Chapter 53: Are you happy making money with blood? (31) A strong...

Si Ling found it very funny to see that the monk was so scared that he almost lost his mind. Even after he ran to a place where he could no longer see the skinless people, his SAN value continued to drop.

Why was he so frightened? Because he was fully aware of the "human nature" of the skinless people—his ancestors had once made human-skin drums. Just as they used Gamu and Zhuoerga to create human-skin thangkas, these highland authorities, cloaked in the guise of benevolent monks, carefully selected the most beautiful and purest young girls, offered them small benefits to their families, who couldn't afford food, and then deceived them by telling them that dedicating themselves to the gods would lead to a happy afterlife.

Ultimately, everyone is "voluntary."

Therefore, the monk's ancestors had witnessed what skinned corpses looked like. Born in the late 1980s, he hadn't witnessed such bloodshed firsthand, but he'd likely heard stories from his ancestors about what those corpses looked like. Or perhaps he hadn't heard them, but he knew exactly what his ancestors had done to him.

“If you don’t do anything wrong, you don’t have to worry about ghosts knocking on your door.”

——Si Ling sighed again in his heart, this proverb is really a wise saying that runs through Chinese horror!

"It's not me... It's not me..." The monk had lost his three souls and seven spirits, and was frightened out of his mind.

He ran back to the corridor he had come from, stumbling around, sometimes crying loudly, sometimes laughing loudly. His eyes were full of brilliance, but at the same time lifeless, looking around blankly.

If this continues, he will soon be scared to death. Si Ling originally wanted to use paper to make a skinless or skinny man to suddenly "refresh" in front of him, but when she picked up the paper man, her mind suddenly changed.

"Break the barriers and reveal your soul." She materialized, looked down at herself, and then cast another illusion, transforming herself into a double-breasted, skirt-like garment. The skirt had a white base, a wide hem, and a long train. It was embroidered with intricate patterns using extremely fine gold thread. A closer look revealed patterns of birds, beasts, flowers, and even humans, encompassing nearly every living being.

Practitioners would naturally regard such attire as the incarnation of gods.

So when she slowly fell in front of the monk, he was stunned for a moment. He fell to the ground and stared at her blankly, still mumbling to himself, but his eyes were clearer. After a brief moment of shock, he suddenly rushed towards Si Ling: "Save me!" He pulled at her skirt and shouted, "Save me..."

Si Ling's expression was indifferent, with a hint of arrogance and majesty: "The law of nature is retribution. Whether it is God or man, one must pay the price for evil deeds."

The monk froze. Even though his mind was shattered, he realized that this sentence meant judgment was coming. His lips and jaw trembled. He raised his head slowly, and as his gaze moved upward, he heard her smile and ask, "Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the gods?"

"I... I..." The monk wanted to say that he didn't want to, but the current situation made him feel that "dedicating himself to God" might be the only way to escape.

He then nodded like crazy: "I do... I do!"

——Look, as long as the situation is bad enough, everyone will "volunteer".

Si Ling let out a sarcastic laugh. The monk felt inexplicably guilty because of the laugh and immediately looked up at her face...

But he was caught off guard by the skinless man's face with bulging eyes.

The monk suddenly opened his mouth, gasped, and fell backwards. His eyes opened so wide that the whites of his eyes were visible, and he never closed them again.

SAN value: 0%.

Si Ling casually removed the barrier, and the frightened monk's body lay in the middle of the street. Elizabeth and Fredis, who had previously passed by him in the bus, had returned to the sidewalk. Elizabeth looked at the monk's dead state and curled her lips in disgust.

.

Across the manor, Gongbu felt the barrier's energy stagnate after several of his disciples died. Over the next hour, this stagnation became more pronounced. Eventually, even Dunzhu and Jianzan, who were guarding him, sensed something was amiss. Jianzan frowned and asked, "Master, are the others... done?"

He asked with doubt, but Gongbu stared at the night sky and gave him an affirmative answer: "Yes."

This answer was enough to reassure them, but in fact Gongbu knew in his heart that they were probably the only few survivors left in the manor.

He thought to himself with some self-mockery: I've really run into a tough guy this time.

Fortunately, he had prepared for both scenarios from the outset. While leading his disciples in setting up the barrier, he also dispatched troops to hunt down the ghosts that had already left the manor. By now, the two sides should be about to clash. Once the other side was defeated and sent for assistance, the "expert" in charge of the manor would be forced to lend a hand.

...Besiege Wei to save Zhao.

This is the ancient wisdom of China. Gongbu firmly believes that the ghosts in the West do not understand this strategy.

But he obviously miscalculated two points: first, there were more than just Western ghosts here; second, the overall strength of this group of ghosts might be a little bit beyond his expectations.

.

A few miles from the manor, in the Gobi Desert, Xuan Chi and A Zhui put the last few demons from the intermediate class on the school bus. They were about to return to the manor, but Professor Mimir, who was sitting in the passenger seat, stopped them with a nagging voice: "Oh, our two Eastern friends, please don't leave so quickly... I don't feel right."

