After getting the information he wanted, He Simu stayed for a few days and then left Iril's house. Duan Xu naturally said goodbye to Lu Da and went with He Simu.
They walked out of the city. The small road outside the city was full of colorful flowers, and the spring breeze was gentle. As Duan Xu walked, he slowly smelled the fragrance of flowers accompanied by the scent of grass, as well as the scent of He Simu.
Originally, she smelled very cold, like a mixture of snow and plum blossoms, but now it was replaced by his incense scent. They had the same scent, but hers was still colder.
Time has come, the exchange is over.
He Simu, who was walking in front of Duan Xu, stopped and looked back at him for a moment. Ghost energy gradually filled his body, and his eyes turned black like ink. Duan Xu felt his stomach churning, and he bent down and spit out the Ghost King Lamp, and the ghost energy around him dissipated.
The evil ghost Duan Xu turned back into the mortal Duan Xu.
The Ghost King Lantern floated in the air and was wrapped by a gust of wind. It fell into the stream beside it and rolled around, then came out of the water and returned to He Simu's waist.
He Simu lowered his eyes, wiped the Ghost King Lamp carelessly, and called out, "Jiang Ai."
As soon as the words fell, smoke filled the air, and a beautiful woman in purple with butterfly tattoos and a graceful figure, about thirty years old, appeared on this country road. She was wearing a gorgeous necklace and rings, looking more gorgeous than the imperial concubines, and was out of tune with the simple countryside. She bowed her head and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty."
"Arrange the carriage. I want to go back to Yuzhou City."
"I have calculated the time when the king's rest will end and have prepared it for him long ago." The woman named Jiang Ai stood up, smiled brightly and clapped her hands.
For a moment, the road was covered with dust. Duan Xu stretched out his sleeves to block his eyes. When he put down his arms, he saw many ghosts appearing on the road, filling his sight like a dark cloud. Among the evil ghosts, there were 32 ghost servants carrying a mahogany sedan chair with cloud and flame patterns carved on it. The sedan chair was surrounded by gauze curtains and bells hung on the four corners, making clear and exciting sounds.
Duan Xu was stunned. It seemed that because of the influence of the Ghost King Lamp, he could still see evil ghosts.
"Simu, I can still see evil spirits and wandering souls," he said.
Hearing the word "Si Mu" coming out of his mouth, the Ghost Palace Master, the Ghost Realm Zuo Cheng Jiang Ai, raised his eyebrows in surprise, his eyes flickered between him and He Simu, the word "curious" was almost written in his eyes.
He Simu seemed to have not heard Duan Xu's words at all, and walked along the spread red blanket directly towards the sedan chair. She stretched out her pale hand from her crimson sleeves, and a ghost servant offered her his arm, allowing her to step onto the sedan chair with his support.
In fact, she had not paid any attention to him in the past few days, and he almost just talked to himself around her.
Duan Xu's eyes darkened a little.
"Are you leaving?" He raised his voice slightly and asked her uncertainly.
She walked smoothly into the sedan chair without answering, as if she was going to leave this world without looking back. The gauze curtain was lowered to block the line of sight between the two of them. She mentioned before that she would only take a vacation once every few decades, so if she took a vacation once, her life would be over.
Duan Xu lowered his eyes for a moment, then raised his head and smiled. He said jokingly outside the sedan chair, "Didn't you say it would take a month? It's only been a few days. Ah, you are not joking. You can't lie to me."
"I was so bold and reckless before. I offended you so many times. How can you let me go like this? Won't you settle accounts with me? Won't you make me pay the price?"
There was a moment of silence. He Simu did not answer, and Duan Xu could not see her expression. The smile on his face did not change, but the fists behind his back were clenched tighter and tighter.
But the veil was pulled open, and the pale woman frowned slightly and said, "Why are you talking so much nonsense? Why don't you come up?"
Duan Xu was stunned. His hands behind his back loosened in an instant, and his whole body relaxed, with the smile on his lips growing wider.
He smiled and said loudly, "Okay."
He Simu raised her chin, and the ghost servant beside her immediately stretched out his hand, and let Duan Xu help her get on the sedan chair as if he was serving her.
Jiang Ai watched from the side, smiling meaningfully with her hands covering her lips.
