Why is my anime art style so weird?

Xu Ming was stunned. Ten soldiers had died in one go. The evil spirit haunting the White Gate Tower was no ordinary ghost.

Soldiers represent the nation, and their bloodthirsty aura makes them one of the professions that demons and monsters least want to provoke.

But ten people died that night, and their deaths were incredibly bizarre.

The decapitated corpses actually rose up and served as stepping stones for the remaining comrades to hang themselves, as if their minds had been manipulated.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed in Xu Ming's mind.

"Boss, what was the reason you said the White Gate Tower was haunted?"

The boss glanced nervously around before replying:

"What else could it be? Lu Bu was beheaded and his head displayed at the White Gate Tower. His concubine committed suicide while holding his head. Of course, it's because the couple's resentment lingered and they came out to harm people."

The boss became very angry when this was mentioned.

"At first, it was fine as long as we didn't go near the White Gate Tower at night. But later, as soon as the soldiers patrolling nearby, or even people living near the South Gate, started committing suicide one after another, the news eventually reached the ears of the prefect."

He ordered a highly virtuous monk to be invited to hold a grand Buddhist and Taoist ceremony to appease the wronged souls of Lü Bu and his concubines.

The experiment had no effect; the soldiers on night patrol were still killed, and even two of the monks they had invited were killed.

Seeing no other way, the prefect asked a wise man to seal off the entire white gate tower and erect two bronze statues at the entrance to ward off evil spirits. This somewhat contained the vengeful ghost.

The boss sighed deeply.

"But it only suppresses it; it cannot completely subdue the evil spirits."

Strange noises would come from the White Gate Tower every night, and the residents near the city gate gradually moved away.

Over the past decade or so, this area has become what it is today.

Chapter 712 During the day, the living guard the city; at night, the dead stand guard.

After listening to the restaurant owner's story, Xu Ming's expression turned serious.

The concubine of Lü Bu, according to legend, must have been the famous Diao Chan.

It's unbelievable that the vengeful ghosts transformed from these two doomed lovers are so terrifying that the entire city of Xiapi has been helpless against them for over a decade.

Xu Ming was absolutely certain that the Prefect of Xiapi, as the chief official of the city, would never turn a blind eye to such a matter.

That is indeed the case.

According to the restaurant owner, the governor of Xiapi once wanted to demolish the entire White Gate Tower during the day.

As soon as the doors and windows were removed, all the craftsmen who had worked on the project hanged themselves on the very first night, without exception.

More than a dozen craftsmen died overnight. The news could not be kept secret and quickly spread throughout the entire city of Xiapi. After that, no craftsmen dared to demolish the White Gate Tower again.

In this situation, it's impossible to force the craftsmen to dismantle the structure with knives, otherwise the prefect would lose his reputation and official position.

Left with no other choice, they had to give up.

When one plan failed, the prefect devised another: he planned to pour kerosene on the White Gate Tower and burn it down.

Unexpectedly, just as the fire was lit, dark clouds suddenly gathered, followed by lightning and thunder, and a torrential downpour instantly extinguished the fire.

The ancients were already superstitious, let alone when it directly affected celestial phenomena.

After that, even the prefect himself dared not attempt to raid the White Gate Tower again, and could only ask a master to seal it off.

Time passed slowly as Xu Ming savored the food on the table, unaware of how much time had elapsed.

At this moment, the restaurant owner came over again, beaming, and said:

"Sir, it's getting late, don't you think..."

Xu Ming was startled and subconsciously looked out the window.

Unexpectedly, the sun was already setting in the west, and there wasn't a single person to be seen on the streets outside.

Xu Ming turned to look at the boss.

"Boss, are you closing up now?"

"Yes, all the shops on this street close at this time. After we close, we have to rush home before curfew, so..."

The boss rubbed his hands together somewhat embarrassedly.

The guests just gave us a large sum of gold, and now you're already being so sentimental? That's really inhumane.

But no amount of money can compare to the lives of one's own family.

If we don't close the shop now, we won't be able to leave when the city goes into curfew. We'll have to stay in the shop all night.

But these past few days have been approaching the anniversary of the death of that evil god, which is precisely the time when that evil god is causing trouble.

Even the prefect granted special permission that no one needed to be on duty at the south gate at night, let alone ordinary people like them who were powerless to even kill a chicken.

The owner explained their difficulties to Xu Ming, who expressed his understanding. Xu Ming then packed up some of the uneaten food and left the restaurant.

