Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 501, Section 511: The Hidden Dragon

"How dare he?"

Li Ping'an stared wide-eyed at Zhong Kui, who jumped out of the door, his mouth agape in disbelief.

Wang Youde, the old man, was also stunned.

Others may not know what's outside, but he knows it perfectly well.

The thing outside was not an ordinary ghost or evil spirit, but a terrifying nightmare corpse, on the same level as the Fiendish Red Fiend among the walking corpses.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have hidden in his house every night, afraid to go out, and used Fengjia Village as a barrier to avoid danger from the outside world.

This nightmare corpse possessed immense strength and was impervious to water and fire, making it impossible for ordinary people to deal with. Wang Youde used every means possible but could only protect himself, thus achieving a strange balance with it within the village.

However, this balance has now been broken because some arrogant young man jumped out and actually wanted to fight the Nightmare Corpse.

"I really don't know what they were thinking, daring to venture out into the world like this?"

Wang Youde cursed inwardly, grabbed a dark stone from the side, and rushed out.

The stone tablet was covered with many runes in red cinnabar, and was encased in a metal wire mesh. The end of the mesh was connected to a thick handle, making it look quite powerful.

As Wang Youde rushed out, he chanted incantations, and the stone tablet emitted a bright light, as if it had been activated and became somewhat lively.

Looking at Zhong Kui again, his small body darted out, the Shadow Sword behind him already drawn, its dark blue blade rippling in the moonlight, a faint ghostly spirit floating in mid-air.

Zhong Kui stared at the nightmare corpse in front of him, dressed in funeral clothes and with a hideous face, and his heart skipped a beat.

This nightmare corpse had bloodshot eyes and an unusually large skeleton, as if a giant iron frame had strung together a person's bones and muscles and hung on it. It looked strange no matter how you looked at it.

What made him lose control of his expression even more was the dense swarm of ghostly spirits floating behind the Nightmare Corpse.

These wraiths were like puppets without self-awareness, their bodies shrouded in black mist, connected to the nightmare corpses like ropes.

"Gulu~"

Zhong Kui swallowed hard, then stepped out using the Heavenly Gang Steps taught to him by the underworld officials. He flung out a talisman that burned intensely in the air, transforming into an orange-yellow tongue of fire that blocked the path between the nightmare corpse and the house.

He wasn't really stupid. The reason he jumped out was because the nightmare corpse in front of him was already planning to break down the door. Rather than being trapped inside, he thought it was better to go outside and perhaps there would be a chance of survival.

The rising flames from the ground temporarily halted the advance of the nightmare demons.

The nightmare corpse stared coldly at Zhong Kui, its lips moving to reveal sharp teeth.

Wang Youde stood beside Zhong Kui, staring solemnly at the nightmare corpse behind the incandescent fire.

He said with a wry smile, "Grandpa Feng, you've ruined almost everyone in the village. Why can't you just behave yourself instead of dragging me down with you!"

"This child isn't from Fengjia Village; he's just a poor kid passing by. Could you please have some compassion and let him go?"

Wang Youde's words did not elicit any reaction from Old Master Feng. He exhaled a breath of malevolent energy, extinguishing the flame the moment it came into contact with it.

Zhong Kui took a deep breath, glanced around at Old Master Feng and the Nightmare Ghost behind him, and said, "It seems there's nothing left to investigate in Feng Family Village. These spirits have been imprisoned by the Nightmare Ghost and have become its ghost soldiers."

"The underworld is above, yet this evil spirit has established its own army, which has violated the taboos of the underworld. Once Lord Wang Chao and Lord Ma Han find out, they will certainly not let it off the hook."

Wang Youde turned to look at Zhong Kui, and a wave of sorrow washed over him: "It's over, it's over. This kid's hysteria is quite severe. Even at this point, he's still thinking about his so-called underworld."

"If the underworld truly exists, the one who has most violated its taboos outside right now should be the evil spirit Zigu, who is causing havoc, and the few shrimp soldiers and crab generals here."

"Well, there's nothing more to say now that things have come to this. We can only try our best to escape!"

Wang Youde calmly took two steps back, and as the Nightmare Ghost rushed forward from behind the Nightmare Corpse, he suddenly threw the stone tablet in his hand.

The stone pillar exploded amidst the horde of nightmare demons, unleashing a massive and intense burst of fire that illuminated almost half of Fengjia Village.

A powerful hurricane of runic energy swept through the area, engulfing the Nightmare Demons and tearing them to shreds.

Wang Youde was overcome with emotion, tears streaming down his face. He knew many of these nightmare ghosts, and some of them were even his nephews or nieces.

He didn't have a chance to save the other person back then, and now he's going to be killed by his own hands.

"Come on!"

Wang Youde scooped up Zhong Kui in his arms, his old arms and legs moving swiftly, and rushed into the house with Zhong Kui in his arms.

