"Woo woo......

In the continuous night rain, a dilapidated little Poussin rode in the dust, speeding on the unmanned riverside road.

"Hey, let me tell you, this person has to pay attention to 'being upright and not afraid of crooked shadows'!"

The excited shouts echoed in the taxi, and I saw the middle-aged man driving the car with a red face, while spitting and spitting, not at all like before.

"As the saying goes, 'Don't do bad things on weekdays, and don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night'. Let's do it properly, do it right! Don't say it's going to work on the night of tomorrow, even if we are asked to work the night shift in the cemetery, we won't be afraid! Little brother, do you say yes?"

"Hehe, you're right......" Jiang Yao barely squeezed out a smile, casually perfunctory, but in his heart he lamented the "heavy bleeding" of his wallet; while the three-legged black on the other side didn't pay attention at all, with a cold face and didn't know what he was thinking; as for the gluttony who was swaggering and leaning in the middle, he had already begun to raise his head and take a nap.

"Don't worry, I'm here, and I promise to send you to the county seat safely!" said the middle-aged man, obviously in front of the "five times the fare", all feudal superstitions instantly turned into floating clouds.

"By the way, speaking of which, you're a local, right?"

It seemed that she had finally found an opportunity to interject, and Lu Xingyue quickly diverted the topic.

"Isn't that? Our family used to live in the old county seat, just across the Yangtze River. Later, because of the construction of the dam, the old county seat was relocated, and you are going to the new county seat this time. ”

As soon as he mentioned the local situation, the middle-aged man began to talk endlessly.

"There is actually nothing to visit in the new county, the cultural monuments of our capital are all in the area of the old county town on the other side of the river, what a famous mountain, Shuanggui Mountain, a ghost town or something......

"'Ghost town'?"

Lu Xingyue's eyes lit up when he heard this, he thought about it, and then quietly probed:

"The name 'Ghost Town' is quite special, there shouldn't be ...... 'Ghost Gate' or something in this place, right?"

"Yes, not only 'Ghost Gate', but also 'Nai He Bridge', 'Huangquan Road' and many other tourist attractions, tourists love to go there to play. The middle-aged man laughed and said with a big grin.

"Attractions?" Jiang Yao couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly asked. "You're saying that 'Ghost Gate' is a tourist attraction?"

"Yes, haven't you checked the strategy when you came to play?" the middle-aged man's face was inexplicable. "We are a tourist city, and the characteristic is this 'ghost town culture'. This 'ghost town' is at the foot of the mountain across the river, well, right over there. ”

The middle-aged man said, stretching out his hand and pointing to the other side of the Yangtze River outside the window. Jiang Yao followed the instructions and looked, but he could only see a black mountain outline, which looked a little eerie in this rainy night.

"The 'ghost city' is now a big scenic spot, and the 'ghost gate' and 'Nai He Bridge' are all in the scenic spot. There is also a folk parade over there during the Qingming Festival every year, oh, it's tomorrow, you can go and see it if you are interested. The middle-aged man introduced.

"I see, the 'Ghost Gate' really exists......"

Jiang Yao muttered in a low voice, raised his head and glanced at Lu Xingyue, obviously the other party also knew the meeting place on the "Ghost Market Invitation".

"Master, thank you so much. Jiang Yao thanked him gratefully, he was still worried about tomorrow's meeting place, but now it is finally "another village", which is really an unexpected surprise.

"Oh, you're welcome. Then again...... I don't know what's going on lately, but there are a lot of strange tourists coming, and in previous years, there didn't seem to be so many people at this time......"

The middle-aged man said, and looked at the gluttony dressed as a "gangster boss" in the middle of the back seat through the rearview mirror, and then swept his gaze over Jiang Yao on the left, and then moved his gaze to the three-legged black on the right that looked like a "midnight cowherd", and an ambiguous smile appeared on his face.

"Tsk...... The way of the world has really changed, the previous bosses all traveled with beautiful women, but now they have changed their tastes, look at this 'left and right' ......"

The middle-aged man muttered, his obscene and trivial appearance made his three-legged black eyebrows tremble, and he impatiently reached out and waved lightly at the driver's seat. With a flash of magic light, the middle-aged man suddenly withdrew his gaze as if he was stunned, staring ahead and driving quietly, without nagging half a word.

"You put him ...... What's wrong?" Jiang Yao looked at the middle-aged man who suddenly shut up, then at the three-legged black, and asked cautiously.

"Let him concentrate on driving. The three-legged black face folded his arms expressionlessly, and turned his head away.

"Whew...... It's good that this big brother doesn't have to hear something he shouldn't hear and see something he shouldn't see. At this time, Lu Xingyue spoke, and compared to being cautious before, he seemed to be slightly relieved now.

"According to the information on the invitation letter, we need to arrive at the 'Ghost Gate Pass' to gather at the time of the Qingming Festival. Lu Xingyue looked at the black card in his hand and said.

"Chenshi...... It would be between 7 and 9 a.m., but it is strange that the person who received the invitation and the subsequent 'special challenge' information invitation were not written. ”

"Maybe ...... so-called 'special challenge' of the 'ghost market' has already begun. ”

Jiang Yao thought about it and said.

