I want you to be my stepping stone

Wen Renlian smiled gently, that smile looked in Jiang Luo's eyes but was a bit unkind, "There is no need to wear women's clothing, I see that the village girls' clothes are just robes around them, there is not much difference between men's and women's clothing."

Jiang Luo was decisive: "No way."

Wen Renlian said pitifully, "But if I go alone, I won't have enough manpower."

Jiang Luo raised his hand and pointed at Zhuo Zhongqiu who was backing up with him, "Zhuo Zhongqiu can't?"

Zhuo Zhongqiu's expression twisted a bit, "Jiang Luo, that's not necessary."

Wen Renlian whispered softly, "Zhongqiu can also, but they only choose girls to enter the ancestral hall, I'm afraid Zhongqiu will be in danger if he goes in, it's safer to be a boy."

Jiang Luo: "......"

Whenever I get upset, I have to bring Chi You up for a scolding.

Fuck Chi You.

......

The others were hustled out the door.

The Dead Ghost stood next to Lu Youyi with his knife in his hand, staring into the room, and wondered without expression, "What are they doing?"

"They're doing a very painful thing," Lu Youyi said, "and mainly Jiang Luo will be in pain."

The dead ghost frowned and was about to break into the house, Lu Youyi pulled him back in time, "Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to protect my friends," Deadshot looked back at him, "you don't want to leave me? It's okay, you can come in with me to save people, I'll protect you."

Lu Youyi : "...... really can't see the original you are this kind of character."

"What kind of personality? Chatty or righteous?" The Dead Ghost tried to laugh a little, but his paralyzed face only managed a stiff twitch at the corners of his lips as he frowned strangely, forcing a twisted smile, "I'm also very smiley."

Liao Si, eavesdropping: "......"

This is definitely not the Teng Bi he knows.

Lu Youyi winced, "Deadbeat, I'm begging you to stop laughing! They're in the middle of something, you can't go in there and disturb them!"

"What business?" Deadshot said, "I can't stand by and watch my friend suffer like this."

Lu Youyi looked odd, "You want to take the pain for Jiang Luo?"

It's as if he's holding back a laugh.

The Dead Ghost nodded, rightfully so, "We are all his friends, and friends must share the same difficulties."

Zhuo Zhongqiu and Ge Zhu, who were standing nearby, immediately applauded, "Good!"

They pushed Dead Ghost and Lu Youyi into the room, and Ge Zhu said with sighs of admiration, "You're worthy of being good friends. I'll leave the adventure to the shrine to the four of you, and leave the rest to us, we'll wait outside to meet you."

Lu Youyi skeptical: "No, no, I didn't say that, I didn't mean that!"

They were pushed right into the house.

Wenren Lian, who was grooming Jiang Luo's face, raised his head at the sound of his voice and revealed a pleased smile, "Welcome to this operation."

He shook his hand and loose powder streaked through the air as Wenren Lian looked at Lu Youyi and the Dead Ghost, one taller and more robust than the other, and said sincerely, "I'll try my best to make you into a pretty girl."

Jiang Luo opened one eye to look at them, snorted, and leered, "Buddy enough."

It was a time-consuming task to make up the three men to the extent that they could be mistaken for the real ones. Jiang Luo was the only one who could do it quickly and well, with his outstanding looks and the declining sun in the west, after covering up the growing vigor between his brows and eyes, he was able to achieve the goal of being indistinguishable from a male.

Ge Zhu and Zhuo Zhongqiu borrowed four sets of local clothes for them, luckily the clothes were as Wen Renlian said, sort of unisex, with a blouse plus a robe, and the difference in male and female attire wasn't too great.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, it was all over. By the time Jiang Luo and his group came out of the house, Ge Zhu was already bored with waiting.

After seeing the effect on Jiang Luo, they had a refreshing sense of amazement, "Jiang Luo, you're really too good."

The black-haired youth's hair was loosely braided and casually rested on his left shoulder. The corners of his crimson lips were slightly raised, and he was so rich and smoldering that he was looking forward to it.

Enough so that others subconsciously ignore his purposely concealed gender identity.

The clothes fit surprisingly well, and the waist was gently tucked in with blush-inducing curves.

Jiang Luo curled his lips into a smile, revealing the two Lu Youyi and Dead Ghost behind him in a good mood.

Everyone else: "...... poof."

