Chapter 2730: Ghostly Autumn Sounds

"Hey! New guy! Why aren't you talking?"

The prison cell in Fēngdū, though dim and without light, was still relatively clean. Straw covered the ground, providing a little warmth, and there wasn't too much of a heavy smell. After all, the current Fēngdū Yǐn had a hobby of sunbathing.

The chattering prisoner in the next cell was always talking.

Wáng Wēi didn't speak.

He used to talk a lot and loved to ask questions. Later, his Master said that not speaking could make him look like an expert. So, he tried not to speak. He also asked why his Master still talked so much. The Master's answer was a brain tap, along with the phrase, "The old man *is* an expert, no need to pretend."

His Master had a good temper.

Wáng Wēi still kept his clean-shaven bald head, but of course, his face was no longer that face. Zhào Wáng had personally helped him with a disguise, so no one could tell his original appearance.

His neighbor in the next cell leaned against the pile of straw, scratching for lice while muttering: "You've been in for three days! Not a word for three days, you definitely have something on your mind."

"You know, I told them, next time someone comes in, they should just live across from me—we'll be neighbors. You didn't even say hello."

"Where are you from? Tell me about it?"

"You're bald, but you don't look like a monk, and you look strangely fierce."

"Hey! Baldy! Don't you feel lonely in this kind of ghost place?"

Perhaps the word "lonely" could touch his heart. Wáng Wēi finally opened his mouth: "I've been in prison in Qí before, but I didn't feel particularly lonely."

He sat facing the wall, his eyes downcast: "It's not the reason for being in prison."

"Then what else could it be! Haha." The chattering neighbor looked quite young and wasn't bad-looking. The wounds on his body didn't affect his liveliness at all: "Let's chat a bit, okay? Chatting makes you less lonely."

Wáng Wēi didn't speak.

The chattering neighbor asked again: "I heard Gu Laogui personally reviewed you? How are you still alive?"

They were neighbors across from each other. Through the iron bars covered with runes, they could see each other. Of course, Wáng Wēi didn't turn his head to look.

He asked: "Who is Gu Laogui?"

"Fēngdū Yǐn Gǔ Chī!" The neighbor sat up from the pile of grass, gesturing with his hand: "Just that old bamboo pole."

"Oh." Wáng Wēi leaned against the wall blankly: "How did you know I was personally reviewed by Gu Laogui?"

The Fēngdū ghost messengers didn't say much. When they brought him in, no one talked to this neighbor. There were eighteen layers in the Fēngdū ghost prison, each one different, and all were locked with space-time seals, isolating inside from outside. He didn't even know which layer he had been sent to.

He wasn't actually too curious about how his neighbor got the news. But chatting a bit was fine, it was really too boring here.

The neighbor said carelessly: "I have my own channels!"

Wáng Wēi didn't speak.

The neighbor waited for a while before saying: "When you first came in, didn't they embroider a three-pronged flower on the left shoulder of your prisoner's clothes? That's a three-pronged seal. Anyone personally reviewed by Gu Laogui will have this mark."

Wáng Wēi turned his head to look at his left shoulder. It was indeed a flower—he had thought it was a claw. Or at most a piece of grass. Wasn't it just three lines tied together?

He sewed much better than this. He had been sewing clothes since he was a child.

He said: "You also have this three-pronged flower on your body. You were also reviewed by Gu Laogui. How are you still alive?"

"I asked you first." The neighbor said: "You tell me first."

Wáng Wēi made no sound.

After a long time, the neighbor couldn't stand it: "Ah, I really admire you. You just give me the cold shoulder without a word."

Wáng Wēi didn't speak.

The neighbor said indignantly: "My surname is Xióng."

Seeing no reaction from Wáng Wēi.

The neighbor emphasized again: "My surname is Xióng."

Wáng Wēi said: "Oh, my surname is Jiāng."

"I didn't ask your surname! What's so great about being surnamed Jiāng?" The neighbor was exasperated: "I'm saying, Gu Laogui didn't dare to kill me because my surname is Xióng!"

"Why wouldn't he dare kill you just because your surname is Xióng?" Wáng Wēi asked.

"I'm called Xióng Zǐdù!"

"Oh."

"Xióng! Zǐ! Dù!"

