., Update the latest chapters as soon as possible!
The trumpet sound became louder and louder.
First there was a thunderous sound.
Gradually it became like waves.
Buildings and markets shook as a result.
All the guests turned pale and stood up from their seats, suspicious that the sky was falling and the earth was falling.
Things around me seemed to be shaken away by "waves", and in an instant, my eyes were filled with flowers, and then the stars moved behind me.
Everyone was already in front of a city tower.
Looking over the high eaves upstairs, you can see the majestic mountain behind the door. On the mountain, one palace after another is built on the mountain. Golden eaves, green walls, and yellow tiles are set among the white cliffs and green forests.
See.
Back here, outside the closed red-lacquered gate of the city tower, in addition to a group of guests, there were also densely packed men and women surrounding it.
They are all in rags and have shabby shapes. If you look closely, you can see that some of them even have missing limbs and have weird and inhuman appearances.
Having seen the forty-nine "Changes in the Cave City" on the waterway, the guests still don't know why. These people - no! These ghosts are all "sinners" who violated the law of the King of Ghosts for various reasons and were taken into the Cave City by the envoys.
.
They prostrated themselves on the ground and sang birthday wishes in voices hoarse from howling all day long:
"The customs are gone, and the times are good again.
Chao jade and silk, meeting clothes.
The foundation is as long as the north, and the life is as long as the south.
Li Yuan's belly is filled with joy."
After the song, the city gate opened with a bang.
All the guests felt confused again.
When he came back to his senses, he had already entered the palace and saw another closed city gate in front of him.
There are markets surrounding it, and there are many actors, cooks, craftsmen, and "people" dressed as servants.
They also bowed down and prayed:
"Golden Polo, Jade Quji. They went to the high hall to worship the king, and they knelt before delivering a speech.
If the king has a way, Yongxi will live in the world. Xu is happy with Kangyong, and he will be declared bright by doing nothing.
The drums and the xunchi are a joy today, and long live the happiness for the rest of the year.
Bring together the three lights and combine the two instruments."
The song stopped and the door opened again.
This important palace should be the school ground. On the ground, the sun shines brightly, and countless swords and axes shine like the scales of the river. The soldiers of the three armies lined up and knelt down in unison, singing again:
"Present longevity wine, happy Weiyang.
Come to the Xuan Palace to sell jade and silk..."
In the first birthday message.
The Nine Palaces are opened one after another.
…………
The guests came to their senses again.
Already at the highest level.
Behind you are drifting clouds blocking the way, and in front of you is a high platform connected by a jade bridge.
There is a group of musicians on the stage, with desk seats on both sides.
Further forward, there is a stone wall.
The stone wall is as tall as a city wall, extending around it on both sides, half embracing the entire high platform.
There are reliefs engraved on the wall, all of which show various situations of criminals being tortured. They should be the wall carvings of messengers in the waterway moved and spliced into a complete "Cave City Incident", and in the center of the relief sits a huge ghost and god.
It has double horns on its head, with piles of flesh on its face, its fangs are turned out, and its beard is red under the jaw. Its thick and messy halberd is like a fire burning cloud. Its belly is as big as a mountain, with protruding strips on its high and bulging iron-gray belly.
Pained human face.
A platform protrudes from the stone wall below.
Leaning on the stage was a fat old man, with a waist that was ten feet wide and a height of three feet. He sat on the stage and it seemed like a mountain of flesh had been piled up.
There are many smaller stone platforms protruding from both sides of the altar. On each stone platform stands a noble person with gorgeous clothes. When they are counted in detail, there are no more and no less, which is equivalent to the number of envoys carved on the wall. There are four in total.
Nineteen.
The musicians on the high platform played elegant music, and the forty-nine nobles or envoys bowed down to the old man or ghost king in unison:
"As eternal as the moon, as rising as the sun..."
…………
Ge Jing, the ghost king waved his hand gently.
The music stopped immediately, and a beautiful woman in monk's robes led the musicians to leave and hide in a corner.
The Ghost King patted his belly and laughed loudly again. His beard trembled and his eyebrows were crooked. If one ignored his huge figure and the ferocious relief on his back, people might mistake him for some fat neighbor celebrating his birthday.
"The younger generation is very filial, but they make the guests anxious while waiting. Don't be too fussy and start the banquet quickly."
