45 Ghost Market (10)
◎How long will you hold me?◎
“Tick, tick…”
Water droplets dripping from the rock face gathered together, forming a series of pits and craters on the ground. A crack appeared at the bottom, and strange streaks climbed up the rock face.
The cave was damp and cold, and the soles of his shoes made a clattering sound as they stepped on the puddles. Feeling the book of destiny twisting restlessly in his arms, Li Jintang lowered his eyes and asked, "What's wrong?"
"This place is filled with a very dark and gloomy aura," the fortune teller said, his voice trembling. "It's making me feel very uncomfortable. If I don't get out now, I'm going to die."
Li Jintang brushed his fingers soothingly over him, infusing him with some spiritual energy. "Is this better? Just bear with it a little longer, you'll be out soon."
Perhaps it was her spiritual power that took effect, and the Book of Fate soon stopped being restless.
The space in the cave seemed to be getting wider, but the light was getting dimmer. Qiu Yan casually lit a lighting talisman, and a bean-sized flame illuminated the surroundings.
"Sister Qiuyan, don't move!"
Li Jintang stared at the red flower that was twisting rapidly behind his robe, and without thinking twice he drew his sword and knocked it to the ground.
The centipede, as thick as a human finger, twisted a few times in the puddle, then tied itself into a knot and remained motionless.
Qiuyan cried out, her heartbeat quickening. Suddenly, a hand grasped her waist, and Qu Lingfei's worried voice reached her ears: "Junior sister, are you hurt?"
She shook her head in shock, and the talisman paper in her hand swung around. Wherever the fire passed, it was illuminated clearly, and it appeared in the eyes of several people.
The stripes that had just appeared on the cave wall had changed color at some point. When I looked closely, I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat on my back - those were not stripes at all, they were clearly centipedes crawling all over the wall!
"Isn't it just a bunch of bugs? I'm going to chop them in two..."
Nangong Zheng was about to draw his sword when someone suddenly pressed down on the back of his hand, and a cold sweat broke out. Qu Lingfei shook his head at him and said, "There are too many of them, and this place is so cramped. I'm afraid I won't be able to use my sword."
As soon as he finished speaking, a spark flashed in his peripheral vision, and the centipedes on the cave wall twisted a few times, and then were knocked down by the spark.
"Thank you, brother!" Qu Lingfei's eyes lit up as if he had met a savior.
Xie Changyan's hands moved casually, but his expression was extremely solemn. "You two should leave first."
Several people looked at each other, seemed to hesitate for only a few seconds, and then ran towards the cave entrance. Only a little white was left in the scarlet sky.
Now that those troublesome guys are gone, isn't it easy to deal with a bunch of poisonous insects? The young man curled his five fingers hanging by his side slightly, and in an instant, a huge hole was immediately punched in the cave wall, and the centipede lying on it was broken into two pieces.
There were patches of golden light reflected in his calm eyes - this place was going to collapse soon, and those people had better leave quickly, otherwise if they were crushed underneath, they couldn't blame him.
"Thank you, brother. I'm here to help you!"
Suddenly, hurried footsteps were heard behind him. Xie Changyan paused slightly, and before he turned around to look, the figure had already flashed beside him.
"Why are you back again?"
"How can I let you guard it alone?" Qu Lingfei replied as a matter of course, "The three of them have gone ahead to explore the way, and they are probably out of the cave now. Brother Xie, I think this place is about to collapse. Let's not fight any longer and get out first."
The fire in the cave grew more and more intense. Although it did burn most of the centipedes to death, a few flames jumped onto the robes.
The two men ran along the road to the cave entrance, with flames spurting out from behind them, closely following the tails of their clothes.
"Thank you, brother, for your help!"
Hearing the shouts behind him, Xie Changyan turned around to look at the hand extended towards him and the other person's sweaty face. He paused for a moment, then reached out and pulled him out.
The moment Qu Lingfei's body escaped from the cave, the wall was engulfed in flames. He sat on the ground, gasping for breath, with a smile on his face after escaping death.
Xie Changyan looked at the collapsed cave calmly, his eyes fixed on it. "If you hadn't come back, this wouldn't have to happen."
"What are you talking about, Brother Xie?" Qu Lingfei smoothly placed his arm on his shoulder and said with a smile, "I, Qu Lingfei, never have the habit of abandoning my friends."
friend?
Xie Changyan glanced at the hand on his shoulder, frowned slightly, but in the end he didn't answer or shake it off.
"Can you guys go a little slower?"
A deep voice came from behind. Although it was accusing, there was no hint of blame in it. Nangong Xiu folded his hands and frowned, staring at them from a distance. "They're walking faster than two grown men like you."
"Brother Nangong, don't blame me." Qu Lingfei jumped up with a chuckle, put his arm around his shoulder, and turned around to say, "Brother Xie, hurry up! This guy is going to laugh at us."
"What are you whining about?" Qiuyan walked back with her hands on her hips, her brows slightly furrowed, as if she was unhappy. "There's a big waterfall ahead, blocking the way. Think of a way quickly."
The three of them looked intently and saw a waterfall dozens of meters high hanging on a cliff. On the surface, the water flow seemed to be quite gentle.
They were now on a cliff, and the only way to leave was probably to cross the waterfall.
Qu Lingfei frowned, unconcerned. "It's just a waterfall. If the water isn't poisonous, just walk right through it."
