Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 427 Junior
The eerie soul-guiding lamp appeared alone on the streets of the ancient ghost kingdom, instantly devouring all the evil spirits within a radius of several meters.

Within the area illuminated by the lights, the long street suddenly became deserted.

Meanwhile, the evil spirits from all around continued to surge towards this place.

Although some evil spirits sensed the danger and tried to retreat, a massive number of evil spirits surged forward, with those behind carrying away those in front.

The few evil spirits that tried to retreat and escape were immediately overwhelmed by the surging sea of ​​evil spirits and forced to rush towards the soul-guiding lamp in the street.

As the ghosts stepped into the range of the Soul-Guiding Lamp and were illuminated by its candlelight, eerie ghostly figures identical to them suddenly appeared at the edge of the candlelight.

After the shadows walked toward the demons that were the same as themselves, the demons that were hit by the projections immediately howled and struggled in pain.

In the air, it seemed as if an invisible hand was tearing and pulling at the evil spirits illuminated by the light.

Within the candlelight's range, the evil spirits rapidly twisted, deformed, and compressed, before being quickly sucked into a vortex of air.

The terrifying scene was enough to send chills down your spine.

Evil spirits have no physical form, and being compressed and devoured in this way is extremely miserable.

If a living person with a physical form were to be swallowed up like this, a huge living person would be squeezed and deformed, forcibly stuffed into an air vortex the size of a fist...

The corpse-driving Taoist priest gasped.

"...What kind of eerie object is this?"

Ran Qing didn't explain, but stared at the street ahead.

As more and more evil spirits were continuously devoured and entered the Soul-Guiding Lamp, the evil spirits also realized the danger of this thing and avoided the Soul-Guiding Lamp.

However, on either side of the Soul-Guiding Lamp were three towering and terrifying projections of evil lords, as tall as mountains. They could not pass through and could only tear each other apart.

Ran Qing and the other two stared ahead. Not only was the area within the candlelight of the Soul-Guiding Lamp completely empty, but even in the area a little further away from the Soul-Guiding Lamp, no evil spirits approached.

The surging evil spirits ahead, upon reaching the area illuminated by the candlelight of the soul-guiding lamp, parted like a river encountering rocks, automatically flowing to both sides.

Although these evil spirits are ferocious and terrifying, they will not die meaninglessly.

Seeing this, Ran Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He was well aware of the sinister nature of the Soul-Guiding Lamp.

But he wasn't sure how many evil spirits this lamp could devour, or whether it was truly indestructible.

Fortunately, the evil power of the Soul-Guiding Lamp successfully deterred these evil spirits.

Ran Qing immediately looked at Mo Li and said, "It's up to you."

Mo Li chuckled and nodded, saying, "Don't worry."

Mo Li took out a glass marble from his backpack.

The small, smooth, and round glass marbles are inlaid with petal-like shapes inside. They were bought by Mo Li to play with before, and now they have come in handy.

The girl exhaled softly, immediately clenched the marble in her palm, and then threw it forcefully.

Ding--

With a crisp ringing sound, the round glass marble struck the guiding lantern in the middle of the street and shattered into pieces.

But the force of the marbles had already caused the Soul-Guiding Lamp to roll down the long street.

The gurgling, rolling soul-guiding lamp propelled the shimmering ball of light forward.

As the candlelight rolled everywhere, all the evil spirits scurried away and avoided it, not daring to approach.

At the same time, the three enormous phantoms of the evil lord stepped forward and followed the soul-guiding lamp.

Ran Qing and the others, who were protected by the evil lords, immediately stepped forward and chased after the soul-guiding lamp.

As Mo Li ran, he continuously threw out round glass marbles.

Her throwing accuracy was average, but each throw was powerful and heavy. Even if she missed the soul-guiding lamp, she would still hit the stone slabs of the ghost kingdom's streets and shatter them.

In an instant, a series of explosions, like firecrackers, resounded throughout the ghost kingdom.

Amidst the ear-piercing explosion, the soul-guiding lamp continued to roll forward, causing evil spirits to flee wherever it went.

Ran Qing and the others quickly followed, passing through the dark and gloomy capital of the Ghost Kingdom, and saw the two stone pillars of the Ghost Kingdom's gate in the distance.

