Screams of terror from Shen Yu could be heard from outside.
Lin Yanxi and Shen Muzhou went out upon hearing them, and were also shocked by the scene before them.
The trees in the courtyard were withered, weeds had overgrown, and there were no yellow talismans or wind-catching bells on the door. Thick spiderwebs covered the beams.
The four of them searched together. There wasn't a single servant in the entire mansion. Jiang Cong and their paternal grandfather were nowhere to be found, and they couldn't even find the rooms they had been staying in.
"Here, here was where the goldfish were kept yesterday. Those fish were three feet long. Where have they all gone?"
Shen Yu pointed at the dry fish pond, his voice trembling.
Not only was there no water in the pond, but its bottom was covered with fallen leaves, looking as if it hadn't been used for a long time. The rockery was overgrown with weeds due to years of neglect, and the stones were white from lack of water.
They continued along the corridor. Thick spiderwebs were everywhere. Several parts of the outer walls of this old mansion were already ruins, the paper on the wooden windows was tattered, and the doors creaked and groaned with every gust of wind.
The sun shone directly on the eaves, but it couldn't dispel the desolation of the mansion.
Further ahead, there were scorch marks everywhere. In the main hall, several memorial tablets were placed, all for the deceased of the Jiang family.
Carved below the tablets were a few characters – Established by Jiang Cong.
The memorial tablets were arranged in layers, eighty-three in total. The closest row actually bore their names.
"Lin Yanxi, Shen Muzhou, Xiao Liu, Shen Yu?" Shen Yu's spine chilled as he looked at the tablets bearing their names, a wave of revulsion rising from the depths of his heart.
The difference was that while other tablets had white characters carved on black wood, their names were in vibrant red.
Shen Muzhou picked up a tablet and touched the red lettering. His fingers were stained red. He brought it to the tip of his pen and sniffed. A bloody smell, like rust, filled his nostrils.
"It's blood, and these tablets are newly made."
Rotten offerings were placed on the offering table beneath the tablets.
"Look at these offerings, apples, roast chicken, pastries, wine?" Shen Yu looked at the offerings in disbelief.
Lin Yanxi frowned and said, "We ate these yesterday."
Shen Yu, who had eaten the most, looked at the plates full of white maggots and foul-smelling offerings. He covered his mouth and ran outside, retching.
Shen Muzhou asked, "Is it an illusion? Soul-capturing bells?"
Lin Yanxi concentrated, closed her eyes, and sensed. She shook her head in disappointment, "I don't feel any curses here."
Aside from illusions, how else could they explain all this?
Shen Muzhou suggested, "Let's leave this place first."
The four of them struggled to push open the wooden door. Some of the townspeople outside looked at them in horror and immediately averted their gaze, quickly running away as if they had encountered a plague.
Lin Yanxi grabbed a passing woman and asked, "Auntie, I'd like to ask about the mansion..."
The woman quickly pulled out her sleeve, "I don't know, don't ask me."
After walking a few steps, she patted her clothes with an expression of annoyance, as if Lin Yanxi touching her clothes would bring her bad luck.
Lin Yanxi wanted to ask the people on the street again, but Shen Muzhou stopped her, "They won't tell you."
A beggar sat diagonally opposite the mansion. Shen Muzhou looked at him and walked straight over, asking, "What happened to this mansion?"
The beggar looked disgusted. "You all seem to be of noble birth, why are you living in a dead person's house?"
"A dead person's house? Isn't this the Jiang family's mansion?" Lin Yanxi asked.
The beggar seemed hesitant to speak, waved his hand, "I don't know anything. You should leave quickly."
Xiao Liu drew his long saber and held it to the beggar's throat.
Shen Muzhou looked at him coldly, "You won't speak?"
The beggar was startled and looked back at the mansion behind them, swallowing hard. "Esteemed sirs, please spare me. I'm just a beggar, I really don't know anything."
Xiao Liu pressed the saber down a bit further.
The beggar cried out in pain, "Ah! Murder! They're bullying a beggar! Even if you kill me, I won't say anything."
Passersby cast sympathetic glances, but no one dared to intervene.
Shen Muzhou's eyes filled with killing intent. "So you don't not know, you just can't speak. Xiao Liu."
Xiao Liu's blade was at the beggar's throat. A slight move would sever it.
Lin Yanxi grabbed Xiao Liu's arm in time. She looked at Shen Muzhou and said, "We'll find another way."
Shen Muzhou paused, nodded, and signaled Xiao Liu to sheathe his saber.
Just as they were about to leave, Shen Yu spoke, "Ah, there isn't only fighting and killing in this world to solve problems."
As he spoke, he took out a gold leaf from his person. The beggar's eyes immediately lit up, his head bobbing along with the gold leaf.
"If you tell us about this mansion, this gold leaf will be yours."
The little beggar smiled and opened his hand to take the gold leaf, but hesitated upon hearing it was about the mansion. "Esteemed sirs, it's not that I don't want to tell you. This mansion is very evil. Everyone in town knows that anyone who touches this mansion will surely die."
Shen Yu dangled the gold leaf, pretending to put it back in his purse. "Is that so? Then we won't trouble you."
The little beggar's eyes darted greedily towards the gold leaf as it was about to be pocketed. With a look of desperation, he exclaimed, "Hey, hey, wait, wait. Oh dear, as a beggar, how many lifetimes would it take me to earn a gold leaf? Fine! Ask me whatever you want, and I'll tell you!"
