Originated from mountains and seas, life never ends

After hearing what the old man said, Xiao looked at Ye Lanshu's expression tentatively, but saw that her face was covered by a black veil and could not be seen at all.

Xiao looked at the male ghost again. The male ghost was holding the dead man's head, and there was no light in his completely black eyes.

But the male ghost understood what he meant and tightened his fingers on his shoulders: "Eat it."

The boy then imitated the old man, took a small bite and chewed it carefully.

The old man stared at him for a moment, and when he found nothing wrong, he returned to the counter, looking back every few steps, and continued writing something. Halfway through, he couldn't help but sneak a peek at the situation over here, fearing that something new might happen if he wasn't paying close attention.

This time, Xiao finished eating everything smoothly, and his expression was more satisfied than ever before.

Ye Lanshu looked at Xiao curiously: "Wow, this is the first time I see you like this, you seem to be in a good mood."

"Children are all like this. They will be in a good mood when they are full. He has never been full, so he is naturally in a low mood." The old man didn't even raise his head.

"Ah? You haven't eaten enough? Why didn't you say so?" Ye Lanshu was very surprised.

The old man was very calm at this time: "Maybe he doesn't know that it's abnormal to eat only one meal a day."

Ye Lanshu: ...

"I'm so sorry... I've been dead for so long that I forgot to eat--" Ye Lanshu suddenly stopped, realizing that something was wrong, and looked at the old man stiffly.

The old man lowered his head, as if he didn't notice this side.

Ye Lanshu breathed a sigh of relief.

When Ye Lanshu and the others were about to leave with Xiao, the old man suddenly spoke.

"Next time you come, you don't have to wear so many things. Just come by yourself."

Ye Lanshu didn't understand what the old man meant for a moment.

"How did you know?" The male ghost was not surprised and asked calmly.

"It is rumored that the dead are everywhere on Mount Mang, and their souls all look like they did when they died, but I didn't expect that someone could do it to this extent." The old man raised his eyelids, and a sharp light flashed in his cloudy eyes. "The two of you are full of death, especially you--"

The old man looked at the male ghost and said, "You are too murderous. You can almost see the evil spirit in your body with your naked eyes."

“Besides…” the old man closed his eyes, “the skull on top of your head not only has corpse spots exposed, but the strong earthy and corpse odor cannot be covered up by any ghostly aura.”

Male ghost:......

"You may not believe me, but this is the first time I've seen you. I knew you were not alive the first time I saw you." The old man looked at the male ghost, "but this child is indeed alive. I was afraid that the child had provoked the evil spirit, so I let you in."

"Then you are a very nice person." Ye Lanshu smiled.

"Since you have no ill intentions, then you can go on with it later... Just don't come with someone else's head on your shoulders." The old man looked at the ghost's neck and felt a little reluctant, "The person is dead, why humiliate him like this?"

"Ah?" Ye Lanshu was puzzled. "The owner of this end agreed."

Old man:……?

"We told him, and he said it was okay, so we cleaned it and used it." Ye Lanshu said innocently.

Old man:......

The old man didn't understand, but he was shocked.

Mo Hanyu could understand because he was also shocked.

How big is the heart of this owner...

The old man circled around the male ghost for a few times, and finally gave him a bamboo hat that almost covered his head.

"It's daybreak now and there are a lot of people on the streets. Be careful when you go back. If you are discovered, it will cause a huge panic." The old man felt a headache just thinking about it.

The two ghosts nodded repeatedly and walked out the door with Xiao.

After a while, Mo Hanyu saw the careless ghost.

The male ghost was cut in half, with his intestines and internal organs hanging in his abdomen. He was covered in blood and suspended in mid-air, his black eyes staring straight at them.

"How is it?" asked the male ghost with only the upper body left.

"I was recognized." Ye Lanshu sighed and took off her black veil and cloak. "The old man said he recognized me at the first sight."

As he spoke, the headless male ghost took off the head from the neck and wanted to hand it to him, but he forgot that ordinary ghosts could not touch real objects - even their own corpses - and the head fell straight to the ground and rolled for two weeks.

Half Ghost: ...

"Did you do this on purpose?" From the degree of decay of the corpse, it could be seen that the half-ghost had died not long ago and should not be familiar with them.

"...No." The headless ghost picked up the head, "Do you want to bury it with your body?"

"...Forget it, just bury him on the spot." The half-ghost shook his head.

"No, don't bury it here." Ye Lanshu objected. She handed the umbrella to the headless ghost and asked him to hold it for her. She also took the ghost's head and put her arm around the ghost's shoulders. "You're new here and don't know that there's an idiot digging graves everywhere. Let's bury your body together."

Half Ghost: ...

"...Are there still ghosts like this in the mountain?" The ghost raised his eyebrows.

