39 Ghost Market (Part 4)
◎He had a sudden thought and leaned forward as if possessed by some mysterious force◎
The branches were piled together, a small flame ignited from the bottom. The night had already grown slightly cooler. The girl sat beside the fire, her hands folded, her eyes reflecting the rising flames.
The night wind made her feel sleepy. She leaned against the tree trunk with a listless look, tilted her head to look at Xie Changyan, opened her mouth hesitantly, but still said nothing.
Noticing her gaze, he asked without looking up, "What do you want to say?"
Seeing him asking, she mustered her courage, stared at him, and said with a hint of pleading in her tone: "I'm so sleepy, can you come over and check the fire and keep an eye on the wind?"
Xie Changyan's eyebrows raised slightly, as if he had heard something extraordinary. After a moment, he rested his head on his hand and gently closed his eyes. As she had expected, he declined the request: "I never do such trivial things."
She remained silent, leaning against the tree trunk, forcing herself to watch the blazing fire. But the cool breeze continued to blow, only bringing her waves of sleepiness.
There was silence for a long time. The young man opened his eyes slightly and turned to look to the side. He saw the girl with her hands hanging quietly on her knees and her eyes gently closed. If he got closer, he seemed to be able to hear her steady heartbeat.
A leaf fell from the treetop, the tip of the leaf turned yellow, and it landed lightly on her light yellow shirt, as if breaking the tranquility.
He suddenly thought of something and leaned forward. She was completely oblivious, her breathing shallow, her head tilted slightly, her peaceful sleeping face exposed to his eyes.
Xie Changyan turned his face away stiffly, hesitated for a moment, reached out his hand to touch her soft hair, and straightened her body very gently. He was afraid of waking her up, so his hands were uncoordinated like a robot.
The girl's hair seemed to have the fragrance of sweet osmanthus, and the wind blowing through the treetops made her body tremble.
He was stunned for a moment, and when he came to his senses, he found his dry outer robe in his hands.
It was that strange feeling again... Ever since the aphrodisiac flower illusion, this strange feeling seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he could faintly hear something struggling inside.
"What a hassle." The young man muttered to himself, but he had already unfolded his outer robe and draped it in front of her very carefully.
As if sensing this warmth, Li Jintang's eyelashes trembled, and her two dark eyes stared at him. She twisted the outer robe covering her body with her fingers, "This is yours..."
Before she could finish, he flicked his sleeve and pulled the robe from her fingers, twisted it around and put it back on his shoulders. He looked away a little unnaturally, "I was hot just now, and I have no place to put my clothes."
The girl who had just woken up was still a little confused. She stared at his profile blankly, not understanding why he had such a big reaction.
"Brother Qu and the others haven't come back yet?" Li Jintang tried to change the subject. She had fallen asleep without realizing it and she really didn't know how much time had passed.
Without waiting for his answer, she stood up, walked slowly to the fire, and said worriedly, "Why is the fire getting smaller and smaller? I'll go get some more branches."
"Don't you think you've caused enough trouble?" A cold voice came from behind him. The young man stretched out his palm and snapped his fingers. The fire was magically rekindled, and the hot flames made her cheeks red.
He pretended to glance at her casually, but he was paying attention to her steps just now. "Can you walk now?"
"Ah?" Li Jintang didn't react for a moment, then suddenly realized he was referring to the scratch he had just received. He said "Oh" twice and said, "I've taken care of it."
Yes, she is a medical practitioner, does she need him to worry about this?
"Atang, thank you, fellow Daoist..."
There were footsteps not far away, followed by two calls. Li Jintang's heart gradually relaxed, and he immediately turned around to greet them, "You're back."
"Have you been waiting for a long time?" Qiu Yan walked towards her with her hands behind her back and a smile on her face. "Guess what I brought back?"
Li Jintang looked her up and down, pursed his lips and smiled: "Sister Qiuyan is the best, I can't guess - but what about Brother Qu and Fellow Daoist Nangong?"
"You're so sweet-talking," Qiu Yan said happily. She reached out and touched her cheek, then turned around and tiptoed back, waving, "You're so slow! The fire's almost out, don't you know?"
"It won't go out," Li Jintang almost blurted out, "Xie An just waved his hand and it caught fire. It's amazing."
Xie Changyan's eyelids twitched, and he raised his eyes and looked at her quietly.
She had her back to him when she said this, and although it was clearly a compliment, she didn't even turn around to look at him.
"Here I come," Nangong Xiu said, holding a pheasant that was still flapping its wings in one hand, feathers almost flying into his face. He frowned and had to free his other hand to hold it down. "I say, what did you two get?"
"Didn't my senior brother carry a bag of fruit?" Qiuyan said confidently. "As for me, if I hadn't done something, could you two have caught it?"
"Yes, yes," Qu Lingfei smiled obediently, "I can eat meat tonight, all thanks to my junior sister."
Nangong Xiu rolled his eyes at him, his eyelids almost rolling up to the sky. "You guys in the Immortal Realm are really united, singing in unison."
Qu Lingfei didn't say much to him. He took out the wild fruits and divided them one by one. "Thank you, brother, take some!"
The fruit flipped several times in the air and finally landed steadily in the boy's hands.
Xie Changyan just glanced at it - there was some dirt on it, and then held it in his hand, neither throwing it away nor taking a bite.
