The years I was in the human world

The crows on the dead branches gazed at the desolate city with stern eyes. An autumn wind blew over the ancient road, raising sand all over the sky. The tattered flags on the people's houses fluttered and rustled in the dark night. The bolts could not hold the old door open and it hit the wall again and again, which, along with the sound of bells when the demon walked, formed the only melody under the bleak moonlight.

Rongcheng is a strange place, but it is definitely not uninhabited. The night watchman's legs are trembling, but he still musters the courage to go to the street and ring the gong for a living of twenty copper coins every night. Rongcheng is not clean at night, even if he has never seen it before, but it seems that this fact does not need to be seen with one's own eyes, it is already a consensus. It is precisely because he has never seen it with his own eyes that the imagination that begins from the depths of his soul makes the fear in his heart expand infinitely.

That day, he rang the third watch gong along the street as usual and was hurrying home. He did not dare to look or listen, and closed his eyes and ears in an effort to gain peace of mind. However, it seemed that the method that always worked for him tonight did not work.

At the other end of the long street, two figures, one black and one white, walked out of the darkness. The man in black was handsome and slender, like a young master from some family; the Taoist in white had red lips and white teeth, and hair as white as frost and snow, like a demon. If it were just that, it would be fine, but the reason why the night watchman was trembling with fear was that these two seemingly handsome men had their eyes covered by a pair of hands as pale as water ghosts.

The night watchman stared at the two men without moving his eyes. Noticing his gaze, the long-tongued ghost lying on the men's backs raised its head from their shoulders, tilted its head towards him sinisterly, and grinned.

The gong in the night watchman's hand fell to the ground with a crisp clash. He felt a warm stream running down his legs, wetting his clothes. He looked down in a daze and found that he had peed his crotch without knowing when. His frightened mind rebounded and he screamed, turned around and ran away crawling.

The night watchman's strange behavior was seen by the two people who were blindfolded by the hanged ghost. Xiao Fengzhuo and Lu Zhouxue looked at each other. Because they were blindfolded by the ghost, neither of them could see the ghost hand on each other's eyes, but the feeling of having their vision blinded could not be faked. Lu Zhouxue sank his energy into his dantian, hid his fingers in his sleeves, and silently performed a "Gaotang Mingjing" spell.

In an instant, a magic mirror hung high in the sky, and a dazzling light shone down. The evil spirits clinging to the two men were instantly exposed. The two hanged ghosts were illuminated by the white light, and they screamed, let go of their hands that were covering their eyes, retreated into the darkness, and stared at the two men with resentment.

At this time, Lu Zhouxue finally saw the appearance of the two ghosts clearly. They had long arms and legs, smooth and pale skin, long tongues hanging from their mouths, and slender bodies as if they had no bones. They were only casually wrapped in a layer of rags, which seemed to be the white flags hanging on the beams of the charity cemetery. At first glance, they were lonely ghosts with no one to worship them. They looked extremely ugly.

"Is this... a hanged ghost?" Lu Zhouxue looked at the two hideous-looking white evil ghosts in front of him and said hesitantly. It was no wonder that he hesitated. After seeing so many half-dead "people" in the inn, even he was a little unsure.

"It should be." Xiao Fengzhuo said.

The two of them didn't say a few words when the "Gaotang Mingjing" hanging high above their heads suddenly flickered between light and dark, and it seemed that it couldn't withstand the impact of the Yin energy and showed signs of breaking.

"Not good." Lu Zhouxue had just said this when the mirror in the hall shattered and the surroundings suddenly fell into darkness. The two hanged ghosts who had just been standing in the dark and staring at the two of them sinisterly stretched out their sharp claws and pounced on them. Xiao Fengzhuo pulled Lu Zhouxue to dodge.

Lu Zhouxue raised his hand to repair a Gaotang Mingjing, but unexpectedly the mirror shattered before it was formed. His eyes flashed and he said, "Such heavy resentment, I can't even use my magic skills."

While Xiao Fengzhuo was dodging the hanged ghost, he also tried to make a fire order and found that it was true. The sparks only jumped on his fingertips for a moment before going out.

At the same time, a cluster of black clouds floated over the horizon, covering the already small moon. The already dark streets became even darker. Xiao Fengzhuo looked up at the sky and thought to himself that something was wrong. He used a palm to shake off the hanged ghost that was digging out his heart and lungs, and said hurriedly, "Perhaps the formation suppressed the operation of spiritual energy. It's just past three o'clock in the morning, and the yin is strong and the yang is weak. I'm afraid that the orthodox magic will not be very effective."

As he said that, Xiao Fengzhuo shot out another Qiguanshanhe attack. This time it was even more cowardly. Lu Zhouxue just felt a breeze on his face, and then there was no follow-up.

