Jin You and Yan Baichuan led Ying Chuang, browsing from the fourth floor up to the eighth floor, but found no more fun things, nor did they pick up any bargains. Everything was stuff that might be useful to ordinary people, but very commonplace to them, such as the ghost-repelling talisman shop on the front left and the elixir pill shop on the front right.
Jin You went from being high-spirited to thoroughly bored, yawning three times in a row, as there was truly nothing worth buying. Just as Jin You was feeling bored, he suddenly noticed that the people on this floor began surging toward the center. Yan Baichuan exchanged a glance with Jin You, bringing Ying Chuang along to join in the excitement.
A wooden table was set up in the center of the eighth floor, upon which lay a storyteller’s gavel. Curtains hung around all four sides, hiding the human shadow inside from clear view.
“It is Mr. Hangshui!”
“We can finally hear Mr. Hangshui tell stories!”
On stage, Mr. Hangshui slapped the gavel once, and the surroundings fell quiet in an instant, everyone listening silently to the speaking voice coming from the stage. The clear, gentle voice sounded like water striking mountain rocks, capable of soothing the restlessness at the bottom of people’s hearts.
“The story to be told today is a past event from seventeen years ago, so if there are any errors or omissions in what is said, I ask everyone to kindly correct them.” Mr. Hangshui cupped his hands to the crowd, turning around to begin his narrative.
Seventeen years ago? Jin You had an ill premonition, turning his head to look at Yan Baichuan beside him, only to discover that he had clenched his fists tightly, working hard to suppress a certain emotion of his.
“The title of Ghost King is likely not unfamiliar to everyone here, and the story that I am going to tell today is related to this Ghost King.”
“In today’s world, spiritual energy is in turmoil, humans are hardly human, and ghosts are hardly ghosts. Humans guard against ghosts daily, always fearing that one day they will be intruded upon by ghosts and lose their lives. Ghosts, on the other hand, are viewed by the world as ominous, driven away everywhere by people, gradually becoming mutually incompatible. Right at this time, a fiend god suddenly broke out of nowhere into the world, holding a Dust-Cleansing Blade, killing any ghost he encountered without fear of gods or Buddhas, causing all ghosts to keep a respectful distance for a time. Some venerated him as a God of War, but ghosts viewed him as a thorn in their eyes, a splinter in their flesh.”
“As it turned out, this fiend god lost his father in his youth, and while wandering around, he was saved by an old Taoist, who took him in as a disciple. Under the old Taoist’s careful instruction, he gradually built up a reputation, which simultaneously brought upon him the jealousy and hatred of ghosts. Thus, one day, this Ghost King was careless for a moment and confused by ghosts, listening to slanderous rumors, so he actually killed his own master with his own hands, and attempted to refine him into a puppet to vent the anger in his heart.”
After Hangshui finished speaking, he let out a regretful sigh.
Yan Baichuan’s eyes stared dead at Hangshui on stage, his tone turning exceedingly dangerous, “Sir’s story is likely not finished yet, why not continue?”
Hangshui gave a faint smile, “If it merely ended here, then it could not be called a story, but should be called a past event. After this Ghost King committed patricide against his master, his temperament changed drastically, his actions becoming even more unsparing, killing any ghost he saw, perishing together with the ghosts in the Battle of Mount Huancang. Yet seventeen years later, the living King of Hell who had already vanished from the world has actually appeared again, and the protagonist of the story is currently inside this Treasure Pavilion right now, so why not let him personally continue a segment for everyone? Did I say anything wrong or omitted just now, dear guest who talked with me earlier, or rather, the Ghost King of the story, Yan Baichuan?”
Before the tail tone of Hangshui’s meaningful implication had fully fallen, Duanming’s blade edge was already laid across his face, only to be easily blocked by his gavel.
“Disaster arises from humans and spreads endlessly without stopping, this name of yours is truly easy to recognize. Having finished talking about my identity, shouldn’t you speak of your own identity, you calamity ghost who baited me into taking the trap, Yan’e?”
Yan Baichuan was rough-hewn and careless, never taking minor matters to heart, and rarely getting angry when teased by others, but there were exceptions to everything.
