Underworld entries, starting with ghost stories.

Chapter 96 "Egg-Born" is in the making—

Looking at those strange and unusual options, Wu Qing felt completely numb.

Looking at this whole series, the lotus-shaped outfit resembling Nezha's is actually the most normal.

Actually, the sailor uniform is alright. If this weren't the Sui and Tang Dynasty world, he would quite like to choose it.

Autobot costume—what the heck is this? Is it cyberpunk set in the Sui and Tang Dynasties?

There's also a magical girl outfit coming up, but it's not good to be born with exposed arms and legs.

The magical girl outfit is only suitable for transformations when no one knows your true identity; otherwise, it would be too embarrassing.

As for the last one, "natural".

Well, I do indeed prefer the natural Zhu Luan and Ai Lian, and I also like to have them naturally perform sword dances for me, or to have them naturally open their cherry-like mouths so I can naturally feed them.

But you can just enjoy it yourself.

In the end, he still chose the lotus dress.

Actually, this option is already quite ordinary, but even in the realm of ghost stories, it's better to keep it ordinary.

Then, he saw a beautiful lotus-themed dress fly into the Suihou Pearl.

Inside the Suihou Pearl, the blood he had just dripped into it was swirling and merging with the eerie light that had burst forth from the sky.

—"The Ghost Story of Egg-Born" is currently being fertilized and is in the process of development. Please wait patiently.

What is fertilization? I just dropped a drop of blood, okay?

Wu Qing saw that there was another progress bar, but it was moving very slowly and probably wouldn't finish in a few days.

So I turned off the system menu first.

Let's continue on our way—

**

Meanwhile, in Shandong, Xu Maogong, through strategic planning, led the group of righteous men gathered at Jialiu Inn to break into the prison and rescue You Junda and Cheng Yaojin, who were trapped inside.

Meanwhile, Shan Xiongxin and Wang Bodang rushed to Dengzhou to rescue Qin Qiong, who had been taken away by Yang Lin, the Prince of Kaoshan.

Tang Bi, the prefect of Jinan, had You Junda and Cheng Yaojin under his custody. He originally intended to torture them to extract information about the whereabouts of the stolen imperial convoy, but unexpectedly, the two were rescued.

When he led his troops to Jialiudian, he captured no one, but found the list of people who had gathered together in righteousness.

Xu Maogong deliberately left the list of the alliance members intact, but omitted Chai Shao's name to avoid implicating the Duke of Tang.

As for the others, not one of them was spared; the government obtained their names, and it was too late for them not to rebel.

Tang Bi was surprised to see Qin Qiong's name on the list of those who had gathered for the righteous cause.

He was originally afraid of being punished by the Prince of Kao Shan, but now that he saw Qin Qiong's name, he felt at ease.

However, Yang Lin was unaware that he had a blood feud with Qin Qiong for killing his father. Seeing Qin Qiong's extraordinary martial arts skills, he took Qin Qiong away and wanted to make him his thirteenth bodyguard.

Originally, Yang Lin intended to take You and Cheng away as well, but Qin Qiong stopped him and left You and Cheng in Jinan for interrogation by the authorities.

At this moment, Tang Bi saw that Qin Qiong, You Junda, and Cheng Yaojin's names were all on the alliance list. He knew that Qin Qiong had used a trick, and he could take this list to explain to Yang Lin, the Prince of Kao Shan.

Immediately, Tang Bi sent someone to see the Prince of Kao Shan.

When the Prince of Kao Shan received the alliance document, he learned that Qin Qiong was actually in cahoots with the thieves who robbed the imperial convoy, and hurriedly sent men to capture Qin Qiong.

Qin Qiong fled all the way to Tongguan, but was intercepted by the military generals guarding the place.

That general also possessed extraordinary martial arts skills, even surpassing Qin Qiong's. Qin Qiong was blocked in front and pursued by the Twelve Bodyguards from behind, and it looked like he was about to be captured.

Fortunately, Shan Xiongxin and Wang Bodang arrived in time. Shan Xiongxin intercepted the general, while Wang Bodang secretly fired an arrow, thus successfully rescuing Qin Qiong.

