I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 3 Painting Market
In the original work, Crown Prince Li Heng was ordered by the emperor to go to the North Sea to provide disaster relief. It was originally a drought, but a plague that occurred once in a century suddenly broke out, causing the crown prince himself to unfortunately contract the disease and die, shocking the whole country.

The emperor was furious and implicated almost half of the officialdom. People were in panic for a while, and it was after this that the bloody battle for the throne among the eight kings began!

Now, because he changed his fate with his pen, the entire world framework has undergone earth-shaking changes. Will the previous main storyline change?

The world has changed, and with the intervention of ghosts and gods, how will the events in Beihai evolve? What did Master Tian want to do by going to Beihai City to get rid of the lieutenant who was used by the court to monitor him? Is there any direct connection with this incident?
if so.
Zhang Rui's mood hit rock bottom at this moment. He regretted very much that he was too hasty to express his opinion during the trial just now, which led to this incident.

He remembered that in his manuscript, the old emperor's mentality changed drastically after the death of the prince, and he turned into a tyrant. Anyone involved in the prince's case would lose his official hat at the very least, or his entire family would be tortured to death at the worst!
That guy named Tian looks like a desperado no matter how you look at him. If he is really related to the sudden death of the prince, then I will definitely be implicated!
"Mother, I suddenly remembered something important that needs to be dealt with quickly. I will skip the meal and go to see Master Qian."

The old woman frowned and turned back: "Son, what's the hurry? You can't even eat a bite of food?"

"It's a very important errand. I'll just go to the master's house and deal with the two of them. Don't worry about me."

The old woman was about to say something when she saw Zhang Rui had already run away. She immediately sighed and said, "This child..."

Just as he turned around, he saw the annoying daughter-in-law hurrying over.

"Mother, where is my husband?"

"What does panic look like?"

"Mother, it's really an urgent matter. Where are my husband and others?" Mrs. Luo looked anxious.

The old woman frowned slightly. Although she disliked the identity of this daughter-in-law, she had to admit that this daughter-in-law was very reliable. With such a serious expression, it was probably that something really happened.

"what's up?"

"It's not convenient to tell mother in detail. My husband took a case that he shouldn't have taken." Luo asked again hurriedly: "Where is my husband?"

She had just gone to tell her men to heat up the soup, but she heard them say that her husband had actually brought the evil spirit from Master Tian back home. This scared her to death. She had heard her father talk about these weird things since she was a child. It was best for ordinary people to stay as far away from them as possible when they encountered them, not to mention that this case was obviously extremely complicated.

What kind of family is the Shen family? The family has practiced martial arts for generations, and many talented people have emerged. The old patriarch of the Shen family was once a fourth-rank general. Such a family can be exterminated at any time, and any county magistrate with a bit of foresight would not dare to get involved in this case. But he dared to take the initiative to take it on his own family. Did he think he was living too comfortably?

Seeing her daughter-in-law so serious, the old lady did not deliberately make things difficult for her. She quickly said, "He just said that he had to go to Master Qian's house for an emergency. I guess he just left. Lijun, what happened?"

"I'll tell you in detail when I come back. Mother, please go and have your meal first." After hearing this, Luo responded and hurried towards the gate of the government office.

Fuchun's government office was not big, and it only took a few steps to run from the backyard to the front hall. Soon, Luo saw her husband's back. At this time, he had pushed open the door of the government office and walked out. Seeing this, Luo was about to call him to stop, but suddenly she saw the situation outside, and her face immediately showed an extremely horrified look.

After hesitating for a moment, Luo rushed forward and slammed the door!
At this time, Zhang Rui, who was still unaware, was looking at the bustling night market outside and looking around with interest.

Judging from the files, Fuchun County seemed to be a small county in the north. In my novels, northern cities were often invaded by barbarians and were rather desolate. However, I did not expect that Fuchun County was quite prosperous. The lights were on before nightfall, and the sounds of hawking could be heard everywhere on the streets. There were also many stages built directly on the streets. The level of bustle was not inferior to many ancient big cities at all.

