Chapter 38 Old Gu

“In the past, there were many troops in the mountains, far away from people. For special reasons, the troops were transferred. Before they left, they sealed the windows and doors with bricks and then left. Such places are overgrown with weeds in less than a year, and they are even more deserted. The ghost market is usually held in such places.” Shen Xing was walking and talking to us, while I and Cheng Xin were walking ahead.

I don’t know if I was excited or nervous. Compared to Shen Xing, that girl was much more calm. She even explained to us along the way. Maybe it was because she had been here once.

There was no road downhill, just obvious human trampling marks. It was a bit steep, but judging from the marks, it was estimated that most people might have taken a different path in the mountains, but they all came down from this slope.

The road was steep, but it was downhill after all. We walked for less than half an hour and finally arrived at the gate of this building.

The entrance to the building was simple, a large iron gate, and outside the gate was a guardhouse. Because it was separated by the iron gate, it was not clear what was inside the gate, but the area outside the gate was overgrown with weeds, making it look a bit desolate.

I lit a cigarette to calm myself down, then took the lead and walked forward. Chengxin followed closely behind me, and Shen Xing, the girl, walked at the end, not saying a word.

But when I got to the iron gate, I saw that there was a big lock on the gate. I pushed it hard, but it didn’t budge.

“What’s going on?” Just as I was about to ask Shen Xing what was going on, a somewhat aged voice suddenly appeared.

I turned around and saw that there was an old man in the guardhouse, who was peeking out of the window and staring at us with unfriendly eyes.

I just looked at him and was shocked. This old man is no ordinary man.

You know, the more profound the person’s skills, the brighter his eyes will be. That is the representation of spiritual power. If a person’s eyes are cloudy, his spirit must be poor, and even his soul is somewhat weak.

“When you look at a Taoist, first look at his eyes. A bright person is generally not bad. Then, look at his eyes again, and you can see a little bit of his character.” This is what my master once taught me, but my master disappeared too early, and I guess he never saw the current technology of cosmetic surgery and contact lenses. As soon as I walked out on the street, I saw a lot of beautiful women.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed the problem. Even Brother Chengxin noticed it and whispered in my ear, “This old man is probably very powerful. I didn’t even get a good look at him, but I saw a pair of eyes that were as bright as a thief’s. I wonder if they can glow green like a wolf’s eyes at night?”

I ignored Chengxin, but looked at Shen Xing with curiosity. Shen Xing smiled faintly and said, “I didn’t say it on purpose, just so you remember not to be reckless in the ghost market.”

This girl, she really has a lot on her mind.

It’s not the time to talk nonsense with her. Chengxin and I walked straight to the guard post. The old man had already retreated and was sitting there leisurely, fanning himself with a fan. He was holding an enameled basin in his hand, and the tea fragrance that came out of it made me, who had followed my master and drank a lot of good tea, can’t help but praise it.

Seeing me and Chengxin come, the old man didn’t ask anything, but instead began to look up and down at us.

At this time, I also carefully looked at him. His hair was a little gray and long, tied with a rubber band, and he was wearing a yellow robe with his chest open and a little dirty. His white cotton pants were also dirty, but the shoes he was wearing on his feet were clean.

His facial features were very ordinary, but like my master, he didn’t look old. At this time, his eyes also returned to normal, and there was no difference between him and an ordinary person. His eyes were calm like a lake, and it was unrealistic to see his character through his eyes.

This made my heart thump again. It is easy to be outgoing, but difficult to be introverted. At least I don’t have this level of accomplishment. It takes my master to do it. Otherwise, with his bright eyes, he would probably increase the probability of being beaten when he looks at beautiful women on the street.

“You’re dead, a typical example of a man who lights up at the sight of a beautiful woman.” I guess people would think so.

After a few seconds of silence, the old man reached out and scratched his scalp. Under the dancing of dandruff, he suddenly smiled, then looked directly past me and Brother Chengxin, and smiled at Shen Xing, “You little girl, here you go again?”

