The Extraordinary Urban God of Medicine
Chapter 933 - Chapter 933 Chapter 933 The identity of this Ghost King

Chapter 933: Chapter 933: The identity of this Ghost King! (Super-sized chapter) Chapter 933: Chapter 933: The identity of this Ghost King! (Super-sized chapter) Huang Xiaolong directly opened the cabinet.

In an instant, a great swath of dazzling gold burst forth!

However, amidst this brilliance was also a chilling aura of yin energy.

The cabinet contained nothing more than some household registers or bankbooks, as well as cash, both fifty and one-hundred denomination notes, but at a glance, the total amount was at most around ten or twenty thousand yuan. Perhaps this was all the savings that the impoverished family had.

Within the cabinet, the most eye-catching item was a piece–a gold ingot!

Yes, a shining gold ingot!

Huang Xiaolong squinted slightly as he picked up the gold ingot, weighing it in his hand, “In ancient times, gold ingots came in sizes half-liang, one liang, ten liang, twenty liang, fifty liang all the way up to one hundred or even three hundred liang… This ingot, I estimate it’s about fifty liang…”

With a grin, Huang Xiaolong asked Ma Chuxia, “My little wife, what’s the current market price for gold per gram?”

Ma Chuxia took out her phone and quickly checked, “Little Long, today’s gold market price is 357 RMB per gram.”

“Fifty liang, which is roughly 2500 grams, so this ingot of gold is valued at nearly one million yuan,” Huang Xiaolong said, clicking his tongue in astonishment. Then, he flipped the gold ingot over, “Look, there are inscriptions underneath. This gold ingot is from the Ming Dynasty’s Wanli era. So, including the value of the relic, this ingot of gold could possibly be worth several million, or even tens of millions… Don’t tell me, this ingot of gold is something passed down in your family…”

The woman took a step back, her face turning pale. “Are you… are you from the Cultural Relics Bureau, or the police?”

“Neither,” Huang Xiaolong shook his head, “Just tell me honestly, where did the gold ingot come from? Don’t worry, I won’t take your stuff, I’m just asking. Because… this gold ingot is related to the matter of your man losing his soul.”

“Little Long, do you mean to say that this man didn’t lose his soul because of a Dongying ghost emissary, but… but because of this gold ingot?” Ma Chuxia asked in astonishment.

“Yes!” The woman bit her lip, sobbing bitterly. “I said we shouldn’t take ill-gotten gains, we can’t take them! I’ll tell you… just last night, my man and his coworkers passed by the riverbank, and then… then they found a lot gold, silver and jewels… They… They each took one piece… My man took this gold ingot… but who would’ve thought… who would’ve thought something would happen early this morning… wuu wuu~~ wuu~~”

“Coworkers?” A flicker appeared in Huang Xiaolong’s eyes. “Your man’s coworkers, they all live around here, right?”

“Yes, all here, they are all old neighborhood friends…” said the woman amidst her tears.

“No wonder there’s such heavy yin energy in this poor district~~” Huang Xiaolong weighed the gold ingot in his hand once more.

Just then!

“Little Long! There are a pair of eyes inside the ingot! I saw them!” Ma Chuxia suddenly exclaimed. “Just now I saw, inside the ingot, a pair of eyes blinked! It’s like they are spying on us!”

“Really?” Huang Xiaolong laughed it off.

The next second, a pair of pale ghostly hands stretched out surprisingly from the ingot, reaching straight for Huang Xiaolong!

It seemed as if these ghostly hands were trying to forcibly drag Huang Xiaolong inside!

“Heh~~~” Huang Xiaolong chuckled coldly as he let out a trace of his aura.

“Ahh~~~!” As though stung, the ghostly hand recoiled like lightning back into the ingot.

For Ma Chuxia, Qingqing, and Xiaohong, who were accustomed to various supernatural events, this scene was nothing significant.

However, for the woman, it was sheer terror, her eyes bulging as she nearly fainted.

Huang Xiaolong patted the woman on her forehead, sending a warm current into her limbs and bones, diluting the shock she had experienced.

“What is that… What’s… what’s inside that gold ingot…” The woman, still frightened but slightly calmer, cried out in confusion.

“Inside, there are your man’s secondary soul and five wraiths,” Huang Xiaolong said with a smile.

Then, he burned a Revealing Talisman.

Suddenly, Ma Chuxia, Qingqing, Xiaohong, and the woman felt their vision delve into the gold ingot like water!

