Chapter 444

Although the east room was empty again because of Chen Xiyuan's departure, considering the large house, there were only the two of them tonight.

A Li still slept in the youth's room, while the youth continued to sleep in the great-grandfather's room.

In the middle of the night, A Li, lying on the bed, still had her eyes open.

"Hum!"

Under the bed in the east bedroom, the sword box opened, and that sword flew out, rushed straight up, uncovered the window, came to the second-floor room, and hung above the girl's head.

A Li looked at it.

The long sword moved downward slowly, emitting a trembling sound similar to a light hum; the bright moonlight refracted through it became even softer, and even the wind stirred up was as gentle as a swaying cattail fan.

Liu Yumei knew that Xiaoyuan had decided to take A Li out to walk the river.

She didn't know specifically when it would be, and wasn't sure if she would have returned from the Qinling Mountains by that day.

So when leaving, she deliberately left her own sword behind.

She, Liu Yumei, could be absent on this day, but her precious granddaughter couldn't lose the companionship and comfort of this night.

Under the "gaze" of her grandmother beside her, A Li slowly closed her eyes.

"Your shredded meat noodles."

"Okay, thank you."

Liu Changping took the noodles, stirred them a few times, and ate several mouthfuls in a row.

Then he picked up the small steamed buns in front of him, dipped them in vinegar, and sent them into his mouth.

Early in the morning, the sky was just getting light, and there was a bit of fog; on the street, it was beautiful and freezing.

The people who came here for breakfast exhaled air that was clearly a bit white, urgently needing the steaming heat here to do a little neutralization.

Another taxi stopped at the entrance of this breakfast shop; the driver got out of the car, took a look at the license plate of the taxi behind, asked the breakfast shop owner for wontons and buns, and sat down opposite Liu Changping.

"Brother, this car is yours."

"Hmm, yeah."

"Long distance from Jin Ling?"

"Right."

The driver asked Liu Changping for the price, and Liu Changping said a number.

"Hey, you lost out on this; even if it were a black car, this price isn't worth it."

"I happened to be coming to Nantong, so I just took one along the way."

"Oh, so that's it; hearing your accent, you're not a local, so your wife's family is from here?"

"Have a relative's family here."

Taxi drivers in various places have their own information circles, and Liu Changping paid special attention to those chartered cars from Jin Ling to Nantong.

When there was a suitable opportunity, he would drive from Jin Ling to Nantong and visit Old Man Li's house by the way.

The local driver's wontons were served, and the two continued to chat while eating.

Upon learning that Liu Changping was going to Shinan Town next, the local driver smiled and talked about a guest he had taken to Shinan Town not long ago, who was an old Daoist.

"......... Hahaha, say, isn't it funny? That old Dao's roundabout meaning was that as long as I gave him a discount on the fare or didn't charge him at all, I could immediately have smooth feelings, harmonious marriage, happy family, and everything going smoothly. This isn't bullshit!

Don't you think so, brother?"

Liu Changping: "Hehehehe."

Putting the last small steamed bun into his mouth, Liu Changping stood up to settle the bill with the breakfast shop owner and also settled the breakfast money for that local driver by the way.

On the way back to his own taxi, the local driver reached out and patted Liu Changping's arm:

"Thanks, brother!"

"You're welcome."

Liu Changping sat in the car, started the car, turned around, and headed to Shinan Town.

Arriving at the town, he continued to drive north, and after passing Shijia Bridge, he turned into the second village road entrance on the east side.

Liu Changping knew this route better than returning to his own home.

Because he had just moved recently.

He bought a new house and was renovating it; after it was renovated, it still had to be aired for quite a while.

Considering that the child would be born soon, and both parents would come to take care of them, he had to rent a larger house again.

Last time he came to Nantong, the car had just stopped when "Brother Xiaoyuan" and the others got in, asking him to rush back to Jin Ling at the fastest speed.

The final destination reached was a high-end residential area, which was rare in the surrounding area, and Liu Changping took note of it.

After returning and thinking about it, he came to this residential area again to ask if there were any houses for rent.

As expected, the rent price of this residential area was indeed very high.

But considering that it would take at least half a year before he could move into his new house, in order to let his wife and the child about to be born live more comfortably, Liu Changping still decided to rent.

Money was a bit tight, and the rent and deposit were borrowed from brothers in the taxi team, but when he took the money to the agency to sign the contract, he was told the rent price had changed.

