Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

Chen Mo had only gone a hundred steps from Tingyu Tower when he noticed a tail following him.

It was that short, stocky man and his two companions.

They hung at a distance, using the shadows and a few scattered pedestrians as cover, their eyes fixed on Chen Mo's back.

"Big brother, following so closely... won't we attract too much attention?"

The tall, thin man to the left of the short, stocky man lowered his voice, his tone tinged with trepidation, "This man just came from Tingyu Tower. Hu San treated him very politely. We..."

"What are you afraid of!" The scarred man spat, glaring fiercely at the tall, thin man. His voice was low but carried a menacing tone.

"What happened to Tingyulou? What happened to Hu San? No matter how powerful they are, the rule is that they can't fight within the Ghost Market. Outside the Ghost Market, who cares who they are?"

"What did that kid have? Ten thousand silver dollars for selling jade slip fragments! At least five or six Crimson Sun Blood Crystals! Just think how much that is!"

One of his companions on the right, carrying a knife, licked his chapped lips, his eyes flashing with a mixture of greed and worry. "Big Brother is right, but Green Wolf and Ghost Eye have already given up. This fat sheep might be a tough nut to crack."

"Stingy my foot!"

The short, stocky man interrupted him, his tone filled with exasperation and frustration. "The bold get rich, the timid starve! Fifth brother, have you forgotten why we came to the ghost market? How much money do we still need for my mother's medicine? How much money do we still need to redeem your lover? And what about third brother?"

He looked at the tall, thin man and said, "If your brother doesn't pay off his gambling debts soon, someone's going to break his arm! How long will it take us to scrape together that money by dealing in counterfeit goods and doing odd jobs like petty theft?"

His words were like a bucket of cold water poured on their hearts, igniting their determination to take the risk.

The tall, thin man and his short companion fell silent, their hesitation replaced by a deeper greed.

"See that?"

The scarred man gestured towards Chen Mo's somewhat frail figure ahead, "This guy is clearly not very old, and his health isn't good. Once we're out of the Ghost Market area, in that deserted area near the mass grave, surround him and finish him off quickly!"

"After you've stolen the stuff, split up and run. Hide for a while, and who the hell will know it was us?"

He paused, his eyes flashing with a fierce light: "Even if Tingyulou finds out later, would they go to such lengths to investigate peasants like us over a dead man?"

"As long as you're honest and upright, you can exchange the banknotes and divide the treasures, and then the sky's the limit! By then, the money for medicine, ransom, and gambling debts will all be settled! You'll even have a large sum left to live a carefree life!"

"Big brother is right!" The shorter companion's breathing became heavy.

The tall, thin man nodded vigorously, gripping the short dagger in his sleeve. His last shred of hesitation was completely crushed by his desire for wealth.

Chen Mo continued walking without stopping, heading straight towards the deserted exit in the southeast corner of the Ghost Market.

Stepping out of a dilapidated stone archway, the lights and shadows of the ghost market receded like the tide.

Before me lay a continuous stretch of desolate hills and mass graves, the moonlight casting a dim red glow that made the crooked tombstones and withered trees appear and disappear indistinctly.

The night wind howled, swirling up the ashes of paper money and withered grass on the ground.

Without pausing, Chen Mo strode into the depths of the mass grave, his figure appearing and disappearing among the tombstones and withered trees.

"He's gone into the mass grave! Quick, stay close, don't let him get away!"

From behind, the short, stocky man's low voice came, and the three quickened their pace to catch up.

The terrain within the mass grave is complex, and the moonlight is fragmented by the undulating mounds and crooked trees, casting large patches of shadow.

After several twists and turns, Chen Mo arrived at a relatively open, low-lying area where several old graves, half-collapsed, were scattered, their mounds overgrown with weeds as tall as a person.

The three rushed in after him, but Chen Mo had vanished from sight. Only the withered grass swayed in the dark red moonlight, making a soft rustling sound.

"Where is he?" The short, stocky man's heart tightened, and he stopped abruptly, looking around warily.

Almost simultaneously, a sudden change occurred!

puff!puff!puff!

