CH 6

Chapter 6 - Entertain A Hundred Ghosts For Peace 5

When the teenager stood silently in the snow, he embodied a flashy porcelain doll. Even Lou Muge was dumbstruck for a moment. However, the young man’s clean eyes were devoid of the quick-wittedness and curiosity as befit his age, and were instead calm.　

Zhang Rong, Ze Wan and Ze Qian were standing in another place, silently observing the young man who appeared suddenly with everyone in Shan’an.

Zhang Rong’s eyes gently glided over the crowd, and after a circle, they stopped on Lou Muge again.

“How many are coming in the end?” Ze Wan muttered.

Zhang Rong remained stoic, without showing any of his thoughts. He only said to the teenager, “Is your Excellency from above?”

Hearing his question, the teenager looked at him and nodded slightly.

“Then, it seems we are all the same.” Ze Wan said to the teenager, “This is God King Zhang Rong. My brother and I are from the Phoenix Clan of the Immortal Realm. My name is Ze Qan, and my brother’s name is Ze Qian.”

The teenager’s lustrous eyes slid over, and he took a few steps forward. He stretched his hands out from his overcoat to clasp his fist in salute. He also held a white fan in one hand, the handle of which was tied with a copper bell with a string of black tassels.

“I am Ning Shaosi,” his voice sounded crisp, coated in a comforting gentleness.

But his introduction seemed to hit the calm and waveless lake, causing shock waves to spring up all at once: “Ning Shaosi?! Are you Ning Shaosi?!”

This name was like a thunderclap piercing the ear, but only few people in the Human Realm knew it.

Luo Muge caught his breath, and his eyes tightly grasped the young man in front of him. In fact, he had seen many Ning Shaosi along the way, but he would react like this every time.

He had been contemplating how to find Ning Shasi, how to find the one he wanted among these thousands of Ning Shaosi.

His good disciple who threatened to set off firecrackers to celebrate on his deathbed.

Zhang Rong’s face changed but he remained calm, “What credentials do you have?”

The teenager did not immediately speak. Instead, with a flick of his fingertips, he revealed a thin wooden card with a few numbers inscribed on it: “Seven Hundred Twelve.”　　

Ze Wan burst out laughing, and the strained atmosphere just now instantly lightened up again.

After seeing the card, Lou Muge also wanted to laugh – Honestly, he almost got a wooden card similar to that one after crossing the Immortal Gate.

There were only two names for those who received this kind of wooden card, and people with these names were too numerous to count in this Divine Convention. In an attempt to distinguish one from the other, and to facilitate surveillance, the Immortal Realm specially customized this wooden card. The numbers carved with red borders were Lou Muge, and the ones with black borders were Ning Shaosi.

The young man took out a wooden card engraved with exactly black bordered words.

Lou Muge himself really couldn’t understand why there were so many people topping his and Ning Shaosi’s name. Were they not afraid of being killed? He, the genuine lord, was also topped with a false name.

The young man’s eyebrows twitched slightly, seemingly wondering why they were laughing. However, he did not pursue the question and gently put away the wooden card. Then he turned towards Lou Muge.

As soon as the crowd saw him coming, they stepped back. The teenager stood rock still in front of Lou Muge. His eyes were calm, but he stared at him motionlessly.

“You are the Seven Hundred and Twelve Ning Shaosi?” Lou Muge raised his chin and asked him.

If Ning Shaosi were to know that there were countless people running around everywhere with his name, how would he react?

Then he would definitely say with a straight face…

“There may be countless named Ning Shaosi, but there’s only one Ning Shaosi, me,” the young man’s voice echoed crisply.

Lou Muge was stunned for a moment. He quickly returned to his senses and raised an eyebrow at him frivolously: “With countless Ning Shaosis, you may not be the most powerful one, but certainly the most beautiful.”

At the same time, Lou Muge probed him with his divine sense and concluded that this Ning Shaosi before him was a real demon.

