Chapter 145: Seven Roads Ghost City
A week later, a burly figure stepped out of the air in front of a dilapidated and uninhabited town beside an abandoned farmland.
The air behind him produced a muffled sound. Soon, the burly figure slowed down and landed gently in front of the town.
Seven Roads Town was an important place for transportation. It was the intersection of seven main roads. There was an endless stream of traffic and merchants. In the past, this place was bustling and was a rich place that many people envied.
The fertile farmland outside the town was huge, and the large households in the town had huge gated mansions. Although it was already dilapidated, one could still see the former prosperity of this place.
As for why the Seven Roads Town had become like this, the robust young man with an innocent and youthful appearance looked at the two skeletons hanging on the signboard at the entrance of the town.
The evening breeze blew over, and the two skeletons swayed in the wind. The sound of dried bones colliding together was like a hoarse wind chime that carried an aged feeling.
What destroyed this town’s peaceful life was war, a mortal war that had yet to end.
The figure that stood at the entrance of the small town under the setting sun was naturally Jiang Li who had accepted the sect’s mission to subdue demons.
Jiang Li tapped his finger lightly, and two strands of spiritual qi shot out. He put down the corpse that was hanging on the signboard, and then he waved his hand to dig two holes in the ground beside him before burying the dried up corpses inside.
After pressing the soil of the grave firmly and planting two more stalks of grass, he nodded in satisfaction and walked into the ghastly Seven Roads Town.
Originally, Qi Refinement realm disciples were not allowed to carry out demon extermination missions alone. However, Jiang Li had proven himself to have the strength to stand on his own during the sect martial competition. Coupled with Elder He’s approval, he had come here alone.
The town was in ruins. Wild grass grew on the side of the road, and bones could be seen everywhere. Traces of the tragic aftermath of the soldiers’ fights were everywhere.
It was said that the struggles in the cultivation world were cruel. But in this mortal world, it was so cruel that one could not even have the chance to fight back.
Jiang Li did not bother burying the corpses anymore. He only used the yin attribute spiritual qi to cover his eyes and search for the ghosts in the small town.
“It seems that the demons didn’t lie to me. I can’t see anything here before the sun sets.”
Jiang Li looked around and did not find any ghosts showing themselves in the city. Therefore, he did not waste his effort and walked to a well on the other side of the town to sit down, quietly waiting for night to fall.
Sitting by the well, Jiang Li took out a map and looked at it. On the map, there was a total of five locations marked with a red circle. Three of them had already been struck off, and the Seven Roads Town he was currently in was the fourth marked location.
Jiang Li was indeed here on a mission to subdue demons.
However, this demon suppression mission was originally issued by Jiang Li himself after it was verified.
A week ago, Jiang Li and Yan Hong had gone to the Foreign Affairs Hall to choose the location of the store. It was in a place called Nightless City that was established by the cooperation of many sects and powers.
The reason why he chose this place was firstly because it was prosperous, secondly because it was safe, and thirdly because the average lifespan of mortals in the surrounding countries was less than 25 years.
There were dozens of nomadic tribes, four kingdoms that hated each other, and from time to time, civilian convicts who wanted to start a rebellion.
Due to the complicated hostilities, the people here had almost forgotten about peace after years of war.
However, the land in this region was abnormally fertile. The climate was warm and there was plenty of rain. As long as they farmed a little, the crops would be full every year.
This caused the people in this region to never be afraid of hunger. With the encouragement of the kingdom, the birth rate of the population was extremely exaggerated. It was normal for a couple to have eight or nine children.
Finally, the mortals here continued to live and die. After decades, the population did not decrease much.
Jiang Li had come for the souls of the dead, so this area naturally became his first choice.
After getting Yan Hong to contact the weak demons nearby, he still had two issues to resolve.
The first was the issue of cheap remuneration. This point was quickly resolved after discussing it with Ma Donggui.
Ma Donggui gave Jiang Li some samples of the spirit mine. There was indeed a very slight spiritual qi inside. This was useless to cultivators, but it was good in the eyes of the low-level demons.
Ma Donggui had said that a flying ship from the sect would pass through Nightless City in a few days and bring him a huge amount of spiritual ore materials.
The second problem was the few ghost creatures gathered in this region. The souls in a large area would be attracted by these yin lands. This should be more convenient to capture them together.
However, in some places, the dense Yin qi often entrenched powerful ghosts. Those small demons who had barely gained sentience and even had to take detours when they saw human hunters did not dare to come and collect souls.