Zhong Kui tried to struggle, but found that he could not break free from the other party's restraints.

He shouted, "Going into this house is certain death, but we might be able to break through from outside."

Wang Youde slapped Zhong Kui on the head.

"You don't know anything. Today, Grandpa will teach you a trick: what it means to ask for help."

Upon hearing this, Zhong Kui subconsciously glanced at Li Ping'an, who was crouching in the shadows watching the show, and gestured with his lip, indicating that Li Ping'an should run away quickly.

However, Li Ping'an only glanced at Old Master Feng behind the Nightmare Ghost with slight interest, ignoring Zhong Kui's expression.

Wang Youde grabbed the shrine placed on the headboard and brought it to Zhong Kui.

"Hold on to the shrine, no matter what, don't let go!"

Zhong Kui instinctively caught it and discovered that although the shrine looked like a stone, it was not heavy at all.

Wang Youde said, "The Azure-Bearded Immortal once protected countless families and warded off all evil. Although its spirituality is gradually decreasing, the old master of the Feng family once believed in the Azure-Bearded Immortal the most, and it would instinctively be afraid when it saw him."

Wang Youde quickly explained, then glanced regretfully at the birdcages in various corners of the room.

"I'm leaving now, I wonder if the good pigeons will come looking for me!"

He quickly took out some dry food from the house and packed it up. As the door was broken open, he picked up Zhong Kui, smashed open the window, and jumped out from the side.

However, several Nightmare Ghosts were already waiting here.

Wang Youde cursed and said, "I'm an old man who has established my own household, how dare you juniors try to stop me?"

As he spoke, he flicked several black pellets from his waist. The pellets were decorated with the same runes as the stone ingots from before. They collided and exploded in mid-air, creating another small vortex of wind.

Clearly, Wang Youde had anticipated this day might come, and with a considerable amount of equipment on him, he had planned his escape route well in advance.

At this moment, he carried Zhong Kui away at lightning speed, his pace not at all like that of an elderly person.

However, after running for a while, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

The surrounding environment was still familiar, but it seemed to be missing something.

In this remote mountain valley, the most common sounds at night are the chirping of insects and birds. Even if there are none, you might encounter evil spirits blocking your way.

But now it's unusually quiet.

The wind rustled the swaying shadows of the trees, like alluring ghosts opening their arms to embrace people.

The dense bushes parted to the sides, revealing a path that led nowhere.

"Something's not right!"

The path was still the same path he knew, but why did it feel like something was off?
A sense of foreboding welled up in Wang Youde's heart. He looked down at Zhong Kui in his arms and saw that the other was also frowning and looking around.

Zhong Kui shifted his body, jumped off Wang Youde's arms onto the ground, raised his head, and sniffed the air.

“I’m not angry,” Zhong Kui said calmly.

Wang Youde looked at Zhong Kui in surprise: "What do you mean?"

"It means that everything around us is dead—the trees, the grass, even the moon in the sky and the wind blowing are dead." "You can smell that?" Wang Youde was taken aback, and for the first time began to take the young man in front of him seriously.

Because what the other person meant perfectly matched the point that made him feel uneasy.

It means—there's no 'life' about it.

Everything around was dead; it didn't feel like escaping, but rather like being trapped in a jar.

Wang Youde then realized: "Could it be that we didn't escape at all, but instead fell into a nightmare?"

"That would be terrible!"

Wang Youde said nervously, “If we are dragged into the Nightmare Realm by the Nightmare Corpse, our original bodies will become soulless shells. After a period of time, our consciousness will slowly dissipate, and eventually our souls will become Nightmare Ghosts, controlled by the Nightmare Corpse.”

Zhong Kui panicked upon hearing this. He had thought it was just a simple investigation task, but he hadn't expected it to involve such a complicated situation.

"We must leave the Nightmare Realm as soon as possible and return to our bodies. Otherwise, if we are too late, even if we successfully escape the Nightmare Realm, we don't know how our bodies will be torn apart by those Nightmare Ghosts."

Wang Youde picked up Zhong Kui again and tried to return to the hut along the same route.

However, after running for a while, I found that I had gone in a big circle and finally returned to the original position.

"It's over, it's really over this time!"

Wang Youde plopped down on the ground, looking utterly dejected.

Zhong Kui's previous confident demeanor had vanished, replaced by a hint of unease in his eyes.

In the end, he's just a seven or eight-year-old child. How mature can he really be?

Fortunately, he settled his sister in the home of a kind-hearted family, so she shouldn't suffer any mistreatment even after his death.

Zhong Kui gently placed the shrine on the ground and drew his Shadow Sword, slashing around.

He still didn't want to give up so easily and wanted to try to break free from this nightmare.

"Don't waste your energy. That Nightmare Corpse is equivalent to the strength of the Divine Summoning Realm. With our cultivation levels, there's no way we can break through it," Wang Youde said dejectedly.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the shrine of the Azure-Bearded Immortal.

