Chapter 417: Long Qi and the Trio Enter the Ghost Market

After Long Qi and Chiyanzi broke away from the battlefield, they were led along by Adao, but the surroundings were desolate and pitch-black, and Long Qi once wondered if this little brat Adao had lost his way.

Chiyanzi, however, did not suspect anything; he remained worried about the aura from just moments ago, concerned that the others left behind would be intercepted, and his mind was not on the present at all.

Just as the two were, one full of suspicion and the other feeling uneasy, a great gate appeared before them.

The gate was towering and lofty, with dark patterns of stars upon it; among the constellations, the North Pole star was the most eye-catching.

Both door pillars had dragon patterns; the dragon scales were dense, and the dragon whiskers were elegant, appearing lifelike. On the left, a dragon wound down the pillar, holding a dragon pearl in its claw; on the right, one coiled up the pillar, chasing the sun through the clouds, looking quite majestic.

A plaque hung above the gate, but the plaque was completely empty, without a single character.

To have a gate standing there for no reason, with nothing written on it, was truly strange.

"Why did you bring us here?"

Long Qi circled the gate twice, truly unable to fathom the purpose of its existence, and turned his head to ask Adao, only to see him frowning, fumbling with something in front of the dragon pillar.

What is this kid up to again?

Not until he pulled out a hemp rope did Adao's expression relax; he swung the rope, which was thicker than his own wrist, with force, and at the same time, a loud sound came from overhead, deep and melodious, echoing continuously.

Long Qi looked up along the rope and saw that a bell was actually hanging on the gate; the bell was covered in rust, making it impossible to see the grooves and patterns on it, and what the rope was pulling was the clapper at the mouth of the bell.

Accompanied by the ringing of the bell, strands of Spirit Qi wandered between the grooves, then spread and expanded toward the surroundings, reaching far into the distance.

Only then did Long Qi see clearly that the pattern was actually a tiger's head, though this tiger's head also had a pair of sharp horns, looking extremely discordant.

Just as Long Qi and Chiyanzi were astonished, Adao pulled them both down to crouch behind a large rock to the side, as if they were thieves.

The two were still wondering what Adao was doing when, following the cessation of the final bell toll, mist inexplicably began to rise around the gate.

Spirit light detached from the bell and flew toward the sides of the gate, outlining contours like a paintbrush; when the mist dispersed, a high wall was revealed.

The greenish wall bricks were huge and mottled, extending endlessly to both sides, with no end in sight; on the top of the wall, green tiles and red pillars were vaguely visible, hung with unknown decorations, but it was too high to see clearly.

Just as Long Qi was still marveling at the majesty before him, he saw that characters had appeared on the plaque above the gate—

Ghost Market!

As the gate swung open, the pebbles underfoot began to tremble; before long, individual figures were seen drifting out from within the gate, their expressions either dejected, dull, or satisfied.

It was actually a group of ghosts!

But thinking about it, that made sense; if there were no ghosts in the Ghost Market, could it be living people?

But why did Adao bring them to the Ghost Market?

Long Qi and Chiyanzi were both confused and were about to ask, when they saw Adao pull out a long staff, nearly as tall as he was, from somewhere.

This staff looked to be two and a half feet long, with several small bells attached to the tip, and red and blue ribbons tied to it.

"It's actually a Hongwu!"

Chiyanzi was older after all, and having wandered the mortal world for years, he recognized the object at a glance, but Long Qi listened, looking completely bewildered.

"What? Hong what?"

While Long Qi was still playing the fool, Adao began to shake the long staff with a serious expression, the bells at the tip jingling melodiously.

This little guy, wasn't he supposed to be hiding? Why is he making this racket?

Adao shook it twice, then signaled for Long Qi and Chiyanzi to follow, and immediately walked toward the crowd of ghosts.

Long Qi was shocked at the sight: Is he trying to get us killed? Why drag them along?

But strangely, those ghosts seemed unable to see Adao, scrambling to clear a path for him.

"What are you waiting for? Why aren't you following?" Turning back to see Long Qi still standing there in a daze, Adao urged impatiently, his face full of disdain.

