Nan Zhi turned to look, and sure enough, the surviving demons and ghosts were each using their own unique talents to weather the storm.
A hedgehog spirit the size of a small hill curled into a tight ball, its quills standing erect to shield more than a dozen hedgehog pups lying beneath it.
An ox demon swelled several times its original size, its eyes blood-red as its sharp horns rammed repeatedly into the hungry ghosts, goring several evil ghosts to death in an instant.
Some summoned Yin souls, wrapping themselves and their companions up tight.
Some carried corpses on their backs, using corpse qi to mask their living scent.
Others simply slaughtered their way through, until before long, the ground beneath their feet was piled high with foul-smelling black mud.
As for those who relied on artifacts to fly into the sky and wait sitting above for Ruyi Pavilion to manifest, there were plenty of them as well.
“There are simply too many evil ghosts. When will the killing ever end?”
Nan Zhi brandished her Fish-Dragon Guillotine incessantly, slicing off a hungry ghost’s head, but before she could get an answer, a wave of suffocating, bone-chilling Yin cold suddenly surged around the two of them—
This cold air seemed to seep from the deepest depths of the earth, creeping up from their ankles and permeating every pore and joint, leaving their limbs freezing and teeth chattering.
The feeling was somewhat familiar.
Visibly, Nan Zhi saw frost coat Xu Zi’s eyebrows while her face turned pale as ash; without even needing a mirror, she knew she looked no different.
Nan Zhi instantly leaped down from the roof and grabbed the lantern hanging outside the cottage. Strangely enough, once illuminated by that eerie green ghostly flame, warmth gradually returned to their bodies.
“Ch-Ch-Chatter... In previous years, the Yin chill of the Underworld was never this heavy. Could something... something have gone wrong in the Underworld?”
Xu Zi was trembling so hard her teeth chattered, her damp strands of hair clinging to her face in utter dishevelment, yet she still did not forget to tease Nan Zhi:
“It seems that monk Huiyuan has a bit of a conscience after all, knowing to leave a lantern for our protection. Your silver wasn't spent in vain, hehe.”
“This place is truly fraught with peril, with death lurking around every corner. I wonder if I'm imagining it, but the hungry ghosts seem to have dispersed as well.”
Seeing that Xu Zi was still in the mood to joke, Nan Zhi knew she was fine and raised the lantern higher to take a clearer look. But in the next second, she froze in place.
Unbeknownst to them, the fog around Ghost Buddha Temple had grown thicker, turning into a vast expanse of white where nothing could be clearly seen.
A solitary, red speck of light as small as a bean emerged from the mist.
Looking closer, in just a blink of an eye, the source of that light seemed to rush up instantly to let Nan Zhi see it clearly:
It was a grand, magnificent, colossal semicircular grotto with a somewhat strange shape. Its entrance was festooned with lights and decorated in red and green, and silhouettes swayed faintly inside.
Ruyi Pavilion.
The name suddenly surfaced in the depths of Nan Zhi’s heart.
Clamor erupted all around her—voices, shouts, laughter, and chatter—as if she were standing amidst a bustling crowd.
With shadows shifting and sweet fragrances drifting in waves, Nan Zhi snapped back to reality, only to realize it was no illusion—she was standing right inside the grotto.
...
“Young Master Sihai, you came as well! Hahaha, what a coincidence! I wonder what treasure caught your eye this year?”
“Not at all, not at all! Didn't we both hear that Ruyi Pavilion has treasures this year and rushed over just to join the excitement?”
“Old Man Hu, you look hale and hearty! How is your Thirty-Ninth Lady faring lately?”
“That girl caught the eye of an immortal and is currently cultivating on Penglai Island. This old fellow heard there are good things in the Ghost Market this year!”
“Oh, Master He! How come you're here too? I heard that last year a Jiao-dragon caused trouble in Nanchong, causing rivers to flood, and your elder self won great merit by quelling the flood, gaining a three-rank promotion!”
“What, if you can come, can't I? Everyone knows Ruyi Pavilion has good things, so I just came to broaden my horizons.”
Countless voices scrambled to pour into Nan Zhi’s ears, leaving her slightly overwhelmed.
Once the faint ringing in her ears subsided, Nan Zhi finally regained her clarity and saw where she was standing.
The grotto was festooned with lanterns and banners, decorated like the scene of a joyful celebration, while a pitch-black stone coffin hung from the ceiling, with skeletal hands dangling beneath it.
