42 Ghost Market (Part 7)
◎I actually saw a flash of murderous intent in his eyes◎
As if he had not expected her to give such an answer, Xie Changyan was slightly startled, and his eyes quickly looked away as if they were burned.
"Thank you, Brother." Qu Lingfei and the other two had also arrived. He immediately saw the pool of blood on the ground and frowned, asking, "What is this?"
"Puppets," Xie Changyan's gaze shifted to Alan. The girl seemed quite timid towards him, and when he looked at her, she instinctively hid behind Li Jintang. He averted his gaze and spoke slowly, "I've heard that the demon world is skilled in puppetry. They're the perfect fit."
Puppet? Li Jintang thought about it and thought he had heard his father mention it before, but he didn't expect that such a spell would appear in the storybook.
Qu Lingfei and Qiu Yan's faces changed drastically when they heard this. You know, puppetry is a forbidden technique of the immortal sect. If someone really masters this technique, I'm afraid the three realms will suffer.
Suddenly, a man came running over from not far away. To be more precise, it was a ghost possessed by a ghost. His legs were bleeding and his face was covered with black marks. Although he could not feel the pain, his legs were chopped like this and he could no longer walk normally.
This appearance is almost identical to the ghost that just turned into a puppet...
Qu Lingfei rushed forward and tapped into his acupoint. He was shocked when he looked at him - the other party was deeply poisoned. In order to prevent him from becoming a puppet controlled by others, he was afraid that he could only kill him like he did just now.
"I know I'm hopeless. Once I've finished speaking, you'll kill me as soon as possible." Black Scar quickly crawled up his arm and over his entire body. His eyes were bloodshot, and he clung to Qu Lingfei's shoulders with both hands, mumbling a few words through his teeth: "They're over there... Please, save them..."
Before he could finish his last words, his voice became smaller and smaller. Qu Lingfei took half a step forward, and suddenly the force on his shoulder loosened, and the other party fell straight to the ground.
Qiuyan stepped forward and used her sword to pry open his body. "Brother, he didn't hurt you, did he?"
Qu Lingfei stared at the figure on the ground for a long time. Suddenly, he leaned over. Just as his fingers touched the cold blood, he heard a sneer behind him: "Fellow Daoist Qu, do you want to bury them first, or save the ghosts that haven't been transformed into puppets yet?"
He paused, a look of sudden enlightenment on his face, "I was confused about the importance of this matter. Thanks to Brother Xie for reminding me."
"The market is over there," Alan said, extending his hand slightly to the left and forward, "I'll lead the way."
"Miss Alan," Qiuyan blurted out as they followed her all the way, watching the time slip away. "By the time we get there, I'm afraid only the puppets will be left."
"If you want to say that I walk slowly, just say it directly." Alan stopped. Qiuyan wanted to be polite, but she didn't expect the other party to point it out like this. She couldn't help feeling embarrassed.
"Miss Alan, my junior sister didn't mean that..." Qu Lingfei was about to explain for her, but he saw Alan's fingers groping around her waist. After a while, she suddenly threw out a talisman paper. In an instant, smoke rose up. When they could see the surrounding scene clearly, they were already in the ghost market.
Qiuyan was dumbfounded and asked in confusion, "Why didn't you use this earlier?"
"You reminded me," Alan turned his dark eyes towards her, "that's why I said, if you have something to say, just say it directly. I don't understand if you're beating around the bush."
“…”
But the ghost market was deserted, all kinds of stalls were overturned on the ground, evil spirits seeped out from every corner, and the teahouse from yesterday was also closed.
Strange, there is a smell of blood in it?
As the crowd passed by the gate and were about to go around to other places to look for someone, Li Jintang suddenly stopped and glanced towards the gate. Several figures flashed by faintly.
She took a step forward and stretched out her hand to pry the door open: "There's someone inside."
A sword blade appeared at his side. Xie Changyan turned his wrist and the sword blade swept to the sides, sending wood chips flying. The door opened from the inside as if a switch had been touched.