The price was so low that Liu Changping thought his eyes had gone bad.

The agency told him the landlord didn't intend to rely on renting the house to make money, just wanted to find someone to live in and help raise the popularity, and cherish the house.

Liu Changping couldn't imagine that such a good thing would fall on him just like that, although over the past year or so, there hadn't been less of it.

However, before signing the contract, Liu Changping still specifically asked the agency if the landlord knew about his wife being pregnant and about to give birth, because many people had taboos about this, called "borrowing death but not borrowing birth," believing that if a tenant gave birth in their house, it would drain the family's descendants' breath.

The agency smiled and said that the whole unit building belonged to one landlord, and you couldn't finish using it even if you gave birth as much as you wanted.

Now, Liu Changping had settled his family here, and his mother had also come from his hometown to prepare to take care of the birth.

When he first told his wife the price, his wife didn't believe it, thinking it was because she hadn't agreed to rent such an expensive house before, so her husband was deliberately fooling her, until she saw the rental contract and went to ask the agency herself, she had to sigh happily: I don't know where you stepped on such good luck.

It wasn't until he saw Zhou Yunyun and Chen Lin walking in at the unit door once that Liu Changping knew where this good luck came from.

The taxi drove onto the dam.

Liu Changping got out of the car, opened the trunk, and took out the gifts inside.

Coming frequently, the gifts naturally couldn't be expensive; it was just to express his heart, and half of them were local specialties brought by his mother from his hometown.

"Hmm?"

Not seeing anyone on the first floor, Liu Changping was a bit strange; this family seemed exceptionally deserted this morning.

In the room on the second floor, A Li had put on her clothes.

Having seen A Li's ancient style, seeing A Li wear the expedition team style team uniform again really gave a different kind of feeling.

Li Zhuiyuan put a hat on A Li's head.

The girl grabbed the brim of the hat with one hand, smiling, looking at the youth.

At this moment, dignity and wildness achieved a perfect fusion in her.

"Let's go; the car is here."

The two carried their mountaineering bags, holding hands, and walked downstairs.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't know Liu Changping would come this morning, but he did indeed come at just the right time.

Originally, the youth didn't intend to take a plane; after all, he was going to Fengdu, and he had already greeted his "Master" in advance.

Flying in the sky was indeed faster, but it was also easier to be tampered with.

Although the youth felt his "Master" wouldn't go so far as to be insane enough to cause him a plane crash, making him return or force-land at a nearby airport was still easy.

Master Liu looked at the youth and the girl walking out, and then looked at their attire, and a premonition arose in his heart.

Liu Changping: "Go?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Go."

Liu Changping: "Now?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Now."

Liu Changping opened the car door: "Get in."

Li Zhuiyuan and A Li sat in the back seat, their mountaineering bags both placed under their feet.

Liu Changping put the gifts into the hall himself and then came back to start the car; after driving off the dam and onto the village road, he asked:

"Where to?"

"Fengdu."

"Seems to have heard of it."

"Over in Chuan-Yu."

Liu Changping's expression stiffened.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Inconvenient?"

Liu Changping shook his head: "No, wait until the front, I'll see if I can buy a map."

Getting on the provincial road, in a service area with many large trucks, Liu Changping stopped and bought the long-distance map he wanted.

By the way, he also made a call to his wife, telling her he was going on a long journey.

"Husband, our family actually doesn't have that much pressure; you don't have to work so hard to make money."

"It's the landlord."

"Husband, pay attention to safety."

The two laughed on the phone.

His wife asked again if it was a joke, and Liu Changping gave a confirmation reply: it was the landlord.

Returning to the car, he started driving on the road again.

Through the rearview mirror, Liu Changping saw the youth sitting there reading a book, while the girl kept looking at the scenery outside the car window.

After hesitating for a while, Liu Changping still opened his mouth to ask:

"Brother Xiaoyuan."

"Hmm?"

"That land... are you guys hungry? Shall we eat at the next service area?"

"You eat; we have some in our bags."

"Okay, okay."

Liu Changping still didn't intend to ask if the house was rented to him by Brother Xiaoyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan actually didn't know about this.

Tan Wenbin was asked to help rent out the house Liangliang had; the agency would communicate with Tan Wenbin about the tenant's information, and Tan Wenbin, knowing it was Liu Changping, waived the rent for him by the way.

Such a small matter didn't need to be mentioned to Brother Xiaoyuan.

Doing so wasn't considered being generous with others' property.