Lu Zhouxue: “???”

Xiao Fengzhuo: "..."

They fought with the two hanged ghosts for quite a while, and it seemed that they realized that close attack would not bring any benefit, so the two ghosts fell not far away, staring at the two of them with dead white eyes for a while, then one of them's arms became very long, and the other stuck out its tongue.

Seeing this, Xiao Fengzhuo drew his sword and started to chop, but although the arms and tongue were long, they were extremely flexible. Xiao Fengzhuo's two fists were no match for four hands, and even with the sword in his hand he couldn't gain any advantage.

Lu Zhouxue stood there frowning and thinking about countermeasures, and suddenly remembered an old incident that happened many years ago in Mount Buzhou.

At that time, Xiao Yueheng was very clever and had many toys made by him placed in the side hall of the temple, including a doll. Xiao Yueheng accidentally injured his hand while carving, and the blood flowed onto the doll, which became evil and hid in the land of nothingness. In that place, time stood still except for the Sad Red Mirror. The doll was made of a sacred tree and was invulnerable to swords and guns. The gods could not deal with the thing for a while.

Later, Xiao Yueheng personally dealt with the thing, and his method was very simple. The puppet hid in the land of nothingness and did whatever it wanted by relying on the stagnation of time. Xiao Yueheng directly sealed off the land of nothingness, and then went back in time. There was nothing in the land of nothingness, and time was stagnant. Therefore, there was no change before and after going back in time. Also, because there were few cause and effect events involved, it did not take much effort.

But the puppet hiding in the void turned into a pile of wood again because of the backtracking.

In fact, the situation that Lu Zhouxue is facing now is similar to that of the past. The reason why the two hanged ghosts are difficult to deal with is simply because the Yin energy suppresses the release of spiritual power. Also, they are evil ghosts, so ordinary attacks cannot hurt them. But if they are brought back to the mortal state, it will be much easier to deal with them.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhouxue took out two voodoo dolls from his sleeves, and then pushed two pieces of talisman paper dipped in ink to Xiao Fengzhuo: "Azhuo, stick them on them!" Xiao Fengzhuo added another "Qi Guan Shanhe" on the talisman paper pushed by Lu Zhouxue. It was still not strong enough, but it was enough to stick it on the two hanged ghosts.

Lu Zhouxue was not idle either. He cut off a strand of hair and used it as a brush. He dipped it into ink and casually sketched the facial features of the two witch dolls. He also marked the time and direction. After doing all this, he made a spell with his hands and chanted: "Withered bones are returning, hundreds of ghosts are making noises, and the road to the underworld is dark."

After the spell was finished, the two hanged ghosts who were fighting with Xiao Fengzhuo to the death a moment ago screamed, and the ink on the talisman paper on their bodies became bigger and bigger, and finally swallowed them up completely and turned into a part of the night. The two short and fat voodoo dolls that Lu Zhouxue placed in front of him also changed, becoming thin and long, and hideous.

Xiao Fengzhuo walked over while rubbing his shoulder that was pinched by the two evil spirits. He looked at the ghost money, black ink, and the witch doll that Lu Zhouxue had thrown on the ground. He was silent for a moment and said, "It doesn't look like an orthodox technique."

Although the human head wind chimes and paper figurines were also very strange, Xiao Fengzhuo could still deceive himself and say that suppressing corpses was no more than the old procedures, and it didn't matter that the medium used was a little strange.

But now there are both the witch doll and the black talisman. Xiao Fengzhuo can lie with his eyes open but he has no guts to say that this is the method of an orthodox cultivator. After all, just talking about Lu Zhouxue locking two hanged ghosts in the witch doll is not an orthodox method: "Soul-stealing technique?"

Soul-stealing technique is a technique commonly used by ghost cultivators to seize the souls of living people or subdue some wandering souls. Because it is too vicious, anyone who uses this method will be labeled as a heretic by righteous cultivators.

"Yes." Lu Zhouxue nodded and admitted it frankly. He handed the two witch dolls that sealed the hanged ghosts to Xiao Fengzhuo, and even explained why he used the soul-stealing technique, "The yin energy here is too strong, and other techniques don't work, but the ghost cultivators' own tricks can be used without any obstacles."

"Mianmian, why do you need to explain to me?" Xiao Fengzhuo yawned. Since there was nothing else to do, he turned back into a black cat and nestled in Lu Zhouxue's arms. "I'm not one of those high-sounding cultivators. Would I be alienated from you because of this?"

Lu Zhouxue held the kitten in his arms lovingly and rubbed it, then brought it to sit on his shoulder. He folded a white crane out of yellow paper to lead the way: "It's getting darker and the dew is heavy. I'm afraid the road will be difficult to walk on."

