Chapter 21 The Prison Gates Open... Isn't that the female ghost from the Ghost Bureau?! ...
Lu Bing asked, "So what do we do now?"
Hei Zi huddled together with his companion, trembling, and hugged each other for courage: "Of course we have to get out of here as soon as possible. I really can't stand this godforsaken place for another second."
The constable kept his eyes tightly shut, too afraid to open them any longer. His two legs, which were supporting him from collapsing to the ground, trembled uncontrollably. "Get out, get out, I'm about to die."
But when they walked towards the prison gate they had come from, and fled through the dark, long corridor as if escaping, they found themselves back in the death row.
Everyone's minds went blank as they stared at the corpses in front of them, victims of various forms of torture and murder, completely dumbfounded.
Master Fang murmured, "Why are you back in again?"
Lu Bing asked incredulously, "Why?"
"Have we taken the wrong road?" Hei Zi panicked.
“We didn’t go the wrong way,” Zhou Yaren’s voice remained calm. “There is only one prison gate here. There are no side passages or turns in the corridor.”
"How is that possible?"
Zhou Yaren could clearly sense that "the airflow here is not connected to the outside world."
Master Fang looked at him, his face pale: "Does that mean you're living in seclusion?"
“You could say that,” Zhou Yaren said. They were now completely trapped in a sealed space, a place known as the Daoist Prison. No matter how many times they tried to escape, they would eventually return to the same spot. The prison gates appeared open, but there was no way out. After analyzing the current situation in her mind, Zhou Yaren pondered, “We can’t get out for now.”
Lu Bing was extremely uneasy, and hesitantly repeated, "For now?"
Kuroko: "How long is 'temporarily'?"
“You all work in the yamen and have detained many prisoners. You should all know very well that once you enter prison, it’s hard to get out.” Zhou Yaren tried to comfort everyone, as calm as a pillar of strength. “This place is also a prison.”
Lu Bing suddenly opened his mouth, his tone extremely suppressed: "But this godforsaken place is not an ordinary prison in the county government. There is no way out here."
It's impossible to lock them up with these dead people.
Zhou Yaren paused. He could sense the other person's near-collapse of fear. He had been suppressing it from beginning to end, and now he was clearly about to break down.
Zhou Yaren said, "This is a Dao formation. Every formation has a way to survive. Master Fang and I will find a solution."
The terrified Master Fang was flattered to hear that the other party had actually included him. He never expected that Ting Fengzhi would think so highly of him. He immediately rallied his spirits and forced himself to agree: "Yes, yes, I do know a bit about the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams. I can definitely help you find a way out."
Lu Bing glanced at him, wanting to say, "Master Fang, you were also quite frightened just now. Your screams were no less loud than anyone else's."
However, Lu Bing refrained from undermining the other party, after all, this was not the time to argue.
Even if Master Fang is not the best, he is still a proper Taoist practitioner. As the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise, and he is still better than those three yamen runners who only know how to wield knives and sticks.
It was unbearable to be in the same room with countless corpses in various states of death.
Despite his weak legs, Master Fang examined the place thoroughly, but he couldn't figure it out at all. It was a completely seamless whole, and even its location was difficult to discern.
Finally, his gaze settled on the center of the altar, and he couldn't help but shudder. He felt that the woman bound to the altar was more terrifying than the dismembered corpses.
However, when Tingfengzhi stood at the edge of the altar examining the inscriptions, Master Fang hesitated and sidled up to him, imitating him as he looked at them for a long time. When he still couldn't understand them, he asked, "Does fellow Daoist recognize them?"
Zhou Yaren shook her head: "I've never seen it before. It's a very ancient inscription. Since it can form shackles to bind her, it must be a kind of torture curse."
Since we don't even know each other, why spend so much time looking at each other? Isn't that a waste?
Upon realizing he was blind, Master Fang suddenly understood. He had had a vague feeling about something strange before, but he hadn't been able to process it due to his shock. Until this moment, he stared intently into Zhou Yaren's eyes: "Aren't you—blind?"
