The Extraordinary Urban God of Medicine-Chapter 903 - Four Types of Ghosts

Chapter 903: Chapter 903: Four Types of Ghosts

Chapter 903: Chapter 903: Four Types of Ghosts

Huang Xiaolong could say with absolute certainty that the place in Zhe City with the most rampant hauntings, densest gloom, and strongest stench of death was this vegetable market which was also the ancient execution ground. Something big was definitely going to happen tonight!

Right then, Huang Xiaolong took out several talismans and handed them to Ming Kuan, Meng Jingling, Feng Hanyan, and even Qingqing, the monster, got one.

“Stick these talismans on your bodies, they will not only make you invisible, but also shield your presence so that even a Ghost King will not be able to detect you,” Huang Xiaolong said with a smile.

The group did as told and affixed the talismans.

“Little Long, this place is getting more and more evil by the minute. What are we supposed to do now?” Feng Hanyan asked curiously.

“Just wait, the show hasn’t started yet,” Huang Xiaolong responded with interest. “Let’s just watch and see.”

At that moment, the ghostly energy and black fog at the crossroads grew thicker, and within the dense fog, faint scenes began to emerge!

The desolate crossroads morphed into a bustling marketplace!

Stalls and shops densely packed together, and a multitude of grim-faced ghosts appeared in the marketplace.

Indeed, a busy scene unfolded, “with heavy traffic, bustling crowds, an endless stream of people, shoulder to shoulder, wine shops and tea houses, peddlers and porters, music and shouting, all constant to the ear.”

Then, a sequence of ear-piercing cries rang out—

“Fresh jujube rolls, sugar-topped sesame cakes, white sugar sponge cakes, wow~~”

“Almond tea, truly delicious, with plenty of green silk and rose petals, extra sugar~~~”

“Hey~~ Fresh persimmons here~~ Not astringent at all~~ And if they are, we’ve got replacements!”

“Turnips as crisp as pears, hey~~ Trading for spicy ones! Honey-coated strings of sugar-glazed hawthorns here!”

“Roasted ginkgo nuts here~~ Ginkgo nuts!”

“Green-skinned turnips right here!”

“Sharpening scissors and knives over here~~ Get your kitchen knives!”

“Selling rice here~~ Selling rice!”

“Steamed buns, steamed buns, piping hot steamed buns!”

…

Well, this scene truly restored the vibrancy of the old vegetable market.

Just looking at the gathered assortment of ghosts and fierce spirits, there were easily hundreds, if not thousands. Luckily, they were mostly wandering ghosts and wild spirits. The stronger ones were merely red or orange-robed ghosts, hardly a cause for concern.

“This is too weird! Are these the old vendors from the vegetable market?” Ming Kuan shrank his neck in fear. “They have some nerve, so many ghosts gathering in the world of the living… They’re up to no good! A parade of a hundred ghosts, a parade of a hundred ghosts!”

“Just keep watching. This is only the beginning,” Huang Xiaolong said with a chuckle.

And right after that—rumble, rumble, rumble!

In front of the vegetable market, a vast open space appeared and suddenly, a dozen wooden stakes shot up from the ground.

All the stakes were about one foot tall and covered with mottled blood stains; strands of red ghostly energy and deathly Qi soared into the sky like beacon fires, the atmosphere chilling to the bone!

“There, those are the ancient wooden stakes used for beheadings. Normally, the locals would slaughter chickens and fish on these stakes, but when there’s an executioner’s call, he would behead serious criminals and notorious thieves on them,” Huang Xiaolong explained with a smile. “The reason the locals use the stakes to slaughter animals is to prevent the executed criminals from reincarnating as humans, forcing them into the animal realm as pigs, dogs, chickens, or ducks.”

“No way. Could it be that today… today they’re going to behead prisoners at the vegetable market?” Ming Kuan muttered to himself.

At this moment, a vendor at the vegetable market shouted out loud, “Heads are going to roll! Heads are going to roll! Hurry and watch the excitement!”

In an instant, the thousands of souls and myriad ghosts gathering at the vegetable market swarmed toward the open space, and quickly surrounded it three layers deep, both inside and out.

At the same time, within the open space, a group of headless ghosts emerged, crawling on the ground, their hands ceaselessly groping around as if searching for something. The severed necks of these headless ghosts were cleanly cut, with ghostly blood spurting out—

“My~~ my head, where is it? Who has seen my head?”

