Prelude to a Century, Night in Guangling

Chicken farm on the outskirts of the city.

The owners, a husband and wife, haven't gone home yet, even though it's dark. They've left all the lights on in the chicken farm, ready to slaughter the chickens as soon as customers choose them.

In chicken farms, there are always fewer roosters than hens.

If it is a broiler chicken, the male-to-female ratio is approximately one to eight or higher.

If it's laying hens, the male-to-female ratio can be as high as one to twenty.

A lot of people came today, some in tricycles, some on motorcycles, and even some in cars, but they all wanted to buy roosters.

They wanted the oldest chickens, and when they slaughtered them, they would collect the blood, immediately take it to their side, pour it into another container, and mix it with something else, I don't know.

This chicken farm is not large, and the owners are a couple who are usually honest and not particularly cheerful, outgoing, or nosy.

But seeing the strange, knowing looks on the faces of the other guests, the couple became a little uneasy.

It doesn't seem like these people are planning to gather for anything.

They didn't come together, and they left separately.

The last person to buy chicken was a Great Han walked over.

He had a buzz cut and looked to be quite old. He was very fit and didn't look bulky even in a down jacket.

The snowflakes melted into water as soon as they touched his head, which he casually wiped away, revealing him to be a very energetic person.

After asking the price of the rooster, he muttered something to himself before taking out his money.

A wad of old banknotes, with one dollar denomination still inside.

An old man riding a tricycle nearby had already mixed the chicken blood, tossed the chicken into the tricycle, put on his helmet, then pushed the mask up and shouted, "Ma Dengwan?"

"Uncle Nan."

The burly man leaned closer in surprise, "Are you buying chicken or blood?"

Uncle Nan laughed and said, "I've got everything ready: cinnabar, medicinal powder, blood. I'll take the chicken back too, so my daughter-in-law can stew it for my Sunzi."

Ma Dengwan whispered, "Uncle Nan, are you also investigating the Ghost Market? Your family owns several fruit shops; you're well-off and can live a comfortable life. Why get involved in this mess?"

Uncle Nan chuckled, "My Laozi and I were all rescued by Brother Yuan back then. If I refused when he called, would I even be human?"

"Besides, my children and grandchildren are all blessed with their own lives, so this old man can do whatever he wants!"

Ma Dengwan gave a thumbs-up. "Uncle Nan is a real man, so dashing."

Uncle Nan laughed and said, "Your wife's wonton shop is doing quite well, so you're not that short of money, are you?"

Ma Dengwan casually said, "Taking her money isn't comfortable. I'll see if I can make some extra money myself."

Uncle Nan laughed heartily, waved his hand, turned the car around, and slowly drove away.

Ma Dengwan was a little distracted; the smile on his face faded, and he forgot to wipe the snow off his head.

He couldn't explain why he was willing to take on the job at the Golden Saber Martial Arts School.

It definitely wasn't for a side income.

Although his salary wasn't much, he didn't have many expenses on a regular basis.

My wife is a really good woman, with no bad habits. My son is all grown up now and doesn't pester me to buy him toys anymore.

He himself developed good living habits during his more than ten years in prison, and in the years since his release, he hasn't even smoked cigarettes, let alone anything else.

Life is so good now.

They've grown up to be the kind of person Ma Dengwan would have envied when he was a child.

But he just didn't feel right.

When he was a child, his family was poor. Strong, idle men would bully his family, and those educated intellectuals also looked down on his family.

His parents wanted to send him to school, but they didn't have the connections. When he got a little older, he became determined to learn how to fight and was chosen by his older brother, who taught him martial arts.

Those were days when he felt particularly happy; the idlers could no longer beat him.

Intellectuals, despite their apparent status, reveal their cowardice and uselessness when slightly intimidated.

The brothers are all loyal; since their eldest brother treats them well, they follow him.

But later, when the eldest brother went to jail, all of them became prisoners as well.

Ma Dengwan was sentenced to fifteen years and was released after serving fourteen years.

Of his closest brothers, some are still in prison, some have gone to other places, and one even went to a martial arts school and became a teacher.

As the old saying goes, things change, but people change too.

But when he came out, he found that the entire Guangling was different from before.

Few places remain exactly as they were when I first met them.

My wife is getting older, and my son is all grown up.

