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The Wind Master once told him that this person was probably Yin Yu, since there were
only a handful of heavenly officials who were banished in recent years. Thus, Xie Lian asked, “How do I address you, good sir?” That ghost masked man replied, “Please, Your Highness. I’m nothing more than a nameless servant.”
Entering that abandoned textile house, Xie Lian was taken aback. There were all sorts of clothing hung on racks upon racks of wooden stacks: wedding robes, government attire, ladies satin, uniforms, children’s clothes… there were also very simple and vulgar bloody hemp shirts, as if they were afraid people couldn’t tell they were wicked. Piles and piles, layers and layers, haunting and eerie, heavy in the essence of evil, like each and every one was a live corpse standing. Even if they weren’t the Brocade Immortal, they certainly wouldn’t be anything good either.
Long fabrics of various dyes hung high upon the stacks; some pale white, some filthy. It had been a long time since anyone had minded them. Quan Yizhen was squatting next to a large black barrel of dye, his head poked in, inspecting the dyes inside that had a funny colour, a fluid emitting a strange smell. Xie Lian was afraid that the next second
he was going to dip his finger in and lick it to see, and hastily dragged him away. Seeing
that outside the yard, a band of ghosts and monsters were all bound by a single iron chain, hugging their heads crouching, Xie Lian wondered, “What…?”
That ghost masked man answered, “The monsters and ghosts that were selling the Brocade Immortal in the Ghost City and all the other places recently are all here. A total of ninety-eight pieces of clothing have been collected.”
Ninety-eight pieces. And they were all caught in a very short amount of time. Xie Lian was slightly touched. The ghost masked man continued, “If there are any new strange movements, we will also capture them in the shortest time possible for Your Highness.”
Hearing this, Xie Lian couldn’t help but say, “There’s no need. Please tell San… Hua Chengzhu that there’s really no need to trouble him like this. I can do this myself too.”
The result would be the same, it would just take a little more time and energy, that’s all.
He was a titled heavenly official working for the heavens after all, and even if there weren’t many worshippers, he’s still got a job to do.
That ghost masked man replied, “Naturally, chengzhu understands that Your Highness is capable of doing this effortlessly. But this is also precisely why he hopes My Lord won’t waste energy on small errands that anyone can do. Your Highness’ time and effort should be spent on more important matters.”
“…”
Xie Lian realize that there's more important thing to do and it's to take care of Hua Ying, but in the end still asked, “May I ask how your chengzhu is doing right now…”
Hua Ying is blowing raspberries on Yin Yu shoulder about next to Xie Lian, and that ghost masked man replied, “Chengzhu is very busy at the moment.”
Xie Lian quickly replied, “Oh. Then that’s good. Hopefully everything goes well for him. I wish him success.”
They questioned every single ghost and demon that were bound, and each and everyone were adamant that their product was from the distribution of a mysterious masked person, and they didn’t seem to be lying. But a place like the Ghost City, how many hundreds of masked individuals roamed the streets in a day?
The interrogation was fruitless, and so that ghost masked man pulled on that chain, and bid farewell as he led those yapping ghosts away. However, those ninety-eight pieces of ghost clothing were left behind. Xie Lian only felt that in all his time collecting scraps and old clothing, he had never seen so many clothes. Flipping through them, he suspected that most likely not a single one was the real thing, and he said to Quan Yizhen, “Qi Ying, why don’t you come and take a look?”
However, Quan Yizhen only ruffled his loose, curly hair, and shook his head, “Too many.”
Too many ghost robes. Every single cloth emitted the essence of evil, affecting each other, making one lose the ability to judge.
This was akin to someone who possessed a sharp sense of taste, who although they could differentiate between the flavours of pear and apple candied stuffings, if ninety-eight different kinds of fruity stuffings were mixed together and have the person try, they would lose their sense of taste completely. Xie Lian was trying to think of another method, but when he turned his head around to look, he saw Quan Yizhen had picked up a robe and was just about to pull it onto his person directly. Xie Lian hastily stopped him and hung the robe back onto the rack, “Stop, stop, stop. Qi Ying, let’s agree on this: first, don’t put random things in your mouth, and second, don’t put on random clothes. Those are all very dangerous actions.”
However, Quan Yizhen pointed to behind him, “Then what about him?”
Xie Lian suddenly smelled something burning, and when he followed the direction of where Quan Yizhen was pointing to look, he saw Yin Yuhad found some stick from a random corner and lit it on fire while holding Hua Ying and he was holding that flaming stick, setting the hem of a ghost robe ablaze, looking serenely stoic.