Several soft sounds of sharp objects breaking through the soil erupted simultaneously from the weeds on the graves beside them!

Under the moonlight, four humanoid black shadows could be seen shooting out at tricky angles, like venomous snakes controlled by an invisible hand!

Those were paper puppets of swords and weapons that Chen Mo had laid in advance. To be on the safe side, he released four at once!

"careful……"

The short, stocky man only managed to utter half a sentence before feeling a sharp pain in his calf. A paper shadow had already swept past, leaving a trail of blood.

He staggered and swung his knife to the side, but missed.

The screams rang out almost simultaneously.

The tall, thin man's neck was grazed by a paper puppet that flew close to the ground, and blood gushed from between his fingers as he clutched his throat.

The shorter man fared even worse. Two paper puppets crossed his chest and abdomen from the left and right. He stared wide-eyed down at his almost ripped-open body and collapsed limply.

The paper puppets and swordsmen attack swiftly, fiercely, and accurately, without any fancy moves; all of them are deadly killing techniques.

Using the shadows and weeds as cover, they severely injured three people in their first attack.

"There's an ambush! Get out of here!" The short, stocky man was terrified and tried to turn and run away despite the pain.

Two paper figures flashed and caught up, instantly blocking his escape route.

The short, stocky man felt a bone-chilling cold rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. It wasn't the cold of the night wind, but the despair of having his very marrow frozen as death approached.

Blood gushed from the wound on his leg, and four paper figures blocking his path stood silently in the shadow of the swaying weeds.

The crimson moonlight painted their thin forms. They had no features, no breath, only sharp blades in their hands, formed from paper yet gleaming with the cold light of real metal, blocking their escape routes to the left and right.

"Ugh, I'll fight you to the death!"

The short, stocky man gripped the knife hilt tightly with both hands, no longer trying to escape, but instead slashing wildly at the paper puppet on his right!

The howling wind of the blades was the last madness of a trapped beast.

The paper puppet, however, defied common sense and folded gently, its thin body drifting back half a foot along with the blade's momentum, just managing to avoid the sharp edge.

Meanwhile, a chill has already arrived on the left!

His hair stood on end, and relying on his instincts honed from years of licking blood off the knife, he twisted back into his grid.

"Clang!"

The blade struck the paper blade with a metallic clang, which made his hand go numb.

But the paper puppet was completely unaffected by the force, retreating as soon as it was struck, like a ghost.

"Come out! You come out here right now!"

He roared, his voice distorted by fear and blood loss, brandishing his steel knife at the empty graveyard, "What kind of hero hides like a coward! Come out!"

Chen Mo slowly emerged from the shadows directly in front of him, his expression calm, as if he were merely passing by during a moonlit stroll.

He didn't even have a weapon in his hand; he just watched him quietly.

This calm was more devastating to the short, stocky man than any sneer.

"I...I'll fight you to the death!" He dragged his injured leg and howled as he lunged at Chen Mo, completely ignoring the chilling killing intent coming from behind him.

He only wanted to plunge the knife into the seemingly indifferent young man's body before he died.

However, he only took two steps.

A paper shadow, like a gust of wind skimming the ground, cut in from his blind spot, and a chilling sensation swept across his neck.

The short, stocky man's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt, and all his strength rapidly dissipated with the sudden burst of warm liquid from his throat.

The steel knife slipped from his hand with a clang and fell onto the rocks in front of the grave.

He tried in vain to cover his neck with his hands, and the spaces between his fingers were quickly stained red.

Vision began to blur. The dark red moon, the swaying weeds, Chen Mo silently approaching, and the old mother waiting at home to buy medicine... everything turned into distorted dark red blocks.

Finally, he collapsed to his knees, his eyes still wide open, reflecting the ominous dark red moon.

Chen Mo didn't even glance at the three corpses on the ground, he simply raised his hand and beckoned.

The blood-stained paper puppets and swords flew back into his hand.

Without the slightest hesitation, and without any interest in looting the corpses, he flashed and headed deeper into the mass grave, disappearing behind the shadows of graves and withered trees in a few leaps.