Zhou Yaren paused for a moment, then said nonchalantly, "I can see it from here."
Master Fang was so shocked he could hardly speak: "Could it be that you are... a Yin-Yang master..."
“I don’t have the ability to see ghosts,” Zhou Yaren explained. “I can only see ghostly things.” And this place is like the underworld.
Master Fang thought to himself, "This is unbelievable." He asked aloud, "Were you born this way?"
He was so curious that he wanted to take two steps forward and get closer to Zhou Yaren to examine those incredible eyes more closely, since their pupils usually looked rather light in color.
As a result, Master Fang was not paying attention to his footing and accidentally got caught on two chains. With a crash, he lost his balance and fell forward.
Zhou Yaren reacted quickly and caught him. At the same time, a strange and unpredictable gust of wind swept around them, and the woman who was tied to the center of the altar suddenly opened her eyes.
Before Master Fang could even regain his footing, the iron lock beneath his feet suddenly lashed out, coiling around his calf like a snake and pulling him violently. Master Fang was horrified as he was dragged away.
He didn't even have time to grab Zhou Yaren's hand that was supporting him. He grabbed it unexpectedly, but it was empty. He then quickly drew his sword and slashed it with force. With a clang, the indestructible iron lock was not even scratched.
Suddenly, Zhou Yaren grabbed the two iron locks and twisted them in the opposite direction, freeing Master Fang's tightly bound legs.
However, the iron lock wrapped around Zhou Yaren's arm as if it were a nimble venomous snake coiling around his arm. A sharp pain shot through his arm, and before he could react, Zhou Yaren was violently pulled away.
Master Fang exclaimed in surprise, "Fellow Daoist!" He was about to reach out and grab the person when an iron chain lashed out at him like a whip.
Master Fang retreated hastily, but he was caught off guard and was struck hard on the back by an iron whip. His Taoist robe was ripped open, and the skin inside was torn open. The intense pain made him cry out in agony.
Standing at a distance, Lu Bing and the others were completely unaware of what was happening when they saw Master Fang being whipped away by an iron whip, his body crashing heavily to the ground, while Zhou Yaren's feet left the ground as she flew towards the center of the altar...
Zhou Yaren stared in disbelief, then suddenly met the eyes of the woman on the altar, and her heart trembled.
It's her!
She was the woman whom Sun Xiuniang had sacrificed with blood using a bronze mirror as a medium in front of the Yama's Palace in the Ghost Bureau. She had condensed a form on Sun Xiuniang's corpse, thin and translucent like mist, like a ghost growing out of blood, pale and eerie.
Just like now, her face was as pale as paper, and her cold eyes were like a frozen abyss. Just one glance from afar was enough to send chills down Zhou Yaren's spine.
She parted her lips slightly and uttered two cold words: "Alive."
Just as she was about to crash headfirst into it, Zhou Yaren struggled to pull her arm away, revealing several bruises on her arm.
Before he could catch his breath, a series of iron whips came crashing down.
Zhou Yaren suddenly spun around, the iron whip whistling sharply past his ear, accompanied by a strong gust of wind, and then came from behind him from both sides, leaving him struggling to defend himself.
Unable to dodge in time, an iron lock suddenly wrapped around his neck, nearly suffocating him.
Zhou Yaren did a somersault to break free, but another iron chain immediately wrapped around his waist, then his legs were bound, and he was dragged and slammed heavily to the ground.
Ignoring the pain, Zhou Yaren flicked her wide sleeves and unleashed a wind blade that deflected the incoming iron whip.
With a clang, like swords clashing, the wind blade slashed fiercely towards the woman in the center of the altar.
The woman remained expressionless, only blinking her cold, abyss-like eyes slowly. The sword-like wind blades immediately transformed into a harmless gentle breeze that brushed across her cheek, lightly lifting the strands of hair beside her face: "Wind Control Technique."
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhou Yaren broke free of the restraints on her ankles and unleashed several wind blades in succession.
The woman was clearly bound by iron chains and seemed powerless to fight back, yet several wind blades were unleashed, but they couldn't harm her in the slightest.
