Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 407: The Death Diary of a Ghostly Spirit!

The knife seller, dressed in a black coat that resembled a shroud, took an unopened kitchen knife from a satchel on his right shoulder.

"Can you sell knives on credit?"

"The Blade of Life and Death will be delivered within ten days."

When they met again, the knife seller was still concise and to the point.

But everyone on the cement courtyard had a drastic change in expression.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest took a step back in fright: "A knife-selling man!"

This mysterious profession is infamous in the Yin-Yang world; their appearance is a harbinger of impending doom.

Without borrowing a knife, death is almost certain.

But even if you buy their knives on credit, you might not survive.

Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would suffer heavy losses.

The knife seller charges a high fee, which may be money or a magical artifact, and is definitely something extremely valuable and important to the household.

If you're approached by a knife peddler, you'll be badly injured, if not killed.

Mo Li and Long Zongshu instinctively stood in front of Ran Qing, watching the strange knife-selling man warily.

"You want to give Ran Qing a knife on credit?"

"Ran Qing is going to die?"

The two questioned each other simultaneously, their tone unfriendly.

Ran Qing, the person involved, showed no surprise or panic when she saw the knife peddler appear.

He remained eerily calm, just as he had been when he was talking to Li Hongye in the room.

Staring at the knife-selling man who had suddenly appeared before her, Ran Qing was more concerned about...

"How did you get in?" Ran Qing asked, staring at the knife seller in front of her.

"There are so many ancient demon soldiers at the gate, why didn't they attack you?"

The knife-lover was also on the Yin-Yang path, within the hunting range of the pale, ghostly figure.

Logically speaking, anyone who enters this area should be immediately attacked by the lurking ancient demon soldiers.

But the man who sold knives on credit walked in casually without making a sound.

Even Ran Qing, the owner of the Yin Altar, did not notice the knife-selling man approaching.

Ran Qing only noticed when the other party stepped into the Yin Altar...

Ran Qing's inquiry went unanswered.

The knife seller, dressed in a black robe that resembled a shroud, said to Ran Qing expressionlessly, "The secrets of the art must not be passed on to six ears, and the techniques must not be leaked. These are the rules of the Yin-Yang path."

"Mr. Ran only needs to answer whether he wants to buy the knife on credit or not."

"The others are secrets of our sect and must not be revealed to outsiders."

The knife seller spoke coldly, without any emotional fluctuation, like a cold, mechanical person.

He calmly held up the kitchen knife, maintaining the gesture of handing it over, and asked Ran Qing if she wanted to take it.

The unopened kitchen knife looks plain and ordinary, no different from the kitchen knives sold in farmers' markets and supermarkets.

Before Ran Qing could speak, Mo Li spoke first, staring at the knife-wielding man with unfriendly eyes, and said, "...What did you see? Why are you so sure Ran Qing is going to die?"

Mo Li's questioning made the knife seller glance at her.

The two men locked eyes, and the man selling the knife on credit said, "...This has nothing to do with you, does it?"

The man selling the knife on credit took a half step back expressionlessly and said, "Mr. Ran, if you don't need the knife on credit, you can simply refuse."

"However, I hope Mr. Ran will grant me the knife on credit, because even if I succeed in this gamble, I will not accept any payment."

"Mr. Ran's fate is intertwined with the present-day Moonlit City."

"If you can break the deadlock and survive, then hundreds of thousands of people in the entire Moonlit City can live."

"If you die, then the hundreds of thousands of people in Moonlit City will probably die as well."

"Therefore, this knife will be sold free of charge on credit..."

Upon hearing the knife seller's words, Long Zongshu looked surprised and astonished: "Are you here to do charity? Giving away knives for free?"

Everyone present had a look of utter disbelief on their faces.

Even Ran Qing's expression showed some doubt.

The knife-selling man is the kind of person who would even pluck two layers of feathers from a wild goose flying overhead.

Now they're doing charity work? Giving away knives for free?

This is like the sun rising in the west!

Mo Li stared at the man selling knives on credit and suddenly said, "...Could it be that you are also trapped in Moonlit City and can't escape? If Ran Qing succeeds in his gamble, you can also live?"

Mo Li put forward this conjecture.

But the knife seller's expression remained wooden and indifferent. He merely glanced at the girl, his gray eyes devoid of any emotion.

"Mr. Ran, would you like to purchase a knife on credit?"

The mysterious and eccentric knife seller refused to offer any explanation.

He neither denied nor confirmed the suspicions he had about Mo Li.

He simply raised his hand, continuing the gesture of handing over the knife.

Mo Li hesitated for a moment: "Ran Qing, this knife seller... he's acting strange..."

