Chapter 406: Ghost City

Li Huowang's mind was utterly confused as he stared at the map that belonged to him. He truly couldn't figure out what was going on.

He could perhaps understand if it were just people, attributing Xinpan's ability to a form of localized hypnosis. But how had even his own map now turned into one of Daqi? How could Xinpan's ability be so strange? He simply couldn't comprehend it.

Was this Daqi another parallel world? Or did Daqi not exist at all, and everything was merely a distortion caused by Xinpan's ability?

"Brother Li, it's getting late. We should leave quickly, or we'll have to sleep outdoors tonight," Zhuge Yuan urged, seeing Li Huowang standing still in a daze.

Li Huowang shifted his gaze from the map and looked again at the pale-faced scholar before him, saying very earnestly, "Brother Zhuge, can you tell me the truth? What exactly is your Xinpan? I truly don't want to guess anymore."

"I cannot say, I cannot say," Zhuge Yuan replied, appearing very calm, as he once again pointed his folding fan towards the sky.

"I'm not asking about its origin; I'm asking what anomalies happen when I'm near you! I simply cannot adapt to this."

Hearing this, Zhuge Yuan spoke as if it were the most natural thing: "Near me? People claiming to be from Daliang always appear around me, claiming that the so-called Daqi was destroyed a thousand years ago. Like you, Brother Li. Of course, I know they are from Daliang, but Daliang is false, and Daqi is real."

"But Daqi is clearly—" Li Huowang stopped himself mid-sentence. Arguing with him further would likely just lead to repeating the same old arguments, and neither of them would be able to convince the other.

"Alright, I won't ask anymore," Li Huowang said, rolling up the map in his hand. "Let's go. I'll follow you to Youdu, the capital of Daqi!"

Along the way, there was still no trace of the Zuowang Dao. If it hadn't been for their previous encounter on Xing Island, Li Huowang would have almost thought that the Zuowang Dao had completely given up on avenging themselves against Zhuge Yuan and had moved on to other things.

With the inn's carriage and as the injuries of the Daqi Supervisory Department recovered, their pace began to quicken.

Even taking shortcuts, it still didn't take long before they finally reached their destination.

The crimson sun slowly rose above the towering, thick city walls. Standing on the carriage roof, Li Huowang slowly exhaled a puff of white breath. "Finally back in Shangjing, or rather... Youdu."

He turned his head and glanced at a group of people in the distance, their eyes welling up with tears, greeting them with open arms. Li Huowang, standing still, seemed utterly out of place.

"Taoist, today is the first day of the month. Remember to eat the black *taisui*, or you'll go mad again," the monk's hallucination spoke, reminding him.

"I know," Li Huowang said. He pulled out his dagger, reached into the carriage, and carved out a large piece of black *taisui*, stuffing it into his mouth and chewing heartily.

"Great Elder, what are you eating? Can this item aid your cultivation?" At this moment, Xiari, who had been secretly observing Li Huowang, could no longer suppress his curiosity and cautiously approached, asking.

Li Huowang ignored the man, climbed back onto the carriage, gave a slight flick of the reins, and the horses pulled the carriage, following Zhuge Yuan's group towards the massive city gate.

Once inside the city walls, Li Huowang carefully observed his surroundings, trying to find any differences from when he had last left.

He found that this so-called Youdu still looked like the Daliang he knew. People came and went on the wide streets, and the shops lining the streets were still the same ones, though some minor details had changed.

"Uncle! Come and play!" A soft, gentle voice reached Li Huowang's ears.

He followed the sound with his gaze and saw that the speaker was a young man with a feminine appearance. He was dressed in thin gauze, almost as if he were nude, and striking seductive poses inside a bamboo cage adorned with red flowers.

"This..." Li Huowang's brows slowly furrowed as he watched the heavily made-up men confined in cages. He distinctly remembered this place used to sell women, but now it was selling men.

"Hmph!" A cold snort came from Elder Qin. He clenched his fists, trembling with what seemed like anger.

Just at that moment, two plump, pale-skinned men descended from a carriage, holding hands. Though they were some distance away, Li Huowang could still smell on them the same scent he remembered from the Chancellor: a strong perfume mixed with a distinct odor of urine.

The two eunuchs completely ignored the stares of others, smiling suggestively as they held hands and walked together into the courtyard called Xunweixuan.

And just then, a white-haired scholar-official emerged from inside. Two exquisite young men, identical in appearance, supported him on either side as they walked towards an ox-cart.

When one of the young men lay on the ground, serving as a stirrup for the scholar-official to step on and enter the ox-cart, they surprisingly didn't leave. Instead, they ducked their heads into the ox-cart and actually left with the scholar-official.

"Outrageous! Truly outrageous!" Elder Qin fumed. "These are all the tricks of those eunuch dogs, turning the entire capital into such a filthy mess! Homosexuality everywhere! It's utterly preposterous!"

"And these people claim such sordid affairs are elegant, bah!" he continued. "A bunch of cowards who've sided with the eunuch dogs, they must have read their holy books to the dogs!"

Elder Qin, who was still recovering from severe injuries, became so agitated that he immediately started panting again. People around him quickly gathered, urging him to leave the area lest he damage his health further.

Watching the people gradually move away, Li Huowang remained standing still, as if waiting for something.

As soon as Zhuge Yuan and his group had walked some distance away, it wasn't long before Li Huowang unexpectedly found that all the seductive men had now turned into women.

Their appearances hadn't changed, but their facial features had become softer and more pronounced, transforming them completely into women.

Li Huowang frowned, reached out a hand, and directly grabbed an old man on the roadside who was carrying firewood into the city to sell. "Is this Daqi or Daliang now?" he asked.

The old man looked at Li Huowang as if he were an idiot. "This city is Shangjing, the capital of Daliang. What do you think?"

"Heh heh..." Li Huowang chuckled softly. It was clear now; it could be confirmed that this change only occurred within a few dozen *zhang* of Zhuge Yuan.

As long as one was within a few dozen *zhang* of him, everything would transform into another kingdom: Daqi.

As for other details, Li Huowang could sense their strangeness, but he truly couldn't articulate them precisely.

As for why this was happening or whether Daqi was real, Li Huowang didn't know yet. He guessed it had something to do with the San Shen Jiu Zhi Shang.

Fortunately, he didn't need to understand too much; it was enough to know that Zhuge Yuan's peculiar ability posed no harm to him.

"Hup!" Li Huowang sharply whipped the horse's rump with the reins in his hand and quickly rode off in the direction Zhuge Yuan had left.