The years I was in the human world

Xiao Fengzhuo had most of his chest exposed, and he didn't bother to put on his clothes. He turned his head with a curious look on his face to look at Lu Zhouxue's face. He saw that the latter's face was indeed red, and he didn't pretend not to see it like before. He just said something to tease her: "You're blushing, tsk."

"Put on your clothes properly." Lu Zhouxue didn't know what he was embarrassed about. Xiao Fengzhuo was not a grown-up girl, so she could just expose herself. After careful thought, perhaps most of the people he had met were dignified and self-respecting, and few were as unrestrained as Xiao Fengzhuo.

The more you like someone, the more you pay attention to your image in front of the other person, and you become more thin-skinned.

"Tsk, you hypocrite, you obviously want to see." Xiao Fengzhuo snorted and raised his hand to fasten his untied collar. It was true that he was unrestrained, but he also didn't like the feeling of air leaking from his chest.

Seeing Xiao Fengzhuo put on his clothes, Lu Zhouxue turned back and asked him calmly, "You died before, what happened?"

The smile on Xiao Fengzhuo's face paused, and then he continued to tidy up his clothes as if nothing had happened, and replied nonchalantly: "It happened nearly a thousand years ago, I forgot it."

This reaction doesn't look like he has forgotten, Lu Zhouxue thought to himself, but he could feel that after he asked that question, Xiao Fengzhuo became obviously depressed. It seemed that he had not let go of the past, so Lu Zhouxue considerately did not ask again.

The atmosphere was a little awkward for a moment. In order to change the subject, Lu Zhouxue pointed to something in a shop in front and asked. Xiao Fengzhuo looked in the direction he pointed and saw from a distance that it was a square object painted with red and green colors. It looked very delicate and beautiful at first glance.

"What kind of business is that? It's so lively." Xiao Fengzhuo still didn't say anything, so Lu Zhouxue had to bite the bullet and ask again, her tone quite stiff. The shop was indeed doing good business, with people coming and going. The shopkeeper was standing behind the counter, calculating with an abacus, collecting money with a smile on his face.

"Let's go and take a look. Maybe we can buy something." Lu Zhouxue was already trying to find something to talk about. Xiao Fengzhuo sighed, said nothing, and took him closer to take a look.

When we got closer, we saw that in addition to the square things we had just seen, the shop also sold other things, such as paper figurines wearing beautiful clothes, paper tall horses, a big red sedan chair, bags of neatly folded gold ingots, and bundles of Buddhist incense piled nearby. It was not difficult to tell that this was a paper-making shop.

The square object that Lu Zhouxue saw just now was none other than a paper-pasted house with tiles painted with indigo dye, which made it look exquisite and beautiful.

"This is a place that sells funerary objects. What does Mianmian like?" Xiao Fengzhuo teased him with a smile.

Lu Zhouxue: “…” In a place that sells dead bodies and their belongings, there really is nothing good for the two of them to buy.

Lu Zhouxue was a little embarrassed and was about to pull Xiao Fengzhuo away, but was stopped by the latter: "Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Don't you want to take a look?"

As Xiao Fengzhuo spoke, he looked at a paper guard beside him and asked the boss, "How much is this?"

"You and I have no use for these things, so just take a look at them. Do you really want to buy them?" Lu Zhouxue couldn't help but ask when he saw him asking about the price. No wonder this store did so much business, the paper figurines and paper horses were all made to look lifelike. And who knows what festival is going on outside, people are buying funerary objects everywhere.

"Why not?" Xiao Fengzhuo smiled and tapped Lu Zhouxue's head. He was back to normal. He explained, "This Undead City is celebrating the Ghost Festival. If it's later, everyone will come out to burn paper. Wouldn't it be weird for you and me to have nothing in our hands?"

"Later I'll take you to burn paper, and then release river lanterns. You can read your own name or someone else's name, just do it for show, and treat it as having fun." Xiao Fengzhuo said, and took a few bags of gold ingots, a paper man, and a stick of incense, and went to the shopkeeper to settle the bill.

Lu Zhouxue watched him take out a strange-looking bill from his sleeve and said something to the boss. The boss took it with a smile on his face, and happily gave him a few more river lanterns. He then escorted Xiao Fengzhuo to the door in a lively manner, saying, "Come again next time!"

"Where did you get the money?" Lu Zhouxue asked suspiciously. The bill looked similar to the money other people used to pay bills. They should be the same thing.

"Want to know?" Xiao Fengzhuo smiled and turned around to pinch Lu Zhouxue's nose. Before the latter could say anything, he smiled playfully and said, "I won't tell you."

Lu Zhouxue: “…” He wanted to beat the cat.