“Does anyone have golden sore medicine? My neck hurts so much, it really hurts.”

“Please sew my head back on, I don’t want to die without a complete corpse…”

…

The cries of these headless ghosts, amidst the howling ghostly wind, sounded especially pitiful, but they also enhanced the spine-chilling atmosphere.

The specter onlookers all chuckled foolishly to themselves.

“Look, now it’s almost like the scene of the beheadings at the vegetable market has been recreated. There are ghosts for the audience, and there’s even the wooden stake for beheadings. The main event should be appearing soon,” Huang Xiaolong said with a smile full of interest.

More and more specter creatures gathered here, until later they were so numerous they were uncountable, as if all the ghosts of Zhe City had already rushed over to this place.

Finally…

An extremely cold and evil Qi rolled in from the distance!

One after another ferocious blue-dressed vengeful ghosts, escorting one person after another, walked towards the execution ground of the vegetable market, continuously making strange chirping noises.

Indeed, those being taken to the execution ground were not ghosts, but—people! Living people! Real-life people!

These were the very same people Huang Xiaolong had seen in the streets and alleys of Zhe City during the day, those deeply possessed and targeted by vengeful ghosts!

These people were deathly pale, their faces filled with horror, despair, bewilderment, fear, nightmares… It seemed as though they couldn’t understand what was happening at all!

“What is this place? Why have we been brought here?”

“What’s going on… Is this a dream?”

“Wuwuwu~~ I want to go home~~ Wuwuwu~~ I want to go home~~”

…

“My God! This is utterly outrageous! Ghosts… These ghosts, are actually going to chop off people’s heads?” Ming Kuan trembled in anger and astonishment as if his whole body was spasming. “Ghosts beheading people! Ghosts beheading people! What kind of farce is this? Throughout history, there has probably never been such an event!”

“Hehe, this should indeed be the first time,” Huang Xiaolong smiled, but his eyes were filled with a chilling murderous intent. Vengeful ghosts harming people’s lives was not uncommon, but the situation before him was unprecedented. There were at least several thousand people being escorted to the execution ground by the blue-dressed vengeful ghosts. In other words, the people these ghosts were about to execute tonight were on a massive scale—it was nothing short of a massacre!

“It seems that the ghosts of Zhe City are preparing to move to Shanghai; therefore, they’re aiming to make one big final act. They’re doing something they usually wouldn’t dare to do,” Huang Xiaolong nodded slightly.

Soon, these living people were escorted to the inside of the execution ground, where they knelt en masse.

Just then, a ghost with an extremely tall figure, dressed in purple robes, approached from afar! The deep purple of its clothes signified that its ghostly power was at least equal to that of the Qing Dynasty female ghost in Fozhou City, indicating it was also on the cusp of evolving into a ghost king.

This purple-clad vengeful ghost was extremely ugly and ferocious, with a face full of scraggly beard and two ghostly eyes like blocks of ice; its glare alone could nearly scare someone to death!

In its hand, it carried a ghostly beheading knife exuding powerful evil Qi; the blade was bloodstained and wrapped in the screams and wails of thousands of wronged souls. A skull adorned its hilt, reminiscent of the attire of ancient executioners.

“Master… the… the most terrifying ghost is here… so fierce…” Meng Jingling tugged at Huang Xiaolong’s sleeve nervously.

“As I expected, it turns out that the fiercest ghost in Zhe City was an executioner in life,” Huang Xiaolong smiled. “Look, isn’t that ghost terribly ugly and fierce? This guy was born to be an executioner. One must be extremely ugly and ferocious to be an executioner, only then can they intimidate criminals, and even scare ghosts.”

“Moreover, this executioner ghost in purple clothes possesses a terrifyingly strong killing aura. In its lifetime, it must have killed no less than a thousand people, making it a true mass murderer. After becoming a fierce ghost, it’s almost able to instantly kill other ghosts of the same level,” Huang Xiaolong nodded. “In other words, the female ghost from the Qing Dynasty that I encountered in Fozhou City, even if she had the Thousand Soul Banner, would still be no match for this executioner.”

“In ancient times, there was a common saying among executioners, ‘Kill ninety-nine but stop before the hundredth,’ meaning that the job of an executioner couldn’t be a lifetime career. Furthermore, there was the belief that ‘killing over a hundred will cut off one’s lineage’; given that this executioner has killed over a thousand, it surely had no offspring and met a violent end in its later years.”