Inside the gold ingot was evidently another world, a different scene altogether!

It was a world shrouded in yin energy and death, where mist flowed and skulls and gloomy blood were everywhere.

At the entrance of a large gate stood a man.

To be precise, the soul of a man.

Shockingly, it was the secondary soul and five wraiths of the man lying on the bed, who had lost his soul!

The man’s soul, with a face full of anguish and ferocity, kept waving his hands. “Come in… whoever comes in… Hurry! Hurry come in! If you don’t come in, I can’t get my soul out… Hurry in…”

The voice was utterly chilling to hear.

“Shut your ghost wailing! We’re not going to come in and die in your stead… giggles~~ So naive~~” Xiaohong let out a mocking laugh.

“So it’s indeed this ingot that’s the problem.” Ma Chuxia suddenly realized, then a trace of faint disappointment surfaced on her delicate face. “I thought we had encountered a ghost emissary from the Dongying underworld~~”

Without further delay, Huang Xiaolong reached out and grabbed!

He seized the man’s soul by the head and yanked it out straight away.

Within the gold ingot was a ghostly formation, and the moment it was activated, a fierce yin and ghostly energy swept out, seemingly trying to snatch the man’s soul back from Huang Xiaolong’s grasp.

Huang Xiaolong chuckled and quickly grabbed a talisman, affixing it to the gold ingot.

In an instant, the yin energy emanating from within the gold ingot was sealed.

Huang Xiaolong tossed the gold ingot to Ma Chuxia and then grabbed the man’s soul, directly sending it into his body, which lay as if in a vegetative state.

He then put another soul-stabilizing talisman on the man.

Before long, the man slowly regained consciousness, sitting up in bed in a daze, looking around with confusion. “What… what happened to me?”

The woman burst into tears, rushing over to hug the man and quickly explained what had happened.

The man shuddered, looking at Huang Xiaolong. “Thank you… thank you, sir, for saving my life. Alas, I almost… almost lost my life due to a moment of greed…”

“This gold ingot is real, not an illusion created by a malevolent ghost,” Huang Xiaolong took the gold ingot back from Ma Chuxia’s hands. “However, this gold ingot belongs to a malevolent ghost; it has a ghost formation inside. Whoever picks up the gold ingot will have their secondary soul and five wits pulled into it.”

Having said that, Huang Xiaolong activated his Daoist power and wiped out the yin energy and ghost formation inside the gold ingot completely.

The gold ingot, once a malevolent object, became a harmless treasure.

Huang Xiaolong tossed the gold ingot back to the man. “Here, if you have the means, you can sell it. Don’t worry, I’ve erased the malevolent energy inside.”

The man caught the gold ingot, looking at Huang Xiaolong with a mixture of astonishment.

“I can see that your days have not been easy. The gold ingot was found by you, so deal with it as you see fit,” Huang Xiaolong said with a smile.

The man suddenly brimmed with tears, flipped off the bed, and kneeled before Huang Xiaolong. “Master… You! You! Your heart is truly that of a living Bodhisattva! Thank you~~thank you~~ I… I…,” he began, but was so choked up that he couldn’t finish.

“Last night, who else went with you to collect the gold and jewelry? Take me to them,” Huang Xiaolong smiled.

“Master, I’ll take you right away! I’ll take you right now! I reckon… they’ve all… come to harm…” The man said as he hastily got up and led Huang Xiaolong out of the house.

In this densely packed slum composed of simple houses, the man led Huang Xiaolong and knocked on over a dozen households.

Each household’s man was in the same condition, having lost their secondary soul and five wits.

Their souls were also sealed within the gold and jewelry they had picked up the day before.

Huang Xiaolong looked over these gold and silver treasures and indeed, they were worth a fortune, all from the Ming dynasty era. In addition to gold and silver ingots, there were kingfisher feathers, bright pearls, jade hairpins, precious earrings, agate, and cat’s eye stones… predominantly ancient women’s jewelry.

Huang Xiaolong purged all the yin energy, malevolent spirits, and ghost formations from these gold and silver ornaments, pulled out all the lost souls, and returned them to their respective bodies.

It wasn’t long before all those who had lost their souls were back to normal.

“Little Long, these gold and silver ornaments are quite exquisite and pretty. But they’re also incredibly sinister, aren’t they? Could it be that some malevolent ghost deliberately threw its treasures by the riverside, then waited for the living to pick them up, and in the end snatched their souls…” Ma Chuxia frowned. “If we hadn’t run into this situation, far more than these few would have been ensnared. Anyone who got their hands on this treasure would lose their soul and end up dying inexplicably. Hehehe~~ Little Long, you’ve inadvertently done another good deed, saving many innocent folks.” Ma Chuxia looped her arm through Huang Xiaolong’s, looking at him with admiration.