Long Zongshu scratched his head and said, "My grandfather said that people who sell knives on credit are very strange... If you buy knives from them on credit, you won't have a good ending."

The two still didn't trust the knife seller in front of them.

But Ran Qing stepped forward, passing between her two companions, and said, "What is meant to be will be, and what is meant to be will be."

He calmly reached out and took the unopened kitchen knife, saying, "I'll buy it on credit."

So the knife seller let go and handed the unopened kitchen knife to Ran Qing.

He then took a half step back and said, "...It will be fulfilled within ten days, Mr. Ran. Remember, it must be done within ten days."

After saying this, the knife seller retreated into the mist.

The moment it left the Yin Altar area and disappeared into the depths of the fog, Ran Qing also lost all sense of this strange knife-wielding man.

Even from the perspective of the evil lords, no one could be seen outside selling knives on credit.

The man who sold knives on credit seemed to have vanished into thin air into the fog.

Even the pale, ghostly figures lurking outside were completely unaware of the arrival and departure of this strange knife-wielding man.

Only the flying zombie hiding in the shadows in the distance suddenly raised its head and made a sniffing motion, as if it had smelled something.

But it only sniffed for a few seconds before, as if it had lost its target, crouched back in its original spot and stopped moving.

The flying zombie, almost blending into the fog and shadows, quietly huddled in the dark crevice between the two walls.

Dirty sewage flowed through the cracks in the wall, and shriveled beverage bottles and instant noodle packaging bags were scattered in the mud in the cracks. A rat scurried through the cracks, climbed up the zombie's bluish-black face, and then climbed over it.

But the flying zombie remained silently dormant, like a fossil, showing no reaction to the rat.

If it weren't for the perspective of the evil lords, Ran Qing would never have noticed the flying zombie hiding in the shadows of the wall crack.

Those pale, ghostly figures wandering in the mist floated silently and slowly, sometimes three feet off the ground, sometimes dragging their bodies along the ground, like the legendary underworld ghosts and terrifying evil spirits.

Outside this Yin altar, the area has become a den of dragons and tigers, fraught with danger.

But the strange knife-selling man could come and go in and out suddenly and mysteriously.

Mo Li and Long Zongshu stepped forward, their eyes filled with unease as they watched Ran Qing take the kitchen knife.

"...Even if a knife is free, it's not a good thing."

“That’s right, Ran Qing. Sometimes what’s free is the most expensive.” Mo Li and Zong Shu, unusually, shared the same opinion on the matter of selling knives on credit.

Even the corpse-driving Taoist priest, who was watching the show from the sidelines, hesitated and said, "I also think this knife-selling man is strange; he doesn't seem like a good person..."

"It's one thing for him to sell knives on credit, but to sell them for free? There's no such thing as a knife seller giving away knives for free these days!"

"I'd rather believe in free lunches than believe in a peddler doing good deeds!"

All three harbored strong suspicions about this mysterious knife seller.

The group of itinerant knife sellers is notorious in the Yin-Yang world, and no one believes they are doing anything good.

Ran Qing stared at the kitchen knife in her hand, her expression somewhat dazed.

The last time I saw a similar kitchen knife was more than a month ago.

The person who took the knife was Sixth Aunt...

He never expected that after only a month as a wandering spirit, he would follow in his master's footsteps and receive a knife from a knife peddler.

Receiving this knife means death is imminent and almost inevitable...

die……

Ran Qing suddenly paused, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her.

He quickly stuffed the kitchen knife into his canvas bag and began rummaging through it.

The urgent movements suggested that they were searching for something important.

This sudden action left both Mo Li and Long Zongshu bewildered.

The two looked at him in surprise and asked, "Ran Qing?"

"what happened to you?"

Ran Qing's sudden, frenzied actions were somewhat frightening, making one wonder if he had broken down due to the provocation of the knife seller.

But the next second, Ran Qing's frantic movements stopped.

His hand paused inside the canvas bag, and he found what he was looking for.

The next second, Ran Qing carefully and slowly took out a yellowed, old leather book.

The parchment book was extremely rough, with many dirt and tears on the surface, like a burial item dug out of an underground tomb, carrying a strange and eerie aura.

The moment Ran Qing took out the parchment book, both Mo Li and Long Zongshu's expressions changed.

The two of them stepped forward at the same time and surrounded Ran Qing, preventing the corpse-driving Taoist priest next to them from seeing the book.

—A book for the deceased's longevity!

This is the foundation for the survival and livelihood of those who walk the path of the dead!

Everyone carries a "Book of Life and Death," which is said to record a person's birth, aging, illness, death, and all the calamities that befall them throughout their life.

