I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 17: Uncertainties.
“All night markets seem to be over”

Li Yu glanced at Zhang Rui who was recording the locations on the scroll and said faintly, "Are you sure it's still useful to record the locations of these night markets?"

During the long dark night, in order to avoid those painting spirits, they should have found a remote place to hide, but according to Zhang Rui's requirements, they had to find the locations of five night markets before they could find a way out.

At this time, they had passed the third one. Like the previous two, the scene was extremely tragic. The living people inside died in a very tragic way. The bones were scattered all over the ground. There were body parts that had been drained of blood, and heads all over the ground had been eaten beyond recognition. This scene was much more creepy than a battlefield.

"The life-saving lamps can be extinguished with ghost blood, but the lights in the night market cannot." Zhang Rui shook his head and said, "So even if they take action, they will wait until the market closes. This means that they cannot forcibly violate the rules of the night market, which means that they cannot block the path opened by the night market."

"If we can't stop them, we can surround them in advance." Li Yu shook his head and said, "This is a premeditated massacre. They won't let anyone walk out of the painting market alive."

"Your Highness seems to know something?" Chen Xiao asked with a frown.

Li Yu did not reply to him. The royal family was infiltrated and one of his brothers might be a Painted Skin Ghost. Such a royal scandal was certainly not something a Prince's staff member was qualified to know about.

If I can get out, I must go back and find that thing. If I can't get out, these people in front of me have no right to know about the royal scandal before they die.

However, he really couldn't figure out who among the brothers was the one who controlled the painting spirit.

My father has many sons and daughters. There are eleven princes who have not died young, and nine who have grown up. Except for the crown prince and myself, the remaining princes actually do not show much ambition in their daily lives.

The reason was simple, his eldest brother's position was so secure that there was no chance for him to succeed. Not to mention them, as the only imperial concubine's son, he had never thought of snatching his eldest brother's position. Although he had always been unwilling, he knew that he did not have even the slightest chance.

Not only did my father appoint a crown prince very early on, he also had no suspicion of the prince at all. On weekdays, the ministers were all paving the way for the crown prince and never even glanced at the other princes. In this situation, which prince would be so blind as to dare to show any desire to compete for the throne?
But the more this happens, the deeper the Painted Skin Ghost hides.
"Let's go. We must find the locations of these five art markets before dawn." Zhang Rui said after marking them.

"Why must it be before dawn?" Li Yu asked curiously.

"Your Highness, the location of this painting market is not fixed. Every day after dawn, a fire will be lit in a different place, and then the people who discover it will use the fire there to form a night market that day. This fire actually comes from outside the world in the painting. As long as you can predict the location of it, you can find a new road that has just been burned!"

"The fire comes from outside the world in the painting?" Li Yu became even more curious: "Where does it come from?"

The others were also very curious. They had all heard the legend of the painting market, but this was the first time they had heard it from the county magistrate.

"Evil spirits experience a minor catastrophe every hundred years, and a major catastrophe every thousand years." Zhang Rui thought about the settings when he wrote the painting market before, and whispered: "Any evil spirit that exceeds a certain age will be restricted by the heavens. In the beginning, this painting market was actually a painting spirit that lived for hundreds of years. Because it didn't dare to face the thousand-year catastrophe, it came up with a way, which was to hide in the painting paper belonging to other painting spirits and try to conceal its own aura."

“But they discovered that when a painting spirit enters another painting spirit’s world, they will overlap and the heavenly tribulation will be confused. That painting spirit was inspired and called on many hundred-year-old painting spirits to form a world together. They began to devour other painting spirits and eventually formed the current painting market.”

As Zhang Rui spoke, everyone around him was stunned, including Li Yu, whose eyes widened. When he was a child and had a very good relationship with the prince, they secretly read Taizu's notes in the palace. There were many contents about the painting market written in the notes, but he had never heard of anything that the county magistrate said. He even suspected that Taizu might not know about this.

But why did he know?

He spoke as if he had personally participated in it.
"The fire that invaded the Painting Market was a punishment from heaven, but it couldn't lock onto a target, so it could only burn through a few passages each time before it stopped spreading. Every time a passage was burned, the remnants left behind were discovered by the living people passing by and formed into a night market."

"I see." Qin Fang looked at Zhang Rui and nodded, "So this is how the painting market came about. I've learned a lot. Master Zhang is really knowledgeable."

Li Yu also said, "This is the first time I've heard of this, too. Where did Lord Zhang know this secret?"

"It was a coincidence." Zhang Rui replied calmly.

Li Yu did not ask further questions, but analyzed the most concerned issue at the moment: "Since the fire came from outside, there is uncertainty. If the owner of the Painting Spirit World does not know where the fire is coming from, then as long as we can get there in advance, we will have a chance to escape before the other party can surround us. But the question is, can we predict it?"