"Oh, I'm called Jiāng Lí."

Xióng Zǐdù gritted his teeth: "My dad is called Xióng Jì!"

"Who is Xióng Jì?" Wáng Wēi asked.

"I—forget it!" Xióng Zǐdù considered himself very clever, but he found it hard to judge if this bald head was pretending to be stupid or genuinely stupid. If he was pretending, he was acting too well!

He took a deep breath and endured his temper: "You were in prison in Qí. Maybe you know Jiāng Wúhuā? We're similar. Maybe you'll understand?"

"Are you also good at cooking?" Wáng Wēi asked.

Xióng Zǐdù narrowed his eyes: "Has Jiāng Wúhuā cooked for you?"

"No." Wáng Wēi shook his head. Jiāng Wúhuā had indeed never cooked for him, but the Chánglè cakes were really delicious, and his Senior Brother had brought them to him! His Master had said that this kind of thing should be eaten less, Qí people were bad, bad. In the future, this kind of food should be checked by the old man first. After a check, half of it would be gone.

Xióng Zǐdù endured again and again: "Anyway, I've already told you the answer. Now it's your turn—how did you survive in Gǔ Chī's hands?"

"I don't know." Wáng Wēi said.

"Boy!" Xióng Zǐdù jumped up, shaking the iron bars, making a rattling sound: "You dare to mess with me! Come out and fight!"

"Okay." Wáng Wēi was never one to back down from a fight. He rolled up his sleeves as he turned around, but then stopped in front of the iron bars: "Ah! I can't get out, how can I fight?"

His innocent eyes made Xióng Zǐdù unsure if this was sarcasm or not.

"I'll give you one more chance to explain!" Xióng Zǐdù used his finger to poke the iron bars, making a banging sound.

"That old bamboo pole asked me if I was wronged. I said I wasn't. Then he suddenly had something to do and left. I was then brought here." Wáng Wēi looked at Xióng Zǐdù: "That's how it was. I'm not lying to you."

Xióng Zǐdù looked at the bald head's serious eyes, half-believing and half-doubting: "Then tell me, why were you caught?"

Wáng Wēi wasn't willing to suffer a loss: "You tell me first why you were caught."

Xióng Zǐdù said angrily: "You tell me first!" But soon he realized that being stubborn was pointless. This bald head opposite him was like a stone, perfectly fine with being闷 for a lifetime. Then he pouted: "What else could it be? Fighting with my dad."

Wáng Wēi didn't follow up with details. But he still had a strong desire to express himself, probably because he had been悶 for too long: "This person! Old, high status, just won't listen to criticism, thinks everything they do is right, unique in the world. Once their mistakes are pointed out, they can't accept it, can't admit fault, just have to rage."

Wáng Wēi "oh'ed."

Xióng Zǐdù looked at him strangely: "For my story, aren't you going to say how you feel after listening?"

Wáng Wēi slowly said: "Don't fight with your dad. Later, you'll miss him very much."

Xióng Zǐdù snorted and waved his hand: "Don't shave your head bald and then pretend to be a master—talk about your business, talk about your business."

Wáng Wēi said: "One day, I was walking on the road and saw someone who looked very much like a bandit. He was holding a piece of jade in his hand, so I snatched it. Later, the Fēngdū ghost messengers found me and said that what I snatched was something from Jiǎo Wǔ Mountain, so they caught me."

"Wait—" Xióng Zǐdù sized up Wáng Wēi's fierce features. It was strange to say, this face was clearly fierce and evil-looking, but with those dull, serious eyes, it didn't make people afraid or dislike him, it had a strange sense of contrasting cuteness. "What do you mean by 'looked like a bandit'?"

Wáng Wēi said: "Because he was wearing a mask and also said 'this road is mine'."

"Now I understand what you mean!" Xióng Zǐdù said: "Since you snatched that piece of jade, why didn't you just hand it over? This matter has nothing to do with you—they had to catch you?"

"Why would I hand it over?" Wáng Wēi said righteously: "What gives them the right to say that things from Jiǎo Wǔ Mountain are theirs? If I snatch it, it's mine."

Xióng Zǐdù "ha'ed": "Do you even know what Jiǎo Wǔ Mountain is? That's where the Great Chǔ imperial family rose!"