"The water's fine," Li Jintang walked over on the slippery stones, pointing in the direction of the waterfall with an embarrassed look on his face. "I, I can't get through..."
Qiuyan stood beside her and squeezed her palm to comfort her. "My sword is gone too."
"Then, junior sister, come with me, Atang, you..." Qu Lingfei's eyes lingered between the two of them, and finally fell on Li Jintang, indicating that she should make her own choice.
Li Jintang paused, her eyes immediately shifting away as soon as they caught sight of the young man's sullen face. She hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a low voice, "Otherwise, I'll go with Fellow Daoist Nangong..."
Before he could finish his words, the young man in white suddenly took a step forward calmly, and then a neutral voice came: "She followed me."
Her voice was too soft just now, so Qu Lingfei and the other two didn't hear clearly. He nodded and said, "In that case, thank you for your hard work, brother."
Nangong Xiu roughly lifted Tian Heng with one hand, then followed the other two into the waterfall. Li Jintang remained where she was, observing the person beside her from the corner of her eye. Seeing that he didn't move, she swallowed and cautiously moved over. Her gaze shifted to the scabbard at his waist, and she tentatively asked, "Can I hold it?"
The young man glanced at her sideways, but didn't answer. After a moment of silence, Li Jintang felt lost. Just as she was about to try to break in with her eyes downcast, she felt a sudden tightening around her waist. Before she could think about it, her arm suddenly touched a slightly cool warmth, and she was lifted into the air.
This is too sudden. Why didn't you tell her in advance? Hey? The water curtains hung before her eyes, and Li Jintang felt like a kite with no power to protect itself, relying on others to fly back and forth.
"Can I close my eyes?" she asked tremblingly.
"……what ever."
There seemed to be a bottomless abyss beneath his feet. If he fell in, he would be instantly shattered. Li Jintang didn't dare to think anymore, and desperately lowered his head. Subconsciously, he reached out and wrapped his hands around his robe.
Because she was too scared, she didn't notice that the moment she hugged him, his body stiffened obviously, and even his cold body seemed to be warming up.
Xie Changyan lowered his head slightly. From this angle, he could just see a few strands of hair floating on the girl's forehead. He was silent for a while, then with some difficulty pulled out a hand and put it in front of her to block it.
The waterfall was wider than he had imagined. He raised his hand and the streams of water immediately opened to the left and right like curtains, carving out a path.
The scene in front of him suddenly became clear. After he stood firmly on the ground, Xie Changyan withdrew his hand from her waist and was about to leave, but found that he could not move.
His expression changed slightly, and his eyes fixed on the hands at his waist.
"Haven't you hugged me enough yet?"
A cold voice suddenly sounded above his head. Li Jintang opened his eyes and looked around, and saw Qu Lingfei and the others looking at him and smiling.
"Atang, now that we're here, why are you still holding on to Brother Xie?" Qu Lingfei laughed teasingly.
Li Jintang's face flushed at the words, and she immediately released her hand from the man's waist. Glancing down, she saw Xie An's clean, wet robe hanging heavy. She looked at the others, all of whom were soaked to varying degrees, but she remained spotless—not even her fortune book had a drop of water on it.
When she met the young man's gaze, she was confused for a moment - could it be that the Book of Fate had just activated some new skill, allowing her to pass through the waterfall without getting wet?
"Atang, ignore him," Qiuyan said, her hands behind her back, skipping over to her side. "My senior brother loves to talk nonsense from time to time. I'll teach him a lesson for you."
"No..." Li Jintang blinked - when faced with such questions, she always didn't know how to answer, so she shut her mouth and said nothing.
Fortunately, a man came down the slope. It was Nangong Xiu. As he walked, he said, "I just checked a little bit. There's an abandoned ancient city not far away, but nothing else around. Why not go in and take a look? Maybe we can find some clues."
"Another ancient city?" Qiuyan muttered, but she didn't stop walking. "Last time it was the ghost market, and the time before that it was Luzhuang. Which time did we run into something good? Maybe this time too..."
"Junior sister, that's the way you should think," Qu Lingfei suddenly interrupted her endless complaints, "You used up all your bad luck the last two times, so this time it must be good luck."
Qiuyan rolled her eyes at him silently: "If everyone had a positive attitude like you, Senior Brother, we wouldn't have so many troubles."
Qu Lingfei chuckled and thought he was really praising him.
Only when we got closer could we see the ancient city clearly.
The dazzling crimson of the glazed tiles has faded with time, and the mottled walls still evoke a hint of their former grandeur, now shrouded in a veneer of age. In stark contrast, beneath the walls, a vast expanse of flowers, grasses, and withered vines blooms unrestrainedly.
The mood of several people sank as they walked across the cracked ground and entered the half-collapsed city gate.
"Sister Qiuyan, do you feel something strange here?" The two girls followed slowly at the end. Li Jintang looked around uneasily and held the arm of the person next to him tightly.
Qiuyan didn't think much of it: "What's so strange about it? It's just an uninhabited castle...ah!"
Before she could finish her words, she suddenly screamed, and the others turned around to look.
The hand on her shoulder loosened immediately. Behind her stood a man wearing a straw hat and carrying a shoulder pole, staring at her in confusion.
"You, you, you...are you a human or a ghost?" Qiu Yan jumped back in panic and couldn't even speak clearly.
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