After Marrying the Lord of the Underworld

The servants fell one by one.

 

The rain curtain was heavy, the cold wind was sharp, and the sea was raging, repeatedly shattering against the bridge.

 

Lu Yingjiu’s vision was blurred, and even with effort to focus, he could only see vague outlines. He was fighting on instinct, his physical strength was exhausted, and each heartbeat carried fatigue.

 

His original time of inviting the gods was very short.

 

Due to his physical constitution, the backlash of inviting the gods was huge. He was severely demonized, from his heterochromatic pupils to the horns that grew out, and his gradually sharp nails. If he maintained this for a while, he would either die of heart failure or directly turn into an evil spirit.

 

——Although Lu Yingjiu didn’t know which would be better.

 

Or maybe before that, he was already dead and couldn’t know the answer.

 

A long knife silently pierced his abdomen.

 

Blood was dripping, bright red rolling on the ground, diluted by the rain.

 

He didn’t feel pain, the effect of demonization was comparable to countless adrenaline, he wouldn’t be cold, wouldn’t hurt, and wouldn’t flinch. In fact, as long as he broke the knife and threw it away, the wound could heal at hundreds of times the speed.

 

But this didn’t change anything.

 

He would still die here.

 

The black beast wanted to come over and rub him, but it had no strength left, limping, unstable, and blood spreading under its body.

 

It was said that at the moment of death, there would be a carousel in front of people’s eyes.

 

The big and small things in life, the bits and pieces of joys and sorrows, all want to run in front of their eyes.

 

Unexpectedly, Lu Yingjiu didn’t think about his life for the first 26 years.

 

He arrived in the snowstorm.

 

That white, endless snowstorm.

 

He was walking in the snow with the young man in black clothes, one foot deep and one foot shallow, only the light in his hand was bright yellow.

 

“…..” He silently shouted, “Jing Xian…”

Then consciousness fell into darkness.

 

****

 

1528.

 

Hualu Mountain.

 

When the young man came to the foot of the mountain, the villagers almost respectfully welcomed him into the village.

 

He was dressed plainly, a white robe with strange dark patterns, the sunlight fell, and the light was faintly flowing. The placket was buttoned neatly, a deep red thin rope hung around his neck, making his skin as white as snow, and as warm and moist as jade.

 

The village chief’s surname was Chai, and he was known as Old Man Chai.

 

At this time, he was nodding and bowing, smiling with wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and asked, “I don’t know what to call this——”

 

“My surname is Lu.” The young man answered.

 

His voice was also extremely pleasant.

 

“Oh, oh, it’s Master Lu, Master Lu.” Old Man Chai nodded, “Please come this way——”

 

Lu Yingjiu followed Old Man Chai to a quiet place in the village. There was an uninhabited bamboo house there, where the previous exorcist lived, and now it was left to him.

 

The house was full of dust, presumably the villagers didn’t have time to clean it, and hastily changed the new bedding.

 

He put down his heavy luggage and made a gesture.

 

The wind rose from the ground, swept through the house, took away all the dust in the corners, and swept it out.

 

Old Man Chai was dumbfounded and kept praising, “Master is a master! The skill is really high!”

 

Lu Yingjiu glanced at him and said lightly, “Take me to see, where is the corpse?”

 

So, Old Man Chai took him to the south of the village again.

 

The south of the village was a few dilapidated thatched houses, leaking wind on all sides, as if no one had lived for a long time.

 

Before he got close, Lu Yingjiu smelled a terrible smell.

 

It was the smell of rotten meat in the midsummer…and it smelled like it had been left for many days.

 

Old Man Chai retched and led him to a thatched house, covering his mouth and nose, “Master, or else, or else I’ll wait for you outside?”

 

Lu Yingjiu nodded slightly and entered the house without changing his face.

 

Countless flies were flying around, making a buzzing sound. There was a corpse in the corner, the chest was directly broken open, revealing the intertwined dark red and green flesh.

 

The deceased was a middle-aged man.

 

His gaze swept across the room.

 

This man died tragically, but the room was unexpectedly clean – to be precise, there wasn’t much in it to begin with, it could be described as bare. The pot was half rotten, the bowl was broken, but the pots and pans were neatly arranged.

 

There were no signs of struggle.

 

This man was strong, with obvious muscle lines on his arms and thighs. Yet he was killed without any resistance.

 

Lu Yingjiu squatted down and carefully examined the deceased’s wounds.

 

He was torn open by a knife… no, wrong, he was directly torn open by sharp claws. In addition to the fatal injury, his torso and limbs had terrifying wounds and bruises.

 

According to Old Man Chai, this man had been dead for five or six days. After so long, Lu Yingjiu could still feel the dense yin energy at the wound.