A strong smell of blood instantly hit their noses, and a piece of white cloth floated down from the attic and spread flat on the ground. Several people looked at each other, put their hands on the hilts of their swords, and became more alert. For a while, no one went forward to check without permission, for fear that they had fallen into some evil trap.
For a long time, no one was seen in the teahouse.
Qu Lingfei relaxed his grip on the hilt of his sword slightly and glanced around suspiciously: "I clearly saw a figure just now, so how come there's no one here after I came in?"
Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden sound of breaking wood, followed by a figure sliding down rapidly, falling heavily on the white cloth from top to bottom. Blood immediately flowed along the cracks in the floor, dyeing the white cloth crimson.
His head was tilted to the side, his eyes were bloodshot, exposed to everyone through the white cloth.
"He..." Qu Lingfei's pupils trembled, and the veins on the hand holding the hilt of the sword bulged. "Hurry up and find the remaining people, it will be too late!"
"It's too late," Xie Changyan said in a neutral tone, which made his body tremble slightly. "Fellow Daoist Qu, why don't you think about how to save yourself first?"
Before Qu Lingfei could figure out what was going on, several figures suddenly emerged from the pitch-black attic. Alarm bells rang in his heart, and he unsheathed his sword and shouted, "Everyone, be careful!"
"There's no need to panic," Xie Changyan said, his hands behind his back, not even preparing to draw his sword. He raised his chin forward and said, "They'll handle it themselves. All we have to do is wait and reap the benefits."
Before anyone could figure out what this meant, a figure suddenly flew by and crashed into a window pane. When the figure fumbled to his feet, the wall beneath the window pane had collapsed.
"Do you think you can master puppetry?" A black robe fluttered down, his face covered with black cloth, revealing only his lips and two eyeballs. He stretched out his hand toward the man he had just repelled, his tone threatening: "Hand him over, and I can spare your life."
The man clutched his chest and slowly stood up. Only then did everyone see that he still had a long tail on his back. He grinned, revealing bloody teeth: "If you kill me, you'll never find them again!"
Qu Lingfei's brows furrowed at the sight before him. Puzzled, he turned his gaze towards Xie Changyan. "Brother Xie, you just said they would handle this on their own. What did you mean by that?"
"Isn't that clear enough?" Xie Changyan narrowed his eyes in a slight impatience, then smiled casually. "Everyone thought the ghost world was completely wiped out years ago, but unexpectedly, there are still some that have slipped through the net today. Who would be willing to let go of such a useful weapon?"
After receiving the answer, Qu Lingfei's frown deepened. "So, they're all trying to... refine puppets. That's absolutely unacceptable. We must stop this from happening."
He was about to thrust forward when someone suddenly held his wrist. Qiu Yan smiled at him, a hint of bitterness in her eyes. "Brother, wait until they decide the winner. The other side will surely be tired. Wouldn't it be better to strike then?"
Why is her senior brother so stubborn?
"Junior sister, that's right." Qu Lingfei's brows were still furrowed, his hand still on the hilt of his sword. "I'm just worried that if this person really kills the long-tailed demon with one sword, I'm afraid the remaining ghosts will be difficult to find."
"The ghost market is so small, how could we not find it?" Qiu Yan curled her lips and said disdainfully, "It just takes a little longer."
Qu Lingfei loosened his grip on the hilt of the sword slightly.
While the two were talking, a beam of strong light suddenly flashed past the corner of the long-tailed demon's eyes. He had no strength to defend himself and could only stare with wide eyes, watching the sharp sword flying towards his chest.
The only thing echoing in Li Jintang's mind was "If you kill me, you'll never find them again." Seeing that the long-tailed demon was about to die under the sword, she became anxious and instinctively took out the dagger from her waist and threw it out.
Unexpectedly, the next moment, the dagger was firmly grasped in someone's hand.
She stared blankly at the man who blocked the knife. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but she saw a flash of murderous intent in his eyes.
Maybe it was really an illusion, because the boy curled his lips the next moment, with a smile in the corners of his eyes, and the hostility just now disappeared in an instant.