The skeletal hands held oil lamps that burned with astonishingly bright green flames, while red lamp oil dripped down the white bones drop by drop, looking just like blood.
In the center of the grotto sat a millstone as large as a bushel basket, atop which sat a corpulent, naked Greater Ghost.
Behind the Greater Ghost was a winding stone staircase spiraling upward; on every level, paper figures blocked the way and hungry ghosts barred the paths, making entry and exit no easy feat.
—No wonder Xu Zi could not explain where Ruyi Pavilion actually was; even Nan Zhi had entered the place in a complete daze.
Looking at the others, they all seemed to be just like her, arriving here in the blink of an eye.
To deceive the senses of so many people at once, the person behind Ruyi Pavilion was truly formidable.
Nan Zhi could not help feeling secretly alarmed.
Inside the grotto, it seemed no different from an ordinary market, except for the variations in floor height—the higher up one went, the fewer people there were, and the greater the privacy.
On this floor, vendors hawked all sorts of wares: burial jewelry, urns, thin-board coffins, large toads with pus-filled sores on their backs, Yin ginseng that resembled dried radishes, blood-stained bridal gowns, and human-faced cats and dogs locked in cages...
“Look, that Master He has so much moisture on him, yet carries the scent of incense and merit—eight out of ten, he’s a River God from somewhere...
“And that Old Man Hu—nine out of ten foxes are named Hu, so he’s likely an old fox.
“And that Young Master Sihai, looking so elegant and refined like a decent human being, but his fishy stench is overwhelming—he’s either a toad or a snake!”
Xu Zi leaned close to Nan Zhi’s ear, pointing at people while whispering to her:
“These people are just like us, only able to stay in the lowest grotto. Those Ghost King generals, immortals, and great demons are all on the top floors! That’s where the real treasures are!”
“Understood.”
Nan Zhi nodded and whispered:
“That Duan Chunming is likely in the crowd. In a moment, we’ll split up. You disguise yourself and look for him, while I stay here and pretend to be a vendor selling demon beast bones and meat so I can back you up at any time.
“If we can’t find him, we’ll think of a way to head upstairs and take a look.”
—The invitation monk Huiyuan gave Xu Zi seemed to grant access only to the first level of the grotto; going any higher was out of the question.
Besides, if someone truly was keeping tabs on her, splitting up now would give the target an opportunity to strike.
Xu Zi was eagerly itching to go check out the excitement, so upon hearing Nan Zhi’s words, she suspected nothing and immediately squeezed into the crowd, vanishing from sight.
Sure enough, they were coming for her.
Nan Zhi sensed that the gaze following her had not vanished, and she snickered coldly inwardly.
Yet she showed nothing on her face, feigning ignorance as she spread the white tiger skin onto the ground, revealing the mangled heap of white tiger flesh inside.
The fresh scent of blood immediately attracted many buyers. In particular, a white tiger skin was a rare sight—pure white without the slightest impurity—prompting several non-humans to stop and examine it repeatedly.
However, since the demon tiger’s demon core was gone, only its fur was eye-catching, so most customers just looked without buying.
Before long, several dark shadows stood before Nan Zhi.
“Little woman, how much are you selling this white tiger for?”
One of them, a man cloaked in black with a Golden Crow pattern painted on his face, stared at the smashed heap of flesh on the ground and spoke:
“A white tiger is an auspicious omen; it should not have been killed. Name your price, and I’ll buy it.”
—Judging by his accent, he sounded very much like someone from the Southwest region, speaking with a heavy local dialect.
Nan Zhi noticed that this group of black-robed men dressed identically, and the patterns painted on their faces were also carbon copies—the imagery of the Golden Crow chasing the sun.
Except the sun the Golden Crow chased was not a full sun as typically imagined, but an incomplete, crescent golden sun disk.
“I’m not short on silver, but I do lack a few servants to wait on me, so I was thinking of making a trade.
“If you sincerely want to buy this tiger, it’s not hard. Trade living humans for it.”
Nan Zhi deliberately raised her voice, intending to make the man back down. To her surprise, without even thinking, the man readily agreed:
“Fine. Choose whichever of these sturdy servants behind me you want. Sell this white tiger to me.”
???
Why wasn't this following the script in her head?
Nan Zhi racked her brains, trying to find a way to refuse the man, when unexpectedly, a woman dressed entirely in black dashed out from the side and stopped him:
“Wait! I want all the goods in her hands.”
Rate on N.U.