"...There are so many weird ones." Ye Lanshu curled the corners of her mouth.

……

When Ye Lanshu and the headless ghost went to find the old man on the first day without hiding anything, the old man was so scared that he almost fell off the stool.

Ye Lanshu was very confused by the old man's reaction.

"Doesn't he already know that we are ghosts? Why is he still like this?"

Ye Lanshu turned around and asked the headless ghost.

The headless ghost didn't understand either.

Mo Hanyu understood very well.

After all, he was a bystander.

Imagine this: at night, the crescent moon hangs in the sky, emitting a dim light, there are few stars in the sky, darkness covers the earth, the street vendors have closed their stalls, people go home, it is time to go to bed, only a few houses have dim candlelight on.

It was in such an environment that Ye Lanshu, wearing a red wedding dress, holding a red umbrella, with black hair dragging down to her calves, and she even transformed into a pair of embroidered shoes today, walked into the clinic, leaving blood-red marks. In the dim candlelight, a strange smile hung on her pale face, and bright red lip balm stained her dark purple lips, revealing a gloomy smell.

If you don’t know, you might think it’s a ghost coming to take your life.

Ye Lanshu looked at the old man with a smile on her face. Just as she was about to say something, she heard the sound of armor colliding behind her. She turned around and saw the headless male ghost also walked in.

The male ghost's body was sparkling with cold light and had hideous bloodstains. In addition, he did not deliberately hide the murderous aura on his body. As soon as he entered the room, the cold murderous aura immediately filled the entire room, and even the candlelight became much weaker.

The old man hadn't recovered from Ye Lanshu's image when he was hit by this powerful shock again and almost fainted from fright.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?"

Fortunately, Ye Lanshu spoke up in time, and the old man recognized them tremblingly.

"You...you guys--" The old man's doubtful eyes wandered back and forth between them.

"We listened to you and made barbecue for Xiao, and he really enjoyed it." Ye Lanshu thanked the old man with a smile, "I remember that medical treatment costs money, but there is no gold or silver in the mountains, so I went to several mountains to pick some herbs for you."

Anyway, she is a ghost and floats fast.

As he said this, he handed the thing in his sleeve to the old man.

The old man was obviously still in a trance, looking at it in a daze, but he suddenly woke up: "This is - Diaotang? Ghost grass? And... Rong grass? This... these are all for me?"

"Yes, yes, just consider it as the medical fee." Ye Lanshu said with a smile.

"This... this is too expensive." Unexpectedly, the old man shook his head and said, "I can't accept it."

"What's so valuable about this? There are still a lot of them in the mountains." Ye Lanshu was puzzled.

"...the mountains where these herbs grow are very unique, and few people go there. Even if they come across them, very few people can come back, so they are very valuable. Rong grass is fine, but these Diaotang and Gui grass are really-"

"If you want, I'll take it back and use it as fertilizer." Ye Lanshu said, "It will be used anyway. Instead of wasting it on me, why don't you take it and go save people?"

The old man was startled.

Ye Lanshu smiled and said, "It would also help to reduce the number of souls like us who have nowhere to go in the world."

As they were talking, a cold wind blew in through the door, turning into a draught that flashed past the hallway, ruffling the scattered medicinal herbs on the old man's counter, but failing to lift up a corner of Ye Lanshu's clothes.

"Has Mangshan treated you unfairly?" the headless ghost suddenly asked.

Ye Lanshu: ...

Old man:......

"Please don't interrupt this touching atmosphere, okay?" Ye Lanshu said unhappily.

"It's the way you talk that has problems." said the headless ghost coldly.

Ye Lanshu curled her lips and pulled Xiao over: "Come, give this child some medicine."

The old man seemed to have just come to his senses. He looked at her with a complicated expression, then turned and went into the inner room to take out the boiled medicine.

What happened next was uneventful. Xiao studied with the Headless Ghost and Ye Lanshu during the day, and came to take medicine at night.

After a few months, Xiao seemed to have finally believed the kindness of Ye Lanshu and the others towards him. He was no longer as nervous as when he first arrived, and became much more relaxed when interacting with them.

"Keep your back straight."

Mo Hanyu was just thinking about it when he heard the headless ghost Chongxiao.

"Stand up straight," the headless ghost repeated. "I teach you martial arts so that you will have enough strength to protect yourself. Even so, swords are made to kill people, no matter what the purpose is."

"You will most likely venture out into the world in the future, so I hope you can remember this. At any time, do not let the murderous intent in your heart cloud your eyes." The headless ghost squatted down and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "As a person, you must be sensible, distinguish right from wrong, and know good from evil. Use your reason to control your behavior, and do not be overwhelmed by temporary emotions and do things that you may regret."