Nangong Xiu squatted far away, cursing as he finished processing the pheasant, saying, "If you don't finish this today, I won't let you off."
"Brother Nangong, thank you for your hard work," Qu Lingfei smiled at him, then turned serious again. "Yesterday we fell into the swamp and somehow woke up here. Does anyone know where this place is?"
The wind blew the smoke everywhere, and the fumes grew heavier. Xie Changyan frowned and stepped aside, unwilling to speak further. He simply said, "Ghost Market."
"Thank you, great minds think alike," Qu Lingfei nodded thoughtfully, but then his eyebrows knitted together with a hint of worry. "I just lost consciousness when I came in, and now I don't know how to get out."
"If you can get in, there must be a way out," Qiuyan said, hugging her knees and taking over. Her senior brother was always like this, frowning with a look of deep resentment whenever he encountered something. "What are you worried about? As long as you're still alive, there'll always be a way."
I don't know if Qu Lingfei took these words to heart. He opened his eyes, looked up at the sky, and sighed, "I wonder how long it will take until dawn. These... ghosts love to haunt at night. I won't be able to sleep well tonight."
"Fellow Daoist Qu, what you said is unnecessary." Xie Changyan leaned against the tree trunk with his arms folded, the firelight flickering on his face. He smiled and said, "When have we ever had a good night's sleep?"
Qu Lingfei was choked by his words and awkwardly changed the subject: "The fruit is good. I should have picked more."
"Brother, you said you couldn't take it anymore," Qiu Yan curled her lips and said, "Besides, this is enough. Do we need to take something from here as a souvenir?"
Several people laughed at this, and Qu Lingfei's face lost its anger. He smiled and said, "There's no need for a commemoration. I don't want to come to this place again."
Everyone was chatting happily and didn't notice a few dark shadows flashing through the gaps in the woods.
The fat from the roasted pheasant dripped into the fire, making a sizzling sound, and the aroma permeated the night.
"Atang, try it first." Qiuyan reached out to pull it, and the hot steam coming out was held in her hand.
Li Jintang was startled and was about to say "be careful, it's hot" when the other party handed the hot piece to her. She hesitated for a moment and was about to take it when her eyes suddenly shifted downwards and a strange bluish-white spot caught her eye.
She paused for a moment, and suddenly began to feel uneasy: "No, no, I'm not hungry..."
"It's been a whole day, how can you not be hungry?" Qiuyan took her hand again and said with a smile: "Why are you embarrassed to be with me, Atang? You're welcome..."
Before she could finish, Li Jintang felt a sudden heat on her fingertips, and in an instant, their hands separated. Xie Changyan, with a cold expression, pulled her up and casually pulled her behind him. With a flash of sword light, the fire on the ground suddenly went out.
Li Jintang was stunned for a moment, until the firelight came back on, she came to her senses.
There were only her and Xie An around.
She glanced over and stammered, "Xie, Xie An, what's wrong?"
He didn't answer, but sheathed his sword with his backhand. He glanced coldly at the rustling bushes beside him and said, "If you know what's good for you, come out now. I can still leave your body intact."
Sure enough, the bushes crackled for a while. Li Jintang opened his eyes wide and his fingers unconsciously clenched the corner of Xie Changyan's clothes, until his knuckles turned white.
A pale, bare foot stepped out from the bushes.
Then came an even paler hand, which extremely slowly parted the tall grass on both sides.
The flames on the ground were swaying in the wind. Li Jintang pursed her lips and involuntarily increased the strength of her hands, causing deep wrinkles on the thin fabric.
A woman's face appeared without warning. She was pale all over, and the white clothes on her seemed to look a little dull. The only color was her lips that were opening and closing.
Is this... an encounter with a wandering ghost?
She took a step forward, and a sinister murderous intent grew gradually, gradually enveloping her. The young man remained calm, having estimated the other party's cultivation to be extremely low. He wouldn't even need to draw his sword to scare her to pieces.
The corner of his clothes suddenly tightened. His attention was all focused on the front, and he completely relaxed his vigilance towards the person behind him. He was caught off guard and was pulled back.
"Let go," Xie Changyan's expression changed, but the coldness in his eyes suddenly disappeared. He grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from the corner of his clothes, as if to comfort her. "It's just a little kid, why are you so nervous?"
"Oh, sorry," Li Jintang realized she had lost her composure and quickly released his hand, patting it gently to smooth out the wrinkles. Suddenly, she lowered her voice and asked timidly, "Xie An, are you going to kill her?"
He didn't answer immediately. The longsword at his waist had already been unsheathed, its tip gleaming with cold air, pointed directly at the white-clad female ghost. Xie Changyan glanced sideways, meeting her clear yet startled eyes. He smiled and said, "She just created an illusion to kill us. Miss Li, are you going to be kind to a demon?"
"Can you wait a moment?" Li Jintang's gaze passed over him and stopped at the female ghost in white. "She seems... to have something to say."
Xie Changyan didn't sheathe his sword, and it looked like he had no intention of attacking him for the time being. Li Jintang stepped forward and, mustering up the courage to ask, "What's your purpose in following him here?"
The female ghost in white opened her mouth, and her bright red lips on her face looked like a switch ready to go off at any moment. The voice she spoke was ethereal yet rapid, like a cloud of mist floating around.
"I, I've led them away, you guys run..."
"They're coming after us, run!"
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