The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun

Page 256

"Excuse me, gentlemen, it is late now and our inn is closed. Please find another inn to stay at."

"Hey, isn't this an inn? Why aren't you accepting guests? Why are you turning them away instead?"

Du Lanyin frowned, feeling utterly puzzled.

The middle-aged man smiled apologetically: "I'm really sorry, there's really no way."

"I……"

Before Du Lanyin could say anything more, Jiang Ning had already taken out a silver ingot and placed it on the table.

"I'll pay double the price to find us two guest rooms."

The middle-aged man's eyes lit up when he saw the silver ingot, but he seemed to be struggling with something and was very hesitant.

After a while.

The middle-aged man smiled wryly: "It's not that I don't want to entertain you two, but I really have no choice. You two don't seem like bad people, so you should leave Guyang County as soon as possible. It's not safe here."

Jiang Ning didn't say anything, but took out another silver ingot and placed it on the table.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man felt conflicted again.

After a while.

The middle-aged man seemed to have made a decision. He hurried to the inn's door, quickly closed it, and said to the waiter.

"Prepare two excellent guest rooms for you two guests!"

"Yes, boss."

Seeing this, the waiter didn't say anything more and went upstairs to prepare guest rooms.

At this moment, the middle-aged man said to Jiang Ning, "Sir, it's not that I'm greedy, but a strange thing has happened in our county recently. No one dares to go out at night, and we dare not receive guests at night either. Please forgive us if we have offended you."

"What strange thing is it? Tell me about it."

Jiang Ning raised an eyebrow and asked.

The middle-aged man shook his head with a wry smile: "Sir, you'd better not ask any more questions. It won't do you any good to hear too much."

After speaking, the middle-aged man looked at Jiang Ning and then at Du Lanyin.

"Judging from your appearance, you two don't seem to be locals. Don't go out tonight. Leave Guyang County first thing tomorrow morning and don't stay any longer."

His mysterious demeanor made Jiang Ning frown.

He thought of the strange people he had encountered before, and suddenly remembered something, so he asked.

"Was someone here the perpetrator?"

"No."

The middle-aged man shook his head with a wry smile, sighed, and said...

“A white-faced evil spirit has recently appeared in our county.”

Chapter 343: The White-Faced Demon

"A pale-faced demon?"

Du Lanyin was surprised.

"What pale-faced demon?"

The middle-aged man shook his head with a wry smile: "Sir, you'd better not ask any more questions. Just remember not to go out at night, and leave Guyang County first thing tomorrow morning."

"Does this pale-faced demon only appear at night?"

Jiang Ning, who was standing to the side, suddenly asked.

The middle-aged man looked at Jiang Ning with a wry smile and remained silent.

Seeing this, Jiang Ning took out another piece of silver and handed it over.

The middle-aged man sighed: "Why must you know, sir?"

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "I'm a curious person, and I like to find out about any strange or unusual things I encounter."

Seeing that Jiang Ning was determined to know about this, the middle-aged man sighed again, pushed the loose silver coins that Jiang Ning had handed him back, sat down at a table, gestured for Jiang Ning and Du Lanyin to sit down as well, and then began to speak.

"About two months ago, a strange thing happened in our county."

The middle-aged man's tone was somewhat mysterious, which piqued Du Lanyin's curiosity, prompting her to ask.

"What's weird?"

The middle-aged man lowered his voice and said, "There was a family at the east entrance of the county whose baby disappeared one night."

"baby?"

Du Lanyin was stunned.

At this moment, Jiang Ning's eyes narrowed slightly.

"good."

The middle-aged man nodded solemnly, a hint of fear in his expression.

"Could it have been stolen?"

Du Lanyin couldn't help but ask a question.

To everyone's surprise, the middle-aged man shook his head.

“At first, we also thought that child traffickers were stealing children, so we immediately reported it to the authorities. When the officials arrived at the scene, they couldn’t find any clues, and after searching the county, they still couldn’t find anything.”

"Not long after, another baby went missing in the county, and this time it was even more bizarre than the last one."

The middle-aged man looked very serious: "That family had just put the child on the bed and turned around when they heard the child crying. Then the child disappeared. They saw that the previously closed window was now open, and there was blood on the window."

"Did they still not find it?"

Jiang Ning then spoke up and asked.

"Ah."

The middle-aged man nodded: "Later, that family also reported it to the authorities, but just like last time, the officials couldn't find any trace of anyone breaking in, and could only treat it as an unsolved case."