Yuzhou City is located in the southeast of Daliang. It was occupied by evil ghosts hundreds of years ago. At first, no one was allowed to approach. Later, the ghost king cast a spell to make the city disappear completely from the eyes of the world. So in this world today, Yuzhou City is like a legend. No one knows whether Yuzhou City, the capital of ghosts, exists or where it is.
However, it is obvious that Yuzhou City not only exists, but is also very lively.
The Ghost King finished his rest and returned slowly and grandly on his sedan chair, just to let the other hall masters know that the Ghost King was coming back. For a while, except for the fleeing Ghost Hall Master, the other hall masters gathered in Yuzhou City to welcome the Ghost King.
Duan Xu followed He Simu down from the sedan chair and saw this legendary ghost town. The walls and houses were tall, all over four stories high. The walls and roofs were white like snow, so bright that it was blinding. The only colors visible to the naked eye in the whole city were black, white and gray. Therefore, the red carpet on the ground was particularly eye-catching, stretching from the palace along the main road in the city to He Simu's feet.
The evil ghosts lined up on both sides of the road. The moment He Simu stepped down from the sedan chair, the evil ghosts immediately knelt down and prostrated themselves on both sides of the road, shouting, "Welcome, Your Majesty!"
Duan Xu paused, pinched the edge of the veil and pressed it down - the veil that had been split into two was restored by He Simu and was now worn back on Duan Xu's head.
A living person entering a ghost town, is this really like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth.
He then stood behind the Ghost King and accepted the worship of all the ghosts, walking along the red carpet all the way to the palace gate. The Ghost Palace masters all bowed at the steps, saying, "Your Majesty."
Standing at the head of the hall masters was a man who looked to be about 27 or 28 years old. He was tall and stern, with sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes. He had a majestic aura that kept strangers away.
After the man bowed to He Simu, his eyes fell on the young man behind her who was wearing a veil and whose features could not be seen. It was said that His Majesty the Ghost King brought a living person back from the human world and let him sit on his sedan chair.
This is the utmost grace.
"Your Majesty, this is..."
Before he finished asking, He Simu pointed at the young man and said to him, "Yan Ke, tie him up and hang him at the palace gate for two days and two nights."
"… "
The young man seemed stunned, and actually laughed out loud: "Your Highness finally settled accounts with me."
His tone sounded as if a weight had been lifted off his chest, relaxed and happy.
He Simu raised his chin and glanced at the young man, then waved his sleeves and walked into the palace. Yan Ke watched the young man salute him, held out his hands, and said with a smile: "Thank you for your help, Lord Yan Ke."
He couldn't help but frown. What was the relationship between this mortal and Si Mu
Just after returning with His Majesty the Ghost King, the favored mortal suddenly changed his mind and was tied up with ropes and hung outside the palace gate, attracting the attention of the evil ghosts in Yuzhou City. Here, His Majesty the Ghost King summoned the ghost officials to hold a court meeting to discuss the problems left over from her rest and the situations she found. When talking about the assassination, Guan Huai stepped out at the beginning of He Simu, and knelt on the ground with great regret, shouting in his broken voice that he was not good at discipline and not strict in governing his subordinates, and he did not expect Fang Chang to collude with the Lord of the Ghost Palace. Then he swore again and again that he had no second thoughts and had no intention of harming the king.
Guan Huai is truly a character who can put on a good show all by himself. He is passionate and heartfelt, but he doesn't have the bearing of the oldest evil ghost in the ghost world at all. Perhaps his ability to know the times and adapt to changing circumstances is the reason why he hasn't turned into ashes yet.
He Simu watched Guan Huai perform calmly, but she didn't stop him. After he finished singing, she flipped through the latest folded notes and said, "Yan Ke, what do you think?"
Yan Ke stepped out of the line and saluted, saying, "Fang Chang has been captured and is being held in the Nine Palaces Prison. He should be sentenced to be reduced to ashes. Guanhuai's discipline was not effective in preventing this disaster, so he should be thrown into the Nine Palaces Prison to be punished. I was negligent when I was supervising the ghost realm for the king, so I should also be punished. Please decide how to punish me, Your Majesty."
He Simu threw the memorial on the stage and said, "Bring Fang Chang up here."