Liu Changping knew Xue Liangliang; that time in Nantong, he drove Xue Liangliang to the riverside, and when Liang-ge jumped into the river to find his wife, Liu Changping thought Liang-ge jumped into the river to commit suicide and even took Liang-ge's clothes from the shore and sat in the car crying.

Long-distance driving is a kind of torture for both the driver and the passengers.

A Li didn't show the slightest discomfort; when holding the youth's hand, the scenery outside the window was so fresh to her.

After dark, Liu Changping, who had driven for a whole day, said he could continue driving, but under Li Zhuiyuan's request, he still found a small town by the provincial road and opened two rooms in the hotel inside.

The room had a shower; Li Zhuiyuan washed first, adjusted the water temperature, and after the temperature inside was washed up, let the girl go in to wash.

When going out, everything is kept simple.

A Li came out after washing and sat on the chair; Li Zhuiyuan took a towel and helped her wipe her hair.

"It can only be like this for now; I'll comb your hair tomorrow morning."

A Li shook her head.

Meaning, she didn't think she needed to comb her hair tomorrow morning.

She wouldn't allow her past living habits to become a burden at this time.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Under permissible conditions, you can make yourself more comfortable."

The girl still didn't think there was any need for this.

Li Zhuiyuan: "After I see it, I can also be more comfortable."

Standard room, one bed for each person.

Li Zhuiyuan turned off the light.

The girl lying on the bed turned her head, looking at the boy on the next bed; the starlight outside shone with her eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Good night."

A Li closed her eyes.

In the first half of the night, occasional noisy sounds came from the hotel, and after the night deepened, everything returned to quiet.

But when the clock crossed midnight, the girl sat up from the bed.

On the next bed, Li Zhuiyuan also opened his eyes.

"Creak..."

The room door was pushed open, Li Zhuiyuan walked out of the room, and A Li followed behind.

The two had been sleeping in their clothes, so getting out of bed and going out was very simple.

In the next room, Liu Changping, who had driven long-distance for a whole day, snored loudly.

Li Zhuiyuan and A Li walked to the end of the corridor, went upstairs, and came to the rooftop of this long-strip hotel.

Behind the hotel, there was a graveyard, with tombstone after tombstone standing.

Nantong is popular for making tombstones into building miniatures, which makes people inevitably shudder when passing by at night;

The tombstones here were all normal, so normal that beside every tombstone stood a translucent white figure.

Old people were the majority, but there was no lack of young ones, and there was even the crying of young children.

They stood there, their figures swaying back and forth constantly, and the clear night sky above their heads was also covered by dark clouds, and the dog barking that would occasionally come from the town at night also fell silent at this time.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that this might be a probe from Fengdu.

It wasn't strong, after all, it was just a graveyard in an ordinary town, and it was impossible to nurture any great evil.

Moreover, people buried here were gradually dissipating in peace, and Li Zhuiyuan had no interest in clearing out all these graves just because the other party disturbed his sleep.

The most critical thing was who had stirred them up.

A Li raised her hand and pointed to the hillside behind the graveyard.

Even at such a distance, the feng shui qi still gathered rapidly toward there under the girl's fingertip control.

Seven figures of women in red clothes gradually appeared.

They had pale skin, carried cracks, and black blood overflowed from the corners of their eyes and mouths, and each of them had chains tied to their feet, strung together.

This is a standard burial evil; they were all former martyrs, implying continuing to serve the tomb owner after death.

After they revealed their figures, a sedan chair appeared behind, with a crowd of paper-made servants lifting it in front and back.

The one in the sedan chair should be the mastermind.

The sedan curtain was lifted, revealing a face that had been stitched and patched, with rich corpse qi overflowing from every stitch.

In the sedan chair, it wasn't a ghost, but a corpse.

It wasn't a dead-fall, nor a zombie, but a corpse fetus.

In Daoist classics, a corpse fetus is a special existence; it possesses higher spirituality and plasticity and can continue to practice in new ways.

In fact, in strange stories, many mountain gods and land gods had these things as their predecessors, constantly washing away their own corpse qi with human merit, hoping to shed their shackles and become immortals one day.

But the one in the sedan chair in front of him had clearly taken the wrong path; her obsession not only didn't dissipate but became deeper and deeper.

Deeply trapped in the pursuit of her own beauty, she pasted one human skin after another onto her face, but the corpse skin with resentment before death was hard to maintain for long, and she could only cover it layer after layer; by now, she had become this ghostly appearance.

