I remembered Xue Li Hong leading a group of bandits into Erlin Town back then, and never coming out again. How could those bandits not have brought weapons?

I squatted down and examined the ground carefully for a while. Sure enough, I saw an unexploded landmine in the soil turned over by the thunder and fire.

Jie Yueling was warning us to leave quickly!

Next time, she wouldn't be so "polite."

Jie Yueling's appearance was within my expectations, but the chaotic ghosts and gods in Erlin Town made it difficult for me to understand this land of ghosts and gods.

When I returned to the teahouse, Jun Jixue was also there, with a strong smell of sulfur on him. It seemed he had narrowly escaped death and ran back from the west side of town.

We sat down at the table again, and Jun Jixue spoke first, "I didn't win the first round. I almost got blown up."

"You didn't lose either!" I replied, "Things aren't looking good on my end either."

Jun Jixue wanted to win fair and square, so I naturally wouldn't argue with him over a win or loss.

You have to know that no one witnessed the process of my duel with Jun Jixue. If the final outcome wasn't acknowledged by ourselves, then we would have to find a ghost or god to judge.

Jun Jixue now admitted that he hadn't won, so even if we found a ghost or god in the future, they would still judge that Jun Jixue had lost the first round.

I recounted my encounter with the fortune teller, then said in a deep voice, "After this trip to the east of town, I can at least draw two conclusions."

"First, a large number of术士 (Shu Shi, Daoist sorcerers) gathered in Erlin Town back then. I even suspect that Erlin Town was established by them."

"Judging from what the fortune teller said, at least the Gui Guan Men (Ghost Coffin Sect), Gua Dao Men (Hanging Blade Sect), Zhen Xie Wu Xun (Evil Suppression Martial Merit) and Song Gui Shu Shi (Ghost Sending Sorcerer) have all appeared here. I don't believe it's a coincidence."

"Take the geographical location of Erlin Town back then, for example. The mountain area was very remote; otherwise, people wouldn't have considered it a bandit stronghold."

"That kind of place might have secluded villages, but it would never have a town built. The appearance of a town there is itself suspicious."

"I think that Erlin Town was initially established by 术士 (Shu Shi, Daoist sorcerers) as a base for some purpose."

Jun Jixue nodded and said, "I have that feeling too. I also saw traces of Gan Shan Ren (Mountain Driving People), Lie Wang Zhuang (Hunting King Village), and Bai Pai Xian Sheng (White Sect Master) activities when I went to the west side of town. There shouldn't be so many术士 (Shu Shi, Daoist sorcerers) in one place."

I continued, "Since I entered Erlin Town, it has been sending me a message. Everything in Erlin Town can be exchanged. The key is what you use to exchange it."

"What if we look at it from another angle?"

"Is there also an exchange between ghosts and gods? For example, the dead here want to use us to exchange for a way out with the ghosts and gods?"

As I spoke, Jun Jixue and I both looked at the storyteller on the stage.

Without discussing anything, we stood up at the same time and walked towards the storyteller's corpse. Jun Jixue suddenly flicked a finger wind halfway there, heading straight for the sunglasses on the storyteller's face.

The old-fashioned Western-style sunglasses were instantly shattered into two pieces, sliding from the corpse's face to the ground. A pair of eye sockets without eyeballs were revealed on the corpse's face.

I stopped and said to the corpse, "I'll give you three breaths to come out and talk to me. If you don't come out in three breaths, I'll scatter your soul. One..."

As soon as I uttered the word "one," Ye Yang's long sword sprang out of its scabbard, pointing at the corpse. The trembling sword edge seemed to cut through the space around him, and then pierced through the air a few meters away, landing on the center of the corpse's brow.

One sword shatters the soul, even the Yellow Springs are cut.

It's using witchcraft to break through space, sending sword energy to the opponent's eyes, and beheading the enemy under the sword.

Ye Yang's sword energy was contained but not released, but it made the opponent feel the power of a sword that shatters the soul, enough to break the void and cut through the enemy's yin and yang.

I stared at the storyteller's corpse and shouted the second word, "Two..."

Before I finished speaking, Ye Yang's sword energy condensed into shape, and the murderous sword energy instantly penetrated half a foot into the center of his brow, but the sword tip didn't pierce through the back of his head—the Wu Men (witchcraft sect) sword energy that had entered the center of his brow had already begun to search for its target.

I deliberately didn't shout three, but Ye Yang was slowly pushing the sword energy into the opponent's head.

Just as I raised my right hand slightly, someone finally shouted, "Stop... stop, I'll come out."

When I looked in the direction of the voice, I saw the fortune-telling blind man who had been torn to pieces at the street corner.

I guessed right, that guy and the storyteller were the same person, and he hadn't died at all.

I looked at him and sneered, "Did you think I couldn't hear your movements when you used singing to send me east and west?"

"As soon as you opened your mouth at the crossroads, I knew who you were."

The fortune teller exclaimed, "Then you still followed my routine?"

"I just wanted to see what you were going to do?" I said in a deep voice, "You want me to lure out the peach blossom?"

The fortune teller said, "Wait!"

The fortune teller put his hands together, and the doors and windows of the teahouse were all closed in an instant.

After the teahouse went dark, a light lit up on the table.