 

Indeed, as the villagers thought, it was the work of a ghost.

 

He pinched a talisman.

 

The back half of the talisman burned, leisurely turning in the air, tracing the trace of the yin energy.

 

But it was like a fly blindly flying in the room, just spinning in place.

 

——The ghost was very cautious, knowing how to hide its tracks after killing.

 

Lu Yingjiu took another look at the room and went out.

 

Old Man Chai hid far away. Seeing him come out, he quickly asked, “How is it?!”

 

Lu Yingjiu shook his head slightly, “It is indeed a fierce ghost, but after so many days, it can’t be traced.”

 

“Ah!” Old Man Chai’s face changed, “Then, what should we do?” He shivered, his whole voice trembling, “What if it comes to kill again? Should we put some talismans on the door? Are firecrackers useful?”

 

“I’ll give you some talismans.” Lu Yingjiu said.

 

He asked again, “Did the deceased have any enemies?”

 

Old Man Chai slapped his thigh, “Ah, I just wanted to mention this to you! His name is Duan Kang, he is a well-known bully in the village, he does all kinds of evil, idles around, and teases other people’s daughters every day, he has been beaten many times.”

 

“Oh?” Lu Yingjiu raised his eyebrows with interest, “Can you tell me more in detail?”

 

Although he didn’t know why the master wanted to ask this, Old Man Chai was so scared that he spilled everything out like pouring beans.

 

He said, “Duan Kang has offended almost everyone in the village, and he doesn’t have much money, so he can only live in these few broken houses – this is what I gave him in consideration of his father. He was so poor before that he went out of the village to rob travelers of their silver, and as a result, he was beaten half to death. I was the one who paid for him.”

 

After saying that, he sighed deeply.

 

Lu Yingjiu thoughtfully said, “Has he done other things? Like digging up someone else’s ancestral grave, or taking the belongings of the dead, or killing for money.”

 

Old Man Chai was stunned, “You, you are guessing that he was killed by a vengeful ghost?”

 

“It’s just a line of thought.” Lu Yingjiu said.

 

Old Man Chai frowned deeply.

 

After a while, he said, “Speaking of this, there really is such a thing…”

 

He cleared his throat, “Of course, there is no exact belief in this matter. Simply put, there is an old lady surnamed Liu living to the west of our village. When she was young, her family was in business and saved a lot of silver. After her family fell into ruin, she came here alone.”

 

“Although she didn’t have much money, she had a lot of gold and silver jewelry, like bracelets, hairpins, and other jewelry. The old lady was old and dim-sighted, and often left things outside. Everyone in the village knew about her heirlooms.”

 

“Later…”

 

Old Man Chai paused, a hint of hesitation appeared on his face, but he continued, “Later, Duan Kang often went to her house, and some people even heard them arguing.”

 

“The old lady lived alone and kept to herself, and no one took care of her. That night, someone vaguely heard her arguing with someone. The next day, she was already dead, with a kitchen knife stuck in her chest. The door was wide open, and all the silver and jewelry were gone.”

 

“This is clearly a murder for money.”

 

“People in the village all suspected Duan Kang, but there was no evidence, and we couldn’t just make unfounded accusations. You brought up this matter today, and I thought I’d tell you about it.”

 

Lu Yingjiu asked, “When did Old Lady Liu die?”

 

“On the twenty-second of July.” Old Man Chai answered.

 

That was to say, it was seven days ago.

 

The time was not too long.

 

Lu Yingjiu returned to the thatched cottage and took out a piece of paper, folding it into the shape of a little man.

 

The little paper man, following his command, lightly fell to the ground, looking around and searching everywhere.

 

Finally, they lifted a pot that was overturned in the corner.

 

A brown sack was underneath.

 

Lu Yingjiu picked it up, it was heavy, and when opened, it was full of gorgeous jewelry.

 

He took the bag outside and placed it in front of Old Man Chai, “Indeed, he was the murderer.”

 

Old Man Chai was so surprised that he stared, then muttered to himself, “No wonder, no wonder…”

 

After a while, he asked, “So the vengeful ghost that retaliated against him was Old Lady Liu?”

 

“Hard to say,” Lu Yingjiu said, “Generally speaking, the resentment of the elderly when they die is not very strong, it’s hard to become a vengeful ghost – even if they become ghosts, they are some insignificant little ghosts, unable to kill a young man without resistance.”

 

“So you mean…” Chai Lao Han was cautious.

 

“I’ll stay for one night first, and then talk about it,” Lu Yingjiu replied.

 

So he burned Duan Kang’s corpse and returned to the bamboo house.

 

At night, he lit a candle, and the flame flickered.

 

He took out a heavy file from his bag, spread it on the table, and read it by candlelight.