Outside the stone pillar, pale ghostly figures and ancient evil spirits drifted back.

Ran Qing and the others, who had rushed over, had already left the group of evil spirits behind.

After realizing that Ran Qing and the other two were difficult to deal with, the evil spirits turned their attention to the group of evil lords that Ran Qing had released.

Now, Ran Qing and his two companions are fleeing towards the gates of the Ghost Kingdom. Three enormous evil lords and countless phantoms of evil lords surge behind them, entangled with the group of evil ghosts.

The Soul-Guiding Lamp stood alone in front, this bronze lamp like a roly-poly toy, no matter how it was shaken or hit, it would quickly stand upright.

On the mountain path ahead, only a dozen or so ghostly figures remained.

Ran Qing and the other two were panting heavily, but dared not stop for a moment, and continued to run towards the gate.

In just a few minutes, they traversed most of the Ghost Kingdom city and arrived at the edge of the mountain valley.

Even with the Nuo opera mask, Ran Qing felt a burning sensation in her chest and lungs, as if they were about to explode.

The corpse-driving Taoist priest, who was being dragged along by him, turned a deep liver color and his eyes rolled back, making him look like a zombie.

As the mad dash began, the corpse-driving Taoist chewed on something unknown, which gave him superhuman strength.

However, the aftereffects are also quite obvious.

At this moment, the corpse-driving Taoist's eyes rolled back, his expression was blank, and he was full of evil aura, just like a zombie, his mind was not clear.

The only thing he remembered was gripping Ran Qing's hand tightly and murmuring, "...Don't leave me..."

"Please don't leave me..."

Mo Li looked at the surging sea of ​​evil spirits behind him. Although they were temporarily blocked by the evil lords, such an arrival was obviously not going to last long.

The bronze lamp in front of us stood quietly at the edge of the valley.

Once you get here, the rest of the road is uphill.

The tactic of using marbles to hit the rolling bronze lamp was no longer effective.

Mo Li said, "...The Soul-Guiding Lamp cannot be retrieved."

Mo Li looked anxious and regretful.

This is a ritual artifact passed down through the lineage of those who walk the underworld.

Ran Qing, however, had already dragged the corpse-driving Taoist towards the mountain pass above the ravine: "Just throw him away! Staying alive is the most important thing!"

The Soul-Guiding Lamp is good, but there's simply no time to retrieve it now.

Ran Qing didn't stop for a moment. He dragged the dazed corpse-driving Taoist priest along the mountain path, with hundreds of yellow talismans floating around him.

The few evil spirits that surged up the mountain path could not get close to Ran Qing at this moment.

These yellow talismans were originally painstakingly prepared to deal with Li Hongye.

Those who stayed behind have come in handy.

Seeing this, Mo Li also carried Ran Xiaoya and followed closely behind.

But after they had run a few dozen steps, Ran Qing, who was at the front, was forced to stop.

A strange and piercing sound of suona horns and gongs rang out, and four pale, ghostly figures drifted in from the front, followed by seven or eight ancient evil spirits.

Their figures instantly blocked the mountain path.

The swirling storm of talismans around Ran Qing collided with the group of evil spirits. The talismans burned, but only slowly forced the evil spirits back.

Meanwhile, at the mountain pass above, behind two stone pillars, ghostly figures could still slowly appear and return to the ghost kingdom.

Mo Li asked, "Ran Qing! What should we do? Should we go back?"

Mo Li said anxiously, "Shall we go back and take another route?"

In the land of ghosts, there is another path to take.

That is to try to leave through the demon-faced stone door in the High Priest's Temple.

The soul-guiding lamp stopped right at their feet. After the group returned to the foot of the mountain, they could use the same trick again to clear the way.

But Ran Qing shook her head: "No, it's more dangerous over there!"

He remembered clearly that the temple was situated on high ground, with uphill roads several tens of meters long surrounding it.

On an uphill road like that, you can't rely on a guiding lamp to clear the way either.

Moreover, there are even more evil spirits in the city. If you are stopped by them before entering the temple, the consequences will be unimaginable...

From the beginning, Ran Qing had no intention of taking the path through the temple.

Now, staring at the procession of demons ahead, Ran Qing's eyes flashed with a fierce light.

