Chapter 78 [VIP]
This is clearly the entrance to the Ghost Realm, Jiang Zhuochen's lips tightened. The so-called guardian is most likely the Ghost Realm Lord hidden behind the scenes.
He wondered why the evil spirits were so powerful this time; it turned out they had been subdued by the demon realm.
The Lord of the Demon Realm exploited Yi Shui's tragic experiences and overwhelming resentment, transforming her into a tool for harvesting souls to nourish himself.
After receiving the evil power bestowed upon her by the Lord of the Ghost Realm, Yi Shui's soul broke free from the shackles of life and death, transforming into a vengeful ghost filled with resentment.
Her pale face was devoid of any human emotion, except for a pair of unfathomable eyes that burned with eerie ghostly flames.
Revenge became the sole purpose of her existence. The moment she awakened, a silent yet swift act of retribution against the entire village unfolded.
She extracted the souls of everyone in the village from their bodies using an extremely evil secret technique, keeping each wisp of soul on the verge of breaking off, as if forcibly sealing their souls with red-hot iron wire, and then mercilessly stuffing them back into their flesh.
These villagers became true living puppets, oblivious and mindless, like walking corpses.
Their life force was constantly drained by Yi Shui, and their withered skin resembled that of a seventy or eighty-year-old man suffering from famine. They were unsightly at first glance, yet they could not die. Driven by Yi Shui's will, they could only engage in self-destruction day after day, just as they had once coldly watched her suffering.
And this is just the beginning.
When she wants to torture someone, she briefly puts the villager's soul back into their body; this moment of lucidity is the beginning of the nightmare.
Their pain will be amplified a thousandfold by this evil magic. Sunlight on their skin, a gentle breeze, even their breath will feel like shards of glass, tearing through their skin and piercing their internal organs.
At this moment, Yi Shui would smile gently, manipulating the puppets, making them use their withered hands to pick up pebbles from the ground and grind their faces bit by bit. She would then use their remaining strength to slam them against the hard wall again and again.
They were perfectly conscious, able to feel the amplified pain emanating from every nerve ending, yet they were unable to control their bodies, forced to watch helplessly as they self-harmed, emitting silent, agonizing screams.
She has repaid thousands of times over the years every humiliation and beating she suffered in her lifetime.
In endless suffering and cycles of rebirth, Wang Laowu and his wife repeatedly experience the dual torment of losing their son and being subjected to slow, agonizing physical torture. The men who had committed atrocities against her suffer the most unbearable punishment in perpetual madness, including even the village women who had bullied her.
But the hatred seemed endless. Even though the entire village had become a ghostly realm shrouded in resentment, and all the villagers had become her inescapable playthings, the hatred in Yi Shui's heart still did not subside in the slightest.
Ultimately, the village became shrouded in ominous fog year-round, hidden within the mountains, and became a tool for the Yi River to vent its woes.
At this point, the fog had completely dissipated.
Just then, the surrounding resentment suddenly surged violently, and Yi Shui's voice, filled with pain and anger, exploded in the space:
"Not enough! Still not enough! Why did they die so easily?!"
The entire space of resentment began to collapse, and crimson light surged from all directions, threatening to completely engulf them!
However, the collapse did not occur as violently as expected; instead, it exhibited a strange, slow dissolution.
The floating mist no longer attacked wildly, but instead became like a viscous swamp, deeply dragging Jiang Zhuochen and Xu Xing's consciousness into it.
The surrounding scenery changed again, but this time it was no longer fragmented memories. They returned to that familiar yet unfamiliar little mountain village, but the timeline was unclear.
The sky was a dusky yellow, like an eternal twilight.
Jiang Zhuochen found that he still looked like Li Fugui, and Xu Xing was beside him. The two stood under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village.
"Are we still in the illusion?" Jiang Zhuochen looked around warily. The village was eerily quiet, with no roosters crowing, dogs barking, or anyone in sight.
"Hmm." Xu Xing's expression was serious. "Look over there."
Jiang Zhuochen followed Xu Xing's gaze and saw a small figure sitting beside the ancient well in the village, wearing a tattered floral shirt.
That was Yi Shui in her teenage years. She hugged her knees, buried her face in them, and her shoulders trembled slightly, as if she were crying or suppressing something.
