Chapter 64: Zhongshan Country [11]

Everyone had a clear division of labor;putting up tents and cooking. Each person was busy. For a moment, this densewith evil spirit land unexpectedly had a kind of wordly ways. Gone was such terriblefear of moments ago, especially after the bodyguards saw Zhang Yushui havingconquered the grievances of those murdered spirits, their heart also put down alot of. They inserted jokes between words, made fun of each other about who wasbeing scared jelly and almost p.i.s.sed in their pants and so on. But afterlaughing, someone mentioned Xiao Ling, who was the first to be skinned, and theatmosphere turned cold again.

Qi ZhiRong opened his mouth at this moment,“I will find someone to settle his family properly.” The tone wa.s.still cold.

Despite the reality, a person had died. It was better to win more for Xiao Ling’s family than nothing.

The bodyguards were busy again, but theatmosphere was not as lively as before. They could have been busy just as tomediate the low atmosphere, as not to let their selves to think more and fearmore. For a while, it was quiet. Zhang Qiu had a feeling that there was a whiffof chill wind blowing onto his neck. He could not help but move his foot to beneared to Li Shu.

Li Shu looked over him and said nothing, b.u.t.there was a slight smile in his eyes.

“d.a.m.n, why can’t the fire catch?”

“Is it spoiled? You try anotherone.”

The bodyguard whose task was cooking overthere just put down the simple gas bottle in his hand and suddenly it exploded,frightening everyone and rushed over at once. Fortunately, there was no bigobstacle for the two bodyguards to escape in time.

Zhang YuShui looked at him. “There’stoo much Yin Qi here, the luck will be affected somewhat. Be careful.”After that, he waved Xiao Jiang over and stroked Xiao Jiang’s head. “Comeand help Bobo.”

Xiao Jiang nodded happily, followed behindErbo as the bell jingling on his wrist. He seemed to like this profession verymuch.

The wind blew away the bell’s jingle, madepeople gain a lot of spirit. Zhang YuShui turned, patted Xiao Jiang’s head,laughed and boasted, “He’s a good seedling.”

Zhang Qiu didn’t know what to say, but onsecond thought, if Xiao Jiang learned these things, there would not be any feartowards any senior Taoist Monks in the future. It could be considered as aself-defense skill.

Zhang YuShui took Xiao Jiang to putformation in the vicinity of their arranged camp. It seemed that they wouldspend the night here. Although most of the ghosts’ grievances and grudges weredispelled, the Yin Qi of the land had lasted for thousands of years. How couldit ever disappear in one day?

By three or four in the afternoon, this landturned gloom. Camp lights were set around the camp, and their area was brightlylit, but it was dark and foggy outside, not to mention that the hills on allsides seemed to be swallowed up by a thick fog.

They ate their meals in a hurry; heatedcanned fast food. Zhang Qiu was nauseous at the first bite. It tasted toofishy. But when he thought of something, he held the canned food and laughed.He also held out his spoon and handed it to his mouth. He was even happier whenhe smelled it, it made him nauseous.

Qi Xi, who saw, rubbed goose b.u.mps on hisarm and said, “Xiao Qiuqiu, are you having a problem? If you can’t eat,don’t abuse yourself.”

“You don’t understand.” Zhang Qiusmiled and put down the can in his hand. He never felt nausea while carryingLao Er. Sometimes he forgot the existence of Lao Er. But the nausea happenedwhen he was carrying Xiao Jiang. At this moment, he seemed to be able to sensethe existence of Lao Er, although it soon disappeared.

Lao Er was perfectly alright, nothing alarming happened.

[T/N: previously Lao Ni which I confused with j.a.panese Ni for 2. Should be Lao Er]

Zhang Qiu was relieved to learn the news anddid not fight with Qi Xi to a great extent.

Next to him, Li Shu took the canned meat fromZhang Qiu and went to Qi ZhiRong. After a while, Li Shu returned with a bowl ofporridge and a plate of side dish and handed it to Zhang Qiu. “You eatthese.”

Zhang Qiu knew that these were cooked speciallyfor Qi ZhiRong. Things were not valuable, but Li Shu who had no memory stillasked Qi ZhiRong for these for him. It was really touching. He held the bowl ofporridge and ate it in a sweet and naïve manner.

Qi Xi covered his aching teeth in disgust,tsk-ed twice and disappeared after a turn of the eyes. After a while, at Qi ZhiRong’sfeet appeared a black soft cub, with its two forepaws clasping Qi ZhiRong’strousers and legs. Zhang Qiu’s vision and hearing were very good now. When hesaw this scene in the distance, the porridge gushed out from his mouth.

