Jiang Ying hurried toward the center of the street, searching for Xiao Fensi as she walked.
The street was lined with various mobile stalls. There were snacks like grilled skewers, beverages, and mixed braised dishes, alongside others selling hairpins, masks, and assorted trinkets. At first, she assumed Xiao Fensi had simply wandered off to another stall, so she continued along the street of vendors. But as she searched, she could not spot that familiar rabbit-eared hat anywhere.
Jiang Ying paused in front of a deep-fry stall, her gaze drifting down to two candied haws left abandoned on the ground. Her heart sank. She had a premonition that these belonged to Xiao Fensi. She picked them up, held them in her hand, and gestured to the stall owner.
"Excuse me, did you see a little girl pass by? She was wearing a rabbit-shaped hat."
The owner, wearing an ox-head mask, flipped the skewers on his grill. "Oh, that little girl? She went toward the bridge just now, following an old man with a hunched back."
"An old man? Was he her father?"
The owner shook his head. "I don't know who her father is; I only just arrived here a few days ago."
Jiang Ying mused. Could it be Father Xiao? It seemed unlikely. He had been fighting someone in the North Market just moments ago; there was no way he could have reached the West Market this quickly. Besides, even if it were Father Xiao, he would have been with Xiao Di, and if Father Xiao had taken Xiao Fensi, Xiao Di would have gone to the grocery store to find her.
Thinking this, Jiang Ying followed up, "Did you notice anything unusual when she left with him?"
The owner sprinkled seasoning onto the skewers, suddenly recalling something. "Now that you mention it, I *was* wondering about that. That little girl usually can't walk past my stall without stopping, but today she didn't even look back."
Hearing this, Jiang Ying felt a chill. Between the dropped candied haws and her refusal to look back, Xiao Fensi’s behavior was highly abnormal. She couldn't have been controlled or placed under a hypnotic spell, could she? The old man definitely wasn't Father Xiao. In all likelihood, Xiao Fensi had been abducted!
She despised child abduction above all else. Furthermore, Jiang Ying had a hunch that the old man had snatched Xiao Fensi because she held some secret—a secret that might be tied to Jiang Ying’s own memories of her past life. Once she found Xiao Fensi, she would have to use Spirit Inspection to examine her spiritual roots.
Jiang Ying thanked the stall owner and surged into the crowd, quickening her pace toward the bridge. Since she was only at the Qi Condensation stage, she could not release her spiritual sense to investigate, so she had to rely on her eyesight to scan the distance.
Finally, she saw her! The stall owner had been right. Xiao Fensi was being led by a hunched-back old man, walking right onto the bridge. The old man was wrapped in a brownish-gray cloak, and though he was hunched, his stride was incredibly fast. Xiao Fensi, with her short legs, struggled to keep up, her posture appearing unnaturally stiff.
Jiang Ying was still nearly a hundred paces away. She quickly pulled an Acceleration Talisman from her sleeve, ready to cast it at her feet.
Just then, a parade troupe wearing ghost masks and colorful robes passed by nearby. The leader was spitting fire and dancing wildly, apparently headed toward the bridge as well. Jiang Ying’s heart sank.
"If I get scattered by this crowd, I’ll lose them! I have to avoid them and find a shortcut!"
She was about to dodge away, but the spectators at the edge of the bridge began to join the procession, dancing and cheering to the sound of suonas and drums. Before she could escape, Jiang Ying was surrounded. She fought to maintain her footing, barely avoiding being pushed to the back. Caught in the crushing tide of people, she struggled onto the bridge and stumbled to the center, where the crowd suddenly ground to a halt.
Jiang Ying was livid. They had been the ones surging forward, and now they were the ones standing perfectly still! She wanted to blast them all with Repel Talismans, just to make them *back off*. But she knew the Ghost Market was full of Cultivators; with her low cultivation level, using the talismans would surely trigger a riot, and she would be worse off if she got dragged into a brawl.
Someone shouted, "The fireworks are starting!"
Immediately, the sky erupted with bangs and pops. Jiang Ying wove through the crowd, using all her strength to push through the masses to find a gap to get off the bridge. She had no time for fireworks, nor did she notice the thousands of brilliant sparks blooming in the dark night sky.
Suddenly, she saw a large empty space ahead. She was relieved, not stopping to wonder why there was a clear area on the crowded bridge. She just wanted to cross it and get off. She rushed forward, but after a few steps, she realized someone was standing in the center of that empty space.
Jiang Ying was moving too fast to stop, and she slammed into the person. A cold, faint scent of agarwood drifted from him, which felt oddly familiar. But she was too focused on finding Xiao Fensi to dwell on it.
"Sorry, excuse me!" she called out, then scrambled toward the end of the bridge.
Behind her, people whispered.
"What was that about? How did that fox-face walk through the sword-qi barrier without a scratch? I barely touched it and it hurt like hell!"
"Tell me about it. You only touched it; I ran right into it. If I hadn't been wearing a mask, my nose would be flattened. Why put up a sword wall just to watch fireworks? It takes up so much space!"
"The Ghost Market is full of weirdos this year, more than usual!"
The young man wearing a pale-gold gourd mask seemed unfazed by the whispers. He merely turned his head slightly, watching the direction where Jiang Ying had vanished, looking thoughtful.
Jiang Ying made it off the bridge. There were fewer stalls on the other side of the river, and since most people were watching the fireworks, the view was much clearer. Xiao Fensi's rabbit hat was easy to spot, and Jiang Ying quickly locked onto them. But because of the delay on the bridge, the gap had widened to over a hundred paces!
Jiang Ying threw an Acceleration Talisman at her feet and closed the distance by several dozen paces. Sensing they were being pursued, the old man sped up his pace.
"You rotten old man, you think you can run?"
Jiang Ying used another Acceleration Talisman, giving chase with everything she had. Before long, she was less than three paces behind him.
The old man suddenly stopped. Jiang Ying stopped as well. Only then did she realize she had reached a stretch of wasteland. There was no one else around; they must have reached the edge of the Ghost Market.
The old man stood motionless. A chilling, eerie sensation crept up Jiang Ying's spine. Was it just the night dew, or was something truly wrong? She couldn't put her finger on it, but her gut warned her of danger. Keeping a sharp eye on the old man, she reached into her sleeve and gripped a talisman.
The old man shifted his feet, slowly turning to face her.
Jiang Ying suddenly realized what was wrong. The cloak was rhythmically expanding and contracting—the motion was far too bizarre, entirely unlike the natural rise and fall of a living creature's breathing.