It wasn’t him. The real Ning Shaosi was a noble God King, an unrivaled God of War in the God Realm, and a descendant of the ancient Divine Beast White Tiger; he wasn’t a demon.

After hearing Lou Muge’s very serious compliment, Ning Shaosi somewhat coyly pursed the corners of his mouth, his white ears flushing red: “You-You too.”

“Young Master Lou,” Tao Ming’s voice interjected at the right time, “We should be leaving, or we will miss the hour.”

Lou Muge nodded and was about to bid farewell to Ning Shaosi when he heard him ask, “Where are you going?”

He lifted the basket in his hand and replied, “We’re going to the graveyard to sing.”

Ning Shaosi smoothly received the basket into his own hands: “I will tag along too.”

“Alright.” Lou Muge immediately nodded, for no other reason than fear of being too bored after going to the grave. He should pull someone to gossip with. He couldn’t really face Wen Changchu’s howls, right?

Lou Muge had become the leader of the team. After he agreed, no one dared to object, fearing the wolf cub hovering at his feet.

When the others were still in the clouds, Lou Muge and others had already walked out of Shan’an City. They went to the stables and pulled out several horses and fastened them to the carriage. After they sat down to their respective positions, they slowly left.

Ze Qian sighed, “I didn’t expect another demon to come. I’m afraid things are a bit tricky this time.”

“Exactly. That mortal cultivator named Lou Shengsheng has just entered the city, yet he mixed with Wen Changchu. I heard that he even committed a murder in the street today, beating a person’s head until he bled. From his behavior alone, he doesn’t look like a good person,” Ze Wan complained in a whisper, “How did the Immortal Realm assign people?”

“It may be more troublesome than we thought,” Zhang Rong said.

The two looked up and saw him looking heavy, staring at the wheels left in the snow. The hearts of the two siblings jumped, and they asked, “Why did God King Zhang Rong say that?”

“Haven’t you noticed?” Zhang Rong lifted his hand and nodded at his right wrist, “That demon named 712 has no immortal stone on his wrist.”

“Why did you come now?” When Lou Muge entered the Immortal Gate, the door closed right after he entered. He thought he was the latest, yet unexpectedly, someone was even later than him.

“I got lost and searched for a long time before I found you.” Ning Shaosi whispered, “It’s been a long wait, right?”

Lou Muge only thought he was lost in the mountain forest, and thought it was normal. He also walked for most of the day yesterday before finding this place, so he spoke to comfort him, “It’s nothing. I also came yesterday. This village is too remote, so it’s really hard to find.”

Ning Shaosi followed with a nod, without saying anything more. He turned partly sideways and looked at him from time to time. At a glance, his beautiful black eyes were as calm as water, but in reality, waves seemed to be surging in them.

The way he stared at Lou Muge was not at all like looking at a stranger, but was like stifling emotions to a long-awaited reunion.

However, Lou Muge was thinking deeply with eyes closed and didn’t notice it. Wen Changchu, on the other hand, who was lying on the opposite side, saw it. He tilted his head and stared at Ning Shaosi for a long time.

Lou Muge mulled over what the Chang Anning mother and son said but couldn’t think of a reason, so he shared the news he heard. After briefly explaining the key points to Ning Shaosi, he asked, “What do you think is the cause for this strange disease?”

“Maybe it’s really just a disease,” Ning Shaosi pondered for a moment and replied, “You can start by looking into the things that everyone in the city is exposed to.”

“The scope is too wide.” Lou Muge shook his head. “Besides, the Immortal Realm didn’t send us here so that we could cure those people.”

“We can narrow down the scope.” Ning Shaosi obviously did not know much about the situation, but he seriously analyzed what Lou Muge said. His immature face was all serious and quite like an elder: “For example, food.”

“Food?” Lou Muge leaned on the carriage, exuding langor from head to toe, and said carelessly, “What food, rice? Wheat? Or water?”

After enumerating that, he himself froze for a moment and suddenly realized, “Yes, water.”

