“You should say it earlier. You do come to the right place to search for the Evil King of Ghosts!”

Manniang puffed at the pipe again, and the smoke slowly spread from her mouth. She peeked at Rongnuan for several times, and Rongnuan was shocked to try his best to make himself more invisible behind Ronghua and grasped her clothes firmly.

Ronghua had to hold his hand to comfort him. Fortunately, her hand was not very cold.

You Yue was puzzled. Why did the Evil King of Ghost need to find her sister, since he had such a noble title as the Emperor of Fengdu?

“Ronghua, is the Evil King of Ghosts indeed the Emperor of Fengdu? If yes, how would he….”

You Yue stopped talking on second thought, but Ronghua had understood. How could someone with such an identity have connections with her sister? The person he wanted to find might not be her sister.

“Who was taking charge of the souls here?”

Manniang picked up a piece of paper and chuckled when she heard the question, “Who else it could be? The Emperor of Fengdu, of course. Only he had the power to be in charge of such things, instead of us.”

After that, Ronghua reckoned, “When did he begin to be the Emperor of Fengdu?”

“Huh?” You Yue turned to look at her, confusedly, “Haven’t he been the Emperor of Fengdu all the time?”

“Of course not!” Jun Lang suddenly answered her. It was the first time that Jun Lang spoke since they came into the house, and You Yue was shocked. “It is the unchanged rule that only the strongest is qualified to be the Emperor of Fengdu. Apparently, he defeated the last one and took over that position.”

Hence the Emperor of Fengdu was just a temporary title of the Evil King of Ghosts. He was powerful enough to sit on the throne now, but not forever. It made sense. A person could do everything if he were strong enough.

“So who was in charge before him?” Ronghua went on with her question.

Manniang replied indifferently, “Of course it was that deathless old woman, Meng Suona. She handed over everything to the Evil King of Ghosts after he became the ruler and started to guard a tree in her yard all day. She’s so weird!”

“Meng Suo….”

“What? Do you know her?”

Manniang looked surprised, “I’ve never thought that there’s someone still know this deathless old woman nowadays!”

Ronghua stood up, “Her old name is not Meng Suona, right?”

“Huh? How could it be possible? She has always been called Meng Suona. She’s now the owner of Future Life Drunkery. Her wine sells well!” She kept smoking but avoided eye contact with Ronghua.

Ronghua lowered her head and chuckled, “The deathless old woman, Meng Suona. It’s a very vicious nickname. I wondered why those people dared to disobey me to do such things. It turned out that they had supporters behind. Shenyuan, I won’t believe that you know nothing about this!”

After saying so, Manniang put down her pipe and scanned Ronghua. It seemed that she wanted to get some information from Ronghua’s face, but she did not observe any change in her expression after a long time.

“Ronghua….” Rongnuan pulled Ronghua’s clothes at her back and rolled his eyes to indicate that he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

He noticed that Manniang kept staring at Ronghua’s face, so he was disgruntled.

Ronghua glanced at him, covered his eye with her hand, and reassured, “Wait a moment. We still have things to be finished here. You can sleep for a while if you’re tired.”

Rongnuan nodded.

“So, what do you pay for the information?”

Manniang picked up her pipe to smoke again. Ronghua glimpsed at her, “Pay?”

Manniang was stunned, “Of course. Do you think I give you the information for free? You must give the equivalent things for exchange, and no credit is given at my shop!”

Ronghua smiled without response.

Manniang took a puff at her pipe, “What? You want to take it for free?”

Ronghua sneered and turned back to order Jun Lang, “Close the door!”

Manniang was bewildered, “Why did you close the door? My shop is still open.”

As she said so, she waved her hand, and the door was opened again. However, the scenery outside was changed. Manniang looked at the exterior, and her face changed sharply.

“Miss, what are you doing. Here is not....”

“Not what?”

Ronghua interrupted her, “Not the Ghost Town but the Future Life Drunkery?”

Manniang walked to the back of the counter and sat down, “I don’t know what you are talking about. Here is just a small and common shop but not the Future Life Drunkery.”

Ronghua smiled.

“Or, I should call you— Meng Suona.”

Clang! Manniang smashed one end of her pipe on the table heavily.

Ronghua just wagged a finger as she saw the fury that Manniang presented, “I have no way now that you don’t believe it. Listen. Since we entered Fengdu, all of our actions should be under your monitoring. You said that this place was under the control of Meng Suona before the Evil King of Ghosts became the Emperor of Fengdu. Nevertheless, how could Meng Suona be willing to concede her failure and relinquish all her power as she had been in Fengdu for thousands of years?”

Manniang restarted to smoke, “This is only your speculation.”

“On a street not far from here, an old woman was squatting at the corner with a small basket next to her feet. Her vacuous vision was cast to the ghosts who passed by occasionally. She was like a lonely elder in the human world who came out and set up a stall to earn a living. She looked so poor, and I was within an inch of being moved.”

Jun Lang could not help glancing at her and thought, “Were you moved? It’s good enough that you did not kill her.”

“The first thing that old woman did, when we entered Fengdu, was shouting to us. I think she’s not able to see. Otherwise, she would not make such a disgusting gesture towards Rongnuan. Besides, she grinned with her yellow teeth and yelled, ‘Life-returning Pill is available. Life-returning Pill is available.’”