 

The corpse was intact, so the ghost did not eat the corpse; it knew how to erase its own traces, so the ghost was very careful; there were many wounds on Duan Kang’s body, but the fatal wound on his chest was clean and neat, which means, the ghost has a powerful force to kill the living, but deliberately hangs it, tortures people, and finally gets bored and kills directly…

He picked up the pen and wrote a few lines of text carefully.

 

Evil ghost.

 

A standard evil ghost, it’s probably extremely difficult to deal with.

 

The wolf’s hair brush hung in the air, and he frowned slightly.

 

Until a drop of ink fell and spread on the paper.

 

He then wrote again. “Kill it.”

 

The handwriting was sharp, like a cold judgment.

 

Woosh–

 

A gust of mountain wind blew, making the forest sound, and in an instant, it blew out the candlelight.

 

The room was dark, only a pool of white moonlight fell on his white clothes.

 

Lu Yingjiu sat silently in the dark, looking at the dark forest.

 

On the half of July, the ghost gate opens.

 

Hundreds of ghosts were restless, and he had to pull out a fierce ghost at that time.

 

He stayed in the village for a few days like this.

 

The villagers didn’t dare to neglect him, and the next day they killed a chicken, added some mountain mushrooms, and stewed it into a pot of fragrant golden chicken soup and sent it over.

 

Lu Yingjiu drank a little, then let Old Man Chai take it back to share with the villagers, and said, “You don’t need to do these things in the future, since I’m here, I will definitely do my best.”

 

He saw the poverty of this village.

 

Old Man Chai agreed, and indeed took the chicken soup back to share with everyone.

 

Afterwards, Lu Yingjiu waited for the Ghost Festival while helping the village: for example, pasting protective talismans on windows and doors, or using paper men to help families find lost things.

 

For a time, the villagers all praised him.

 

In addition to his handsome appearance, with eyebrows like paintings, families with daughters even inquired whether he had a wife or concubine.

 

Lu Yingjiu always smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying.

 

After a few times, people assumed that he was not interested in marriage and no longer bothered him.

 

After all, he was a master, ethereal and out of the world, his attachment to the mundane world may be different from ordinary people.

 

Whether it was Lu Yingjiu’s protective talisman that worked, or the ghost had already left, until the half of July, the village was peaceful.

 

On the fifteenth of July, at midnight.

 

Lu Yingjiu planned to stay up all night, sitting by the window, casually reading a file.

 

The fire kept jumping in the wind.

 

After a moment, it went out.

 

The cold wind fell from the mountain, lifting Lu Yingjiu’s clothes.

 

His face did not change, he flicked a talisman paper, re-lit an oil lamp, and calmly walked out towards the mountain.

 

The back mountain was full of vines and weeds, difficult to walk, but he stepped lightly around the vines, where he passed, the weeds did not sway.

 

More agile than a swallow, quieter than a spirit deer. The round bright moon fell, the shadow of the eyelashes like a small fan fell on his face, also setting off his white clothes, the dark pattern on his body like the tide of the sea.

 

Every inhale and exhale, all were flows of techniques.

 

Pleasing to the eye.

 

—This village heard of his great name, so they invited him from far away.

 

A few days ago, two or three good-for-nothing exorcists came. They couldn’t find any clues, and were scared in their hearts. They all left after a few days.

 

Only Lu Yingjiu…

 

Just by looking at him, without saying much, everyone knew he was not to be underestimated.

 

He walked like this in the mountains where the yin qi was rolling.

 

Ghost hands stretched out from the dense vegetation, grabbing at his ankles, but when they touched the oil lamp light, they made a “sizzle” sound, directly burned into a cloud of black fog, and dissipated in the air.

 

He didn’t know how long he had been walking, but when the bright moon was directly above him, he turned around–

 

A trace of imperceptible yin energy swept past behind him.

 

It was too weak, almost melting into the night wind.

 

Unfortunately, it met Lu Yingjiu.

 

Lu Yingjiu followed that direction.

 

Through the towering trees, the messy grass and thorns, bypassing a bone-piercing stream, the yin qi became more and more intense.

 

As he had guessed, by the Ghost Festival, even the most cautious ghost would expose its traces.

 

His face did not show it, his slender fingers lightly held the protective talisman.

 

Ghosts who have killed people were very dangerous.

 

As planned before, he wanted to kill it.

 

The yin energy became more and more intense.

 

When he passed an old tree, a shadow fell on him.

 

Lu Yingjiu looked up.

 

He saw a bull-headed evil ghost, three people tall, with red eyes, raising an axe to smash a young man!

 

The young man was covered in blood, leaning against the tree roots, seemingly unable to move at all.

