(seven)
Upon sensing the presence of a stranger inside, the spirit children sprang into action, rushing towards Wen Su in unison.
However, perhaps because they mistook Zhou Ziqiu for one of their own, these underworld children did not attack him.
Wen Su dodged the attack aimed at him, but due to a decrease in his agility, he was nearly pierced through the shoulder. He had no choice but to kick the head of the underworld child and use the momentum to roll again, plunging his dagger into the skull of another underworld child who lunged at him. The dagger burst out with golden light, slowing the underworld child's movements, but causing the underworld child to frantically shake its head, trying to shake Wen Su off. Wen Su decisively pulled out the dagger, reached out and grabbed another underworld child beside him to use as a shield to block the attack of the frenzied underworld child. At the same time, his other hand rummaged through the bag on his waist, searching for a magical artifact that matched the group—an inkwell.
The "Notes from the Right Terrace Immortal Hall" states: "The plumb line and the ruler are presented truthfully, and one cannot deceive them with crooked lines." However, all the rules and regulations are insufficient to ward off evil. Only the ink lines drawn by carpenters and stonemasons are feared by ghosts and demons. Why is this? Because evil cannot prevail over good.
Zhou Ziqiu raised his hand to deflect the attack of the Nether Child and then stabbed at the back of the Nether Child who was trying to pounce on Wen Su's back. The Nether Child screamed when it was stabbed and lunged back at Zhou Ziqiu, but was cut in two by Zhou Ziqiu's blade. However, after the Nether Child's two halves dissipated in the air, they returned to one. Zhou Ziqiu immediately raised his blade to block the claw attack and knocked the Nether Child back several meters away.
Wen Su pulled out the inkwell, dripped blood onto his hand—the one he'd cut when activating the dagger—and then pulled the ink thread from it. With a flick of his wrist, the ink thread strangled several of the underworld children, slicing their throats like daggers and binding them together. Wen Su bit the index finger of his other hand and cast a freezing spell in mid-air, immobilizing them. The underworld children, struck by the spell, were frozen in place.
Just as Wen Su breathed a sigh of relief, he saw the white light emanating from the crystal orchid on the ground converge on the body of the Netherworld Children. The Netherworld Children immediately went berserk, breaking free from the ink lines in Wen Su's hands and throwing him several meters away. One of the Netherworld Children even pierced through Wen Su's shoulder during the struggle.
Seeing that the several underworld children were about to break free from the binding of the ink thread, Zhou Ziqiu disregarded the remaining underworld children who were still fighting with him, reached out and grabbed the ink thread, temporarily restraining the underworld children bound by the ink thread for Wen Su. However, at this moment, his back was exposed, and he was hit in the back by an underworld child. The underworld child's yin energy did not harm him, but it caused black blood to flow from his nose.
A tearing sensation came from his body. It was not only that his soul sensed that his original body wanted to break away, but also a signal that his body could not withstand the sudden surge of Yin energy and was about to collapse. Zhou Ziqiu's eyes sharpened, and the long knife in his hand immediately slashed towards his wrist.
"Zhou Ziqiu!!"
Wen Su, who had been thrown into the air, crashed heavily to the ground. After a muffled groan, he stood up again and saw Zhou Ziqiu's self-harming scene. His eyes immediately turned red. Even the fact that half of his body was numb could not stop him from getting up and rushing to Zhou Ziqiu's side. He immediately reached out and took the ink rope from Zhou Ziqiu's hand, and with his other hand, he grasped Zhou Ziqiu's wrist. His large hand was just big enough to hold Zhou Ziqiu's slender wrist completely. Wen Su used his strength to restrain the ink line with one hand while chanting a healing spell. A few seconds later, when he released his hand, the wound on Zhou Ziqiu's wrist was completely healed.
His gaze toward Zhou Ziqiu turned fierce: "You'd better explain yourself when you get back."
Suddenly attacked, Zhou Ziqiu pursed his lips and remained silent, but instead brandished his sword to help Wen Su repel the other underworld children who rushed at him.