As soon as Lu Zhouxue finished speaking, a faint and sad singing voice was heard in the empty alley, as sad as the eastward flowing water of the Forgetful River, and the old friends were hard to find; it made the listeners feel sad, as if someone was crying, but it was not the kind of annoying wailing, but a gentle and mournful cry of blood.

"Where does this song come from? It makes me so sad." Xiao Fengzhuo meowed. The night was silent, and the song seemed even more desolate.

Lu Zhouxue listened attentively for a moment, then turned around and chased in another direction: "It seems to be coming from the city gate." After saying that, the man and the cat ran towards the city gate tacitly.

Rongcheng is located in the northwest, with little rain and dew but constant wind and sand. Logically speaking, under such a climate, with constant damage from wind and sand and no one repairing the city walls, no one knows how old the tower should be. However, when the two of them followed the singing to the city gate, they did not see the mottled sand and wind that they saw when they entered the city during the day.

The tower was majestic and tall, and the red gate looked brand new. When they reached the foot of the city wall, Lu Zhouxue looked up at the tower and saw a man in white standing under the moon that had once again emerged from the clouds. When he heard footsteps below, the man put down his flute and looked back. The half of his face that turned around was as gentle as the moonlight.

Seeing Lu Zhouxue, the man in white smiled, then jumped off the city wall and disappeared without a trace.

Lu Zhouxue's pupils shrank slightly, and when he was about to catch up with him by stepping on the snow without leaving any trace, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, followed by warm blood splashing half of his face. Lu Zhouxue turned around in shock, only to see that his right arm was cut off at the root and fell to the ground. As for Xiao Fengzhuo, who had been sitting on his shoulder, he had regained his human form and stood not far away, licking the blood on the dagger, looking at him ferociously.

"Azhuo, you..." Lu Zhouxue quickly sealed several major acupoints on his shoulder to stop the bleeding. Seeing Xiao Fengzhuo stretch his muscles, he raised his sword and slashed at him again. Lu Zhouxue saw that his eyes turned red and knew that his mind was bewitched. While he was dodging in a panic, he formed a spell with his left hand and hit Xiao Fengzhuo directly between his eyebrows.

Lu Zhouxue's realm was higher than Xiao Fengzhuo's, so it was not too difficult for him to cast spells on him. Not long after the spells were cast, Xiao Fengzhuo's eyes gradually became clear. With a "clang", the two swords in his hands fell to the ground. He also staggered and half-knelt on the ground, covering his forehead with a headache, and looked at Lu Zhouxue in confusion: "What am I doing...?"

Seeing that he had regained consciousness, Lu Zhouxue heaved a sigh of relief and slowly walked over to pick up his severed right arm. It was still in time to reconnect it, but the exposed end of his right arm was already numb from the pain, and because of the fight just now, the Yin Qi continued to erode the wound. He had been holding on until now and was already at the end of his strength, with cold sweat constantly oozing from his forehead.

"Come and reconnect my arm for me." Lu Zhouxue leaned against the outer wall of a house and said to Xiao Fengzhuo weakly. His lips turned pale from the pain. Even though he looked so miserable, he never thought of blaming Xiao Fengzhuo.

In his opinion, the latter was just bewitched. The trip to Dongshan was dangerous, and the other party's willingness to accompany him was a great favor. Now that he was in trouble, how could he find fault with others?

"Are you hurt?" When Xiao Fengzhuo recovered, he saw a large area of ​​Lu Zhouxue's clothes covered in red and his right arm in his hand. Suddenly, the scene of him cutting off Lu Zhouxue's arm just now flashed through his mind. Now the bloody dagger was still lying on the ground. Xiao Fengzhuo's face turned paler inch by inch.

He took Lu Zhouxue's arm in a panic, but it felt like a hot potato in his hand. He said sadly and guiltily, "What should I do?"

Xiao Fengzhuo's face was even paler than Lu Zhouxue's, who was injured. The latter's eyebrows jumped and he stared at his face for an inexplicable second. Lu Zhouxue felt vaguely strange. With Xiao Fengzhuo's personality, would he really have such a reaction?

A sharp cat cry suddenly broke through the night, and Lu Zhouxue suddenly saw the figures of two people reflected on the blade of the dagger that fell to the ground.

Seeing Lu Zhouxue staring at the floor behind him, Xiao Fengzhuo turned back in confusion: "What are you looking at?"

The blade of the dagger was very narrow, and because it was dark at night, the image reflected by the sword was not as clear as a mirror. But despite this, Lu Zhouxue could still see clearly the bright red dress reflected on the shiny, bloodless sword.

Lu Zhouxue's gaze moved along the floor to the feet of the two men. The moonlight in the sky was bright, casting a clear shadow under his feet, but there was nothing under Xiao Fengzhuo's feet.