Chapter 133: Don't Go Out During the Ugly Hour
The woman lowers her eyelashes and politely says, "Thank you."
And then, there's no "and then" anymore.
Bai Shanhu is beautiful and her temperament is extremely cool and ethereal, giving off an aura that keeps people at a distance.
The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
Qiao Wan felt a bit guilty and embarrassed. After all, she used Bai Shanhu to get rid of Yu Xingzhi and the other disciples from Sun Tao College. In this strange atmosphere, Qiao Wan felt pressured and whispered an invitation: "It's fate that we meet here. Would you like to travel together, taoist friend?"
Given her current level of cultivation, it was suspicious for her to take the initiative to invite someone to travel with her. Qiao Wan didn't actually think that Bai Shanhu would agree.
As expected, Bai Shanhu looked up calmly and gave her a silent glance.
Qiao Wan felt a sudden jolt in her heart, but Bai Shanhu had already averted her gaze and walked away.
Qiao Wan was stunned for a moment. Just as she was about to speak, their shoulders brushed against each other, and Qiao Wan's fingertips happened to graze the white cloak.
"White..."
Taoist friend.
The last two words got stuck in her throat.
The sensation on her fingertips... felt like paper.
Qiao Wan's breathing became rapid, and when she looked up again...
Through the lights, it seemed like I saw a flattened figure, as if something had pressed it down.
The cloak behind the woman hung stiffly on her body. Hearing Qiao Wan's noise, her head swayed heavily, tilting at an unnatural angle, and she stared intently at Qiao Wan.
On the beautiful face, a stiff paper face slowly reflected, with abnormally pitch-black eyes.
"Bai Shanhu" didn't move, standing in place for a moment, as if asking if there was anything else.
This is a strange paper person!
Qiao Wan's footsteps halted, instinctively gripping her sword!
The dark eyes pointed out by the paper person quickly spun at a strangely fast speed, landing on the sword that Qiao Wan was holding!
Qiao Wan instantly froze.
There were no longer any signs of Yu Xingzhi nearby, and the surrounding noise seemed to gradually quiet down. Qiao Wan could even hear her own uneasy breaths.
But the paper figure in front of her seemed to have no intention of attacking. With a quick movement of its limbs, it disappeared into the crowded crowd.
Qiao Wan let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief. When she came back to her senses, she realized that the back of her clothes was almost completely soaked.
After Bai Shanhu left, Qiao Wan shifted her gaze and looked back at the bustling lantern market in front of her. Holding her sword, she continued to move forward.
The further she went, the more people there were in the ghost market.
A young woman with delicate eyebrows and eyes, dressed in red and green, smiled as she glanced in Qiao Wan's direction. They brushed shoulders, and Qiao Wan felt a chilling touch on her skin.
But just as Qiao Wan reached halfway, she couldn't move any further.
Someone was blocking her way.
It was a middle-aged cultivator, chubby and white-faced. He glanced back at the young woman not far away and then smiled at Qiao Wan, speaking softly, "Are you a taoist friend who practices sword skills? Are you here for business in the ghost market? Do you need a place to stay?"
Qiao Wan hesitated for a moment, taking a discreet look at the middle-aged cultivator in front of her, learning from the lessons of Bai Shanhu.
Noticing Qiao Wan's gaze, the middle-aged cultivator immediately waved his hand and said, "Sorry for the misunderstanding, I am not a ghost cultivator. I am just a small business owner."
"Anyway," the middle-aged cultivator turned around and pointed to a inn behind him, getting straight to the point. "Do you want to stay at the inn, taoist friend?"
Behind the man was an inn, not particularly luxurious, but it appeared clean with a few brightly lit lanterns hanging outside.
Seeing that Qiao Wan didn't respond, the middle-aged cultivator didn't seem to mind and smiled. "It's good to be cautious, especially in this eerie place. But I stopped you to offer you some advice, taoist friend. Is this your first time visiting the Ghost City?"
The middle-aged cultivator was right, it's always good to be somewhat wary in this place.
While the other person was assessing her, Qiao Wan also used her spiritual consciousness to secretly assess him.
He had a sea of knowledge.
And there was also a hint of vitality, so he couldn't possibly be a paper man.