"Judging from the information we have received so far, this year's 'ghost market' is obviously to control the number of participants, which is why so many restrictions have been set. And even if the threshold of the 'Ghost Market Invitation' is set, there must be many non-invitees who have inquired about the meeting place in advance and coveted the Soul Stone. Therefore, the organizers will inevitably try their best to 'sweep the sand', I guess...... Finding a way into the 'Special Challenge' is one of those levels. ”

Jiang Yao stared at the invitation in his hand, but he couldn't help but think of the indifferent face of "Wu". Although it was because of the turmoil that the invitation was stolen at the beginning, he rescued the half-demon "Wu" by coincidence, but since then Jiang Yao has never received news of "Wu", and the other party does not seem to follow Jiang Yao's instructions to find Jiuya, which also makes Jiang Yao quite worried.

I don't know what happened to him...... Did you escape in time?

Jiang Yao sighed softly and carefully put away the invitation again.

"By the way, speaking of which, since you two have to go along, you can handle the invitation yourself. Lu Xingyue suddenly remembered something, and turned her head to look at the three-legged black in the back seat.

"You don't have to worry about it. Don't forget, the invitation that was confiscated from you is still with me. ”

The three-legged black replied coldly, which aroused Lu Xingyue's anger even more.

"Are you embarrassed to say, do you know how much effort it took me to get those invitations?" Lu Xingyue said through gritted teeth, but there was no way at all, so she had to admit it.

"Forget it, don't make a fuss, the most important thing now is to hurry to the hotel to recuperate, tomorrow is estimated to be a tough battle." Seeing that the smell was strong again, Jiang Yao hurriedly played a round, and as he was talking, he suddenly caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a black shadow flashing out of the car window.

What is that?

Jiang Yao was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly leaned close to the car window and looked out of the window.

The riverside highway outside the window is still miserable and rainy, the dim street lamps are scattered on both sides of the road, and the roar of the Yangtze River continues to surround the foot of the mountain below the highway, which also adds a bit of bleakness and gloom to this stormy night. It's just that the black shadow just now seems to have evaporated from the world, and there is no trace at all.

Strange, is it my delusion......

Jiang Yao rubbed his eyes, but still didn't find anything, so he had to withdraw his gaze with a puzzled expression, and when he turned his head, he found that Tao Tao had woken up from his nap at some point, his eyes staring at the riverbank below the road, and his face seemed to be a little solemn.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Yao asked.

"What time is it?" the gluttony did not answer, but suddenly threw out a question.

"Hmm...... It's eleven ...... p.m. No, it's almost twelve o'clock. Jiang Yao glanced at his watch and found that after tossing for a long time, it was almost midnight.

"Pull over in front. Without waiting for Jiang Yao to continue to ask, Tao Tao gave an order directly, and at this time, the three-legged black on the side also seemed to realize something, and immediately stretched out his hand and waved, manipulating the driver to pull over and stop on an emergency belt.

"What's wrong?" Lu Xingyue turned his head in surprise, obviously he didn't understand why he suddenly came here.

"Shhhh Tao Tao made a gesture to signal the people in the car to silence, and Jiang Yao couldn't help but get nervous when he saw Tao Tao's rare serious look.

The sound of the river was surging in the silent night, and the humid water vapor condensed into fog, gradually filling the Linjiang Highway where Jiang Yao and others were. In the haze, Jiang Yao seemed to vaguely hear bursts of ancient bells, floating from the direction of the distant county seat......

"Bell...... Clang...... Bell ......

The bell struck twelve times, announcing the fall of midnight. And at the moment when the last bell dissipated, a bell suddenly passed through the mountains and through the mist, like an ethereal clear sound, faintly coming from the bank of the Yangtze River.

"Jingle ......"

…… What was that?

Jiang Yao looked in the direction where the bell came from in surprise, but saw that there were bursts of mist on the river below, and the mountains on the opposite bank also became blurred under the influence of the fog, as if a group of strange giant beasts were silently entrenched on the bank of the river, looking at Jiang Yao and the others gloomily.

"Jingle Bell...... Jingle Bell ......

The crisp sound of the bell kept wafting, and Jiang Yao felt that his consciousness began to be a little blurry, as if the sound of the bell had the magic power of seducting the soul, slowly filling his mind, depriving him of consciousness, and pushing him to teeter beside the bottomless abyss of consciousness.

"Smack!"

The crisp slap suddenly broke the silence in the car, and also pulled Jiang Yao's consciousness back to reality. Jiang Yao covered his cheeks blankly, turned his head to look, and found that it was no one else who "rewarded" him for this slap, but the gluttony next to him.

"Hehe, how can you listen to this kind of 'Yin Soldier Bell' sound?" Tao Tao lowered his voice and glanced at Jiang Yao. "Why don't you cover your ears soon?"

"Oh, oh......" Jiang Yao listened, although he didn't understand what the situation was, but he also knew that he couldn't talk too much, so he quickly covered his ears, looked up and looked out again, only to find that on the churning river, a mist belt gradually accumulated, like a bridge connecting the two sides of the Yangtze River. It's just that the weirdest thing is not this.

One, ten, dozens......

In the thickening fog, Jiang Yao saw a series of strange shadows that began to slowly gather in the mist belt, starting from the river bank, across the surging river, like a assembled army, slowly marching towards the 'ghost city' on the other side of the Yangtze River.