Chapter 265: Found It

April Pure Brightness.

In the northern Jilu Province of the Ming Song Kingdom, the weather that had been gradually warming began another cold snap under continuous drizzling rain.

Located in the southeast of this province, within Yanxi Commandery, bordering Mengshan and Chi Hai, is Shanhai County, the most remote.

The county town's walls are less than two zhang high, and the gate is no wider than nine chi.

A few fat jackets, patched up, with the character 'Soldier' written on the chest, hid the City Gate Guard soldiers in the doorway.

They curled up listlessly.

Only by occasionally stomping their feet hard, shaking their qi and blood, could they generate a bit of warmth.

The leader of this group of soldiers was a man in his forties.

He wore leather armor unlike the others, and his build was rugged.

But the wet leather, soaked with cold water, clung to his body with a bone‑deep chill.

He gritted his teeth and muttered, "Let's get out of this broken gate, move our legs a bit, it's raining.

Staying hidden inside does nothing; this cross‑draft will kill a person.

This damned Pure Brightness, will we die or not!"

"Eeya, Zhao Chengtou, you really are audacious."

On a day of 'Earth Things Transform and Generate', you still dare to speak recklessly; beware of breaking taboos.

"Roll your balls, Jia Xiaosheng, don't flaunt your scholar status, and stop babbling about 'Earth Things Transform and Generate'."

Speaking so mystically, it's really just a 'Summoning Ghosts' day.

One must burn joss paper and worship ancestors.

Besides, you've only lived a dozen years; what does actually seeing a ghost look like?

A skinny, sharp‑mouthed, monkey‑faced youth, apparently displeased with his refined, handsome companion beside him, stuck out his mouth and said.

He stopped mid‑sentence.

His eyes fixed on a figure a hundred steps away, stumbling through the misty rain, whose body trembled like sifted chaff.

The Zhao Tou beside him, seeing this, stepped half a pace forward, tilted the skinny monkey youth's head with his hand, and whispered orders to all his subordinates,

"Don't look at him, everyone listen, do not look at him."

The soldiers, hearing their leader's command, each turned their heads aside like ostriches.

But listening to superiors is the habit of yamen officials; from top to bottom it is the same.

Yet in this situation, saying anyone's heart is beating like drums is unrealistic.

The skinny monkey‑like youth snapped back to his senses and, the first to speak, trembled and said:

"Zhao Tou, if we don't look at it, that thing will still be watching us as we come."

"This, this is of no use."

"Better we slip away, make a quick getaway."

"Ding Qi Ya, death can be as light as a feather or as heavy as Mount Tai!"

We, as City Gate Guard, bear the duty of protecting the home and the city.

When faced with a specter, you open the gate and flee; do you still have any shred of modesty left?

Hmph, haven't you always despised me, who lives on three meals a day of mixed noodles, fried beans, simmered shrimp and cabbage, abandoning any pretension.

Did you surpass Uncle's 'Luobo Pit' scholar Jia?

How come now you're even less brave than a scholar like me.

Isn't this utterly ridiculous, hahaha, truly laughable to the extreme!

"I, I, I, I"

A soldier's fare is the blood‑licked meal on a blade; lose your courage and have someone's spittle sprayed on your face, you deserve it.

"Ding Qi Ya, you heard what Jia Xiaosheng said, right?"

The Seven Foot Silk Cord Spear gripped in hand is no joke.

You truly think that nowadays everyone eats and drinks daily, all thanks to the blessings left by ancestors.

That's truly heartless.

But there's no need to be so afraid.

The few of them chattered for so long, yet the staggering figure a hundred steps away, whose neck was half torn open with fungi sprouting from the wound, only came halfway.

After waiting a while longer, Zhao Tou finally 'lifted the lid' and said:

"Now is the era of 'Chaos Era Humans Worse Than Dogs', and from time to time people become extinct."

Without descendants to worship, dead ghosts increase.

During Pure Brightness Festival, a few 'Earth Ghosts' burst out of the ground—completely normal.

Approach, and with the city's surge of human energy, a single spear can pin it down.

But you must not stare too long, lest you become possessed.

When I previously went to Mengshan to suppress bandits, every veteran in the ranks knew these 'Ghost Paths'.

Remember what I'm saying now, for the future.

"Help, save me, help, I, I am, from the Compassionate People Society, the Xuanwu Hall Jin Hai, Hai Guard, help, help."

At this moment, the staggering dead ghost finally came close.

From its mouth came a faint, audible cry.

Because its neck was severed, its throat whistled sharply, truly unlike a human voice.

The seasoned Zhao Tou was stunned, eyes wide, for a moment.

But at this point, the usually most timid Ding Qi Ya suddenly became unafraid.

He lived nineteen years and served three years as a city gate soldier.

The person he admired most was the Zhao Tou beside him, who was nicknamed, "Spent half a life entering mountains and exiting seas, personally slayed over twenty bandits and two big bandit chiefs, and exchanged that for a Ninth Rank Official."

He firmly believed that since Zhao Tou just said it was fine, it was naturally fine.

"During the Pure Brightness Festival, an Earth Ghost emerged. Approached normally. A surge of vigor. One shot. Bagged and fell."

Recalling Zhao Tou's words to steel himself, Ding Qi Ya gripped tightly the red corded gun in his hand,

"Just now I lost a lot of face in front of Jia Xiaosheng, the rumor spread, and I'll never be able to lift my head again for life.

Not to mention fighting him over a tiny pearl; even taking a loud gasp and saying a word is hard, so this face must be reclaimed!"

"All in, all in!"

"Zhao Tou already said it's just a one‑shot matter, so go all in!"

The spittle in his mouth dried without him noticing, yet he cared not and clenched his teeth.

His head snapped upright, his eyes widened, bloodshot.

He stared blankly at the staggering dead ghost in the rain, its brows already clearly visible.

He surged forward, shouting, "Kill!"

He thrust the corded gun he held tightly straight out, hitting the staggering dead ghost's skull with pinpoint accuracy.

If it were a normal human skull, its extremely hard cranium would resist hammer blows and axe chops but not fear knives or spears, and would surely slip into the eye socket.

But this time the gun tip passed smoothly through the skull.

The sound it made was like a muffled 'puff' penetrating rotten wood.

"You, you, Ding Qi Ya, what are you doing?"

Behind him, Zhao Tou stared at the 'going mad' Ding Qi Ya's back, stammering.

Ding Qi Ya mustered all his strength to brace his gun.

He fixed his gaze on the dead ghost on the gun's tip, trembling like a 'live fish hooked and hauled ashore', stammering:

"I, I bagged him in an instant."

"Zhao Tou, I followed the method you taught, a surge of vigor, and bagged this Earth Ghost in an instant!"

"Hey, you brat, your Earth Ghost even shouts for help!"

Zhao Tou, hearing that, stepped forward a few paces and slapped the back of Ding Qi Ya's head hard.

He snatched the corded gun from his hand, shook it violently, and flung the previously feigned dead ghost, now a real corpse head, several yards away.

It fell into the hidden ditch of the moat.

On High Hill, thousands of steps away.

Zhang Gui, clad in a raincoat, held a Monocular Telescope whose lens was ground from transparent, colorless crystal.

Watching the scene at Shanhai Xiancheng's gate, he laughed and said:

"Got it, found them."

Ninety‑nine percent of those human traffickers from the 'Charity Society' are hiding inside the county city.

Deploying the Jin Hai Guard as scouts will definitely be a 'big fish'.

"Thirty, let's go meet them."

(End of Chapter)