This man is too immoral!

Qi ZhiRong was sitting in somewhat remotelocation. This person liked to be quiet and alone, hiding in the night. ZhangQiu couldn’t see Qi ZhiRong’s expression now; he could only see Qi Xi jumpingup and down before drilling into Qi ZhiRong’s arms.

Zhang Qiu frowned, always felt a littlestrange, but could not say what.

“What’s wrong?”

Zhang Qiu returned to his sense and saw thatLi Shu was concerned about him. He said with a smile, “The porridge isdelicious and sweet!”

Pixian Hui w.a.n.g’s eyes swept over. Zhang Qiu’s face was very thick that he did not see the teasing and light laughter in ErSao’s eyes. His brain flashed and he immediately realized that something was wrong. ErSao sat not very close to him, ErGe pulled him and said to do him a favor, but in fact he was being greasy. Zhang Qiu could clearly see the expression in ErSao’s eyes. He could also clearly see Qi Xi’s shamelessly acting cute and taking advantage to eat tofu, but he couldn’t see Qi ZhiRong’s expression at the same distance.

The more Zhang Qiu thought, the more it wa.s.strange and looked at Qi ZhiRong again. Qi ZhiRong’s hand was touching Qi Xi’sback while it lay on his knee and stroking its fur, but the expression on hisface was still unclear, like it was being veiled.

“Do you think Qi ZhiRong is a littlestrange?” Zhang Qiu came up to Li Shu and whispered.

As he finished saying, he felt a cold lightsweeping over him and he looked up, just in time to b.u.mp into Qi ZhiRong’s gazewhich was as cold as ever.

By that gaze, Zhang Qiu turned stiff. Qi ZhiRong’seyes seemed to be able to nail people in place, until he felt his hand waswarm, he looked down at Li Shu’s hands. His brain was a little jammed,“How, how come your hands are hot?”

“I was originally cold?”

Zhang Qiu’s brain had turned to a ball ofpaste. His established impression was that Li Shu’s body was cold. He hugged LiShu yesterday and did not pay attention to this problem. Now he couldn’t tellwhether Li Shu was hot or cold.

Could it be that all of these were onceagain his delusion?

“Xiao Qiu, what are you thinking of?You looked foolish.” Zhang YuShui pulled Pixian Hui w.a.n.g to come over andsaw Zhang Qiu staring at Li Shu with blank eyes.

Zhang Qiu’s gaze shifted to the top. “ErGe, are you my ErGe?”

“Did you drink the wrongporridge?”

Pixian Hui w.a.n.g added with a gentle smile,“Maybe the porridge is too sweet.”

Zhang Qiu:…

H didn’t know if ErGe was ErGe, but ErSao was absolutely ErSao, who made fun of his sweet comment a while ago! Zhang Qiu breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Li Shu has a temperature; it’s hot. What’s wrong with him, ErGe? Is there a big problem with his body?”

Zhang YuShui rolled his eyes. “I think the big problem is seeing how it frightened you.” Even so, he gave the younger brother a rea.s.suring pill. “Li Shu has the ancient divine vein. Before he woke up, he was thousands-year-old great zongzi. Now, although he has lost his memory, his divine power is still there. He’s not a zongzi anymore. Don’t worry, my little brother, your golden thigh is very strong, so feel at ease pretending to be sweet and naive.”

“ErGe, you’ll lose me being like that.”

Zhang YuShui kissed Pixian Hui w.a.n.g, smiledand said, “Little brother, do you think I care?”

d.a.m.n!

Zhang Qiu expressed that he had nothing to say, and even thought that ErGe was right.

“There is something wrong with QiZhiRong.” Li Shu suddenly opened his mouth.

“Ah! I almost forgot this.” ZhangQiu touched his head and felt that his memory had been declining recently. Hesaid what he thought was wrong and asked Li Shu, “How did you detect.i.t?”

Li Shu shook his head and said,“Intuition.”

Zhang Qiu originally prepared a long discussion together but swallowed back in an instant, only to listen to ErGe saying: “I also think there is something wrong.”

So now we all rely on intuition?!

“Would you like Qi Xi back?” ZhangQiu was very worried about Qi Xi, who looked very flirty like a playboy, but infact was a sweet and naïve man. Alas, he was still rolling around on QiZhiRong’s knees.

Why suddenly it felt chilly? Qi ZhiRongstared at him again?

