Nan Zhi turned her head and saw that the surviving demons and ghosts were indeed each using their own unique skills to endure:
A hedgehog spirit the size of a small hill curled into a ball, its sharp quills standing firm to protect the dozen or so small hedgehogs huddled beneath it.
A bull demon grew several sizes larger, its eyes turning crimson as it repeatedly charged the hungry ghosts with its sharp horns, goring several wicked spirits to death in an instant.
Some summoned yin spirits to wrap themselves and their companions in an airtight cocoon.
Others carried corpses on their backs, using the corpse qi to mask their scent from the living.
Still others simply fought their way through, and before long, the ground beneath their feet was piled high with foul-smelling black mud.
As for those relying on artifacts, many were already flying high in the sky, waiting for the Ruyi Pavilion to manifest.
“There are just too many of these wicked spirits. When will this ever end?”
Nan Zhi swung the Fish-Dragon Guillotine tirelessly, hacking off the head of a hungry ghost. But before she could receive an answer, a sudden, piercing chill surged from all around them—
This cold felt as if it were rising from the deepest depths of the earth, crawling up their ankles and seeping into every pore and joint. It was enough to make one's limbs freeze and teeth chatter.
This sensation felt somewhat familiar.
Visibly, Nan Zhi saw a layer of frost forming on Xu Zi’s eyebrows, her face turning a sickly blue. Without even needing a mirror, Nan Zhi knew she looked no different.
Nan Zhi immediately jumped down from the roof and grabbed a lantern hanging in front of a house. Strangely, as soon as the eerie green ghost fire illuminated them, their bodies began to gradually warm up.
“Heh... heh... in previous years, the yin chill of the Underworld was never this heavy. Could something... something have happened down there?”
Xu Zi was shivering so hard her teeth rattled, and her hair was plastered to her face, making her look incredibly bedraggled. Yet, she didn't forget to tease Nan Zhi.
“It seems that monk Huiyuan still has a bit of a conscience, knowing to leave a lantern for us to protect ourselves. Those silver coins of yours weren't spent in vain, hehe.”
“This place is truly fraught with danger; any oversight could cost a life. I wonder if I am mistaken, but it seems the hungry ghosts have dispersed.”
Seeing that Xu Zi still had the spirit to joke, Nan Zhi knew she was mostly fine. She held the lantern higher to get a better look, but in the next second, she froze in place.
At some point, the mist around the Ghost Buddha Temple had grown even thicker, turning the world into a vast white void where nothing could be seen clearly.
A single, tiny red light emerged from the mist.
Looking closer, in just a momentary lapse of focus, the source of that light seemed to arrive abruptly, allowing Nan Zhi to see it clearly:
It was a magnificent, massive semi-circular grotto. Its shape was somewhat peculiar, but the entrance was festooned with lanterns and decorated in vibrant reds and greens. Shadows flickered indistinctly within the grotto.
The Ruyi Pavilion.
The name suddenly rose in Nan Zhi’s heart.
All around her was a clamor of voices—talking, shouting, and laughing—as if she were in the middle of a bustling crowd.
Shadows shifted and whiffs of fragrant wind drifted by. When Nan Zhi snapped back to her senses, she realized it wasn't an illusion; she was standing right inside the grotto.
...
“Young Master Sihai, you've come as well! Hahaha, what a coincidence. I wonder what treasures you've set your eyes on this year?”
“Not at all, not at all. Haven't we both heard that the Ruyi Pavilion has something special this year? I just rushed over to join the fun.”
“Old Man Hu, you look quite healthy. I wonder how your Thirty-Ninth Lady has been lately?”
“That girl was fortunate enough to catch the eye of an immortal and is now cultivating on Penglai Island. This old man heard that the Ghost Market has some good stuff this year!”
“Oh, Master He, why are you here too? I heard that last year in Nanchong, a flood dragon was causing trouble and the river overflowed. You were rewarded for your efforts in the rescue and promoted three ranks!”
“What, if you can come, why can't I? Everyone knows the Ruyi Pavilion has good things. I've just come to broaden my horizons.”
Countless voices flooded into Nan Zhi’s ears, making her feel slightly overwhelmed.
Once the faint ringing in her ears subsided, Nan Zhi finally regained her clarity and saw where she was.
The grotto was decorated as if for a wedding. Suspended from the ceiling was a pitch-black stone coffin, and from beneath the coffin hung rows of skeletal white hands.