Li Jintang came to his senses after being hit on the shoulder, but saw Nangong Xiu had jumped out with a sword in hand, directly deflecting the sword of the man in black robe, and stabbed out with a backhanded sword. While the man was still not able to react, he stabbed out several times in succession, making it impossible for the man to defend himself.
When the last sword was thrust out, the man in black robe was unable to defend himself, but Nangong Xiu changed the direction, raised the sword blade, avoided the opponent's vital point, and directly picked up the black cloth to the ground.
"Tian Heng?!" Qu Lingfei and Qiu Yan were shocked and couldn't help but exclaim.
Nangong Xiu, however, looked as if he had expected this and snorted coldly, "I knew it was you!"
Unexpectedly, the situation would take such a turn. Li Jintang was stunned for a moment, and the fortune book that had been lying on her shoulder was accidentally dropped to the ground by her.
She bent down to pick it up, and when she looked up she was met with a pair of smiling eyes.
"Miss Li, remember to keep a close eye on the knife next time and don't let it come out of its sheath."
The long-tailed demon got a chance to catch its breath, and quietly pressed its palm on the window pane, about to jump out of it. However, as soon as its body was in the air, it was immediately pulled back by a strong force.
He fell to the ground in a panic, with the tip of the sword against his neck. If he moved even a little, he would die instantly.
Qu Lingfei quickly pointed at his acupoint, then sheathed his sword and said sternly, "Tell me, where did you imprison the other ghosts?"
The long-tailed demon gave him a sly grin, sizing him up cunningly. "Brother, I saw you as a hypocritical person, but I never thought you could practice such evil magic? Haha, I'm sure you'll be disappointed."
What do you mean by disappointing him? Qu Lingfei frowned, and with his fingertips, which were condensed with spiritual power, he thrust them towards his throat, "Speak clearly!"
The long-tailed demon spat out a mouthful of blood, and when he laughed, his facial features twisted into a knot. "This bunch of useless things, only a few of them still have decent ghost energy, so I'll keep them to refine puppets. The rest, hmph, will all be killed!"
Qu Lingfei's fingers trembled violently, and a strong sense of sadness surged in his heart. He suppressed the urge to kill the monster in front of him immediately, and said in a trembling voice: "You...you killed them?"
Unless someone has taken the Soul-Protecting Grass, their soul will be preserved after death. For ordinary people like them, death is death, and their soul will be scattered and their consciousness will be gone. But how many Soul-Protecting Grasses are there in the world?
This thing was wiped out along with the ghost world several years ago. Now that the ghost market has suffered another disaster, it is likely that the existence of "ghosts" will completely disappear from the world.
What's more, even if they are ghosts, they are extremely innocent. If he is implicated by them today and ends up being killed without a complete body, then Qu Lingfei will be guilty of an unforgivable crime.
"Little brother, look at yourself, what's with that expression?" The long-tailed demon noticed something was wrong, and thought that killing those ghosts had affected his interests. He was afraid that the other party would really kill him, so he hurriedly said, "They are really just little ghosts with very low cultivation. It doesn't matter if they die. As long as you can unlock my Xue Dao, I will take you to find them." Little did he know that these few words made the other party's expression even more gloomy.
Qiu Yan, who was still helping to interrogate Tian Heng, rushed over upon seeing this. She grasped Qu Lingfei's arm, pushing him back two steps, and whispered to him, "Don't be angry, Senior Brother. This guy is cunning and treacherous. Maybe he just said that to deliberately provoke you. Don't fall for his tricks."
"You're right. I was impulsive," Qu Lingfei said, his voice softening. He then slowly pushed her away and looked at the monster calmly. "I'll untie your acupoints, and you'll take me to find someone?"
"Not a human, but a ghost!" the long-tailed demon chuckled. From those two words, he had already guessed that this man had no intention of practicing puppetry at all, but was simply filled with kindness and grief for these unjustly deceased ghosts. He couldn't move, but his eyes rolled around. "How about this? Let me go first, and I'll think about whether I should take you with me."