Yan Baichuan’s exception was his master, Qingshuangzi, who died under his own blade, a touch upon which was touching his dragon scale.
Yan’e was clearly extremely aware of this point, deliberately intending to provoke Yan Baichuan in his speech, “When sir killed Qingshuangzi, you did not hold back in the slightest, one could say you were ruthless and cruel, so how come you get angry now when exposed by me instead?”
“Yan’e, you are seeking death!” A faint red light surfaced at the bottom of Yan Baichuan’s eyes, veins bulging on his arm. Considering that ordinary mortals were present around them, he used only thirty percent of his strength in the blade swung at Yan’e, yet Yan’e withdrew his hand in an instant, allowing Duanming’s blade edge to pierce through his body, falling to the ground while clutching his wound, a proud smile curving up at the corner of his mouth, “You took the bait.”
Yan Baichuan killed a person with one blade, and the people around ran around in all directions like headless flies, deeply afraid that the next one to die would be themselves. That was the living King of Hell, Yan Baichuan, who knew how many people he had killed!
Seeing that Yan’e’s figure lying on the ground was about to disperse, Yan Baichuan let out a cold snort, “Jin You, try the thing I gave you just now.”
Jin You had not fully reacted to the scene before his eyes yet, but hearing this, he took out the Water-Gathering Bead he had just acquired, mobilizing ghost power to condense a drop of Yellow Spring Water out, looking at the fingernail-sized water drop with some hesitation.
Is such a small bit truly useful?
“Hurry!” Seeing that Yan’e was about to escape, Jin You could not care about anything else, shooting a water bead straight for the center of Yan’e’s eyebrows.
Sensing a dangerous aura, Yan’e flipped over to dodge, only to have his shoulder shot through by the Yellow Spring Water. The unfamiliar feeling of pain actually made him forget to make a sound for a time, and only when the pain began spreading to other parts of his body did he clutch his wound in disbelief, staring dead at Jin You, “What is this thing, why can it hurt me!”
Ever since Yan’e transformed into a ghost, he had not tasted the flavor of pain for a very long time.
Yan Baichuan, it was Yan Baichuan again! Clearly he died yet could still return, why was it him!
Jin You was too lazy to speak nonsense with him, “I will answer just because you ask? What kind of thing are you. Back then I felt that you guy harbored bad intentions, speak, what tricks did you pull to trick him back then!”
Yan’e was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly understood something, looking at Yan Baichuan and laughing loudly, “Ha ha ha ha! You actually told him like this… no, for it to actually spread from you, it truly is interesting. Let it go for today, Yan Baichuan, I truly look forward to what kind of expression you will have when I see you next time.”
People from the Taoist sects were gradually gathering around on the eighth floor, and Yan’e turned around to flee, yet Yan Baichuan still caught up to exchange moves with him, the huge pressure forcing Yan’e to scatter ghost power to resist.
“Yan Baichuan, Jin You, Ying Chuang, there is no time to explain, hurry and go!” Lingyun rushed down impetuously from the top floor, stopping abruptly in her tracks as she passed Yan’e and widening her eyes, “Where did this handsome young man come from, he looks truly not bad, oh well, now is not the time to talk about this. I caused a little trouble on the top floor just now, let us leave here first!”
Taking advantage of the gap while the two were talking, Yan’e turned into a streak of black smoke and dispersed. Yan Baichuan’s frame holding the blade also shook violently, using his blade to point at the ground for support, so Jin You hurried up to support him, “Yan Baichuan!”
Yan Baichuan leaned on Jin You’s body along the momentum, pressing his chest and spitting out a large mouthful of black blood, so that even Jin You was startled. Seeing the situation was bad, Lingyun could not care about much at this time, shouting at Jin You, “You take him and go first, Brother Ying Chuang and I will cover the rear, hurry!”
Lingyun and Ying Chuang blocked the Taoist disciples who gave chase, one of whom pointed his sword at Yan Baichuan, “It was you who killed the master of our Qingzhu Temple, today you can forget about leaving this place!”
Yan Baichuan’s mind was somewhat groggy, some memories deliberately hidden by him beginning to surface gradually from the bottom of the sea. He took a deep breath, suppressing the murderous intent in his heart, pointing at the window on the right to signal Jin You, his voice hoarse, “Go from this side, go straight to the Forest of No Return.”
