Chapter 1: Outside Chenzhou City Listening to the Storyteller

  "It's changed weather! Shopkeeper." In a small inn on the edge of Chen Zhou City, the young shop assistant Wu Kui said to the shopkeeper who was calculating accounts with an abacus by the window.

  The shopkeeper put down the abacus in his hand and got up to come to the window. It was found that a large area of thick dark clouds had risen in the sky, making the originally dimly lit small store even more gloomy.

  "Wu Kui, hurry up and go downstairs to light the lanterns, otherwise the guests will leave." The shopkeeper muttered to himself while leaning against the window.

  "It's not busy season for the shopkeeper yet, is it? Moreover, the guests have come to listen to Mr. Zhang tell stories, but he got drunk in the afternoon and won't wake up until later. Last night, he just reached the exciting part where Ghost King fought against Green Hair Gu, and the guests were thrilled. If they don't get to hear him finish tonight, they won't leave." Wu Kui said lazily, rubbing his hands together.

  After finishing, he blew a few mouthfuls of hot air into his hands to drive away the chill. His eyes were fixed on the charcoal fire burning brightly beside the shopkeeper, listening to the crackling sound of the charcoal bursting in the brazier. Wu Kui really wanted to move closer and warm himself up properly, but he knew clearly that for a lowly servant like him, warming himself by the fire before closing time was just an extravagant hope, otherwise, he would risk losing his job.

  Now he had to wrap himself in the tattered sheepskin jacket, muttering to himself: "This damned weather, just a few days ago there was still warm sunshine, who would have thought that winter chill would come again after just two days? Alas, Heaven, you don't know how cold we poor people are!"

  Cursing in his mouth, he heard a guest downstairs shouting: "Wu Kui quickly bring two jars of hot wine to Grandpa *** The cold man is dead."

  Wu Kui somewhat reluctantly took out two jars of baijiu from the counter, and as he looked at the liquor in his hand, his throat began to water. He muttered to himself: "Ah, booze... I'd love to drink you too... on a cold day like this, drinking a few cups is really refreshing... hmm..."

  "What's taking so long? Hurry up and send it down. Also, go take a look if the master is up yet. Don't tell him that our guests have been waiting anxiously." The shopkeeper scolded Wu Kui.

  Holding the wine in his hand, Wu Kuai quickly walked downstairs, but he was thinking about Mr. Zhang and whether he had gotten up yet. In Wu Kuai's heart, Mr. Zhang was not only very knowledgeable but also the kindest person to him. He often gave him benefits and Wu Kuai genuinely enjoyed listening to Mr. Zhang tell stories, which were so vivid that they seemed to have happened right next to him.

  Many guests have arrived downstairs, quietly sitting on stools by the fire, whispering about the unpredictable weather and social unrest. Some people hold almanacs in their hands, saying that this is a water year and today's rain at the beginning of spring indicates that flooding will be inevitable this year; others say that a major battle is being fought in the Central Plains, with warlords refusing to back down, and the queue army that entered Beijing last year can't get out now... Everyone seems to have a lot to say, but no matter how much they talk, it's never enough.

  The guests who called for wine were getting impatient. Seeing Wu Kui coming, with a hint of drunkenness in his voice and a sly smile on his face, he shouted loudly: "You little boy, have you gone to eat egg fried rice? First give your old man two bowls." As he spoke, he poured the wine into the bowl and handed it to Wu Kui.

  Wu Kui smiled and took the wine, tilting his head back to drink it all in one gulp. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he said: "Thank you, sir, for the fine wine. I'm really sorry that my legs are short and I walked slowly, hoping you'll forgive me." After finishing speaking, his eyes still lingered on the wine jar, hoping to be punished with a few more bowls. Seeing that the two of them had already drunk their way out of the place, he could only reluctantly leave.