Jiang Zhuochen took a deep breath, grabbed Xu Xing to bolster his courage, and walked towards Yishui. He knew this was the key to breaking the deadlock; he had to confront her deepest pain.
Hearing footsteps, Yi Shui looked up.
There were no tear stains on her face, only a deathly calm that seemed out of place for her age, while a dark undercurrent surged deep within her eyes.
"You... all saw it?" Yi Shui's voice was very soft, so soft that it could not stir up a ripple, yet it carried a chilling coldness.
Jiang Zhuochen nodded silently.
Yi Shui forced a smile that looked more like a grimace as she gazed at the distant horizon.
"So tell me, what should we do now? Should we kill this 'me' in front of us to end these endless painful memories? Or..."
Her gaze suddenly sharpened like a knife, sweeping across the silent village, and she spoke slowly and cruelly: "Kill all of 'them' in this illusion? Use their screams and blood to pay tribute to me?"
She offered only two solutions: destroy her, or destroy the perpetrators in the memories.
Jiang Zhuochen frowned slightly. He looked at the hatred and madness that was almost overflowing in Yi Shui's eyes and sighed deeply.
"You've already burned those villagers alive in the real world. These are just illusions. Why do you have to go through another killing spree?"
"Not enough!" Yi Shui suddenly stood up, her voice rising abruptly, shrill with hysteria. "Not nearly enough! When they were torturing me, did they never think this day would come? Huh?!"
Her emotions completely spiraled out of control, and the illusion began to distort and tremble with her rage.
“Every morning before dawn, I have to get up and go door to door washing clothes, cooking, fetching water, and feeding the pigs! Those old women!” She pointed to the imaginary houses, her eyes filled with contempt and hatred. “Most of them were also trafficked here! But how did they treat me? They watched coldly, kicked me when I was down! They even listened outside the door when their men dragged me to bed at night! Just because I'm young? Because I might give birth to a son? So they use me without any burden, while wishing me dead?!”
Her accusations were like a flood bursting its banks, carrying heavy burdens of blood and tears.
“In this village, I’m not even as good as a chicken or duck that’s kept in a pen! At least chickens and ducks can be fed, but what about me? I’m like a fly, anyone can come up and slap me or stomp on me!”
Her body trembled violently with emotion. "I think burning them to death would be too merciful! If you hadn't come, I would have... I would have skinned them alive one by one! Let them taste what it means to wish they were dead!"
Before she could finish speaking, Yi Shui suddenly turned her head and looked towards the village entrance not far away.
A greasy-faced male villager and a weasel-faced female villager were walking towards them.
The female ghost's eyes blazed with red light, and her figure flashed like a phantom in front of the male villager. Under his horrified gaze, she tore off his arm with her bare hands, and blood splattered everywhere!
"Ah—!" The female villager next to her let out a shrill scream.
The female ghost grinned maliciously and roughly shoved the bloody severed arm into the wide-open mouth of the female villager, plunging it deep into her throat.
The female villager's screams stopped abruptly, her eyes bulged out, and her body convulsed violently a few times before she was stabbed to death!
The entire process was bloody and cruel, and it happened in the blink of an eye.
“Since you can’t make a decision,” Yi Shui shook the blood off her hands, turned to look at the dumbfounded Jiang Zhuochen, a chilling satisfaction on her face. “I’ll make the decision for you.”
Once the killing begins, it is difficult to stop.
The female ghost seemed to be completely consumed by the hatred that had been suppressed for many years. She rushed into the house and killed everyone she saw with extremely cruel methods.
The screams of men, the wails of women, the cries of children... filled the entire village in an instant, turning it into a living hell.
Jiang Zhuochen and Xu Xing tried to stop her, but after the female ghost appeared, their power was suppressed to the minimum in this space completely dominated by her resentment, and they were completely helpless.
As Yi Shui relentlessly slaughtered, the illusion began to fluctuate violently, and even showed signs of cracking at its edges.
Supporting such a massive illusion and suppressing the intruders has taken a huge toll on her soul power; the illusion is already unstable and on the verge of collapse.
"Hahaha—let's die together!"
Jiang Zhuochen was extremely anxious; he absolutely could not let her continue killing like this.
This will not only accelerate the depletion of her soul power, causing her to completely perish, but will also cause everyone to be annihilated along with the illusion.
Just as Jiang Zhuochen turned his head, the longevity lamp in his sea of consciousness suddenly emitted a buzzing sound.
