My words have become law; I truly have no desire to display my divine power before others.

It's not human features; it's pig's, dog's, or some other indescribable mixture.

Its eyes were blood red, bulging out, without eyelids, just staring wide-eyed.

His mouth stretched to his ears, revealing dark gums inside. There were no teeth, just a black hole.

His body grew larger and larger, from a person to a monster, from one zhang tall to two zhang tall, and from two zhang tall to three zhang tall.

The customers who were eating nearby also stood up.

The fried skewers in their hands fell to the ground, and their bodies began to swell. Their faces changed from blurry to ferocious, revealing their gleaming white teeth and black throats.

Their hands turned into claws, with long, black nails.

At this moment, the strange creatures elsewhere did not look this way; instead, they seemed somewhat regretful that these humans could not die at their hands.

Otherwise, fresh flesh and blood are a rare commodity in this ghost market.

But the master behind this ghost market once decreed that wherever a human dies, the property belongs to that strange entity, and no ghost is allowed to take it.

Therefore, when they saw those humans recklessly provoking them, forcing the strange creature to reveal its true form, they regretted that the creature couldn't die here.

Of course, they hadn't considered the possibility of dying strangely; how could that be?

Where is this? A ghost market!

Those humans here have no power to resist. Even those warriors are just meat that's a little chewier to them.

They rushed towards Ye Qingfeng and his group.

Lü Yang had already made preparations.

His hand rested on the hilt of the sword, and he drew it from its sheath.

The sword light was like autumn water, drawing a cold arc in the night.

He held his sword horizontally in front of him, about to charge forward, when a figure swept past him.

It's Shen Zhaoyue.

She didn't shout, she didn't yell, and her expression didn't even change.

She grabbed the knife and rushed out.

The sword flashed.

The two customers at the front were cut in half, their upper and lower bodies separated, lying on the ground, with no blood, only black liquid.

The black, viscous, foul-smelling liquid flowed across the ground, seeping into the cracks of the bluestone slabs.

The customers behind didn't stop; they kept rushing forward.

Instead of retreating, Shen Zhaoyue advanced, her blade flashing as she wove a silver net that enveloped the creatures that were rushing towards her.

Everything caught in the net was cut into pieces and fell to the ground like chopped tofu.

Lü Yang was not willing to fall behind.

He gritted his teeth and unleashed the Qingping Sword Technique, the sword moving with his body and his body turning with the sword.

His sword wasn't as fast as Shen Zhaoyue's knife, but he was taller and had a longer arm span, so one sweep of his sword could knock down a whole group of people.

His sword glowed with a faint blue light, which was his Qi, capable of subduing evil.

With each sword strike, a customer screams and collapses, turning into black liquid.

Miao Gui took a few steps back with his bundle on his back, avoiding the battlefield.

The chubby baby lay on Miao Gui's back, his little hands gripping Miao Gui's collar, his eyes wide open, watching the ghosts being hacked into black water, showing no fear whatsoever.

He looked at it for a while, then took out the half-eaten grilled mushroom from his bundle, took a bite, and chewed it with a crunching sound.

The stall owner—the thing that had turned into a three-zhang-tall monster—stood there, motionless.

It watched as its subordinates were slaughtered by two living people like chopping vegetables, its blood-red eyes showing no anger, no sadness, only an indescribable expression.

That wasn't fear, it was confusion.

It didn't understand why these two people weren't afraid.

Why don't they run away?

Why don't they kneel down and beg for mercy?

It moved.

It raised one foot and stomped down on Lü Yang.

The foot was like a door panel, whistling through the air, and the ground trembled when it landed.

Lu Yang dodged to the side, his foot stomping on the ground, shattering the bluestone slab. The fragments flew everywhere, hitting the wall next to him and creating dents.

Lu Yang steadied himself, turned around, and thrust his sword at its leg.

The sword tip pierced the grayish-black flesh. There was no blood, only a sticky liquid gushing from the wound and flowing down the blade.

It was also black water.

Having failed in his first attack, Lü Yang quickly retreated.

I just barely dodged the stall owner's other foot.

Just then, Shen Zhaoyue dealt with all the customers and saw that Lü Yang was struggling to keep up.

She leaped forward and slashed at the stall owner's neck, but her weapon was just an ordinary hundred-times-forged steel blade, which was unable to penetrate his defenses and could only produce a shower of sparks.

But she didn't panic. Using the momentum to retreat, she lightly touched the ground again and rushed towards the stall owner in a strange manner. At this moment, she uttered a sentence.

"Labor and management—"

"The Road to Shu"

"three!"

In an instant, it was as if some unseen force was blessing them.

Shen Zhaoyue's blade was covered with a thin layer of white light.

Even the strength increased several times out of nowhere.

In a flash.

A white light flashed across the night sky.

The stall owner's tough body could no longer resist and was easily cut in two, turning into black water.

At this moment, some strange creatures passing by Ye Qingfeng saw the scene and suddenly transformed into their true forms, baring their fangs and claws as they charged towards him.

Unfortunately, they couldn't even get within ten steps of him. Any strange creature that approached had already turned to ashes and scattered on the ground.

......

That is, at this moment.

Several dark figures were gathered under an old locust tree on the street corner.

Their outlines were blurred, like ink stains splattered on a wall, but their sounds were clear, drifting out from the shadows of the trees, sharp and thin, like the winter wind blowing through cracks in a broken wall.

"Old Zhao... is dead," a voice said, with a hint of disbelief.

"Dead, not even ashes remained."

"Did those ordinary people do it?"

"He's no ordinary person. That Taoist priest in blue robes is strange."

There was a moment of silence.

Another voice broke in, laced with sneer.

"Strange? No matter how strange it is, you're still human. Once a person enters the ghost market, it's like meat ending up in a pot. Old Zhao is incompetent; who can he blame?"

"Then you go ahead and do it."

"Me? I'm not in a hurry. Let them take a few more steps, until they're on my turf, then I'll naturally step in."

Another silence fell. The leaves rustled, as if something was crawling in the canopy.

"Aren't you afraid they'll lure that person out?"

"That guy? He wouldn't bother with such trivial matters. As long as his inn isn't vandalized and a few neighbors die, he won't even open a finger."

"Old Zhao is dead."

"So what? You're scared?"

"What am I afraid of? I'm worried about you. These people are up to no good."

"Hmph, no matter how powerful he is, how could he possibly defeat so many monsters in the Ghost Market?"

"Why don't you go first?"

Several voices fell silent at the same time.

Clearly, no one wanted to be the vanguard.

Don't be fooled by the fact that these strange creatures are gathered here; they are all selfish, if it weren't for the rules set by the master of this ghost market.