Inside Pingjiang City

After hearing Xie Lingchuan's words, Zhu Lianqing felt some strange emotion flash through her heart, but it vanished so quickly that she caught nothing of it.

Xie Lingchuan took two steps forward, moving ahead of everyone.

"Let's go."

The others followed, but Zhu Lianqing lingered where she stood for a few seconds.

She touched the spot on her wrist where the mark had vanished and watched Xie Lingchuan's retreating figure.

It seemed that from now on, even minor injuries she thought nothing of had better not appear on her body.

As they approached, the mottled old marks on Pingjiang City's gates grew clearer. The crusted brown rust on them inevitably brought bloodstains to mind.

Hundreds of years ago, a malevolent ghost had slaughtered the city, leaving not a single person in Pingjiang City alive. Later, the books recorded it in only a few sparse lines.

Yet the words "blood flowed for days without stopping" in those sparse lines were enough to give a glimpse of the devastation here.

Xie Lingchuan pushed the half-open city gates apart with spiritual energy, and a heavy, dull sound echoed through the deathly still air.

As they stepped into the city, all of them involuntarily faltered.

Though the traces of destruction were plain at a glance, the tightly packed shops and stalls lining the streets, along with the lanterns and banners hanging high above, offered a glimpse of the flourishing scene here a hundred years ago.

Zhu Lianqing looked at the ruined houses on either side of the street. Crusted rust stains marked the walls, along with rows of sword scars like fish scales.

At a glance, sword scars covered not only the walls but also the stone paving underfoot, dense and countless.

Jiang Tingxue scraped her sole over the uneven sword scars in the ground and said dazedly, "The fighting here back then... must have been horribly brutal."

"Yes," Shen Ji said. "I heard that many cultivators who came to reinforce the city died back then. The Moon-Gazing Sect was the immortal sect stationed here, and it suffered the heaviest casualties."

"Just how powerful was that ghost? Even with so many cultivators coming to reinforce this place, it still managed to slaughter an entire city." As Song Wensheng spoke, a chill crept up his spine.

They walked together along Pingjiang City's main thoroughfare. After rounding a street corner, they suddenly realized that the sword scars on either side of the street had vanished.

Not only that, even the scenes along the roadside had come to life.

Steaming baskets of buns, fish leaping about in the fish shop's water tanks, freshly served tea still steaming on the tables outside a teahouse...

The bustling splendor of Pingjiang City hundreds of years ago had reappeared, as though the street had been full of passing pedestrians just a second earlier.

"Something's wrong," Xie Lingchuan said warily.

Zhu Lianqing surveyed their surroundings. "Everything around us is different from before. I'm afraid we've entered an illusion."

"If there are ghosts here, they'd better hurry up and come out. Seeing a steaming bun shop in a city abandoned for a hundred years is even scarier than seeing a ghost." Song Wensheng rubbed the goose bumps on his skin.

"It is strange in here," Shen Ji said. "I thought we'd find malevolent ghosts roaming the streets, not an illusion."

Zhu Lianqing thought for a moment, then said, "They abducted Mingzhu without hurting her because they wanted to lure people here. It looks like we have no choice but to take a look at this illusion."

Xie Lingchuan rested his hand on his sword hilt and continued to lead the way.

The deeper they went into the city, the more stalls lined the streets, but strangely, neither people nor ghosts were anywhere to be seen.

"Look, what's that!" Jiang Tingxue, whose eyes were the sharpest, pointed at a row of red objects in the distance and called out.

They followed her pointing finger. The red objects swayed slowly, half-hidden in the mist.

"They're lanterns, just like the ones hung at the Liu residence on the day Miss Mingzhu got married!"

"Perhaps we'll find some trace of Miss Mingzhu there. Let's take a look."

They headed toward the lanterns, and as they walked, sounds gradually began to linger around their ears.

"Don't you think these sounds are familiar?" Song Wensheng asked.

"There's cheering, gongs and drums, and firecrackers... It sounds just like Mingzhu's wedding ceremony earlier today!"

As they spoke, they reached the place where the red lanterns hung.

It was a residence even grander and more imposing than the Liu residence. The red lanterns they had seen swayed beneath its corner eaves.

The residence's gates stood wide open, and the people inside packed the courtyard so tightly that not even water could pass through.

The cheering they had heard earlier came from within.

"Today is the joyous wedding day of our He family's eldest young lady, He Lan'er! Whether we know you or not, as long as you come to congratulate our young lady, there's celebration money for everyone!"

"Wonderful!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, and the decorated drums tied with red silk in the courtyard boomed.

Zhu Lianqing and the others stood outside the residence, watching this utterly eerie scene.

Someone was actually getting married in a city that had been slaughtered to the last person a hundred years ago.

Suddenly, someone came up from behind and knocked Song Wensheng aside.

"Move, move! If you're not going in, don't block the way! I'm going in to offer congratulations and collect my celebration money!"

"Ow!" Song Wensheng grimaced from the impact and reached out to clamp a hand on the man's shoulder. "Can't you ask nicely for me to move? You nearly knocked me to pieces!"

When the man turned around, everyone sucked in a cold breath.

Two bloody holes without eyeballs were set in his face, his throat had been slit, and his entire head was attached to his body by only a single splintered white bone.

Song Wensheng screamed in fright and hurriedly snatched his hand off the man's shoulder.

Yet that slight movement was enough for the man's head to lose its last support and tumble off, rolling away.

"Damn it! Why am I always the unlucky one!"

Song Wensheng backed away again and again, but the skull rolled after his feet as though a vengeful spirit had taken hold of it.

Shen Ji plunged his sword into the ground, blocking the skull's path.

With sword qi barring its way, the head stopped.

Still shaken, Song Wensheng patted his chest. "Eldest Senior Brother, why not shatter it with your sword?"

Shen Ji shook his head. "The people here died at the hands of a malevolent ghost. Most are likely vengeful spirits. Vengeful spirits need to be delivered from their suffering. Slaying them by force would only increase the resentment and baleful energy here."

"The ghosts here can leave to abduct people, which means the seal has already loosened," Xie Lingchuan said. "If the baleful energy increases any further, that malevolent ghost might emerge. Everyone, unless there's absolutely no other choice, don't draw your swords."

Jiang Tingxue nodded thoughtfully. "Deliver them? But how can we do that?"

Zhu Lianqing gave a helpless smile. "When this malevolent ghost first emerged, her resentment already soared to the heavens. With the slaughter of the entire city, that resentment grew even stronger. Now that she's been suppressed for hundreds of years, I'm afraid delivering her is no longer possible."

"Then doesn't that mean we can only keep suppressing her, sealing her here for generations to come?"

Zhu Lianqing nodded. "Probably. As the saying goes, every grievance has its culprit, and every debt its debtor. For a malevolent ghost from hundreds of years ago, even the debtor's grandson is probably dead. How could the debt still be repaid?"

Jiang Tingxue lowered her head and sighed. Suddenly, she sensed something wrong within her field of vision.

Earlier, the people in the He residence's courtyard had all had their backs to them, looking toward the wedding hall.

Now, the densely packed toes in her field of vision were pointing straight at her.

Jiang Tingxue raised her head numbly. At some point, everyone in the courtyard had turned around.

Countless bloody eye sockets faced them, their mouths muttering.

"Bridegroom... bride..."

Though Zhu Lianqing was accustomed to all manner of ghosts and monsters, the sight before her still made her hair stand on end.

The people in the courtyard had begun walking toward them in unison.

They rested their hands on their sword hilts, but none of them drew rashly.