Chapter 53#
Chapter 53#
After Jin Chi finished speaking, he intended to leave, but Pei Huang ran to his side and asked, “Uncle Jin, do you know where I can buy things needed by cultivators?”
Hearing this title, Jin Chi turned his head slightly uncomfortably: “Buying things?”
Jin Chi was puzzled for a moment, but quickly realized and handed an ancient gold ring to Pei Huang: “The King has already prepared the items needed to activate the bloodline power; you only need to go there.”
Having said that, a hesitant expression appeared on his face.
“This is no small matter. The quality of things you buy yourself might be…”
Pei Huang had been able to read people’s minds since he was a child; with just one look, he knew what the other person was thinking.
Obviously, Jin Chi misunderstood that he didn’t trust them and therefore wanted to prepare himself.
Pei Huang hurriedly explained: “I don’t distrust you, I just don’t know what the result will be in three days. If I only have three days, I must say a proper goodbye to someone.”
Jin Chi looked at him, was silent for a moment, and asked, “Is it that child?”
His eyes were deep, as if he could see through something. Pei Huang looked away guiltily, but Jin Chi couldn’t help but smile.
Young people, after all.
Seeing him smile, the tips of Pei Huang’s ears turned red. Finally, he said solemnly, “Whether I succeed or not, please send him back safely to the other world.”
Jin Chi was stunned and finally nodded after a long while: “Don’t worry.”
According to Jin Chi, most of the people living here are herdsmen with no special powers. If he wanted to buy other things, he could go to the ghost market deep in the grassland at midnight.
When Pei Huang returned to the felt tent, Xue Jingci had just taken his medicine.
The medicine’s effect made Xue Jingci feel a bit drowsy, but seeing Pei Huang, he immediately sat up from the bed and asked, “Where did you go just now?”
Seeing that Xue Jingci looked well, Pei Huang proactively reached out to pull back his quilt.
“I went to an interesting place; I’ll take you to see it.”
His words sounded mysterious, making even Xue Jingci a bit curious. He picked up the drowsy kitten and followed Pei Huang.
As the two walked out of the village, they saw two wild wolves already crouched quietly on the ground.
Looking at this setup, the place seemed a bit far.
Xue Jingci rode a wolf and followed Pei Huang, galloping toward the direction of the ghost market.
On the way, Pei Huang proactively brought up the activation of the bloodline power, looking at Xue Jingci and saying, “Let’s browse around these few days and prepare the necessary things.”
Xue Jingci naturally would not refuse and soon began calculating what to buy in his mind.
The location of the ghost market is not fixed; the entrance is hidden in a dense forest.
Rows of white lanterns hung from the branches, lighting up when the market opened to guide travelers.
The atmosphere of the place was very eerie. As the wild wolves approached, they felt a bit uncomfortable, their noses puffing out white mist. Just as they were about to howl, Pei Huang clamped one’s mouth with his hand and patted it gently.
“You go back first.”
This place was very close to Biyang Lake, and they wouldn’t be needed three days from now.
At first glance, seeing those white lanterns, Xue Jingci thought he had returned to the Ghost Pearl illusion.
However, he soon discovered that although everyone here wore cloaks to hide their appearance, they were indeed filled with the aura of living people.
Pei Huang led Xue Jingci to a cave. After stepping through a puddle, their vision suddenly opened up.
A long street extended forward, almost endless. Merchants lined both sides, and red lanterns hung at every stall.
The lanterns hung very low, not illuminating the faces of passersby, but only the items on the stalls.
Pei Huang pulled out a mask and handed it to Xue Jingci, saying, “This is a ghost market; cultivators from nearby come here to trade.”
Xue Jingci put on the mask, and as he looked up, he saw a faint smile in Pei Huang’s eyes.
His heart moved slightly.
Jin Chi had said that Pei Huang’s appearance was very similar to the Eldest Princess. Looking at this face, one could imagine what a beauty the princess was.
Thinking this, he couldn’t help but look at Pei Huang a few more times.
Pei Huang asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”
Only then did Xue Jingci realize he had been staring at him blankly and shook his head, saying it was nothing.
Pei Huang withdrew his gaze, but in his heart, he was still thinking about how Xue Jingci looked wearing the civet cat mask.
It looked exactly like the cat in his arms—both were dazed.
Pei Huang also put on a mask, but his was in the shape of a hideous demon.
The system had been sleeping soundly in the middle of the night and was forcibly brought out by these two. It thought they were going to eat delicious food, but instead, they ended up in this ghostly place.
It meowed and looked at Xue Jingci, saying, “Host, I’m hungry.”
Xue Jingci was following Pei Huang down the long street. The goods on both sides were very abundant, including ancient and heavy fragments of magical treasures and celestial herbs overflowing with spiritual energy, but there was just no food.
Hearing this, Xue Jingci asked Pei Huang, “Is there anything to eat here?”
Pei Huang glanced around and didn’t find any stalls selling food. But being with Xue Jingci, he had long been accustomed to preparing food in case the other person got hungry.
“There is.”
He was about to pull out dried fruit from his cloth bag when he saw Xue Jingci shaking the kitten: “It’s hungry.”
Pei Huang immediately changed his words, pointing to the dark street and saying, “There are many mice here.”
The kitten’s eyes widened, and it dissatisfiedly unsheathed its claws in a show of force.