Therefore, in order to smoothly expand the soul acquisition business in the future, Jiang Li could only personally make a trip to subjugate the nearby demons.
However, since he was a member of the Demon Vanquishing Hall, why not take an additional reward from the sect?
Therefore, after he reported the situation to the higher-ups, he accepted the mission himself.
Of course, if it was anyone else, they would definitely not be able to do this. However, Jiang Li was the disciple of the Head Elder of the Demon Vanquishing Hall, so such a small action could not be considered a violation.
Jiang Li was praising himself for his wit when a wave of the clamoring of wheels sounded out from the end of the distant road.
Jiang Li looked towards the voice and was surprised to see a group of merchants slowly walking over.
There were indeed many people who were not afraid of death for money. Even in such a chaotic situation, there were actually merchants who came here.
“Little brother, little brother, I would like to ask something.”
This group was neither big nor small. There were five carriages and more than ten ordinary horses. There were more than 30 people in total. It was naturally incomparable to the group from the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, but it was still considered a medium-sized caravan.
At the front, a middle-aged man leading a horse trotted two steps forward and arrived in front of Jiang Li. The stench of sweat assaulted his face.
Jiang Li did not wear the uniform of a sect disciple this time, and he only wore rough clothes that were worn by ordinary commoners.
After all, it was impressive to wear the disciple uniform outside, but the consequence was to expose oneself completely. This was a lesson learned during the mission of the Southern Seal Kingdom. Jiang Li still planned to keep a low profile this time.
Therefore, the other party only thought that Jiang Li was a commoner nearby and did not pay much attention to him.
“Little brother, you’re a local, right? Do you know which direction the Seven Roads Town is in?”
Jiang Li looked at the small town behind him, and then he looked at the middle aged man before him. He never expected that he would actually ask such a question. This person did not seem to be blind.
“You’re looking for the Seven Roads Town? What do you want from it?” Jiang Li thought that the other party had misspoken, so he asked again.
“Little brother, this place is desolate and uninhabited. The sky is about to turn dark. We’re tired from the journey, so we naturally want to find the Seven Roads Town to rest.”
The middle-aged man smiled and looked honest. The caravan behind him gradually stopped.
“You are quite lucky. Behind me is the Seven Roads Town.”
Jiang Li still sat by the well and pointed at the huge Seven Roads Town behind him.
“Little brother, don’t joke with me. How can this be the Seven Roads Town? Not long ago, I came here before the new year. How can the Seven Roads Town fall to this state in a year?”
The middle-aged man did not believe it. He said with certainty that he had come here not long ago and even described it as bustling and lively. He insisted that this was definitely not the Seven Roads Town.
Jiang Li carefully looked at his expression, not seeming to be lying.
However, from the intelligence, this town had been abandoned for more than twenty years.
Jiang Li turned to look at the town behind him, his eyes flickering with wariness and curiosity.
“Little brother, don’t lie to us. If you know where the Seven Roads Town is, we’ll give you some money in exchange.”
When the middle aged man saw Jiang Li ignore him, his mood that was poor from the dry and hot weather turned slightly agitated, and his tone became unpleasant.
“Uncle An, what’s wrong?”
Seeing that there was no result from the middle-aged man’s questioning, a young woman in a blue dress got out of the carriage and asked this direction.
On the woman’s waist was an exquisite longsword. It looked expensive and heroic. However, if one looked closely at her palm, one would see that it was smooth and soft without any calluses. It did not look like a hand that had held a sword.
When the middle-aged man surnamed An heard this, he did not ask Jiang Li anymore. He wiped the sweat on his forehead and ran back.
“Miss, that kid is spouting nonsense. He says this is the Seven Roads Town and refuses to give us directions. What should we do?”
The woman in the blue dress looked at Jiang Li, and then she looked at the line of sunlight that was only left on the horizon. Obviously, it was already unsuitable for them to continue on their journey.
“It’s already late, it’s not good to continue walking. Let’s go into the house in this Desolate Town to rest for a night. Tomorrow morning, we’ll rush to the Seven Roads Town.”
The workers and guards in the convoy heaved a sigh of relief when they heard her words. Then, the convoy slowly drove into the town again.
“Young master, can you give me and my granddaughter a sip of well water? The heat is harsh and this old man is really thirsty.”
When the convoy entered the city, Jiang Li saw that there was a grandfather, granddaughter, and a donkey following behind the convoy.