The wind blade stopped at his face, then turned against Zhou Yaren as if it had betrayed him, even coating him with a faint layer of frost-white aura in the void, much like a snow-white and shiny thin blade, flashing with a cold light that kills without blinking.
Zhou Yaren waved his hand, and although the cold, sharp energy was swept away, it still managed to cut a small part of his sleeve and skin.
The iron chain wrapped around his waist pulled him forward violently, and Zhou Yaren couldn't stand up at all. In desperation, he pulled out the pitch pipe and stirred up the air in the altar of the Circular Mound Altar, blowing it all into the pitch pipe and making music.
"Music originates from sound, sound originates from rhythm, and rhythm originates from wind."
However, the extremely mournful melody made Zhou Ya's heart sink: "A deathly sound!"
There was only an extremely cold and deathly aura here, and of course, only the sounds of death. A faint smile played on the woman's lips: "Otherwise what? What do you want to hear?"
Her laughter sent chills down Zhou Yaren's spine.
The sound of death echoed mournfully in the closed prison, and a powerful gust of air swept towards the center of the altar.
The woman raised her head, her gaze sharpening, carrying a ruthless and murderous aura, and demanded, "How did a living person break in?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the iron chains binding her exploded, pulling countless corpses into the air at the other end, all surging towards Zhou Yaren: "This is the first time my place has hosted living people, apart from the dead."
The sudden resurrection left Lu Bing and the others utterly terrified, nearly fainting on the spot. Hei Zi's clothes were soaked with sweat; he had wet himself in fear, trembling like a leaf as he recognized the woman's sinister face: "Ghost...ghost..."
Isn't that the female ghost from the Ghost Bureau?!
Master Fang's pupils dilated violently. He endured the excruciating pain in his back and had just gotten up when he was knocked to the ground again by the iron chain of the corpse that had sprung up. He frantically picked up the sword that had been thrown out, and it collided with a headless corpse next to him.
The music suddenly turned sharp, sweeping away the dozen or so gruesome corpses that were attacking Zhou Yaren, and then sweeping back towards the people on the altar.
Zhou Yaren's ears felt as if they were about to explode. The sound of death was deafening, like thousands of cries and roars, even containing pleading and desperate pleas.
"Injustice—"
"Injustice—"
"Injustice—"
The death scream was like a booming bell, piercing his eardrums and drilling into his nerves, making him unable to hear any of the surrounding sounds, or even his own question: "What are you? Did all these people die unjustly because of you?!"
Then he saw the woman smile coldly, open her mouth, and seem to say something, but he couldn't hear it; all he could hear was the earth-shattering sound of death.
Zhou Yaren was deeply stung by that cold laugh, and her eyes gradually became bloodshot. These people had struggled bitterly in prison and died unjustly, and even in death they could not find relief.
Zhou Yaren glanced at both ends of the iron lock. All the blame lay with her alone, yet she only responded with a cold laugh. Just how cold-hearted and bloodless was she?!
Zhou Yaren stared at her, a chilling killing intent flashing in her eyes.
He could hear the wind and control it; the wind could move at will. Layers of killing intent swirled around him, transforming into countless wind blades and sword energies that flew densely toward the man.
She is neither a decent person nor a kind one, so there is no need to show her any mercy.
The woman raised her pale face, momentarily stunned by the encirclement of wind blades. The sharp sword wind, carrying wind-whispering incantations meant to kill, even though she managed to neutralize its killing intent midway, still had several wind-whispering incantations that she couldn't completely neutralize swiftly slash into her lungs and internal organs, like being brutally stabbed into her body by a red-hot iron sword, almost burning her alive.
The altar was covered with knife marks from the wind blades.
Even so, the woman didn't utter a sound, but the others, who were terrified, screamed their hearts out. The two constables screamed "Ghost! Ghost!" one after another, almost going crazy from fright.
Master Fang, flustered and short of breath, turned his head, his eyes widening suddenly: "The prison gates! Quick, Officer Lu, the prison gates are open!"