Zhang Qiu looked up. Qi ZhiRong bowed hishead, arranging Qi Xi’s fur. The chill seemed as if it was beside him. ZhangQiu trembled and twisted his head. He saw Li Shu looked at him with a smile. Herelease a sigh of relief, however——

“Li Shu, why is it strange that yousmile like that? Ah, where Erge and Ersao? Weren’t they still here?”

Li Shu raised his eyebrows and asked lightly,“You seem to care about Qi Xi.”

“Of course, Qixi [7Up] is a very goodperson, though he has a poisonous tongue and foolish nonsense, but in short, heis quite alright…”

Not far away in the tent, Pixian Hui w.a.n.gsmiled at Zhang YuShui and said, “Is it good to see the little brother dielike that?”

“Don’t worry, Li Shu won’t really doit.” Zhang YuShui stroked his chin as he said at this point. “XiaoQiu would be very happy if he could do it.”

Pixian Hui w.a.n.g instantly knew what Zhang YuShuimeant and kicked his foot. “What’s in your head?”

“What do you think I think?” ZhangYuShui stickily gathered him up and whispered to Pixian Hui w.a.n.g’s ears. Soonthere was gentle gasp of kisses in the tent.

Zhang Qiu was stared at strangely by Li Shu.It just happened that Xiao Jiang jumped at him. Li Shu moved his eyes away andZhang Qiu was relieved. He was a little nervous just now. He pinched his son’sface, “Do you like that skill of Erbo?”

Xiao Jiang nodded. “It’s fun.” Andhe could make money and eat well.

“If it’s fun, properly learn from Erbothen.” Zhang Qiu felt that being a top huckster was still very flashy. Tobe a man, we should have great goals, in case we have a vision! For example;his bed status with Li Shu or something.

Thinking about this, Zhang Qiu smiled at LiShu and said, “Where are you going when this is over?”

“Where are yours?”

Zhang Qiu was very happy and said with aserious face, “My family is in Yuncheng, and now I am studying inXi’an.” When it came to school, it seemed that he had already pa.s.sed hisleave date. He wondered if he could pa.s.s this semester smoothly.

Li Shu nodded and did not speak. Zhang Qiuwas nervous. Wasn’t his hint obvious enough?

“If you don’t have a place to go, youcan go back to Xi’an with me. Xi’an has a quite good food…”

“Bang——”

“Cleared!”

“Wait a minute. It looks likesomething’s blown up.”

“Coughcough cough, urgh, what smell is so disgusting.”

“Fool, you took off the gasmask?!”

“I felt unbearably stuffy.”

All the rest of the camp responded; theillegal tunnel entrance had been opened. Zhang Qiu stood up and went there in ahurry.

The entrance of the tunnel was more than onemeter wide. Perhaps these bodyguards’ figure were st.u.r.dy, it was easy to get inand out. Now there were two bodyguards standing on the surface. The people who hadjust spoken were underneath. On the ground, Ah Gui clung on the entrance of thetunnel and shouted, “Come up first and then discuss. To be able to take offthe masks, truly admired you guys.”

Underneath, there was a rustling sound but noone answered. Ah Gui sensed something wrong and shouted, “What are you twodoing underneath? Come on up!”

Looking inside with a flashlight, there wa.s.still the unspeakable smell. Zhang Qiu covered his nose and pulled Xiao Jiangaway.

“AAHHHHH!”

“AAHHHHH!”

At the same time, two screams echoed in thedark tunnel entrance, echoing in the silent hills, making people felt bloodcurdling.

Li Shu pushed Ah Gui aside decisively anddrew a dagger from his waist. “I’ll take a look.”

“Be careful.” Zhang Qiu said.

Li Shu nodded, wondering when Zhang Yushuicame over and said, “I’ll go down with you.”

They both went into the tunnel entrance oneafter another. Zhang Qiu stood on it for several seconds, looking down the holenervously. He just heard Li Shu and ErGe’s footsteps, but now he couldn’t hearthem.

Zhang Qiu clutched at his heart, could notstop wanting to follow them, but was stopped by Pixian Hui w.a.n.g.

“Wait for a while.”

Zhang Qiu wanted to say; you are notworried, but as soon as he looked at ErSao’s tense face, he could see thateveryone was worried, but the way they handled themselves was different. Afterwaiting for five minutes in situ, there were two short whistles. Zhang Qiu wasrelieved. It was from ErGe, confirmed his safety.

Pixian Hui w.a.n.g’s pursed lips also looseneda little, and his eyes were fixed on the hole.