Wáng Wēi didn't understand: "Jiǎo all Wǔ, and a dragon still rose?"

Xióng Zǐdù then put his hands on his hips: "Then didn't you still get caught?"

Wáng Wēi said in a muffled voice: "They had more people."

"There weren't many people who caught you!" Xióng Zǐdù had a lot of lecturing passion: "Chǔ Tàizǔ once cultivated in seclusion on Jiǎo Wǔ Mountain. After coming down the mountain, he was invincible in the world! You say how important Jiǎo Wǔ Mountain is? It has historical significance!"

Wáng Wēi said: "I wasn't snatching on Jiǎo Wǔ Mountain."

"Hey! You're really stubborn—" Xióng Zǐdù rolled up his sleeves, about to properly display his eloquence and teach this insensible bald head, when he suddenly heard the sound of a heavy winch.

The thick iron gate inside the ghost prison slowly opened at this moment. The space-time lock was also temporarily stopped. A beam of light from the sky instantly rushed into the tunnel, illuminating the prison cells on both sides of the tunnel.

One, two, three... the tunnel stretched on almost endlessly. There were many prison cells on both sides, some empty, some occupied. But basically, there was no sound. Only the special Xióng Zǐdù and the newcomer Wáng Wēi were still chattering non-stop.

Xióng Zǐdù pressed his face directly against the iron bars, straining to look towards the end of the tunnel. Beneath the huge iron gate, a lone figure stood quietly.

"Hey! Here!" Xióng Zǐdù's face broke into a smile: "Cousin! You came all this way to see me?"

Zuǒ Guǎngshū walked along the long tunnel towards the inside, curiously sizing up this legendary "Fēngdū Ghost Prison"—he almost never saw curious eyes.

"It doesn't seem so gloomy here." He walked up to Xióng Zǐdù: "I'm escorting a batch of cultivator corpses here for their research. I'll drop by to see cousin... how can I come here specially?"

"Sigh." Xióng Zǐdù was very enthusiastic: "Come, I've just made a new friend—"

Just as he was about to introduce him, he discovered that the one called 'Jiāng Lí' had already turned back and continued to sit facing the wall, a posture of not getting close to strangers.

"Forget it, this friend of mine doesn't like to talk." Xióng Zǐdù smiled: "He's a bit cold-tempered."

Zuǒ Guǎngshū glanced at the prison cell opposite, only feeling a vague sense of familiarity from that back, but he didn't pay too much attention—a noble young master like him was destined to have no connection with the prisoners inside the Fēngdū Ghost Prison.

Xióng Zǐdù was a rare exception in Chǔ's thousands of years. He had dared to pull the emperor's beard since he was a child. At the age of five, he boldly sat on the dragon chair and was kicked flying by the emperor... His deeds were truly endless. Falling to this situation now was also a matter of reaping what he sowed.

During the River Valley War, Xiàng Lóngxiàng was the commander of the three armies. Hàn Què's right flank collapsed first, but the Xiàng family and Hàn family didn't receive much severe punishment. Even Hàn Què being permanently stationed in the Demon World was his own desire to atone for his sins.

Given the public discourse in the Chǔ court at that time, including court and public opinion, the original intention was to severely punish the defeated generals. After all, it was a disastrous defeat that almost shook the very foundation of Great Chǔ. Except for the brilliant Zuo Guanglie, who had broken through Hángǔ Pass, almost all the generals in the River Valley War were severely criticized after the war, with clear voices from both court and public.

It was Xióng Zǐdù who stood out in court and publicly stated that the emperor should be responsible for the River Valley War. The defeat in the River Valley was the failure of the Chǔ court's decision. It was the court and the public who had misjudged the situation, leading to this inevitable defeat, and Xiàng Lóngxiàng had already done his best!

The result was that Xióng Zǐdù was locked up here. It had been ten years now...

Zuǒ Guǎngshū looked at his cousin quite helplessly: "Who can be cold to you? You can talk for a whole day by yourself."

Xióng Zǐdù laughed heartily: "You know me best, Guangshu!"

He asked again: "How is Aunt?"

"Pretty good." Zuǒ Guǎngshū said: "Every day, besides cultivating, she raises her little ants. Last time she even mentioned you, saying she didn't know how you were living—this time I can tell her you haven't changed much!"

