Moreover, that water jelly from earlier was not eaten in vain. The Tray Ghost felt its mind clearer, and its ghostly essence purified.

It resisted the urge to talk excessively, directed the short ghost to stick closely to the Daoist Soldier, and together with it, looked towards the Old Black-tongued Ghost.

The Old Black-tongued Ghost glanced at the Little Long-tongued Ghost without joy or sadness, then let out a "hey" and began to speak of its experiences in the Mortal World:

"When it comes to refining Jiao Dragons, you may not believe my words easily, but if I mention a certain someone, I'm afraid you'll have no choice but to believe."

"Who? Who is it?" the ghosts immediately clamored.

"What kind of person makes it such that we should believe they can refine Jiao Dragons just by mentioning them?"

"You talk big; go on and tell us!"

The ghostly beings were all abuzz, chattering and clamoring, all filled with excitement.

The life-and-death dispute of the Long-tongued Ghost Market unfolded invisibly amidst the shouts and arguments.

Chen Xu was observing all this and realized that even if the ghosts hadn't wagered their ghostly lifespan beforehand, due to the debate unfolding now, the battle over ghostly lifespan had already begun.

This is the nature of the Long-tongued Ghost Market.

To remain silent in such an atmosphere is truly incredibly difficult.

At this moment, the Old Black-tongued Ghost stood alone against all the other ghosts, seemingly just telling stories and debating truth and falsehood, but in reality, it was already wagering its life against theirs.

The Old Black-tongued Ghost was extraordinarily calm and waited for the other ghosts to finish clamoring before saying, "The person I'm referring to, most of you would know. Let me start with his name, then his identity.

This person is called Xie Huaizheng."

The moment the name Xie Huaizheng was mentioned, the other ghosts fell silent for a moment.

After a brief pause, the ghosts started chattering again:

"Xie Huaizheng? That name sounds somewhat familiar! Who is it?"

"Old Black-tongued Ghost, you boast grandly, only to mention a name we don't recognize at all. What game are you playing? What's the point?"

Some ghosts even sneered, "What Xie Huaizheng? Such a peculiar name, Old Black-tongued Ghost, you must not think randomly making up a name can scare us. We absolutely won't believe that…"

The Old Black-tongued Ghost calmly said, "Just by saying Xie Huaizheng, you don't know who he is. But ten years ago, the imperial envoy of the river, Mr. Xie, do you remember?"

The four words "imperial envoy of the river" immediately changed the atmosphere.

Just the title "Xie, the imperial envoy," was enough to strike the ghosts as if hit by a thunderbolt.

The Daoist Soldier observed closely, and in an instant, saw incredibly rich expressions on the faces of the ghosts.

Rich to what extent?

An old ghost with a face full of wrinkles shivered the moment he heard the words "Xie, the imperial envoy."

His eyes widened suddenly, as if recalling something he could never forget in his life.

Fear, terror, pain, shame, anger, distortion... various emotions surged onto his face, causing his facial wrinkles to crease, suddenly forming a pattern of cracking.

Then, those cracking wrinkles rubbed against each other and began to fall off in small pieces.

Rustle—

The wrinkles fell down in heaps, and the old ghost, without saying a word, suddenly let out a big scream.

"Ah!"

With such a scream, the ghost's body went soft to the ground.

His entire ghostly form softened into grit.

The grit scattered all around, and this ghost's spirit faded on the spot.

Two blue numbers floated into the Old Black-tongued Ghost's body, reading "twenty."

In other words, the old ghost who just screamed had a remaining ghostly lifespan of sixty years.

This ghost's death caused forty years of ghostly lifespan to vanish, while the twenty remaining years were absorbed by the Old Black-tongued Ghost.

The Old Black-tongued Ghost licked the corner of its mouth with its pitch-black tongue, making a palpable sucking sound.

It chuckled, "Ha, just with the four words 'imperial envoy of the river,' one ghost brother's lifespan faded away completely.