“Also, take notice of the ghost head knife in its hand; that’s a very powerful treasure,” Huang Xiaolong commented discerningly. “Typically, the role of executioner is hereditary—they don’t accept disciples, but pass it from father to son through generations. The same ghost head knife has been used for generations, which means the knife in its hand has killed no less than ten thousand people. In ancient times, there was a saying that a knife that has killed over a hundred is a great omen of misfortune. This knife, having killed over ten thousand, is a massive evil and nefarious weapon, capable of protecting one’s home from negative forces, beheading demons and spirits, and severing lost souls—a rare and valuable treasure indeed.”

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Huang Xiaolong unraveled the situation layer by layer, clarifying the stakes involved.

Qingqing, the monster, listened with great interest.

Feng Hanyan, Meng Jingling, and Ming Kuan all felt their scalps tingle upon hearing this.

The aura of killing and evil Qi emanating from the executioner and its ghost head knife, as it approached the execution ground, was so overpowering that the assembled spirits and souls felt unstable, as if on the verge of collapse.

The living person kneeling on the execution ground found even breathing extremely difficult, their heart nearly bursting.

“You all deserve death! Today, I shall sever your heads! Hmph! What a thrill! This time, I can finally indulge in my craving for beheading—such a pleasure with so many heads! Once this is done, I must head to Shanghai to discuss major matters,” the executioner’s eyes glowed bloodthirsty, with a hint of madness flickering within.

In this scenario, the ferocious executioner held all the cards, and there were no officials to oversee the execution. It pointed directly at a young woman in her early twenties, kneeling on the ground. “You, for leading astray multiple men and not acting with womanly virtue, deserve more than just death!”

“Ah~~~ No! Help! Save me! I… I’ve only dated a few boyfriends, I haven’t been unchaste! I really haven’t!” The girl cried out in terror.

“Bring her to me!” bellowed the executioner.

Immediately, two blue-robed fierce ghosts dragged the girl to a wooden post and pressed her head onto it.

Those living beings brought for the execution were already scared out of their wits, but some were still in a daze, unable to believe this was real—as if trapped in a nightmare.

The ghosts who had gathered to watch the spectacle jeered and screeched in excitement.

“Bring the wine!” the executioner demanded.

A blue-robed fierce ghost respectfully presented a bowl of wine to the executioner.

After taking the bowl, the executioner tilted its head back to drink, then spat a mouthful onto the ghost head knife.

Instantly, the ghost head knife glowed with an eerie, otherworldly light.

Then, the executioner began muttering some sort of incantation under its breath.

On the side, Huang Xiaolong explained, “The wine that the executioner drinks is very particular, made from boy’s urine, dew, crow’s blood, snake fruit, and other ingredients. Spraying the wine on the knife is said to conceal the resentment, and after decapitating someone, that person’s soul will be obliterated, never to return. As for the incantation it’s muttering, it’s a ‘secret spell’ left by their ancestral master Weizheng. Executioners have three ancestral masters: Zhang Fei and Fan Kuai, who were pig butchers. The one worshipped in the middle is Weizheng, who knew Taoist arts and even slew a dragon, hence he is revered as their ancestral master. I’m not too clear about the use of this ‘secret spell.'”

Just then, as the executioner finished chanting the spell, it raised the ghost head knife high, ready to swing it down upon the girl’s neck!

“Master! Stop it quickly! You can’t let a ghost kill people!” Meng Jingling screamed in terror, trembling all over.

Huang Xiaolong smiled slightly, unhurriedly flicked his finger, and a golden talisman silently struck the girl about to be beheaded.

In the blink of an eye!

The executioner’s knife slashed down!

“Ah~~~!” Feng Hanyan and Meng Jingling both closed their eyes in horror.

Ming Kuan also nearly collapsed.

Only Qingqing, the monster, had a strong mental fortitude, not even blinking.

Thump~~~!!!!

The ghost-head knife chopped down on the girl’s neck, but then, something eerie happened!

Not even a hair on the girl’s head was severed, instead—

“Ahh~~~~~~!!!!!” The blue-clothed fierce ghost that had been holding the girl’s head to the wooden stake suddenly had its own head fly off, as a fountain of ghostly blood erupted from its neck. In no time, its entire ghostly body was cleansed by a wave of evil Qi into nothingness!

Well, the knife chopped down on the girl’s neck, but it ended up severing the head of a blue-clothed fierce ghost instead, and even its soul was scattered instantly by the evil Qi on the ghost-head knife!