He abruptly shook off the corpse-driving Taoist priest, raised the human head staff with his left hand, and pulled out the kitchen knife given to him by the knife seller with his right hand, ready to fight to the death.

The taboo charms in the canvas bag haven't been used yet!
Just then, a hurried voice suddenly rang out from the mountain path beside them, filled with intense surprise.

"...Ran Qing!"

The next second, Little Cotton suddenly darted out of the dark mountain path.

Ran Qing was stunned for a moment when she saw Little Cotton appear.

"...Sister Cotton? What are you doing here?" Logically speaking, Little Cotton should be waiting for them outside the gate!
Ran Qing had specifically instructed Xiao Mianhua not to run around.

Little Cotton is the most timid and afraid of death. If she sees evil spirits rushing in from outside the gate, she will definitely hide even further away.

Unexpectedly, instead of avoiding it, she ran into the even more dangerous gate...

The big yellow dog quickly ran to Ran Qing's feet, wagging its tail happily and saying, "I saw evil spirits coming back outside, so I knew you had succeeded."

"So I hid in the gate of hell before the evil spirits returned."

“I think when you run out, you’ll definitely run into those returning evil spirits. At that time, it will be difficult for me to meet up with you outside the door.”

"So I came in early to hide, which allowed me to meet up with you beforehand and help clear the way."

Little Cotton wagged its tail happily.

For once, she, who was timid and afraid of death, displayed rare intelligence and courage.

And this time, she did indeed win the gamble.

Seeing Little Cotton appear, Ran Qing smiled and said, "I'll give you extra food when we get back, and I'll buy you whatever candy you want."

As soon as the words fell, Ran Qing waved the staff with one hand while chanting incantations.

His lips moved but no sound came out, while the head on the staff, identical to Ran Qing's, suddenly opened its eyes and chanted a strange incantation.

As the incantation was recited, a series of urgent bell sounds suddenly rang out in the distance.

Those are the bells on the soul banners in the altars of the spirit mediums.

As the bell rang in the dark void, smoke immediately drifted from the soul banners set up inside the Yin altar of the spirit medium.

Ran Qing could vaguely see traces of smoke, while Xiao Mianhua, as a spirit medium, could see it more clearly.

She suddenly jumped up and landed heavily on all fours.

The moment the big yellow dog's body hit the ground, smoke suddenly rose from where her four paws were planted.

The white smoke drifted out of thin air and spread in all directions, enveloping Ran Qing and the others.

Beyond the smoke, the mountain path blurred, revealing the road leading to the human world.

Xiao Mianhua and Ran Qing rushed forward at the same time.

The dozen or so evil spirits blocking the way were not shrouded in smoke.

But they still instinctively sensed that living people were approaching. The demons roared and rushed toward the smoke to try to pull the living people out of the smoke.

The storm of yellow paper surrounding Ran Qing suddenly blasted outwards.

The road to the human world has been opened. As long as they rush out of the gates of the ghost kingdom and into the outside world, they can quickly return to the human world.

The further they walked along this path paved with white smoke, the less likely the dead and evil spirits of the underworld would notice Ran Qing and his companions.

Little red rope figures shrieked and screamed around Ran Qing.

They dragged the yellow paper and crashed into the evil spirits in front of them. In an instant, hundreds of yellow papers caught fire at the same time, and the terrifying flames that erupted directly scattered the ranks of the evil spirits.

Although these talismans were all aimed at the zombie Li Hongye and her family.

Even with the blessing of the Yin energy of a Yin-walking person, it can still unleash tremendous power.

The demons scattered to both sides, forced to make way.

Ran Qing and the others quickly passed through and could see the mountain pass ahead, as well as two stone pillars standing on either side of the pass.

That is the gate to the Ghost Kingdom. If you leave here, you will become an ancient evil spirit.

They could have easily bypassed the returning evil spirits and taken a safer route back to the human world.

...That's how it should be.

But the moment Ran Qing and the others rushed to the gate of the Ghost Kingdom, Ran Qing, who was walking at the front, suddenly narrowed his eyes.

On the stone pillars at the gate of that ghost kingdom, there are many ancient and ugly reliefs.

