This alley is very shallow and before we could walk forward, we came to the corner.

In the silent alleyway, the mellow night color solidifies into a black air that is as solid as a substance, and the mercury moonlight sprinkles on the ground, reflecting the shadow of the weeds.

The lights were turned off from the people around, but there was only an inconspicuous dilapidated wooden house.

As soon as Ningning stepped forward, a breeze blew by. The dark and thick gauze tent in front of the wooden house was raised by the night wind, like a ray of water waves rising in the air, layer by layer, revealing a little dim candlelight in the gauze tent.

That is the "after the curtain tent" mentioned in the note.

Pei Ji has always been cautious. He held the sword and opened the curtain first. After leaning forward to confirm that there was nothing wrong, he pulled Ningning into the black tent.

Before she came, she had imagined many so-called "behind the curtain" scenes, but when she set foot here in person, she couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

In terms of decoration, this place is not much different from other houses in the slums' neighborhoods.

Crowned, old, narrow and dull, dim candlelight fills every corner, and is entangled with the night that you don't want to dissipate. Looking around, there are dust, cracks and crumbling spider webs, so poor that you can make a debut and take a ghost movie.

Rows of shelves are displayed in a mess, making the already narrow space even more unreachable. When Ningning looked carefully, she could see the messy talismans and classics on the shelves, as well as many strange things she had never seen before.

Several crooked paintings were hung by the wall. Ning Ning looked curiously and was attracted by one of them at a glance.

The painting is an endless sky, with light and light sunlight passing through the layers of condensed clouds, revealing the gentle and soft goose yellow color like a veil.

Below the painting, a few big words were written, and she pronounced them word by word: ""Xianning Po" - it looks like Song Xianning's name."

"I don't dare to mess with the wife in the small shop. What do you two want to order?"

The strange male voice suddenly rang out. Ning Ning looked up and raised her eyes. In the books scattered all over the ground, she found a young man sitting on a pile of books.

Although she saw that this was a shop, she knew nothing about the goods in the shop. She was about to think about how to answer, but Pei Ji beside her said, "Has the City Lord's wife been here?"

He was really unruly and straight to the point.

When the young man heard this, his expression changed, and he still kept sitting cross-legged, and his spine was slightly straightened.

He looked only in his twenties, but he had already given birth to a large handful of white hair and thick eye bags. The black and white hair paired with earth-shaking dark circles. He sat on the ground and became a sperm like a national treasure.

"Madam of the City Lord?"

The man yawned: "Which city lord lady do you mean?"

Ning Ning was stunned: "What do you mean...they were both here?"

The other party stopped talking.

"If we tell the truth, we will pay you."

She remembered her pitiful and scrupulously tentatively on the edge of not leaving a drop every day, and gritted her teeth and continued: "I wonder if you can reveal some information?"

"Just kidding, am I the kind of person who loses principles because of money? The privacy of customers must be fully protected. This is my creed to open a store!"

The young man smiled: "But if you are willing to give more, it's not bad--"

Before he could finish his words, he saw a bunch of white sword light coming towards him, as cold as ice, and just passing through his drooping hair.

The young man's mouth twitched.

The little girl who entered the store late at night was kind and beautiful, with a gentle tone and expression. Unexpectedly, the young man beside her was like a mad dog, and when she drew her sword, she would directly threaten her. Those who didn't know thought it was a robber, which scared him to death.

Recently, it was the Ten Methods Meeting. These two young men with swords with them were seen as little disciples of the Immortal Sect. Although they were all wearing black clothes, they were sure that they were as white as paper.

His original intention was to be reserved and polite, and slowly raise the intelligence price level, making him foolish these famous and upright sects who are ignorant of the world. Unexpectedly, the other party gave him a warning on the spot. His sword energy was cold and fierce, and he did not have the slightest righteous manner at all.

Which sect's disciple is this? Could it be...

The famous name of a certain sect slowly appeared in his mind, and the young man couldn't help but tremble: "Are you disciples of the Xuanxu Sword Sect?"

Ning Ning saw that the man wanted to cheat others, but did not stop Pei Ji. He smiled and nodded: "Yes! How did you see it?"

He wanted to cry without tears.

Nonsense.

Except for the Xuanxu Sword Sect, no sect can hang the disciple's heads on a ship and fly. It is a masterpiece of magicalism. You can't accept it.

This terrifying sect has long been causing trouble in the city, and has created ghost story materials that scare children. Today is a blessing that has accumulated in three lives, allowing him to meet these two people, and it is indeed worthy of his reputation.

In terms of the degree of cruelty, the Xuanxu Sword Sect is invincible in the world.

Pei Ji never had much good temper towards strangers, not to mention that the store owner had a very distorted mind. He held the sword and kept his face repeating Ning Ning's previous words: "Have both the wives of the city lords come?"

"Speak carefully if you have something to do! You have been here, you have been here!"

The young man hurriedly replied, "What do you want to ask for?"

The girl still looked smiling. Seeing her companion drawing the sword, she had no intention of stopping her: "What's special about this store? What have they all been here to do?"

He finally saw it.

The hearts of these two people rolled in the same pile of coal.

"Most of my goods are spells and talismans."

Seeing Ningning showing a little disappointed look, the young man hurriedly said, "These talismans are very different from the ones of famous and upright schools! In my shop, the word "evil" is the most important thing."

evil.

Ning Ning's eyebrows and eyes were slightly restrained: "Evil art?"

“That’s right!”

The young man barely stood up from the pile of books, his tone was much more excited: "The righteous mind method mostly emphasizes the mutual generation of the five elements, and follows the Tao. What about my things? Hey - jump out of the five elements, how can it be useful."