He looked at Zhang Rui hesitantly. This mysterious young county magistrate seemed to know a lot of secrets. But if even the owner of the world in the painting could not predict it, why could he predict it?

"It should be possible." For the first time, a hint of uncertainty appeared in Zhang Rui's tone.

Everyone looked at him and thought he was being modest. Chen Xiao was the first to speak with a smile, "Master Zhang is extraordinary. He is truly a noble man for us." Li Yu also nodded and said, "If Master Zhang can take me out, I will owe you a favor for saving my life. Whenever Master Zhang asks, I will do what I can and will not refuse."

"Your Highness is too polite." Zhang Rui coughed lightly and saluted: "Your Highness is a royal relative, and I am a humble servant of the emperor. If Your Highness is in danger, I will do my duty. Your Highness, don't be polite. This is my duty."

He said this sincerely, he really didn't want to have anything to do with this guy who wanted to steal the woman from his father, even though this pervert was written by himself.

Another point is that he is not completely sure.

When he designed the Painting City, the book did not last long before it was abandoned. At that time, he did have a design in his mind on how to escape from the Painting City, but he did not write it down. That scrapped draft did not yet contain any content on how to predict the exit of the Painting City in advance.

What he is not sure about now is whether the current rules of the art market are based on the scrapped manuscript he wrote that year or on what he had already thought of in his mind at that time.

If it is the latter, then now you can budget for export, if it is the former.
Zhang Rui looked down at his nails. If he looked closely, he would find that the layer where the nails connected to the skin and flesh had turned black.

Thinking about what Li Yu said just now, I laughed for no apparent reason. I am afraid I don't have much time left.——
"Your Highness, are you really not going to leave any one behind?"

In a ruin in the Painting City, painting spirits knelt on the ground like a sea of tides. In this land, the painting spirits that were qualified to stand were supporting a man who looked very young and walking around.

"What's the problem?" The young man who spoke had a pair of eyes as bright as the moon. Unlike Murong Yunji, his eyes were not green, but a deep black like those of the human race.

"Those noble families have invested huge amounts of money. If we do this, it might cause a backlash," Hua Ling explained carefully.

Ever since Taizu massacred the painting spirits, the Painting Market has been a taboo for the royal Li family. However, even when Taizu was alive, there were still noble families who took the risk to venture into the Painting Market. The reason was that the interests within the Painting Market were enormous, and humans could not resist the temptation of prolonging life and maintaining youth.

The main reason is that the Painting City still maintains the rules of the past. No matter who or what force it is, the essence and blood taken under the rules here are yours. Such fair rules are the reason why the aristocratic families are willing to protect the growth of the Painting City.

But now, they have broken the rules and harvested them all in one wave. This wave of harvest is satisfying, as they have obtained enough essence and blood to raise a batch of high-quality painting spirits in a short period of time. However, this is like killing the goose that lays the eggs. Once the rules are broken, the aristocratic families will surely retaliate crazily in the future. The most important thing is that the trust is gone, and I am afraid that few people will dare to come to the Painting Market in the future.

"No problem." The young man smiled indifferently, stretched out his jade-like hand, and the blood essence of the entire Painting City gathered together to form a huge blood-colored crystal.

"What we are doing is to turn the world upside down. As the old is replaced by the new, who will care about these losses if the old family is gone?"

"Master is right!" Several painting spirits behind nodded repeatedly.

"But Master, the Third Prince Li Yu seems to have disappeared now, will it be possible?"

"All the exits are blocked, he can't get out." Another tall painting spirit said in a muffled voice.

When this topic was mentioned, the jade-like young man frowned slightly.

He didn't expect that his arrogant third brother actually had such information and knew that drinking ghost blood could eliminate the aura. Even the ancestor of that time might not know this information.

But it's not a big problem. If you don't force out the ghost blood within four hours after drinking it, you will become a painting spirit. When you think of your arrogant third brother also becoming a painting spirit, it's worth looking forward to it.

"There is another trouble." said the subordinate.

"That sword immortal, right?" the young master asked.

"Yes, Master." An old-looking Painting Spirit said in a low voice, "The will of the Sword Fairy has existed in the Painting Spirit World for a very long time, even outliving the lives of three ancestors. Her will has not decayed for a thousand years, but I didn't expect it to be awakened by a living person. That living person is not simple, and I'm afraid it will be a big trouble."

"It doesn't matter." The young master said coldly: "No matter who it is, I will not let him out this time. Whether it's my royal brother or that sword fairy who appeared out of nowhere, they can't become an obstacle to my clan!"

(End of this chapter)