The time goes back to an hour ago , in Fengming Country, Jingji City.
This city and Fengyang County are separated by Yanchi County. Its location and Fengyang County City are exactly at the two ends of the not-so-large territory of Fengming Kingdom.
Moreover, this city is not actually the capital of Fengming Kingdom.
In other words, it is now, but it was not in the past.
More than 20 years ago, the once huge and prosperous Fengming Kingdom encountered civil strife and national division. Several rebel groups colluded with surrounding small countries to lure foreign enemies into the country.
In less than a year, Fengming Kingdom fell apart.
The original capital was also occupied by foreign enemies.
The current ruler was still young and strong at that time. While stopping the army from resisting, he led the people of the country and retreated to the present-day Gyeonggi City.
Everyone knows the rest of the story.
The king accepted the task in a time of crisis and found the descendants of immortals in the country. He used his masculine strength to save the country from collapse and successfully used his excellent skills in bed to make Queen Shi pregnant.
A family letter from Elder Shi Yan was used to repel the foreign enemies.
Barely preserved the inheritance of Fengming Kingdom.
From that time on, Gyeonggi City has only been the capital for more than 20 years, but it is the best place in the country after all. During these 20 years, this originally not-so-famous city has also become prosperous.
The number of permanent residents in the city is more than twice that of Fengyang County.
There are many high-ranking officials, nobles, and so on, and business is prosperous. Even the Hongyan Society has a black market here that is specifically for ordinary people.
Open twice a month.
Our Uncle Liu Bao is a frequent visitor to this black market, and it was here that he obtained the communication stone of the Hongyan Society.
There are many people in the city, so the incense is naturally strong.
This means that the magical power of the City God of Gyeonggi is more powerful than that of Cui City God of Fengyang County. He has already reached the realm of truth. But looking at the hundreds of countries in the East, a City God in the realm of truth is not uncommon.
"Wow, it's so lively!"
The pomegranate that traveled through the earth veins to the capital is now standing on top of the City God Temple in the city, squatting there and flapping its wings, just like a gargoyle sculpture standing on a church.
It blinked its little red eyes and looked around at the night scene in front of it.
Unlike Fengyang County City which was deserted at night, in the capital city in front of us, there were still several markets with lights on even though it was late at night.
The people in the capital city have seen the world and look down on the country bumpkins. The capital has been peaceful for more than 20 years, so there is still a very stylish night market scene.
Of course, there are also some red-light districts that only open at night.
This would be a good time for business.
Pomegranate squatted here, and with his keen perception, he could hear the dancers and singers singing softly and melodiously. It sounded soft and good.
Of course, it could also hear some heavy breathing and seductive moans, mixed with the sounds of flesh colliding, and some unbearable words.
This made Pomegranate snort in disdain.
whispering sound.
These mortals, who are addicted to boring pastimes such as lust, are truly hopeless.
"Why didn't you let us know in advance when Supervisor Shi Liu came?"
A laughing voice sounded behind Shi Liu. The little mountain monster turned his head nimbly and saw that the City God of the capital was hanging leisurely in the air and talking to it.
Compared with City God Cui, this City God is more gentle and does not speak in an official tone. The official robe he wears is not green, but has a hint of light blue.
The decoration is also more complicated than Cui Chenghuang's official robe.
This represents his level of cultivation.
When the City God and the land gods offer incense and practice cultivation, and the people gather their wishes, the appearance of the City God will change, but his general features remain unchanged.
For example, the one in front of him, Shi Liu had seen him when he first came to Fengming Kingdom. What he remembered most was the big belly of this City God of the capital.
He has the air of an official.
However, the City God Wu was a very kind person and would grant almost every request of Pomegranate, so the little mountain monster had a very good impression of him.
"Oh, Wu Chenghuang, I came here tonight for serious business."
Shi Liu stood up, and the red peach charm hanging on his chest shook.
It scratched its head and said:
"I have recently been looking for the bad deeds of the monks in the local sect Yunhuo Cave, and learned from others that there was a headless murder case in our Jingji City more than 30 years ago, which may be related to those bad monks.
Come and have a look today."
"Hmm, could it be that the inspector was talking about the haunted house over at the bridge?"
The King of Gyeonggi narrowed his eyes, twirled his long beard, and said to Shi Liu with a look of nostalgia on his face:
“I know about that, but at that time, this city was not an important place in the capital, and I was just a newly appointed city god with very weak magical powers.
There was a royal noble family who had lived here for a long time. Suddenly, their entire family died tragically overnight, but the murderer could not be found. It was said that the murder was caused by the factional struggle in the court at that time.
But according to my subsequent investigation, this matter seems to have nothing to do with the monks.