Qin Qiong, Shan Xiongxin, and Wang Bodang continued their escape, trying their best to shake off the pursuit and blockade of Yang Lin's twelve bodyguards. Finally, they left Shandong and arrived at Jindi Pass, where they reunited with the heroes.

When Qin Qiong, Shan Xiongxin, and Wang Bodang arrived, their families had already been brought over, and they all gathered together here.

Wang Bodang reunited with his family, and Qin Qiong also met his mother; both were overjoyed.

Shan Xiongxin searched for a while but couldn't find his family.

When they arrested him and questioned him, they learned that no one had gone to rescue his family.

Just then, the escaped servants of the Shan family came to find him, crying and telling him that the soldiers had suddenly attacked and that his wife and children had all been arrested and executed because no one had informed them beforehand.

Shan Xiongxin immediately flew into a rage, grabbed his knife, and headed to the main tent to settle accounts with Xu Maogong.

Meanwhile, Xu Maogong, along with You Junda, Cheng Yaojin, and other heroes, were in the main tent.

They were all overjoyed to learn that Qin Qiong had been rescued and brought back by Shan Xiongxin and Wang Bodang.

Xu Maogong said, "It is good that Uncle Bao is safe. But someone is coming to kill me. You must help me persuade him to stay so that I can explain things to him."

Cheng Yaojin and You Junda, having been saved by Xu Maogong's strategic planning, readily agreed when he heard that someone wanted to kill them.

Cheng Yaojin shouted, "Who dares to kill you? With me here, you can rest assured."

Before long, Shan Xiongxin appeared, carrying a knife and angrily charging towards Xu Maogong: "You damned Taoist! You've saved everyone else's family, but you haven't taken care of a single member of my Shan family?"

""

The crowd hurriedly stopped him and asked him what had happened.

Shan Xiongxin pointed his knife at Xu Maogong: "Your families are all safe and sound, but my family was captured and killed by the corrupt official Cai Jiande. Although I rushed to rescue Shubao, didn't anyone go to inform him beforehand?"

Xu Maogong said, "My dear brother, you are mistaken!"

"When Brothers You and Cheng were captured, and Shubao was taken away by Yang Lin, none of us had yet rebelled. I, your foolish brother, had foreseen the impending calamity for your entire family."

"Therefore, I once said: everyone is concerned about their wives and children, who is willing to do anything for their friends?" My dear brother, you yourself said: friends are like hands and feet, wives are like clothes. A wife can be remarried, but a friend is truly gone forever.

"Back then, I told you not to blame me afterwards, so why are you complaining now?"

Shan Xiongxin did indeed say these words when he was eager to rescue Qin Shubao.

He was momentarily stunned by Xu Maogong's words.

However, even though he said that, everyone's family was saved, but he was the only one left out.

This action still infuriated him.

You Junda and Cheng Yaojin had previously promised Xu Maogong that no matter who came to kill him, they would stop him.

But they hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

The two men emerged, filled with remorse. They suddenly knelt before Shan Xiongxin and cried, "It's all because of us that Brother Shan's family was killed. We deserve to die."

Shan Xiongxin, still holding his knife, finally let out a long sigh, threw the knife away, knelt before You Junda and Cheng Yaojin, and helped them up: "It was my own wife and children who were doomed, what does it have to do with my two virtuous brothers?"

Others came forward to comfort him, but Shan Xiongxin, though feeling depressed, was helpless.

Xu Maogong offered some insincere words of comfort, but in his heart he thought, "There's nothing we can do about this; he and the other brothers are ultimately not on the same side."

"If we don't get rid of him, he'll lead one brother after another, and who knows how many brothers will follow him to their deaths!"

"So helpless, so helpless!"

[Note: Xu Maogong rescued everyone else's family except Shan Xiongxin's. This is part of the original plot of *The Story of the Tang Dynasty*, and not intended to create hatred. Later, Shan Xiongxin even captured the corrupt official who killed his entire family, but Xu Maogong still found an excuse to release them—this is also part of the book. Without the protagonist, Shan Xiongxin's entire family would indeed have died there.]