“Heh~~ retrieving these people’s souls is nothing; we still need to catch that ghost,” Huang Xiaolong’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Although Huang Xiaolong’s current plan was to eradicate the Dongying ghost envoys and various malevolent Dongying ghosts, he did not mind dealing with some supernatural incidents along the way and taking care of the troublemaking ghostly spirits.

Huang Xiaolong quite enjoyed catching ghosts, especially some of the more peculiar and interesting ones.

The ghost in question was incredibly intriguing, having set up its ghostly trap amidst a hoard of gold and silver ornaments with the intention to harm people.

Moreover, judging by the ghostly array it had set up, the ghost was at least a Purple Robed Wraith, if not a Ghost King!

Immediately, he gathered all the men who had lost their souls and got to the bottom of things.

They had found the sinister gold and silver ornaments at the ancient Guazhou Ferry in Yangzhou City, the junction where the canal merges into the Yangtze River.

He arranged a meeting with these men, getting them to guide him to the Guazhou Ferry that very night.

The men, owing their lives to Huang Xiaolong, agreed without a second thought.

Night fell.

A group of men from the slums, holding flashlights, led Huang Xiaolong towards Guazhou Ferry.

Before long, they arrived at Guazhou Ferry, a melon-shaped island narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, nestled in the middle of the canal. In the darkness of the night, the most prominent structure on the island was a dilapidated building of olden design. Judging by its concrete walls and boxy architecture, it looked like something from the 1970s, bearing an eerie and weary atmosphere along with everything around it.

There were also numerous low houses and smoke-bound trees bathed in the night.

The crowd reached the banks of the swiftly flowing canal.

One of the men respectfully said to Huang Xiaolong, “Master, last night after we finished work, and as we were passing by, we found those gold and silver ornaments on the shore. At that time… we got greedy, and… we shared out the treasures… Hoping that with these, we could give our families a better life… Alas~~~”

“Mm,” Huang Xiaolong looked at the still river surface, then suddenly, smiling, said to Ma Chuxia, “Wifey, this place might seem desolate and lonely now, but back in ancient times, it was a sacred destination where scholars and beauties aspired to be! There is a line of poetry that says, ‘Flowers in smoke in Yangzhou beneath the March moon.'”

After a pause, Huang Xiaolong continued, “Back then, this canal was a place of pleasure, with the sound of oars and the glimmering lights every night. Every boat had its graciously talented courtesans. The lights from the boats illuminated both sides of the river in a dazzling display. They say that scholars bound for the imperial exams, as well as many self-proclaimed dashing nobles, liked to come here to seek pleasure… Hehehe, so much so that they couldn’t bear to leave.”

“Hehehe~ My lord, I know about this. My mistress used to tell us, ‘A decade asleep in dreams of Yangzhou, earning a name for faithlessness in a brothel’s embrace.’ Many stories about courtesans occurred in Yangzhou, on this very canal,” Xiaohong clapped her hands excitedly.

Ma Chuxia sported a thoughtful look on her face, then suddenly said, “Little Long, could these gold and silver ornaments be from a courtesan who lived here during the Ming Dynasty? Maybe she turned into a ghost, never went to the underworld to be reincarnated, and has remained for several hundred years, thus becoming a fierce spirit. Then, using her own treasures as bait, she ensnares people’s souls?”

“Wifey, you really are clever~~” Huang Xiaolong looked at Ma Chuxia with approval.

Just then, a dense layer of yin energy floated over the river’s surface with the chilling wind, so thick it wouldn’t disperse.

This yin energy hung over the river like a layer of smog!

Huang Xiaolong felt deep resentment within this yin energy.

Huang Xiaolong’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he smirked playfully. “My little wife, we’ve come at just the right time; there’s a good show about to start.”

Suddenly, the sound of water gurgling came from within the yin energy over the river.

It was as if there was a boat slowly gliding through the water.

Faintly, peals of a woman’s giggling carried over with the chilling wind, accompanied by the beautiful sounds of string and wind instruments.

On the shore, the men who had led Huang Xiaolong and the others here all couldn’t resist pricking up their ears to listen, their gazes beginning to glaze over.

