Chapter 70: The Red Boat

Chen Mu stubbornly flipped through the three books from the beginning to the end once more.

As expected, none of them had anything to do with the secret techniques he was looking for.

In the end, Chen Mu spent thirty taels of silver and left with the book titled *The Wonderful Method of Golden Wind and Jade Dew*.

It was not because he was vain or fond of dressing up, but rather because he valued its techniques for adjusting muscle tension and lifting the skin.

The method used them to improve sagging skin. Chen Mu thought this kind of subtle bodily adjustment was extremely suitable for the art of disguise.

Every time he went out, he had to apply various cosmetics to change his skin tone.

If he could master the art of disguise, going out in camouflage would become much simpler.

Clutching the two secret manuals, Chen Mu had no intention of wandering around any longer and departed directly.

Ever since the White Tiger Hall investigated the affair of the Clear Wind Powder, Chen Mu knew the ghost market was no longer safe either.

The Astonishing Hong Gang had traced the clues from the ghost market's large boat to Jie Jia, which led to the subsequent chain of events.

"It's still much safer to honestly stay hooped up at home."

...

Stepping out of the cabin, the exterior of the large boat remained silent and pitch black.

Several masked guides in black led Chen Mu toward the stern of the boat. Moored there were over a dozen black-awninged boats welcoming and sending off visitors.

Just as they reached the middle of the large boat, a burst of warbling laughter and singing was carried over by the river wind.

Chen Mu and his guide turned their heads in unison.

A fifty-meter-long red vessel was breaking through the mist. The eaves of the red ship's pavilions were hung with lanterns, and its carved beams and painted pillars were breathtakingly beautiful.

The massive red boat was illuminated as bright as day, casting a clear reflection across the entire river surface.

The sounds of the pipa, guzheng, and vertical bamboo flute, mixed with melodious singing, drifted over.

"So beautiful." The masked guide stared with infatuation at the graceful figure within the thin gauze curtains just ten meters away.

"It certainly is pretty." Chen Mu watched with relish as well.

"She is mine!" The masked guide spoke with a fiery tone in his voice.

"She's yours if you pay up." Chen Mu joked with a chuckle.

Then, he watched with his own eyes as the man leaped into the water with a splash, slicing through the waves like a white eel amidst a string of splashes as he charged toward the red boat.

Are people around here this unrestrained?

Chen Mu stood dumbfounded.

Splash, splash...

The next moment, all the masked guides on the ghost market's large boat leaped into the water like dumplings dropped into a pot, eagerly scrambling to climb onto the red ship opposite them.

The two boats passed each other in the span of just a minute or two.

Yet within that mere minute or two, the entire pitch-black vessel was left with only Chen Mu standing alone!

Chen Mu's pupils suddenly constricted.

He abruptly looked toward the gradually receding red boat.

He saw that by the windows of several rooms at the stern of the vessel, young maidens clad in thin gauze stood packed shoulder to shoulder.

They all wore expressionless faces, staring fixedly and silently at Chen Mu.

An overwhelming urge to jump off the boat suddenly surged into his heart.

Chen Mu: "..."

Damn it!

Two ghostly paper figures zipped out from his sleeves in a flash.

They plastered themselves tightly against his forehead, one on the left and one on the right.

The icy touch instantly snapped him back to his senses.

Staring hard, he saw that the large red boat had already plunged back into the river mist, leaving only faint glimmers of light flickering in and out of view.

"That was close!"

He had almost fallen for it!

...

Why is it that whenever other people go out they encounter fortune, but whenever I go out I run into ghosts?!

I really am seeing ghosts!

"I can't stay here anymore. I need to get out of here fast."

Chen Mu ran to the stern of the boat, only to freeze in his tracks.

More than ten black-awninged boats were tethered by ropes at the stern, but not a single boatman was left on board.

It wasn't just the black-clad guides who had jumped into the water; the boatmen had not been spared either.

Chen Mu looked at the empty black-awninged boats with a face full of helplessness.

He didn't even know how to row a boat.

...

Shanglin Ward, Chen Residence.

Chen Mu sat on the second floor, sipping a cup of warm milk tea. Touching his pounding heart, lingering fear still gripped him.

Ever since his encounter with the long-haired woman, he knew the Five Ghosts Bag possessed a faint restraining effect against malevolent spirits. Coupled with the fact that he was always prepared to deploy the Soul-Bewildering Smoke, Chen Mu made it a rule to always open the Five Ghosts Bag whenever he stepped outside, regardless of the mental fatigue it cost him.

"Thank goodness!"

Chen Mu summoned the two little paper figures, looking at the lifelike paper spirits covered in intricate red lines.

What usually seemed eerie now somehow looked rather cute.

"You guys saved my life."

Without the two of them keeping watch and grounding him, he might have jumped into the water the very first moment he laid eyes on that red boat.

"Didn't they say evil spirits couldn't enter Nanyang Prefecture City?"

Chen Mu recalled the gossip he had overheard at the Xinyuan Teahouse.

That red boat was most likely the legendary man-eating ghost ship.

He had heard of it more than once. However, it usually haunted the Jinshui River outside the city and had never ventured into the Luo River before. Nnn

"Could the warding artifacts of Nanyang Prefecture be malfunctioning too?"

Am I really this unlucky?