Lin Yanxi smiled slightly and asked, "What about the Jiang family?"
The little beggar sighed. "They're all dead."
"The Jiang family was originally a famous aristocratic family in the capital. Their whole family knew talisman arts and drew yellow talismans for the common people. For the rich, one such talisman was worth a fortune, priceless. For the poor, they didn't charge money and gave talismans based on their ability to pay. Later, for some reason, the Jiang family stopped drawing talismans, and their fortune declined."
It was because her grandfather, Jiang Qi, had died, and the Jiang family had no one left who could draw talismans to save lives.
This was the first time Lin Yanxi learned about the Jiang family from someone else. She clenched her fist, her gaze filled with sorrow.
The little beggar reminisced, "After the Jiang mansion declined, they moved to this town. Jiang Cong is a descendant of the Jiang family, and he was a good person. During the drought a few months ago, it was thanks to his family releasing water and grain that the people were able to survive. It seems he experienced a fire a few years ago, and has a large burn scar on his arm. I don't know if it's because of that, but he doesn't have a woman by his side."
Yesterday, when her maternal grandfather grabbed her sleeve, a large burn scar had been visible on his arm...
Countless terrifying speculations germinated in Lin Yanxi's mind, like a cold-blooded venomous snake flicking its forked tongue and slowly slithering across her heart, making her shudder.
The little beggar continued, "After everyone in the Jiang mansion died, the mansion was abandoned. It was a time of turmoil, and people were starving. Some with ill intentions secretly sneaked in, hoping to steal valuables or spend a night."
"But everyone who went in never returned. And every night, there were often sounds of women crying and whispering from this mansion. It's a haunted house."
"This is all I know, and I've told you everything."
Shen Yu threw the gold leaf in his hand to him. Shen Muzhou, seeing Lin Yanxi looking lost, gently enfolded her small hand with his slightly chilled palm.
She finally came back to her senses, glanced at Shen Muzhou, and pulled her hand away.
The group walked out of the alley. The beggar repeatedly examined the gold leaf in his hand, grinning broadly. He suddenly remembered seeing a group of people looking for Jiang Cong a few days ago.
Afterward, Jiang Cong drove them away, and then posted several yellow talismans and hung a string of bells on the door. Then, a few days later, Jiang Cong died.
"Hey, hey..." The little beggar wanted to call out to them, but they had already gone far.
Shen Yu, riding his horse, tapped the sedan chair and asked, "Where do we go next?"
Shen Muzhou lifted the curtain and looked at him. "I think you can go back. You casually hand out gold leaves. Even without the Emperor's salary, you won't be starving anytime soon."
Shen Yu smiled sheepishly as he rode his horse. His father had asked him to help Xiao Jiu retrieve the jade talisman, which was true. More importantly, Luo Jingxin had said that if he helped Shen Muzhou retrieve the jade talisman, she would marry him.
Lin Yanxi said slowly from inside the carriage, "Yesterday, when my maternal grandfather grabbed my sleeve, he almost used all his strength to say one word: Run. When he grabbed me, there was a large burn scar on his arm."
Shen Muzhou pondered for a moment and asked, "Are you saying that your maternal grandfather is Jiang Cong?"
Lin Yanxi was somewhat bewildered. She couldn't figure it out. How could this be possible?
"I'm more worried about the safety of the other members of the Jiang family now. If Jiang Cong was murdered, and the other branches of the Jiang family, scattered throughout the various parts of Nanmin, would they also be in danger?"
At that moment, her mother's death flashed before her eyes again, as well as the tragic scene of the Grand Tutor's mansion being beheaded in her previous life. An unprecedented bitterness and anger coiled around her heart, lingering for a long time, the pain making it impossible to breathe.
Having been reborn, she hadn't been able to protect anything. Instead, these people had all died in even more tragic circumstances.
Shen Muzhou saw her sadness and once again placed his large hand over her delicate one. "Don't be afraid. The Dark Night Guard is spread throughout Yueyou. I will have the Dark Night Guard protect the other descendants of the Jiang family. Since we have formed an alliance, you still have me as your last support."
In this moment of his concern, her previously hard defenses seemed to collapse instantly. She wanted to push him away, to pretend to be strong and tell him she didn't need it, but she couldn't.
The consecutive incidents involving her mother and Aunt Yu, and Shen Qingyun's continuous schemes against the Grand Tutor's mansion, the pressure that had accumulated in her heart made her sensitive and fragile.
She suppressed her sobs, her throat aching. He, abandoning his usual aloof and cold demeanor, pinched her tender white cheek and said, "You cry so easily."
Lin Yanxi sat up straight, shook off his hand, wiped the tears from her face, and awkwardly turned her head away, no longer looking at him.
---
East Palace.
The Crown Prince stood by the window and asked, "Where have they reached?"
Grand Tutor Lin Ze replied, "They will enter the Ghost City tonight."
Shen Qingyun turned back, suppressing his anger. "Grand Tutor, have you grown soft-hearted?"
Lin Ze did not reply.
Shen Qingyun sneered, "Grand Tutor, don't forget, it was your daughter who insisted on rescuing Shen Muzhou and ruined our grand plan! If we fail again in the Ghost City, I will truly suspect whether the Grand Tutor has already accepted Shen Muzhou as a good son-in-law."
Once one enters the Ghost City, life and death are a matter of fate, and no one will be held accountable.
This was the rule of the Ghost City.