Chapter 390: 269: Dare to risk Ma Long's life and pull the female ghost down from her horse!
The old city, Wanda.
Xu Yang was unfamiliar with Taiyuan City on his first visit, but after learning from the internet, he thought this area might be the most prosperous part of the city.
It was a weekend; numerous people were in and out of the shopping mall.
There were small stalls selling cotton candy, fried chicken collarbone, and hosting games like hoop-la. Some youngsters were skateboarding in an open area.
Xu Yang stood at the entrance of the shopping mall.
Next to him were sixteen military spirits.
They still wore filthy tattered uniforms, their faces covered with blood and soot… As they looked in death!
They observed the scene before them with curiosity. Li Ergou even asked, perplexed, “Supreme Sage Xu, do all children in Da Xia afford new clothes nowadays?”
“Can everyone afford steamed buns for every meal now?”
“So many foreign cars on the road… Can ordinary people afford cars now?”
“That’s great!”
A soldier revealed a row of large white teeth and laughed, “We… didn’t die in vain. We just died too early, without establishing a family. Otherwise, our descendants would be enjoying life like this too!”
These military spirits were very curious about the city.
To others, the questions they asked may seem naive.
But Xu Yang felt his eyes well up with tears.
He called Yang Fan and asked the Supernatural Affairs Bureau Jin Province Branch to arrange a large bus. He took the military spirits on a round trip around Taiyuan City.
In the afternoon, when the sunset west, Xu Yang and the military spirits arrived at the “Taiyuan Double Towers Martyrs Cemetery”.
The “Martyrs Cemetery” is located in Yingze District, established in 1954. It covers an area of over 360 acres. Facing west, it consists of 133 steps on the main central axis, which leads to the cemetery area.
The primary architectures of the cemetery area are three memorial halls standing side by side, the main hall is two-story and is used as an urn chamber.
The north hall is the “Gao Junyu Martyr Memorial Exhibition”, and the south hall is the “Revolutionary Martyrs Deeds Display Room”.
After climbing another 49 stone steps, one will enter the main burial area.
Eclipsed by a cluster of Chinese pines and lilacs, the main burial area covers 1.3 ten thousand square meters. The graves are lined up in three tiers, among which is the “Three Martyrs” grave, built of Chinese white jade.
At the south side of the main burial area, where locust trees and cypresses shade the ground, there are 430 martyr graves altogether, among which are 121 nameless martyrs!
Upon entering the Martyrs Cemetery, Xu Yang felt a wave of “righteous aura” washing over him!
Any Yin spirits or malevolent beings found it difficult to approach here.
However, Li Ergou and the others were different!
They were army spirits, heroic spirits, and they deserved to be integrated into the Martyrs Cemetery based on their deeds!
The sixteen army spirits lingered in the Martyrs Cemetery for a long time before they finally followed Xu Yang and left.
Xu Yang said, “I have already informed the Spirits Management Bureau of your names and units. They will discuss with the military and local government about engraving your names in the Martyrs Cemetery. You are the heroes of Da Xia, and you should not be forgotten!”
As they left the Martyrs Cemetery.
Red clouds filled the sky in the distance.
Across from the Martyrs Cemetery was a small park with a beautiful landscape.
The army spirits wanted to have a look, but as soon as they entered the park, they heard a noisy argument.
Li Ergou, who was the youngest amongst them, ran over out of curiosity. Soon, the argument became more intense, and the angry voice of Li Ergou could be heard, “You… You all are people of Da Xia, how could you wear clothes from Little Dongyang? Have you all forgotten the war?”
Xu Yang and the other army spirits exchanged glances and hurried over.
They saw Li Ergou having an argument with a few girls who were taking pictures there.
The girls were dressed in kimonos, accompanied by a sleazy up-looking young male photographer.
One of them looked Li Ergou up and down and sneered, “What, you can cosplay a soldier, but we can’t wear kimonos because that’s unpatriotic?”
There was also an old man.
The previous argument was precisely between him and the girls.
Xu Yang went to the old man and asked about the cause of the dispute.
The old man’s blurry eyes filled with tears as he shook his head, “Things have changed… The sacrifices made by the martyrs of our time seem to mean nothing to the young generation. They are wearing the invaders’ clothes and showing off in front of the Martyrs Cemetery… Get out, all of you!”
The old man moved forward, trying to drive the girls away.
The photographer who was responsible for taking pictures of the girls pushed the old man away and scolded, “What the hell are you trying to do? This is a park, public premises. We are taxpayers, we can come and go as we please. What right do you have to drive us away?”
The old man was aged.
He fell straight to the ground after being pushed.
“Old man!”
“Old man!”
Li Ergou and the other army spirits rushed up.
The photographer sneered, “Oh… So many soldiers’ cosplayers here?”
If Xu Yang had seen this before, he would have felt disgusted, but the most he would do was to condemn them verbally.
However, after experiencing the illusions last night, witnessing that brutal battle, and spending a day with the lovable army spirits, he felt inexplicably vexed.
He took a step forward, stopping Li Ergou and the other army spirits from helping the old man up, “Hold on… The old man is injured, don’t move him… Hello, is this 120? We are at the park opposite the Taiyuan Double Towers Martyrs Cemetery, an old man here just fell and got injured.”
“It’s severe, please come over quickly!”
After calling 120, Xu Yang then turned to the young photographer.
The photographer was wearing a floral shirt and looked around twenty-five to twenty-six. He had long hair tied into a bun at the back and a beard, giving off a vibe of a “rogue artist” from top to toe.
Having heard Xu Yang’s phone call, he lost his temper and yelled, “You motherf**ker are pulling a fast one…”
Smack!
