Chapter 6: Tiny City Without Sun and Moon
"Wait!" Cang Ming hurriedly took out a stack of small pieces of paper from his lapel, "This is something I asked someone to write for me. Can I leave it in your shop?"
"Okay. What is this?" Wei Ci took it and looked at it. There were a few lines of words written on the piece of paper.
An orthodox Taoist priest, performing rituals to exorcise evil spirits.
The fees are reasonable and it is widely praised.
Please look for the time-honored brand: Ghost Catcher.
Wei Ci couldn't help laughing: "Ghost Catching Sister, is it widely praised?"
"Just put it on your counter and give one to each customer who comes," Cang Ming said flatteringly, "It won't be too much trouble, right?"
"Okay, I'll tell you when we're almost done." Wei Ci put the piece of paper in the Iron Man's hand, "Bring a new one then."
"Wei Ci is a great young man, a rare talent in the world." Cang Ming immediately praised him with a smile. Wei Ci listened with a half-smile and asked without comment: "Do you often praise others?"
Cang Ming coughed, glanced at the sky tactically, and replied, "Let's go!"
He apologized, gently holding Cang Ming's elbow with one hand and wrapping his other arm around her shoulder. The two of them looked at each other and together they leaped into the twilight in the sky.
The moment she passed the window, everything in the world suddenly disappeared, leaving only a dazzling white light. Wei Ci's big hand covered her eyes, shielding her from the glare.
Until Wei Ci removed his hand and whispered in her ear, "Okay." Cang Ming opened his eyes and saw a strange noise and a ghostly city before him.
On both sides of the city gate are carved a couplet: "All action is an illusion, nothing is without its being." Horizontal scroll: "Insignificant."
Countless demons and monsters roamed the city streets, all manner of strange creatures, floating and wandering. Some set up stalls to sell goods, while others picked and chose, bargaining. There were also masked figures walking around, clearly sorcerers disguised to conduct business in the underworld.
"This," Wei Ci looked at Cang Ming, "is Weicheng."
"Micro City." Cang Ming looked at the couplet, then looked towards the city, "It's so lively."
The houses on both sides of the street were winding and eerie, and the sky was a dull lake green. There was no sun or moon here.
"Put it on, ghost-catching sister." Wei Ci handed over a hooded cloak, which he had already put on.
Cang Ming took it and put it on, then put on the rabbit face mask, and said gratefully: "You are so thoughtful, Brother Junk." He looked at the rabbit ears on Cang Ming's mask, lowered his head and smiled, without saying a word.
As the two of them strolled along the street, Wei Ci said, "The Tian Xinshu you're looking for is a demon king. He's well-known in the underworld and dominates a region."
"Well, let's first find out where the Demon King's residence is." Cang Ming looked around, "I don't know what happened to the living person who was captured."
Although the tiny city is called a city, it is getting bigger and bigger, with no boundaries. Its territory is as vast as a country, leaving Cang Ming at a loss.
After a moment's thought, Cang Ming went into a horseshoe repair shop on the side of the road and asked the boy who was watching over the shop, "Excuse me, has a horse come here with an arrow in its neck?"
The kid looked at her and shook his head.
Cang Ming continued to ask, "Can you help me think again? Has there never been a horse like this in the past ten years?"
The kid said, "There are plenty. Which one are you asking about?"
“…” Cang Ming was speechless for a moment.
Wei Ci said softly, "Most of the horses used by the underworld die suddenly and without a good end."
So the two of them thanked the little ghost and tried to find another way. They tried endlessly for a long time and went through countless streets and alleys.
"No way." Cang Ming said with a headache, "Do you have any way to find out where the demon king lives?"
Wei Ci shook his head and said, "Tian Xinshu is cunning by nature. He moves every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month and never reveals his whereabouts."
"I thought you knew everything." Cang Ming smiled slightly.
Wei Ci said, "That's about the same."