"How could there be someone as shameless as you?!" Qiu Yan was shocked and bluntly warned him, "Look carefully, we're considering whether to release you right now. Stop daydreaming."
"I'm not a human, I'm a demon." The long-tailed demon drew out his words, using the same joking tone as before.
"you……"
Suddenly, a white figure swayed over, followed by an ambiguous sneer: "My two fellow Daoists, are the people from your sect so gentle even when interrogating people?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the young man in white had already flashed in front of the monster, stretched out his hand and pressed on his shoulder lightly.
The long-tailed demon looked up provocatively at the person who was approaching him. Suddenly, his face changed drastically, and the blood color instantly drained away. He opened his mouth and shouted, "Stop, stop, stop! Do you want to hurt me to death?!"
He glared at Xie Changyan: "What did you do to me?!"
"Nothing," the young man withdrew his hand, smiling innocently, "It's just that your untreated wound is flaring up. What can I do?"
There was no wound on his shoulder at all! This guy must have done something. The long-tailed demon's face was still furious, but he didn't dare to lash out. He just snorted twice and said, "Unlock my skills, but I can't guarantee that you will remember their location."
"That's not good," Xie Changyan said, his lips curled up, but his eyes were devoid of a smile. He bent his fingers slightly and smiled, "Do you still remember it now?"
As if there were thousands of teeth gnawing at him, the long-tailed demon's face immediately turned pale, and his face was full of fear: "You...you..."
Finally, with no other options left, he spoke tremblingly, his voice extremely weak: "I remember now. I... will never run away. Please..."
The spark of light on Xie Changyan's fingertips faded, and he smiled faintly, "Fellow Daoist Qu, please untie his Xue Dao."
Qu Lingfei did not doubt it too much, thinking that the monster had a change of heart. He stepped forward and freed him with two moves, but then a sword suddenly pointed at him.
"If you dare to play tricks, I will kill you immediately!"
The long-tailed demon smiled bitterly and said, "Lady, do you think I still have the energy to play tricks?"
Qu Lingfei looked down at his empty scabbard and smiled helplessly and submissively: "Junior sister, this time when I go back, I must ask Master to give you a good sword."
"Of course," Qiuyan casually put the sword back into his scabbard, as if using her senior brother's sword was the most natural thing. Thinking of the ghosts who died in vain, she felt a surge of hatred for the guy in front of her. She flew over and kicked him, causing him to stumble. "Hurry up and leave!"
The long-tailed demon crawled and rolled to his feet, walking forward without looking to the side - as if the pain sweeping through his body would come back immediately if he looked at the young man in white one more time.
"What are you standing there for?" Nangong Xiu had found a rope from somewhere and had already tied Tian Heng's hands tightly. He pushed him mercilessly from behind and said, "Hurry and follow me!"
Huh? Are these the only two people who broke in? Li Jintang followed behind, secretly feeling strange. Before she could figure out why, someone asked for her.
Qu Lingfei's suspicious gaze wandered between the two of them: "Are you the only ones here today?"
"Of course there aren't just them," Xie Changyan cast an ambiguous glance at the bound man, causing the man's languid smile to falter. He looked away as if nothing had happened and said casually, "The rest are all dead, right? Your masterpiece."
"Killing them would be fine, but you didn't even spare our own people!" Nangong Xiu was furious. He drew his sword and was about to stab him, but his arm suddenly felt numb. The sword was only halfway out of the sheath and then fell back into the sheath.
Nangong Xiu glared at the person beside him: "Why are you stopping me? I'm clearing out the demon world, what does it have to do with you?!"
"What's the point of killing him? Will the monsters that died at his hands come back to life?" Xie Changyan sneered, glancing at him from the side. "Those monsters that chased us here are nothing good. Their death wouldn't be a pity."
"Alright, alright, let's find the other ghosts first." Qu Lingfei didn't know why the two men had suddenly become so hostile, so he quickly stepped in between them to mediate: "Brother Xie, Brother Nangong, please don't let them sow discord between you."