Xu Ming had barely stepped out of the restaurant when the owner immediately closed the door and led his men in a hurried northwards, looking as if they were being chased.

Xu Ming shook his head, turned his feet, and headed straight for the alley next to him.

About half an hour later, a metallic scraping sound was heard, and soon a group of fully armed soldiers hurriedly headed north along the main street.

After the group of soldiers left, Xu Ming peeked out from the shadows of the alley.

At this time, only a sliver of the sun remained above the horizon, and most of the city of Xiapi was shrouded in a faint twilight.

The entire south gate was locked, and there was not a single person to be seen near the gate or even on the city wall. The south side of the city seemed to be undefended.

Xu Ming stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

He took out his phone and checked the time; it was only around 6 a.m., still a bit too early.

To prevent any soldiers from not leaving or encountering soldiers patrolling the streets during curfew, Xu Ming decided to wait until the area was completely deserted before taking action.

Time passed by, second by second.

When the clock struck ten o'clock at night, Xu Ming walked out of the alley again.

It was late at night, and not only the South Gate, but the entire city of Xiapi was fast asleep.

The street was completely deserted; not a soul could be seen.

Whoosh!

The wind blew through some crack, making eerie howls, swirling up scraps of paper and fallen leaves from the ground, which floated in the air and looked like scattered ghost money in the darkness.

However, apart from the sound of the wind, the barking of cats and dogs, and even the rustling of mice and insects, nothing could be heard.

This area seemed to be completely dead, without a trace of any living creature.

The animals clearly sensed the danger and consciously avoided the area.

Xu Ming became increasingly cautious.

He walked slowly along the main street facing the South Gate. The street was quiet, and it seemed that only his footsteps could be heard echoing in the cold, desolate night.

Suddenly, Xu Ming's expression hardened, and he slipped into a nearby alley.

Before long, a group of figures dressed in black armor slowly appeared at the street corner and headed towards the south gate.

After the group of soldiers left, Xu Ming, with a serious expression, walked out of the alley.

These soldiers not only walked without making a sound, but also left no shadows. Most importantly, their heads were empty, making them look like armor that could move on their own from a distance.

This is a troop of ghost soldiers!

During the day, the living guard the city; at night, the dead stand guard!

This city of Xiapi is really too strange!

Xu Ming slowed down and fell far behind the group of ghost soldiers.

After the ghostly soldiers arrived near the city gate, they immediately went up the steps next to the city wall and quickly disappeared into the wall.

The thought of a group of ghostly soldiers taking over the city walls' defenses at night sends chills down one's spine.

Xu Ming followed in their footsteps and arrived at the city gate.

The city gates appeared even more terrifying at night; the huge, dark gate resembled the gaping mouth of a monster, and no one knew what lay inside.

Just as Xu Ming was about to turn around and walk towards the city wall next to him, countless purplish-blue arms reached out from the doorway in the darkness and grabbed at Xu Ming.

"Humph!"

A murderous glint flashed in Xu Ming's eyes, and the moment he turned around, his phone was already in his hand.

Click!

A burst of purple-gold light erupted instantly, completely illuminating the entire doorway.

Ah~!

A strange scream instantly echoed throughout the doorway.

The unique structure inside the doorway caused these sounds to bounce and overlap repeatedly, eventually becoming longer and more powerful. The deafening sound swept out of the doorway like a wave, making the surrounding houses rattle.

Xu Ming couldn't help but cover his ears.

The sound finally stopped after a long while.

Xu Ming quickly turned around and looked at the distant city of Xiapi.

It's really strange that such a commotion just now occurred, yet the entire city of Xiapi seemed to have heard nothing at all.

Xu Ming glanced back at the large, slowly burning wreckage in the doorway, then turned and slowly walked up the steps of the city wall...

Chapter 713 Ghostly Shadows

Whether it was his imagination or not, the moment Xu Ming stepped onto the steps, a bone-chilling cold surged up from the stone steps beneath his feet, and the surroundings seemed to darken, as if he had suddenly entered another world.

Xu Ming's facial muscles tensed up instantly. He hesitated for a moment, then summoned Erina and Puck, and with the two of them, slowly walked up the steps of the city wall.

As he approached the top of the wall, Xu Ming stopped and leaned slightly forward to look up at the wall.

There was nothing on the city wall.

There were no lit braziers, no patrolling soldiers, only colorful flags embroidered with a large character "Cao" fluttering in the wind.

Xu Ming was about to beckon a person and a cat to come up.

Tap! Tap!