Jiang Ning nodded and didn't say anything more.

The middle-aged man continued, "Later, there were several more cases of missing children in the county, mostly children under the age of five."

The middle-aged man grew increasingly solemn, and the fear on his face became more and more obvious.

"Later, rumors spread throughout the county that an evil spirit was appearing, specifically targeting and eating young children. It was said that some people even saw the evil spirit at night."

"seen?"

Du Lanyin paused for a moment before speaking.

The middle-aged man nodded: "It was discovered by a drunkard. I heard that one night on his way home, the drunkard saw some movement in the corner of an alley. He went over to take a look and found a person squatting down eating something. After looking closely, he realized that the person was eating a child."

"When the evil spirit saw that someone had discovered him, it turned around and looked at the drunkard, who was so frightened that he tumbled and ran away."

At this point, the middle-aged man's voice trembled slightly.

Jiang Ning asked, "What does that evil spirit look like?"

The middle-aged man couldn't help but swallow hard and said, "That evil spirit was deathly pale, had no facial features, a flat, white face, disheveled hair, and long, sharp fingernails. When the drunkard found him, he saw him digging into the child's heart with his fingernails."

Hearing this, Du Lanyin couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine.

Now that you've discovered this evil spirit, haven't you thought about how to deal with or exorcise it?

Jiang Ning asked.

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and said, "We did look for it. After we discovered this white-faced evil spirit, we reported it to the authorities. The officials also searched for it, but we haven't seen the evil spirit since then. However, there have been frequent cases of children going missing."

“We’ve also invited some Taoist masters to perform rituals, but it still didn’t work.”

"If that's the case, why don't you leave here?"

Du Lanyin couldn't help but frown and ask a question.

The middle-aged man sighed.

"Where else can we go? Luckily, that evil spirit only appears at night and eats only young children. As long as we don't go out at night, we'll be fine."

Few people would leave their hometown unless they were truly desperate to survive.

Hearing this, Jiang Ning remained silent.

"Esteemed guests, your rooms are ready. Please follow me."

Just then, the waiter returned.

Jiang Ning and Du Lanyin got up to go upstairs.

"Esteemed guests, Guyang County is not safe. You'd better not go out tonight. If you can leave, please do so as soon as possible."

Finally, the middle-aged man kindly reminded Jiang Ning and Du Lanyin of something.

"We understand, thank you, shopkeeper."

Jiang Ning nodded slightly in thanks, and then went upstairs with Du Lanyin.

"Esteemed guests, these are your rooms."

The waiter led the two to the second floor and pointed to two adjacent rooms.

"It's getting late, so I won't disturb you any longer."

After saying that, the waiter left.

"Senior sister, get some rest."

Jiang Ning said something to Du Lanyin, and then prepared to go into the room.

"Junior brother, could it really be some evil spirit causing trouble?"

Before returning to her room, Du Lanyin finally couldn't help but ask the question that had been on her mind.

At this moment, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Jiang Ning looked at her and said.

Most of the ghost stories in the world are man-made.

Although Jiang Ning's arrival in this world was quite unexpected, apart from that, he had never encountered any extraordinary events in the past ten years. He had been traveling the world for several years and had never seen anything like it, although he had seen some tricks involving gods and ghosts.

Despite Jiang Ning's words, Du Lanyin was still somewhat nervous.

Although she was older than Jiang Ning, she had basically grown up in Huashan and had never traveled far from home.

"Senior sister, there's no need to worry."

Jiang Ning comforted her, saying, "The shopkeeper just said that the white-faced evil spirit often appears at night? I'll go out for a walk later and see if I can run into that white-faced evil spirit so I can see what kind of person he is."

"Junior brother, don't take the risk."

Upon hearing Jiang Ning say this, Du Lanyin instinctively wanted to stop him.

"Maybe the white-faced evil spirit the shopkeeper mentioned is real? What danger might you face if you encounter it?"

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "Then I'd like to see if that evil spirit of his can deal with me, the King of Hell."

Before Du Lanyin could say anything more, Jiang Ning spoke first.

"Senior sister, get some rest."

After saying that, he went inside.

Upon seeing this, Du Lanyin sighed and then went inside as well.

Haishi.

Jiang Ning pushed open the door and stepped outside.

It was already late, and even the corridors inside the inn were deserted.

Jiang Ning left the inn alone.

……