"What do we do now, Auntie Zhang?"

Hearing Auntie Zhang's voice, even though she was only sighing, the others felt like they had found their backbone. They quickly turned their heads to look at her.

It was night, and they had a lantern lit on the cart, but the light was dim. Also, her face was a bit dark, so they couldn't see her expression clearly. However, her voice was steady, which calmed them down a bit.

It seemed she had an idea. She didn't speak, but walked to the side of the road and took out one of the few remaining incense sticks from her bundle. She silently burned it and waited patiently until a gust of yin wind blew.

A headless little ghost appeared by the roadside, reaching out with both hands and groping around.

Auntie Zhang frowned. "Where's your head? How did you lose it again?"

The headless little ghost stretched out its little hands, gesturing silently.

Auntie Zhang said angrily, "Go get it back."

The headless little ghost kept gesturing, but didn't move.

Just then, Hu Ma suddenly saw a flash of red beside him. Little Red Tangerine was sitting on the donkey cart, a small basket hanging on her arm. Something seemed to be inside, half-covered by cloth. He immediately became alert and leaned over to take a look, and was a little frightened.

"What are you doing with someone's head? Give it back to him!"

"..."

Little Red Tangerine looked unhappy and said, "He lost it, and I picked it up behind him..."

"Picking up someone's head off the ground, how can that be right?"

Hu Ma was a little surprised. He quickly glared at Little Red Tangerine and told her to quickly return the head to the headless little ghost.

The headless little ghost took the light paper figurine head and placed it on its neck. The paper figurine head came to life and even blinked its eyes.

Auntie Zhang didn't expect the head to be with Little Red Tangerine. She glanced at her in surprise, and then patiently held the headless little ghost's shoulders and whispered a few words to it, tapping its forehead lightly.

The headless little ghost understood and nodded vigorously. With that nod, it fell off again.

It hurriedly squatted down and groped on the ground with both hands. Little Red Tangerine squatted beside it, curiously pushing it over.

"Now, everyone gather around me!"

Auntie Zhang turned around and said to Hu Ma, Steward Zhou, the shopkeeper, and the two assistants, "We're panicking now, and we might get caught at any time. This place is too ominous. We couldn't get out during the day, and it'll be even harder to get out at night."

"You can only listen to me now. Whatever I say, you listen. If you don't listen, it'll be troublesome..."

Ever since they realized they were going in circles, everyone had been terrified and nodded repeatedly.

Seeing them agree, Auntie Zhang took out a plate of thin hemp rope from her bundle, with pieces of bone strung on it, like bells.

She pulled out the end of the rope, starting with her own wrist, and tied it to everyone's wrist, looping it around once. The other end was tied to the headless little ghost's ankle. As she tied it, she said to everyone:

"Let the hemp rope lead you!"

"No matter what you encounter, see, or hear, don't panic, don't be chaotic, and especially don't pull the hemp rope on your wrist."

"If you're too timid, ask the shopkeeper to knock you out and put you on the donkey cart to sleep with the coffin."

"..."

Now everyone was really terrified, but they didn't want to be knocked out, so they just shivered and nodded vigorously in agreement.

After arranging these things, Auntie Zhang had everyone check the cart again and stuck a yellow talisman on the donkey's head.

"Let's go!"

The headless little ghost immediately nodded. With that nod, its head rolled to the ground again. It didn't even pick it up, but crawled forward quickly on all fours.

Little Red Tangerine darted over with a whoosh, picked up the paper figurine head, and looked back at Hu Ma, her eyes questioning.

Before Hu Ma could speak, Auntie Zhang said, "You hold it for him first."

Little Red Tangerine was immediately happy. She put the head in the basket and climbed onto Hu Ma's back.

At this time, the headless little ghost was already groping and crawling forward, its speed not slow. Everyone hurried to follow.

For Hu Ma, he could see the headless little ghost, but the shopkeeper and the assistants couldn't. They only saw one end of the hemp rope stretching into the dark night ahead, sometimes taut, sometimes slack, the bone pieces clattering.

They felt unspeakably uneasy.

Occasionally, they walked a little faster, and the yin energy around them turned cold. They vaguely saw the appearance of the headless little ghost.

They were so scared that they wanted to close their eyes and let the hemp rope lead them.

As they moved forward, perhaps they disturbed something in the surrounding night, and suddenly various strange noises rang out.

Sometimes they suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves galloping, as if someone was riding a horse and rushing towards them wildly. Sometimes they heard shouts of fighting and killing, as if robbers were surrounding them and waving the knives in their hands. Other times, they heard rude curses, as if they were surrounded by people.

With their eyes closed, they felt like they had entered a den of thieves, surrounded by fierce and evil people. When they opened their eyes, they found only the empty night and the cold wind.

