Great Zhou Martial Immortal

Chapter 68 Ghost Market Rumor

Human nature is complex.

We easily lose interest in things that are too easily obtained; we easily take things that are consistently good for granted.

This is the human "adaptability" and "diminishing marginal returns".

Lu Chenyuan can be considered a master who is well-versed in this art.

Sometimes, he can react in a way that maximizes his interests in the current emotional state without even having to think about it.

Of course he knew the root cause of Li Lingyue's anger. Explaining it was too easy; it would only take a few words. The reason she was indifferent to the Goddess yesterday was because she knew it was a mechanical puppet, an inanimate object. As long as she knew that the Goddess, even in her beautiful young form, was still a mechanical puppet and that its parts were revealed, she would naturally stop being jealous.

But this is the least profitable approach.

He still has to accept the accusations of "concealing information," distrust, and ulterior motives, turning what was originally meant to improve his image into a matter of course as compensation, which will further raise Li Lingyue's threshold for being moved.

If you eat sugar for a long time, you won't find it sweet anymore.

Therefore, we must nip problems in the bud and redirect Li Lingyue's accusations in another direction, so that she can realize on her own that the Divine Empress is still a puppet, and that she is being unreasonable. We should also give her time to reflect and make sacrifices.

This is not scheming.

This is part of emotional value and a two-way flow that healthy relationships should have.

This unpredictability is also a means of maintaining "heartbeat" and "attraction".

If you're simply facing a rich woman's questioning, it's actually easier. Just take advantage of her realizing she's wrong and sweet-talk her into giving you benefits. At that moment, you'll be guaranteed to get tons of gold coins. It's precisely because she values ​​it that she'll try to guide you.

Lu Chenyuan strode out of the princess's residence.

"Lord Lu..."

The person Yuan Qingshuang arranged for him was an old woman with a skin as pale as snow, wearing a dark blue cloak. There were fine lines etched by time between her eyebrows, but her eyes were clear and bright like a cold pool, showing no signs of old age.

Her temperament was as aloof as ancient jade, which was very similar to Yuan Qingshuang.

Yuan Qingshuang called her "Master", and Li Lingyue called her "Aunt".

—Lin Hanyi, an old man from Taiping Prefecture.

This arrangement also shows how much the two of them valued Lu Chenyuan's entry into the Ghost Market.

The two walked one after the other, both wearing cloaks. Lu Chenyuan also had a human skin mask on his face, which concealed his originally handsome features. The goddess also had a cloak on her and followed obediently to the side. She realized that Li Lingyue's anger was directed at her and did not understand what she had done wrong. She was very depressed.

Lu Chenyuan patted her head without saying anything more.

Lin Hanyi suddenly said, "I've heard that Lord Lu is well-read and should have read 'The Four Seasons of Midnight'."

Lu Chenyuan raised an eyebrow: "I know a little. What advice do you have for me, Mother-in-law?"

"Don't take advice seriously."

Lin Hanyi said calmly, “‘The ice in the deep is three feet thick, and the snow covers a thousand miles. My heart is like a pine and cypress, but what about your feelings?’... The woman in this poem, knowing that the ice is hard to melt, still compares herself to a pine and cypress, truly showing her deep affection.”

Lu Chenyuan vaguely knew what she was going to say.

Lin Hanyi said, "When I was young, I worked in the Imperial Ceremonial Bureau and saw the Western Region glass cup that the late Emperor bestowed upon me. That object was very clear, but if you breathed on it too closely, it would become frosty, making it impossible to see the patterns inside. The princess, she..."

"Don't worry, Mother-in-law, I don't hold any grudges."

Lu Chenyuan interrupted with a faint smile, a hint of tenderness flashing in his eyes, "One of the greatest joys in life is to be favored by a beautiful woman. A little 'blinding of reason' by lust only adds to the fun."

Only those who truly love someone will take a joke seriously.

Lu Chenyuan understood, of course. He raised his eyes and looked in the direction of the princess's residence, and said softly, "The Book of Songs says, 'You give me a peach, I return you a precious jade. It is not a repayment, but a token of lasting friendship.' I have said this to the princess. The princess treats me with the sincerity of pine and cypress, and I will naturally return the favor with precious jade."

A gentle breeze swept by, and his fingers clenched slightly, as if he were holding some unseen treasure.

A hint of satisfaction flashed in Lin Hanyi's eyes, and she said no more.

Immediately afterward, Lu Chenyuan changed the subject and said with a smile, "Let her calm down first, and we'll coax her when we get back tonight. That way, we won't be so clingy and drag things out, delaying our business!"

Lin Hanyi shook her head and smiled.

Lu Chenyuan put away his joke and asked seriously, "Has Grandma been to the Ghost Market?"

Lin Hanyi nodded, her aged voice tinged with reminiscence: "The late emperor suffered from a wind-related illness, with phlegm rising in his brain. Whenever it flared up, it felt like thousands of ants were gnawing at his marrow, causing dizziness, headaches, and mental confusion. Sometimes, he could even lose control of his limbs, and his internal energy would reverse, causing him great suffering. The Imperial Medical Bureau was hesitant to prescribe medicine. In the Ghost Market, there was a ghost doctor with divine medical skills who had concocted a kind of 'Ice Mystic Needle,' which was most effective at relieving pain and alleviating the symptoms of the wind-related illness. It was I who came to get the medicine, and almost ten years have passed since then."