Lu Youyi put on women's clothes but let loose, he said suspiciously, "What kind of eyes are you all looking at, don't we look good?"

Ge Zhu Shinobu laughed until his face cramped, "Good looking, very good looking."

Lu Youyi's looks were already on the handsome side, and his figure was tall, so when he was dressed like this, it could only be described as incongruous. But compared to the living dead next to him, he also became able to enter the eyes.

The living dead's features are heavy and cold. At this time, a woman's clothes, but also put on a large thick makeup, the lines of the five features did not soften on how much, on the contrary, it looks funny and funny, so that people can not help but laugh.

Wenren Lian said helplessly through his laughter, "I tried my best."

It was almost time, so they stowed some of their self-defense tools on their person and quietly made their way out the door.

The doors of every house were closed, and only young girls were walking through the village. Each soft and beautiful face wore a shy and timid smile, they had excitement in their eyes and peach cheeks.

Jiang Luo's four men mixed in, but did not attract much attention. Because the girls no longer had the heart to pay attention to the others, their breathing was slightly shortened, nervousness and anticipation occupied all their minds.

At 6 p.m., the front of the shrine was already full of young girls.

Although there were many young girls, there were only a few dozen in total. In order not to be found wrong, Jiang Luo several people deliberately stood in a remote corner.

The village headman came in a hurry and stood at the front together waiting for the shrine to open its doors.

He looked even more nervous than the girls, walking back and forth, the sweat pouring out of his head and being wiped off roughly.

The sky was suddenly covered with a thick, dark cloud.

The door of the shrine slowly opened, and the divine Lord, dressed in black, walked out from it. The village chief hurriedly greeted him and invited the Divine Lord to sit down on the seat in front of him.

The God Duke's black hood covered his face, his voice was low, his voice as dry and hoarse as if it had been destroyed, "Tell them to come over one by one and give their birthdates."

The village chief was busy nodding his head and walked to the front of the group of girls and said, "One by one, go to the Godfather and report your birthdate and eight characters in front of the Godfather, and you will answer whatever the Godfather asks you to answer, this opportunity is very rare, so cherish it!"

One by one, the girls standing in the front row stepped forward and walked past the god-duke.

Shen Gong kept his head down, making one wonder if he was even looking at the girls. After occasionally opening his mouth and leaving a few girls standing to his left, he didn't say anything else.

The girls in front of them soon went through the process, and Jiang Luo found that the girls who had been left on the left side of the Godfather were all overjoyed, while those who hadn't been left behind by the exit already had tears in their eyes and were shaking with fear.

The girls who were left behind, without exception, gave birthdates that were extremely yin.

Sure enough, there's something odd.

Jiang Luo's heart was clear, and when he came forward, he lowered his head to avoid the village chief's sight, and lowered his voice to report the date of birth with a very heavy Yin qi.

According to common sense, he should have been left behind as well. But the God Duke did not follow common sense and asked with a raspy voice, "What is your name?"

Jiang Luo paused and chose a name common in the village, "Cuihua."

Shen Gong Dao: "There's already a girl named Cuihua just now."

The village chief looked at Jiang Luo twice in doubt, these girls who pledged themselves to the god didn't go out much on weekdays and didn't have much contact with other men. He really didn't remember a few girls named Cuihua in the village, but the village chief didn't suspect anything and explained for Jiang Luo, "Godfather, you know the girls in our village, there are a few with that name every year."

Shen Gong: "Is that so?"

He stood up with his cane and walked slowly to Jiang Luo.

A pair of feet appeared in front of Jiang Luo's eyes with his head down.

Black shoes, black robes, the Godfather is wrapped tightly. What is even more rare is that Jiang Luo's height is already one meter eight high, but the Godfather with a walking stick is even half a head taller than him.

Reaching out a hand wrapped in black cloth from within his black robe, Shen Gong lifted Jiang Luo's chin and seemed to scrutinize it for a moment, "But why do I think this person looks a bit familiar?"

Jiang Luo's heart jumped, and his eyes lifted up to see a bit of pale lower jaw exposed under the cap of the God Duke's black robe.

The lower jaw looked even more lifelessly bleak against the black cap, curving sharply and perfectly.

There is something vaguely familiar to Jiang Luo.

The God Duke's hand went down and pinched Jiang Luo's cheeks from bottom to top, and his voice was unpleasantly hoarse, "Are you really from Deep Earth Village?"