This feeling of anxiety and chaos made even Hu Ma feel a little irritated.

He subconsciously reached into his arms and grabbed a short piece of incense.

This was given to him by the Red Lantern Goddess to protect his life. Hu Ma had brought it with him on this trip in case of emergency.

He wondered if Auntie Zhang's method could help them escape the influence of the Ghost Fortress. If they really couldn't escape, he would ask the Red Lantern Goddess to come and talk to them about the rules.

He just didn't know if the Red Lantern Goddess, after leaving Mingzhou Prefecture, had enough face in front of this Ghost Fortress...

But he thought that since she had a temple built for her, it should be okay, right?

Full of apprehension, groping in the dark, with their eyes closed, they walked for most of the night, not knowing how long they had walked or how many unspeakable and strange things they had experienced along the way.

The sounds of knives chopping and axes hacking, the sounds of cursing and questioning, and even people reaching out to pull their legs from time to time.

But Auntie Zhang took care of them from left to right, and Hu Ma also kept his eyes open, watching the movements around him at all times and helping out whenever he could. After traveling like this for most of the night, not knowing how long they had walked, the movements around them finally gradually lessened until they disappeared.

The group felt the pull of the hemp rope on their wrists weaken, so they stopped.

Auntie Zhang breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "Okay, we're out."

The cart driver and the assistants then opened their eyes and saw that they were in a wilderness, with a bright moon overhead, illuminating the surroundings like daylight. The frightening sounds and the omnipresent sense of oppression had disappeared, leaving only a layer of cold sweat on their bodies.

Looking around, no one was missing.

Looking back at the cart, they were shocked to find many traces of knives and axes, as if they had been chased and beaten.

"Oh..."

One of the assistants suddenly cried out in a low voice, his voice filled with sobs.

Everyone quickly looked over and saw that he had rolled up his sleeves, revealing a dark handprint on his arm, as if someone had pulled him.

The others hurriedly reacted and checked themselves, and found that many of them had similar marks.

The feeling of being pulled or tugged just now seemed like a momentary illusion, but the marks remained.

"It's okay, just soak in water with pomelo leaves and take a bath,"

Auntie Zhang comforted, "The ghosts in that fortress are too fierce. When they found us patrolling, they insisted on keeping us."

"They influenced the surrounding feng shui, and even people in our profession can't avoid it. Ordinary little ghosts who enter their patrol range are afraid they can't run away and can only join them."

"But fortunately, the little ghost I raised doesn't have a head, so it's less affected by them and can lead us out of that ghostly place..."

"..."

"Not having a head is actually a good thing?"

Hu Ma glanced at Little Red Tangerine's beautiful little head and shook his head helplessly. He couldn't explain it, so he could only take it as experience and remember it.

"At least we got through it."

He breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the people around him and said, "Let's hurry on ahead and find a town to rest. Everyone take a bath, have a good meal, and get a good night's sleep."

He turned to the cart driver and the two assistants: "The three of you have worked hard. We'll have a reward for you later."

No words of comfort were more powerful than this, and the panic on the faces of the cart driver and the two assistants disappeared a lot.

Auntie Zhang also untied the hemp ropes from everyone's wrists, coiled them up one by one, put them back in her bundle, and took the paper figurine head from Little Red Tangerine and put it on the headless little ghost's neck, letting them go play.

Hu Ma watched from the side and smiled, "Auntie, you're so skilled. I didn't expect your little ghost to be so powerful."

"This isn't about being powerful, it's about its unique use."

Auntie Zhang glanced at Hu Ma and said, "Ghost walkers must be good at borrowing the power of all kinds of adversaries."

Hu Ma carefully noted Auntie Zhang's words. After this trip, he had a vague and systematic understanding of the ghost walker profession.

The path of a ghost walker is to first learn the rules, learn various methods of treating, exorcising, and observing or communicating with evil spirits.

This is like a doctor learning prescriptions first.

They understand all kinds of evil spirits, so they can come up with a way to deal with things when they encounter them.

Ordinary people panic and become confused when they encounter things, while smart people can think of ways to deal with them.

Ghost walkers are like that. The word "capable" is most suitable to describe them.

While whispering, the group set off again. After walking for about an hour, they finally saw a town ahead at dawn.

"We've been traveling hard these past few days. Let's go into town to rest for a day!"

Hu Ma also breathed a sigh of relief and said to everyone, "Replenish food and water, get a good night's sleep, and then travel again the day after tomorrow."

This night was considered dangerous. Being able to escape was good, and people had to be allowed to catch their breath.

Especially the cart driver and the two assistants, who were about to cry. They had only been greedy for triple wages and came out to help transport the coffin. They thought it would be, at most, unlucky, but who would have thought it would be so difficult and bumpy...

Chapter 3 Seeking Tickets in the Third Watch!

(End of this chapter)