Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 137: Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (2200 votes plus additional content)
After the civet cat finished speaking, it was Ren Yuan's turn to introduce the situation.

"I knocked on the doors of a few shops and spent some copper coins to get a general understanding of the ghost country. But it was just hearsay, so it can only be used as a reference - the locals said that after a person dies, his soul will return to the underworld. The aboveground part of the underworld is in Fengdu City, hundreds of miles away. It is also the capital of the ghost country, and the surrounding 3,000 miles of territory are all under the jurisdiction of the Ghost King."

"They also said that the Ghost King is the king of all ghosts, with many experts under his command, and a hundred thousand immortal ghost soldiers." Ren Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "Whether it is true or not, the locals are very respectful of the Ghost King, even more than they are of the imperial court."

"I understand the same thing." Su Xiaoxiao continued, "In fact, this area is far away from the ruling center of the imperial court. It is the territory of the barbarians. I heard from the locals that the Ghost Kingdom should be the most powerful of the vassal states."

"Yeah. No matter what, it should be certain that the Ghost Country is very powerful." Ren Yuan nodded.

"The only good news is that this is not the territory actually controlled by the Ghost Nation, but the Ghost King has a greater influence here." Su Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "Otherwise, we really wouldn't dare to make any move."

"We can't act rashly. They have more people than us and their strength is unknown." Ren Yuan said cautiously, "It's best to wait for an opportunity when they are alone and see how strong they are. Of course, it would be even better if we could catch a tongue."

"Believe me or not, there is a good opportunity tonight." Su Xiaoxiao suddenly said.

"That's great." Ren Yuan said hurriedly, "Of course I believe Sister Su!"

"Okay, then let's watch my performance." Su Xiaoxiao smiled confidently.

~~
After dark, Wuling City, which had been quiet all day, gradually became lively.

People came out of their homes and placed all kinds of carefully framed paper houses on both sides of the road. Then they lit the wooden "spooky cards", and the fire burned so fiercely that the whole street was as bright as day.

Then men, women, old and young held white lanterns and wore various ghost masks, dressing up as big-headed ghosts, long-tongued ghosts, hanged ghosts, ghosts of death... hundreds of different kinds of ghosts followed the dragon and lion dances and stilt-walking teams, parading and playing in the streets. The scene was very lively.

There are also stalls selling snacks and small items on the roadside. Apart from the ghostly atmosphere, it is actually no different from the festival parades in Jiangnan. In fact, because there are not so many rules, it is even more lively and unrestrained.

Ren Yuan, also wearing a ghost mask, followed the parade and came to the vicinity of the house.

He pretended to go to the bathroom, left the team without a trace, hid in the shadow of the corner, and asked the civet cat on the wall softly, "Is anyone coming out?"

"No." The civet cat shook his head.

"You're pretty patient." Ren Yuan spat lightly, and used his celestial eyes to look at the house. As expected, he saw a layer of barely detectable "oil film" above it, which clearly indicated that there was indeed a ban. If you break in, you'll be discovered. This is also why the cats feel that it's spooky.

~~
At this moment, the parade crowd suddenly burst into cheers, and then they saw a fragrant carriage decorated with flowers and brightly lit, slowly approaching from a distance.

There was also a glittering high platform on the top of the carriage, on which sat a stunning beauty with a flying bun, wearing a red long skirt, and a gauze shawl with gold-powdered flowers wrapped around her arms.

But seeing her skirt and shawl swaying in the evening breeze, she looked like a fairy from the Yaochi Lake who had descended to earth. No wonder she attracted everyone's attention as soon as she appeared.

The fairy held the pipa in her arms, plucking the strings with her fingers gently, and soft, beautiful melodies and peaceful and harmonious music flowed out.

People all quieted down, appreciating the heavenly music that "can't be heard often in the world". The infinitely beautiful scene appeared before their eyes.

Even the group of ghost country spies who did not go out, listening to the sound of the pipa brought by the night wind, seemed to see the evening drum sending off the sunset and the evening bell welcoming the moonlit night; people were paddling in light boats, wandering on the spring river; the green mountains on both sides were connected, the branches of flowers were trembling; the waves on the water were swaying in the moonlight, and the oars were making sounds...

"I didn't expect to hear such a beautiful pipa music in such a wild place." The leader of the spies also found it incredible and came to the yard to listen attentively.

He originally thought that the music was stunning enough, but when the woman playing the piano began to sing, he realized what true heavenly music was.

"Remembering the plum blossoms, I went to Xizhou and picked them to send to the north of the river. Her single shirt is as red as an apricot, and her temples are as white as crow chicks. Where is Xizhou? She crossed the river with two oars..." Now everyone in the room rushed out, wishing they could fly to the singing girl immediately to see what kind of beauty could sing such a song that made people feel "as if they heard the sound of immortals and their ears were temporarily clear."

"Boss, let us go out and listen." The spies begged.

"It's the same if you listen to it here." The leader was quite tempted, but shook his head in contradiction.

“But I can’t see anyone.”

At this time, the woman sang outside again: "Missing my lover who has not come, I look up at the flying geese. The geese fly all over the western continent. I look at my lover going up to the brothel. The building is too high to see him. I stay at the railing all day long..."

The passionate and sad song made everyone in the yard feel like it was calling them. They all shouted as if they had lost their souls, "No, she's waiting for me. I have to go no matter what!"

"Well, go ahead, and come back quickly after you finish listening." In fact, the leader also wanted to go, so he left the youngest Lao Liu to guard the door and led the crowd to the street to look for the woman.

When they arrived on the street and saw her, everyone was stunned. They didn't expect that there was such a stunningly beautiful and yet approachable woman in the world.

Her beautiful eyes were moving and her brows were full of affection, making everyone present feel that she was looking at them, and they followed the oil-painted and fragrant carriage unconsciously as it went further and further away.

It was not until the singing and music stopped and the woman left the stage and returned to her exquisitely decorated carriage that people still followed her reluctantly for a long time before they gradually came to their senses.

"Boss, just say it's time to come out, right?" The subordinates surrounded their leader and returned to his residence, still discussing something with great interest.

"That's right. If you don't come out and take a look, you will regret it for the rest of your life."

"Alas, seeing such a woman, even the vulgar women find her disgusting..." The leader was also very impressed, and suddenly his eyes became stern. "Hey, why is the ban gone?"

"What?!" Everyone rushed back to the house and found that the door was ajar when they pushed it open. They shouted loudly but no one responded.

"Old Six, Old Six, where have you been?"

The leader walked around the house with a gloomy face, then closed his eyes and tried to sense again, but still could not sense the missing companions. He could not help but said in hatred: "We have fallen into a trap, let's go after that woman!"

"Yes!" All his men immediately drew their weapons, no longer caring about hiding their identities, and jumped onto the roof, chasing in the direction of the oil-painted and fragrant carriage.

But where can I see the shadow of that woman?
What made them even more upset was that when daybreak came, they returned to the house with nothing to show for it. They found that their house had been robbed again and all the valuables had been taken away...

"Fuck it, is this going to end? Are you going to let me live?!"

"Don't let anyone know what happened tonight. Just pretend nothing happened." The leader's face was darker than the bottom of a pot. He warned his men in a gloomy voice, "Otherwise, we will all go to hell."

"Understood, Boss!" All the men nodded in agreement. The second brother suddenly remembered something and asked quietly, "But Boss, how are we going to account for the loss of the Manifestation Treasure Mirror?"

"Just say that it was Lao Liu who stole the treasure and escaped." The leader had already made a plan.

"Good idea, now we know where Lao Liu is." The subordinates immediately praised him. "That's it!"

(End of this chapter)