A week later, next to a long-abandoned farmland and in front of a dilapidated and deserted town, a strong figure stepped out of the sky.
The air behind him was stepped on with a muffled sound. After a while, the strong figure gradually slowed down, and his feet landed gently in front of the town.
Qitu Town is located on an important transportation road. It is the intersection of seven official and smooth roads. The transportation is developed and there is an endless flow of business. It was also prosperous in the past, and it was a rich place that many people envied.
There are thousands of fertile fields outside the town, and the wealthy families in the town are now dilapidated, but you can still see the prosperity of this place.
As for why Qitu Town turned into what it is now, the young man with a strong body but a childish face looked at the two withered bones hanging on the archway at the entrance of the town.
The evening breeze blew, and the two withered bones swayed in the wind. The sound of the air-dried bones colliding with each other was like a hoarse wind chime, carrying the flavor of vicissitudes of life.
What destroyed the peaceful life of this small town was a war, a mortal war that has not ended yet.
The figure standing at the gate of the town under the setting sun was undoubtedly Jiang Li, who had taken over the sect's task of subduing demons.
Jiang Li tapped his fingers, and two rays of spiritual energy shot out, placing the body hanging on the archway down. Then he waved his hand and dug two holes on the ground next to it, and buried the withered bones in them.
After compacting the soil around the grave and planting two more grave grasses, he nodded with satisfaction and walked into the ghostly Qitu Town in front of him.
Originally, disciples in the Qi training period were not allowed to perform the task of eliminating demons alone, but Jiang Li proved that he had the ability to stand alone during the sect's martial arts competition, and with the approval of Elder He, he came here alone.
.
The town was devastated, the roadsides were covered with weeds, dead bones could be seen everywhere, and there were tragic traces of swordsmanship everywhere.
It is said that fighting in the world of immortals is cruel, but this mortal world is so cruel that you don't even have a chance to fight.
Jiang Li didn't bother burying the body anymore, he just used the Yin-type spiritual energy to saturate his eyes and search for the ghosts in the town.
"It seems that those little monsters didn't lie to me. You can't see anything here before the sun goes down."
Jiang Li searched around and found no ghosts wandering around the city. So his efforts were not in vain. He walked to a well at the other end of the town and sat down, quietly waiting for nightfall.
Sitting next to the well, Jiang Li took out a map and looked at it. On the map, there were a total of five locations marked with red circles, three of which had been crossed out by red crosses. The Qitu Town where he was currently located was
The fourth marked location.
Jiang Li came here to carry out the sect's mission of subduing demons.
But the demon-slaying mission itself was based on the information provided by Jiang Li, which was released after being confirmed.
A week ago, Jiang Li and Yan Hong went to the Foreign Affairs Hall to choose the address of their shop. It was in a city that never sleeps for cultivating immortals built by multiple sects.
The reasons for choosing this place are, firstly, its prosperity, secondly, its safety, and thirdly, the average life expectancy of mortals in the surrounding countries does not exceed twenty-five years.
There are dozens of nomadic tribes, four kingdoms that hate each other, and civilian armies that stage uprisings from time to time.
The complex hostilities have caused constant wars in this area for many years, and the people here have almost forgotten what peace looks like.
However, the land in this area is extremely fertile, and the climate is warm and rainy. With a little cultivation, there will be a bumper harvest every year.
This led to the fact that the people in this area were never afraid of hunger, and 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 are constantly living and dying. For decades, the population has not dropped much.
Jiang Li originally came here for the souls of the deceased, so this area naturally became his first choice.
After asking Yan Hong to contact the weak monsters nearby, he still had two problems to solve.
One is the issue of cheap remuneration, which was quickly resolved after discussing with Ma Donggui.
Ma Donggui gave Jiang Li some samples of the leftover materials from the spiritual mines, and there was indeed a very slight amount of spiritual energy remaining in them. This was of no use to the monks, but it was a good thing in the eyes of the low-level monsters.
And Ma Donggui said that in a few days, a sect flying boat would pass by the Evernight City, and a huge amount of spiritual ore materials would be transported to him.
Then the second problem is that there are several gathering places for ghosts in this area. The souls in a large area nearby will be attracted to these underworlds, which should make it easier to focus on arresting them.
But in these places, where the Yin Qi is strong, powerful ghosts are often entrenched. Those little monsters who have barely opened their minds and have to go around when they see human hunters, how dare they come to collect their souls.
