Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 500, Section 510: Yin and Yang, Shadows of Resentment, Sword Drawn with Pride

"Please wait a moment, sir!"

Zhong Kui's voice did not stop the old man; instead, he closed the door even faster.

"boom!"

Zhong Kui stood there in silence for a long time, then turned his head and looked at Li Ping'an seriously.

"You must have scared the old man by looking like a ghost. You'd better hide when you see people in the future, otherwise it will damage my image."

"???"

Li Ping'an was speechless for a moment. His body floated in mid-air, and his palm couldn't help but reach back.

I really want to cut this person in front of me to death with a pair of scissors.

Zhong Kui composed himself and stepped forward to knock on the door.

"Old man, don't worry, I'm not a wandering ghost, I'm a living person..."

Zhong Kui spoke to the door for a long time, but seeing that there was still no response from inside, he sighed helplessly.

Li Ping'an stood behind him with his arms crossed and mocked, "Fengjia Village is so big, why does it have to stay in front of this old man's door?"

Zhong Kui turned his head and said, "Because he is the only living person I have seen so far, and he is so old, he must have lived in Fengjia Village for a long time, making him the best person to ask about the situation in Fengjia Village."

Upon hearing this, Li Ping'an shrugged, looking as if to say, "I'll enjoy your performance."

The air suddenly fell silent. It was as if there was no one else alive in Fengjia Village except for this old man; it was deathly quiet.

Zhong Kui stood in front of the door for a while, just as he was about to leave, when suddenly the door in front of him was slowly pulled open a crack, revealing an old, greasy face.

The old man peeked out and cautiously asked Zhong Kui, "Little one, where are you from? Where are your parents?"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Kui's expression darkened, and his face fell: "My hometown is Qiling Prefecture in Xuanzhou. The Goddess Zigu led her evil army in and broke in. My parents were killed by the evil spirits while trying to protect my sister and me!"

Upon hearing this, the old man looked at Zhong Kui's thin shoulders, hesitated for a long time, and then opened the door.

"come in!"

"This world is just too difficult. Evil spirits are everywhere, and just surviving is painful enough. Now there is war, and war is raging everywhere. I have seen countless corpses."

After the old man led Zhong Kui into the house, he carefully lit the candle beside him with a wisp of fire in both hands as he spoke.

"I'm sorry, my home is simple, please don't mind."

Zhong Kui entered the room and glanced around. He found that apart from a bed and a table, the rest of the room was filled with birdcages made of thin wire.

There was a bedside table next to the bed, covered in a dark, grimy mess, with a bull-headed shrine on it. Zhong Kui felt a strange sense of familiarity with it, but couldn't quite place it.

He turned his head and asked, "Has the old man always lived in this village?"

The old man was squatting nearby, rummaging through something. Upon hearing this, he replied without turning his head, "Yes, I am a native of Fengjia Village."

"Are you hungry? I have a flatbread here. If you don't mind, you can have some."

The old man handed over a dry biscuit. Zhong Kui smiled and took it, then asked, seemingly casually.

"Since the old man has always lived in the Feng family, how does he know so much about the outside world?"

"Hehe, do you see these birdcages of mine?" The old man pointed to the wire cages piled up in the room.

"These are my secret weapons!"

"Methods?" Zhong Kui narrowed his eyes.

The world is full of strange and unpredictable things. One must be careful when going out. Many self-proclaimed experts have died because of these strange tricks.

Before Zhong Kui left, Ma Han specifically gave him these instructions, telling him to be careful of those extraordinary people who possessed strange and mysterious skills.

"What methods did the old man use?" Zhong Kui asked in a low voice, and even Li Ping'an, who had deliberately hidden himself, pricked up his ears with curiosity.

The old man glanced at Zhong Kui with a slight smile. The candlelight illuminated half of his face, making him look somewhat sinister.

"Bird watching!" the old man said simply.

He didn't hide his secrets. Perhaps in his eyes, Zhong Kui was just a child, and it wouldn't be a big deal if the other party knew what he had learned.

The old man plopped down on the bed and began to speak eloquently.

"Bird watching, as the name suggests, is naturally related to watching."

"But my 'seeing' is from the perspective of the birds I keep. They can fly freely in the sky, and wherever they go, they take my eyes with them. So I can know what's going on in the world while staying at home."

Zhong Kui blinked, looking up and down at the ragged old man in front of him, who reeked of urine, with a somewhat skeptical expression.