Soon Zhang Qiu heard the clanking sound,which sounded like something heavy. Within a few minutes, his ErGe showed upfirst, with a man on his back, whose face covered in blood. He quickly put uphis hand and pulled the man out. Li Shu came out immediately with a man slung onhis back. They were the two bodyguards, stationed underneath.

Ah Gui checked their breath and breathed asigh of relief. “It’s all right. They fainted.”

“What’s happened?”

Li Shu shook his head and Zhang YuShui saidbeside him, “When we went down, we saw these two men lying on the ground,fainted. There was nothing else.”

The bodyguards were well versed in dealingwith daily injuries. Soon after dressing, they woke up the two men and as soonas the two woke up, they screamed. a.s.suming they were going to faint, Ah Guislapped them twice. “You’re up on the surface now. What’s happened?!”

The two men’s eyes circled around the facesof the crowd, only then they reacted. With trembling lips, they said, “It’sXiao Ling, even laughing at us.”

They used to be earth masters before, b.u.t.then they washed their hands and quit. They acted as bodyguards with goodskills. They were supposed to be braver than ordinary people when they saw deadZongzi in the pit, but they couldn’t stand their colleague who had just died.After they got over it, they were ready to climb up after listening to Ah Guiasking to come up. Unexpectedly, as they were going to climb up, there was coldstream behind their necks.

Xiao Ling laughed back at them; they shoutedin horror and fainted.

When Xiao Ling was on the hill, his skin anddead body had already been buried. It’s strange that he should appear underneathjust now.

“May I go down?”

From behind came a voice of indifference.Zhang Qiu looked back and saw Qi ZhiRong standing outside the crowd. In thisstrange situation, Qi ZhiRong asked if he could go down the pit first. ZhangQiu was more determined that something was wrong with Qi ZhiRong.

Li Shu nodded and looked around. “Getready to go down.”

The two bodyguards who had just gone down werereluctant to go down. Perhaps the bodyguards, who had stayed above got gooseb.u.mps, and some happened to show difficult looks, they all said, “Boss, Istill have to support my mother in my family.” “My son is only oneyear old.” “I,I had better stay up and look after things.”

Qi ZhiRong had no expression on his face,and neither did he forced the unwilling.

“That’s all right. It’s not a problemfor those to stay with a companion. Don’t come out of the formation.”Zhang YuShui stressed, “Don’t come out, hold the protection talisman well.”

Those who had seen ghosts were afraid ofdeath. Six of them who stayed nodded hurriedly, clutched their talismanstightly and huddled in the camp.

Li Shu walked in front and looked at ZhangQiu in the crowd as he went down the pit. “You’re walking behind me.”After he had said it, in a split second, he thought it was the same as it hadbeen said many times before.

“Don’t worry, I’ll follow you.”Zhang Qiu patted his chest, which had become a habit.

In the middle was Qi ZhiRong, followed by QiXi, and Pei Qing came last. The tunnel was not very deep. It took about twentyminutes to climb down. They wore gas masks and did not smell what the othershad said.

The tunnel entrance had directly hit in atomb. The people had lights on their wrists and swayed it around. The tomb wasclear at a glance. There was nothing in it; bare not even a coffin.

It was surrounded by stone walls and smallstone door, polished and smooth, but without carving decorations. At firstsight, this tomb was not the main tomb; even Zhang Qiu could not guess itsrole.

“Out.”

Li Shu took the lead in pushing open thesmall stone door, and Zhang Qiu followed him. “Next time, be careful, theremay be poison on this door——ough!”

The sight that entered the eyes, Zhang Qiucouldn’t resist retching. At the back, the bodyguards who came down were boldand curious. As soon they saw the situation in front, they too felt nauseous. It’sreally disgusting and horrifying.

Wide paved tunnel with both stone walls hungwith human skins, densely packed together, bared naked were all women’s skins.These skins state were fresh, wearing heavy makeup, nailed to the wall, thefaces even showed smile, seeming a very enjoyable look.

“All are dead things, the souls have dispersed, but because of the dense Yin Qin underneath, those souls dispersed not long ago, and these skins haven’t been completely destroyed. It’s okay.” Zhang YuShui kindly pacified the people, “Wait for a while when the oxygen from outside comes in, and with many people’s Yang Qi, these skins will be weathered and crumpled, it may not be as horrible as they are now.” [T/N: male carried Yang Qi]

Zhang Qiu, who had just vomited, wanted tovomit again.

ErGe, you had better stop talking.

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