When Zhang Rui turned around and was about to close the door, he was suddenly stunned. When was the door closed?
Did I just turn it off?

He shook his head, without any hesitation, and turned away, intending to find a passerby to ask about Master Qian's residence. As a master in the county, he was a celebrity, and there should be many people who knew his residence.

But he didn't notice the extremely terrified look in Luo's eyes through the crack of the door!

At this time, Mrs. Luo watched her husband leave, but she didn't dare to open the door to call him, because she could see clearly that the outside was not Fuchun County at all! !
[Hua Shi]. I have heard this legend from my father many times.

Every time the [Painting Market] appears, hundreds or thousands of people die. It is a very scary evil spirit. Her father encountered it once in the past. Fortunately, an old man reminded him to close the door in time, and he did not go out with those fellow merchants, so he saved his life. It is said that nearly 10,000 households disappeared that time. It was the most panic-inducing evil spirit incident since the founding of the Jin Dynasty.

But my father turned a disaster into a blessing. He picked up some goods from his peers and sold them for a good price. This was how he earned his first pot of gold. Later, the Luo family prospered slowly with this fortune. My father never mentioned this matter to other people, but he gave his wife and sons many instructions.

When you open the door one day and see that the street outside is completely different from before, don't go out, close the door immediately, or there may be a glimmer of hope.

Once you encounter such a thing, even if it is your parents outside, you must immediately close the door and do not hesitate at all! ! ——
"How come?"

Next to Fuchun County is Heishui County, which has a pier leading directly to the North Sea. At this time, Master Tian, wearing a black hat, was exhausted from the journey and arrived here that night.

There were obviously people waiting at the dock to pick them up. A small boat had already docked at the deserted dock.

"I've been tricked." Master Tian got off his horse and boarded the boat, looking exhausted.

"I heard about it." Inside the cabin, a young man with a face as white as paper said weakly, "You received the paper from the painting market!"

"I passed by the village and thought it was just an ordinary painted skin ghost." Master Tian smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I didn't expect it to run out of the painting market. Those lunatics actually dared to use such a thing to plot. They really don't take human life seriously!"

"How did you get rid of that thing?" asked a tall man nearby.

"It was taken over by a stupid county magistrate."

"Ah?" Everyone was stunned.

"Originally, I planned to use the Shen family's murder case as an excuse to sentence the painting to death by Yang Fire, and let the Youzhou governor take over this hot potato. But I didn't expect that the magistrate of Fuchun County was a brainless person and directly took over the painting scroll, which saved a lot of effort." Everyone understood after hearing this.

According to the laws of the Great Jin Dynasty, the yang fire must be used only when the evil spirit has committed a serious crime and is difficult to deal with. Yang fire is precious, and it needs to be carefully nurtured by several fire sorcerers to produce a trace of it. It will not be used easily. Ordinary evil spirits are imprisoned and tamed by ordinary sorcerers. Painted Skin Ghost is a very common evil spirit, and it is unlikely to alarm the yang fire. However, if it kills an official or wipes out an entire family, it must be killed to deter them.

Those people set a trap and pretended not to recognize the painting paper to lure Master Tian into it. Master Tian could naturally pretend not to recognize it. Then everyone would be right when the time came to make a fuss. After all, there were not many sorcerers in the world who could recognize the paper from the painting market.

"Where is the prince?" Master Tian asked after taking a sip of ginger tea to drive away the cold.

"General Long is guarding here."

"Where is Lu Yuan?" Master Tian frowned immediately.

"died."

"What?" Master Tian was so shocked that the tea in his hand spilled all over the floor.

"That's why we urgently transferred you here from the south."

"Lu Yuan is dead, and you still don't escort the prince back to the capital. What are you thinking about?" Master Tian said angrily.

