Chapter 200: Nightmare Town (4)

More and more wandering souls gathered around, and the Soul-Guiding Bell rang "ding-dang-ding-dang".

Suddenly, the bell sound stopped abruptly, the Soul-Guiding Bell disappeared, and 12 sharp blades protruded from the tips of the umbrella ribs, revealing a biting murderous aura, as if they were about to shred all the souls gathered around.

A black shadow suddenly broke through the air and attacked Lin Qingyue.

Dongfang Qi sneered: "Finally fished you out!"

At the same time, he quickly formed a seal, using spiritual power as ink with his hand as a pen, and the void as paper, quickly drawing a huge golden talisman and slapping it toward the black shadow.

The black night was caught off guard and didn't have time to attack Lin Qingyue again, instead slapping back with a palm—the golden talisman not only didn't retreat, but turned into a golden spirit net and covered it.

The surrounding souls suddenly stood still, as if losing all ability to act as the thing was caught.

Lin Qingyue held the red oil-paper umbrella and walked over, her laughter light: "It really is you."

Under the golden spirit net, what was trapped was Zhou Quan—the person Lin Qingyue met when she first entered this town.

Zhou Quan glared at her fiercely: "What kind of person are you, actually breaking my dream illusion so easily?"

"What did I think it was, it turned out to be a demon that lost its physical body! Dead is dead, why do you still want to make trouble?"

After death, the soul remains, and after a demon dies, if the resentment is deep, it will also turn into a demon ghost and return, and its strength will not be inferior to its lifetime.

And this demon ghost in front of her could trap a town of people and make people who stepped into this place unable to leave, showing its powerful strength.

When Lin Qingyue first stepped into this small town, the demon ghost noticed her existence for the first time. At the same time, he also found that Lin Qingyue seemed very powerful. The surrounding evil energy couldn't affect her cognition at all, unlike those who came before.

Lin Qingyue was permeated with a powerful sense of pressure from head to toe, unlike those who came before.

The surrounding evil energy couldn't hurt her, let alone drag her into a dream.

Thus, the demon ghost took a risk, possessed Zhou Quan, and talked to Lin Qingyue to lower her vigilance.

When close, the demon ghost's bewitching power was also more powerful.

Thus, unknowingly, she was dragged into this dream.

"If I'm not mistaken, the three people who entered before should have all been trapped in the dream by you. And you thought your means were clever—and indeed powerful, at first even I was deceived by you, which is why I stepped into this dream."

It's just that the demon ghost still underestimated Lin Qingyue's strength.

"Even in the dream you created, I can still easily capture you!"

At this moment, the demon ghost was trapped in the net, only feeling the spiritual power surging like a tide between the nets, winding around the soul, tighter and tighter.

The human body it tried hard to maintain couldn't hold on anymore, revealing its original form: it was actually a giant turtle. The turtle shell was as big as a round table, with cracks crisscrossing on the back shell, and carrying traces of blood.

Knowing that this disaster was inevitable, the giant turtle stopped struggling.

The turtle's head poked out, and the old voice carried a bit of helplessness: "Falling into your hands today, I accept my fate. Kill or cut, as you wish. It's just... it's just that those wandering souls are trapped here, very pitiful. Please, don't hurt them anymore."

Dongfang Qi said: "Since you don't want to hurt them, why do you still trap them here and not let them be reborn?"

That old turtle said: "It's not that I trapped them here. The entire town has been set up with an array by someone, let alone these ghosts here, even I cannot transcend. Ten years, we have been trapped here for ten whole years!"

"You were actually forced to be trapped here?" Dongfang Qi was a bit surprised.

He had also heard the previous rumors.

Legend has it that a monster made trouble in Ping'an Town and ate all the people in the town. It also trapped those ghosts in the town and didn't let them be reborn.

Thus, Ping'an Town became a ghost town and was completely desolate.

And the road west of Wu'an County was also closed because of the closure of this town, causing passing travelers to have to take a detour of several days.

Although everyone complained, they didn't dare to enter this town, otherwise they would be trapped in it and never return.

Even capable people like Zhou Quan and Shun Niang couldn't escape.

The old turtle said: "I have no intention of harming people, but the ghosts here cannot leave, and the largest number of souls gathered together inevitably produces a large amount of yin energy. Ordinary people come here, naturally they can't bear it. As for those who catch demons and drive away evil... they come to destroy me, so naturally I won't be soft-hearted."

"Since people outside call this Nightmare Town, let it always sleep in a dream..."

"Is it just sleeping?" Lin Qingyue asked?

The old turtle nodded: "If you don't believe me, let me out. I'll let you see the real Nightmare Town."

Lin Qingyue's strength was far above this old turtle, not to mention Dongfang Qi beside her, so naturally she wasn't afraid of the other party playing tricks.

She said to Dongfang Qi: "Release him first."

Dongfang Qi waved his hand, and the spirit net flew into his hand with a 'whoosh', turning back into a talisman and flying back into his hand.

The old turtle gained freedom, four claws stretched out from the turtle shell, and shook his body to turn into the appearance of an old man in his sixties with white hair. He was still wearing a gray official robe and a black gauze hat.

Dongfang Qi recognized his attire at a glance: "You are wearing the seventh-rank official uniform of Guifang Kingdom? Were you really the county magistrate of this place as rumored?"

The old turtle nodded, a touch of sadness falling in his pitch-black eyes: "That's right, the old man was once a seventh-rank county official here. When I was killed, I hadn't taken off my official uniform, and I still wear this attire as a ghost after death."

He waved his hand, and the surrounding scenery suddenly became vivid. The wandering souls seemed to wake up from a dream, repeating their life tracks for ten years as one day.

The old turtle looked at this seemingly prosperous small town, his voice full of melancholy:

"This place is remote, with poor mountains and bad waters, the land is not fertile, the fishing is not abundant, and mountain spirits and monsters often come out to make trouble. More than ten years ago, Guifang and Feng Kingdom had not yet established diplomatic relations, and the two countries were at war repeatedly, making life miserable, and there were countless people selling their children and wives. And I, was also one of the mountain spirits..."

Once, when the old turtle came out to forage, he accidentally went the wrong way, arrived by the side of the big road, and met a scholar riding a horse.

The scholar was curious for a moment and brought it home, placing it in front of the desk as a pet. In his spare time, he fed it well, and when he was free, he teased it to pass the time.

The old turtle had been lonely in the mountains for decades and had long since developed spiritual wisdom. Humans treated it kindly and had food and drink, so it settled down and no longer missed life in the mountains.

As time passed, it accompanied its master to read, and became more and more intelligent.

One day, looking at its master holding a book and shaking his head to read, it suddenly spoke: "Master, why do you always hold a book and read, aren't you tired?"

The scholar was so surprised that his hand shook, the book fell to the ground, and it took a long time for him to come back to his senses. ===== CHAPTER 201 =====

One day, it watched him holding a book, shaking his head as he read, and suddenly spoke in human language: "Master, why do you always hold a book and read? Aren't you tired of it?"

The scholar was so startled that his hand shook, the book fell to the ground, and it took him a long time to recover.