More than two thousand!

Hearing this, everyone's expressions froze. Xie Lian glanced at Hua Cheng and said, "It seems that choosing the west was indeed the right choice."

The skull said with chattering teeth: "Alas! No matter which side you choose, it's wrong. There is no way out!"

Indeed, for ordinary ghosts like them, it would be a disaster no matter which side they chose. They could be easily crushed by the east and the west; no matter which road they took, they would be reduced to ashes and used as nutrients by others. After howling a few times, the ghost fire in the skull's eyes gradually went out.

Xie Lian gently put it on the side of the road and said, “Sanlang, do you know what that thing is in the east?”

Hua Cheng said: "I can't be sure yet, but it is coming here. Under the current circumstances, it is not recommended to engage in a head-on confrontation. The one to the west is a little easier to deal with."

Xie Lian nodded and said, “Okay. Let’s continue our journey westward.”

The group hurried forward through the corpses on the ground. After walking all night, they did not meet the black-clothed man mentioned by the skull, nor did they see any trace of the Rain Master. Xie Lian could not help but worry.

As they walked along, they saw more and more houses and buildings on both sides of the road, forming a group. They could even tell that some were houses for poor people, some were theaters for leisure and entertainment, some were shops selling groceries, and some were courtyards for rich people... The road they were walking on was also a man-made road, and they could vaguely see the patterns of the paving tiles. It was like a wealthy town, but it was empty and extremely desolate and bleak.

They saw an ancient well by the roadside and fetched some water. The water was fairly clear, so they took a break there. Xie Lian and Pei Su drank some water and washed their faces. When they looked up, they saw Ban Yue coming over.

Ban Yue had been holding the black pottery jar and had been waiting for a long time. She said, "General Hua, Brother Pei Su, please have something to eat."

Pei Su said: "Okay. Thank you for your hard work."

Xie Lian also said, “Everyone has worked hard, let’s all give it a try.”

So, everyone gathered around. However, the moment Ban Yue opened the jar, many people's expressions froze.

Although "smell" is colorless and invisible, the moment Banyue opened the lid of the jar, it seemed as if some mysterious substance distorted the air at the mouth of the jar.

Everyone stared at the scene in the jar for a long time. Everyone's pupils reflected an endless darkness, as if it could pull people into the abyss. No words could express the emotions contained in those eyes. After a while, Xie Lian patted Ban Yue's shoulder and gave him a thumbs up: "Not bad. It's a first time, it's okay."

Pei Ming looked at them in disbelief and said, "It was her first time. Your Highness, it was your first time too? If I remember correctly, you asked her to do everything according to your instructions, and you did more than she did. I was wondering why I always felt that something was wrong with what you did, but it turned out that it was not my illusion."

Hua Cheng said, "Really? Since it was done by my brother, I really want to give it a try."

Hearing this, Pei Ming and Pei Su looked up at him at the same time, their eyes mixed with a mixture of amazement, horror, admiration, etc. Hua Cheng said: "Brother, what is this called?"

Xie Lian coughed lightly and said, “…’Indecent Love’.”

Hua Cheng said sincerely: "What a good name."

After saying that, he reached his hand into the bottomless black jar. Pei Ming and Pei Su looked nervous, as if they were worried that he would be swallowed by the jar. Hua Cheng calmly took out a small piece of something that looked like a burnt corpse and put it into his mouth.

Pei Ming asked: "How?"

Hua Cheng said: "The taste is as good as its name."

Pei Ming said to Pei Su, who had a complicated expression, "I made this for you. You decide what to do with it."

Pei Su: “…”

He took the jar from Ban Yue and put his hand into it expressionlessly.

Xie Lian wiped his face with cold water again, combed his hair, turned around, and stopped looking at them. He looked around and asked, "Why are there so many traces of human habitation in this isolated place? Can people still live in Tonglu Mountain?"

He had asked this question yesterday, but no one could answer him then. Now there is one. Hua Cheng said: "Yes, but it was a long time ago. Tonglu Mountain is as wide as seven cities and covers a huge area. It was once an ancient country. These houses are all the remains of the towns of that ancient country. The closer to the central 'Tonglu', the more relics there are, and the more prosperous it is."

Xie Lian did not question it and said, “So that’s how it is.”

At this time, Pei Ming's voice came from behind: "Xiao Pei, what are you doing? A man's knees are made of gold, stand up!"

Xie Lian didn’t turn around and asked, “What’s the name of this ancient country, Sanlang? Do you know?”

Hua Cheng did not turn around, and said with his hands behind his back: "Wuyong Country."

Pei Ming scolded, "Your Highness? Your Highness, do you have an antidote or something? You can't just kill him and not bury him. And you, how did you cook for him? What's wrong with your snake? It's been cooked for so long and it's still moving? Has it become a spirit?!"

Ban Yue seemed to be kowtowing and apologizing, saying, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry, it is indeed a spirit. I don't know how long it will take to boil it... I'm sorry..."

Xie Lian held his chin with one hand, thought for a while, and said, “I am ignorant and I seem to have never heard of the name of this country. How old is it?”

However, he was unsure just after he finished speaking. Wuyong, Wuyong. At first glance, it sounded strange. But when he thought about it carefully, it seemed like he had heard it from someone a long, long time ago.

Hua Cheng said: "I don't know the exact details, but it must be older than Xianle Country. It must be at least two thousand years old."

Xie Lian looked around and said, “But looking at these buildings, they don’t look like they have been around for a thousand years.”

Hua Cheng said: "That's natural, because most of the time, Tonglu Mountain is not open to the public. It's like it's sealed in a huge mausoleum, isolated from the outside world, and naturally well preserved."