"Hey, don't you believe me?" Seeing Zhong Kui's somewhat skeptical look, the old man pointed two fingers at his eyes.

"look into my eyes!"

Zhong Kui looked up at the sound and met the old man's eyes. He felt as if he had entered a strange space, surrounded by darkness, with a huge curtain in the middle.

The screen displays small squares, each containing a scene that is being performed.

"This is……"

Upon seeing this scene, Zhong Kui was somewhat startled. He glanced at the images on the screen and was surprised to see many scenes of Luozhou in them.

These views are taken from above and are not very clear, but you can still vaguely see people moving around in the city below, heading to work in a large field.

"This seems to be Zhaoshan City, the place where I settled my younger sister."

Zhong Kui stared wide-eyed, straining to look down through the grid. The grid seemed to understand his thoughts, and the image continued to fall, finally stopping on a rooftop.

Looking at the crowds coming and going on the street, Zhong Kui was already shocked.

At that moment, an aged voice echoed through the space.

"How was it? Not bad, right?"

"Do you want to learn?"

"As long as you become my disciple, I will teach you this technique."

Zhong Kui swallowed hard, now completely absorbed in the scene, eager to find his little sister.

After realizing that nothing had come of it, he sighed inwardly and replied, "I'm sorry, sir, I cannot become your disciple."

Although he was quite interested in this line of work, he knew exactly what his responsibilities were.

The old man's voice echoed in Zhong Kui's ears: "You can consider it. The fact that you were able to enter Fengjia Village alone shows that you have extraordinary talent."

"I don't have much time left. I just hope that my skills can be passed down to future generations so that they won't be buried with me in the coffin."

"Thank you, sir." Zhong Kui nodded, then looked puzzled: "But aren't you afraid that your magic, which causes birds to land in the city, will be discovered?"

As soon as Zhong Kui finished speaking, a weasel appeared in the center of the square in front of him, and in the blink of an eye, the square turned completely black.

The old man's distressed voice echoed in the air: "Oh dear, my good pigeon!"

In an instant, Zhong Kui felt the scene before him rushing backward, and when he came to his senses, he was back in the dilapidated hut.

The old man in front of me clutched his chest with a pained expression, and tears seemed to well up in his eyes.

“My good pigeon, another one has died. I should have known better than to fly down here. Luo Zhou is indeed no good place.” “Ever since that Lord of the Northern Underworld wiped out the starving ghosts, this place has become a forbidden zone. Every time my pigeon flies here, it can’t come back.”

Zhong Kui didn't know how to comfort the old man in front of him, so he could only pat him on the shoulder and say, "Luozhou is now under the jurisdiction of the Lord of the Northern Underworld. From the heavens to the earth, any spying will be noticed. It's not surprising. You should try to keep your eyes off that place in the future!"

The old man angrily slapped Zhong Kui's shoulder: "Do you think I want to? But I'm in the mountains, and if I want to understand the situation in the world, I can only rely on these eyes."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't be alive today."

Upon hearing this, Zhong Kui finally realized what he had come to Fengmen Village to do.

He frowned and asked, "Since you've been in this village for so long, have you noticed anything unusual?"

The old man glanced at Zhong Kui speechlessly: "Does this even need to be discovered? It's obvious to the naked eye. I can only fall asleep by hugging my shrine every night."

"If it weren't for you showing up today, I would have been sleeping soundly under the covers after emptying my diaper."

"After all, I've been alone for too long and I want to talk to someone."

The old man's words enlightened Zhong Kui.

"you alone?"

"What about the other people in Fengjia Village?"

The old man composed himself, and in the candlelight, gently held the shrine in his arms, leaning against the headboard.

"The others are naturally dead."

The old man spoke lightly, but to Zhong Kui, it sounded like muffled thunder.

Although he had already suspected it, the truth still made his heart tremble when it was presented to him.

Ultimately, he was just a seven or eight-year-old child, and even in a secular, ancient world, he was still not considered an adult.

His mission is to investigate Fengjia Village, but if everyone is dead, how can he possibly investigate?

The old man said calmly, "Ever since Old Master Feng passed away, strange things have been happening one after another in the village. Even the shrines that protect the family are no longer effective. It is only because I have some skills and the shrine of the Azure Beard Immortal that I have been able to survive."

"The Immortal with the Azure Beard?"

Li Ping'an, who was crouching in the shadows, looked up at the shrine that the old man was holding.

He had occasionally heard Lin Beixuan mention the twelve zodiac gods and their earthly masters, and Cang Ran Xian was the Ox among them.