“Heh~~ putting on airs and playing tricks, huh?” Huang Xiaolong laughed mockingly and then directly lit a revealing charm.

A flash of gold!

The heavy fog enveloping the dim river cleared up in an instant, becoming completely transparent!

Lo and behold!

A massive pleasure boat appeared on the river’s surface–it was a tower ship!

This pleasure boat was designed with antique elegance and exquisitely decorated; it didn’t seem like a product of the modern era.

The boat had three levels, and the topmost one took the form of an ancient brothel. The signboard above was inscribed with the words “Yicui Courtyard,” written with a coquettish charm oozing with the air of rouge and powder.

On the first and second levels of the pleasure boat, one could vaguely see many graceful young ladies dressed in ancient clothing, some leaning on the railing, others giggling, and some playing the zither or flute…

Well now!

The scene in front of them truly had a strong sense of time travel, making Huang Xiaolong and the others feel as though they had suddenly returned to several hundred years ago, to Yangzhou’s most prosperous era, strolling through the nightlife of pleasure quarters, listening to tunes, drinking a few pots of wine, and indulging in the joys of gentle company.

“Little Long, this is a ghost ship, and all the women aboard are vengeful spirits and ferocious ghosts!” Ma Chuxia exclaimed in astonishment. “But… but I can’t feel too much ghostly aura–instead, there’s a scent of rouge and powder wafting over with the wind.”

Huang Xiaolong’s gaze turned towards the pleasure boat slowly approaching the shore and he smiled. “The ghosts on this boat are not simple–they’re ghost kings.”

“Ghost kings?” Excitement flared in Ma Chuxia’s eyes.

Among Huaxia’s myriad spirits and ghosts, apart from Ghost Immortals, ghost kings were considered the most formidable.

Moreover, nearly every ghost king had a story or experience that was nearly legendary!

For instance, Ying Kexin, the top swordsman of Great Qin, was a ghost king that Huang Xiaolong had once subdued.

But what was the story behind the ghost king on the pleasure boat of the Yangzhou Canal?

Before long, some sightseers appeared along the riverbank.

Mostly young men and women, they all took out their phones, captivated by the fantastical beauty of the pleasure boat, and began recording–

“Oh my God~~ how can there be such a boat!”

“It’s so beautiful! It’s truly so beautiful!”

“There are so many beauties on the boat!”

“Right, right, the beauties on the boat are all dressed in ancient women’s clothing… awesome!”

“Hehehe, could it be that the special services industry nowadays relies on this to draw attention? But I have to say, it’s so creative! It’s incredibly creative! I want to play! Let’s go! Board the ship!”

…

Eventually, the pleasure boat finally stopped not far from Huang Xiaolong and the others along the riverbank, lowering a gangplank.

The young sightseers swarmed towards it frenetically.

Suddenly, a graceful female voice drifted from the third floor of the pleasure boat. “Please, come aboard for a chat~~”

With that invitation, the young sightseers couldn’t contain themselves; without a second thought, they rushed up the gangplank toward the boat.

Ma Chuxia furrowed her brows. “Little Long, those fools who are ignorant of their own arrogance have been seduced by the ghosts–they’re willingly boarding the ghost ship. It’s a classic case of courting death! I fear once they board, they won’t be able to come down again!”

“No rush, as long as I’m here, these people won’t lose their lives,” Huang Xiaolong said with a smile. “Since their will is weak and they’ve been mesmerized, it might be good for them to learn a lesson the hard way.”

From the third floor of the pleasure boat, the graceful and sorrowful sound of a zither wafted through the air. This music seemed to linger, reverberating through the surroundings.

Within this feathery music, a mournful and haunting voice sang–

“…pitying myself for falling into this commonness.

Like wind-tossed fallen flowers without an owner, my tears mark the passage of floating down and scattered drifts.”

The brothel houses her not by choice, she aspires to a life pure and to be paired in kindness,

Wishing to live her days in a simple wooden hairpin and plain cloth dress.

In the brothel she met a young master Li, biting her arm she pledged three lifetimes to follow him like Meng Jiang.

…”

The singing had a choking quality, deeply moving.

Huang Xiaolong gazed intently and saw on the deck of the third floor of the painted boat, a woman in a pink robe playing the zither.

“Ha~~ Ghost King…” Huang Xiaolong’s eyebrows slightly raised.

He recognized at a glance that the woman softly singing and playing the zither was in fact a Ghost King with powerful ghostly strength! Despite her seductive appearance, the resentment hidden within her ghostly form and yin energy was exceedingly terrifying.