With Zhou Ziqiu unharmed, Wen Su turned his attention back to the underworld children. Clenching his teeth, he exerted force, and the blood-red ink lines cut even deeper into the throats of the underworld children who were surrounded. The muscles in Wen Su's arm were bulging. His soul had been compressed beforehand, so he didn't have complete control over his body. One of the manifestations was that half of his body was numb. However, his hand holding the ink lines was already turning white, and blood kept dripping from his clenched fist. It was clear that while the ink lines were cutting deeper into the throats of the underworld children, they were also cutting into Wen Su's hand.
Using only arm strength to strangle the throats of several underworld children is no less difficult than snapping a large tree in half with only arm strength. However, the ink line ultimately has great harm to evil things. The sound of a sharp blade cutting through flesh rang out, and the heads of those underworld children were cut off in unison.
The headless child turned to dust in an instant.
Seeing that the crystal orchid on the ground was trying to use the same trick to restore the child, Wen Su raised his hand and instantly drew a karmic fire talisman on the ground. The talisman's fire exploded and illuminated the room. The crystal orchid on the ground was instantly burned to ashes, and the baby's cries rang out amidst the fire and explosions.
Without the help of the Crystal Orchid, the remaining children of the underworld became somewhat sluggish.
Wen Su was panting heavily. The underground space was already oxygen-deficient, let alone such a fast-paced battle. He was also injured, and one of his eyes was now slightly blurred. However, he still steadied himself and stepped out of the Big Dipper Step. His hands trembled slightly as he formed a hand seal: "Heaven and Earth, Mysterious Origin, Root of All Qi. Cultivate for countless eons, Prove My Divine Power. Within and without the Three Realms, Only the Dao is Supreme. My body is enveloped in golden light. Invisible to the eye, inaudible to the ear. Encompassing Heaven and Earth, Nurturing All Living Beings. Recite this ten thousand times, and Your Body Will Be Illuminated."
Guardians of the Three Realms, welcomed by the Five Emperors. All gods pay homage, thunder and lightning are commanded, demons and monsters tremble in fear, spirits forget their forms. Within lies thunder and lightning, the Thunder God conceals his name. Penetrating wisdom and insight, the Five Elements surge forth. Golden light swiftly appears, protecting the True Man. Hasten, hasten, as the law commands!
A thunderous roar followed, and the light swayed in the air like a swimming fish, instantly growing into a dazzling golden light. The child under the golden light stopped moving. Then a huge roar resounded, and the golden light filled the room. Wen Su didn't know if the golden light would harm Zhou Ziqiu, but he still used his exhausted body to protect Zhou Ziqiu.
About a minute later, the golden light gradually dissipated. Wen Su and Zhou Ziqiu looked at the location where the ghost children had been. The ghost children had turned into dust and were floating in the air, with a faint smell of burning in the air.
Wen Su closed his eyes and released Zhou Ziqiu, whom he had just hugged. He suddenly lost his strength and was about to fall to the ground when Zhou Ziqiu caught him and helped him slowly lean against the wall.
"Damn..." Wen Su cursed under his breath, a rare occurrence for him. He hadn't expected the rune to have such severe side effects. Not only was he blind in one eye, but now he was practically crippled. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Zhou Ziqiu looked at Wen Su, whose face had turned pale, with suspicion.
There's not much oxygen down there, and since Wen Su is human, he would be significantly affected.
Wen Su shook his head, swallowed the metallic taste rising in his mouth, tore off his clothes to bandage the wound on his shoulder, and stood up from the ground: "I'm fine, let's go." As he spoke, his gaze swept around the room.
Unlike the previous room, this room was completely empty except for the eighteen ghost children; it was pitch black. After searching for a long time, I finally spotted something that looked like a door on the charred wall.
Wen Su glanced at Zhou Ziqiu, who understood and released Yin energy onto the door.
The door swung open again with a bang, but it wasn't the one in front of them.
The two exchanged a glance and stepped out of the room, only to find that the door at the end of the corridor was open, with dim light shining from inside. When they walked into the room behind the door and saw the scene clearly, Zhou Ziqiu was stunned and stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning.
The empty room was devoid of anything except four coffins placed in the center, surrounded by ever-burning lamps. The air circulation caused the candlelight to flicker, but it did not go out, illuminating the path to the afterlife for the people sleeping within the coffins.