Otherwise, I should have reported this to Taofu Court long ago. Supervisor, please do not think I am meddling in other people's business, but I am afraid that the Supervisor has come all the way here tonight, and it will be in vain."
"Yeah?"
Pomegranate was suddenly a little disappointed.
But this straightforward and stubborn silly monster thought about it and said:
"But since I'm here, I might as well go take a look. The City God also said that it's now a haunted house, so maybe I can capture a ghost and ask some questions.
Maybe we can find some clues.”
"Well."
Seeing that Shi Liu was still determined to go despite his persuasion, the fat Wu Chenghuang's expression changed slightly, but he soon smiled again.
He stretched out his hand, made a gesture of leading the way, and said to the pomegranate:
"The inspector works diligently, which is a blessing for our Taofu Court. Since you want to go and have a look, I will accompany the inspector. Follow me. The place is a bit far, close to the outskirts of the city.
I will use teleportation to take the inspector there."
"OK."
Pomegranate flapped its wings and flew around Wu Chenghuang, allowing the Chenghuang's magical power to cover itself. It then disappeared above the Chenghuang Temple in the illusory golden light that was unique to the incense gods.
The next moment, they crossed most of the city and appeared in a corner of Gyeonggi City.
The City God is right.
This place is very remote, and probably because of a terrible murder that happened there before, this small market is completely abandoned.
It was overgrown with weeds and there were strange noises echoing, which was very creepy to look at.
However, the pomegranate was a spirit, so it was not afraid of these things. It looked forward for a while, then frowned vividly and said to Wu Chenghuang beside it:
"This place has such a dense yin energy, how come it's almost becoming a place that only breeds ghosts and spirits? The Immortal Alliance has a rule that such a place cannot exist where mortals gather.
Lord City God, why don’t you report this to your superiors, or ask local monks to disperse the evil spirit?
Besides.
You have already reached the realm of truth, and you can easily use the incense and offerings of the people to eliminate this evil place."
"Ah, the inspector is right."
Wu Chenghuang sighed, twirled his beard, and said helplessly:
"I have long wanted to calm the gathering of negative energy, but unfortunately I am unable to do so. The specific reason, Supervisor, follow me and you will know."
After saying this, the pot-bellied City God, leaning on the ceremonial sword at his waist, led the way. Shi Liu also grabbed his small steel fork and flew behind the City God.
It looked cold and gloomy from outside before.
Now that we walked into the small market town, the eerie atmosphere could no longer be concealed.
This kind of cold and gloomy aura is what ghosts and ghost cultivators love the most, but when Pomegranate flew in, he felt cold all over and even shivered in the air.
It's not really cold.
The main thing is that this Yin energy has the effect of corroding spiritual power.
If you are not a ghost cultivator or a ghost creature, you will feel uneasy when you step into this dark place. If you stay there for too long, the negative energy will enter your body and affect your own cultivation.
The further he went inside, the deeper Pomegranate's frown became.
There is not even a rat in this place. It is obvious that even rats can't stand the strong yin energy here.
"City God Wu, this place is not right."
Pomegranate looked around, with a hint of fear in its blood-red eyes. It swung its long tail and said:
"Let's withdraw first and ask the local monks to help us explore again."
"It's okay, Supervisor. Look, the haunted house you want to see is right in front."
The City God would roll up his sleeves, and a wisp of golden incense air would flow over and turn into a veil, covering the pomegranate, blocking the invasion of negative energy and making the little mountain monster feel much more comfortable.
It heard the City God say leisurely:
"Let's go take a look and let the inspector feel at ease. Then we can withdraw. It won't take long."
Pomegranate looked forward.
Sure enough, just a dozen feet in front of us, there stood a large house that was difficult to see clearly in the night. It was obviously the home of a wealthy family, with special stone carvings and majestic gatehouses on both sides.
Unfortunately, the place is overgrown with weeds and no one is seen.
The vermilion gate was already rotten and half-open, with some black marks on it.
That's blood.
Bloodstains that have dried for years!
The pomegranate shuddered suddenly and began to retreat.
The monster's instinct urged it to leave this place quickly. This was definitely not an ordinary haunted house, nor was it the place where ghosts gathered as it had previously thought.
No.
This place is more like a den of ghosts built specifically for nurturing souls by evil cultivators.
At this moment, Pomegranate stopped where he was, spread out his senses, and listened carefully. He could even hear the eerie screams coming from the dilapidated haunted house.
The mournful and disturbing sounds penetrated directly into the soul.
But the City God Wu who was leading the way seemed not to feel anything unusual ahead, and he continued walking forward, leaning on his ceremonial sword.
"Hehe, well, I suddenly remembered that I have something else to do."
Pomegranate laughed dryly a few times.