There are many magical techniques in the cultivation world and many factions. Ningning has come into contact with the mysterious sword arts, which is just a drop in the ocean. Among all the ways of cultivation she knows, talisman art is the most bizarre and changeable.

The purpose is to write the pen first, and the strokes are all given in detail. Even if it is misaligned, it may be completely different from the original intention; while the ink and painting the pen, cinnabar, and blood-soaked, and the materials used to draw the talisman are different, and the effects will be very different.

"I think both of them are sword cultivators, and maybe they don't know much about spells."

The young man was very polite and grinned at Ningning: "Evil magic is mostly related to curses, prohibitions and souls. It can not only kill people's lives thousands of miles away, but also transform others into puppets for control. Only you can't imagine it, but you can't do it without it."

Ning Ning responded seriously: "Is it quite evil."

"There are even more evil people!"

The man was intrigued: "I heard that the old demons had a life-substitute technique, which could counteract their own evil with the luck of others. Once they succeeded, they would be hiding the world and even the way of heaven could not do anything to you. More than these—"

Halfway through his speech, he noticed Pei Ji's impatient gaze, and knew that he had fallen out of the question, and coughed awkwardly: "Get back to the point, Mrs. Song came to me to ask about soul-changing."

Ning Ning tightened her heart and listened to him continue, "At that time, she had a bad relationship with the city lord, and her face turned pale when she came to me. But changing souls is a taboo to change fate. Although there are records in ancient books... I am just a shop owner after all, and I can't know the specific method. I can only tell her that I can't help it."

Ningning responded thoughtfully: "Besides this, has she asked anything else?"

"She looked a little reluctant but stopped, but she didn't ask until the end. She suddenly fell ill after leaving here for a few days."

The young man's eyes turned, his body leaned forward a little, and lowered his voice: "This is not the most bizarre thing-- Shortly after Song Xianning died, when Luan Niang had not married the city lord, he actually entered my shop one day and asked if there was any way to reshape the muscles and bones and nourish spiritual power."

He paused as he spoke, as if he was dry and said, he picked up the teacup beside him and poured it into a sudden state: "Is it strange? I have always been restrained in my store and rarely hears the wind. Most of the people come from high-ranking officials and nobles. Ordinary people rarely find out the details. However, Luan Niang has been in Nuanyu Pavilion since she was young and rarely even the doors are out. Where did she get the news?"

Ning Ning nodded: "This 'muscle bone remodeling'--"

These words obviously asked the point. The young man suddenly grinned and leaned over to press the volume lighter: "It's just a soul refining technique! Using other people's soul power to nourish his body can not only maintain his appearance, but also be of great benefit to improving his cultivation."

After saying that, he laughed gloomyly: "Don't you think it's very similar to the recent disappearance case?"

Pei Ji glanced at him coldly: "You think the disappearance case is related to Luan Niang."

He used a very confident tone of statements, and the young man did not refute after hearing this, shrugged and replied: "You should be just investigating this matter, right? This is just my own opinion, do you believe it or not."

Ning Ning thought about the safety of her senior sister and did not talk nonsense to him: "Do you think... Luan Niang is probably the late Song Xianning?"

"Otherwise, she asked what the soul-changing technique was for? Why did Luan Niang find this place?"

The young man looked out the door, and after confirming that there was no one, he continued, "And I heard that Luan Niang was very different from her former personality. Isn't it just that she was completely replaced by someone!"

Perhaps no one had ever talked about this with him, and the young man became more and more excited: "I want to tell you, this should be the case: Song Xianning loves the city lord but cannot live long, so he simply did not do it all the time, and in anger he used the secret technique of soul transfer and attached it to Luan Niang."

He drank another sip of water: "Luan Niang is the city lord's favorite appearance. However, without practicing immortal arts, she will always get old one day. So Song Xianning used the method of soul refining again to try to maintain her appearance forever and improve her cultivation, making the city lord more and more obsessed with her."

After this reasoning, it is reasonable and well-founded.

The gloom in Ningning's eyes never faded, and she asked him in a deep voice: "Shopkeeper, have you heard of "Ziwei Skills and Techniques"?"

"Mrs. Song bought one, Ziwei Real Man is a powerful evil spirit."

The young man smiled and said, "As for that book, it happened to talk about soul-changing techniques, but it was very shallow and had no effect."

As the conversation progressed here, many things seemed to be suddenly enlightened, and there was no topic to continue talking about.

Ningning thought of Zheng Weiqi, whose whereabouts were unknown, frowned and said in a deep voice: "How should the soul refining technique be operated?"

"It's very simple, it's nothing more than living people, spells, and formations."

The young man glanced at her, as if he remembered something, and once again showed a slightly mysterious expression: "Soul refining is very interesting. The more souls sacrificed at the same time, the greater the feedback you can get. The same number of souls, one after another, is far less effective than the sacrifices at the same time - perhaps the missing girls are not dead yet, and the murderer behind the scenes is waiting for a great sacrifice with the right time, place and people."

This reminds Ningning of the Goose City in the Pagoda Tower.

The evil cultivators of those days also gathered the souls of the whole city together and waited to be refined together. If it is true as the shopkeeper said, the girls who disappeared bizarrely are still alive...

As long as they find out the truth as soon as possible, they may be able to save everyone, including Zheng Weiqi.

"Have you all enjoyed listening?"

The young man looked at Pei Ji's expression timidly, raised his right hand and pointed to the shelf beside him: "Since I've been talking for so long, do you want to buy something?"
To be continued...