"This is—" you?
"This is... me?"
The two spoke at the same time, but did not finish their sentences.
Zhou Ziqiu didn't know if he was buried here, but the tearing sensation in his body was still there. He slowly walked to one of the coffins, reached out and pushed open the coffin lid—then took two steps back in shock.
This is not him.
But instead—!!
Wen Su frowned after seeing Zhou Ziqiu's reaction, stepped forward to look inside the coffin, and understood why Zhou Ziqiu was so shocked.
This is definitely not him.
He recognized the person inside the coffin; it was Zhou Gushan. He had seen Zhou Gushan in his dream. He looked very much like Zhou Qinghe, but was more refined and gentle, and taller. However, he did not recognize the other person.
Inside the coffin, Zhou Gushan's body was not decomposed and was "sleeping" in the coffin with a slight smile on his face, as if he were just taking a normal midday nap and would wake up at any time. When he saw the person next to the coffin, he would smile and call out, "Qinghe".
Wen Su then walked to the other coffins next to him, reached out and pushed open the coffin lids, and found that there were two middle-aged men and women and a young man, all dressed in gorgeous mourning clothes and sleeping with their eyes closed.
"Ah...ah..."
The tension that had been building up finally broke down, and Zhou Ziqiu's tears fell suddenly. He shook his head and backed away while crying, tripping over a candlestick on the ground and falling to the ground. He didn't bother to get up, but just kept shaking his head while crying. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but only broken sentences came out.
These are all his relatives, all of whom have left him.
Why can't only he die? Why, why can't only he die?
"Zhou Ziqiu!"
Wen Su knelt on one knee in front of Zhou Ziqiu, reached out and shook Zhou Ziqiu, making Zhou Ziqiu raise his red eyes to look at him.
"You are fine, listen to me, you are fine."
Wen Su didn't care that his hands were covered in soot, but since both of their faces were also covered in soot, it didn't matter. He reached out and wiped away Zhou Ziqiu's tears, smearing Zhou Ziqiu's face with soot instead, but since both of them were already dirty, it didn't matter.
"Look at me, okay? Look at me, Zhou Ziqiu, look up at me."
Noticing Zhou Ziqiu trying to back away, Wen Su grabbed Zhou Ziqiu's shoulder to stop him from retreating and forced him to look up at him. He had just seen something on Zhou Gushan's neck and was about to turn around and tell Zhou Ziqiu when he saw Zhou Ziqiu sitting on the ground, cursing him. He was so frightened that he immediately knelt down in front of Zhou Ziqiu.
"It's my fault, I'm the one who killed them..."
Zhou Ziqiu couldn't control his tears and took all the blame upon himself, leaving Wen Su so angry that he didn't know what to do with him.
"What's wrong with you?" Wen Su reached out and cupped Zhou Ziqiu's face, wiping away his tears, and questioned, "Tell me, what's wrong with you?"
"They...they died because of me..."
"What?" Wen Su laughed, annoyed by Zhou Ziqiu's words. "Did you hold a knife to their throats and let them die, or did you force them to commit suicide?"
Zhou Ziqiu shook his head blankly, his eyes still lifeless, still deeply mired in self-blame.
“You’re always thinking you’re guilty, you’re guilty. You’ve always been like this. What did I tell you back then?” Wen Su spoke quickly, but his words were clear. “I’ll ask you one more time, when was being killed a mistake? Hmm?”
“They didn’t die because of you.” Wen Su said, emphasizing each word. “This was the path they chose themselves. They knew this would happen before they made the choice. It has nothing to do with you.”
"Don't dwell on the past, okay?" Wen Su gently wiped Zhou Ziqiu's face, then, recalling the scene he had just witnessed Zhou Ziqiu harming himself, added, "And don't hurt yourself, okay?"
"If you have any difficulties, tell me, okay? I will help you solve them. I will help you solve everything."
When Wen Su looked down, his eyes met those of the stunned Zhou Ziqiu. He pursed his lips and suddenly wanted to kiss Zhou Ziqiu's lips and tell him over and over that he was willing to do anything for him.
But in the end, he only carefully and gently placed a dry kiss on Zhou Ziqiu's forehead.
18:58:32
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