The drinking water in this small city hidden in the deep mountains must come from a source, and the water of the lake was most likely related to the Water Goddess. Perhaps something was wrong with the lake water.

Lou Muge reached out and patted Ning Shaosi’s shoulder, “Not bad. It’s hard to believe that although you are young, you’re quite quick-witted, much better than the three God Immortals in the city who do not know what they are doing.”

Ning Shaosi slightly lowered his head with a slight blush surfacing on his fair face: “I’m not as smart as you.”

Lou Muge nodded rightfully: “I am indeed quite smart.”

Of course, it was just a joke, but Ning Shaosi nodded along with him as if in approval. His appearance was as good as a baby kitten.

Lou Muge couldn’t help but wonder: Why am I always recruiting these little dogs and cats lately?

But he wasn’t averse to it either.

Seeing the light again after 800 years, Lou Muge felt sweetness from his throat to the tip of his heart whenever he stood with his soles on the ground to suck in a breath. Even beggars lying on the roadside were lovely in his eyes.

The only deficiency was his body, which was really weak. If he wanted  to incite trouble and create confusion, he still needed to find his own body.

They still parked the carriages in the same place. After getting off the carriages, everyone took their stuff to the stage. Night had fallen, and the lanterns that several people carried in their hands were very dim, making it inconvenient to walk.

Lou Muge carried a basket by himself and ate while walking. Ning Shaosi quietly walked next to him with a lantern.

Among the crowd of plainly dressed people, the twos’ somewhat expensive clothes and dress looked out of place. But when the two stood together, the golden boy and the jade girl matched very well, provided they ignore that Lou Muge was a man dressed as a woman.

As on previous occasions, when the Shan’an City citizens arrived at the theater stage they first dumped all the frozen hard food on the table, and then replaced them with freshly made food. Then they sat under the stage, each taking out a black cloth for blindfolding.

Lou Muge looked at their uneasy look and gestured, “Don’t worry, I definitely won’t talk again.”

Although several people still didn’t believe him, they had no other choice. Tao Ming and his brother also stood on the stage, just waiting for the beats of the gong.

The sharp gong sound pierced the silence of the night, and a resonant opera voice erupted. A play was sung under the cold wind. Lou Muge listened to two lines, but really couldn’t understand what he was singing. He turned his head for a look and saw Ning Shaosi watching seriously.　　

“Hey.” Lou Muge nudged his arm: “Let’s go to that graveyard in front of us.”

Ning Shaosi nodded and followed Lou Muge away, leaving behind a crowd of people who were concentrating on giving a feast to a hundred ghosts. Only Tao Zhai, the only one on the stage with eyes open, could see, but he just cast an indifferent look and then looked away.

Buried in the cemetery were generations of people living in Shan’an. People in the city rarely used wood to make coffins, so most of them were buried directly into the soil. People then erected tombstones in front of the graves, inscribed with a few numbers.

The lantern in Ning Shaosi’s hand was the only illumination. Although the light was dim, it was at least of some use in this dark place.

Lou Muge took a look around and suddenly waved to him: “Come here.”

Ning Shaosi walked over and saw him squatting in front of a headstone. Once the lantern was close, the words engraved on the tombstone were revealed, But what was more attention-grabbing was the smudge of bright red blood on the tombstone.

Lou Muge stretched out his hand and touched it. His fingertips were stained with scarlet blood. When he leaned closer to smell, it was the rotten stench of carrion. It was extremely pungent, making him frown.

Ning Shaosi squatted beside him. His white and smooth face could be seen from one side, but he paid no attention to the strangeness on the tombstone.

“Could there really be evil spirits here?” he murmured softly to himself.

“Don’t you have a Divine Ghost Bell? Try it and you’ll know.”

Lou Muge turned his head and saw that Wen Changchu, who had turned into a wolf cub during the day and had been jumping around blindly, had changed back to his human form and was standing with his arms crossed.

Lou Muge was actually a little curious about why he suddenly turned into a wolf cub, but after thinking about it, the question that came out was, “You know the Divine Ghost Bell?”