The headless ghost said, touching Xiao's head: "You may not understand what I am saying now, but you have to know that if you only have force but no thoughts to match it, and you will just follow the person's lead at the slightest touch, you will only become a weapon without thoughts."

"—not a person."

The headless ghost paused and said, "I hope you can become an independent person, not a tool to be manipulated by others."

"It's too early for you to tell him this now." Ye Lanshu said to him while hanging on the tree next to him.

"The sooner you tell him about this, the better." The headless ghost stood up. "Although I don't know what he has been through, he is still a child after all. You have to teach a child from a young age. It's a little late to tell him now."

The headless ghost said, and touched the boy's head again, as if smiling: "I hope he can understand."

After saying that, he just raised his hand and felt something warm and soft covering his hand.

The headless ghost was stunned.

Ye Lanshu was also stunned.

For the first time, Xiao took the initiative to reach out and hold the headless ghost's hand.

The headless ghost's hands were very big. Even if Owl clenched them with both hands, it still only covered less than half of them.

"What...is your name?" Xiao raised his head, his black pupils flashing with a crystal light, faint but dazzling enough.

Mo Hanyu suddenly felt a chill all over his body. He suddenly realized that the boy looked very similar to the woman. Perhaps it was because he had grown up over the past few days and had gained more flesh on his face, revealing his original appearance.

The boy had delicate features, and looked almost exactly like the woman except for his eyes. His eyes were narrow, with drooping tails and sharp brows. His deep pupils shone with a faint light, like the shining stars in the night sky.

Owl looked at the headless ghost quietly, waiting for his answer.

Although the boy looked calm, Mo Hanyu could feel his trembling heartbeat.

The headless ghost didn't move or answer for a long time. Because he had no head, no one knew what he was thinking or what he wanted to do.

But Xiao had a hunch that he was staring at him.

After not getting an answer for a long time, the boy finally lowered his eyes. His fingers were stained with a bit of coldness, his fingertips trembled slightly, and he gently let go of the headless ghost's hand.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he let go, he was grabbed by the headless ghost and held tightly in his hand.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something." The headless ghost said, with a hint of smile in his tone, "My name is Liu Hongyu."

Oh, Liu Hongyu.

Liu Hong...

...? ? ?

Mo Hanyu suddenly raised his head and looked at the headless ghost.

Is he the one that Qin Xiao told them about, the one who taught him things?

Although I had a feeling about it before, I couldn't help but be surprised when the answer was revealed.

"Liu... Hongyu?" Xiao tilted his head slightly and frowned in some confusion.

"Hongyu." Liu Hongyu was very patient. He picked up the spear next to him and wrote his name on the ground.

Ye Lanshu had taught him the word "Xiao", so he remembered Liu Hongyu's name easily.

"...Since you've memorized their names, why don't you remember ours as well?"

A faint ghostly voice came from between the trees. When I turned my head, I found that a group of ghosts had surrounded me again.

"My name is Zhang San."

"My name is Li Si."

"I'm Wang Wu! Go play somewhere else. My name is Li Du."

"........."

Liu Hongyu: ...

Ye Lanshu: ...

The two ghosts were quickly squeezed out of the side of Owl by the crowd of ghosts who rushed over, and could only stand on the periphery and look at Owl who was surrounded by a group of ghosts.

Ye Lanshu: "...They shouldn't be too outrageous."

Liu Hongyu remained silent.

……

From that day on, Xiao finally began to take the initiative to contact those ghosts and listen to the ghosts telling him stories about their own lives.

"Let me tell you, I was once a man who opened shops all over the country, but unfortunately I was betrayed and killed by my subordinates in the end."

"My father had an affair and favored his concubine over his wife, leaving my mother and me homeless. My mother was seriously ill and had no money for treatment, so I killed those two bastards in a rage and put them on a wanted list. Hehe... I reported myself to the authorities and gave all the bounty to my mother, and then I was hacked to death."

"I joined the army in anger because my wife ran away with someone. Unfortunately, I happened to be there at the start of the war and was stabbed to death."

"Ah, I'm not that miserable." The carefree ghost who borrowed my head before said dimly, "I just snatched food from the beggars in the dilapidated temple when I was young. When I grew up, I met a chance and got rich. When I was old enough to get married, I fell in love with a young lady, but I didn't expect that she was from a family of officials. Her family looked down on me at all. Her family arranged a fiancé for her, but she didn't want to and wanted to elope with me. As a result, the person who followed her came to my house and chopped me in half as soon as she said it. She said it was a blessing for me to die because of her love."

The ghost said this and chuckled.

"But I never intended to elope with her. I had intended to coax her away and tell her family... but that's no longer necessary."

...Is it really okay to tell such a dark story to children?

Mo Hanyu covered his face.

And why does this story become more sad the more I listen to it?