"I can't retreat." The man in white shook his head with a gloomy face. "In order to save the prince's life, I have used forbidden magic. Everyone in Beihai City has died. If we don't find the culprit, the lives of the people in the city will be borne by the prince. No matter how much His Majesty loves the prince, he must be deposed!"

"This..." Master Tian was shocked: "You used a forbidden technique?"

That is a heinous crime of exterminating nine generations of the clan!
"If we let the prince die, won't our entire clan be exterminated?" The other party also said angrily: "If we stick our heads out, we'll get a knife. If we hide our heads, we'll get a knife. What else can we do but fight?"

Master Tian took a deep breath when he heard this. He was also a princeling. Once he got on this ship, he could no longer escape responsibility for this incident.

"Fortunately, you were not held back by the other party. After receiving your letter, I was thinking of using the crown prince's gold medal to pressure the governor of Youzhou to take over your drawing paper. But in that case, it would be delayed for at least three days. You are lucky to meet that county magistrate."

"How long will it take for this ship to reach the North Sea?" Master Tian came back to his senses and asked seriously.

This time, those people had made sufficient preparations to target the prince. General Long was a first-rate warrior in the Dajin Dynasty, but it was always difficult for a warrior to defend against the methods of some sorcerers. The prince's mansion only recruited two first-rate sorcerers, one was himself and the other was the deceased Lu Yuan. Although Lu Yuan was young, his abilities were not inferior to himself. Even Lu Yuan could not save his own life. The prince's situation was now extremely critical.

"This ship has been enchanted. It can rival the Qin King's Silver Dragon. It only takes three hours!"

Master Tian fell silent upon hearing this. With General Long's caution and the sorcerers who stayed behind beside the prince, it shouldn't be a problem for them to hold out for a few hours.

He felt that he had been betrayed by his colleagues. If he had known that Lu Yuan was dead, he would never have gotten involved in this mess. But now he could not get off this pirate ship. Thinking of this, he sighed, picked up the teapot and was about to refill himself with another cup, but the next moment he suddenly threw the teapot away.

The people around were puzzled at first, but when they saw the tea spilling from the teapot, their faces suddenly changed!
It was clearly ordinary ginger tea, but what was poured out just now was actually the excellent colored Yuluochun tea soup. Only a sorcerer could change the tea right under their noses. Could it be that the other party's people have arrived?

Master Tian looked at the spilled tea with a serious expression. Suddenly he thought of something and rushed out of the cabin. After seeing the situation outside clearly, he froze in place.

"what happened?"

The others followed out as well, and their pupils shrank when they saw what was outside clearly.

The originally deserted dock was now extremely lively, with countless large ships docked and temporary workers moving goods coming and going on the dock. The scene was as lively as that of some regular water city docks.

At a glance, the whole city is brightly lit, even more lively than the capital!

"Didn't you leave the drawing paper in Fuchun County?" Everyone looked extremely unhappy.

Master Tian's face was also very ugly at this time. He said in a low voice: "There are two possibilities. First, the woman in the painting paper is more powerful than I thought, and I couldn't get rid of her. Second, the scope of this painting market is just so large!"

"Are you kidding? It's hundreds of miles from Fuchun to here, and it's a painting market that spans two counties?"

"Could it be the one from twenty years ago?" The pale-faced man suddenly remembered something.

Twenty years ago, the largest painting fair appeared in Jiangnan, covering an entire county. Thousands of people disappeared that time, making it the largest evil incident in Dajin.

The emperor was furious that time and sent out hundreds of great sorcerers to investigate, but they could not find any trace. Now it seems that something was indeed wrong. How could there be no trace at all in such a large painting market?

“That bunch of lunatics!!” The pale-faced man punched the cabin, and blood was gushing out.

Now it is basically certain that someone was deliberately supporting this painting market back then!
"What should we do now?"

Master Tian looked outside and sighed slightly. He didn't know what to do. Few sorcerers could get out of the Painting Market, let alone a painting market of such a large scale.

This time, I'm afraid it will be difficult.
(End of this chapter)