After searching for a long time with no results, the two men simply leaned against the wall to rest. A group of old ghosts squatted by the roadside begging, watching the golden carriages and silver horses passing by. Paper-made carriages, mansions, and young boys and girls were burned and sent to the underworld, transformed into reality.
In the distant sky, a skinny black mountain rises from the ground, blocking out the sky and looking weird.
A ghost ship sailing on land glided over, and the old man on the ship sprinkled a handful of burnt paper money, which immediately attracted a scramble from some poor ghosts, and beggar old ghosts also crawled over.
The old man stood on the deck, looking down at the ghosts. He said to the handsome young man beside him, "Third grandson, you see, even the ghost world values merit. But after you spend your money, they'll buy this and that, but it all comes back to our shop. You were unlearned and unskilled in the human world, so now you have to pay attention."
The third grandson ghost agreed: "I understand, Grandpa."
"Look, isn't that the boat that picked up the new ghosts that night?" Cang Ming said with interest, "What a coincidence."
Looking closely in the dim light of the sky, they saw that both of them had changed into a new set of burial clothes today, applied a layer of white powder to cover the corpse spots, and a faint ghostly aura gathered between their brows.
Among the three deep purple sails, one was raised high, with the word "you" written on it in a barely noticeable way. The strokes were jet black, slender and wavy, and exuded an evil aura.
Grandpa You took his grandson's hand and patted it twice: "I'll take you to the human world today. Grandpa knows you're still thinking about it."
Master You said, "When I first became a ghost, a Taoist priest wanted to capture me without any reason. I don't dare to return to the human world."
"Why is this happening?" Cang Ming spoke up to defend the injustice, "My friend, meeting is fate, so I'll give you this life-saving yellow talisman! This talisman protects good people and punishes evil spirits. From now on, other Taoists won't arrest you when they see you." As he said that, he stretched out his hand and handed over a talisman made of a leaf.
"Thank you, master!" Young Master You was surprised and happy.
Old Master You ordered the ghost slave to help him get off the boat and personally thanked Cang Ming: "Thank you, hero. My surname is You, and this is my good-for-nothing third grandson."
Cang Ming said readily: "Hey, it's nothing, you're welcome." He thought that this kind of amulet was made from fallen leaves anyway, and it didn't cost any money for labor or materials.
Young Master You followed behind, holding the amulet, with a bright smile on his face: "Hero, if you have any problems in the future, please come to me, or mention my name, You Xiao!"
Mr. You scolded him, "What are you showing off for? You don't know how high the heavens are and how deep the earth is."
You Xiao looked at the yellow talisman over and over again, and scratched it twice: "Hey, this style is a bit like the one I saw the night I first arrived!"
"What did you see?" Cang Ming suddenly had an idea and asked immediately, "Who did you see? Where did you go?"
"I saw a demon and a horse with talismans on their bodies. Then they seemed to go that way."
Before he could finish his words, Cang Ming and Wei Ci had already rushed away like lightning.
Following the direction of You Xiao's finger, the two of them used their Qing Gong to chase for more than ten miles. Cang Ming suddenly stood at attention and said, "We're here."
Wei Ci also stopped slightly and watched her raise another yellow talisman made from a leaf, waving it up and down in all directions, as if to drive away mosquitoes.
Wei Ci said with his hands behind his back, "Sister Taoist, you can also perform magic dances."
"Over there!" Cang Ming suddenly stopped, "It sensed the trace of that yellow talisman."
The yellow leaf talisman floated towards the Black Mountain.
The Black Mountain is steep, with continuous ridges. The interior is like a maze, with countless caves and tunnels intersecting and occasionally cascading rocks, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Cang Ming and Wei Ci were both people with keen senses and could recognize evil spirits. They quickly sneaked into the Ghost King's cave and squatted on both sides of the stone gate, staring inside.
A group of little demons rushed in from another door. They lined up in a vertical row, each of them bent over with a plate in hand, and hurried to the coffee table in front of the throne in the hall, placing various snacks on it one by one.
The two of them flew up the rock wall silently, sticking close to the wall by stepping on the uneven footholds.