 

In the blink of an eye, the talisman paper in Lu Yingjiu’s hand burst into light!

 

The flames soared into the sky, rushing towards the bull-headed evil ghost.

 

The fire first wrapped around the axe, the metal was instantly burned red, and then they spiraled up, winding around the evil ghost’s arm all the way to the torso.

 

The smell of burnt flesh came, and the bull-headed evil ghost screamed!

 

It swung the axe, trying to split Lu Yingjiu in half.

 

The sharp weapon mixed with the wind, was about to fall on his head.

 

Lu Yingjiu’s face did not change.

 

He didn’t even move his position, he just quietly watched the evil ghost.

 

The bull-headed evil ghost saw its own distorted face in his calm eyes.

 

– And also saw the fire bursting from its eyes.

 

Unbeknownst to it, the fire had already penetrated its body. The heat wave rolled and exploded, tearing it into pieces.

 

The axe clanged to the ground.

 

The mountain wind blew, taking away the burnt smell, and everything returned to calm.

 

Lu Yingjiu, without a speck of dust on him, slowly walked towards the young man.

 

But the young man didn’t raise his head, swaying as he stood up, and even limped into his arms–

 

He hugged him tightly.

 

His hands were still trembling.

 

Lu Yingjiu reached out and gently wiped the blood from his face.

 

You couldn’t see his full face, but just looking at the side, you know he’s a very handsome young man.

 

His eyebrows were like knives, full of heroism.

 

His lips were tightly pursed, his jawline was clear and powerful, he had the innocence of a young man, and also the unique charm of a mature man. When he grew up, he would surely be the kind that would make girls infatuated.

 

But he was very light.

 

Light as if he had no weight.

 

Even though he was not much shorter than Lu Yingjiu, Lu Yingjiu could easily pick him up.

 

The young man kept his head buried in his arms.

 

Lu Yingjiu carried him, took a few steps forward, and then bypassed a forest.

 

Afterwards, the view suddenly opened up.

 

It was a clearing in the forest, originally there was a stream flowing through, clear to the bottom.

 

However, at this time, the stream was completely red, and the smell of blood was surging.

 

The ghost corpses piled up like a mountain, reflecting the moonlight, like purgatory.

 

The ghosts died with their eyes wide open, either heart-torn or head-blasted, all kinds of death states were terrifying, and every wound revealed the attacker’s ruthlessness, brutality, and ferocity.

 

The young man still had his head down, trembling slightly, as if he dared not look directly at the scene.

 

Lu Yingjiu silently looked at the mountain of corpses.

 

After a long time, he said to the young man, “Your acting is not bad, but I know you did all this.”

 

The boy paused.

 

He stopped trembling, his body tensed for a moment, then slowly relaxed.

 

Lu Yingjiu said, “You are the real ghost.”

 

The young man didn’t make a sound.

 

Lu Yingjiu sighed lightly.

 

When the young man pounced on him, he had already seen through his identity and had been on guard.

 

But…

 

He had come with the intention to kill, and should have acted against the young man long ago. Now, the other party was still curled up in his arms, with a trusting posture that actually makes him hesitate.

 

—Regardless of Duan Kang’s affairs or the mountain of corpses and sea of blood in front of him, the young man was extremely terrifying.

 

Underneath this good skin hid a monster with a burning desire to kill.

 

Lu Yingjiu had seen many ghosts who were good at disguising themselves.

 

They all say that it’s easy to change the landscape but hard to change one’s nature. Such a fierce ghost was impossible to be educated and turned around. He didn’t believe that the young man could change his mind in a few seconds, suddenly turn good, and restrain his killing intent.

 

The young man’s softness and dependence were all illusions.

 

It was to numb him and launch an attack when he was not paying attention. If he really let his guard down, he wouldn’t know how the ghost would mock him after his death.

 

The so-called ambition was hard to give up, and a ghost’s nature does not change.

 

Moreover, the ghost world was the home of ghosts.

 

In his thoughts, Lu Yingjiu had made up his mind and was ready to take out a talisman paper.

 

He looked down at the young man.

 

But he didn’t expect the young man to just look up and meet his gaze.

 

A pair of pitch-black eyes like the abyss, which should have been cold, seemed to have an undercurrent surging at this moment.

 

Lu Yingjiu thought he had a killing intent and was about to erupt.

 

However, the young man stared at Lu Yingjiu for a few breaths, suddenly lowered his head, and buried himself deeply in his arms again.

 

Even so, he still held Lu Yingjiu tightly and didn’t let go.

 

His ears visibly turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

 

It was the kind of red that was bleeding! Like being shy and excited!

 

Lu Yingjiu: ?

 

Lu Yingjiu: ???

 

Wasn’t it a disguise?!