The messengers agreed with one voice.
Sitting under the reliefs of their respective stern figures, they were either joking, indifferent, vigilant or greedy, watching the guests in the audience.
A messenger flew down from the altar. Judging from the relief behind him, he should be the judge's messenger. He was in charge of documents for Cave City and judged the mortals who should die and who should live.
He was born with a thin face and a short beard. He was dressed like an ancient courtier, wearing black clothes and a big crown, and holding a wat tablet.
Standing on the jade bridge, he looked down at the guests coldly and said: "His Holiness has given orders, all guests please come and sit down."
The words just fell out.
A man jumped out from among the guests and shouted.
"The King of Ghosts is absolutely right! It would be better to just start the banquet and sing some weird words that you don't understand."
Although the man looked good-looking, he was wrapped in a silk round-neck robe, but his whole body could not hide the roughness carved by the wind and waves. At a glance, people could tell that he was an old sailor who had been hanging out at sea all year round.
After saying that, he lifted his feet and walked towards the bridge.
"Stop!" The messenger shouted, "Where did the savage come from? Who allowed you to come up before the birthday gift was given?!"
"What?" The man's eyes bulged and he pointed at the banquet, "If that's the case, then why can the bald... monk come to the banquet?"
It turned out that the banquet was not empty. From the beginning, there was already a handsome monk sitting at the head of the banquet. He said nothing, did not drink or eat, and did not react at all to everything around him. He did not look like a guest celebrating a birthday, but more like
He broke off a relief sculpture from the stone wall and moved it to the table.
"Dustless?"
Fan Liang in the audience was shocked, not because Wuchen was actually present at the table, but because the person who revealed his identity was the man who was walking with him all the way.
How does a country bumpkin recognize the Buddha's face?
"Who knows the Pure Monk?" The man laughed and asked, "Who is that rude man?"
Fan Liang hesitated a little, but for the sake of the gift box.
"That man's name is Zhao Lu. He is a new rich man who has emerged recently. He has a lot of money and a lot of overseas goods. He is very popular." He paused and added in a low voice, "But there are rumors that this man
They are pirates who came ashore and came to Qiantang to be a den owner (a person who harbors thieves and sells stolen goods)."
No wonder he has such a rough and tumble attitude, no wonder he dares to make trouble in Cave City.
The judge's messenger was not angry.
In other words, his face is like cast iron, and his expression has not changed at all.
Just use a voice without ups and downs: "Master Wuchen is the messenger of the Thirteen Families. He is a god-like figure. He is willing to condescend to sit with you ordinary people. This is a blessing that you will never be able to achieve in ten lifetimes."
.”
Wuchen at the table lowered his eyes, thinking of himself as his deaf monk.
Zhao Lu, who was under the bridge, was smiling.
The name of the Thirteenth Family was still valid, so he didn't dare to pester him anymore, but his overbearing nature showed up and he couldn't control it for a while.
"I have prepared a birthday gift, but whether it is worth a thousand gold or not, how should I measure it? Is it possible that I need to attach some shop receipts? Unfortunately, I did not buy this gift!"
He laughed loudly, unaware that the other guests behind him were looking at him with half pity and half contempt.
The messenger showed no expression and pointed with his wat board.
The solid ground beneath the guests' feet suddenly became as soft as quicksand.
Everyone was unable to stand firmly and stepped back one after another.
I almost exited the main hall and finally stabilized myself. Looking over again, I saw that the ground under the bridge suddenly turned into a deep pool, and the bricks and stones turned into pool water.
The water in the pool is clear.
You can see a nine-layered palace at the bottom of the pool that looks like the Ghost King's Palace.
Gold is used as mountain rocks, silver is used as cliffs, emeralds are used as forest trees, and various gemstones, colored glazes, crystals, and agate are embellished among them, making them look like pearls.
"This pool is called the Pool of Thousand Gold, which can weigh the world's treasures. If a longevity gift is thrown into the pool, if it sinks it is a good gift and should be rewarded. But if it floats, it is not worth a thousand gold."
The messenger looked down coldly.
"Punishment."
…………
"It's so convenient, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Or Zhao Lu.
He pushed others aside in a grand manner and came to the bridge.
"Let me take the lead."
The messenger did not stop it.
He became more and more unwilling to restrain himself, and took out his birthday gift, which was a jade beauty that ranked high among others.
