Young master, why not become a corpse immortal?

Chapter 128 King Qi
Amidst the ship's many ghosts, only the little devil headed towards the lower deck, while the other spirits seemed oblivious to this path off the ship, continuing to drink and sing wildly on the deck.

Lin Jiang and the others exchanged glances, and finally stepped off the creaking wooden planks.

Little Ginseng peeked out and looked at the large group of ghosts behind him:

"Aren't they all getting off the ship?"

"Having lost our way home and with no hope left, why disembark?"

"Are all the people on this ship deceased?"

“There are also fools who imprison themselves, knowing full well that their poems are like flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water, yet they still weave their own cocoons to trap themselves.” The little devil stretched out his hand and pointed to a poet on the boat who was drinking and making merry: “Take this man for example. He said that his poems are rare in heaven, but no one appreciates them. He is depressed and unsuccessful, so he came aboard the boat.”

They weren't far away, so the group listened intently.

All that could be heard was the poet's loud laughter from beside the boat:
"In my blue robe, I walk slowly towards the clouds, longing to tread the path to the heavens, but the road is too far. All I have are piles of tattered books and broken desks, and I lament that I have no meager salary to comfort my humble robe."

The other onlookers applauded and cheered, praising the performance repeatedly.
"What a poem! What a poem!"

Lin Jiang couldn't tell whether it was good or bad; he only felt that the poem's complex wording and sentence structure suggested it was a good poem. Jiang Jinyue, however, shook her head after hearing it.

"The parallelism is mediocre; it wouldn't rank well in the capital."

Lin Jiang awkwardly touched his nose.

"He's certainly mediocre, yet his ambitions are sky-high, leaving him with nothing but a foolish obsession." The little devil chuckled twice.
"This ferry never keeps anyone; it stops when you want to leave. But some people would rather drown in illusion than leave. Those who could leave have already left. When they wake up, they treat it all as a dream. If they can't get off the ship in three days, they probably will never get off."

Lin Jiang suddenly remembered the businessman from earlier that day.

If he really got on the boat and called out to Cuihua again and again, would he be able to get off?

Once the group's feet touched the solid ground, the wooden planks behind them, which were meant to allow people to leave, were slowly pulled up.

The ghost ship, carrying the clamor, sank into the sky torn by black silk, and the last sound of the pipa was like a dewdrop falling into the River of Oblivion.

The boat sailed away, and we could no longer hear it.

Only then did Lin Jiang have time to turn his gaze to the ruins before him.

You can vaguely tell that this is a huge city.

Having weathered many storms.

The beams and pillars with intertwined branches are inserted diagonally into the velvety moss carpet, and the mushroom caps unfurl in the damp, decaying air.

The stench of decay and dampness was overwhelming, making it difficult to open one's eyes.

Only the stone buildings are still well-preserved, and you can barely make out the shape of a house.

The little devil walking down the street spread his sleeves, opened his arms, and laughed loudly, looking up at the sky.
"My subjects! I have returned!"

There was no answer; the whole town was quiet.

The little devil bent over and pressed his ear to listen:
"Haha! Cheer for me!"

He laughed heartily, jumping and leaping alone on the empty muddy road, waving his large black sleeves like a kite.

There is nothing around.

As he crossed the flat ground that resembled a marketplace, the little devil flicked his sleeve as if shooing away flies:
“I eat the best food every day, so how can I accept your food? You should take it.”

When he came across a pile of half-timbered ruins, he spoke in a high-pitched, coquettish voice:

"You're throwing a tantrum after just a few days of not being pampered? Be on your best behavior tonight, with the lamps lit and your butt sticking out."

Upon encountering a dry well lying on the ground, the little devil rushed to it, grabbed onto the stones, hung from the edge of the well, and shouted:

"Uncle! Is it cool down here?"

However, no one answered him.

He casually straightened his clothes, slapped his boots against the stone slabs, and strode forward with the imposing presence of a royal procession.

He only stopped when he led the group to a dilapidated palace.

"My bedroom."

Like other buildings, this palace was dilapidated, with pieces scattered all over the ground.

Lin Jiang sniffed; he could smell a faint fragrance emanating from the palace walls.

It looks a bit like a flower.

Upon entering the palace, the entire hall was empty except for a chair placed in the very center.

The chair had long since faded, and its four corners were broken, making it impossible to tell what it should have looked like in the past.

The imp leaped onto the throne, and the rotten wood creaked in its death throes.

He stretched one leg out and raised the other, glancing sideways at Lin Jiang and the others.

Then he patted the area around him with his hands:

"Give me a seat."

Two moldy cushions emerged from the cracks in the floor tiles.

There was also a small patch of moss, which looked like a cushion prepared for the ginseng.

Lin Jiang didn't sit down, but instead cupped his hands in greeting to the little devil in front of him:
"Dianxing's reputation is well-deserved. Greetings, senior."

"Senior? What senior? Do you think I'm older than you? I'm much younger than you." The kid pouted.

"Then how should we address you?"

"As for me... you can call me Your Majesty!" the little devil suddenly exclaimed excitedly.

“But you don’t look like the emperor.”