The old man led the donkey forward to ask for water. His granddaughter sat quietly on the donkey.
Jiang Li glanced at him with an expressionless face and ignored his request. He got up and walked towards the town.
The old man looked at Jiang Li’s back and seemed to have a pitying expression.
Then, he walked to the side of the well and turned the wooden pulley on the well. He pulled up the rope underneath the well bit by bit.
In the dim well, what was pulled up by the rope was not a water bucket, but a skeleton that had also turned to bones.
At this moment, the last rays of sunlight disappeared from the world.
The moment the skeleton that was tied to the neck was revealed, it transformed into a long-haired ghost with tattered clothes and bite marks all over her body.
The female ghost suddenly opened her eyes. Dark tears flowed down her face as she prepared to pounce on the pair.
However, in the next moment, the old man grabbed the ghost by the throat and slapped her until she turned to ash.
The old man threw the corpse that had turned back into a skeleton as if he was only throwing trash, then he led the donkey towards the town.
“I’m so thirsty. I didn’t get any water. I’m so thirsty.”
On the other hand, Jiang Li entered the town and saw the caravan of merchants ahead.
As night fell, they suddenly heard the clamor in front of them as they walked in the city. Looking along the street, they saw that there were lights and heads moving.
After rushing forward for a moment, they saw a bustling street market.
There was a continuous stream of peddlers and pedestrians on the streets. How was this a dilapidated and empty town? Wasn’t this the prosperous Seven Roads Town?
“Miss, it’s here, it’s here!”
“Master and I exchanged for those jade accessories and silk satins here before the new year!”
“The prices here are very cheap. As long as we go back and sell them, we can get ten times the profit! This time, the An family is saved! This time, the An family is saved!”
The woman in the blue dress came out of the carriage and was extremely excited to see the bustling scene before her.
The An family was a merchant family in a nearby kingdom. Although their family was not very big, they were still considered rich.
The year before, her father and elder brother had gone out to do business together. Just like today, they had entered Seven Roads Town by mistake. After that, they bought many high-quality jade and satin. After they went back to sell them, they had made a huge windfall.
However, good times did not last long. After that, his father and elder brother died from serious illnesses. Without the support of a pillar in their family, they were quickly targeted by other families.
Their family’s business plummeted and competitors deliberately set fire to their warehouse. They lost a batch of important goods and suffered heavy losses.
In less than a year, the An family would fall apart.
At this moment, the housekeeper who had been given the surname An suddenly suggested that if they could go to Seven Roads Town, they might be able to save the entire An family.
At that time, he had only stayed in the town for a moment before being assigned to guard the horses. However, the prosperity of this place was still deeply etched in his mind.
“Alright, there’s an inn ahead. Uncle An, bring someone to check into a few guest rooms and carriage spaces. I’ll go ask for the price.”
At this moment, Jiang Li walked over from behind.
He looked at the excited scene of the convoy and then at the ghosts around him.
He did not expect that a ghost market would appear in such a place.
When buying things in the ghost market, what was spent was yang qi and vitality, not mortal silver or gold. How could it not be “cheap”?
“Hey, little brother, I’m sorry. We blamed you wrongly just now. Thank you for pointing the way for us!”
When the woman in the blue dress noticed Jiang Li walking over from behind, she actually took the initiative to apologize.
Jiang Li glanced at her and was slightly surprised. He showed a rare kindness and took out a small bag of jade from his pocket before throwing it over.
“If you want to buy things here, use this. Don’t be greedy. Once you’re done, leave.”
After saying that, he ignored him and walked along the ghost market.
“This is a broken jade piece? It has such purity.”
The blue-dressed woman opened the cloth bag in puzzlement. Inside were pieces of jade that had been cut off.
Although the jade stones produced in the spirit stone mine were not much different from rocks and weeds in the cultivation world, in the mortal countries, they were top-notch talents and jade. Just a small bag was enough to exchange for a fourth-tier residence.
She hurriedly raised her head to look for Jiang Li, and a thought arose in her heart. He was able to casually give her such a thing, and it seemed like it wouldn’t be a bad thing if she were to marry him.
However, in just a short while, Jiang Li had already disappeared from her sight.
At this moment, Jiang Li was walking in the ghost market, and he similarly held a large bag of spirit mine jade fragments in his hand.
It was obvious that he was bullying these ghosts for being ignorant. He directly used the useless jade fragments as spirit stones and bought whatever he liked.