Manniang suddenly could not sit still, “So what? It’s not strange here.”

Ronghua leaned closer to her, “It’s not strange, but I discovered that there were such figures like her staring at us at intervals, which was just the same as stalking.”

“Moreover, Life-returning Pills are so rare even in the human world, while she dared to say it aloud. Wasn’t she afraid of being robbed?”

Hearing her words, Manniang replied with a frightening voice, “Don’t you know that your life might shorter if you always put your finger in another’s pie?” Her voice was as raucous as a metal plate of iron scraping on the bone. Rongnuan got goosebumps and hugged Ronghua’s arm tightly. Though he was frightened, he still knew who was more terrible!

Then, Manniang returned to the normal state, “Those things are common in Fengdu, and it doesn’t matter to lose a few,” she said indifferently, “And those figures you saw all have a bad reputation. The ones who just come into the Ghost Town like you or ghosts are their targets.”

Ronghua could not help dragging Ronghua’s clothes again, “Huahua, leave. Let’s go!”

Manniang laughed loudly, “You’re afraid. Let me tell you. The more you are scared, the quicker you will die at this place.”

After that, Rongnuan was even more afraid, and he hugged Ronghua so tightly that he was almost entirely stuck to her. Ronghua had no way but comfort him, “It’s fine. She’s lying. No one can bring you away when I’m here, and you have enough cultivation now. There’s no need to be afraid.”

Then she turned to speak to Manniang strictly, “Those should already be caught if they were detected by the ghost officers. However, they are fine till now. It proves that someone gave them the right to do such things. At this place, another one who can exercise such rights apart from the Evil King of Ghosts is— Meng Suona!”

Rongnuan got the words of comfort, so he just hid behind Ronghua quietly and did not look around with anxiety anymore.

“Though Meng Suona has handed over all her rights as a ruler, it doesn’t mean that she has nothing left! Those figures belong to her, right? They do not have eyes, so they gather in this way to spy every corner of Fengdu!”

Manniang knew she could not conceal it and did not want to explain too much about it, so she just put down her pipe and asked, “What the hell do you want?”

Manniang looked at her in an unfriendly way, but Ronghua waved her hand and said, “I want to do nothing. I just need to see her and have some questions to ask!”

Manniang smoked and reckoned for a moment, “Please wait outside and come in later!”

Rongnuan pulled Ronghua out of the shop in a hurry before she finished her sentence. Ronghua could not help chortling for his scared look.

The exterior of the house did not have any change, but they all know it was not the same one. There was a strange tree growing near the door. It seemed that the tree was dead, while it had tender shoots. The lantern hanging under the eaves was not white but cyan and always shone with uncomfortable lights.

Suddenly, the door opened. A kid craned his neck to show his head behind the door. The word ‘Wine’ was stuck to his forehead. He said in a way that mismatched his age, “Master is waiting. Guests are welcomed!”

Jun Lang stood next to Ronghua, “Do we have to go in?”

Ronghua did not hesitate, “Why not.”

As she moved, Rongnuan naturally took her hand and went with her. You Yue was timid, so she would not stay outside as the strongest one among them had stepped in.

Ronghua walked ahead and pushed the door. The door creaked as it opened, and the smell of sandalwood came out, which was quite different from the previous smell inside.

As soon as they entered, a woman’s silvery voice came from the inner room, “Pass over all the annoyance in this mortal life. Sever the grace and love from both sides. What’s the urgent matter of our distinguished guests?”

Ronghua lifted her chin to hint Jun Lang to shut the door. The curtain of the inner room was forced apart by hand, and a demure and elegant woman walked out. She wore a long blue dress made from brocade, and the white floral pattern was sewed on it. Her slim waist was wrapped with a lunar white brocade belt, only a white jade hairpin fixed some of her black hair, and the rest was loosened and waved as she moved. Her face was wearing light makeup. Although her dressing was simple, they could still feel her elegance. It also made her look thin and have a sense of sadness.

However, that sense was broken by her expressionless face.

“What matter do you find me for?”

Ronghua was not implicit either. She did a finger snap, and the fire of nothingness lit, “I have a question for you.”

The woman’s wan face grew paler as seeing it, “The fire of nothingness!”

Her eyes focused on the flame, and she said with a numb but silvery voice, “Your Grace.”

Then she knelt and asked with respect, “What did Your Grace come for?”

“I can’t afford your courtesy. It’s very troublesome to find you now. It has even become so inconvenient to see you, Meng Suona. The name is totally changed. You thought I could not find you in this way?” Ronghua said politely, “I just want to ask if you lived well after you left that place? How does it feel to control the life-and-death-recording book?”

Ronghua threw a piece of paper to her.

She grabbed it, and the sweat dripped from her forehead unconsciously. She could feel the freezing air around Ronghua from a distance and had to read the paper.

Nevertheless, she was attracted by the content when she read it.

“Your Grace, is this the person you are searching for?” she asked with disbelief.

“Yes!”

Hearing that, she looked embarrassed, “I had the information if Your Grace came a little earlier, but now...”

Ronghua frowned, “What’s the problem?”

“She... she’s gone!”