I don't have any protagonist halo, so why is peace nowhere to be found wherever I go?!

Chen Mu muttered with a face full of resentment.

"Looks like I can't just go wandering outside whenever I please."

"Tomorrow, I'll dig a cellar, stockpile supplies, and hole myself up like a hermit for a year or half a year first!"

...

Early the next morning, Chen Mu rushed to the North Market on a major shopping spree.

White wheat, air-dried cured ham, various vegetables, and seasonings.

Upon returning home, he didn't even care about grinding his skill proficiencies. In the kitchen on the eastern side of the first floor, he found a corner and started digging straight down into the earth.

After a few spadefuls, he suddenly remembered the Five Ghosts Bag.

What would happen if he used the Five Ghosts Bag to teleport underground soil?

Chen Mu chanted the incantation, estimated the dimensions of the bag's internal storage shaft against the earth beneath his feet, aimed at the ground, and watched black smoke spread and cover the area... Move!

Then, the soil beneath his feet vanished layer by layer, beginning to sink downward at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Before long, a circular shaft with a diameter of one meter and a depth of five meters had appeared underground.

If it weren't for the limited depth that the black smoke could penetrate into the soil each time, he could have dug even faster!

"Ha! This really is an essential artifact for staying at home and traveling!"

With the help of the Five Ghosts Bag, he dug out a massive space at a depth of seven or eight meters underground in just a single morning.

Ironically, the most time-consuming task turned out to be disposing of the dirt.

Piling it up at home took up too much space, so he had no choice but to throw it into the Luo River.

Each time, he would glance around furtively like a thief, making sure there were no boats on the river and no people around, before stealthily dumping the soil into the current.

After routinely dusting the underground cavern with medicinal powder and quicklime for moisture-proofing and pest control, Chen Mu climbed back up to have lunch.

Not long after the afternoon arrived, the various supplies he had ordered were delivered one by one.

He paid the workers, sent them on their way, and busied himself moving the supplies underground.

Fortunately, with the Five Ghosts Bag, he finally finished everything before dinnertime.

...

As evening approached, Jie Jia arrived on time to freeload a meal.

He twitched his nose twice, and his eyes involuntarily drifted toward Chen Mu: "Are you a rat?"

Chen Mu: "..." What does that mean?

"Why do you love digging holes so much?"

Did he smell the earthy scent? But I specifically used medicinal powder to mask it! What a dog's nose!

Chen Mu rolled his eyes.

As if I do this for fun.

It's all because the outside world is too dangerous.

Putting aside Jie Jia's teasing, Chen Mu quickly asked, "Did something happen to the warding artifacts of Nanyang Prefecture?"

Jie Jia furrowed his brows slightly: "Ran into malevolent ghost entities?"

Chen Mu truthfully recounted his encounter from the previous night.

Jie Jia's yellowish eyes rolled as he sized Chen Mu up from top to bottom, left and right: "How are you not dead?"

Chen Mu was so angry he laughed: "Do you believe that from now on I won't wash my hands before cooking!"

Jie Jia looked at the table full of aromatic and appetizing dishes, his eyebrows twitching uncontrollably.

"I washed them this time." The corners of Chen Mu's mouth curled upward.

"Normal." Jie Jia sat down by the stone table with an expressionless face and replied indifferently.

"A ghost ship has sailed right into Nanyang Prefecture, and you call that normal?" Chen Mu stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Do you not know what kind of state the Great Liang Dynasty is in right now?" Jie Jia sat down, pulled out a snow-white handkerchief, and meticulously wiped his utensils and chopsticks.

"A chaotic era of warfare, the twilight of a dynasty." Chen Mu's expression turned somewhat unsightly.

Although Nanyang Prefecture was peaceful, it was only because Nanyang was located in the southwest, far away from the heartland of Great Liang.

According to intelligence gathered by the Xinyuan Teahouse, uprisings were erupting constantly in the heartland of Great Liang, with people declaring themselves king every single day.

Farmlands were ruined, food was scarce, corpses of the starved littered the fields, and there were even tragic instances of people cannibalizing one another.

"War and chaos are real, but whether it's the twilight of the dynasty is yet to be determined." Jie Jia tossed the used handkerchief into the trash can by his feet.

"The more people die, the stronger malevolent ghosts become. It's completely normal for a powerful ghost entity to breach the warding artifacts."

"In some places, entire cities have even been occupied by malevolent spirits, turning into autonomous ghost domains. Now *that* is terrifying," Jie Jia said casually.

Chen Mu, however, felt his scalp tingle as he listened.

This world was simply far too dangerous.

...

After finishing dinner and seeing Jie Jia off, Chen Mu took out the bright red Five Ghosts Bag, placed it on his desk, and stared at it intently.

Previously, he had wanted to push all three body-refining techniques to their limits in one go.

Now, it seemed that plan had to be put on hold.

"Since the Five Ghosts Bag can restrain malevolent spirits, I'll carve out mastery of the Five Ghosts Mountain-Moving Incantation first!"

"Two ghostly paper figures can keep my mind clear; with five ghostly paper figures, wouldn't I possibly have at least a fighting chance?"

"Forget it, forget it. My demands shouldn't be too high—as long as it can save my life, all will be well."

"Five Ghosts Bag, you've really got to pull your weight this time."