After confirming that the man in front of her had no hostile intentions, Qiao Wan politely bowed and performed a standard greeting, saying, "I am new here and would appreciate any guidance, sir."
The middle-aged Taoist friend smiled and said, "My last name is Yan, and you can call me Yan Shiyuan. You can refer to me as taoist friend."
"Mr. Yan," Qiao Wan replied.
Yan Shiyuan glanced at Qiao Wan and smiled, saying, "Time is running out. Follow me inside first."
Time?
What time is running out?
The man took the initiative and entered the shop.
Qiao Wan paused for a moment, pondered for a bit, and then walked after him.
There weren't many people in the shop. A staff member was wiping the tables with a cloth. As soon as they saw Yan Shiyuan, they immediately greeted him with a smile, saying, "Manager Yan, you're back!"
Glancing towards the back, they asked, "Do we have a customer? A person to be trained?"
Yan Shiyuan said, "It's getting late. We need to return quickly."
The man turned to Qiao Wan and said, "Taoist friend, please have a seat."
With that, he sat down in front of Qiao Wan.
Qiao Wan sat down and shifted her gaze from the shop, asking a question that had been lingering in her mind: "What did you mean by 'the time has come' earlier?"
Yan Shiyuan poured a cup of tea and pushed it in front of Qiao Wan: "When I say 'the time has come,' I mean it's almost the hour of the ghost. Did you arrive late to the Ghost Market? When did you come in?"
Qiao Wan replied cautiously, "Not long ago."
Yan Shiyuan paid no attention, saying, "You arrived late to the Ghost Market. You should know that when it's nearly the hour of the ghost, there are fewer ghost repairs on the street."
"The hour of the ghost is the deepest part of the night. That's when it is." Yan Shiyuan took a sip of tea and raised his eyebrows, hinting, "There are hardly any people on the street."
The word "people" was emphasized by the man, carefully articulated. He deliberately singled it out.
Qiao Wan's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately understood the meaning behind Yan Shiyuan's words. Her face changed in an instant!
This meant that the people she had just passed by on the street were not human at all?!
Seeing Qiao Wan's face change suddenly, Yan Shiyuan said, "Do you understand?"
Qiao Wan tightly held onto her tea cup and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
Yan Shiyuan also felt a bit emotional.
If he hadn't just left to do something, he wouldn't have run into the foolish swordsman in front of him. If he hadn't run into the foolish swordsman in front of him, it would have been quite dangerous if the swordsman continued on his way.
He wondered why this person suddenly came to the ghost market.
Yan Shiyuan didn't consider himself a good person, otherwise he wouldn't have ended up in the ghost market. But at least he was a human being, and as a "human," he couldn't stand to see his own kind arrogantly walking towards their own death.
Thinking of this, Yan Shiyuan extended his finger and dipped it into the tea, making a line on the table.
"There aren't many rules in the ghost market. Just remember that it's their time to be ugly and don't go outside. If you really have to go out, find a place to hide."
Qiao Wan asked, "Find a place to hide?"
"Anywhere is fine," Yan Shiyuan whispered, "as long as they don't discover you."
"In a little while, you will stay in this inn, but it's not safe here either. But as long as you obediently listen to me, sleep, and don't think about anything, don't pay attention to any noise or things you come across. Once the ugly hours pass and it reaches the tiger hours, there won't be any big problems."
After the man finished speaking, he refused to reveal any more information and only instructed the waiter who was wiping the table to arrange an empty room for Qiao Wan.
"Go inside," Yan Shiyuan stood downstairs, watching Qiao Wan walk up the stairs with the waiter. "Remember, if you hear any noise later, don't make a sound, just sleep with your eyes closed."
The waiter walked ahead, and Qiao Wan followed behind.
The inn wasn't big, and after a few steps, they arrived at the room at the very end.
The waiter said, "Go in."
Qiao Wan entered the room, her heart filled with a faint doubt.
Before she could ask, the shopkeeper gave a wry smile and said, "Don't bother asking, it's almost closing time. Both me and Mr. Yan are about to rest."
After closing the door, Qiao Wan watched as the shopkeeper hurriedly left.
She looked around, taking in her surroundings.
Although the room was small, it was neat and tidy, with only a bed, a table, and a cabinet.
The bed was against the wall.