Before he could even finish his sentence, Xu Yang had already appeared in front of him, landing a big slap on his face.
A crisp sound echoed.
The photographer flew up into the air, blood and broken teeth spraying in mid-air. With a bang, he fell heavily into a bed of roses.
Roses had thorns.
Clutching his butt, he jumped up, but was shoved back on to the ground by another slap from Xu Yang.
The girls who had been arrogantly dressed in kimonos were scared out of their minds. One even pulled out a pepper spray and yelled at Xu Yang, “Stay back…stay back…If you come any closer, I’ll scream!”
“Scream what!”
Xu Yang flicked his finger, and a flash of fire whizzed by.
The pepper spray was burnt to ashes right away.
He slapped another girl to the ground and coldly said, “I, Su, don’t hit women…but today…I have no choice!”
Pointing at the Martyrs Cemetery of Taiyuan Double Towers across the road, Xu Yang, with teary eyes said, “The martyrs are resting there. They died defending their homeland. How would they feel if they knew… people like you, whom they fought so hard to protect, were disrespecting their memory and values?”
Smack!
Xu Yang slapped another girl to the ground, sternly saying, “Times have changed… aren’t you afraid that they’ll crawl out of their graves to settle the scores with you?”
The third girl, started crying on the spot.
She tried to rationalize, “I…this…this represents our pursuit of happiness. Maybe the martyrs would be happy to see us like this!”
Smack!
Xu Yang retracted his hand and sent the remaining girls in kimonos falling to the ground, and further kicked them a few times. He then called Yang Fan: “Hey, Director Yang…I need to report a crime.”
“I am at the park opposite the Martyrs Cemetery of Taiyuan Double Towers, and have found some young people dressed in kimonos and taking photos…I believe this to be a serious violation, and it should be severely punished…Should I handle this myself or should the police take over?”
On the other side of the phone,
Inside the office of the director of the Supernatural Affairs Bureau Jin Province Branch, Yang Fan sprung up from his seat and said, “Supreme Sage Xu, don’t worry, I will handle it personally.”
Let Xu Yang handle it himself?
Wouldn’t that end up in a bloody mess?
However, Xu Yang merely said, “Also, there’s an old security guard here who was beaten up by these arrogant youngsters. He is traumatised physically and psychologically. I think an appropriate compensation should be given to him. Let these jerks pool in for it.”
Having said that,
Xu Yang hung up the phone.
He returned to the hotel with the sixteen heroic spirits.
The spirits were not distressed by the incident, but rather they were excitedly discussing their encounters and experiences, showing fascination towards everything.
The peace and prosperity they observed today was the result of the sacrifice they had made in their past lives.
Now, they could only tour their homeland as ‘ghosts’, merely observing the progress.
Originally, Xu Yang intended to send them to Fengdu City.
However, hearing their discussions and seeing their attachments to the mortal world, he hesitated for a moment and asked, “What do you plan to do next?”
Without waiting for the spirits to answer, he continued, “If you decide to go to the underworld, I have some connections there and can help you find a decent position. If you prefer to stay in the mortal world…”
He paused for a moment.
Xu Yang continued, “I manage a Ghost Market in the mortal world. If you wish to stay, I can arrange for a good job in the Ghost Market. You can help me train and manage the underworld soldiers. In your free time, you can explore and enjoy the landscapes of the mortal world.”
Seeing the spirits deep in thought,
Xu Yang stood up and said, “Take some time to decide. Meanwhile, I have asked the hotel to prepare food for you, and it will be served in your rooms. I have some matters to attend to, and we’ll meet tomorrow”.
Arriving at Ma Long’s room,
Xu Yang knocked on the door.
Having slept the entire day, Ma Long was groggy when he opened the door and asked “Xu, what’s up?”
Xu Yang concernedly replied, “You’ve been sleeping all day, not eating anything. How can your body endure this? Come on, let’s go eat something.”
Yawning,
Ma Long, still feeling a bit of back pain from last night suggested, “Why not ask the front desk to send up some food?”
“We’re in Taiyuan City, we can’t waste this opportunity cooped up in the hotel.”
How else would he ‘fish’ if food was sent up to the room?
Xu Yang dragged Ma Long out of the hotel forcefully.
It was already nightfall.
The two men found a random restaurant. After having a satisfying meal, a yawning Ma Long wanted to return to the hotel and sleep. Xu Yang, however, suggested, “It’s not good to sleep right after eating. It can make you fat and cause stomach problems… Ma Long, I know of a famous park nearby, Yingze Lake Garden. Let’s go for a walk!”
They arrived at the park entrance.
Ma Long shuddered, “Xu, why do I feel a chill here? There’s nothing weird about this park, is there?”
He looked up and saw the park shrouded in darkness without a single person in sight, which made him even more sure of his suspicion!
Seeing that there’s no point in hiding anymore,
Xu Yang explained, “Ma Long, I need a favor from you. You possess the Extremely Yin Body, which is highly desired by all yin spirits and malevolent beings. I need you to go into the park, and I’ll wait behind. When the malevolent being appears, I’ll take action and suppress it. What do you think?”
Ma Long: “…”
His eyes widened.
Before allowing Ma Long a chance to speak, Xu Yang elaborated the incident of the ‘Celestial Maiden’ at Yingze Lake Garden.
Upon hearing the whole story, Ma Long suppressed his initial reluctance. Filled with righteous indignation, he declared, “That wicked spirit deserves to die for causing the deaths of so many women…Xu, don’t worry, today I, Ma Long, will serve as your bait!”
He hiked up his trousers and strode into the park.
……
PS: Please support us with your votes and recommendations!