Jiang Luo showed a harmless smile, "Divine Lord, of course I am from Deep Earth Village."

"And what would you do," the god-duke's hand moved to Jiang Luo's shoulder and pressed down hard, "would you do to serve the gods?"

Jiang Luo's shoulders ached, as if his bones were about to be crushed. Cold sweat broke out on the tip of his nose as he calmly said, "I will."

The village headman panicked, "Don't worry, Divine Lord, all the girls in our village have learned how to serve the gods, they all know how to do it, there isn't a single person who doesn't know how to do it, and one does it better than the other."

"I'm still relieved that the village head is doing his job," the Godfather said slowly, "after all, he's never made a mistake in previous years."

A fierce joy suddenly erupted on the village head's face, as if he had been given a new life, and he was full of spring, "This year, too, there will surely be no problems."

The Divine Lord nodded and glanced at Jiang Luo again, and after a moment's thought, he said, "He's it, everyone else go back."

At these words, the girls who had not been chosen showed despair, and more than half of them even fell to the ground with white eyes and powerlessness.

Jiang Luo glanced back at his companion, and Wenren along with him made silent gestures of reassurance.

He nodded calmly and followed the God Duke and the village chief into the middle of the shrine.

He wasn't so scared, but mainly curious as to what secrets were hidden within this village's ancestral hall.

The shrine opened a crack, the door was dark, Jiang Luo three people in turn into the door after the heavy door slammed, the last trace of light was blocked out of the door.

The Godfather led the way at the front, with Jiang Luo in the center, followed by the village headman. After stepping into the darkness, Jiang Luo's eyes adjusted for a while and he was able to see the shrine clearly in the darkness.

The shrine was divided into two parts, the inner and outer parts, the outer part was empty, with nothing but an offering table. Strangely enough, there were only incense burners and joss sticks on the offering table, not a single sculpture of a deity or a drawing paper of a deity.

They walked from the exterior to the interior, which held several dull candles. The god-duke picked up one of the candlesticks, pulled up a secret door in the floor, and with a sidelong glance said quietly, "Follow me."

The candlelight cast bright shadows on his face, the room was eerie, and the mayor's voice quivered as he answered, "Good."

The secret passage was a long, continually descending staircase of stone.

Jiang Luo didn't know how long he had been walking down, only that the candle in the Godfather's hand had burned a third of the way down. The sound of footsteps echoed in the empty secret passage, clearly the footsteps of three people, but sounded like a dozen people generally noisy.

Finally, they stepped onto level ground.

After stepping onto level ground, there was finally light on both sides of the wall. Shen Gong blew out the candle flame in his hand and put it aside, supporting his walking stick and continuing forward without haste.

Jiang Luo's skeptical eyes rested on him.

The black robe concealed the appearance of the Divine Lord, if the Divine Lord had always been dressed like this, did that mean that everyone within the Deep Earth Village had never seen the Divine Lord's true appearance?

Is it true that by donning such a black robe, one can impersonate a god-duke?

In the middle of thinking, Jiang Luo heard the sound of water flowing faintly, and there was an underground river hidden underneath. As they went deeper and deeper, the underground river revealed its true face.

The dim light illuminated clearly the underground river channel that was fully two meters wide. The current in the river channel was fast and furious, and some of the tumbling water wetted the mud deposits on the banks on both sides, becoming a wet swampy texture.

The river had no idea how deep it was, and there was no bridge here. The godly male walking in front of him suddenly sidestepped out of the way and whispered, "Bride of God, please go first."

The address made Jiang Luo's eyelids jump, and he ignored that unpleasant little detail as he asked, "How do I get there?"

But it was as if he had said something stupid, causing the God Duke to burst out laughing, a dry, treacherous, creepy, eerie laugh, "Walking on your feet, of course."

Jiang Luo's teeth itched.

There was only one person in the whole fucking world who was this shifty and could stir up all his anger with just a laugh.

-- Chi You.

This is the first time Jiang Luo has met Chi You since the last time she went crazy in a hotel.

He hadn't finished avenging the last time.

Jiang Luo gave a short, cold laugh, "You're the God Duke, the servant beside God, aren't you."

The village chief was shocked, "Cuihua, how can you say that!"

"Isn't it?" Jiang Luo raised his eyes to Chi You, tricky malice pouring out of him as he blandly said, "Are you going to deny that you are a servant of God?"

