Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Zhongshan Country [11]

Translator: Xah

Everyone had a clear division of labor; putting up tents and cooking. Each person was busy. For a moment, this dense with evil spirit land unexpectedly had a kind of wordly ways. Gone was such terrible fear of moments ago, especially after the bodyguards saw Zhang Yushui having conquered the grievances of those murdered spirits, their heart also put down a lot of. They inserted jokes between words, made fun of each other about who was being scared jelly and almost pissed in their pants and so on. But after laughing, someone mentioned Xiao Ling, who was the first to be skinned, and the atmosphere turned cold again.

Qi ZhiRong opened his mouth at this moment, “I will find someone to settle his family properly.” The tone was 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 the atmosphere was not as lively as before. They could have been busy just as to mediate the low atmosphere, as not to let their selves to think more and fear more. For a while, it was quiet. Zhang Qiu had a feeling that there was a whiff of chill wind blowing onto his neck. He could not help but move his foot to be neared to Li Shu.

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

“Damn, why can’t the fire catch?”

“Is it spoiled? You try another one.”

The bodyguard whose task was cooking over there 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 big obstacle for the two bodyguards to escape in time.

Zhang YuShui looked at him. “There’s too 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. “Come and help Bobo.”

Xiao Jiang nodded happily, followed behind Erbo as the bell jingling on his wrist. He seemed to like this profession very much.

The wind blew away the bell’s jingle, made people 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 on second thought, if Xiao Jiang learned these things, there would not be any fear towards any senior Taoist Monks in the future. It could be considered as a self-defense skill.

Zhang YuShui took Xiao Jiang to put formation in the vicinity of their arranged camp. It seemed that they would spend the night here. Although most of the ghosts’ grievances and grudges were dispelled, the Yin Qi of the land had lasted for thousands of years. How could it ever disappear in one day?

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

They ate their meals in a hurry; heated canned fast food. Zhang Qiu was nauseous at the first bite. It tasted too fishy. 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 when he smelled it, it made him nauseous.

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

“You don’t understand.” Zhang Qiu smiled and put down the can in his hand. He never felt nausea while carrying Lao Er. Sometimes he forgot the existence of Lao Er. But the nausea happened when he was carrying Xiao Jiang. At this moment, he seemed to be able to sense the 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 Japanese Ni for 2. Should be Lao Er]

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

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

Zhang Qiu knew that these were cooked specially for Qi ZhiRong. Things were not valuable, but Li Shu who had no memory still asked Qi ZhiRong for these for him. It was really touching. He held the bowl of porridge 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’s feet appeared a black soft cub, with its two forepaws clasping Qi ZhiRong’s trousers and legs. Zhang Qiu’s vision and hearing were very good now. When he saw this scene in the distance, the porridge gushed out from his mouth.

This man is too immoral!

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

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

“What’s wrong?”

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

Pixian Hui Wang’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 was strange and looked at Qi ZhiRong again. Qi ZhiRong’s hand was touching Qi Xi’s back while it lay on his knee and stroking its fur, but the expression on his face was still unclear, like it was being veiled.

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

As he finished saying, he felt a cold light sweeping over him and he looked up, just in time to bump into Qi ZhiRong’s gaze which was as cold as ever.

By that gaze, Zhang Qiu turned stiff. Qi ZhiRong’s eyes seemed to be able to nail people in place, until he felt his hand was warm, 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 of paste. His established impression was that Li Shu’s body was cold. He hugged Li Shu yesterday and did not pay attention to this problem. Now he couldn’t tell whether Li Shu was hot or cold.

Could it be that all of these were once again his delusion?

“Xiao Qiu, what are you thinking of? You looked foolish.” Zhang YuShui pulled Pixian Hui Wang to come over and saw 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 wrong porridge?”

Pixian Hui Wang 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 reassuring 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 Wang, smiled and said, “Little brother, do you think I care?”

Damn!

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

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

“Ah! I almost forgot this.” Zhang Qiu touched his head and felt that his memory had been declining recently. He said what he thought was wrong and asked Li Shu, “How did you detect it?”

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?” Zhang Qiu was very worried about Qi Xi, who looked very flirty like a playboy, but in fact was a sweet and naïve man. Alas, he was still rolling around on Qi ZhiRong’s knees.

Why suddenly it felt chilly? Qi ZhiRong stared at him again?

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

“Li Shu, why is it strange that you smile 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 good person, though he has a poisonous tongue and foolish nonsense, but in short, he is quite alright…”

Not far away in the tent, Pixian Hui Wang smiled at Zhang YuShui and said, “Is it good to see the little brother die like that?”