Her whole body is jade-white, her skin has a fresh texture, and her frown and smile are like a stranger.
Zhao Lu caressed the jade beauty's cheek.
"Where can such a flawless beauty be found in the world? If she were not a living creature, how could I be willing to send her out?"
Shaking his head and sighing, he put the jade beauty into the pool.
The beauty sank slowly.
Zhao Lu looked proud.
But suddenly, it quickly jumped up again and floated on the water surface without sinking even half a minute.
Zhao Lu stared blankly, and then he became angry and woke up.
He opened his mouth and cursed angrily at the judge on the bridge:
"Dog thief! How dare you play with Nai Gong!"
He grabbed the jade bridge, shouted angrily, and with brute strength, he pulled up the jade bridge, which weighed a thousand kilograms, and smashed it on the head of the judge's messenger.
Such courage and determination. Even on the sea, he would be a proud figure.
pity.
This is the cave city.
"presumptuous!"
There was a loud roar and an explosion.
Then he saw a huge skeleton leaping into the air and smashing the jade bridge in Zhao Lu's hand into pieces.
Then he stretched out a pair of bone hands and pinched his shoulders.
The sea hero who had just shown off his ferocious power had no chance to even make a sound.
Pfft~
His body was torn in half on the spot, his intestines, spleen and lungs, and blood, feces and urine spilled all over the floor.
The skeleton then kneaded the two halves of the corpse into a ball, stuffed them into his mouth, jumped up to the altar, picked up a piece of human skin, shook it in the air like a bag, jumped in, and transformed into a wealthy official again.
.
Only then did the guests react.
But even though his face was as pale as a sheet of paper, he still blocked his mouth and did not dare to scream, let alone vomit.
On the other side of the stone wall altar, another slender, white-faced messenger shook his head and said:
"Today is the birthday of His Holiness. How can we let these things ruin the occasion? My brother did it sloppily."
He whistled.
But when I heard the barking of dogs outside the hall, there were dogs pouring into the hall.
When the guests saw this, their expressions became even more horrified.
What kind of dog is that? Either it has the head of a human and the body of a dog, or it has the head of a dog and the body of a dog. What's more, it's a naked man who looks like a dog. They bark "bark", gnaw the broken meat, and lick the blood.
After a while, the messenger whistled again.
The group of "dogs" withdrew, and the ground was as smooth and clean as ever. There was no trace of Zhao Lu's existence, except for the jade beauty in the pool, which was slowly sinking.
…
The judge waved the wat board.
The fragments of the jade bridge flew back piece by piece, landed on the pond, and formed the jade bridge again without any cracks.
He put away the wat board again and took out the guest list and writing brush.
Check the box to read the name:
"Miaofutang Li Chang."
An old man emerged from the crowd.
"Chaoyixin Luo Zhenguang."
The big man strode out.
"Yingchaofang Liu Qiaopo."
The fat white woman respectfully agreed.
Everything seemed to be natural and natural, and the three people who responded looked calm, as if nothing had happened.
But the guests outside the venue were not like this. Most of them were trembling with fear and their faces were earth-colored.
Even Fan Liang, who boasted himself to be extremely brave and dared to throw himself into a cave city to gamble his life and seek wealth, also had his legs trembling, with a faint urge to urinate.
"Take a sip to calm down the shock?"
The man walking next to me handed him a wine bottle.
Fan Liang looked back quietly.
I was holding my urine, but you gave me wine?
etc……
"Where did the wine come from?!"
"Brought from the celebration outside the city."
Fan Liang's eyes were full of disbelief. At that time, when the world was spinning, how could you still think of drinking a bottle of wine?!
Turns out he’s not just a country bumpkin, he’s also a drunkard!
The man didn't take his surprise seriously and raised his eyes to signal to the three people in front of the bridge.
"What are the backgrounds of those three people?"
Do you regard me as a know-it-all? Fan Liang secretly cursed. But after a moment's hesitation, Quan Dang started to talk about it in order to distract himself.
…………
The old man named Li Chang is the great wizard under the Ghost King and the leader of all the wizards who worship the Ghost King in Qiantang. No one can tell how old he is, but those who have guesses about him have seen him.
After seeing his true appearance - his white hair is sparse and his face has wrinkles as deep as cracked tree bark - he would think his estimate was too conservative.
