He looked playful, but inexplicably had the composure of someone who knew everything. Although he had the voice of a teenager, his voice was slightly deeper than that of a boy of his age, and it was very pleasant to hear. Xie Lian sat upright on the ox cart, thinking for a moment, and said, "Blood Rain Visiting Flowers, this scene sounds like it's something extraordinary, my friend, can you tell me how it came about?"

To show respect, he still didn't add the word "little" in front of his friend. The young man sat casually, one arm resting on his raised knee, straightened the cuffs of his sleeves, and said nonchalantly: "It's nothing serious. It's just that he once destroyed another ghost's lair, and blood rained all over the mountains. When he was walking, he saw a flower on the side of the road, which was hit miserably by the blood rain, so he tilted his umbrella to block it."

Xie Lian imagined the scene for a moment, and felt that amidst the bloody storm, there was an inexplicable sense of elegance and tenderness. He recalled the legend of the red-robed ghost burning the thirty-three temples, and laughed, “Does this Hua Cheng often go around fighting?”

The young man replied: "Not often, it depends on my mood."

Xie Lian asked, “What kind of person was he when he was alive?”

The young man said, "He is definitely not a good person."

Xie Lian asked, “What does he look like?”

After asking this question, the young man looked up at him, tilted his head, stood up, walked over to Xie Lian, sat down side by side, and asked in return, “What do you think he should look like?”

Seeing him up close, he felt that he was incredibly handsome. Moreover, he was handsome in a way that was faintly offensive, like a sharp sword unsheathed, so dazzling that one dared not look at him directly. After staring at him for a moment, Xie Lian felt a little overwhelmed. He tilted his head slightly and said, "Since he is a great ghost king, I think he has many different forms."

Seeing him turn his head, the young man raised an eyebrow and said, "Yeah. But sometimes he still uses his true face. Of course, we are talking about his true self."

Not sure if it was an illusion, but Xie Lian felt that the distance between them seemed a little far, so he turned his head back and said, “Then I feel that his true self might be a young man like you.”

Hearing this, the young man's mouth curled slightly and asked, "Why?"

Xie Lian said, “No reason. You just talk about it casually, and I just think about it casually. Everything is just casual.”

The young man laughed twice and said, "Maybe? But he is blind in one eye."

He pointed under his right eye and said, "This one."

This statement is not surprising. Xie Lian had heard of it before. In some versions of the legend, Hua Cheng wore a black eye patch on his right eye, covering the eye he had lost. Xie Lian asked, "Then do you know what happened to his lost eye?"

The young man said, "Well, this is a question that many people want to understand."

Others wanted to know what caused Hua Cheng to lose his right eye, but in fact they wanted to know what Hua Cheng's weakness was. Xie Lian asked this purely out of curiosity. Before he could reply, the young man said, "He dug it out himself."

Xie Lian was startled and asked, “Why?”

The young man said, "Crazy."

...When he went crazy, he even dug out his own eyes. Xie Lian was really getting more and more curious about this red-robed ghost king who was the bloody rain scholar. He thought it was not as simple as just going crazy, but since he had already said so, he thought there would be no more details. He continued to ask: "Does Huacheng have any weaknesses?"

He didn't expect the boy to answer this question, he just asked casually. If Hua Cheng's weakness could be known so easily, he would not be Hua Cheng. Unexpectedly, the boy answered without hesitation, "Ashes."

If you can get a ghost's ashes, you can drive the ghost. If the ghost does not obey the drive and destroys the ashes, he will be destroyed and his soul will be scattered. This is common sense. However, this common sense may not make much sense when applied to Hua Cheng. Xie Lian smiled and said, "I'm afraid no one can get his ashes. So, this weakness is equivalent to having no weakness."

The young man said, "Not necessarily. There is a situation where the ghost will take the initiative to send out the ashes."

Xie Lian asked, “Like when he challenged the thirty-three priests to a duel, should we hand it over as a bet?”

The young man sneered: "How could it be?"

Although he didn’t say the whole thing, Xie Lian could tell that what he meant was that there was no way Hua Cheng could lose. He said, “There is a custom in the ghost world. If a ghost chooses a person, it will entrust its ashes to that person.”

That is actually equivalent to handing one's life over to another person. Such deep love, what a touching story it must be. Xie Lian said with great interest: "So there is such a passionate custom in the ghost world."

The young man said, "Yes. But few dare to do it."

Xie Lian had expected the same. Not only do demons deceive people, but humans also deceive demons. There will definitely be a lot of exploitation and betrayal. He said, "If you devote your whole heart to someone, but end up with nothing but ashes, it is really heartbreaking."