Only those who follow the path of the spirits can obtain the Book of Life and Death while still alive and carry it with them at all times.

But no one can understand the ghostly script on this book of the dead, not even those who travel to the underworld.

Only when they are about to die can those who practice the Yin-Yang ritual inexplicably understand the ghostly text on it.

However, Aunt Liu was skeptical of the ghostly writing in the Book of Longevity, believing it to be some kind of trap set by evil spirits—but she still followed the instructions in the Book of Longevity and borrowed a life.

At this moment, Ran Qing took out the Yin Shou Book that she had kept for a long time.

On the yellowed, tattered parchment book, the first page was covered with strange, ghostly script, none of which Ran Qing recognized.

It is even different from the ghost script that the lineage of spirit mediums uses to write talismans, which is suspected to be ancient ghost script.

The ghostly script on the parchment book was bizarre and twisted, like wriggling maggots. If you stared at the pages for too long, you could even feel those maggots crawling on the paper, trying to climb onto a living person.

Mo Li and Long Zongshu both looked tense and worried.

As he opened the Book of Longevity and stared intently at the first page, his expression was calm, but the knuckles of his hands gripping the book bulged from the force.

He understood the gibberish written on it!

It was clearly a strange, ghostly script that writhed like maggots, and it wasn't any script that Ran Qing recognized.

But as he gazed at these "maggots," the wriggling maggots seemed to forcibly inject a massive amount of information into Ran Qing's mind.

He felt a stinging sensation in his eyes, a swelling in his brain, and dizziness, along with a feeling of lightheadedness.

After reading only the first line of the first page, Ran Qing felt a strong throbbing and stinging sensation between her eyebrows.

Reading the bizarre text on it took a great deal of his energy.

The first line of this writhing, ghostly script reads:

"...My name is Ran Qing, the Moonlit Walker of the Underworld. By the time you read this book, I will already be dead."

Ran Qing slammed the book shut, closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and took a deep breath.

With her chest heaving violently, Ran Qing resembled a dying fish, greedily scrambling for oxygen in the air.

Mo Li and Long Zongshu were both frightened by his strange behavior and quickly grabbed him.

"Ran Qing?"

"Ran Qing, what's wrong?"

The corpse-driving Taoist priest watching from the side was curious and wanted to come closer to take a look.

But the tall and thin Long Zongshu suddenly turned around and blocked the corpse-driving Taoist like a wall: "Master Liu, don't look around."

Long Zongshu's eyes were unfriendly.

Zong Shu, who was usually honest and simple, rarely showed a fierce expression.

In the mist, his tall, thin figure appeared somewhat ferocious, like a vengeful ghost who had died tragically.

Even the most experienced corpse-driving Taoist priest was startled and instinctively took two steps back, waving his hands repeatedly: "No, no, I didn't want to see... I'll back off right away! I'll back off right away!"

The corpse-driving Taoist hurriedly retreated, admitting defeat and not daring to offend the three young men in front of him.

Since he was on someone else's turf, even though he was curious, he didn't dare to investigate further—although he still guessed what the boy had taken out, he dared not get any closer.

While Zong Shu stopped the corpse-driving Taoist, Mo Li anxiously helped Ran Qing walk towards the main hall.

She moved forcefully, almost like dragging a child, and quickly pulled Ran Qing, who was half a head taller than her, into the main room.

The moment he entered the main room, Mo Li slammed the door shut and stared anxiously at Ran Qing.

"You've understood the ghostly script in the Book of Death?"

Mo Li looked anxious, staring intently into Ran Qing's eyes, and asked in a panicked whisper, "The ghost script on it can't be trusted!"

"My old woman said that the ghostly writing on it is a trap set by evil spirits!"

"Throughout history, all those who believed in the ghost stories and followed the instructions of the spirits have met with terrible ends!"

Mo Li looked flustered, as if he was afraid that Ran Qing would follow in her mother's footsteps.

Ran Qing, who was dragged into the main room by Mo Li, looked somewhat dazed.

He stared at the girl in front of him, his companion who had gone through hardships with him for more than a month and had narrowly escaped death several times.

He looked down again at the first page, second line of the Yin Shou Book in his hand.

The writhing ghostly script above, like maggots, writhed and burrowed into Ran Qing's mind, brutally pouring heavy, cold information into his brain.

The second line reads...

My companion, Mo Li, is a ghost who died thousands of years ago. She has been lurking by my side, observing me as if I were a joke, treating me like an amusing guinea pig.

By the time I realized all this, it was already too late.

I died in the ghost realm of the Wujiang River, beside the coffin of the Ghost King.

[Mo Li, she is the Ancient Luo Ghost King!]

(End of this chapter)