The largest relief was originally empty, as the evil spirits guarding the stone pillars had gone to the human world.

But at this moment, Ran Qing saw that the missing reliefs on the stone pillar had been filled in.

On the left and right, two stone pillars are carved with a relief of an ugly and evil monster.

The monster had a human body, was clad in golden armor, had a pair of hairless wings on its back, a protruding nose like a bird's beak, and six ugly eyes arranged in two rows on its face like spiders.

The moment Ran Qing and the other two rushed to the stone pillar, the two ugly monsters immediately crawled out of the pillar.

They stared menacingly at the drifting white mist, their cold gazes fixed on the people within it.

Ran Qing sensed an incredibly strong and familiar aura.

—This is not an evil spirit.

It's an evil lord!
On the stone pillar guarding the gate of the Ancient Luo Ghost Kingdom, there is actually an evil lord!

Command the evil lord to guard the gate...

Ran Qing was shocked by this terrible fact.

Mo Li also sensed the danger and immediately warned, "Ran Qing! They are the Evil Lords!"

Mo Li was afraid that Ran Qing would use the same methods he used to deal with evil spirits to deal with these two evil lords—methods used to deal with evil spirits are unlikely to be effective against evil lords.

Ran Qing took a deep breath and murmured, "I have no choice but to fight with all my might."

The talismans in his canvas bag were for dealing with zombies, and could barely be used to deal with evil spirits.

However, the evil lord is not within the scope of those forbidden talismans.

Ran Qing could only use his physical body to perform evil magic specifically designed to deal with the evil lord on the spot.

But just then, a terrifying phantom, as large as a mountain, suddenly appeared in the darkness in the distance.

The figure was incredibly tall, and the moment it appeared, it attracted the attention of everyone present.

The enormous ram's horn, eerily piercing the darkness, stood out starkly against the sky.

Countless blood-red ghost eyes appeared densely in that direction, like a dark curtain of sky covered with ghost eyes.

A sinister and malevolent aura lingered across the land.

The strong, pungent smell of mutton hits you in the face, making you feel dizzy.

Ran Qing, who was being stared at by countless ghostly eyes, suddenly froze.

"...Demon-Eyed Goat God!"

He could clearly feel that the terrifying, ghost-eyed goat god was watching him!

Being watched by countless eerie ghost eyes at the same time, Ran Qing felt as if she had been placed under a spotlight, and all her secrets had been exposed.

A nameless sense of panic rose in my heart.

The appearance of the Demon-Eyed Goat God at this moment... could it be that He is taking back the Demon Eye He gave us?
The evil lords of the Wujiang Ghost Realm are always sinister and wicked, taking pleasure in harming people.

At this critical moment, the Sheep God suddenly appeared...

A chill ran through Ran Qing's heart.

But the next second, the enormous goat in the dark sky took a step, and countless long, black goat hairs spread across the earth, instantly transforming into a vast dark "prairie".

The two stone pillars at the entrance of the Ghost Kingdom, and the two evil lords on the pillars, were instantly submerged by the surging black wool.

They struggled and tore at each other, but were still dragged away by the dark ocean.

Also departing was that tall, terrifying, and malevolent phantom.

Before leaving, Ghost Eye Sheep God gave Ran Qing a cold glance.

But this time, Ran Qing didn't sense any danger from the gaze.

Instead, I inexplicably felt... at ease?
Mo Li watched the Ghost-Eyed Sheep God depart, his face filled with shock.

"...Did the Demon-Eyed Goat God come specifically to help?"

Mo Li looked like he'd seen a ghost.

Ran Qing felt a chill run down her spine; she couldn't believe it.

Only then did he realize that his back was covered in cold sweat.

The evil lord actually helped!
This is even rarer than a living person seeing a ghost.

The evil master of Sixth Aunt's sect is actually taking care of him, a junior...

Ran Qing murmured, "Sixth Aunt..."

The kindness shown to him by the Ghost-Eyed Sheep God clearly came from his sixth aunt.

But if you told me that he was a terrifying evil lord who had good intentions towards humanity, no one would believe it.

His sixth aunt's connections were still helping him...

At this moment, Ran Qing felt incredibly sad.

He missed the gossipy, slovenly, but kind-hearted old woman.

(End of this chapter)