These seven red-clothed women under her had also become evils, even fiercer than vengeful ghosts.

The sedan chair occupant's lair definitely wasn't here; she had come specifically.

The decree of the Great Emperor of Fengdu must be responded to by all ghosts in the world.

The residual shadows of the deceased in the graveyard intensified their swaying, creating an even more intense ghostly atmosphere, and the seven red-clothed female evils gradually walked toward the hotel, accompanied by the sound of iron chains colliding during their march.

In the sedan chair behind, the woman lowered the sedan curtain, as if she didn't want to look anymore.

She was very confident.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't know where her confidence came from.

She should really not know who exactly she was dealing with by running here from her lair tonight.

Last time he went to Fengdu, he encountered Ghost Commanders, Ghost Generals, and Ghost Judges on the way, and even Yama took the opportunity to make a move.

Although after Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva entered Fengdu last time, hell suffered a cleansing, but there are so many people in the world, and even more ghosts.

Furthermore, with Zhao Yi and Gao Yi, mobilizing Zhao family personnel to actively support the grassroots construction of hell.

It had been so long, and the vacancies of Fengdu ghost officials must have been filled long ago.

But this time, they didn't appear, but instead let a corpse fetus with evil qi from a nearby hillside appear full of confidence.

Was it because they didn't want to steal the limelight?

Definitely not.

Because Li Zhuiyuan was no longer the youth who went to Fengdu last time.

One is master, one is disciple; one is the Great Emperor of Fengdu, one is the Young Lord of Fengdu.

No matter how much you guys fight, in the end, you will likely suddenly make up again; then how should the people below stand in line, and how dare they stand in line?

In Nantong dialect, describing someone as shrewd and calculating is called "ghost-shrewd ghost-shrewd."

These Yin Office ghost officials are exactly as the literal meaning.

Li Zhuiyuan spread his right hand, and the evil flood dragon appeared.

As soon as the evil flood dragon's aura was revealed, on the hillside in the distance, the sedan curtain was lifted again, and the woman in it revealed shock in her eyes.

She couldn't see the specialness of Li Zhuiyuan and A Li, only feeling they were two children with sharp spiritual perception and at most a little Daoist practice, but she could clearly feel the ferocity of the evil flood dragon.

But Li Zhuiyuan calling the evil flood dragon out wasn't to target her; she wasn't worthy at all.

The evil flood dragon spiraled up from the youth's palm and then darted out, crashing into an area, and a ghost official revealed his true form.

The ghost official knelt on the ground, with a bright yellow scroll tied to his waist, the evil flood dragon coiled around the ghost official's body, its bloody mouth wide open toward the ghost official's head.

Only waiting for Li Zhuiyuan's signal, it could instantly swallow this ghost official.

The ghost official didn't dare to resist, his forehead pressed against the ground, his official hat rolling to the ground.

Sending such a low-level ghost official—no, it shouldn't be called an official but a clerk; this guy, so unlucky even as a ghost, so excluded.

Li Zhuiyuan raised his hand, the evil flood dragon loosened the ghost official under its body and flew back to the youth's palm.

The ghost official picked up his hat, put it back on, and then kept kowtowing to Li Zhuiyuan on the roof to thank him for his kindness.

Just a clerk here to proclaim a decree; Li Zhuiyuan didn't intend to make things difficult for him; keeping him was also to convey a message to those ghost officials that this was indeed a "private grudge" between himself and the Great Emperor, so everyone shouldn't make things difficult for each other.

At this time, the seven red-clothed female evils had walked to the front of the graveyard; they collectively raised their heads, looking at the youth and girl above, their hair scattered in all directions, the yin wind swept, and they opened their mouths, about to emit a sharp whistle.

A Li raised her hand toward them, and in the girl's eyes, all kinds of intimidation and curses from the dreams of the past flowed.

The seven red-clothed female evils collectively lost their voices at this moment.

The girl's palm closed, and they closed their mouths instantly.

On the hillside in the distance, the sedan chair landed, and the woman walked out of it, looking at this scene in disbelief.

On the hotel rooftop, Li Zhuiyuan revealed a smile.

He thought of when the cat-faced old lady came to his house to borrow a place to hold a birthday banquet, he was trembling and walking on thin ice while taking A Li to hide in the banquet.

In fact, at that time, A Li was just watching him perform very devotedly. ===== CHAPTER 445 =====