Not long after, the deputy general of that day came over with strong and resolute steps, walked through the stone gate and entered the hall.
In the candlelight, the deputy general wore a hairpin with flowers representing the four seasons, and his face resembled a tree trunk struck by lightning, scorched and brittle, with layers of wrinkles. Perhaps it was a dead tree transformed into a spirit. Cang Ming immediately regretted his scrutiny.
The deputy general said loudly, "Your Majesty, that captured boy kicked and hit us so hard that he actually damaged a small part of our Black Mountain. I have already sent ghosts to repair it."
In the darkness, Cang Ming and Wei Ci looked at each other, wondering whether this boy was the living person who was kidnapped that day.
A clear female voice sounded: "You can do whatever you want." Cang Ming looked towards the hall and took a breath of cold air.
I saw a huge snow sculpture with a pale white body slowly walking out from the pearl curtain behind the throne. Its hair, face and clothes were all carved out of white snow.
The snow sculpture lifted up its skirt and sat on the throne, revealing a pair of bright red embroidered shoes on its feet, which contrasted with its snow-white body, looking extremely ghostly.
The demon king who kidnapped living people turned out to be a tall sculpture with beautiful appearance.
Tian Xinshu picked up the preserved fruit from the plate and sneered, "Panmu, your eyesight isn't good anymore. Can't you see there are two thieves in the cave?"
Cang Ming paused for breath, catching a glimpse of the monster identification compass in her hand. She exchanged a glance with Wei Ci, then gently landed in front of Tian Xinshu.
The deputy commander immediately yelled, "It's them! They were the ones who blocked our way that day and tried to snatch that kid away to eat!"
Cang Ming said: "You cheated."
Tian Xinshu snorted, and with a wave of her hand, she tied them both up and threw them into the corner. The deputy general cheered loudly from the side, and she said, "Shut up."
Cang Ming said again: "Please don't kill us, why don't you lock us up and let my father pay the money to redeem us."
Tian Xin said grimly, "So you can go to the jail to find that guy, right? Little girl, don't play tricks on me."
Cang Ming had no choice but to say, "May I ask Your Excellency Tian Xinshu, if that boy hasn't offended you, could you please not eat him?"
"Shut up!" Tian Xinshu was instantly enraged, the veins on his forehead bulging. "Who eats humans? Humans are the most disgusting creatures!"
The deputy general raised his arms and shouted, "The most disgusting!"
Cang Ming said curiously, "Hey, you brought this tender young man back here not to eat him alive?"
With a cry, the female ghost on the throne let out a strange cry, flew up the stone wall, and using all four limbs, slithered to Cang Ming's side like a snow-white spider, and whispered sinisterly in her ear: "You, who said that cannibalism?"
Wei Ci, standing behind Cang Ming, cast a sharp glance at the ghost girl. The ghost girl, clinging to the stone wall, retreated a few inches in fear. Suddenly, she pushed the stone wall aside and flew back to the throne, angrily demanding, "Why are you trying to embarrass me?"
Cang Ming said ambiguously: "Then you catch that kid, right..."
Tian Xinshu spat, "Don't fucking disgust me. That's a man. I hate men the most in my life." The deputy general immediately echoed, "Your Majesty, I hate men the most in my life!"
"Oh." Cang Ming pretended to be enlightened, "You like women."
"I don't like it!" Her veins began to bulge again. "Women are no good either!"
Cang Ming had no choice but to shut up, secretly shaking his head and sighing. There was nothing she could do now. If she used the beauty trap, it would be like flirting with a blind man. As for Wei Ci, if he used the handsome man trap, he would probably be beaten to death. Wei Ci seemed to have noticed her thoughts and said coldly, "Sister Taoist, I am a pure virgin."
Tian Xinshu closed his eyes for a moment, then suddenly opened them, staring at Cang Ming with his snow-white pupils. He sneered, "How much silver did that bastard official give you to make you work so hard?"
"Dog official?" Cang Ming was completely confused and could only ask, "Which dog official?"
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