He walked onto the Jade Bridge tremblingly.
The Ghost King first said hello: "I heard from the children that my old friend was ill a few days ago. Is he still in good health?"
The old man replied respectfully: "Thanks to the thoughts of Dharma King, I have benefited from your happiness and have been feeling better recently."
With that said, he took out the brocade box.
Open it up.
The room is filled with light.
He showed the treasures in the box to the surroundings, with a jade-white pearl placed on the red silk.
"This is the shark pearl from the South China Sea. I present it to the king today to bring some light to the treasure house."
After that, he threw the box into the pool.
The birthday gift slowly sank to the bottom.
"Good orb." The Ghost King stroked his beard and laughed, "Old friend, please take a seat. If you don't mind, please offer me spiritual wine and spiritual meat."
The old man sat on the table with his front legs, and the tall man with his back legs couldn't wait to jump onto the bridge.
This person's name is Luo Zhenguang, he is the leader of a society called "Chaoyixin", he controls several docks, and most of his subordinates are sailors. Lifu has taken in many desperadoes, and he is quite prestigious in the public.
Although he is a living person, he is very popular with the Ghost King. People say that if he dies suddenly one day, the forty-nine envoys in Cave City will immediately become fifty.
As soon as he got on the bridge, the ghost king laughed and scolded: "Why is the hozen dawdling down there if you haven't come up yet?"
Luo Zhenguang laughed and waved his hands: "Grandpa, don't rush me, let me show off my treasure first."
I also opened the gift box, and inside was a strange wax-dried bird with four wings.
"My grandfather is often troubled by intestinal diseases. I have long been determined to find this precious medicine. After searching for many years, I finally got it recently. This is a strange bird in Liangqu Mountain recorded in the Beishan Jing of "Shan Hai Jing". Its name... alas, that word
I really can’t remember it! In short, eating it can cure abdominal pain.”
Then he threw himself into the water and sank to the bottom.
"Okay! Okay! Okay!" The Ghost King nodded repeatedly, "I'll give you a banquet with enough spiritual wine, spiritual meat and meat!"
Luo Zhenguang sat down at the table proudly, and the fat white woman behind him came up to the bridge.
First, he respectfully gave the Ghost King a blessing, and the Ghost King nodded in response.
The woman's name was Liu Qiaopo. Although she had fat cheeks and thin eyebrows and eyes, she looked very kind. However, she was the most notorious human trafficker in Qiantang. She had sold countless men and women onto ships and sold them to Nanyang.
The birthday gift she presented was a bronze square mirror (basin) with a simple shape and covered with green rust. It was said to be a cornucopia left by ancient immortals.
Throw it into water and it will sink to the bottom.
The ghost king caressed his beard and praised him for his good deeds.
"I will give you a feast, a pot of spiritual wine, and three plates of spiritual meat."
then.
The judge's messenger called the names one by one.
The guests came forward in groups to give birthday gifts.
A wealthy gentry offered Yunhuan gauze, which has ceased to be produced in Minzhou. It is as light and thin as clouds. It is said that the current emperor cannot even desire it.
A merchant offered a precious sword from overseas, which cut iron like clay and blew hair off.
A shipowner presented a piece of fragrant wood, saying that it was taken from the Fusang Kingdom's precious orchid.
All kinds of treasures dazzle the eyes and ears.
Of course, there were some who threw birthday gifts but they floated but did not sink, some who cried bitterly and begged, and some who threw themselves into the pond without saying a word... Without exception, they were all devoured by evil spirits.
finally.
"Zengfufang Fanliang."
Fan Liang was so excited.
"exist!"
Trembling, I stepped forward.
It's not because of fear, but because of excitement. As a gambler, no matter how tragic the consequences are, it happens after the result is revealed. But before the result is revealed, there is always only excitement to the point of madness.
But……
"Baoyi Tuan Song Dingchun."
"I."
The familiar voice interrupted Fan Liang's intense heart. He turned around in surprise. The man accompanying him held a wine flask in one hand and raised it high in the other.
He recognized Qu Dingchun, but where did he look like this?!
"Jixiantang Wen Bangyan?"
"I."
"Zhongmiaofang Zeng Baosan?"
"still me"
The man threw down his wine bottle and came to the bridge.
"There is no need to read the next few names."
Facing the astonished eyes of everyone in the audience.