This strange city made Qiao Wan wary, even of Mr. Yan and the shopkeeper. However, her past experience of running errands for Mr. Ma taught her to trust but remain cautious. She silently thought that in order to stay safe, she needed to be careful. From what she had seen and heard since entering this city, if the first competition on Jiuyue Mountain could be considered a warm-up, then this one would be a true battle.
As the hour grew late, Qiao Wan lay down on the bed with her sword, not bothering to cover herself, and fell asleep fully clothed.
Closing your eyes and sleeping without making a sound is one thing, but actually falling asleep is another.
Arriving in this unfamiliar environment, Qiao Wan closed her eyes and her mind was filled with paper people stuck flat on coffins, almost hitting her face, lifeless and yet vividly looking at her.
Holding onto her sword, she couldn't fall asleep no matter what.
But the hour of ugliness was approaching.
The paper people in her mind made a slight movement with their eyes.
The hour of ugliness had arrived.
She still couldn't fall asleep.
Qiao Wan tightly closed her eyes, her heart sinking bit by bit, fully focused, and quietly paying attention to the surroundings.
Outside the window, there was still a lot of hustle and bustle.
But inside the room, it was very quiet, so quiet that only the sound of the midnight wind could be heard.
But after a while, there was finally some movement in the room.
The sound of rustling, like paper stroking the ground. There was a smell of ink lingering in the air, as if something was leaning over the eaves and peering down at her. It was very close, and very still, without breathing, just watching silently.
Qiao Wan's scalp immediately tingled and her body tightened in an instant!
"Don't pay attention to any sounds you hear or things you bump into," echoed Yan Shiyuan's voice in her ears.
Qiao Wan took a deep breath and held her position, unmoving.
After a while, the faint sound of paper rubbing together started again, as if something was folding down from above into a roll. Then, gradually, the sound faded away.
Did it leave?
Qiao Wan felt a barely noticeable sigh of relief in her heart, and she closed her eyes, quietly waiting for a while.
When the ugly time slowly passed, she opened her eyes again.
As she opened her eyes
On the wall next to the bed, there was a reflection of a smiling woman with her eyes closed, intimately pressed against Qiao Wan's cheek, sharing the same bed.
Just then the smiling woman's eyes twitched under her eyelids, and her closed eyes abruptly opened, focusing on Qiao Wan. She smiled slightly.
A hand reached out from the wall.
It was a pure white, thin, paper-cut hand.
Oh no.
Qiao Wan's heart skipped a beat.
It was almost Yin time.
Only half a second left.
...
In an instant, the woman's hand had already landed on Qiao Wan!
With a twist of her hand, Qiao Wan flipped in the air like a carp.
Sword One • Speed Kill!
The sword's beam sliced toward the woman's face!
The woman maintained a gentle and even somewhat kind smile.
Her delicate and snowy white hand trembled violently in the wind of the sword, with her five fingers making a rustling sound.
When the sword struck the woman's hand, it felt like it hit something incredibly soft, resilient, and unyielding.
The woman's five fingers trembled like a strong gust of wind as she slowly pressed the paper against Qiao Wan's body, facing the sword light.
As the cold paper touched her skin, Qiao Wan's breath paused, and the sword in her hand "clang" fell to the ground. From the depths of her heart, an inexplicable fear emerged, along with various jumbled emotions.
Countless emotions piled up and swirled in her mind, growing larger and larger.
Suddenly, the thin paper hand seemed to be blown onto the wall, "whoosh," and quickly flattened, firmly sticking to Qiao Wan's hand.
At the same time, Qiao Wan could feel a sudden "buzz" on her skin, accompanied by a warm and burning sensation.
Qiao Wan looked at the paper hand that had just covered her back. It quickly recoiled as if it had been shocked, shaking even more violently than before. The smiling woman's face on the hand seemed to be wrinkled by the wind, shaking uncontrollably and retreating backward. Suddenly, it disappeared back into the wall.
"What is this?" Qiao Wan asked, extending her hand to take a closer look.
From her fingertips to her wrist, and then to her sleeve.
The intricate pattern of the swastika and lotus on her hand emitted a faint, but dazzling golden light, enveloping her completely.
This was the Miaofa Lotus Seal that Miaofa had personally engraved for her.
