Crossing the Sea Under Camouflage

"Ah!!!"

Caught off guard, the old man was doused in cinnabar, his eyes instantly burning with a searing pain. He instinctively covered his eyes.

It was at this moment that the broken blade in Xu Tong's hand had already deeply pierced the old man's abdomen, the broken blade driven in up to the hilt.

He had predicted that Fatty Li was unreliable and would definitely call him out at the critical moment. Moreover, Fatty's habitual address of "Brother Xu" during this period was also very misleading.

The light in the room was too poor, and there were no conditions for hiding at will. It was such a small space, and there was the precedent of Li Bo acting as a paper figure.

If he were the old man, the first thing he would think of would be either the bridegroom or another paper figure.

So he hid in a place the old man would never expect.

He twisted his hands, "Pfft!!" Instantly, blood splattered from the old man's abdomen. The old man's lips trembled, and he endured the discomfort in his eyes, striking back with a punch.

However, this punch missed. Xu Tong bent down, spread his arms, and lunged into the old man's embrace, headbutting him out the door.

"Get lost!"

After rolling on the ground, the old man used a move called "Rabbit Kicks the Eagle" to send Xu Tong flying.

"What is this? Cinnabar!!"

He endured the stinging pain in his eyes and opened his eyelids to get a closer look. His eyebrows twitched. He looked at Xu Tong, who was getting up from the ground, and Fatty, who was walking out of the room. A sinister grin slowly spread across his lips: "On the mountain path, is it a bright horse from Black Skin, or a shoe-shiner from the underworld?"

"???"

Li Bo was stunned and looked at Xu Bo blankly: "Brother Xu, what does this old guy mean??"

He shook his head: "It's probably slang."

Seeing that neither of them responded, the old man's smile became even more ferocious: "So you're two greenhorns, daring to try and break into your Master Li's mountain gate pass."

"Go to hell with your mountain gate pass! I've only heard of Shan Hai Pass. Old man, if you know what's good for you, just lie down. I won't bother with you."

Li Bo cursed fiercely, but he was very weak inside. The burning pain on his chest from the old man's whip had left him with torn skin and flesh. Just standing was a struggle.

If the old man hadn't been doused in cinnabar and severely stabbed by Xu Tong, he would have already been unable to resist and fled.

"With you two?"

The old man put his hand to his waist and his smile froze. He looked down and saw that the bell that had been hanging at his waist was gone.

"Jingle bells..."

With the sound of the bell, the old man looked up and saw that his bell was in Xu Tong's hand.

"This is what you're looking for, right!"

He looked at the bell. It was an artifact from an unknown era, with many small scratches. It was carved with a complete Purgatory Illustration, which looked terrifying in the moonlight.

"Don't move!!"

Seeing that the bell had fallen into Xu Tong's hands, the old man quickly said, "Young man, don't mess around. Give me the bell, and tonight's events will be as if they never happened. I'll give you a box of gold bars, and you can leave."

"Believe you, you old ghost! If you had a box of gold bars, would you be hiding in this place??"

Li Bo pouted, looking disbelieving.

The old man didn't argue. He clutched his injured abdomen, walked to a chicken coop, and casually pushed it aside. He pulled out a small wooden box covered in chicken droppings from underneath.

He casually threw it in front of the two of them.

"Bang!"

The box hit the ground and shattered, and gold bars rolled out.

"No matter who you are, we have no deep hatred. This money is enough for you to live a life of luxury. Take the money and leave."

Looking at the gleaming gold bars, Li Bo was stunned. He picked one up and bit it hard. After confirming it wasn't chocolate or a paper wad, Li Bo's breathing quickened.

If the old man had just said a number, Li Bo might not have thought much of it, but these were real gold bars.

Each one weighed at least a pound. If he took this back... that would be over a hundred thousand!

A rough calculation shocked him. If he took this box of gold back, he wouldn't have to worry about food and drink for the rest of his life.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted. However, he glanced at Xu Tong and saw that he wasn't even looking at the gold. He swallowed the words that were about to come out.

Li Bo silently stuffed the gold bars into his pocket and asked the old man, "You care so much about this bell, what's it for?"

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. Take the money and leave quickly!"

The old man didn't have the patience to explain. His eyes were fixed on the bell in Xu Tong's hand, urging them to hand it over immediately.

Xu Tong squinted at the old man, then at the bell in his hand, and narrowed his eyes: "Alright, here you go!"

With that, he waved and threw the bell.

"No!!"

Seeing Xu Tong's action, a dark figure finally couldn't help but rush out of the darkness, grabbing the bell before the old man could.

"Zhong Nan!!!"

Seeing the figure rush out, the old man's eyes widened in disbelief. All his confusion was instantly resolved.

His 'Mountain-Back Matron' was broken, and he was doused in cinnabar. He couldn't understand how these two greenhorns had managed it.

Now he understood.

Watching Zhong Nan take the bell, the old man sat down on the ground. His already aged face seemed to wither further: "You finally couldn't hold back."

"Couldn't hold back!"

Zhong Nan froze, slowly turning to face the old man. His face seemed to be smiling and crying at the same time, his features contorted.