That was in the same year he went to jail.

On July 1st of that year, the concept of nine-year compulsory education was introduced.

Even though his wife managed the household alone, she still managed to get their son into school.

The little girl, Xiangxiang, has also become a stinky intellectual... Hey, she looks so knowledgeable.

But these days always make him feel that something is not as good as it used to be.

Ma Dengwan came to his senses, took the bowl of chicken blood, took out a plastic bag of cinnabar, poured the chicken blood into it, tied the bag, and rubbed it through the plastic bag.

Looking back towards the city, he felt a small sense of anticipation.

Ghost Market! That's a really distant concept; I wonder if I'll actually stumble upon any clues.

Ma Dengwan sent the chickens home, then came out again with cinnabar in their pockets.

Recalling some places in the city that were supposedly less crowded, he decided to take a stroll and check them out first.

The streets were piled with snow, and the shops on both sides were closed. Some families lived in their shops, but their lights were still on.

Different types of lights produce different levels of brightness.

The streetlights are all the same, but several of them are broken and no one has come to fix them recently.

Ma Dengwan pondered, wondering how this could possibly be related to the Ghost Market, and looked around.

The bright streetlight overhead suddenly flickered twice.

As he looked up, his nose suddenly wrinkled as he smelled a odor reminiscent of rotten tree bark that had been soaking in water for many years.

Call!!!

Ma Dengwan rolled forward on the spot, rolling more than three meters. He put his right hand into his shirt pocket, knelt down, and looked back, only to find no one there.

Only the streetlights were flashing more frequently.

The stench of the tree bark hit me right in the face.

Ma Dengwan's pupils contracted, and his right hand suddenly pulled out of his pocket, slapping him across the face.

With this push, the joints stretched slightly, producing a crisp sound.

The Shaolin Long Fist, with its long reach and powerful strikes, Firecracker Force.

Especially his palms, which were covered in blood-red cinnabar.

"Ah!!"

A strange scream echoed from mid-air.

A blood-red cinnabar handprint floated in the air, rapidly retreating.

Ma Dengwan did not possess the ability to perform the floating hand seal.

It was obvious that cinnabar had stuck to the dirt, and the dirt was trying to escape.

He was sweating profusely, his face was flushed, and he took a breath.

Those who have practiced martial arts diligently have keen senses; although they cannot see dirt, they can smell its strange odor.

The nose is the orifice through which humans connect to the heavens and the earth.

Sensing dirt through the nose is the most common scenario.

If you practice boxing to the point where you need to use your ears, touch, or other senses to sense impurities, the probability of that happening becomes much lower.

Ma Dengwan sniffed carefully and could smell the stench of rotten tree bark fading away.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but then he smelled several other strange odors.

Some looked like spoiled meat, while others resembled muddy ground where straw had just been burned in the autumn.

There was also a metallic, metallic smell.

The metallic smell was the most terrifying; it made his heart skip a beat, and he turned and ran.

While running, he didn't forget to smear cinnabar on his forehead, mouth, nose, and the back of his neck.

The yang energy of chicken blood and medicinal sand is mixed with several points in the body where the body's yang energy is easily leaked.

I've heard that this makes the filthy creatures think that their "prey" is both smelly and poisonous.

Ma Dengwan ran several blocks away in one breath, and sure enough, he sensed that the stench hadn't followed him.

"There are several filthy creatures that died in different ways guarding this place; that's definitely not normal. Does the Ghost Market have some kind of warehouse over there?"

Ma Dengwan felt both scared and excited. After getting his bearings, he prepared to run towards the martial arts school. On the way, he took out his phone and called his brother who had become a teacher.

"Hey, Old Sha, I just..."

He looked up in astonishment before he could finish his sentence.

The air smelled strongly of something dirty.

The freshly painted surface, the cement pillars after the rain, the blood vomited from drinking...

The various smells, which most people might not be able to detect, made him feel like he was about to suffocate for a moment.

But those strange smells weren't directed at him.

Their paths diverged, and most were merely passing through.

Ma Dengwan's eyes were fixed on one direction.

The smell of blood mixed with the stench of alcohol and stomach acid wafted towards East Gate Street.

His house is on East Gate Street; who knows if that thing might have ended up at his house?

"Wife..."