"We have to try it to see if it still works!"

As he spoke, Wang Youde respectfully placed the shrine and knelt down to kowtow before it.

Zhong Kui saw this scene but said nothing. Such scenes are not uncommon in the secular world. People are willing to worship secular gods because they pray for their protection and protection from evil spirits.

His parents also prayed to the shrine for protection when they were drawing away evil spirits.

However, the shrine his parents sought did not help them. His parents' bodies were eventually found in an alley, their bodies mangled beyond recognition, and even their souls had vanished.

"It's better to rely on yourself than on the gods," Zhong Kui murmured.

His eyes were dim, and he glanced at the package he was carrying with him out of the corner of his eye.

As it turned out, his guess was correct. The Azure Beard Immortal Shrine remained unchanged, and Wang Youde sat helplessly on the ground, his expression even more dejected.

Gradually, the two found that their bodies were becoming lighter, their skin seemed to lose its vitality, its surface was cracking, and its color was turning grayish-white at a visible speed.

“This means we are losing connection with our own bodies,” Wang Youde explained.

"That's how the villagers of Fengjia Village gradually transformed into nightmare demons."

Perhaps feeling that he wouldn't live much longer, Wang Youde simply lay on the ground, resigned to his fate, and began to ramble on about his life.

Since the death of the old patriarch of the Feng family, who turned into a nightmare corpse, the people of Fengjia Village have been dying mysteriously one after another, until in the end only he was left.

If he hadn't been skilled at birdwatching and could learn about what was happening outside through birds, he might have hanged himself long ago, unable to bear the loneliness.

Having lived such a muddled life until now, although he didn't want to die, when the time actually came, he didn't feel too much burden.

However, when he turned his head, he saw that Zhong Kui was still wielding his sword and couldn't help but laugh.

"You little brat, why won't you listen? We can't break through this nightmare realm with our abilities. Instead of wasting our energy, we might as well just wait to die."

Wang Youde lay on the ground with his hands behind his head, his old face showing both helplessness and regret.

He's old, so it's not a pity if he dies, but Zhong Kui is so young. If he dies in this nightmare realm and becomes a nightmare ghost, it would indeed be pitiful.

But since things had come to this, he couldn't offer any words of advice, and could only leave Zhong Kui with his remaining strength.

However, at that moment, when Zhong Kui unleashed another sword strike, ripples suddenly appeared within the Nightmare Realm. Then, the Nightmare Realm was like a ripped bag, with countless winds rushing in from the outside.

"Huh??" Wang Youde's mouth dropped open in shock: "How is this possible? This kid actually managed to break through it?"

At the same time, a hand reached in through the opening.

Li Ping'an's somewhat urgent voice came from outside: "Quickly grab my hand!"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Kui did not hesitate at all and grabbed Li Ping'an's hand.

Wang Youde sprang up from the ground with a somersault and pounced at Zhong Kui's feet, grabbing his ankle.

When Zhong Kui opened his eyes, he found himself standing in front of the house, surrounded by the lingering spirits of the dead.

"It turns out we never escaped at all."

Zhong Kui frowned, staring blankly at Li Ping'an who was blocking his way.

At this moment, Li Ping'an was no longer the carefree person he used to be. Countless black chains floated around him, and he held an exaggeratedly huge and ferocious pair of scissors in his hand.

"You are hurt!"

Zhong Kui noticed the numerous wounds on Li Ping'an's body.

"call--"

Li Ping'an exhaled a chilling aura, his gaze fixed straight ahead: "It took me a lot of effort to rescue you all."

“This Fengjia Village is more complicated than we imagined. Even the Nightmare Corpse is just a decoy. The truth is that someone is forging Yin Soldiers here.”

Upon hearing this, Zhong Kui's pupils constricted.

He then looked up and followed Li Ping'an's gaze, only to see that the dark village road was now filled with 'people'.

At the very front of these people, several figures were gently shaking bells.

As the bell rang, the nightmare corpse that had dragged him into the nightmare realm began to move in rhythm with the sound of the bell.

The leader, dressed as a Taoist priest with a yellow paper pasted on his face, said in a low voice, "There is actually an infant spirit at the level of a demon. If we capture it, His Highness Prince Liang will probably be very happy."

In addition to the nine prefectures of Jing, Shun, Long, Xuan, Qing, Jiang, Min, Chang, and Luo, several other prefectures were under the jurisdiction of imperial relatives throughout history.

Although nominally under the control of the imperial court, it had long since broken free from the court's control, just like the other states.

Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Huzhou were respectively controlled by the kings of Liang, Bing, and Zhou.

Amidst this chaotic situation, all forces are attacking and invading.

The appearance of the King of Liang's men in Qingzhou was an ominous sign.

(End of this chapter)