A spiritual power far more powerful than before, carrying an unparalleled majesty, erupted from Jiang Zhuochen's sea of consciousness, only to vanish without a trace in an instant.
He gazed at Xu Xing as if sensing something, and a barely perceptible sharpness flashed in the man's eyes before returning to calm.
The ground moved without wind, and a pure and powerful golden light burst forth from Xu Xing, piercing Yi Shui's body like a sharp sword!
The entire blood-red, viscous illusion shattered inch by inch; the destroyed village, the frenzied killing, the shrill screams... all the scenes vanished without a trace.
Yi Shui's body, which had been thrown high into the air, fell to the ground. After regaining her senses, the two of them returned to the real world.
The night was deep, and the air in the charred village clearing was filled with the smell of burning and a faint stench of blood.
Jiang Zhuochen perked up and looked at the person beside him with starry eyes.
How come Master has suddenly become so powerful?
Xu Xing seemed to see through his thoughts and answered, "The effects of the Azure Cloud Heaven medicine have been absorbed."
His soul and spirit had merged on their own, and his consciousness had stabilized.
He turned to the side, glancing at Yi Shui beside him.
Severely wounded and clinging to life, her soul became extremely dim and transparent. She clutched her chest, her soul unstable, seemingly on the verge of dissipating. The bloodlust in her eyes faded, replaced by a despair and anguish born of exhaustion.
With his palm facing upwards, Xu Xing gently hooked his finger, and the wisp of remnant soul within the female ghost's body automatically detached, slowly settling in his palm before disappearing into the longevity lamp.
With only seven fragments of his soul, his abilities are not yet sufficient to freely fuse with the remaining fragments of his soul; he still needs to rely on a Heavenly Dao artifact.
Yi Shui let out a weak groan, her half-supported arm fell limp, and she collapsed to the ground again, curled up and trembling.
Jiang Zhuochen sighed and strode forward.
The village is destroyed; the people who suffered here for years are all dead, not even ashes remain. It's all over.
What obsessions do you still have?
Yi Shui closed her eyes, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible: "I only hate... that they died so young..."
If inner demons are hard to dispel, evil spirits will not enter the cycle of reincarnation, and in the end, they will only end up being reduced to ashes.
Jiang Zhuochen had just experienced the other party's suffering not long ago, so it was really difficult for him to stand idly by.
Knowing he couldn't persuade him, he turned to look at Xu Xing, and after the other nodded slightly, he formed a calming spell in his hand.
Given Yi Shui's current condition, she won't live much longer. It would be better to take this opportunity to help her pass on to the afterlife.
However, just as his magic was about to touch Yi Shui's soul, a sudden change occurred!
A figure as black as ink and as fast as lightning suddenly shot out from mid-air.
The figure, enveloped in a strong ghostly aura, embraced the dissipating female ghost.
"Who?!" Jiang Zhuochen and Xu Xing exclaimed at the same time.
The figure didn't answer at all, and with a flash, it was about to escape with Yi Shui!
Xu Xing's eyes narrowed, and the surrounding air currents were materialized by spiritual power, striking the black figure from all directions toward its back.
The shadowy figure dodged in a flash, revealing a blurry face beneath the hood, yet radiating an aura of extreme danger and evil.
With his free hand, he struck out in a certain direction. A terrifying beam of ghostly energy condensed and blasted directly towards the dark green, solitary mountain beside them!
With a loud bang, the earth shook violently.
The seemingly solid mountain was easily pierced and toppled by the impact of this ghostly energy. Huge rocks mixed with soil cascaded down like a waterfall, hurtling towards Jiang Zhuochen and Xu Xing!
This sudden landslide was clearly intended to slow them down.
"careful!"
Without hesitation, Xu Xing abandoned the pursuit, turned around abruptly, and lunged at Jiang Zhuochen with all his might, shielding him firmly with his body while simultaneously erecting a sturdy spiritual energy barrier.
The boulder crashed down with a deafening roar, sending up clouds of dust.
When the collapse subsided and the dust settled, the rocks around the barrier were shattered by spiritual energy.
Xu Xing propped himself up and pulled Jiang Zhuochen out of his arms to check him over carefully. "Are you hurt?"
Jiang Zhuochen shook his head. "It's nothing."
When they looked up again, there was no trace of the shadowy figure or Yi Shui.
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