The ghost market is not located on a horizontal plane. It is composed of dozens of waterfalls, dozens of river sections, and hundreds of large and small caves.
And due to the height difference between the tributaries of the underground river, the entire ghost market is divided into several levels. In some places, you have to take bamboo stairs or dive to pass.
If you are not familiar with the terrain and have no guide to guide you, it is easy to get lost in the hidden river system and never get out.
'No wonder the Yu State court and Zhenfusi couldn't destroy the ghost market here. Underground rivers extend in all directions and there are countless secret passages. It is difficult for the army to move in. Even if it moves in, the people in the ghost market can quickly evacuate and move to other underground river systems. '
Li Ang looked around, feeling a little surprised. The terrain of the entire ghost city was so complicated that it was comparable to a giant ant nest. It may accommodate a population of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. It looks like an underground kingdom.
Wanted fugitives, monks who came to buy prohibited items, foreign spies with evil intentions, businessmen who are greedy for profit...
If Chang'an is a paradise on earth, then the ghost market is where the dirty water and filth of Chang'an City gather.
"It still smells as bad as ever."
Wu Huo put his hands behind his head and complained, "What do the people in the ghost market eat all day long?"
Crow Jiu walked in front and replied without looking back: "The staple food is moss, eyeless albino fish, and earthworms. A few people can afford food."
"We can't transport large amounts of food in, so we can only eat this?"
Wu Huo clicked his tongue and said, "It's a good thing they can eat it."
"When a person is extremely hungry, he will eat anything."
Yajiu said calmly, speeding up his pace slightly and turning a corner.
"Um?"
Li Ang raised his eyebrows, and what appeared in front was no longer the low shack seen in the river section in front, but a fair and neat villa on a high ground.
There is a high courtyard wall outside the mansion, with countless ceramic shards buried on top of the wall to prevent bandits. There are several observation towers behind the wall, with soldiers wearing strong armor stationed on them.
Above the cave where the entire villa is located, a huge "herringbone" shaped rain shelter hangs to block the dripping water from the cave.
Under the awning, there are also ever-lasting lamps hanging to keep the lights on. It makes the villa estate look spectacular and eerie.
Tap tap tap.
Two bald men with the same appearance and wearing short robes walked out of the shadows on both sides of the house and cast a sinister glance at Crow 9 and the others.
"I'm here to see Kou Zhian and Kou Dalang."
Yajiu looked normal, took out a letter from his arms and handed it to the two bald guards.
The bald guard glanced at them, but remained silent. He just turned around and motioned for Yajiu and others to follow.
Kou Zhian Kou Dalang?
Li Ang's heart moved. This name appeared in the last change in Shengyefang. At that time, four people, including the scholar and the dwarf, were said to be the strangers introduced by Kou Zhian to Huairui, a doctor in the Jin Department, to help Huairui solve the mutation.
At that time, Li Ang thought that Kou Zhian was an intermediary in the ghost market. Looking at this battle, his status seemed to be quite high.
Local snake?
As if sensing the doubts in Li Ang's heart, Yajiu flicked his fingers and released the sound transmission technique, causing the sound to ring in Li Ang's ears.
"The entire ghost market is divided up by eleven different forces. Kou Zhian is one of them - his father, Kou Wukui, is a monk in the Zhuxiao Realm, but he has not been seen in the ghost market for several years."
Kou Wukui... I seem to have heard this name somewhere.
Li Ang's eyes lit up. He seemed to have heard Yang Yu, a native of Chang'an, mention it.
When the Holy Queen was in power, she kept many handsome men as her favorites and gave them many rewards and even official titles. Some of them were proud of their favors and behaved wantonly, which led to them being brutally liquidated after the Shenlong coup and Li's return to the government.
(Some doctors of academic history believe that the Queen's connivance with Mian Shou was due to her cowardice in her later years, while others secretly commented that this move was a conspiracy by the Queen. She deliberately indulged Mian Shou, male favorites, sycophants, etc., pushing them to behave wildly, thereby blocking To attract hatred in front of the Wu clan. Wait for the Holy Queen a hundred years later to prevent the Wu clan from being implicated too harshly)
Most of them were killed or even stabbed to death by the Li clan, and only a few who were completely innocent or unworthy of being liquidated escaped.
Kou Wukui is one of them - he and Shanchang Lian Xuanxiao were of the same era. When he was young, he was favored by the Holy Queen because of his handsome appearance, and even asked the Holy Queen to use the resources in the palace to help him practice.
After the Shenlong Coup, Kou Wukui, who was already a monk in the Xunyun Realm, escaped from the pursuit of the Li clan with great difficulty. From then on, he vowed to avenge the Holy Queen and sworn to fight against Li Yu.
'It was said that he assassinated many members of the clan named Li, as well as the dragon heroes who played a great role in the coup. Then he disappeared. The citizens of Chang'an thought he was dead, but they didn't expect that he had been hiding in the ghost market for so many years and had become a Zhuxiao realm.
Well, in a sense, having been hiding in the underground ghost market for decades is indeed a "death" with the Li Yu court. '
Li Ang thought this way and followed Ya Jiu into the villa.
The entire villa is not much different from the above-ground buildings. It has a gate, a pavilion, a nave, a backyard and other structures. There are also rockery flowers and plants in the backyard.