"You abandoned me here for thirty-eight years. You made me neither human nor ghost for so long. You owe me, this is what you owe me!!"

Zhong Nan grew more agitated, his demeanor even bordering on madness: "If it weren't for you back then, my mother wouldn't have died. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have ended up like this today. Thirty-eight years, I've had enough. I don't want to spend another moment in this damned place!"

He pointed at the old man, stomping his feet and waving his arms as he screamed, as if to unleash all the words suppressed in his heart for so many years.

"Is this guy... crazy??"

Li Bo looked bewildered, not understanding what had suddenly gotten into Zhong Nan. He turned to look at Xu Tong, wanting to gauge his reaction.

But when he turned back, he saw Xu Tong had somehow found a small stool and was holding a large handful of peanuts, watching with great interest.

Li Bo: "???"

Perhaps feeling a bit awkward under Li Bo's strange gaze, Xu Tong stood up with a helpless expression and walked over to him, silently pulling a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket.

Seeing the seeds stuffed into his hand, Li Bo froze: "Where did you get sunflower seeds??"

"Stuffed in the new bride's clothes. Make do with them."

Xu Tong casually popped a red date into his mouth, but his eyes never left Zhong Nan. He watched him lose control and vent his emotions, observing his every move with the seriousness of a model student in class.

Li Bo stared blankly for a long time before finally realizing this wasn't about sunflower seeds: "No, I mean... munch munch munch!!"

As soon as he spoke, Xu Tong shoved another handful of peanuts into his mouth: "Don't talk, just watch."

Li Bo chewed with a bitter expression, and suddenly his teeth ached as he bit down on something hard and brittle. Just as he was about to spit it out, he heard Xu Tong's voice: "Hold it in!"

Not knowing what it was, Li Bo didn't dare spit it out and obediently held it in his mouth.

By this time, Zhong Nan's emotions had gradually stabilized. Looking at the old man's tear-filled, swollen eyes, he finally couldn't bring himself to say more.

With a long sigh, he rubbed his face, trying his best to put on a smile as he turned back to Xu Tong and Li Bo. To his surprise, he saw that both of them were eating.

Zhong Nan was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained his composure and continued, "Regardless, thank you. Do me one more favor."

"Zhong Nan!!"

The old man looked up, his red and swollen eyes now brimming with tears: "Zhong Nan, you can't leave. Tomorrow is the Ghost Festival. Give these wandering souls to those Ghost Overlords, and you can be reborn!!"

He tried to stand up, but Xu Tong's earlier stab was deep, and the blood flowed uncontrollably. He had had strength moments ago, but now he couldn't even stand, only patting his thigh with force: "Dad won't harm you, Dad won't harm you! What kind of father would harm his son?"

"Dad?? Wasn't he your uncle??"

Li Bo unconsciously crunched on sunflower seeds, finding the situation increasingly confusing.

"Look at the bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen, and you'll know they're not just uncle and nephew."

Xu Tong pointed to the kitchen. Since entering the courtyard, he had noticed the bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen were one large and one small. There was a chicken coop, a water vat, and sacks of rice and flour, clearly indicating the old man lived here.

But he was alone, so why would he need two sets of bowls and chopsticks? It meant someone lived with him, even if that person wasn't alive.

Zhong Nan looked at the fires rekindled at the edge of the village and shook his head.

"Dad, do you really believe in that so-called Ghost Overlord? I don't. You've offered him so many wandering souls over the years. If he truly had the power, he would have agreed to your request long ago. I don't believe in him. I want to fight for myself."

The old man's expression changed drastically when he noticed the firelight. He turned to see that the fires that had been extinguished in the village had reignited, and this time, fires were breaking out everywhere.

"How..."

In his astonishment, a pig ran into the village carrying a torch in its mouth. He immediately recognized the pig as Zhang Hao, whose soul he had lured away.

Seeing everything he had painstakingly built over the years about to be reduced to ashes, the old man's eyes turned red.

"You are courting death!!"

He angrily pointed at Xu Tong: "Do you think he will let you go? You can't even deceive the heavens, how can you deceive the heavens? You will all die!"

As he spoke, he didn't forget to point at the pig on the ground: "You too!"

Zhang Hao's limbs stiffened, and he looked at Zhong Nan as if struck by lightning.

Seeing that his father had exposed his intentions, Zhong Nan no longer saw the need to hide. He clapped his hands.

A rustling sound came from the room, and a bare paper figure walked out, its stiff body seeming as if it might collapse with every step.

Wasn't this the paper figure possessed by Zhou Yu?

"I want to use a ghost marriage to pave my way and leave here. You guys help me again, just one more time."

Zhong Nan looked at Xu Tong, who was sitting there peeling peanuts, his expression unmoving. He couldn't help but frown and raise the bell in his hand: "Don't blame me. I'll apologize to you in the Yellow Springs Underworld."

With that, he vigorously shook the bell in his hand. However, after two shakes, the bell didn't ring.

"Huh??"

Confused, he picked up the bell and looked at it. The dangler inside was gone...