On a night devoid of clouds, with the moon hanging high, casting a deep darkness.
A group of people, in single file, carrying red lanterns, circled a half-dead old locust tree outside Chang'an's famed Sifang Street.
Even more bizarrely, they were walking backward.
As they completed three circles forward and three circles backward, a mist suddenly billowed from Sifang Street, engulfing Yan Shouyi and the others.
When the mist dissipated, the group of eight had vanished without a trace.
Seeing this, Qin Liuye returned to his carriage, smoked for a while, covered himself with a thin blanket, and fell asleep.
Uncertain whether Yan Shouyi and the others could bring back the true Yangling Tiger Tally, he decided to keep watch outside Sifang Street for the entire night.
...
As the cold mist dispersed, Yan Shouyi and the others found themselves standing once again at the entrance of Sifang Street, beneath the old locust tree.
The difference was, Sifang Street was no longer deserted!
Contrary to Zhu Huansi's initial imagination, the real Ghost Market was incredibly lively!
Red lanterns, identical to those held by Yan Shouyi and his companions, adorned both sides of the street, burning with inextinguishable ghost fire. All the shops were open for business, and outside the shops, numerous hawkers were shouting their wares. The street was bustling with people, though they were all remarkably silent.
Apart from that, it was hardly different from the Xiaodongmen district during the day!
"Did we go to the wrong place?" Zhu Huansi asked, confused.
But when she saw several overlapping ghostly figures, she fully accepted the reality: she had indeed entered the Ghost Market!
Yan Shouyi took Lin Zitong's hand, and they all walked into the Ghost Market, curiously observing their surroundings.
"At first glance, it looks no different from a market in the living world,"
Long Feicheng remarked, "There are hawkers selling things, people haggling... Damn, could there be con artists here too?"
"There are still some differences," Wang Jiwang said, "Many of the items in their stalls are not found in the world of the living."
The stall owners were a mix of the living and the dead, and the people milling about the street were even more mysterious. Yan Shouyi couldn't discern the origins of some of them.
He even passed a group of Taoist priests wearing their robes. These priests seemed to be acquiring some special black dog blood, which was extremely rare in the living world but easily found in the Ghost Market.
After strolling for a few steps, they stopped at a stall filled with ceramic jars.
All the jars were identical in size and shape, their seals marked with Taoist talismans and cinnabar mud.
Upon inquiry, everyone learned that the jars contained captured ghosts, sealed within. No one knew what kind of ghosts were sealed inside each jar.
According to the stall owner, there were all sorts of ghosts in the jars. Once purchased, they would pledge loyalty to the buyer and obey their commands without question.
If a jar contained a child ghost, it could be used as a servant; if it held an evil ghost, it could serve as muscle. And if one were to unseal a stunningly beautiful female ghost...
At this point, the mysterious stall owner revealed a lewd and lascivious smile, and all the men present understood implicitly.
Yan Shouyi and the others' eyes twitched. This was essentially a blind box!
Had the tricks of the living world already infiltrated the Ghost Market?
Long Feicheng immediately declared, "Give me ten!"
Wang Jiwang quickly stopped him, "Ten is too much, isn't it?"
"Female ghosts or whatever aren't important, I mainly want to get a few evil ghosts to help me out," Long Feicheng explained.
"I'm almost ashamed to see through you!" Weng Qianxiang said skeptically.
The stall owner, fiddling with walnuts in his hand, stated, "My jars are not cheap."
"What's the price? Just say it!" Long Feicheng patted his pocket, jingling the spirit money.
The stall owner extended a finger and said, "Two souls for one jar. I don't have any requirements for the souls – male, female, old, or young. I'll even take one you kill right now."
Long Feicheng was stunned.
Two souls for a soul blind box?
So this was the kind of business the stall owner was in!
Yan Shouyi and the others also realized that perhaps the souls in the jars were exchanged by other people with the stall owner.
The stall owner was profiting from the "price difference." One soul was placed in a jar, waiting for the next unsuspecting victim to appear, while the fate of the other soul... it was likely not a good one.
Long Feicheng lost his nerve. Sensing that the stall owner was subtly encouraging him to kill, he turned and fled in a hurry.
Seeing this, the stall owner stood up and waved at Long Feicheng, "Business is always here, I'll be waiting for you!"
Long Feicheng covered his ears and quickened his pace.
Zhu Huansi, seeing this, couldn't help but murmur, "Brother Long seems so frivolous, I didn't expect him to be quite kind-hearted."
Weng Qianxiang, beside her, agreed wholeheartedly, "Brother Long often goes to help fallen women. Good people like him are rare nowadays!"
"What do you mean?" Zhu Huansi didn't understand.
"It just means he does good deeds," Weng Qianxiang chuckled lewdly.
Leaving the jar stall behind, Yan Shouyi and the others made a new discovery.
In Chang'an's Ghost Market, there was even a massage parlor!
A massage parlor in the Ghost Market felt inherently incongruous.
From the outside, several people were lying on the massage beds inside, while beautiful young ladies in white clothing were massaging and relaxing the customers.
Weng Qianxiang twisted his neck and said,
"My neck hasn't been feeling well lately, it's a good opportunity to relax."
Yan Shouyi grabbed Weng Qianxiang, reminding him, "Take a closer look, is this a place you can go to?"
"Huh?"
Weng Qianxiang heard him and looked again, suddenly noticing something.
The few customers lying on the massage beds had their feet placed unnaturally flat.
In a living person's heel, there is a tendon that pulls the foot, allowing them to stand and walk. Once a person dies, this tendon loosens, making it impossible to walk or even wear shoes.
At the scene of some car accidents, if you see a victim's shoe has fallen off, that person is likely beyond saving.
The customers on the massage beds at this moment exhibited such a strange posture, indicating that these customers were not living people at all.
Yan Shouyi explained:
"This massage parlor must be exclusively for zombies. Look at the fellow sitting by the entrance smoking, he's probably a corpse driver."
"Zombies need massages too?" Lin Zitong asked, puzzled.
"Luo Ning told me that during their journeys, corpse drivers occasionally massage the zombies to make their bodies more pliable. If their massage techniques were applied to living people, it would only make the already soft bodies of the living harder, eventually leading to paralysis."
Weng Qianxiang instantly abandoned the idea of getting a massage, though he still yearned for the pretty girls in the massage parlor.
But just as Weng Qianxiang was regretting, Long Feicheng suddenly whispered a reminder to him:
"Old Weng, I saw a ghost brothel up ahead!"