“…Don’t… play with fire either???” Xie Lian exclaimed run taking Hua Ying away from Yin Yu meanwhile the baby just protest on his a-Niang.
That ghost robe seemed to be in pain from the burning, and the hem started rolling upwards, twisting like mad, trying to get away, looking more like a live eel than a piece of clothing, painting a rather cruel picture. Yet, although there was the smell of burning, there was no trace of the fabric being burnt at all. It appeared that the essence of evil on those ghost robes had soaked in enough for them to escape fire disasters.
Hearing Xie Lian telling him not to play with fire, Yin Yu tossed that fire stick down and stepped on it to put out the flames, looking every bit obedient again. Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and he walked over, “Why are you so… today?”
He stopped mid-speech, his expression suddenly became serious.
He saw, not far away, a long and flowy white fabric that was hung high up on a wooden rack, gently fluttering in the night breeze. Upon the fabric was the shadow of a human figure and it was slowly moving. This figure did not have a head.
Xie Lian pulled Hua Ying inside his robe and immediately unsheathed his sword,
“EVERYONE, WATCH OUT!”
The swing of the sword cut the fabric and the shadow in half. However, when the fabric landed on the ground, there was not a single soul in the back, the headless shadow had disappeared. Xie Lian hadn’t had the chance to rush up to check before something behind him made him shudder. He whipped his head around and his pupils shrank.
Somehow, a beautifully dressed woman had soundlessly appeared behind him.
No! It wasn’t a woman, it was a robe!
What he cut in half just now was also a robe, and once it fell to the ground it was covered by other textiles. From all around, suddenly there were a bunch of humanoid figures emerging, swaying and rocking slowly, gathering towards the three of them.
Turns out, before they knew it, all ninety-eight pieces of ghost robes that were hung in the yard, in the hallways, within the entire textile house had all struggled free of the racks!
Xie Lian was dumbfounded, “They were all fine before, what’s going on?”
Beside him came a low voice, “The arousal of millions of ghosts.”
Xie Lian turned his head to look, and the one who spoke was Yin Yu. Although he didn’t show any nervousness, his veins were popping on the back of his pale hands, very obviously being affected by something as well.
Another wave of demonic arousal! The closer to the day Mount Tong’lu opens its gates, the stronger its tremors in the ears of ghosts became to remind them. The first thing Xie Lian thought of was: How’s San Lang???
However, the current situation didn’t give him much time to think. While his mind was spinning rapidly, twenty or so ghost robes had already pressed over. Quan Yizhen didn’t blink or think before his fist was swung out. If this fist landed on the wall or the ground, then surely the earth would move, the mountains shake, boulders and ground crack. But this thousand tonned fist was beaten on some clothes. Just think, even children’s games knew in ‘rock, paper, cloth’, cloth wraps rock. That lightly flowing, soft and supple cloth was perfect for subduing fists! No matter how hard his fists, that fabric could just wrap around it softly and incur no damage, and only Xie Lian’s sword could do anything.
However, those ghost robes were light in their evasion, a simple spring back could bring several feet between them, and since they barely had any weight, there was practically no sound or breath, so detecting their movements to avoid their ambush was much more difficult compared to avoiding humans. The situation become worsen when he need to protect Hua Ying in his robe. He should have give him to the villagers head for a while!
Usually it was people who picked clothes. Now, it was clothes picking people. Hua Ying pop his head out from Xie Lian robe looking towards the flying robe.
Those ninety-eight pieces of ghost robes were eagerly searching for a body that fitted them, a person they fancy. Amongst people, it’s women who loved picking clothes; amongst ghost robes, it was women’s clothes who loved picking people. Some ten different coloured and styled female long dresses crazily pressed themselves against Xie Lian while more than five children robe also trying to reach after Hua Ying who staying inside Xie Lian robe, and even the sword couldn’t force them away. This battle was even more rigorous than a group of women who saw a pretty robe they fancied and were fighting over it. In that moment, it was as if Xie Lian was surrounded by blooming flowers and silk, squeezed between those female robes being pulled from all directions.
Quan Yizhen pulled off several children’s clothes that were stubbornly trying to lower themselves over his head and tossed them aside. Looking at Xie Lian puzzled, he wondered, “How come those women’s clothes all like you?”
“Maybe because they think I look friendlier???” Xie Lian answered.