The Great Han's initial excitement vanished, replaced by panic and anger. He grabbed his phone and began to run.

"Hello? Hello?!"

At the martial arts school, Teacher Sha asked several times but received no reply, so he hurriedly headed towards the cafeteria.

The principal and the others should be eating there.

But when Teacher Sha got closer to the cafeteria, she noticed that many teachers were running in that direction.

Some teachers were on the phone with one hand while their other cell phone rang.

"There should be Ghost Market at No. 29 North Gate..."

"Futou Village, the village next to the No. 8 toll station on the highway. I encountered something evil here..."

"Holy crap, I vaguely saw an old woman."

"For us martial arts practitioners, fighting with this kind of thing is too strenuous. Luckily, I brought my prayer beads with me when I went out this afternoon."

"... I'm almost out of cinnabar, please help! This stuff looks like the cinnabar from that famous bride who drowned herself in the river nearby..."

"Wasn't that something from the 1950s? Those families who drove her to suicide back then are probably all dead now."

Teacher Sha slowed down.

Why are there so many unusual occurrences in various places? What is the Ghost Market trying to do?

In the basement.

The lights were all off, yet the entire floor was bathed in a bluish-white light, like that of ice and snow.

The Ghost Market's trusted confidants are distributed among hundreds or even thousands of goods in the surrounding area.

The Three Mo Brothers and Du Chen were all on the altar.

The statue in front of them resembled a monkey.

It has ice-blue antlers, red eyes, white fur, long arms and legs, and a round, icy mirror embedded in its chest.

The scent of all the goods, swallowed up like a whale, seeped into the ape's body.

From that round mirror, one Evil Spirit spirit after another was floating out.

Souls that have been in the Spirit Realm for a hundred years at most, or a few decades at least, have had their minds worn down and changed, yet they deliberately retain their hatred.

They had no idea what had become of their enemies.

Yet he knew his hatred resided in the world, in Guangling!

Du Chen looked at the breeding boxes surrounding the altar.

They eagerly awaited the arrival of Ghost God power to baptize the centipede eggs.

Projecting these vengeful spirits was the prerequisite for the Mirror Ape to unleash its divine power.

Furthermore, the acceptance level of the White Bone Centipede needs to be considered when promoting it.

Those who have already cultivated themselves may not need these centipedes, but once the truth of the extraordinary events is revealed, it will be impossible to cover them up again.

There will be enough people willing to undergo centipede implantation and eager to seize this opportunity.

Chang'an, the crisis in the Spirit Realm is closing in, how can we tolerate your indecisiveness?

Du Chen thought to himself silently.

Let Guangling be the starting point of the truth. Then, we will take these high-quality seeds and spread them to various places, giving more people the opportunity to change their lives!

My research findings are the ones that should truly shine in this era!

Buzzing!!!

The altar floor suddenly began to hum and turned completely black.

In the darkness, a panoramic view overlooking Guangling emerges.

Du Chen and the others looked down and saw many icy blue light spots that were blocked halfway and did not cause enough impact.

What happened?

Du Chen twitched his beard. "Where did all these meddlesome sorcerers come from?"

Mo Shengyi said in a low voice, "Who said only sorcerers can hinder these things?"

"Tonight, there are too many people wandering around Guangling, and it seems they've all made some kind of preparation."

Mo Shengyi threw away the fur-collared coat, turned around with a smile, and gave orders to the crowd of people in the Ghost Market.

"Then, for the sake of our people, let's go and meet them!"

Golden Saber Martial Arts School.

Inside the cafeteria.

Chu Tianshu was just eating a steamed bun while chatting on his phone.

According to Brother Baisui, most of the people from their Jianghuai Special Investigation Bureau who were able to set off have already entered Guangling.

[Lin Baisui: You haven't met many of my colleagues, have you? Want to meet up?]

Before Chu Tianshu could reply, he looked out of the cafeteria.

Many teachers are approaching the cafeteria.

Hearing the cacophony of voices, he, in a state of Spirit Communication Aperture Opening, turned his gaze to the night sky.

In my field of vision, some oddly shaped, transparent shadows are flying across the streets near the martial arts school.

Chu Tianshu stood up, swallowed the meat filling in his mouth hard, his teeth clashing together.

"Evil Spirit!!"

(End of this chapter)