Lu Chenyuan nodded and said, "It seems that the Ghost Market has its merits."

Lin Hanyi looked up into the distance: "'When everyone knows what is beautiful, ugliness is already there; when everyone knows what is good, evil is already there.' Yin and Yang give rise to each other in this world, and good and evil complement each other. It is precisely because of places like the Ghost Market, which are dens of filth, that the capital city appears so magnificent and orderly."

Ok?
Lu Chenyuan raised an eyebrow. As expected of someone placed next to Li Lingyue, she was far superior to an ordinary palace maid to be able to say such things.

But that's an exaggeration. The imperial court also needs the ability to suppress them, especially the current one.

The ghost market, a chronic problem for millennia, is naturally extraordinary.

First, the terrain is extremely dangerous.

Mangshan is bordered by the Yellow River to the north and the Luo River to the south, with seventy-two crisscrossing hills and valleys.

Legend has it that the core of the Ghost Market is hidden in the "Dragon Burial Ravine"—a place identified by geomancers of the Western Han Dynasty as a "land where the dragon breaks off," where there are no stars above and no water veins below. When large armies march to suppress them, they often lose their way in the valley; when they set fire to the mountain, the fire spreads along the fire-starting ditches that have been dug in advance, back to the camp below.

Secondly, it has a deep foundation.

Since King Ping of Zhou moved the capital east to Luoyang, this place has been a paradise for outlaws. It had already reached a considerable scale by the Eastern Han Dynasty, and during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it secretly colluded with the gentry. Even today, the coded saying "Buy a murder weapon on the roadside in Tongtuo, sell official documents in the Golden Valley Garden" still circulates among the common people.

Those seemingly dilapidated pawnshops and teahouses are actually underworld families with hundreds of years of history.

Thirdly, it is difficult to distinguish between officials and criminals.

Lu Chenyuan had read a lot of internal documents, including a "Yin-Yang Ledger" that he had seized during a bandit suppression campaign years ago. It clearly recorded how many heads of death row inmates a certain fifth-rank official had exchanged for rare and precious materials in the Ghost Market in a certain year and month.

It's so dirty, the stain has become the base color, it's impossible to wash it!

Lu Chenyuan had no criticism of the Ghost Market; all he wanted to do now was find out who was trying to get back at him.

Then kill him!
The three left the city and used their lightness skills to head straight for the Burial Dragon Gorge in Mangshan. About an hour later, they arrived at a mass grave in the mountains.

A cold wind swept through the old locust trees among the graves, emitting a mournful sound like a bone flute. The deeper one went into the Burial Dragon Ravine, the thicker the fog became—it was not ordinary water vapor, but a grayish-white turbid fog with the smell of adipocere, which caused a dull pain when inhaled.

Lin Hanyi, familiar with the place, arrived at a cave behind the mass grave. The entrance to the cave resembled an open beast's mouth, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and the sound of dripping water was particularly clear in the darkness.

Inside the cave, an underground river glows with phosphorescence in its depths.

The river water was as thick as mercury, with black, fluffy substances resembling human hair floating on its surface. Blood-red lanterns could be vaguely seen in the mist on the opposite bank, but not a single human voice could be heard.

The first checkpoint before entering the Ghost Market is the River of Oblivion.

"Dangdang——"

Lin Hanyi rang the copper bell on the shore. Something seemed to be mixed in with the bell, making it sound like bones cracking.

Before long, the sound of water grew louder as a white bone boat slowly approached.

"The silk threads are wrapped around the bones of living people."

The holy monk's skull was steamed in a vat.

A thousand pieces of gold thrown away brings only fleeting joy.

The blood dice fell, and the judge wept.

The official's boat

Eating food served by red lights
The boatman, ferrying the boatman across the calamity, slowly poles his boat—

The boatman on the boat hummed a ghost market ballad in a strange tone as he approached the shore.

It was a gaunt middle-aged man with a deathly pale face, holding a white bone pole. He looked up at the three of them and said in a weak voice, "Who called for the boat?"

Lin Hanyi threw out three green-bladed knives and jumped onto the boat: "To the Judge's Pavilion."

Lu Chenyuan and the Empress followed suit and jumped up.

The boatman took the money without saying a word, stuffed the green-bladed knife into his mouth and swallowed it, then pushed off with the white bone pole and slowly walked back.

Lin Hanyi explained, "The silk threads bind the bones of the living, the gu jar steams the skull of the holy monk. A thousand pieces of gold are thrown away, the impermanent laughs, the blood dice fall, the judge weeps. This refers to the four most dangerous streets in the Ghost Market: Yanshi Fang, Gu Cave, Never-Night City, and Judge's Pavilion. Yanshi Fang is mainly about the art of making mechanical puppets, including firearms and imitations; Gu Cave is mainly about medicine and poisons, and the ghost doctor I mentioned is in it; Never-Night City is mainly about wine, women, wealth, and power, a den of iniquity, and also includes trading information, martial arts manuals, divine weapons, etc., and the person in charge is called 'Laughing Impermanent'; finally, there is Judge's Pavilion, which is mainly about killing and buying and selling, and the leader is 'Sad Bone Judge' Chu Zhaoye."