It clutched the red peach charm in front of it and shouted to Wu Chenghuang:
"I'm leaving now. You don't need to see me off next time I come to visit the City God. I'm leaving now."
Pomegranates are no fools.
It has now sensed that there is something wrong with the kind-looking City God in front of it.
But just as it was about to use the earth escape technique to leave, the layer of golden gauze that the City God had used to protect it from the evil spirits suddenly tightened at this moment.
It's like a net, trapping the pomegranate tightly.
The hill monster's earth escape was interrupted.
It screamed and activated the Peach Talisman to ask for help, but the next moment, the City God who was a few feet away appeared in front of Shi Liu like a ghost.
The gentle smile on the face of the pot-bellied City God suddenly became so terrifying.
He grabbed the activated Taofu card in Shi Liu's hand and pulled it hard, and the Taofuyuan logo was torn off Shi Liu's neck.
"What do you want to do?"
The pomegranate screamed, but the next moment, the City God sneered, waved the long sleeves of his wide official robe, and threw the pomegranate, which was bound by the smell of incense, towards the gloomy haunted house behind like a lead ball.
Following the pomegranate's elongated scream.
Before it landed on the ground, it used its spiritual power to break free from the City God's restraints. The golden gauze outside its body shattered in an instant, and the little mountain monster flapped its wings and was about to fly.
but……
Its hind feet were caught.
When Shi Liu looked down, he was so frightened that he could hardly hold the steel fork in his hand.
In the deserted courtyard of the haunted house below, there were hundreds of mutilated vengeful spirits densely packed together, each of them still maintaining the posture they were in when they died, some missing arms and legs, with miserable and fierce expressions, ready to devour anyone they could.
There were ghost lights in everyone's eyes, and it looked extremely eerie.
The pale ghost claws were now clasped on Shi Pomegranate's leg. The headless ghost below was screaming. More ghost claws stretched out, and in just a moment, Shi Pomegranate was dragged down to the ground from mid-air while he was screaming in panic.
It was like a layer of pale and indifferent water, which would completely swallow the poor pomegranate if it pushed forward a little.
"ah!"
The steel fork in Shi Liu's hand was waving wildly, and the whole ground was shaking, but it was soon knocked down by the ghost.
The little mountain monster struggled frantically, but more cold ghost claws covered it, and streams of eerie ghost energy rushed into its body, making Shi Liu feel like he was falling into an icy cave.
It stretched out its claws towards the sky and screamed loudly, trying to struggle to survive.
but……
A few breaths later, the last ray of moonlight in the sky was completely blocked by the open mouth and blood-red teeth of a vengeful spirit with half of its head missing.
No more, a ray of light.
"What's the matter?"
Outside the haunted house, Wu Chenghuang held a pomegranate charm in his hand, with his left hand behind his back, and watched the ghosts rioting in the haunted house in front of him with an expressionless face.
Shangguan’s question came from the peach charm.
Wu Chenghuang spoke the next moment, his tone full of sadness and helplessness, like an actor, miserable and crying, and said to the peach charm:
"The inspector of Fengming State, Shi Liu, was on patrol in the capital city tonight and accidentally discovered that an evil cultivator had set up a hundred ghost array. In order to protect the people in the city from being harmed by ghosts, Lord Shi Liu entered the array to buy time for me and subdue the ghosts.
I want to rescue Lord Pomegranate.
But after dispersing the evil spirit, when I arrived at the scene, I only found this peach charm... Lord Pomegranate, it is very likely that..."
The Shangguan on the opposite side was silent for a while.
Then he said:
"Supervisor Shi Liu has always been naughty, and I don't like him. Who would have thought that he is so strong-willed and loyal? I have learned about this matter. I must find his body and send it back to Yandang Pond for burial. I will honor him with all my heart."
"As you command, my Lord."
Wu Chenghuang responded.
Then he took one look at the haunted house, sneered, turned around and left.
But just after he took two steps, he felt the vibration of the incense teleportation magic behind him. He turned around suddenly and saw Cui Chenghuang of Fengyang County emerging from the light veil unique to the incense magic with a person.
"you……"
Wu Chenghuang was stunned and was about to ask when he saw Cui Chenghuang bringing the man. He turned around and rushed into the haunted house fearlessly amid the screams of hundreds of ghosts .
"he……"
The City God of Gyeonggi wanted to ask again.
But in the next second, a blazing fire like the sun erupting from the sky suddenly broke out in the haunted house. Just like the scorching sun, a sea of ​​golden light instantly covered the entire abandoned market place amid the screams of the ghosts.
Its light is bright and scorching.
Like a golden light rising up, connecting heaven and earth in an instant.
The entire night before dawn is illuminated like daylight.
The expression of Wu Chenghuang, who was in complete control of the situation, was filled with fear.
this……
Things are getting serious!