Chapter Eleven: The Ancient Land of Buried Flowers

  The sky gradually darkened, and the tea house had already become busy. Although it was a tea house, it was also very lively. However, a certain elegant room upstairs was very quiet. If not for the fact that a servant would enter to refill the tea water after a while, one might have thought that the room was empty.

  Although they had been occupying the elegant room since noon, fortunately, they were generous with their tips, so even though there were always guests clamoring for the room, no one ever came to disturb them. The two people in the room seemed a bit strange, at least in the eyes of the young servant who came in to refill their tea. Inside, there was a refined and elegant young man leaning against the window, his eyes slightly closed as if he were asleep, but seemingly not quite asleep either. On the other side was a lovely young girl, her head bowed, with a book spread out in front of her, her fingers constantly scribbling away. Occasionally she would lift her head to pick up the teacup on the table, drain it in one gulp, and then put the cup back in its original place. At this point, the young man who had been pretending to sleep would slowly open his eyes, smile faintly, get up and come to the table, fill the cup to the brim, and then slowly lean back against the window again. Although it was quiet, there was a harmonious atmosphere, as if things were meant to be this way.

  "It's time to go." The man who was pretending to be asleep suddenly opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth curled up, and a hint of evil charm appeared on his originally gentle face.

  "En." The girl responded faintly, carefully putting the book away in her backpack. She slowly stood up, glanced at the man leaning against the window, and suddenly jumped out of the window. The man smiled slightly, put down the silver coins, and also jumped out of the window. Under the astonished gaze of the crowd, they instantly disappeared from view. It wasn't until they came to their senses that the crowd began discussing what had happened. However, it was only when the tea house servant went in to refill the tea after a while that he discovered the customers were already gone.

  The two of them were Longqingzi and the ghost, and at this moment they had appeared in a forest. This forest was located behind a temple on the outskirts of the capital city. The temple wasn't very large, but it was said to be very efficacious, so many pilgrims came and went, and the incense was very prosperous. At this time, it had already gotten dark, and the temple had become very quiet. Occasionally, a gust of wind blew through the trees in the temple, rustling the leaves, swaying in the moonlight.

  "I didn't expect the entrance to be next to such a prosperous temple, it's quite ironic." Chang Qingzi said with a smile, but his tone was tinged with mockery.

  "It's probably a case of things going to extremes and then reversing. The ghost said faintly, then fell silent, looking up at the sky instead."

  Chang Qingzi also raised his head and gazed at the sky, saying: "When the moon rises to its peak, the door will open."

  "Do you know we don't have much time?" the ghost asked.

  "Ah, is time running out?" Chang Qingzi asked doubtfully.

  "You don't know?" The ghost was somewhat surprised, but now she couldn't ask more questions and could only say: "You must come out before the rooster crows."

  "Before the rooster crows?" Zhang Qingzi slightly raised an eyebrow and asked.

  "Alright, unless you can stay here for a day. Otherwise, I won't keep you company." The ghost said indifferently and stopped speaking.

  Chang Qingzi chuckled and said: "Indeed, it's something a ghost like you would say."

  As the two were talking, the moon slowly rose to the top of their heads. At this time, in the center of the forest, where the ghosts were located, a door suddenly appeared slowly. The door was somewhat old, no, it should be said that it was very old, just a simple wooden door. The door god painting on the door had almost fallen off. The wooden door seemed to be dark due to its age, and even had many burrs. A huge black lock hung on the door, which looked mysterious, with full of symbols carved on it. At this time, under the moonlight, without a key, it opened automatically.

  "The gate of the ancient land where flowers were buried has been opened." Chang Qingzi said, looking at the temple hidden in the woods, with a strange feeling. It's really one land and two worlds.

  "Let's go," said the ghost, walking ahead and pushing the door open with his hand. Chang Qingzi followed him in. As soon as they disappeared from view, the old wooden door also vanished, as if it had never existed. A gentle breeze rustled through the leaves, causing them to flutter about, and everything seemed just as usual.

  "As soon as the two of them entered, they couldn't help but take a deep breath. The yin energy was indeed heavy, and it chilled to the bone. The two of them couldn't bear it and shivered."

  The ghost didn't say a word, stretched out its hand and took out an object from the cloth bag. It was a jade eight trigrams pattern, simple and plain, tied with a red string. The ghost put on the jade eight trigrams pattern around its neck, and suddenly felt much better.

  Chang Qingzi, on the other hand, looked at the ghost's movements with a dazed expression, another treasure, really... Thinking of this, Chang Qingzi couldn't help but smile wryly, clasped his hands together, muttered to himself, and then pointed his index fingers together at his own forehead, slowly regaining his composure.

  "Why don't you want to move when we've already made a promise?" Chang Qingzi chuckled, his tone carrying a hint of indulgence that even he himself hadn't noticed.

  "The master said that those are a waste of time and energy. Like this," the ghost said, holding up the jade Eight Trigrams and looking at Chang Qingzi, "I have several." As he spoke, he rummaged through his bag and pulled out a small, exquisite copper mirror and tossed it over, "This is for you, consider it payment for that bottle of spiritual energy."

  Chang Qing Zi was playing with the copper mirror in her hand, unsure whether she should be happy about the gift or feel depressed about being estranged.

  "Come on, let's get down to business, you have a way, do you know where it is hiding?" the ghost asked.

  "Wait." Chang Qingzi slowly composed himself, took out an eight trigrams disc. The eight trigrams disc seemed to be quite old, with two dragons carved on the body of the disc, their heads and tails connected, and a bright pearl hidden in the dragon's mouth. In between, Chang Qingzi bit his finger, drew a pattern on the eight trigrams disc, and the pointer on the disc suddenly started spinning rapidly, stopping slowly after a while, shaking in one direction. "This way."

  The ghost nodded and followed Chang Qingzi, walking in the direction indicated by the Bagua plate. Before long, the pointer turned again, and the two changed direction once more. Along the way, neither of them spoke a word, making the eerie silence even more pronounced in this dimly lit place.

  The Buried Flower Ancient Land was also a forest, only slightly larger than the others, with towering ancient trees that blocked out the sunlight and moonlight. It was a gray area between heaven and hell. The name "Buried Flower Ancient Land" didn't come from a tragic love story, but because the only flowers that existed in this forest were called Buried Flowers, which bloomed eternally without withering or dying. Legend had it that these Buried Flowers were actually the final resting place of some people and ghosts who had disappeared here. That's why the flowers emitted an eerie blue glow, which was also the only source of light in the Buried Flower Ancient Land.

  Bury flowers, bury flowers, mainly because of a "bury" word...