"I'm just trying to persuade Fellow Daoist Nangong not to kill innocent people," Xie Changyan spread his hands. The others couldn't figure out how the word "innocent" was related to Tian Heng. "If Fellow Daoist Nangong really wants to kill them, then go ahead."
Nangong Xiu's expression changed, and after a few seconds, he retracted his sword.
Although Tian Heng has nothing to do with "innocence", but after Xie Changyan said so, if he still took action, wouldn't it be obvious that he was "killing innocent people indiscriminately"?
The sky was covered with dense clouds, and it looked like a rainstorm was about to happen. As they walked along, they saw several corpses lying on the street. They were all monsters from the demon world, and it seemed that they were the work of Tian Heng and the long-tailed demon.
"Are you kidding us?" Qiuyan was growing impatient, thinking this guy was deliberately taking them on a detour. She threatened, "I'll give you another half hour. If you still can't get there, I'll kill you right away."
"Lady, calm down. It's just ahead." The long-tailed demon pointed his finger forward. Everyone looked in the direction and saw nothing in front of them except a lake quietly standing in the middle.
"Where?"
"They're at the bottom of the lake," the long-tailed demon said with a grin. "If we go down from here, we'll see them in less than a quarter of an hour."
The monster really didn't kill those ghosts. Qu Lingfei secretly felt lucky that he listened to his junior sister. Otherwise, if he had killed him in a moment of impulse, he would never have been able to find them.
Xie Changyan's expression changed slightly, and a look of embarrassment appeared on his face. "I'm not a good swimmer, so why don't I stay on the shore and watch him while you go down and rescue him?"
"Alright," Qu Lingfei nodded and looked at Tian Heng. "Who knows what tricks he might play. Brother Nangong, just leave him in the care of Brother Xie."
Nangong Xiu seemed worried and tied another rope around his hand. As he passed by Xie Changyan, he gritted his teeth and said, "Don't let me see him run away when we get out!"
The long-tailed demon drew a symbol in the air with his finger, and then a glowing hole appeared. The three people followed it, and the hole immediately closed.
"Where's Atang?" As soon as the cave entrance closed, Qiuyan immediately noticed someone was missing and asked anxiously, "Why didn't she come with us?"
"There's no danger around here," Qu Lingfei lowered his voice. "Maybe it would be safer if she didn't come with us."
Come to think of it, who knows if this long-tailed demon has any tricks up his sleeve? Her cultivation level is not high, so she might not be able to protect herself.
A gust of wind blew across the lake, and the water flooded the shore. The young man stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the water surface where the last ripple had subsided, then turned and walked towards the person who was half leaning against the tree.
"You got caught again?" He looked down at him, his eyes filled with mockery and disdain. "I brought you out, and this is how you do it?"
"It was so close. Who could have thought they would turn back?" Tian Heng struggled to sit up straight and said with a wry smile, "You shouldn't have let me lead them here in the first place."
"Is it still mine?"
"How dare I?" Tian Heng said hurriedly, "You said you would give me the antidote, you can't go back on your word, right?"
Xie Changyan raised his eyebrows slightly and said with a smile, "Are you so anxious to get something before the task is even completed?"
That day in the forest, he forced Tian Heng to take a pill that could indeed devour people's hearts and lungs. The last sentence was just to scare her.
Tian Heng's expression changed, but he didn't dare to offend him, so he asked, "Why do you want me to do this?"
"Because you're not only stupid, but also loyal in vain." Xie Changyan sneered, his eyes suddenly looking behind him, "Who is it?"
There was a rustling sound behind the bushes. Two hands parted the grass on both sides. Li Jintang, holding the destiny book in his arms, stared at the two people in shock. "Xie An, why... are you here?"
【Author’s words】
Xiao Xie (in a fierce ideological struggle): Did she hear it? Should I silence her? I'm so annoyed, but I can't bear to do it (bushi)
Tang Bao: What are you mumbling? I don't understand.
I'm adding more chapters as the finals approach. No one praises me [cat head]
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