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

Pixian Hui Wang instantly knew what Zhang YuShui meant and kicked his foot. “What’s in your head?”

“What do you think I think?” Zhang YuShui stickily gathered him up and whispered to Pixian Hui Wang’s ears. Soon there 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 and Zhang Qiu was relieved. He was a little nervous just now. He pinched his son’s face, “Do you like that skill of Erbo?”

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

“If it’s fun, properly learn from Erbo then.” Zhang Qiu felt that being a top huckster was still very flashy. To be 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 Li Shu and said, “Where are you going when this is over?”

“Where are yours?”

Zhang Qiu was very happy and said with a serious face, “My family is in Yuncheng, and now I am studying in Xi’an.” When it came to school, it seemed that he had already passed his leave date. He wondered if he could pass this semester smoothly.

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

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

“Bang——”

“Cleared!”

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

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

“Fool, you took off the gas mask?!”

“I felt unbearably stuffy.”

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

The entrance of the tunnel was more than one meter wide. Perhaps these bodyguards’ figure were sturdy, it was easy to get in and out. Now there were two bodyguards standing on the surface. The people who had just spoken were underneath. On the ground, Ah Gui clung on the entrance of the tunnel and shouted, “Come up first and then discuss. To be able to take off the masks, truly admired you guys.”

Underneath, there was a rustling sound but no one answered. Ah Gui sensed something wrong and shouted, “What are you two doing underneath? Come on up!”

Looking inside with a flashlight, there was still the unspeakable smell. Zhang Qiu covered his nose and pulled Xiao Jiang away.

“AAHHHHH!”

“AAHHHHH!”

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

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

“Be careful.” Zhang Qiu said.

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

They both went into the tunnel entrance one after another. Zhang Qiu stood on it for several seconds, looking down the hole nervously. He just heard Li Shu and ErGe’s footsteps, but now he couldn’t hear them.

Zhang Qiu clutched at his heart, could not stop wanting to follow them, but was stopped by Pixian Hui Wang.

“Wait for a while.”

Zhang Qiu wanted to say; you are not worried, but as soon as he looked at ErSao’s tense face, he could see that everyone was worried, but the way they handled themselves was different. After waiting for five minutes in situ, there were two short whistles. Zhang Qiu was relieved. It was from ErGe, confirmed his safety.

Pixian Hui Wang’s pursed lips also loosened a 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 up first, with a man on his back, whose face covered in blood. He quickly put up his hand and pulled the man out. Li Shu came out immediately with a man slung on his back. They were the two bodyguards, stationed underneath.

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

“What’s happened?”

Li Shu shook his head and Zhang YuShui said beside 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 dealing with daily injuries. Soon after dressing, they woke up the two men and as soon as the two woke up, they screamed. Assuming they were going to faint, Ah Gui slapped them twice. “You’re up on the surface now. What’s happened?!”

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

They used to be earth masters before, but then they washed their hands and quit. They acted as bodyguards with good skills. They were supposed to be braver than ordinary people when they saw dead Zongzi 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 Gui asking to come up. Unexpectedly, as they were going to climb up, there was cold stream behind their necks.

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

When Xiao Ling was on the hill, his skin and dead body had already been buried. It’s strange that he should appear underneath just 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 this strange situation, Qi ZhiRong asked if he could go down the pit first. Zhang Qiu was more determined that something was wrong with Qi ZhiRong.

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

The two bodyguards who had just gone down were reluctant to go down. Perhaps the bodyguards, who had stayed above got goose bumps, and some happened to show difficult looks, they all said, “Boss, I still have to support my mother in my family.” “My son is only one year 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 problem for 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 of death. Six of them who stayed nodded hurriedly, clutched their talismans tightly and huddled in the camp.

Li Shu walked in front and looked at Zhang Qiu 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 had been 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 Qi Xi, and Pei Qing came last. The tunnel was not very deep. It took about twenty minutes to climb down. They wore gas masks and did not smell what the others had said.

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

It was surrounded by stone walls and small stone door, polished and smooth, but without carving decorations. At first sight, this tomb was not the main tomb; even Zhang Qiu could not guess its role.

“Out.”

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

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

Wide paved tunnel with both stone walls hung with human skins, densely packed together, bared naked were all women’s skins. These skins state were fresh, wearing heavy makeup, nailed to the wall, the faces 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 to vomit again.

ErGe, you had better stop talking.

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