The young man laughed and said, "What are you afraid of? If it were me, I would send the ashes away. Who cares if they want to grind the bones and scatter the ashes or just scatter them for fun?"

Xie Lian smiled, and suddenly remembered that they had been talking for so long but still didn’t know each other’s name, so he asked, “My friend, what’s your name?”

The young man raised one hand to his brow, blocking out the wine-red sunset glow, and squinted his eyes, as if he didn't like the sunlight. He said, "Me? I'm the third child in my family, and everyone calls me Sanlang."

He didn’t volunteer his name, so Xie Lian didn’t ask any more questions. He said, “My last name is Xie, and my given name is Lian. Are you going this direction to Puqi Village as well?”

Sanlang leaned back against the straw, resting his head on his hands, crossing his legs, and said, "I don't know. I was just wandering."

Hearing that there seemed to be something behind his words, Xie Lian asked, “What’s the matter?”

Sanlang sighed and said leisurely, "There was a quarrel at home and I was kicked out. I walked for a long time and had nowhere to go. I was so hungry that I almost fainted on the street, so I just found a random place to lie down."

Although the boy's clothes seemed casual, they were made of very good materials. He also had good manners and seemed to be idle every day. He looked at this and that and knew everything. Xie Lian had long expected that he was a young man from a wealthy family who had run out to play. A young man who had been pampered for such a long time must have had a lot of hardships on the road. Xie Lian understood this very well. Hearing that he was hungry, Xie Lian rummaged through his small bag and only found a steamed bun. Fortunately, it was not hard yet, so he said to him, "Do you want to eat?" The boy nodded, and Xie Lian gave him the bun. Sanlang looked at him and asked, "You don't have any more?"

Xie Lian said, “I’m fine, not too hungry.”

Sanlang pushed the bun back to him and said, "I'm fine too."

Seeing this, Xie Lian took it back, broke the bun into two halves, handed him half, and said, “Then you take half and I take half.”

The young man then took it and sat beside him to eat the bun. Seeing him sitting next to him and taking a bite of the bun, he seemed to be a little obedient for some reason. Xie Lian always felt that he had been wronged.

The ox cart was dragging slowly on the ups and downs of the mountain road. As the sun gradually set, the two sat in the cart and chatted. The more they talked, the more Xie Lian felt that this was a really strange young man. Although he was very young, his gestures and words were full of arrogance and calmness, as if there was nothing in the world that he didn't know, and nothing that could stump him. Xie Lian felt that he knew a lot and was mature beyond his years. And sometimes, he would reveal the fun of a young man. Xie Lian said that he was the abbot of the Puqi Temple, and he said, "Puqi Temple? It sounds like there are a lot of Puqi to eat. I like it. Who is it for?"

Being asked this daunting question again, Xie Lian coughed lightly and said, “Prince Xianle. You probably don’t know.”

The young man smiled slightly, but before he could say anything, suddenly, the body of the ox cart shook violently.

The two of them also swayed a few times. Xie Lian was worried that the boy would fall, so he reached out to grab him. Unexpectedly, as soon as his hand touched San Lang, the boy seemed to be burned by something hot and suddenly shook his hand away.

Although his expression only changed slightly, Xie Lian still noticed it. He wondered if this boy actually hated him? But they were clearly having a good time chatting along the way. But at this point, he didn't have the heart to think about it. He stood up and asked, "What's going on?"

The old man driving the ox cart said, "I don't know what's going on! Old Huang, why don't you move? Go ahead!"

The sun had already set, and dusk had fallen. The oxcart was once again in the mountains and forests, and it was dim and dark. The old ox stopped where it was, stubborn and unwilling to move. No matter how the old man urged it, it was useless. It wanted to bury its head in the ground, mooing, and its tail was as handsome as a whip. Xie Lian saw that something was wrong and was about to jump off the cart, but suddenly, the old man pointed ahead and shouted.

In front of the mountain road, there were many green flames burning here and there. A group of people in white clothes were holding their heads and walking slowly towards this side.

Seeing this, Xie Lian immediately said, “Protect!”

Ruo Xie escaped from his wrist, flew around the ox cart, and formed a suspended circle in midair, protecting the three people and the animal. Xie Lian turned around and asked, "What day is today?"

Before the old man could answer, the young man behind him said, "Zhongyuan."

On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell open. He went out without checking the date, and today happened to be the Ghost Festival!

Xie Lian said in a deep voice, “Don’t wander around. You’ve encountered some evil spirit today. If you take the wrong path, you won’t be able to come back.”