  Just as I was about to go to the back room to call Mr. Zhang, I saw him coming down from upstairs and my heart couldn't help but feel a thrill of joy, thinking that I would finally be able to stay by his side and listen to him read books and warm himself by the fire. Immediately, I hurried forward to attend to him.

  "Master, you're up early on this chilly day. This little guy will get you a cup of hot tea to warm your body." Wu Kui said as he handed over a cup of fragrant Guzhang Maojian tea in front of Mr. Zhang, and with a swipe of the towel on his shoulder, wiped the stool clean and invited Mr. Zhang to sit down.

  Only then did Mr. Zhang, who appeared to be in his sixties, wear a fox-fur jacket and a calabaza hat on his head, with a foot-long white goat beard under his chin. After drinking tea, he tapped the ceramic bowl on the table with chopsticks, and the crowd immediately fell silent. Everyone leaned their ears, hoping to hear Mr. Zhang's lecture as soon as possible.

  In the crowd, Mr. Zhang's mouth corner couldn't help but reveal a satisfied smile. He quickly scanned the crowd in a circle, picked up his tea and took a big gulp, making a very satisfying "hmm" sound before saying: "Speaking of which, Ghost Taoist and his sworn brother, the sixth brother with the nickname 'Knife Scar', arrived at the cave where Green Hair was hiding. That sixth brother is an impatient person, he couldn't hold back anymore and had already drawn out the hundred-pound iron knife from behind him, thinking of blocking the Corpse King's retreat. But Ghost Taoist signaled to him that it was not allowed. Do you know why Ghost Taoist's sixth brother has the nickname 'Knife Scar'?" Mr. Zhang stopped here and looked at everyone, who shook their heads in confusion.

  "Think of that scar-faced Liu, who followed the ghostly path and was a giant of a man, able to wield a large knife. In his early years, his elder brother died at the hands of bandits, and he single-handedly avenged his brother's death with his own knife, but in the process, he left a scar over half a foot long on his face. He was eight feet tall and had incredible strength, yet you, our famous heroes from Xiangxi, don't even know him?!" Mr. Zhang shook his head in disappointment.

  The five ghosts quickly refilled the tea for Mr. Zhang, who took a sip and continued: "After the green-haired ghost came out of its cave, it cautiously looked around and spat out a thick, gloomy aura. Seeing nothing unusual, it let out a low growl and jumped towards the mountain top. It was Mid-Autumn Festival night, and the moon was full, shining brightly like a plate. You may not know that this is the time when the moonlight is strongest, and ghosts love to come out and worship the moon at this hour. The Ghost Taoist had calculated that the green-haired ghost would come out to worship the moon, and he planned to get rid of it while it was in a state of meditation, for it is at its weakest during this time. Under the moonlight, the corpse king's body was covered in green hair, its face as dry as wood, with a pair of long, finger-like fangs protruding from its mouth. Its two copper-bell-like eyes were flashing green light. This green-haired ghost had killed countless people and had deep powers; ordinary Taoists wouldn't be able to handle it, but only the Ghost Taoist had the ability to do so. 'Tsk, tsk.' Seeing that the green-haired ghost had already jumped to the mountain top and was greedily absorbing the moon's essence, it slowly became as if it were in a trance, with an expression of infinite enjoyment. The Taoist knew his chance had come, and he quickly drew out the Golden Knife for Subduing Corpses from behind him, while holding onto the handle with his other hand, which was already grasping a handful of glutinous rice. He prepared to take advantage of this opportunity to destroy this evil being. But who would have thought..."

  Mr. Zhang deliberately stopped talking and looked at the crowd with a "heh heh" smile. In the quiet crowd, a burst of surprise erupted as people wiped away cold sweat from their faces, exclaiming "brilliant!" Everyone consciously came to Mr. Zhang's table, knowing that if they wanted him to continue speaking, it was necessary to put money on the table, and they eagerly waited for him to continue after throwing in their coins.