Shen Xing smiled and said, “Hello, Grandpa Gu. I’m not here this time. I’m here to bring two friends for Master Liu. I won’t go into the ghost market. I’ll wait for the market to disperse on the outskirts and then leave together.”

“It’s good not to go in. It’s good not to go in. You can’t even ask the gods for more, let alone trade with ghosts.” He said happily to Shen Xing, and then turned his gaze to me and Brother Chengxin, saying, “Report your name and master, if you don’t have a master, then show a little skill or two to prove it. Ordinary people can’t enter this ghost market.”

If ordinary people can’t enter, how did Shen Xing get in? I was puzzled, but I couldn’t argue with the old man about Shen Xing’s personal affairs, so I said, “Chen Chengyi, a disciple of Jiang Lichun, our lineage has no name, so we’ll just call it the Old Li lineage.”

As soon as I spoke, the old man’s eyes suddenly brightened, and a hint of shock appeared in his eyes, but his expression towards me was much more relaxed. At this time, Brother Chengxin also spoke up, saying, “Su Chengxin, a disciple of Chen Liren, is in the same lineage as him.”

The old man listened to us and sighed twice, saying, “This is a rare guest among rare guests. Let me take a look.”

I didn’t know what he wanted to see, and I was confused, but I saw him take out a white booklet covered in dark fingerprints from a drawer and start flipping through it. After a while, he looked up and said, “It really is the same as Old Li’s style. What a wind this is. There are two of them. Each person pays 1,000 yuan. Go in.”

“Do I have to pay?” Chengxin asked casually as he took out his money.

The old man snatched the money from Chengxin’s hand and said angrily, “Why don’t you pay? You’re living here, using water and electricity, which isn’t money? If it weren’t for the fact that you’re a descendant of Old Li, I wouldn’t even bother to scold you, I’d just send you back.”

Chengxin brother did not dare to retort, and he was quite helpless. His face, which was warm and gentle and made anyone feel good, had no effect on the old man. The old man spat and counted out a thousand yuan, and then threw the rest of the money back to Chengxin brother.

When he looked at me, I dared not be rude, so I quickly handed him the 1,000 yuan that I had counted. He nodded in satisfaction, then reached into his drawer and handed us two thin, poorly printed pamphlets. Then he threw the keys on the ground and went to open the door.

The rusty iron door creaked and groaned as it opened, but the old man didn’t seem to mind. He opened the door and said to us, “You can’t leave before 12 midnight on the 12th, but you can stay until the 13th.”

As the door closed, I glanced at the old man, and I always felt that he might know something about our family. Unfortunately, the old man was a bit stubborn, and it would be difficult to get anything out of him.

Standing inside the gate, the first thing I saw was a cement road that led to a large dam. On either side of the dam were two red brick buildings. From a distance, I couldn’t tell if anyone was there.

It wasn’t as lively as I had imagined, and there wasn’t a single person in sight. If it weren’t for the figure I saw on the hillside, I would have suspected that I had come to the wrong place.

I straightened out my backpack and said, “Let’s go.”

But Shen Xing said, “You and Chengxin should take a look at the brochure in your hands before going in.”

I knew that Shen Xing wouldn’t be making a wild guess, so I opened the poorly printed booklet in my hand. I didn’t expect that at the beginning, it would introduce in detail the locations of the 21 ghost markets, and the next part would focus on introducing the fifth ghost market.

After reading this part, I finally knew why there was no one here. It turned out that there were strict requirements for where to live, where to live, and where to move around. The reason for this was to avoid collisions between humans and ghosts or the occurrence of any bad events.

In short, I learned that everything here is under supervision. This time, there are two organizations responsible for supervision. One of them is a temporary organization composed of some high-level people who are not very active in society. Let’s call it the “Ming Organization.”

The other organization is made up of people who have been born, but they don’t seem to act very honestly, so let’s just call it the Dark Organization.

After reading this, I realized that I was really a frog in a well.