Soon Fang Chang was taken to the palace. After not seeing him for several months, the evil ghost who looked like a scholar was in a very disheveled state. His hair bun was crooked with bits of hair sticking out here and there. As he staggered to his knees on the ground, there was a lingering look of fear on his face.
Having just emerged from the Nine Palaces Maze, he was probably still unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
He Simu walked down from the throne step by step, stood in front of Fang Chang with his hands behind his back, leaned down and said, "Fang Chang."
Her call immediately woke Fang Chang up. He was stunned, his eyes revealing instinctive fear mixed with desperate madness.
"Your Majesty, you are back." He said, sneering, "Then I will be reduced to ashes, right? Well, come on! You are not the only one who can do this. You will reduce to ashes whoever you dislike. Do you think you can maintain your rule forever in this way? Do you think they really obey you? Who wouldn't want to replace you as soon as you become weak? You are just relying on your own strength. Such a tyrant should be punished by everyone!"
This evil ghost seemed to think that he was a righteous and awe-inspiring minister of remonstration when he was about to die.
He Simu lowered her head and chuckled softly. She said, "Yes, but what can I do? I'm standing here. If you can kill me, then come and kill me."
She straightened up and said calmly, "I thought you would have more wonderful last words."
After she finished speaking, the Ghost King Lamp on her body began to catch fire, and Fang Chang was immediately covered in flames. He rolled over and howled in pain in the flames, and his voice resounded through the sky. Even the most iron-willed ghost minister could not help but shiver.
He howled for half an hour before he stopped howling. When the fire went out, fine dust filled the air, and the grayish-white color floated silently in the sunlight.
After more than five hundred years of death, it finally came to an end. There was no more everlasting light, only dead ashes.
The Ghost Hall Masters all had different expressions and were whispering to each other. Someone could vaguely be heard saying that a deputy hall master was gone in the blink of an eye. The king had killed more than twenty deputy hall masters and hall masters.
He Simu raised his eyes, and in the midst of the dust, he saw Duan Xu hanging in the distance through the wide-open palace door. The palace walls and tiles were all snow-white, with black flame patterns painted on them, and his black clothes seemed like a pattern on the white wall.
Outside the palace, the wind blew dense threads, and the black gauze on his veil was entangled and flew up. She saw his eyes through the gaps.
The bright, upturned eyes, as clear as jade, looked at her intently.
He Simu stared at him for a moment, then retracted his gaze and walked to the throne, sitting down calmly: "Guan Huai, the Lord of the Ghost Palace, was sentenced to ten years in the Nine Palaces Prison, and Jiang Ai will be the acting Lord of the Ghost Palace. As for Yan Ke, he was negligent for a while when he was supervising the ghost realm for me. I will not pursue this matter. If it happens again, I will deal with it the same way as Guan Huai."
Several hall masters bowed and accepted the order. Guan Huai was secretly sweating. He didn't want to stay in that damn place, the Nine Palaces Maze, for even a moment longer. He had to stay there for another ten years. He was really badly implicated by Fang Chang.
No? But it's better than being reduced to ashes.
After the Ghost King returned, the court meeting was held to implement the rewards for merits and demerits left over from the past six months. The Ghost Palace masters were on edge until the end of the court meeting. Seeing He Simu waving his hand and saying "retreat", the eyes of all the palace masters lit up and they retreated respectfully one after another.
Jiang Ai and Yan Ke stayed in the palace. Yan Ke looked at Duan Xu who was hung obediently at the palace gate from a distance and asked He Simu, "Your Majesty, who is this person you brought back?"
"As you can see, a living person." He Simu said casually while looking at the memorial.
It was obvious that she didn't want to say anything more. She even gave the mortal a veil. The spell on the veil could make any evil spirit who had seen him forget his appearance, implying some protection.
Jiang Ai looked at He Simu, then at Yan Ke, and burst into laughter: "I think this child seems to have some interest in our king, and the king is very tolerant of him. Is this the first time that the king has brought a man he likes back to Yuzhou City?"
Yan Ke's expression darkened, and he clenched his fists under his sleeves. Jiang Ai laughed even more happily, not wanting to be bothered by the fun. Dadi pointed at Yan Ke and said, "Hey, Yan Ke, look at your expression, are you jealous? Everyone knows that our king doesn't like evil spirits but mortals. It's been hundreds of years, so just give up on that idea.