Each skeletal hand held an oil lamp. The green candlelight was surprisingly bright, and red lamp oil dripped from the bones one drop at a time, looking exactly like fresh blood.
In the center of the grotto was a massive millstone, and sitting atop it was a bloated, naked great ghost.
Behind the great ghost was a spiral stone staircase ascending upward. Each level was guarded by paper figures and hungry ghosts, making entry and exit difficult.
No wonder Xu Zi couldn't explain exactly where the Ruyi Pavilion was; even Nan Zhi had entered the place in a daze.
Looking at the others, it seemed they were the same—they had arrived here in the blink of an eye.
To be able to deceive the senses of so many people at once, the person behind the Ruyi Pavilion was truly formidable.
Nan Zhi couldn't help but feel a secret surge of alarm.
The interior of the grotto seemed no different from an ordinary marketplace, except that the floors were divided by height. The higher one went, the fewer people there were, and the greater the privacy.
This floor had people hawking everything imaginable: burial jewelry, funerary urns, thin-skinned coffins, giant toads with pustules on their backs, Yin ginseng that looked like dried radishes, blood-stained bridal gowns, and cats and dogs with human faces locked in cages...
“Look, that Master He is covered in so much water vapor and carries the scent of incense merit; he's likely a River God from somewhere..."
"And that Old Man Hu—nine out of ten foxes are named Hu; he's likely an old fox."
"And that Young Master Sihai, looking all suave and refined, but he reeks of fish; he's either a toad or a snake!”
Xu Zi leaned close to Nan Zhi’s ear, whispering as she pointed people out:
“These people are just like us; they can only stay in the lowest grotto. Those Ghost Kings, generals, immortals, and great demons are all on the top floor! That's where the real treasures are!”
“Understood.”
Nan Zhi nodded and whispered back:
“That Duan Chunming is likely somewhere in the crowd. We'll split up in a moment. You disguise yourself and go look for him. I'll stay here, posing as a vendor selling demon beast meat to provide backup."
"If we can't find him, we'll find a way to go upstairs and check.”
The invitation monk Huiyuan gave Xu Zi seemed to only allow them to stay on the first floor of the grotto; going higher was not permitted.
Besides, if someone really was watching her, splitting up now would give the other party an opportunity to make a move.
Xu Zi was eager to see the sights, so hearing Nan Zhi’s plan, she didn't question it and immediately squeezed into the crowd and vanished.
They were indeed coming for her.
Nan Zhi sensed that the gaze following her had not disappeared, and she couldn't help but sneer inwardly.
However, she didn't show it on her face. Pretending to be oblivious, she spread the white tiger skin on the ground, revealing the mangled mess of white tiger flesh inside.
The scent of fresh blood immediately attracted many buyers. The tiger skin, in particular, was a rare find—pure white without a single blemish—causing several non-humans to stop and look repeatedly.
But since the demon tiger's core was gone, only the fur was truly eye-catching, so most customers only looked without buying.
Before long, several dark shadows stood before Nan Zhi.
“Little girl, how much for this white tiger?”
One of them, a man wearing a black cloak with a Golden Crow pattern painted on his face, stared at the mangled heap of flesh on the ground and spoke:
“A white tiger is an auspicious sign and shouldn't have been killed. Name your price, and I'll buy it.”
Judging by his accent, he sounded very much like someone from the southwest, his speech carrying a heavy regional lilt.
Nan Zhi noticed that this group of black-robed men was dressed identically, and the patterns on their faces were the same: a Golden Crow chasing the sun.
However, the sun the Golden Crow was chasing was not the full sun of legend, but a fragmented golden sun disk.
“I don't lack money, but I do lack a few servants to wait on me. I was thinking of trading it. If you truly want to buy this tiger, it's not hard. Trade it for living humans.”
Nan Zhi deliberately raised her voice, hoping to make the man back down. To her surprise, the man didn't even hesitate and readily agreed:
“Fine. You can take your pick of these sturdy servants behind me. Sell this white tiger to me.”
Wait, what?
This wasn't how she expected the script to go.
Nan Zhi was racking her brain for a way to refuse the man when a woman, also dressed entirely in black, suddenly lunged out from the side and intercepted him:
“Wait. I'll take all the goods this person has.”
Rate on N.U.
