Chapter 1327: The Carriage Appears

“Midnight tonight, a carriage appears at Pine Tree Town!”

A teatime later, a bloody line of text appeared on the Annon Sutra.

“So, the Yin Horse Carriage is going to make an appearance at Pine Tree Town tonight, huh?” Ye Qing remarked while rubbing his nose. He was, in fact, aware of Pine Tree Town. Located at Chang Shan commandery, it was thousands of kilometers away from White Horse, which was located at Luo Shui.

This fit the Yin Horse Carriage’s modus operandi though. Thirty years ago, the commandery and two counties that were beset by it were thousands of kilometers apart as well.

To put it simply, the Yin Horse Carriage’s time and place of appearance followed no pattern.

“Where did the Yin Horse Carriage take Fang Xiaoman, Gu Suitang, Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai?”

This took more time and more blood offering as it was a more difficult question. It took an entire incense stick before the Annon Sutra produced three words: Void Stomach City.

“Void Stomach City?”

Ye Qing frowned. He had never heard of this place.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The Yin Horse Carriage carried its passengers to many places. It could be dangerous, anomalous places that existed in reality. It could be illusory, mysterious places that did not exist in reality. It could even be some place that used to exist in the past, but no longer.

The Void Stomach City was one such example.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Qing asked a third question, “Where is Void Stomach City?”

“A place that is real but isn’t real, an illusion but not an illusion.”

That was the Annon Sutra’s answer.

It was a useless answer. Or at least, not one that Ye Qing could understand.

“How do I go to Void Stomach City?” Ye Qing asked again.

This time, the Annon Sutra neither gave him a vague answer nor took too much time to produce it either. It was once again three words: Yin Horse Carriage.

It almost meant that—for the last two questions at least—he wasted all that blood for nothing.

Of course Ye Qing knew that the Yin Horse Carriage could take him to the Void Stomach City. The problem was there was no guarantee that the Yin Horse Carriage would do so, or if it did, whether it would arrive on time. What if it reached his destination two bloody months later? His colleagues would be long dead by then.

That was why Ye Qing was trying to see if there was a way to reach Void Stomach City and rescue his colleagues without going through the Yin Horse Carriage. Alas, his prayers fell on deaf ears.

“Screw it, let’s go to Blue Pine Town first.”

Ye Qing made his decision after thinking for a while longer. He could ponder more about his options after he found his transport.

A dozen breaths later, Papersmith and Faceless appeared at the entrance of White Horse.

“Did you find something, young master?” Papersmith asked after showing himself.

Ye Qing replied, “Mm. They ran into the Yin Horse Carriage.”

“The Yin Horse Carriage?”

Papersmith had clearly heard of the Stranger before because he frowned immediately. “That’s not good.”

“It’s fine. I have a plan.”

Ye Qing did not explain further. He instructed, “Papersmith, you will come with me to Blue Pine Town. Faceless, you will head back to Luo Shui and await my orders.”

It did not need to be said, but this adventure to Void Stomach City was going to be a dangerous one. Papersmith was a Sage and would be a huge help to him, but Faceless? Yeah, the guy was just a burden, so he left him behind.

“Yes, young master,” Papersmith and Faceless answered without asking unnecessary questions.

“Let’s go.”

Ye Qing did not dilly-dally. He immediately set off toward his destination with Papersmith.

Although Blue Pine Town was thousands of kilometers away from White Horse, this little bit of distance was nothing for Ye Qing or Papersmith. It took them only four hours to reach their destination.

Compared to Luo Shui, Chang Shan of Long Xi was much less prosperous. This was doubly true for Blue Pine Town. Its population was few, and its people lived in poverty and suffering. There were less than a thousand people in the entire town.

This was good news for Ye Qing though.

“Papersmith, take everyone in Blue Pine Town and settle them elsewhere. Then, populate the town with your paper dolls.”

Despite their speed, it was already late evening by the time they arrived at Blue Pine Town. The sky was dark and mostly cloudy.

“At once, young master.”

Papersmith responded affirmatively and waved his hand. A massive residence abruptly appeared above Blue Pine Town.

The residence was pure white in color. The entrance was guarded by a male and a female paper doll. Both paper dolls were carrying a lantern that burned with a cold candlelight.

“Who dares to trespass into Blue Pine Town?”

A few figures immediately jumped into the sky. Clearly, the officials and Pacification Bureau members guarding Blue Pine Town had sensed the danger and were trying to stop it.

“Noisy.”

Papersmith grunted, and the paper boy and paper girl at the entrance smiled eerily. The lanterns they were holding suddenly grew much brighter and cast its cold light across the entire town.

Both the officials and the Pacification Bureau members instantly felt as if something was robbing them of their consciousness. They fell unconscious before they could do anything.

The next moment, they were whisked into the residence by the cold, dark light.

Meanwhile, the townspeople still had no idea what was happening. One moment, they noticed that the sky was unusually bright. The next moment, the cold, dark light put them all to sleep and sucked them into the residence.

Just a few breaths later, the entire Blue Pine Town was devoid of people.

The residence flew to a hidden valley about fifty kilometers away from Blue Pine Town and landed there.

After the residence disappeared, an unbelievable amount of paper dolls rushed out of Papersmith’s sleeve and landed on the ground. They then transformed into men, women, old people and young people.

After that, the paper dolls spread out and took over the town. Some of them returned “home” to cook dinner, some were yelling for customers from their stalls, some were walking into restaurants to eat, some were walking into gambling dens to gamble and more.

Just like that, Pine Tree Town had regained its former vibrance.

“Old Zhang, your mastery in paper puppets is truly astounding.”

Ye Qing praised from the bottom of his heart after seeing this. The paper dolls in Blue Pine Town were practically indistinguishable from real humans. If he hadn’t witnessed Papersmith casting the spell with his own eyes, he certainly would not believe that they were all paper dolls.

Even at his current level and insight, he could not tell that the “humans” were paper dolls unless they were within a certain range.

The reason he had Papersmith do all this was to protect the innocent civilians, of course. They were absolutely going to die a horrible death if they were delivered into whatever bizarre location the Yin Horse Carriage had chosen. It was one thing if he did not know their plight, but since he did and could do something about it, of course he was going to save them.

Therefore, his plan was to have Papersmith deliver the townspeople to safety. Then, Papersmith would use his paper dolls to masquerade as the townspeople. Hopefully, this would be enough to trick the Yin Horse Carriage.

“It’s just a petty trick. It does not deserve your praise.”

Papersmith said humbly, “I wonder if it’ll be enough to trick the Yin Horse Carriage?”

“I don’t know. We can only pray for the best.”

There was no guarantee that the switcheroo would be enough to trick the Yin Horse Carriage and save the townspeople. In fact, it was very possible that his action would alert the Yin Horse Carriage and cause it to take unpredictable actions.

Still, what should be done must be done.

“Come, let’s grab a drink while we wait for our quarry.”

Ye Qing and Papersmith entered Blue Pine Town and found a quaint little restaurant. They began satiating themselves after the paper dolls carried two jars of fine wine and a few dishes to the table.

Night came quickly. When the moon reached the center of the sky, and the midnight gong was struck, a thick, black fog rushed in from the distance and engulfed the entire Blue Pine Town in just the blink of an eye.

“Here it comes...”

Ye Qing and Papersmith exchanged a somewhat severe look with each other.

Ye Qing had personally witnessed the power of the black fog thanks to the Three-Day Violet, but he realized now that he still underestimated it.

The black fog could not just isolate one’s six senses, it could also invert them and make them incapable of distinguishing what was fake and what was real.