conceal the shock in his eyes. "They... are ghosts?"
Xie Changyan retracted his gaze and glanced at her dull face. "Not too stupid."
"But," Li Jintang rubbed the sweat from his palms and looked at the 'ghosts' walking around in the sunlight, wondering, "How come they have shadows?"
"This is the demon world. They can't leave their bodies and only rely on their souls to survive." He suddenly glanced at her with an ambiguous look. "Would you like to guess how they got into their current bodies?"
How could she know? Li Jintang shook his head and answered honestly, "I can't guess."
Xie Changyan suddenly leaned down and pressed his lips to her ear. Li Jintang felt an itch on her earlobe. "They first kill living people in the form of souls, then remove their spiritual roots and parasitize them."
He deliberately dragged out the last line of the tone, and Li Jintang's heartbeat suddenly quickened. He raised his face and looked at him blankly.
Scared? He straightened up and glanced at her with satisfaction, a hint of a triumphant smile on his lips after a successful prank.
Li Jintang clutched the corner of his clothes tightly and stammered out a few words from between his teeth: "You mean, they, they..."
"I was just trying to scare you," Xie Changyan raised his eyebrows and said nonchalantly, "Don't just stand there. I'll take you to find them."
"But can we hold it all the way through?"
"No, there's something wrong with the bridge."
She paused and looked over hesitantly: "Then why did you drag me there just now?"
His expression remained unchanged, and there was no trace of teasing apology in his tone: "I lied to you."
*
"Crackling"
The wheels rolled over the uneven road, and the cart was loaded with a pile of masks of various colors. The person pushing the cart looked ahead, completely unaware of a hand that quietly climbed onto the table.
The two masks slipped off quietly, replaced by a few shiny silver coins.
"Brother, is this really possible?"
Qiuyan fiddled with putting on the mask, leaving only her eyes exposed, looking at him anxiously.
"As long as we wear masks and don't mention words like 'panting' or 'breathing', they won't recognize us." Qu Lingfei said, and suddenly slapped his head, "I forgot to prepare a few pairs for Brother Xie and the others."
So there were two less silver coins in his pocket and a few more masks around his waist.
"Brother, are you sure they are all ghosts?" The masked girl frowned slightly. "But the ghost world is long gone... How could they appear in the demon world?"
After asking, she saw Qu Lingfei frowning and thinking hard, so she said with a smile: "Forget it, let's find Atang and the others first."
As the two men stood up and walked out from the corner, they heard the man behind them stamping his feet and cursing, "What is this?! How dare you play tricks on me? Stand up!"
"This is the mask I'll be using for Haruhi Utama tonight. What if I lose it?"
The last sentence didn't reach their ears. The two looked at each other and saw confusion in each other's eyes.
In the end, it was Qiuyan who reacted first. She pulled Qu Lingfei away, feeling both amused and helpless. Then she said, "Brother, are you crazy? You just said they were just ghosts. How can we use ordinary people's money to trade with them?"
Qu Lingfei suddenly realized what was going on and slapped his forehead in frustration. "If that's the case, then what I did is no different from a thief."
"At worst, I can just return it to him later." Qiu Yan's heart softened when she saw his guilty look. "Brother, you didn't know about it, so how can you call it stealing?"
"I know you want to comfort me," Qu Lingfei smiled, feeling touched. "The others probably aren't too far away. We can just walk around and maybe run into them."
After turning seven or eight more corners, many pedestrians on the road cast their gazes at them. Qiu Yan adjusted her mask with a guilty conscience and stood close behind Qu Lingfei.
"Brother, could they have gone somewhere else?" After walking around nearly half of the market, Qiu Yan still didn't see any familiar figures. She pinched his arm involuntarily, her eyes fixed on every passing ghost.
Qu Lingfei was no longer sure at this time, and didn't want her to worry too much, so he stopped in front of a teahouse and listened to the opera singing coming from inside.
"There are a lot of people here, let's go in and take a look."
The ghosts in the teahouse were dressed like ordinary people, and the people on the stage wore masks similar to theirs. The two men found an empty seat and were about to sit down when a face suddenly appeared before them.
Qiuyan was startled and immediately reached out to grab Qu Lingfei's sleeve. He patted the back of her hand gently, looking at the man with a smile. Before he could say anything, the man suddenly made way for him, leaning over and extending his hand. "Please come this way, both of you."
Were they discovered? The two men stood there in a daze, but seeing that the people around them did not show any hostility towards them, they felt a little relieved and followed the man up the stairs with suspicion.
"Your place is here."
The man pushed open the door of a secret room, smiling broadly, and said respectfully, "Please wait for a moment, someone will be here to entertain you shortly."
"Wait a minute..." Qu Lingfei spoke quickly, but the other party seemed not to hear him and walked out with a wave of his hand.
“…”
"He just said someone would come to entertain us," Qiu Yan sat down on a chair nearby. After running around for most of the day, she still hadn't rested properly. She casually pushed another chair behind Qu Lingfei. "What does that mean? What's he going to treat us to?"
Qu Lingfei shook his head: "It's getting dark soon. Let's just observe and see what they plan to do."
There was no other way at the moment, so Qiuyan held her chin with one hand and watched the performance on the stage downstairs boredly.
"Can these two people sing opera?" She was so amused that she couldn't help but stand up and imitate their steps. "They are walking like this, almost falling down, and they are not afraid of making a fool of themselves."
"Junior sister, don't make fun of others casually." He stared at the stage, and actually found it funny too.
The play on the stage was originally about a criminal being imprisoned and about to be executed, but the official's steps were unsteady, as if he was not familiar with the stage. The people in the audience were talking about it and could not tell who was playing the prisoner.
As they were talking, the 'official' tripped over his robe and stumbled forward a few steps, almost falling, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
"No..." Qu Lingfei stood up quickly, staring at the person on the stage.
When the man fell just now, his robe was accidentally lifted up, vaguely revealing the hilt of the sword at his waist.
"That's Nangong Xiu..."
Nangong Xiu's steps were already unsteady. Asking him to improvise on stage, someone who had barely seen a play, was truly a stretch. Seeing the man before him, smirking beneath his mask and covering his mouth, he was instantly enraged. He raised his foot and kicked him, coldly saying, "A dying man can laugh?"
"Good, good!" There was a burst of applause from the audience.
"That fall just now was intentional, wasn't it? I always say that a master is too skilled to make such a small mistake."
"That's right, now that I think about it, the Master was just trying to add to the comedic effect, right?"
“…”
Tian Heng fell forward in perfect harmony, supporting himself with his hands and collapsing on the stage. This time the cheers were even louder than before.
The curtain slowly drew up, and a man strode in, standing in the middle of the stage. He smiled and said, "Everyone, please be patient. Two masters are already waiting backstage. In a few moments, you will be able to have a glimpse of the performance."
There was another round of applause and cheers from the audience.
"Brother, what should we do now?" Qiu Yan looked down at the small room and the play that had just ended, frowning. "We've found the person, but they want us to go on stage and perform. Do you think you can do it?"
Qu Lingfei seemed much calmer. After all, he had found the person, and he felt more confident. "Even if I can't sing, can I still run away?"
Two figures appeared silently in front of the teahouse. The girl looked down and found that the spiritual rope on her wrist had disappeared.
"What are we doing here?" Li Jintang asked blankly.
Xie Changyan stepped inside, casually pulled out a chair next to him, and looked at the person standing at the door in shock. "Come and watch the show."
【Author’s words】
The next chapter will be updated tomorrow night at 7 o'clock [cat head]
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