Therefore, in order to smoothly expand the soul purchase business in the future, Jiang Li had no choice but to go to the Demon Exorcist Way in person.
But since I am a member of the Demon-Suppressing Hall, why not do it if I can get an extra reward for the sect's mission?
So he reported the situation himself and then took over the task.
Of course, anyone else would definitely not be able to operate like this, but Jiang Li is the first disciple of the Demon-Suppressing Hall, so such a small operation is not considered a violation at all.
Just as Jiang Li was praising his wit, at the end of the road in the distance, there was a noise of rolling wheels and people.
Jiang Li looked around and was surprised to see a team of merchants approaching slowly.
There are quite a lot of people who are not afraid of death for money. Even in this war-torn situation, there are still traveling businessmen here.
"Little brother, this little brother, please ask me."
This team is neither big nor small, with five carriages, a dozen horses, and about thirty people. It is naturally incomparable to the convoy of Shengxian Pavilion back then, but it can still be regarded as a medium-sized caravan.
At the front, a middle-aged man leading a horse trotted two steps and walked up to Jiang Li. The smell of sweat hit his face.
Jiang Li did not wear the uniform of a sect disciple during this trip, but only wore a pair of coarse cloth clothes worn by ordinary civilians.
After all, wearing a disciple's uniform is impressive, but the consequence is that he will be completely exposed. This was a lesson learned during the mission in Yinnan Kingdom at that time. Jiang Li still planned to keep a low profile this time.
So the other party only thought that Jiang Li was a nearby civilian and didn't pay much attention to him.
"My little brother is a local. Could you please ask if you know which direction Qidu Town should go to?"
Jiang Li looked at the town behind him, and then at the middle-aged man in front of him. He didn't expect that he would ask such a question. This man didn't seem to be blind.
"The visitor is looking for Qidu Town? What is the purpose of looking for Qidu Town?"
Jiang Li thought the other party was talking, so he asked again.
"As you said, little brother, this place is deserted and uninhabited. It's going to be dark now. I'll naturally find Qidu Town to rest while I'm tired from traveling."
The middle-aged man smiled with a simple and honest look on his face, and the caravan behind him gradually stopped.
"The visitor is very lucky. Behind me, this is Qidu Town."
Jiang Li was still sitting by the well and pointed at the large Qitu Town behind him.
"Little brother, don't make fun of me. How can this be Qidu Town? I was just here a few years ago. How could Qidu Town be so dilapidated in just one year?"
But the middle-aged man didn't believe it. He said with certainty that he had been here not long ago. He also described it as bustling and bustling with people, and insisted that this was definitely not Qidu Town.
Jiang Li stared at his expression carefully, it didn't look like he was lying.
But judging from the intelligence, this town has been abandoned for twenty years.
Jiang Li turned to look at the town behind him, fear and curiosity flashing in his eyes.
"Little brother, don't try to trick me. If you know where Qitu Town is, I'll give you some money for directions, that's all."
When the middle-aged man saw that Jiang Li was no longer paying attention to him, he became slightly agitated because of the heat and thirst, and his tone of voice became not so pleasant.
"Uncle An, what's wrong?"
Seeing that the middle-aged man here was still asking for directions with no results, a young woman in a blue dress got out of the carriage on the other side of the motorcade and asked this side.
The woman's waist is also equipped with an exquisite long sword, which looks expensive and quite feminine. But if you look closely at her palms, you can see that they are smooth and soft without any calluses. It does not look like she has held a sword before.
hand.
After hearing this, the middle-aged man surnamed An stopped asking Jiang Li, wiped the hot sweat from his forehead, and ran back.
"Miss, that guy is talking nonsense, saying this is Qidu Town, and refuses to show us the way. What should we do?"
The woman in the blue skirt looked at Jiang Li and then at the only sliver of sunlight left on the horizon. It was obvious that it was no longer suitable to continue on her way.
"It's already getting late, so it's not a good time to go any further. Let's go ahead and pack up a room in this deserted town to rest for the night, and then we'll be on our way to Qitu Town early tomorrow morning."
The young lady spoke, and the guards in the convoy breathed a sigh of relief, and then the convoy set off again and slowly drove into the town.
"Young master, can you give the old man and his granddaughter some well water? The sun is scorching hot during the day, and the old man is really thirsty."
When the motorcade entered the city, Jiang Li saw that a pair of grandsons and a donkey were following behind the motorcade.
The old man led the donkey forward to ask for water, and his granddaughter sat quietly on the donkey.