The God Kung spun his cane and said slowly, "I am."

"If that's the case, you're still telling me to just get in the water and go?" Jiang Luo frowned, nonchalantly, "Is this what a servant like you should do?"

More importantly, Jiang Luo found many ghosts in the river.

One after another, the ghosts and shadows were swept away by the current, and a new batch washed in. Underneath the blackened river, these ghosts were in various shapes, struggling to reach out and try to climb upwards, but they were trapped by the river and could only fall back down into the water in despair.

These are drowned ghosts, also known as water ghosts.

Drowned ghosts and hanged ghosts cannot be reincarnated, and must be pulled in as scapegoats in order to free themselves. If Jiang Luo puts one foot in the water, he is afraid that he will be pulled into the water by hundreds of ghosts to become their scapegoat.

Shen Gong faced him, his face covered by a black hat as if he could see Jiang Luo through his robe, "What do you want?"

"You jump," Jiang Luo slightly raised his chin, his face cold, "to be my stepping stone across the river."

The village chief sucked in a breath of cold air, he had forgotten everything he had said and looked at Jiang Luo in near horror.

The God Duke slowly gripped the scepter and gently released it again. The slender scepter became a plaything in his hands, and although his hands were wrapped in black cloth, his every move was so careless that one could not take his eyes off it.

"You're right," Ryoko said, as the kami communally took on the honorific, and he seemed to smile a little, "You really shouldn't be in the water yourself in your position."

After speaking, the Divine Lord stepped into the river under the village head's incredulous gaze.

Jiang Luo could see clearly that the moment the Godfather stepped into the water, those water ghosts, like wild beasts that had been starving for years and had finally smelled the meat, rushed towards the Godfather with the hunger of a tiger. But the moment several pairs of ghostly hands touched Lord Shen, they suddenly retreated like a tidal wave. They looked as if they had seen something extremely terrifying, and the water ghosts that were closest to the Godfather even went crazy and desperately dug back.

In an instant, the water around the god-duke became dry and clean.

The God-Kung straightened his arm and thrust his walking stick into the earth on the other side as he humbly said, "You please."

Jiang Luo gave him a meaningful look, took a big step away, and stepped on top of Shen Gong's shoulder.

The Godfather stood straight, without a single wobble, and this "bridge" was much more stable than some suspension bridges.

Jiang Luo was about to continue stepping on him, but several pairs of miserable white ghost hands suddenly came up on his ankles.

The water ghosts, who had been so afraid just then, gathered around again, ignoring the god-duke at Jiang Luo's feet, and greedily and eagerly tried to drag Jiang Luo into the water.

Jiang Luo can't move a single step as he's being dragged.

He glanced at the eyewitness and snorted, pulling his leg stiffly out of one of the many ghostly claws and jumping one step onto the opposite bank.

Shen Gong and the village head went ashore one after another, Jiang Luo realized that when the village head went into the water, those water ghosts did not go to move the village head. But it is not that they are afraid of God Gong generally dare not move, but there is no reaction, as if the village chief has ...... been a dead man.

The three of them walked a little further and reached the middle of a shrine.

An underground shrine is two or three times larger than above ground.

Candle flames flickered inside the shrine, pulling out shadows of varying lengths on the floor and illuminating some of the murals on the walls. But what attracted more attention than the murals was a statue of a god sitting cross-legged inside the shrine.

No, it was more like a statue of an evil god than a statue of a god.

The idol was carved in stone, and his rough face wore the same stereotypical smile as on the mask. His left hand was coiled with a lotus flower erected in front of his body, and his eyes were closed and curved up as if he were smiling. The features were roughly benevolent, but there was always a sense of eeriness that followed him, and his lips were pulled downwards as if they contained blood, with several traces of blood that had already dried up.

The colors on the idol's body were also weird, the whole thing seemed to be a painted idol, but the feet were on the black and white shade. There was also a trail of blood at the intersection of color and black and white.

However, the village headman acted as if he didn't feel the strangeness; he looked at the idol with fiery eyes, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed three times, muttering continuously in his mouth.

"God ......"

The divine eunuch ignored his actions and went forward to burn three sticks of incense for the idol, the smoke rising ethereally as he said faintly, "Tie him up."

Put who?

Jiang Luo raised his eyebrows and looked sideways with a feeling in his heart, the village headman had already pulled out a coil of twine from his arms and was walking towards him with sinister eyes.