"I've heard of this person."

Lu Chenyuan nodded: "Chu Zhaoye comes from the Chu family, a family of swordsmiths in Jiangnan. His family has passed down the 'Criminal Code Sword Manual,' which integrates swordsmanship with the law. Every move contains the way of punishment. Fifteen years ago, the Chu family was in turmoil. Chu Zhaoye slaughtered the entire Sword Tomb, betrayed his family, entered the Ghost Market, and became one of the four great families under the Ghost Market Lord Yin Fujun."

Lin Hanyi nodded: "Revealing the employer's identity and borrowing the Book of Life and Death is against his rules, but everything in the Ghost Market is based on transactions and gambling, and even the judge can hardly disobey this order. So he will lend it, but he will definitely make things difficult for him! So far, it seems that only two people have borrowed the Book of Life and Death from him. Apart from that, countless people have given up and accepted their losses. Let's give it a try for now. If it doesn't work, so be it. The bounty hunters are just a few people. We'll run into them sooner or later."

Lu Chenyuan: "Don't worry, Mother-in-law, I understand."

"Ah."

Lin Hanyi took out her money pouch, kept three coins, and handed the rest to Lu Chenyuan: "After crossing the River of Oblivion, you'll reach the Road to the Underworld. You'll need three coins to pay for the journey. After that, you'll pass the Gate of Hell and arrive at the Ghost Market. Take this money; you'll need capital for gambling and trading. Chu Zhaoye went to great lengths to make things difficult for you, so you should be able to use it."

Lu Chenyuan nodded and accepted the money pouch without ceremony. At the same time, he said to the Empress, "Lingxi, keep an eye on it. Remind your brother if you find any 'clues'."

It's a shame not to use the [Guicang Treasure Eye] since we finally get to enter the Ghost Market.

The goddess's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously, a blue light flashing in her eyes as she began to notice the precious light around her.

The white-boned boat slowly approached the shore, making a creaking sound as its bottom touched the riverbank, as if real bones were rubbing against each other.

The moment Lu Chenyuan stepped onto the opposite bank, dark red liquid seeped from the soil beneath his feet, blooming into a bloody flower on the edge of his boot.

"We have arrived at the Road to the Underworld."

Lin Hanyi threw the three green-bladed knives into the mist.

Before the sound of metal hitting the ground could be heard, two eerie green lanterns pierced through the fog—they were phosphorescent lights embedded in the eye sockets of living people. The two men were the guardians of the path, "Ox-Head" and "Horse-Face," with burly figures and bronze beast heads on their heads. When they received the coins, they revealed a mouthful of jagged iron teeth.

Horse-faced took out three human skin talismans from his robes: "Peace Talismans. They provide protection for thirty breaths. Those who exceed this time will bear the consequences!"

The second checkpoint to enter the Ghost Market: the Road to the Underworld.

Lu Chenyuan took the talisman, which was decorated with twisted meridian patterns painted in gold paint.

Looking up, behind the two of them was a misty mountain path.

With keen eyes, one can see the great array operating beneath that path: the Illusion Array, Sword Array, Killing Array, Fire Array, Wood Array, and Poison Array. The ferocity within the array is unparalleled, and just looking at it makes one's heart tremble with fear!

This formation is not as powerful as the [Four Symbols Revolving Heart Wheel], but the purpose of the Revolving Heart Wheel is not to kill people, nor does it have such a strong killing intent. This is the first time that Lu Chenyuan has personally witnessed the terror of a top-level killing formation.

"No wonder the imperial court found it so difficult to conquer..."

As soon as they approached the path, the talisman spontaneously combusted, its power transforming into golden light to protect them.

"go!"

The three moved like lightning, crossing the Yellow Springs Path at top speed.

As the thirty breaths were about to end, a black jade archway carved with a hundred demons walking at night appeared at the end of the path.

Four ancient, dried corpses hung in front of the archway, dressed as pre-Qin alchemists.

When the three were three feet away from the door, the copper bell at the ancient corpse's waist twitched without wind, and a slit of light slowly opened in the center of the archway.

In an instant, the sounds of music and singing filled the air.

Lu Chenyuan narrowed his eyes—inside the Gates of Hell was a brightly lit long street.

Red lanterns hung on the pavilions on both sides. The silk shop and the coffin shop were next to each other. At the pawn shop counter, there was a down-on-his-luck young man pawning his family heirloom jade pendant, and a sorcerer exchanging a skull artifact for a contract knife. Even more bizarre was the street troupe: the flames breathed by a fire-breathing artist condensed into the shape of a vengeful spirit in mid-air, and the crowd cheered as usual.

"The East Market sells goods from the living world, while the West Market sells goods from the dead world."

Lin Hanyi pointed to the blood-red maple forest in the distance: "The Judge's Pavilion is at the boundary between Yin and Yang..."

(End of this chapter)