Master Feng had once told him that this person must be Yinyu. After all, there were only a few priests demoted over the years. So, Xie Lian asked, "What's your name, sir?"
The ghost-faced man said, "I dare not. I am just a nobody."
Entering the abandoned dyeing workshop, Xie Lian was stunned. He saw all manner of clothing hanging on wooden racks: wedding gowns, official robes, girls' gowns, silk garments, children's clothes... and even a simple, crude blood-stained linen garment, as if afraid others wouldn't notice its strangeness. Layer upon layer, a sinister, sinister aura filled the air, as if the living dead stood there. Even if they weren't the Brocade-Robed Immortal, they were certainly no good.
Long, multicolored fabrics hung high on wooden racks, some pale, others stained, having been neglected for ages. Quan Yizhen crouched at the edge of a pitch-black dye vat, absorbed in studying the strangely colored, odorous liquid within. Xie Lian worried he'd dip his finger in it and lick it, so he quickly dragged him down. In the courtyard, a group of demons and monsters, all chained together, crouched on the ground with their heads in their hands, asked, "What is this...?"
The ghost-faced man said, "All those who have been selling Jin Yi Xian in the ghost market recently, as well as all the demons and monsters who have used Jin Yi Xian in various places, are here. There are ninety-eight pieces in total."
A surprising ninety-eight, and they must have all been captured in a very short time. Xie Lian was slightly moved. The ghost-faced figure added, "If there are any new unusual movements, they will be captured for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince as soon as possible."
Hearing this, Xie Lian couldn't help but say, "No need. Please tell City Lord San... Hua, there's really no need to bother. I can do it myself." The result would be the same, just a little more time and effort. But he was a priest serving in the Upper Heaven Court. Even if there were few followers, this was his only legitimate job.
The ghost-faced man said, "The City Lord naturally understands that Your Highness can easily accomplish this. But precisely because of this, I hope you won't waste your energy on such trivial matters that anyone can do. Your Highness's time and energy should be used for more important matters."
“…”
After pondering for a moment, Xie Lian asked, “Excuse me, how is your city lord now…?”
Lang Ying wandered around Xie Lian seemingly nonchalantly. The ghost-faced man said, "The City Lord is very busy right now."
Xie Lian said hurriedly, "Oh. That's great. I hope everything goes well for him. Everything goes well."
I questioned these monsters one by one, and they all insisted that they bought the goods in bulk from the mysterious masked man. It didn't seem like they were lying, but in a place like the ghost market, wouldn't there be hundreds of mysterious masked men in just one day?
Unable to get any information, the ghost-faced figure yanked the rope, led the howling ghosts away, and departed. However, the ninety-eight ghost clothes remained. Xie Lian felt he had never seen so many clothes in his past life collecting rags and rags. He flipped through them one by one, suspecting none of them were genuine. He said to Quan Yizhen, "Qiying, come and take another look."
Quan Yizhen scratched his fluffy curly hair, shook his head and said, "Too much."
There are too many ghost clothes. The evil spirits of each piece of clothing affect each other, making people lose their judgment.
It's like someone with a keen sense of taste who can distinguish between pear and apple candies, but if you mix ninety-eight different fruit fillings together and then ask them to taste them, they'll lose their sense of taste. Xie Lian was just thinking of another solution when he looked back and saw Quan Yizhen grabbing a piece of clothing and trying to put it on. Xie Lian quickly stopped him, hung the clothes back up, and said, "Stop, stop, stop. Qiying, let's make a deal: First, don't eat anything you don't want to eat. Second, don't wear anything you don't want to wear. These are all very dangerous behaviors."
Quan Yizhen pointed behind him and said, "What about someone like him?"
Xie Lian suddenly smelled a faint burning smell. He turned around and looked in the direction he pointed. He saw Lang Ying had found a match from somewhere and lit it. He was holding it, calmly and skillfully burning the hem of a ghost robe.
Xie Lian: “…also…don’t play with fire???”
The ghost clothes seemed to be in pain from being burned by the firefly. The hem of the clothes curled up, twisting wildly and dodging. It looked more like a loach than a piece of clothing. The scene was actually a bit cruel. However, despite the scorching smell, there were no burn marks on the fabric. It seemed that the Yin energy of these ghost clothes was sufficient to protect them from the calamity of fire.
After hearing Xie Lian's warning not to play with fire, Lang Ying casually threw the match away, stamped it on the ground, and acted obediently again. Xie Lian, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, went over and asked, "What's wrong with you today..."
When he said this, the expression on his face suddenly froze.
Because he saw, not far away from him, a long white cloth hanging on a tall wooden frame, gently fluttering in the night breeze. On the cloth, a black figure was reflected, walking slowly. This figure had no head.
Xie Lian pulled Lang Ying behind him and struck with his sword, saying, “Everyone, be careful!”
The sword cut the cloth and the figure in two. However, when the cloth fell to the ground, there was no one behind it. The headless figure had vanished without a trace. Before Xie Lian could move forward to investigate, a slight chill ran down his spine. He turned around abruptly, his pupils constricting. He saw a woman in gorgeous clothes, who had silently stood behind him without him noticing.
No! Not a woman, just a piece of clothing!
The piece he had just chopped in two was also a piece of clothing, which fell to the ground and was covered by the cloth. Meanwhile, from all directions, a group of shadowy figures staggered towards the three of them. Suddenly, without anyone noticing, the ninety-eight ghost clothes hanging in the courtyard, corridor, and dyeing workshop had all unsheathed themselves!
Xie Lian was stunned: "Why did everything suddenly become like this?"
A low voice came from beside him, saying: "Ten thousand ghosts are restless."