"Set up a sound isolation array, Guangshu." Xióng Zǐdù said jokingly: "Cousin can't use magic. Let's talk in whispers."

Zuǒ Guǎngshū shook his head: "My visit to you is limited. We can't conveniently whisper."

"Hey! But you're the Little Duke of Great Chǔ, what are you afraid of?" Xióng Zǐdù instigated: "Even if you tore down this prison and let me out, what then? Who can do anything to you!"

Zuǒ Guǎngshū smiled slightly: "Cousin, we may not be children anymore."

"Isn't that just reminiscing about the past? That year, you and I—and all of you, dug for birds, caught fish, climbed roofs, and lifted tiles, what happy days!" Xióng Zǐdù gradually persuaded: "Want to taste it again?"

"Flowers have a day to reopen, but a person is not young again!" Zuǒ Guǎngshū lifted his finger and knocked on the bars, as if echoing their childhood, and said with a smile: "Cousin, ten years building your reputation, the world knows your wise name. When you come out, you will reorganize the mountains and rivers, won't you?"

"Just today!" Xióng Zǐdù laughed heroically, grasping the rune steel. At this moment, it was as if he was grasping the world: "Open this door for myself alone! Open a new sky for Chǔ!"

"That person cannot be me." Zuǒ Guǎngshū smiled and shook his head: "Go, cousin. I'll come see you next time—if you're still here next time."

"Hey, you little heartless fellow, don't go, chat a little longer!"

No matter how Xióng Zǐdù shouted, Zuǒ Guǎngshū still left with a smile.

The thick iron door closed again, isolating everything.

Ten years! Xióng Zǐdù leaned back against the iron bars, slowly sitting down, seeming to sigh: "He's much more obedient than his brother."

The grand prince of Great Chǔ, locked in the Fēngdū Ghost Prison for ten years, had already gotten used to talking to himself. What made him somewhat unexpected was that the newcomer, that rather solitary bald head, spoke at this moment—"His brother, is he called Zuǒ Guǎngliè?"

"You know him too?" Xióng Zǐdù asked carelessly.

"The Chief of the Yellow River, a young and famous general. I've heard of him!" Wáng Wēi looked at the empty wall and said softly: "I've also seen him a few times."

"You can do it, you little bald head, keeping it all hidden." Xióng Zǐdù said: "Looks like I misjudged. If you know Zuo Guanglie, you're not idle either!"

"I just know of him, I don't understand him much." Wáng Wēi闷了一会儿, then said: "Shall we chat about this person?"

Xióng Zǐdù smiled slightly, saying with deep meaning: "Which aspect do you want to talk about?"

"Any aspect is fine."

"For example?"

"Dao technique, character, deeds, Master... anything is fine."

"Master?"

"Such a fierce person, his Master must also be very fierce, right?"

Xióng Zǐdù laughed "ho ho ho": "He's a self-taught genius with no Master! He was different from others from birth, no matter which family's knowledge, he would learn it as soon as he picked it up, and understand it with just a little guidance. The Dao techniques he created have innovated history again and again. Which old scholar could teach him? If you have to say Master, the old duke could be considered, his dad could be considered, my dad could also be considered. They all passed on his true skills."

Wáng Wēi was silent for a while: "All the elders of his family taught him?"

Xióng Zǐdù then seemed to remember something: "Oh right! There was also an old monk who kept pestering him and refused to take him as a disciple, I don't know if that counts? I even helped drive him away! Haha haha, Guanglie was pestered so much he had no choice but to say he would beat him. Of course I had to help."

"This story is still... quite interesting." Wáng Wēi said softly: "Can you tell it to me?"

"This might take a while to say—hey, tomorrow is the start of winter, will anyone come to see you? Haha ha, don't be悶, come, come, come, turn around, I'll tell you! At that time..."

At this point, they were facing away from each other, separated by two sets of iron bars and a tunnel. Darkness had already swallowed the tunnel. The person leaning against the bars was loose and relaxed. The person sitting facing the wall was upright and proper.

Two people who originally would never intersect chatted about a person they both knew. This was the last sound of autumn.

December 1st. Baldy Wáng Wēi is asking for everyone's guarantee votes.