"Okay, Mianmian, stop asking. Here, take it and play with it." Xiao Fengzhuo said as he stuffed something into Lu Zhouxue's hand. The latter looked down and was completely speechless. Why didn't he realize before that Xiao Fengzhuo was a show-off?

"A wreath?" Lu Zhouxue raised the thing in her hand and looked at Xiao Fengzhuo incomprehensibly, "Azhuo, what are you thinking about?"

……

The heavy sarcophagus was pushed open from the outside. The moonlight that came in illuminated everything in the coffin clearly. An emaciated corpse lay quietly inside. Because it was protected by an array, it had not decayed after nearly two hundred years, as if it was asleep.

Xiao Yueheng stood beside the sarcophagus, looking at the corpse silently. His face, facing away from the moonlight, looked somewhat solemn. He stood quietly for a while, pushed open the entire coffin lid, bent down and took the corpse out.

The Chu family's immortal bloodline was severed by Chu Zhaoli himself, and the Xie family who inherited part of it were also slaughtered by him when the Southern Dynasty was destroyed. It can be said that Lin Xiyang - the body of Xie Huaiyu in the past, is the last of the immortal bloodline.

In order to get the body, Kong Que even broke up with him and threatened him with Gongsun Wuyin. Xiao Yueheng knew very well that after getting the body, the woman would never give him the agreed terms as she said, but would use him as a warning to others.

Peacock has never been an upright person who keeps his promises, otherwise Lu Zhouxue would not have suffered such a big setback that year.

But what should he do? Xiao Yueheng tapped the stone coffin with his fingertips. If he gave the body to Kong Que, both he and Gongsun Wuyin would die. If he didn't give it to Gongsun Wuyin, she would die too. It seemed that there was no turning back.

Sighing helplessly, Xiao Yueheng bent down and carried the corpse onto his shoulders, intending to hand the corpse to Kong Que first to ensure Gongsun Wuyin's safety for the time being. The rest of the matters could be discussed later. The immortal bloodline was not that easy to cultivate.

When he bent down, his long black hair slid down his shoulders, and the white jade hairpin that was not firmly inserted in his hair fell down and shattered on the ground.

"The jade is broken. This is not a good sign." Xiao Yueheng paused, put the body down again, squatted down to pick up the broken jade, and then accidentally cut a bloody wound on his fingertips. The bright red blood beads fell into the broken jade, like some kind of ominous sign.

"It looks like something really is going to happen." Xiao Yueheng muttered softly, lowered his head to tear off the corner of his clothes to bandage the wound, and did not notice that the corpse he put down opened its eyes after smelling the blood. The corpse was originally at the level of half-step into a god, and after being nurtured in the formation for so many years, it had become a demon corpse.

Now, Xiao Yueheng's blood was aroused and he turned into a ferocious corpse. Taking advantage of Xiao Yueheng's inattention, he pounced from behind, pressed him to the ground, grabbed his wrist and bit it hard.

"?" Xiao Yueheng turned his eyes and looked at the vicious corpse that was riding on him and drinking his blood. He put the tip of his other finger against its forehead and was about to blow its head off. But in a flash, he thought of something and changed his original lightning-inducing technique and used another spell to hit the corpse's head.

"If you can cause them some trouble and give me time to finish the rest, it will be worth my tolerance for you drinking my blood." Xiao Yueheng said softly, his face getting paler and paler. He saw that the corpse had become greedy after drinking and opened its mouth to eat his flesh.

He then grabbed the corpse's jaw with his backhand, his tone still indifferent: "Why don't you go quickly?"

There was a hint of confusion in the dark eyes of the evil corpse, and then he let go of Xiao Yueheng, got up from him and ran after something unknown.

Xiao Yueheng stood up from the ground. The hairpin that was originally used to tie her hair fell off. She was pinned to the ground by the evil corpse and tossed around for a while. This time her hair was really messy, draped over her shoulders like silk. The blood on her wrist also stained her clothes. She looked very embarrassed.

He silently took off his dirty outer robe, picked up the clean part to bandage the wound on his wrist, tore off a piece to use as a headband to tie up his hair, and then stood up and walked out of the stone chamber where the coffin was placed. Outside, the Ghost Festival was being celebrated lively.

In the underground city lit only by candlelight, people were constantly coming and going. It was even more lively than a market in the human world. Xiao Yueheng held on to the small wooden building next to him and took a breath. His body was newly refined not long ago, and it was not like his previous ghost body that could be tossed around at will. The feeling of losing blood was really not good.

He still has a lot of things to do and can't fall here.

……

"Can the ghosts in the underworld really get these things that are burned?" Lu Zhouxue looked at Xiao Fengzhuo squatting on the ground and burning the paper money and funeral objects he had bought. There were other people burning things beside him, muttering to themselves, and he couldn't help but feel a little confused.