Zhong Kui, however, was not very familiar with these matters and asked, "Since Fengjia Village is so dangerous, why don't you just leave?"

Upon hearing this, the old man grinned: "Danger?"

"Is Fengjia Village more dangerous than the outside world?"

"Although the yin energy is strong here at night and those restless things will come out, the yin energy is suppressed when the sun rises during the day, so it is not difficult to live a normal life."

"Moreover, because of this evil aura, evil spirits from the outside will not be able to enter, nor will the soldiers who want to search for people in the mountains."

"Aside from feeling a bit lonely here, I'm doing alright."

"I just didn't expect that a little kid like you would venture into these mountains all by yourself. Aren't you afraid that you'll encounter evil spirits on the way and be devoured alive?"

The old man looked at Zhong Kui with curiosity.

Although in the secular world, many underage children have already begun to roam the world with swords, using the name of slaying demons and monsters to make a name for themselves.

But in reality, it's because the person has a powerful elder in their family protecting them. Otherwise, in these remote and dangerous mountains, there are countless strange and powerful evil spirits. Apart from those who run around in the mountains, who would dare to run around recklessly?

and many more……

Could it be that this child also has a powerful bodyguard behind him?
The old man looked around at Zhong Kui, then went to the hole in the window and looked out for a while, but found nothing unusual.

Zhong Kui smiled at the sight and squeezed the Shadow Sword wrapped in rags on his back.

"Old man, you don't need to look. I came into the mountains alone. Of course, I didn't come here to escape disaster, but to investigate the situation in Fengjia Village."

"You? Investigating Fengjia Village?"

The old man looked Zhong Kui up and down for a long time, then shook his head with some difficulty.

"You're not even close to being accepted into the government, so what right do you have to investigate Fengjia Village?"

Zhong Kui puffed out his chest, a hint of arrogance on his small face: "I am a messenger of the underworld in the mortal realm. This time, I have come to Fengjia Village to investigate on the orders of the judge."

"If the elderly person has any information, I hope they can tell me."

The old man's facial expressions upon hearing Zhong Kui reveal his identity were quite a spectacle.

As someone from the older generation, how could he not know what the underworld was?

He also knew that the underworld had long since disappeared, otherwise how could there be so many evil spirits running rampant in the world?

The fact that the child in front of him said he was a wanderer of the underworld made him even more convinced that the child was probably suffering from hysteria because of the death of a family member and believed that the underworld still existed.

Thinking of this, the old man felt a pang of sympathy for Zhong Kui: "Child, I sincerely intend to take you as my disciple. Although I cannot provide you with the luxurious life you enjoy outside in these desolate mountains, it will not be difficult to keep your life."

"You probably can't imagine how bad things are outside right now."

"The great war between the various forces has fully begun, and the entire dynasty is in complete chaos. We are not even a grain of rice in this mess; we will be scattered with a single stir. Preserving ourselves is the most important thing!"

As he spoke, the old man reached out to touch Zhong Kui's head.

He was a widower his whole life, and as he was nearing the end of his life, his greatest desire was to have a successor.

In his eyes, Zhong Kui in front of him was a gift from heaven.

However, Zhong Kui shook his head, avoiding the old man's hand.

"Old man, we in the underworld don't care what happens outside, we only do what is within our duties."

“Even if everyone in Fengjia Village dies, their spirits should return to the underworld, instead of wandering around the village and causing evil.”

"Why won't you listen to me, child!" The old man said, his face hardening with anger as he saw that Zhong Kui wouldn't listen to his advice.

Just then, a noise suddenly came from outside.

Upon hearing the voice, the old man's face immediately showed fear, and he exclaimed in astonishment, "It's not even a month old yet, how could that thing come out!"

He quickly blew out the candles beside him, trying to pull Zhong Kui away to hide.

However, just as his hand reached for Zhong Kui, Zhong Kui easily dodged it.

In the dark room, Zhong Kui's eyes shone like faint stars.

"Old man, you'd better hide quickly, I have experience dealing with these things!"

Zhong Kui deftly took out several Suppressing Evil Decrees from his bosom and held them between his fingers, while his right hand gripped the hilt of the Shadow Sword.

He pressed himself against the door and peered out through the narrow gap.

Upon noticing a figure approaching the door from outside the window, he suddenly opened the door and slashed out with his sword.

Li Ping'an: "???"

Wang Youde: "???"

(End of this chapter)