Xie Lian turned around and saw that it was Lang Ying who had spoken. Although he didn't show any signs of unease, the veins on the back of his pale hand were already bulging, clearly indicating that he was also under some kind of influence.
The ghosts were stirring once again! The closer it got to the opening of Tonglu Mountain, the more deafening the reminder became to the ghosts. Xie Lian's first thought was, "How is Sanlang now?!"
However, the situation did not give him time to think. His thoughts raced as more than twenty ghost clothes were already attached to him. Quan Yizhen threw a punch without hesitation. If this punch had hit the wall or the ground, it would have surely shaken the earth and cracked the rocks. But this thousand-pound punch, on the other hand, hit several pieces of clothing. Think about it, even children know the game of "rock, paper, scissors" and the cloth-wrapped hammer. The light and soft fabric was just the right punch counter! No matter how strong his punch was, the fabric wrapped him so softly that he was unharmed. Xie Lian had to raise his sword to attack. But the ghost clothes were extremely agile in their evasion. They could be pulled out four or five feet in a single sweep. Moreover, since they were almost weightless, they made almost no sound. It was much more difficult to capture their movements and guard against their sneak attacks than to guard against people.
Normally, people would choose clothes, but at this moment, it was the clothes that chose people. Ninety-eight ghost clothes were eager to find someone who would fit their body and their eyes. Among people, women were the most picky about clothes; among ghost clothes, women's clothes were the most picky about people. Dozens of women's long dresses of various colors and styles were madly pressed against Xie Lian, and even swords could not force them away. The battle was more intense than a group of women rushing to grab beautiful clothes they liked. For a moment, Xie Lian seemed to be surrounded by flowers, squeezed and pulled by a circle of women's clothes. Quan Yizhen pulled down a few children's clothes that were stubbornly put on his head and threw them aside, wondering, "Why do all these women's clothes like you so much?"
Xie Lian said, “Maybe because I look more friendly to you???”
However, none of the ghost clothes bothered Lang Ying, perhaps because he was a ghost and knew they couldn't get anything out of him, so they stayed away. Xie Lian slashed several women's skirts in half with his sword. The severed ghost clothes split into two halves, still moving freely, and their dodging was faster and more elusive. Xie Lian caught a glimpse of several ghost clothes stealthily groping for the window and shouted, "Close the door, set up the formation! Don't let them out!"
They could still handle two gods and one ghost, but if one of these ghostly robes slipped out and found someone else, it would be troublesome. However, it was too late to shout. The dyeing workshop's courtyard was open to the sky, and already a robe had flapped its wide sleeves and soared into the air, soaring into the night sky like a giant bat. Xie Lian cried out in pain, "Qiying! I'll leave the dyeing workshop to you!" With that, he tapped his foot, flew over the wall, and grabbed the hem of the ghost robe.
With the weight of a person added to the robe, the sleeves of the robe could not fly up even if it flapped hard. It fell to the ground and was still tightly grasped by Xie Lian's collar. But it was surprisingly cunning. With a "swish", it tore one corner of its own robe and quickly slipped out of Xie Lian's hand like a hero cutting off his own arm. It happened that a passerby was going home after drinking a little wine and saw a headless monster running towards him. He screamed in fear: "Ahhhhhhhhhh headless ghost! It has no head!"
Xie Lian quickly rushed over and grabbed the piece of clothing, showing it to the man, reassuring him, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! Look! It's not the head that's missing, it's the whole thing that's missing."
The man looked inside his collar and saw that it was indeed empty. There was nothing inside! This was truly more terrifying than a headless ghost. He immediately rolled his eyes and fainted. Xie Lian quickly caught him and gently placed him on the ground, saying, "Sorry! I'll take care of it right away, right away."
After the chaos passed, Xie Lian finally managed to catch all the ghost clothes that had flown out of the dyeing workshop. He checked them once to make sure that none were missing, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
At this point, Xie Lian said, "We'll just have to use Qiying's simplest and most brutal method. Let's try putting them on one by one."
He would like to wear it himself, but it is difficult to say about the other two partners at the moment. He is afraid that if he happens to wear Jinyixian, he will not be able to deal with any accidents. So he decided to take control and watch the other two wear it.
So, Lang Ying and Quan Yizhen both took off their coats and tried them on one by one. Every time they put on a coat, Xie Lian would give them simple instructions like "jump twice" or "turn around" to see if they would obey.
However, after trying all ninety-eight pieces, they each wore forty or fifty pieces without any discomfort. It seemed that none of these ghost clothes belonged to the Jinyixian. They had worked so hard all night for nothing.
Lang Ying and Quan Yizhen were squatting on the ground in their singlets, while Xie Lian sat amidst the tangled mess of clothes, holding his forehead and saying, "Selling fake goods is truly unacceptable..."
After supporting him for a while, he went to find Lingwen and said to him, "Lingwen, I've collected some ghost clothes. Although there are probably no authentic Jinyixian items among them, they are all quite evil and a bit tricky. Can you send someone down to collect them?"
Lingwen said, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away. How many items did you receive?"
Xie Lian said, “Ninety-eight.”
"..." Ling Wen said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is truly capable. He actually received more than I reported to you."
Xie Lian coughed lightly and said, "Actually, it wasn't me..."
Before he finished speaking, he felt a familiar chill down his spine. Xie Lian was slightly startled and looked up.
In front of me, a black human silhouette was reflected on several pale cloths fluttering in the wind.
This time, it wasn't headless or erratic. Standing behind the long, curtain-like strip of cloth was a true figure. It was a tall young man, his extremely disheveled hair clearly visible at the edge of the figure.
The author has something to say: The female ghosts (clothes) have very accurate intuition. They keenly smelled a familiar scent from Xie Lian: "This person! He must have experience!!! OK, this is him, no one else can compete with me!!!"
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