Lu Bing's three souls and seven spirits hadn't had time to return to their places. He simply turned his head in response to Master Fang's shout and couldn't figure out what was going on until he saw a faint silver light shining from the end of the originally dark prison gate.
"Quick! Get out of here!" Master Fang shouted sharply, then yelled at Zhou Yaren, who was locked in fierce combat on the altar, "Fellow Daoist! Listen to the wind! The prison gates are open, get out of here!"
Lu Bing had already come to his senses: "Elegant person, elegant person."
"Go, hurry up, go quickly!" Master Fang shouted as he rushed over, picking up Hei Zi, who was paralyzed with fear, along the way. Hei Zi was limp and boneless, and Master Fang struggled to lift him up, only to find that his genitals were soaked and still dripping wet.
Master Fang was shocked. He looked down at the "map" drawn by Hei Zi, then looked up at the prison gate directly in front of him. In an instant, he had a sudden realization and exclaimed, "You brat, you're still a virgin?!"
A stream of boy's urine unexpectedly broke through the airtight prison, but Master Fang didn't have time to figure out what principle this touched. Having finally opened the prison gate, escaping was of course the priority.
Hei Zi had no idea what the other party meant by "virgin chicken". His legs were as weak as noodles and he couldn't stand up at all. He could only be carried by the other party.
Zhou Yaren, caught in the middle of the battle, had her ears blocked by the "deathly shouts" and didn't hear Master Fang's almost roaring cry at all. But the woman in the altar heard it. She turned her head slightly, and several iron chains stretched out in her line of sight, binding the people who were about to escape to the prison gate.
Master Fang tied Hei Zi and a gruesome corpse to the same iron lock. Hei Zi was about to struggle and resist, but as soon as he drew his sword halfway out, the iron lock tightened, binding the two men and the corpse together like a bundle of firewood, making a tight knot. Before Hei Zi could even scream, he rolled his eyes and fainted from fright.
The constable flailed his arms, trying to grab something, but his five fingers were caught on the ground. The iron chain yanked him hard, prying off the five armor plates that were gripping the ground, causing the constable to scream in agony.
The deadly iron chain was tightly wrapped around Lu Bing's neck, causing his face to turn red instantly. He frantically tried to tear at the chain with both hands, unable to even catch his breath.
None of the four escaped; they were all dragged into the altar of the Circular Mound Altar, bound hand and foot, and thrown right under Zhou Yaren's nose.
Lu Bingyan rolled his eyes, veins bulged on his forehead, and his face turned a deep liver color; he was about to suffocate and die.
"Lu Bing!" Zhou Yaren's expression hardened, and her voice trembled with tension and worry. As a result, all the wind blades in the array reversed direction, severing the iron lock that was strangling Lu Bing's neck like long knives.
The woman's expression changed drastically, and she turned to stare at Zhou Yaren in disbelief.
Lu Bing choked on his breath, but before he could catch his breath and cough, another iron chain was wrapped around his neck, then a second, a third, a fourth... all of them were wrapped around the necks of the four people!
Zhou Yaren's expression changed drastically. She pulled back the flute in her hand and struggled to break free from the deafening "death screams," but was whipped to the ground by the iron whip. A deep wound was immediately torn open on her shoulder and neck, and the gushing blood soaked her snow-white collar red.
The woman stared at him with an extremely gloomy expression, causing the iron lock to embed itself into the man's gaping flesh, tightening and digging deeper and deeper: "Can you just obediently not resist?"
Zhou Yaren gritted her teeth and endured the pain. Her ears were ringing, and she could barely make out what the other person was saying: "What do you want to do?"
"You don't want them to die with me, do you?"
The other four were strangled by iron chains and hung on the altar. Their tracheas were tightly bound, leaving only a narrow gap for them to breathe, so that they would not suffocate immediately, but their faces were all turning purple.
A threat? The thought flashed through Zhou Yaren's mind, and she suddenly understood the other party's intention. Because she had just severed the inscription shackles that bound her, she wanted to…
Zhou Yaren gritted her teeth and endured the pain, saying, "You mean..."
"I want to go out."
A note from the author:
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