“Master, it was you who made a move, wasn’t it?” Ming Kuan looked at Huang Xiaolong with a shocked expression on his face, while Huang Xiaolong wore a smile.

“Yes, this move is called ‘Transfer of Harm,'” Huang Xiaolong chuckled.

“Who is it?!” The executioner was slightly startled, and then his face, covered in horizontal flesh, trembled, as his body’s evil Qi and killing intent burst out without restraint.

A radius of several dozen zhang was engulfed in flying sand and rolling rocks.

“Heh heh~~~” Huang Xiaolong no longer concealed his presence and revealed his form as he leisurely proceeded towards the execution ground. “You ghosts actually dared to behead people here. Your audacity really is too great.”

Ming Kuan and the others quickly followed behind Huang Xiaolong.

“Hm? A living person? A Taoist?” The executioner was merely briefly startled, then soon looked at Huang Xiaolong with a mocking gaze. “For trespassing into the execution ground, you should be executed! Come and meet your death quickly! Hahahaha~~~ I, as a Taoist, take the greatest pleasure in chopping off the heads of other Taoists! Hahahaha~~~~~”

“Are you planning to go to Shanghai?” Huang Xiaolong said with a smile that was not quite a smile.

“Heh~~ And what if I am?” The executioner sneered unceasingly.

“I think, you are not even the most ferocious ghost in Zhe City,” said Huang Xiaolong all of a sudden. “Besides you, Zhe City should have three other ghosts comparable to you, either as purple-clothed fierce ghosts or as ghost kings.”

“Hmm? You little Taoist, how do you know this?” The executioner showed a slight trace of emotion.

“Since ancient times, there has been a saying among the common folks, ‘the executioner’s knife, the coroner’s eyes, the paper effigy maker’s skill, the cobbler’s stitches,’ representing the four professions that profiteer from the yin world. Since Zhe City has an executioner like you, it naturally also has a coroner, a paper effigy maker, and a cobbler… how come, have they gone to Shanghai ahead of time?” Huang Xiaolong said unhurriedly.

“Hahahah~~ Hahahah~~~ I really didn’t expect you to know so much, little Taoist…” The executioner chuckled darkly. “Yes, in Zhe City, the four of us ghosts reign supreme. This time, they went to Shanghai ahead of me, and after I finish beheading these living people, I will head to Shanghai to join them.”

Qingqing had also torn off the talismans stuck to her body, revealing her form, and asked with a giggly voice, “Young Master, how interesting, the four kinds of ghosts you just spoke of, they really are quite fascinating.”

Huang Xiaolong explained with a smile, “A coroner is essentially the ancient counterpart of a forensic doctor. When we say a coroner can see, we’re referring to the coroner’s eyes. Coroners, like executioners, usually inherited their profession generation after generation. It’s said that coroners have the yin-yang sight, allowing them to see spirits. In Huaxia’s history, many strange and suspenseful cases were solved by coroners who sought souls to resolve them.”

“The paper effigy maker’s craft, if attained to a certain height, can revive the paper effigies or paper horses they create.”

“The cobbler is actually a branching profession from seamstresses and leather workers. When someone dies and their bones are incomplete, they find it hard to reincarnate; even if they do, they might be reborn with inherent disabilities. Hence the existence of cobblers, who are tasked with repairing corpses. Some cobblers are so skilled that the dead they stitch back together may even revive.”

“These four types of people, who profit from the yin side, would definitely become the most ferocious and clever ghosts upon their transformation,” Huang Xiaolong said, narrowing his eyes at the executioner. “It’s just a pity the other three ghosts left Zhe City; otherwise, I could have captured them all in one go. Such a hassle, I’ll have to go to Shanghai to deal with them all together. Oh, and there’s the ghost king Yizhen at Fozhou City’s Kongshan Temple.”

At this moment, Huang Xiaolong caught himself daydreaming, imagining the fascinating collection of strange and menacing spirits that must have gathered in Shanghai already.

It would indeed be interesting to play that game when the time comes!

And who could be the skulk orchestrating this grand assembly of thousands of ghosts behind the scenes?

So fascinating!

“Minions, are you not yet going to take down this little Taoist for me!” The broker roared furiously.

The next second, a dense swarm of blue-clothed fierce ghosts whooshed and pounced toward Huang Xiaolong.

For a moment, ghostly figures flickered everywhere; a chilly wind struck to the bone, and from all directions, the wails and howls of grieving spirits filled the air.

…