However, probably for moisture-proof purposes, the entire wood part of the villa has been replaced by stone.
"It's like a coffin."
Wu Huo curled his lips and made a comment. The bald guard leading the way immediately turned his head and glanced at him coldly. Behind him, there was a faint shadow of a jackal, staring at Wu Huo with his mouth open.
The fierce look of a body-refining warrior.
Wu Huo snorted disdainfully and looked directly into the cruel and sinister eyes of the ferocious wolf. Behind him, a larger dark shadow also appeared, shrouding the opponent.
"Don't cause trouble."
Yajiu glanced at him and walked forward faster.
At this time, a middle-aged man in rich clothes also walked out of the backyard.
He is tall and burly, with sunken eye sockets and a straight nose. He looks like he has Hu ancestry.
"Kou Huai'an?"
Yajiu frowned slightly, "Kou Erlang, where is your eldest brother."
"You are the distinguished guest introduced by Mr. Yuansou, right?"
Kou Erlang, named Kou Huai'an, smiled and said: "My eldest brother went to Jing State half a month ago for business, and now I am in charge of the Kou family. If you three have anything, you can tell me."
"..."
Yajiu was silent for a moment, nodded, and said, "When Kou Da left, did he tell you the whereabouts of some of the remaining limbs?"
"Your Excellency is talking about those Buddhas?"
Kou Huaian nodded, turned around and walked into the central hall, "You three, follow me."
Li Ang followed Yajiu into the middle hall and saw Kou Huai'an exchanging a few words with his men. The latter walked into the corridor and disappeared for a while, then reappeared with a huge wooden box in his hand.
Squeak.
After the wooden box was opened, it contained some gray-white or waxy yellow musculoskeletal fragments.
It looked like a smashed mannequin specimen.
Kou Huai'an spread his palms and said, "Everything we collected from the underground river is here."
"..."
Yajiu squatted on the ground, checked the shape of the fragments in the wooden box, stood up, and said to Li Ang: "Come and see if these things can be put together."
"Um?"
Li Ang was a little surprised, but he still stepped forward and checked it out.
The fragments in the box are as hard as fragments of stone statues, but there are clearly visible muscle and bone patterns on the fracture surfaces.
Biceps, triceps, trapezius, deltoid...
Humerus, scapula, ribs, clavicle...
It didn't take much effort for Li Ang to rearrange the pieces into their respective positions, and vaguely piece together the outline of a person's upper body.
"enough."
Yajiu interrupted Li Ang's movements and took out a stack of round fine gold coins like chips from his arms and placed them on the table.
This currency, similar to chips, is commonly used within the ghost market.
However, all transactions outside use copper chips, and chips made of fine gold should be much more expensive.
Kou Huai'an nodded when he saw the gold coins. He waved his hand and asked his men to put away the coins. "Do you want to see anything else? I have it here..."
"No more competition, Kou Erlang, take care and say goodbye."
Yajiu spoke calmly, lifted the wooden box on the ground, and threw it to Wu Huo who was watching the show. He walked out of the courtyard resolutely.
Li Ang, who had just found a point to recognize the feel of bones, blinked and followed.
After walking out of the Kou family's mansion, Yajiu remained silent and followed the dark river to a secluded shack in the ghost market.
He placed the two boxes on the ground, opened them, and said to Li Ang: "Can you sew these parts together with thread?"
"It can be possible."
Li Ang nodded, "But there are not enough parts here, so there will definitely be defects."
"It's okay, it's normal to have a disability."
Yajiu took off a ceramic bottle from his belt pouch, poured some scarlet liquid out of it, and poured it on the fragments in the two boxes.
呲——
A puff of smoke rose from the fragments, and all the fragments re-expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming full and plump, like human-shaped statues.
"Sew it up."
Yajiu replaced the cap of the ceramic bottle. Li Ang frowned deeply, but he still opened the medicine box, put on gloves, and used mulberry white leather thread to rearrange all the fragments according to the outline of a normal human body and sew them one by one.
Soon, the fragments gradually took shape, forming an incomplete upper body.
Including the right arm in the iron box, only the left arm, head, and lower body were left.
"My part is done."
Li Ang stood up, released his spell, burned the cloth gloves directly, turned to Ya Jiu and said, "Can I go?"
"..."
Yajiu did not answer Li Ang's words immediately, but looked at the broken body that was missing its left arm, head, and lower body, and recited an obscure language.
"When people use their souls to capture their souls, if there is more than enough gold, they will have insufficient wood; when a saint uses their souls to transport their souls, if they have more than enough wood, they will not have enough gold... Human power can capture the creation of heaven and earth, just like thunder in winter and ice in summer. , Dead corpses can walk, dead trees can bloom... This is because Taiyin corpses are shed."
As Yajiu chanted, the same dense black text as the original right arm gradually appeared on the back of the body.
The whole broken body "came alive",
His right arm twisted and swayed, supporting the straw in the iron box, holding his headless upper body upright in the iron box, facing Crow 9 and the others.
sand--
The right arm of the headless corpse hovers gently in front of the abdomen, with the middle finger clasping the knuckle of the thumb, and the other three fingers raised, making a lotus gesture in Zen Buddhism.
Pure and comfortable, the flowers bloom and you see the Buddha.
(There is one more chapter, it’s quite late, so don’t wait)