So many years have passed, why is this brat still so stupid?

Long Qi hurriedly followed, staring curiously at the Hongwu in Adao's hand: "Does this Hong-whatever treasure have such a function? Where did it come from? It's truly a bargain."

Adao shot Long Qi a sharp look but did not answer.

Chiyanzi, standing to the side, stroked his beard and smiled: "The Hongwu is a ritual implement of the Witch Clan, used to offer sacrifices to the gods and seek blessings; because it has bells, it is also called a Divine Bell." As he spoke, he stroked his beard again, "However, the Witch Clan rarely interacts with the outside world, so this item is hard to see in the Central Plains. Such a rare treasure, where did the young friend obtain it?"

"My master gave it to me." Adao looked proud.

"Lingxiang? Where did she get this treasure?" Long Qi felt a bit jealous, but he didn't say it...

"Of course, she stole it from the Demon Race," Adao said as if it were a matter of course. "Master said, since we finally came to the Demon Realm, we absolutely couldn't return empty-handed, so she took us for a tour of the Demon Race's treasury."

"Ah," Long Qi understood, "It had to be her..."

Long Qi could even imagine Lingxiang putting on an act, looking perfectly serious—"Tsk! In matters of cultivation, how can you call it stealing?!"

Right, right, right! How could it be called stealing?

Long Qi chuckled, then looked back at the Painting Scroll on his back.

What was there to be jealous of? What Adao had, he also had; although it didn't count as a magic treasure, wasn't it also given by Lingxiang? After all, she had specifically stayed at the Xianyun Abode waiting for him to go there.

Thinking of this, Long Qi felt much better, his mouth curled up, and he followed Adao's footsteps with great satisfaction.

If you called the Ghost Market prosperous, it was indeed bustling, but if you called it lively, there was no sound at all other than the occasional hawking of small vendors.

It was just that the voices of those vendors were truly hard to compliment; it was like dying fish being fried in oil.

Long Qi felt his skin crawl listening to the lifeless tones that popped up from time to time, and he couldn't help but complain to Adao.

"There's a perfectly good road, why walk through this ghost place? It's unlucky as hell."

Long Qi was, of course, terrified, but he wouldn't say it; otherwise, how embarrassing would that be?

Adao turned back and gave Long Qi a disdainful glance, thinking him quite spineless, but he didn't stop, continuing to shake the Hongwu with great rhythm.

"Although the Ghost Market is terrifying, even the Demon Race dares not interfere, so walking this way is the safest."

When they left just now, Adao had smelled an unusual aura; his instincts as a Demon Beast made him sense danger, which was why he took the risk.

Besides, when he was with Zhanli earlier, they had walked through the Ghost Market; in any case, he was familiar with it, so what danger could there be? It was just that Long Qi was as timid as a mouse and suspicious of everything; he was truly useless.

Thinking this, Adao felt even more disdain for Long Qi, his lip curling so much an oil bottle could be hung from it.

Hearing Adao say this, Chiyanzi became even more certain—those youngsters were likely going to have trouble.

However, it seemed that Xin Yi and the others were not the only ones in trouble.

Just as Long Qi was following Adao step by step, a withered hand appeared from nowhere and grabbed Long Qi by the arm.

Long Qi was terrified; he turned his head to look and saw a shriveled old man clutching him.

The old man's appearance was truly ghastly, with bulging eyes and high, protruding cheekbones, while the few sparse teeth in his mouth stubbornly refused to fall out.

This...

It was as if he hadn't eaten anything for hundreds of years.

"A living person! It's a living person!" the old man said, his voice tinged with a hint of madness, "It's been such a long time since I've seen a living person!"

Adao and Chiyanzi seemed unaware of what had happened; they did not even turn their heads and continued walking forward. Long Qi's heart was a tumult of emotions; he wanted to shake off the restraint, but he did not expect the old man's grip to be surprisingly strong, and no matter how hard Long Qi struggled, he could not overpower him.

It's over, it's over! Falling into the hands of this group of starving ghosts, is there any chance of survival?