"It's just like praying to the gods in a temple. If you are sincere, your prayer will come true." Xiao Fengzhuo picked up a piece of unburned paper money under the ashes and put it into the fire to burn again, answering Lu Zhouxue's question casually, "But most of the time it's just a spiritual comfort."

Just like when he was still a human, he prayed every day for ten years, but his prayers were never answered. It was not until he became a god that he suddenly realized that God never listens to the prayers of mortals.

They are heartless and merciless. They watch the changes in the world and listen to the wishes of all living beings. They never care about personal sorrows and joys.

"Let's go, Mianmian. I'll take you to see the river lanterns." Xiao Fengzhuo patted the dust off his hands and stood up. It was hard to see any sadness on his calm face. As usual, he put his arm around Lu Zhouxue's shoulders and rubbed the latter's shoulders affectionately. Everything was the same as usual.

"Won't it be burned?" Lu Zhouxue pointed at the paper figure that Xiao Fengzhuo bought. He had just seen that those who bought paper figures were also to be burned and given to their deceased relatives as maids and servants.

"Don't burn it. I'll keep it for other uses." Xiao Fengzhuo casually put the paper figurine into his ring and walked to the river with Lu Zhouxue in his arms. "The river lanterns during the Zhongyuan Festival are for lonely ghosts so that they can be reborn. It's not as lively as the prayers during the Shangyuan Festival and the Qixi Festival, but it's lively enough."

Lu Zhouxue followed Xiao Fengzhuo to the riverside. The riverbank was crowded with people, and the river was also filled with lotus lanterns with flickering candlelight, illuminating both sides of the river. If it weren't for the singing song of the singing girl that was so desolate, the river full of lotus lanterns and the crowds on both sides of the river were indeed lively.

Xiao Fengzhuo chose a place with fewer people to release river lanterns. The river lanterns on the Ghost Festival were different from those on the Qixi Festival, where one had to write the name of the loved one on them. These lanterns were for ghosts, so there was no need to write anything. All he had to do was light the candles inside and release them into the river.

The river lanterns will float down with the water by themselves. Some of them will go out while floating. To the living, it seems that a ghost has taken the lantern away.

"Azhuo, what are you writing?" Lu Zhouxue saw Xiao Fengzhuo borrow an eyebrow pencil from the girl and tear off a piece of clothes to write and draw. She couldn't help but curiously lean over to take a look, and then asked in confusion, "Chu Zhaoli?"

Xiao Fengzhuo did not explain, but silently stuffed the written cloth strip into the river lantern, then gently pushed the lantern, and it blended into thousands of river lanterns and could no longer be found.

He didn't know what he was doing. Perhaps he wanted to let go of the past through this kind of soul-sending ceremony. His life as a human was short, but painful enough that he could not forget it day and night, even if he was deceiving himself.

Seeing him silent, Lu Zhouxue also fell silent and did not ask any more questions. She just quietly took note of it in her heart, planning to investigate Chu Zhaoli's affairs in detail when she had time. Ever since he was involved in the old affairs of the Southern Dynasty, Xiao Fengzhuo had been acting very strangely, and Lu Zhouxue had noticed it.

On the other side of the river, a cold white hand scooped up a river lantern with flickering candlelight from the river. Without caring about how the people around him were criticizing his behavior, he tore off a piece of his clothes, as if he wanted to do the same thing as Xiao Fengzhuo.

Because his act of fishing for river lanterns was too unlucky, people around him stayed away from him and no girl was willing to lend him an eyebrow pencil. He had no choice but to uncover his finger that had been cut by the broken jade, dip it in his own blood and write the three words "Xiao Yueheng" on it.

After Xiao Fengzhuo released the river lanterns, he looked up and saw Xiao Yueheng squatting on the other side of the river pushing the river lanterns. The man was dressed in green at this time, and looked unusually quiet and docile, not at all like the arrogant and demanding person he was when he was stirring up trouble. Xiao Fengzhuo suspected that he had seen it wrong, and hurriedly pulled Lu Zhouxue.

"Mianmian, look at that person, is it Xiao Ling?"

Hearing this, Lu Zhouxue turned to look. During the tribulation, he loved Xiao Yueheng madly and had a deep impression of that person. He didn't need to look any further at this moment and could easily confirm: "It's him. Why is he here?"

"That's why they say enemies always meet." Xiao Fengzhuo grinned, with an expression on his face like a mask, which made people feel cold. He didn't care whether it would disturb the people around him, and stepped on the river lanterns to cross the river. Judging from his posture, he was determined to capture Xiao Yueheng alive.