The little devil didn't get angry after hearing this, but immediately wilted:
“That makes sense. I am not the emperor now. I am not the emperor... You can call me Prince Qi. I am still Prince Qi.”

King Qi… Lin Jiang memorized this title.

After everyone was seated, the dust on the corner of King Qi's robe was swept away, and several plates of food appeared in front of everyone.

It was a wooden tray with two wooden bowls on it. The first bowl was filled with millet rice, and the second bowl contained a mixture of red and white meat with some sticky stuff, which smelled faintly fragrant.

“I’ve been thinking about it, and what you said on the ship earlier makes sense. You can’t eat food from the dead, so I have to prepare some food for the living for you.”

"This is 'hai', a meat sauce made with fresh deer, calves, and fresh fish. It's not exactly a delicacy, but it's a token of my appreciation. I hope you two will give it a try."

Jiang Jinyue frowned and avoided the pungent smell, but Lin Jiang hesitated for a moment before picking up a piece of meat sauce with his chopsticks, placing it on his rice, and then savoring it.

Having eaten venison and beef before, he could naturally taste fish as well. Judging from his experience, it was indeed as the little devil said, that there was nothing else mixed in.

It was eaten with a few mouthfuls of millet rice. The taste wasn't exactly amazing, but it certainly wasn't a bad thing.

Lin Jiang nodded to Jiang Jinyue, and Jiang Jinyue then politely took a bite.

But she still couldn't get used to the food.

Little Ginseng poked at the wooden bowl and licked the tip of the spoon, saying with righteous indignation:

"I can't taste anything!"

Upon hearing this, the little devil began to cry:
"You've forgotten about this again! You can't even entertain your guests properly. You deserve to die! Guards, drag me out and execute me!"

Two burly men in black armor suddenly appeared behind him, grabbed the little devil, and dragged him away.

Halfway through, the kid realized what was happening:
"No, I shouldn't be the one to behead myself. The cook should be the one to beheaded. You should put me down."

The burly man in black armor stopped again, and his figure vanished abruptly.

Once the little devil stopped his antics, Lin Jiang asked:

"The King of Qi invited us here just to sample his meat sauce?"

Upon hearing this, King Qi finally looked at Lin Jiang in front of him.

His deep gaze seemed to see through everything.

Lin Jiang thought for a moment, then glared back at the King of Qi.

The two stared at each other for a while, and King Qi lowered his head somewhat timidly.

The sound was even a little low:

"Because I'm bored."

"what?"

Lin Jiang never expected the King of Qi to say that.

“The people on the ship are too indulgent. Every time I try to talk to them, they say I’ve gone mad. Do you think I don’t know whether I’ve gone mad or not?” King Qi pointed to his nose: “I haven’t gone mad.”

Lin Jiang thought for a moment and nodded: "Indeed, you are perfectly normal."

“I knew it.” King Qi immediately smiled broadly. “I’m perfectly normal, I’m in good spirits, so I can’t get along with those people. However, when my ship passed by you today, I felt that you were unique. I thought you should be able to understand me, so I brought you aboard.”

“But that’s not good,” Lin Jiang said again. “It’s easy to cause trouble for others, and we have to get up early to travel tomorrow.”

"I am the King of Qi! What's wrong with me causing you trouble!" The King of Qi put his hands on his hips.

“Then we’ll just say you’re crazy too.” Jiang Jinyue had roughly figured out Qi Wang’s personality, so she chimed in, “We won’t pay any attention to you either. Let you bring us here for nothing.”

King Qi began to pull at the two small braids on the top of his head.

The braids that should have been long and firmly attached to his scalp were moved in his hands, pulled from the sides of his head to the top, and then from the top to the back.

Finally, one was placed diagonally above, and the other was placed next to the ear.

His facial features were also squeezed together:
"Okay, I was wrong, please don't ignore me."

"Does making a mistake mean you have to apologize?"

"How dare you take advantage of my kindness?" King Qi glared. "How are you going to apologize?"

"First, make sure we can get back."

“Your souls haven’t left your bodies, so you naturally wake up when you hear the rooster crow in the morning,” King Qi said. “This is a dream-entering technique, not a soul-stealing technique.”

"besides……"

"Why do you have other conditions?" King Qi glared at him again.

"Why can't there be other conditions?" Lin Jiang blinked. "Think about it, didn't you invite us here?"

"Yes."

"Since you've invited us, you're our guest, and you need our help. We can't just ask our guest to do things for free!"

"Right...right?"

"Isn't that right?"

“Yes, yes!” King Qi nodded: “What you said makes sense. It’s not good to let you do things for nothing; it would be beneath the dignity of the royal family.”

"Exactly, exactly!" Lin Jiang said with a smile, "Only in this way can one display the grandeur of a king!"

Upon hearing this, King Qi's face immediately broke into a genuine smile. He clapped and laughed heartily, using both his hands and feet.

"A kingly demeanor, hehe, a kingly demeanor, very good, you deserve a reward, you deserve a reward!"

But King Qi immediately had another headache: "But everything here is for the dead, and all the cultivation techniques are for the dead. Of the three of you, you are the only dead one. I can't give you something only if you can use it."

Jiang Jinyue looked at Lin Jiang.

Lin Jiang's expression remained unchanged.

(End of this chapter)