C52

After turning another corner, I looked at my watch. It had already been over half an hour. I couldn't help but curse silently. 'This driver is not a good person. He actually tricked me! Even after receiving the money, he still wants to tire me half to death!'

Thinking about this, I suddenly felt that my body was weightless, then I floated into the air. Because of my unconscious scream, Shen Tuo, who was walking in front, turned his head to look at me, but just as he was about to charge at me, I hastily shouted for him to stop.

Because I felt a familiar aura — it was Zi Sang Ming.

"This King cannot appear during the day."

Without much explanation, after saying that sentence, we stopped talking. Shen Tuo also quickly understood and walked in front of us, while I could only see a blurry shape of Zishan. Thinking about how his shape seemed like he was floating in the air to others, I felt a little nervous.

Fortunately, there weren't many people here, and no one else naturally saw my strange appearance.

After walking for a distance, I couldn't see Zi Sang Ming's face, so I became even more shy. My whole head was buried in Zi Sang Ming's chest.

It was only then that I jumped down from Zishan Ming's arms. It was also at this moment that I reacted. It turned out that Zishan Ming had been following me silently along the way, protecting me without saying a word.

I stood on my tiptoes and looked ahead. In the distance, I saw a stone bridge that spanned about seven or eight meters. From this direction, we were now in the northern suburbs.

Sure enough, as we took a few steps forward, the dark, dry trunks appeared before us, and I couldn't help but shiver — it was exactly as I had seen it in my dream.

Zi Sang Ming seemed to have felt my fear. He walked forward without saying a word and put his arm around my waist. "Don't be afraid, This King is here."

After listening to Zishan Ming's words, although I didn't say anything, my heart inexplicably calmed down quite a bit.

The peach trees here were all dead, and the bared and clawed branches showed the old pawnbroker's bony hand. However, there was not a single leaf on the ground. Furthermore, the soil was soft, so it should be a good place to cultivate. However, even if all the trees were dead, no one would bother with this place anymore.

Shen Tuo walked in front and squatted down. He picked up a handful of soil and placed it under his nose to smell it. After that, his expression changed. He raised his head and said to me, "There is the smell of blood."

I thought of Zhao Xue's illusion again. I stumbled in there with blood all over my feet …

"So all of this is real. There's really blood underneath our feet!"

"We'll split up. You and Zishan Ming will go together while I'll go my own team and look for a well here. If we can't find one, then we'll go to the other side of the Peach Blossom Bridge."

I nodded, and when Zishan's hand tightened, I followed him around the corner and walked to the back.

I felt the soft ground beneath my feet step by step. I felt as if blood was seeping out of the soil with every step I took. The more I thought about it, the more scared I became.

Zi Sang Ming had no choice but to place me near a stone slab while he went off alone to complete my task.

However, not long after Zishan Ming left my sight, within a few minutes, I suddenly felt something grabbing onto my foot. I quickly stomped my feet in an attempt to shake it off, but I discovered that my grip was getting tighter and tighter.

I looked down and couldn't help but scream.

The one holding onto my ankle is actually a skeletal hand that has stuck out from the ground! I lost my balance and fell to the ground as the skeleton's hand exerted force. I struggled as I shouted, "Zi Sang Ming, save me!"

At the same time, I heard Shen Tuo's voice from behind me. "Yan Nuo, something's wrong here. Quickly run!"

I bitterly smiled. How could I run away now that I'm like this?

I accidentally caught a glimpse of a peach tree beside me. I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, but this peach tree just happened to have a branch missing, and from its shape, it looked extremely similar to the tree branch that the skeleton had transformed into.

Just as I was wondering, I suddenly remembered that Shen Tuo seemed to be in danger on the other side. I was about to rush over to Shen Tuo's side, but I didn't expect the surrounding peach trees to have a life of their own.

Although Zishan Ming's body was translucent, he was still unable to dodge the attack of the peach tree. He was also tied up by the peach tree vines, but he was much calmer than me.