Pei Huang mischievously pinched its paws, but hid a piece of dried fruit in his palm, saying as if giving alms, “Eat.”
His behavior was truly annoying, but the kitten bit the dried fruit and suddenly remembered the time in Luo City years ago when this person thought it was dying and hung small dried fish around its neck.
Everything felt like yesterday; at that time, Pei Huang was only as tall as Xue Jingci.
The kitten was suddenly no longer angry and looked at Xue Jingci: “Host, it’s better for him to be like this. He looks like a twenty-year-old, not so lifeless.”
Xue Jingci was stunned.
He had been practicing for many years and had no concept of time.
In this reunion, he only felt that Pei Huang seemed to have grown a lot. Hearing the system mention it, he realized he was only twenty years old.
Xue Jingci vaguely sensed some changes in Pei Huang today; he seemed much more lively than usual, yet he couldn’t understand the reason for this change.
But as the system said, it’s better this way.
Xue Jingci soon put this matter aside and turned to study the items on the stalls. To activate the bloodline power, the first thing to do was to purchase herbs to nourish the meridians.
No one knew how massive that power would be; if the meridians couldn’t withstand it, the body would explode.
He lowered his head to pick out herbs from a stall. Just as he was about to bargain with the stall owner, his mouth was covered by a pair of rough but warm hands.
Those hands had distinct knuckles, and the fingertips had calluses from sword-wielding. The strength was not great, but it contained a power that wouldn’t allow others to break free.
Pei Huang covered Xue Jingci’s mouth and, with a slight pull, made him look at him.
Then he immediately let go and shook his head at Xue Jingci.
Pei Huang picked up the herbs in Xue Jingci’s hand and paid according to the price on the slip of paper.
As the two walked forward, Pei Huang lowered his voice to explain: “I observed just now; there are many rules here.”
“First, you can’t turn back; even if a later stall has a lower price, you just have to accept it. Second, you can’t speak when buying things, and you can’t reveal your identity…”
As the two walked forward, everything was exactly as Pei Huang said—everyone followed the unwritten rules.
By the time they reached the end, the two had bought many things, but a few items were still missing.
Pei Huang examined Xue Jingci’s expression and spoke with feigned lightness: “You’ve already thought of everything very thoroughly. Tonight we’ll set up a formation first and check again tomorrow for the missing items. The things sold here are different every day. If something is truly missing, I’ll go ask Jin Chi if there are other ways.”
Only then did Xue Jingci feel relieved.
Although Pei Huang hadn’t detailed the dangers of activating the bloodline power, all cultivators knew that cultivation was a matter of life and death in a single thought.
He looked at Pei Huang and asked, “You’re very familiar with the rules here. Have you been to a similar place before?”
Pei Huang nodded: “We also have a ghost market over there, named Tongyou.”
Xue Jingci stared at Pei Huang and suddenly said softly, “I haven’t been there yet.”
Pei Huang was stunned, then lowered his head to fiddle with the formation stones in his hand, saying, “The Tongyou ghost market is near the lower realm’s imperial city. If you want to go, you can go to the coffin shop in the east of the city and find a Manager Shangguan…”
He spoke very meticulously, telling Xue Jingci the methods of entering and exiting the ghost market and the rules to be mindful of.
But from beginning to end, he never mentioned taking Xue Jingci with him in the future.
Xue Jingci nodded, remained silent for a long time, and did not speak again.
The next day, the two went to the ghost market again. Xue Jingci finally prepared all the necessary items and went with Pei Huang to Biyang Lake, where the bloodline power would be activated, to make some preparations in advance.
They were busy for two days and nights. It wasn’t until the evening of the third day that Xue Jingci suddenly realized that Pei Huang was about to activate his bloodline power.
An indescribable emotion welled up in Xue Jingci’s heart, and his whole body became stiff and tense.
The two slept in the grass by the lake; neither could fall asleep, yet neither spoke.
It wasn’t until faint dog barks and the crackling of firewood from the herdsmen came from afar that Xue Jingci realized it was dawn.
The morning light was weak, shining diagonally from a distance.
The place where they were was in the shade; the grass was dark green, while Biyang Lake in the distance was shimmering with golden light.
Pei Huang sat up, looked at Xue Jingci, and said, “I’m going to the bottom of the lake now.”
After saying that, he placed a sharp dagger into Xue Jingci’s hand.
“If the one walking out from the bottom of the lake is not Pei Huang, but a monster without reason, use this dagger to kill me.”
Xue Jingci’s heart throbbed with sudden pain. By the time he finally grasped that cold blade, Pei Huang had already walked far away.
It wasn’t until he saw Pei Huang reach the lakeside that he woke up and hurriedly chased after him, shouting.
“Pei Huang!”
Xue Jingci grabbed Pei Huang’s hand, staring at him blankly, suddenly unable to speak.
These past few days, he had often listened to the monks at the foot of the snowy mountain chanting scriptures.
The people here said that the death of the physical body is the breaking of shackles, but if the soul is shattered, it will drift in the torrent of time and space, never to enter reincarnation again.
Pei Huang looked at him quietly, not pulling his hand away from Xue Jingci.
Then he felt Xue Jingci’s grip on his hand tighten bit by bit.
The person’s usually clear voice was a bit hoarse, yet it carried an unprecedented urgency and determination.
“Don’t worry, I’ll watch over you.”
“I won’t let your soul have nowhere to go.”