Hyun Chi and A Zhui, who were about to get out of the car, turned their heads to look at him. Then A Zhui politely walked to the passenger seat, squatted down and asked, "What's wrong, Professor Mimir?"

"Can you please help me turn my head? I don't think it's polite to talk to you like this." Mimir looked at her with a squint. Ah Zhu smiled and reached out to turn him to face her. Mimir said, "Thank you. It's like this... I had nothing to do just now, so I started meditating. During meditation, my thoughts spread throughout the nine realms, and then I sensed some unusual auras. Some malicious guys are using spells to find us."

"They're not too far away. I guess they're from Gongbu, and a powerful team at that. Logically, this shouldn't be a problem, since we have Lucifer in charge. But he just had to return to Hell due to Satan's urgent summons. So if those people really find this place, I'm worried there'll be trouble. You can't expect me to beat them with my head."

After Mimir finished speaking, Azhu turned around to see what Xuan Chi meant. After all, they couldn't really rely on her for the battle.

Hyun Chi frowned and looked at the packed car: "There are so many of us."

"Yes, yes." Mimir tutted. "We do have a lot of people, but the dark arts of the East are too unfamiliar to them. I don't want to belittle any students... but I really don't feel optimistic."

"Okay." Xuan Chi nodded, and Mimir breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you."

So Xuan Chi still got off the bus, but did not walk far. Instead, he set up a defensive magic circle for the school bus.

More than ten minutes later, he saw from afar two teams of people coming from different directions. They didn't seem to have set out together. They were a little surprised when they saw each other. Then they communicated for a while, and finally looked up at the Gobi Desert where the ghosts were.

.

Inside the manor.

As the three ghosts killed people, Bai Ma silently counted the heads and finally came to a conclusion: "I estimate that there are less than ten people left now... or maybe even less. I'm not sure how many senior disciples died in that fight."

"Let's go find Gongbu." Si Ling made up his mind. "Do you know where he is?"

Bai Ma nodded: "I saw him on the way to find you just now. Come with me."

The three ghosts then followed her south. Bai Ma was very cautious and looked for the most inconspicuous paths along the way. She would rather take a long detour than be discovered by Gongbu.

But more than twenty minutes later, when they arrived at the place Bai Ma said, they found that it was empty and there was no one there.

"Where's he?" Elizabeth, who didn't trust Bai Ma much, glanced over. Fredis simply rushed towards Bai Ma. She stretched out her hand to strangle Bai Ma's neck. At the moment when her charred hand was about to touch Bai Ma, a flash of white light appeared -

"Bang!" Fredis was bounced away. Even though she tried hard to keep her feet steady, she still bounced several meters away.

Zhu Mengwei and Li Qi appeared on the left and right. Li Qi looked at Fredis impatiently and said, "Just talk, why use your hands!"

Fredis had never seen such a situation before and was surprised. Si Ling said helplessly: "You'd better calm down. These two are different from us. They are gods."

Goddess, was the word she used.

Freydis opened her mouth wide. Although she didn't know what kind of gods they were, she still didn't dare to touch Bai Ma.

Bai Ma's face was also embarrassed: "I was clearly here just now..."

Si Ling concentrated on thinking, holding his breath and breathing: "Seeing the Netherworld clearly."

As she finished speaking, the world in her eyes changed drastically, and the pavilions and towers all became pale in color.

She saw the lush greenery, fireflies alighting on the grass, and insects she couldn't tell whether they were moths or butterflies, slumbering among the veins of the tree trunks. The towering tree, already seventy or eighty years old, didn't mind the presence of these little creatures, breathing softly and slowly in the night...

All "spiritual" species become conspicuous.

Of course, this includes humans.

She then saw three or four figures swaying in a basement several meters away, as well as the shadow of a vengeful spirit.

...There were many vengeful spirits floating in the underground space, filling the entire place with thick black smoke. From time to time, a hideous face that looked both painful and angry would appear, emitting a sharp roar, and then disappear into the black smoke again.

"Over there." Si Ling said, "They are hiding in a basement."

Elizabeth scoffed, "Coward."

The group immediately set off. When they arrived at the basement, Elizabeth was shocked to discover, "This is where Fredis and I originally hid!"

——It’s the little blue house. The ground floor is used to store miscellaneous items, and the basement is a wine cellar.

Elizabeth keenly sensed something was wrong: "Before we went in, no one had set foot in this place for a long time... Why would Gongbu think of coming here?"

If they just needed a basement to hide in, there were probably hundreds of basements to choose from throughout the estate. Whether it was a residential basement or an underground parking lot, the environment was much better than here.

Before they could investigate carefully, the ground beneath their feet made a cracking sound: "Crack—"

The expressions of several people were stern, and at the same moment, the ground under their feet was completely torn apart. Bai Ma, Elizabeth and Fredis fell down first. Si Ling, Li Qi and Zhu Mengwei subconsciously jumped into the sky, but a strong suction force soon caught up with them and pulled them down.