Although Zishan Ming had a semi-transparent appearance, I could still see that he expended a lot of effort just now in order to escape. Even though it seemed like it was effortless, his face had actually turned pale.

I started to realize that no matter how powerful he was in the Underworld, he was still just a ghost king. In the end, he couldn't come out in broad daylight. All of this pain he endured was actually for me.

Seeing Zishan Ming walk towards me, the vines that had been binding me slowly loosened up as if they were afraid. In the end, they returned to their lifeless state of a peach tree.

I quickly went forward to support Zishan Ming and asked anxiously, "Are you alright?"

Zishan Ming pretended to be calm as he comforted me and placed his hand on my shoulder. He calmly replied, "I'm the dignified next Ghost King, what can I do for you?"

Seeing that he was trying to be brave, I didn't say anything else and pulled him along to look for Shen Tuo.

Shen Tuo is even more miserable than me. Not only are his hands and feet tied up, his entire body is covered with these black vines, and these vines actually started to secrete a kind of juice. Shen Tuo's exposed wrists and ankles have already started to corrode, as if they were burned.

Clearly, the peach trees on this side seem to be more powerful than ours.

"The peach trees here should have all withered after Zhao Xue died. They were cursed by Zhao Xue. The blood here is the blood of the people who died here."

At this point, Shen Tuo couldn't help shouting out in pain. Just as I was about to step forward, a vine appeared out of nowhere, and like a nimble whip, it fiercely lashed towards me.

"We can't go on like this. Let's wait until dark."

As Zishan Ming spoke, he stretched out his right hand and a long sword appeared in his hand. He threw it towards the struggling Shen Ta.

I looked at the vines wrapped around Shen Tuo's body. Along with Shen Tuo's constant struggles, they were slowly tightening. I immediately stopped Shen Tuo and said, "Shen Tuo, don't move recklessly!"

When Shen Tuo heard my voice and looked towards me, he saw the sword that was flying towards him. He scolded Sang Ming: "Damn it, can't I save you a little more?"

With that, the sword flew in front of him, and he subconsciously closed his eyes.

However, the long sword did not continue to fly towards Shen Tuo. Instead, it started to move randomly in the air, causing the vines that were meandering around to hit the ground. Shen Tuo immediately collapsed onto the ground, struggling to stand up.

The surrounding vines started to slowly retreat after realizing that they could not withstand the sword. In the end, they obediently changed into the appearance of a peach tree branch.

I hurriedly went forward to support Shen Tuo, and saw that blood was already seeping out from Shen Tuo's wrists and that his clothes were already corroded by the juice. I secretly heaved a sigh of relief, luckily, this juice doesn't have a strong corrosive ability, if I were to use sulfuric acid, Shen Tuo would have already turned into black charcoal.

Seeing me support Shen Tuo, Zi Sang Ming's face instantly darkened. I saw that Zi Sang Ming seemed to be much more transparent than before and I couldn't even see him clearly anymore. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty, after all, it was all because of me.

At this moment, I suddenly thought of something and hastily ran to the peach tree, where my backpack was lying. I squatted down and rummaged around for a long time. Finally, I found what I was looking for.

I remember that in the Yin Street, the old man in the pawnshop had given Zhao Xue an umbrella and told her that she could use it to leave during the day, which meant that this umbrella could also be used by Sang Ming!

I opened the book, but to my surprise, the book didn't react at all. I shouted "Zhao Xue" into the book, but the book still didn't respond.

"What are you doing?"

"There's an umbrella in the books. If you had an umbrella, you wouldn't be so weak!"

Just as I finished speaking, I suddenly felt a gust of cold wind. I couldn't help but shiver, and discovered that Zi Sang Ming had suddenly appeared in front of me. His face was very close to mine, almost touching mine.

Zishan Ming stuck close to my body, his face turned to the side, and his mouth came close to my ear. "Are you saying that I'm weak?"

I was blushing and didn't have time to react when Zishan Ming suddenly wrapped his arms around my body and quickly shifted positions with me. In an instant, I heard Zishan Ming groan in my ear.