Jin You supported half of Yan Baichuan’s body, pushing off with his toes to take Yan Baichuan breaking out through the window, bringing about a wave of exclamations.
The people claiming to be from Qingzhu Temple were just about to chase after them when a biting cold wind suddenly arose from the flat ground, tripping up their footsteps. The hand seal of Lingyun’s right hand shifted, constantly condensing into ice pricks to disrupt their approaching pace, finally grabbing hold of Ying Chuang and leaping out as they got near the window. Ying Chuang turned into wolf form, flinging Lingyun onto his back in one move, vanishing without a trace within a few leaps accompanied by Lingyun’s cursing words.
The Forest of No Return was located in the southwestern direction of Jiangling. The plant species inside the forest were numerous and varied, but grew without any pattern whatsoever, the entire forest being just like a maze, making it very difficult to discern directions. Nine out of ten people who entered could not come out, so that even local people of Jiangling did not dare to approach easily.
Jin You sought out a large tree, helping Yan Baichuan sit down leaning against the tree. While searching inside the pocket dimension for usable elixir pills, he suddenly remembered the elixir pills given by Qin Guang earlier, hurriedly taking out a Mind-Rectifying Air-Settling Pill to give him, “This is the medicine given by Qin Guang, there are two left, hurry and eat one.”
Yan Baichuan leaned against the tree to steady his breathing, glancing at the elixir pill in Jin You’s palm, his large palm closing over Jin You’s spread-open palm, “This medicine is useless to me, put it away. I will be fine after resting a bit.”
Jin You looked at him with some worry, and only after putting away the elixir pill did he stand up to examine this forest carefully. The situation was urgent just now, so he rushed into the Forest of No Return without even thinking, but looking carefully now, the plants inside this forest were somewhat complex and the paths hard to discern, making it easy for people who entered to get lost, no wonder it was called the Forest of No Return.
Jin You deliberately ignored why Yan Baichuan knew this place, attempting to go search for some food, only to be called back by Yan Baichuan, “Do not wander around, it is very easy to get lost here without someone leading the way.”
Jin You paused in his footsteps, walking back to Yan Baichuan’s side, gathering some dried branches from all around to set up a simple campfire, sitting beside Yan Baichuan with his arms around his knees, practically having ‘I have something on my mind and am a bit angry’ written on his face.
Yan Baichuan was not blind, so he naturally saw it, letting out a ‘tsh’ and shifting to sit closer to Jin You, “Alright, aren’t you a koi, why is your face so angry it looks like a pufferfish. Being overly angry harms the body, if there is anything you want to ask then ask, I will pick and choose what to answer.”
Usually at a time like this shouldn’t one answer honestly, this guy truly!
Yet thinking so in his heart, Jin You was unwilling to let go of this rare occasion when Yan Baichuan opened his mouth, thinking it over before asking one he considered relatively easier to answer first, “Did that fellow Yan’e truly trick you?”
Yan Baichuan, “Next one.”
Jin You raised his head abruptly to look at Yan Baichuan, the shock in his heart like mountain rocks crumbling apart, looking at the person before his eyes in bewilderment.
Yan Baichuan not wanting to answer this question equaled him denying the matter of Yan’e tricking him, but how did the story that everyone believed, about Yan Baichuan being deceived by ghosts and killing his master Qingshuangzi, get spread out? If it was not Yan’e, and not himself, then there was only Yan Baichuan himself.
Jin You knew long ago that Yan Baichuan had a heap of secrets in his heart, but he had never thought that regarding this matter, it was actually not as he had seen either.
Yan Baichuan was rarely somewhat silent, letting out a sigh as he gazed at the sky, “Some matters are too complex to talk about, I am too lazy to explain, so let them think whatever they want. As for why I know this Forest of No Return, this is actually no secret, merely due to a very simple reason.”
Yan Baichuan turned his head to the side, looking at the stream running through the forest not far away, a rare trace of nostalgia showing in his eyes, which was quickly restrained again, “Because this is the place where my master, Qingshuangzi, took me in and raised me.”