  Seeing that everyone had already put countless banknotes on the table, Mr. Zhang smiled and picked up the tea on the table, took a sip, and was about to continue speaking when he saw three people standing up from the corner.

  Just as he was about to invite them to sit down, the three of them had already walked up to him. One of them pulled out a few heavy silver coins from his pocket and placed them on the table, saying coldly: "Your storytelling is indeed wonderful, I'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's alright?"

  "This customer has what problem can speak directly, as long as the old man knows will be told truthfully. This money... no work no pay, I think it's better to ask this customer to take it back." Looking at the silver on the table, Mr. Zhang felt a bit uneasy, not knowing where these people came from and why they were so generous.

  "Take the silver, old man. We have plenty of it. My brother wants to ask you, how can you describe such a colorful and vivid scene as if you've seen it with your own eyes? Do you know where in this world there's such a strange thing?" one of them said in a quacking voice.

  Mr. Zhang knew that today was an unlucky day, the visitor's intention was clearly not good, and it seemed that he wanted to smash his rice bowl. At this point, he smiled and made excuses for himself: "The old man's words are indeed true, of course, the old man didn't see it with his own eyes. We storytellers just add a bit of color to make everyone happy and earn a living, nothing else."

  "Hey old thing, this Taoist priest you've been talking about is like a god. Is he human or insect? We'd love to see him for ourselves, otherwise how can you keep spouting nonsense and deceiving us three brothers? Do you know where this Taoist priest is? If he really exists, we'd love to go pay our respects. Ha ha." Quack continued to say, his words full of mockery.

  Mr. Zhang shook his head, he had no idea where this evil Taoist priest was from, and the stories about him were also heard from others.

  "So what you're saying is that everything you said was just made up? What a load of nonsense! I think you're just a big scammer, haha." The person who put down the silver laughed and said, with extreme disrespect towards Mr. Zhang.

  Mr. Zhang's face turned iron-green, and he didn't know what kind of bad luck he had encountered today to run into these three gods. In his heart, besides sighing at his own misfortune, where else did he dare to make a move? The physique of the three men was indeed robust.

  The atmosphere in the room was extremely tense, except for a dead silence, no one dared to stand up and speak to Mr. Zhang to mediate. Everyone sat quietly, watching the development of the situation.

  It was unknown when the wind started blowing outside, and the windows that hadn't been closed yet creaked non-stop. A gust of wind blew in and extinguished several oil lamps without lampshades, causing the room to darken suddenly. Not long after, only the sound of tiles on the roof making a loud noise could be heard, and big raindrops started falling down like sieved rice. After a few muffled thunderclaps, it started raining heavily, which was rare during the beginning of spring.

  In the darkness, only the duck's painful cry could be heard: "Big brother, I can't move anymore." The words were filled with extreme terror.

  "Hurry up and turn on the lights for me." another man shouted.

  Wu Kui hastily pulled out the fire starter to light the lamp, but due to the strong wind, the oil lamp was extinguished as soon as it was lit. He was grumbling in his heart when he saw that the three people had fallen to the ground for some reason. Just as he was about to shout "Ghost!" tonight, a cold hum suddenly came from the crowd.

  "It seems there is a superior person among this crowd." Wu Kui thought.

  The shop was still quiet for a while before Wu Kui relit the oil lamp.

  When people saw the three of them suddenly falling to the ground in silence, they were shocked and frightened, afraid that such a thing would happen to themselves, and dared not make any movement, standing still on the spot.

  The rain seems to be getting heavier and the strong wind is blowing into the store. The low-lying areas of the store are quickly flooded with large amounts of water. No one dares to move, trying to avoid the spreading rainwater. In the midst of the eerie silence, a few loud claps of thunder can be heard from above. Amidst the sound of the thunder, a clear and crisp sound of a copper bell can be heard coming from outside the store. After the bell stops ringing, someone shouts in a deep voice: "Xiangxi Corpse Road, everyone get out of the way!"