Jiang Li looked at him with an expressionless face, ignored his request, got up and walked towards the town.
The old man looked at Jiang Li's back and seemed to have a pity expression.
Then he walked to the well, turned the wooden pulley on the well, and pulled up the rope below the well little by little.
But in the dim well, the thing pulled up by the rope was not a bucket, but a skeleton that had also turned into bones long ago.
At this moment, the last ray of sunlight disappeared between heaven and earth.
The skeleton with a rope hanging around its neck transformed into a long-haired female ghost with tattered clothes and bite marks all over her body the moment she was exposed from the well. She was tortured to death.
The female ghost opened her eyes suddenly, dark tears streaming down her face, and she was about to pounce on her grandfather and grandson in front of her.
But at the next moment, the old man grabbed the female ghost's neck with one hand, and then slapped the evil ghost into ashes all over the sky.
The old man threw the body that had turned into a skeleton away as if it was just trash, and then led the donkey towards the town.
"The old man is thirsty. He didn't drink any water. The old man is thirsty."
As for Jiang Li, who entered the town, and the merchant convoy ahead.
As night fell, they were walking in the city when they suddenly heard the noise of people in front of them. Looking along the street, they saw bright lights and crowded people.
After rushing forward for a moment, we saw a bustling street scene.
The merchants on the street are constantly selling goods, and pedestrians are constantly coming and going on the road. This is not a run-down and dead town. Isn't this Qitu Town, which is as prosperous as ever?
"Miss, this is it, this is it!"
"My master and I bought the jade jewelry and silk satin here years ago!"
"The prices here are very cheap. As long as you go back and change hands, you can sell them for ten times the price! Now the An family is saved, now the An family is saved!"
The woman in the blue dress got out of the carriage and was very excited when she saw the lively scene in front of her.
The An family is a merchant family from a nearby kingdom. Although the family is not very big, it can be considered wealthy.
Years ago, his father and his eldest brother went out on a business trip, and they strayed into Qitu Town just like today. They bought a lot of high-quality jade and satin there, and made a huge fortune after going back to sell them.
However, the good times did not last long. Afterwards, his father and eldest brother fell seriously ill and passed away. The family had no support, and soon suffered malicious attacks from other families.
The family's business plummeted, and it was even deliberately set on fire, resulting in the loss of a batch of important goods, resulting in heavy losses.
But in less than a year, the An family will no longer be able to support it.
At this time, the steward who was given the surname An in the clan suddenly suggested that if he could go to Qitu Town again, he might be able to save the entire An family.
He only stayed in the town for a while and was assigned to guard the horses, but the prosperity here was still deeply engraved in his mind.
"Okay, there is an inn ahead. Uncle An, please take someone to ask for some rooms to park the carriage. I'll go find out the price..."
At this time Jiang Li also came over from behind.
He looked at the excitement of everyone in the motorcade, and then looked at the ghosts around him.
I didn't expect that a ghost market could actually appear in a place like this.
When buying things in the ghost market, you spend Yang Qi and vitality instead of silver or gold. How can this not be "cheap"?
"Hey, little brother, I'm sorry, we wrongly blamed you just now, thank you for showing us the way!"
The woman in the blue dress spotted Jiang Li coming from behind, and actually apologized proactively.
Jiang Li glanced at her, slightly surprised, and showed a rare kindness. He took out a small bag of jade scraps from the mine and threw it away.
"If you want to buy something here, use this. Don't be greedy. Just leave after buying."
After saying that, he didn’t pay much attention and started walking along the ghost market where hundreds of ghosts walk at night.
"This is... broken jade? It has such a pure texture."
The woman in the blue dress opened the bag in confusion, and inside were pieces of jade that had been cut off one by one.
Although the jade produced by the spirit stone veins is not much different from stones and weeds in the world of immortality, in the mortal world, it is the first-class jade with talents. A small bag is enough to exchange for a stone.
A house with four entrances.
She quickly raised her head to look for Jiang Li, and an idea came to her mind. She could give something like this away casually, and it seemed like it wouldn't be a bad thing if she got married.
But in just a moment, Jiang Li had already disappeared from her sight.
Jiang Li was walking in the ghost market at this time, and he was also holding a large bag of broken jade from spiritual minerals in his hand.
It was obvious that he was bullying this group of ghosts because they had no sense. They just used the worthless pieces of jade as spiritual stones, and spent a lot of money to buy everything they could see.