Xie Lian lowered his head and fell into deep thought. Over there, Pei Ming finally left Pei Su behind and came over, saying, "Your Excellency Ghost King really knows everything. However, your information is a little too mysterious. Can I ask where it came from? I have never heard of any of it being spread outside."

Hua Cheng didn't look at him and said, "May I ask General Pei, what kind of person is able to collect such intelligence in Tonglu Mountain?"

Pei Ming said: "In theory, any ghost will do. But considering the rules of Tonglu Mountain will cause thousands of ghosts to fight, to collect so much important information, you have to stay longer, so you must be very strong."

Hua Cheng said: "After collecting this information, what kind of person can come out of Tonglu Mountain?"

Pei Ming said: "Then it must be only a desperate ghost king like you."

Hua Cheng said: "So, I collected this information myself. As long as I don't tell anyone, it won't spread outside."

He finally turned around and said with a hint of sarcasm: "Keeping a secret may be more difficult for a priest in heaven than overcoming a heavenly tribulation; but for me, it is not."

“…”

That's right. If a similar level of information was known by a priest in the heavenly court, within an hour, you would hear people excitedly discussing it in every spiritual communication array. Hua Cheng was able to keep such important information for so many years, not selling it to others, nor telling anyone to show off. He was really patient. Pei Ming said: "I understand. It seems that Hua Chengzhu not only knows everything about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but also tells him everything he knows."

Xie Lian suddenly said, “That’s not right.”

Everyone turned their heads and asked, "What's wrong?"

Xie Lian had been thinking hard, and finally he made a fist with his right hand, and lightly smashed it into the palm of his left hand, saying, “Just now I said that I had never heard of the name ‘Wuyong Country’, that’s not right. I have heard of this name!”

Hua Cheng looked slightly serious and asked, "Where have you heard of this, brother?"

Xie Lian turned around and said, “When I was young, I practiced Taoism at the Royal Temple of the Xianle Kingdom. My teacher was the Xianle National Master. When he first accepted me as his disciple, he told me a story.”

In fact, it is not really a story. It is better to say that it instilled a certain tall and glorious legendary image in Xie Lian - there was an ancient country in the past, and there was a prince, who was extremely talented, young and intelligent, and both civil and military, and was an amazing figure who was unparalleled in the world. He loved his people, and his people loved him too. Even after he died for a long time, people did not forget him.

The Imperial Master spoke to Xie Lian in a serious and kind voice, “My child, I hope you can become that kind of person.”

Xie Lian, who was still young at the time, sat upright and said without hesitation: "I don't want to be that kind of person. I want to become a god."

“…”

Xie Lian asked, “If the prince you are talking about is really so unrivaled, why didn’t he become a god?”

“…………”

Xie Lian continued, “If people really haven’t forgotten him, why have I never heard anyone mention this Crown Prince?”

“………………”

Xie Lian swore that when he asked these questions, he had no intention of provoking or rebelling, but was genuinely curious and seeking advice. But the expression on the Imperial Master's face after hearing them was still very interesting.

Why can Xie Lian recite the Tao Te Ching by heart? Because, on that night, the Imperial Master asked him to copy the Tao Te Ching 100 times, under the pretext of "cultivating one's character and morality". Xie Lian doubted that if he was not the noble Crown Prince, the Imperial Master would have asked him to kneel on the nail board and copy.

In short, from then on, every word of the Tao Te Ching was deeply engraved in Xie Lian's mind. By the way, it also left a little impression on this "Crown Prince of Wuyong Kingdom".

Xie Lian usually loves reading, and he has never seen any relevant records of "Wuyong Kingdom" in ancient books, so he thinks that it is probably made up by the national teacher to teach him a lesson, or the national teacher played too many cards and lost his memory. But he doesn't think it is necessary to expose it, and he doesn't want to copy the Tao Te Ching a hundred times, so he doesn't take it seriously and doesn't take it to heart.

Pei Ming said: "Your Highness, it sounds like your Imperial Master Xianle is quite influential and knows a lot. Can I ask him what happened to him later?"

After hesitating for a moment, Xie Lian said, “I don’t know. After Xianle Country was destroyed, I never saw what happened to many people again.”

At this moment, he suddenly felt his ankle tighten, his expression frightened, and he said, "What is that?"

Just as he was about to step on him and break his tendons and bones, he looked down, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Little General Pei, why did you come out in such a way? It was a close call, I almost broke your hand."

That hand belonged to Pei Su. He lay on the ground with his face buried in the dirt, holding Pei Ming and Xie Lian in one hand. The two of them squatted down and asked, "What do you want to say?"

Ban Yue held the jar and said, "I don't know. Brother Pei Su was crawling on the ground just now. He seemed to have found something very important."

Pei Ming said: "Oh? You can make some discoveries like this? You are indeed Little Pei. So what did you discover?"

Pei Su released the hand that was holding him and pointed to one side. Xie Lian looked in the direction he pointed and said, “This is…”

Everyone gathered around, studied it for a while, and asked, "Cow hoof prints?"

Pei Su finally raised his face from the dirt and said in a hoarse voice: "This is... the mark left by Master Yu's guardian mount."

Ban Yue said: "Brother Pei Su, your punctuation seems to be wrong."

Pei Su said: "I'm fine. Master Yushi, people, people..."

He was stuck at the "person" and couldn't move on. Xie Lian asked suspiciously, "Could this... be due to the scorpion tail snake venom?"

Ban Yue said: "The toxicity of the scorpion-tailed snake is not like this..."

Hua Cheng said: "The Rain Master has already met the black-clothed man in the west and fought with him."