However, not a single ghost’s robe went to harass Yin Yu. Perhaps it was because he was also a ghost, and knew they couldn’t scrape any benefits off of him, and so they didn’t approach. Xie Lian swung his sword horizontally and sliced a number of women dresses, but the ghost robes that were cut in half still moved as they willed, and somehow were even more agile in dodging. Xie Lian saw from the corner of his eyes several ghost robes sneaking towards the window and shouted, “CLOSE THE DOOR, CAST AN ARRAY! DON’T LET THEM OUT!”
Instead of crying Hua Ying look very excited toward the flying robe which trying to get to him. Yin Yu smile behind his mask towards the baby action. With them two gods and one ghost they could still deal with the situation, but if those ghost robes snuck out to seek trouble with others then it’d be troublesome. However, his shout seemed to be too late. The yard to the textile house was open air, and there was already a long robe that fluttered its expansive sleeves, flying into the air like a giant bat, jetting towards the night sky. Xie Lian cried ‘What a pain!’ mentally and shouted, “Qi Ying! I’ll leave the textile house to you!” Then, he tipped his foot and leapt out of the wall, catching the hem of that ghost long robe.
With the added weight of an entire person, that long robe tried to flutter its sleeves as hard as it could to no avail, and pummeled to the ground with Xie Lian still holding its fold in a deadly grip. However, it was exceedingly cunning, and RIIIPPP! It tore off its own corner like a warrior chopping off his own arm, and it hastily slipped away from Xie Lian’s hands. It just so happened that a passerby was on his way home after a night of drinking, and seeing a headless creature flying at him, he screamed from fright,
“AAAAAAHHHHHH A HEADLESS GHOST! IT’S HEADLESS!”
Xie Lian immediately charged over and seized that robe again to show it to that passerby, comforting him, “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared! See! It’s not headless, it has nothing!”
That passerby looked, and sure enough it was completely empty inside the folds of that robe, nothing! This was definitely more horrifying than a headless ghost, and his eyes rolled back, fainting on the spot. Yin Yu quickly caught him and gently laid him on the ground, “So sorry! I’ll take care of this immediately.”
After that wave of riot was over, Xie Lian finally was able to seize all the ghost robes that flew out of the textile house. He counted all of them, making sure not a single piece was missing, before letting out a sigh of relief.
With things thus, Xie Lian said, “I suppose we can only use Qi Ying’s simple, crude method. Let’s try each of these robes on and see.”
He didn’t mind trying them on himself, but it was harder to say for his two other partners. If later he did actually put on the Brocade Immortal, who knows if they would be able to deal with any accidents that may happen. In the end, it was decided he would stand watch while the other two dressed. He give Hua Ying towards the nameless ghost earlier who happily take the baby. It's a rare opportunity for even see the child closely and get the chance to hold him is a bless.
Thus, both Yin Yu and Quan Yizhen peeled off their outer robe and started fitting one robe after the other, and with every new robe, Xie Lian would give out simple commands like “jump” or “spin around” to see if they would obey.
However, after trying out every single one of the ninety-eight robes, each of the two trying on forty to fifty of them, there didn’t seem to be any strange reactions. It’d appear that in this pile of ghost robes, not a single one was the Brocade Immortal, and they worked all night for nothing.
Yin Yu and Quan Yizhen squatted on the ground in their single layer while Xie Lian sat among a ground piled high with all sorts of clothes. Supporting his forehead with his hand, Xie Lian mumbled, “There really is no value in buying fakes…”
Seeing his A-Niang action the little boy also follow the action as he shock his head slowly getting Quan Yizhen and Yin Yu attention.
After sitting there for a while, he went to seek Ling Wen in the communication array, “Ling Wen, I’ve collected some ghost robes here, and even though the real Brocade Immortal is probably not in this pile, they’re still rather evil; a little troublesome to deal with. Can you send someone down to take them away?”
“Acknowledged. I’ll go coordinate immediately. How many pieces have you gathered?” Ling Wen answered.
“Ninety-eight pieces.” Xie Lian replied.
“…”
Ling Wen remarked, “Your Highness truly is a capable man, having collected more than what I’ve reported to you.” Xie Lian softly cleared his throat, “It actually wasn’t me…”
But before he finished his sentence, there was another familiar chill that ran down his spine. Xie Lian shuddered and looked up.
In front of him, upon a number of light and flowy white cloths was the black shadow of a human silhouette.
This time, it wasn’t headless nor was it fluttering. The one standing behind those long curtain-like fabrics was very much a man. It was easy to see that it was a very tall young man, and even the disheveled strands of hair could be clearly seen on the edge of that silhouette.
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