I wonder what guilt this ghost brother was feeling?

So willing to admit defeat like that? Hahaha… everyone, do you now admit that this old ghost's words are not wrong?

Do you still want to wager life and death with this old ghost of mine?"

His successive questions seemed to carry an invisible sharp edge, piercing forward again and again.

In normal circumstances, some ghosts would back down.

But as it turned out, none of the ghosts on the scene avoided the challenge.

In fact, many of the ghosts said stubbornly:

"What's this 'imperial envoy of the river'? To admit defeat just by hearing such a simple title, that's just because that old fool was useless! Such idiocy, scaring himself to death over a name!"

"Indeed, sixty years of ghostly lifespan, and that old guy had so much ghostly lifespan left, it's a total waste, an appalling waste."

"Old Black-tongued Ghost, don't think that just saying a name is enough to prove that 'refining Jiao Dragons' is actually feasible. You're just spewing nonsense!"

"It's indeed ridiculous. What imperial envoy of the river, what Mr. Xie, didn't that person die more than a decade ago?

Why? Did you see the ghost of Xie, the imperial envoy? Is he refining Jiao Dragons at the Netherworld River?"

With this retort from a ghost, laughter erupted all around.

The ghosts laughed loudly: "Refining Jiao Dragons at the Netherworld River? Why not say we could all become Ghost Immortals then?

On the Netherworld River, even a true dragon will dissolve into bone residue, how could refining Jiao Dragons be possible? Hahaha… laughable, utterly laughable!"

The Old Black-tongued Ghost merely waited for the laughter to die down.

As the echoes of laughter lingered, the Old Black-tongued Ghost asked, "Finished laughing? Ready to hear me out yet?"

The ghosts stopped laughing, with pairs of ghostly eyes fixed on the Old Black-tongued Ghost.

Only then did the Old Black-tongued Ghost continue at a steady pace: "Everyone, I never said it was a ghost that would refine Jiao Dragons. I've always said it was a person who would refine Jiao Dragons.

That person is, of course, not Xie Huaizheng, who passed away years ago. However, that person is closely related to Xie Huaizheng!"

"Impossible!" one ghost blurted out among the crowd, "Anyone closely related to Xie Huaizheng was wiped out by the Old Emperor years ago.

The three clans exterminated, along with any students, peers, even superiors and subordinates...

Hey, on that line, whoever was related to Xie Huaizheng, who didn't die?

Do you think us common folks are ignorant of such matters?

Back then, who in the Seven Prefectures of the South didn't know about this?"

These words from the ghost brought a chorus of agreement from the others.

The Old Black-tongued Ghost glanced at the ghosts, still not in a hurry to refute, waiting until the echoes of agreement faded before saying:

"Things that are clear on the surface are indeed publicly known. But are you sure you know everything about Xie Huaizheng's hidden connections, missing nothing?

Let me enlighten you: this person closely related to Xie Huaizheng is actually his daughter!"

"What? Xie Huaizheng was exterminated three clans' deep, naturally his daughter would've been killed too. How could any living kin remain in the Mortal World?""

"You're spouting nonsense. He didn't even have a daughter. I heard Xie Huaizheng devoted his life to officialdom and never got married!"

"Xie Huaizheng was an old bachelor. His wife died early on..."

"No, he never got married, stayed single until he died..."

And so, the ghosts buzzed with various sorts of gossip running wild.

About Xie Huaizheng's marital status in life, the ghosts laid out seven or eight different versions at once.

Truly strange and bizarre to say the least.

The Old Black-tongued Ghost continued, "Xie Huaizheng did indeed remain unmarried in life, but when he achieved the title of Champion Scholar, he had engaged briefly as a couple with a courtesan.

Though she was a courtesan, she was learned, and full of sentiment and integrity.

After experiencing love with Xie Huaizheng, she redeemed herself,

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