Once she grew angry, she would unleash a bloodbath and storm of violence!

Moonlight shone on her cheeks, illuminating her figure. She was dressed in exquisite elegance, her body exuding a delicate fragrance. Two gently arched eyebrows, like distant green hills, and a pair of bright autumn-water eyes. Her face was like a lotus bud.

She wasn’t using any illusion magic; her appearance was exactly as it had been in life.

Indeed, a beauty, a great beauty. Rationally speaking, this Ghost King’s beauty surpassed even that of Purple Clothes Ghost Mengyao and Ghost King Ying Kexin, who were under Huang Xiaolong’s control, by several degrees!

She wouldn’t lose to any of Huang Xiaolong’s wives!

The group of young tourists who boarded the ghost ship seemed to vanish without a trace, silent as if swallowed by the sea.

After the Ghost King played a tune, she gracefully stood up, walked to the railing, and held a chest in her hands.

Under the moonlight, the chest emitted a colorful, splendid light, as if it was inlaid with numerous pearls and gemstones, radiating a rich and aggressive aura.

When the Ghost King opened the chest, a flood of glittering radiance made her face appear even more delicate, her beauty blossoming like spring flowers!

However, at that moment, the Ghost King began to weep softly, with ghostly tears streaking messily across her face, her aura turning more vengeful and terrifying by the second!

Ooooo~~ Ooooo~~~~

A piercing cold wind furiously swept across the river surface!

The entire painted boat seemed engulfed in a chilling ghostly aura!

Grinding her teeth, the Ghost King cursed under her breath and from the chest, threw piece after piece of glittering jewelry directly towards the riverbank.

Clang– a gold hairpin,

Clang– a gold ingot,

Clang– a jade bracelet,

Clang– a pair of earrings,

…

Soon, the riverbank was scattered with priceless pieces of gold and silver jewelry. Each piece, however, was shrouded with a wistful ghostly and yin energy as if evil eyes were embedded within them, ceaselessly peering out.

Huang Xiaolong smiled at the group of men. “Last night, it was there that you found the gold and silver jewelry, right?”

The men, shaking uncontrollably, nodded repeatedly.

“Master… that… that beautifully dressed woman from ancient times… is… is she… a ghost?” one man asked, his voice trembling.

Huang Xiaolong chuckled heartily. “Who said she wasn’t? But, having encountered me by mistake, she’s out of luck… Hahaha~~~~ Although she’s not a grim reaper from the netherworld of Dongying, subduing a Ghost King is still a pretty good catch… Hehehe, this way, I now have two Ghost King maids… and they’re both quite beautiful…”

“Hey, can you stop throwing those away?” Finally, Huang Xiaolong took a step out, floating above the riverbank, his body radiating golden light, imposing and overwhelming.

The Ghost King, positioned on the third level of the painted boat, looked down at Huang Xiaolong with a tinge of surprise in her gaze, but she didn’t seem too concerned. “Taoist?”

Huang Xiaolong merely smiled in response. “You, a fierce ghost, throwing things around here and luring souls, you’ve got quite the nerve~~”

Giggling, the Ghost King replied. “You want to subdue me?”

“Subduing you is a given. But heed my advice, don’t resist stubbornly, quickly release the living souls that boarded your boat and don’t provoke my anger,” Huang Xiaolong said, playfully.

“You, a young Taoist, have quite the big talk. You want me to release them? You want to subdue me? Ridiculous!” The Ghost King’s eyes carried a hint of mocking scorn. “You Taoists always talk of punishing evil and eliminating villains, of exorcising demons to defend the path… It’s a pity you have no idea who I am, nor do you understand my injustices, grievances, and sorrows, yet you wish to subdue me… Humph! Completely out of line!”

The Ghost King erupted with ferocious and violent ghostly energy, with terrifying whirlpools forming one after another on the river’s surface. Even the sky, influenced by the ghostly energy, began to unexpectedly shower snowflakes, like fluttering goose feathers!

In a hostile tone, the Ghost King said, “Tell me, who am I! If you can correctly say it, I will release the living souls that boarded just now. But if you can’t, I will claim their lives immediately!”

Huang Xiaolong burst into laughter, his face showing a playful expression. “Is your identity a mystery? You wish to play a guessing game with me? Do you not realize that nothing in this world can be hidden from me? I’ve known your true identity from before. You are none other than the one fallen into a life of woe through a spotless piece of jade, the one entangled in the dust of flowers and willows–”

…

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