Cultivating Immortality from the Book of Life and Death

Chapter 315 City Gate. (First Update!)

At the city gate, a desolate wild wind blew.

Lu Maohong looked down at the familiar bamboo stick in his hand and was momentarily dazed. He gradually realized something and looked up at the city gate in front of him.

The once majestic and ancient city, which had seemed like a mirage, rippled slightly before revealing its true form. It was another ancient and weathered city, but much smaller than the prefectural city. The moat surrounding the city wall was supported by pillars adorned with colorful silk ribbons and runes drawn in cinnabar. At this moment, all the runes had gone out.

The three large characters "Qingrao Prefecture" hanging high at the city gate were quickly distorted and turned into "Taiping County".

Not far away, the large, teardrop-shaped lake was a pool of blood filled with all sorts of corpses, emitting a strong stench, yet attracting no attention from any mosquitoes or flies.

The mortals, cultivators, and livestock that surrounded them were all strange and grotesque ghosts!
In addition, the entire area above Taiping County was covered by a giant human face.

The face is incredibly lifelike, composed of countless skulls, their grayish-white color making the empty eye sockets and mouth appear even more profound.

The ghostly face floated silently in mid-air, like an impenetrable dark cloud, emanating a powerful aura of yin energy that oppressed all living beings.

This is Taiping County!
They clearly went to the prefectural city, so how did they end up back in Taiping County?!

Moreover, what happened in Taiping County?
What's the deal with this bamboo skewer in my hand?

They left Wanshan Temple long ago, so why is this "death" fortune sticking with them?

In an instant, countless questions flashed through Lu Maohong's mind, but as a cultivator who had been practicing for nearly two hundred years, he had seen his share of storms and quickly regained his composure.

"Quick! Wake Zheng Que! Run!"

Lu Maohong turned around abruptly and roared hysterically.

The next moment, the ghosts at the city gate surged in like a tide.

Linghu Yuniang, Feng Jian, Wei Yingjuan... all seemed to wake from a dream, their expressions changing drastically.

Without the slightest hesitation, they took off running, no one bothering to wake Zheng Que in the "A" car, all fleeing as fast as they could in the distance.

However, even though there was nothing around them, it was like an invisible quagmire, making their movements extremely slow no matter how hard they tried.

No matter how much you struggle, each step takes a long time, and even if you are extremely anxious, your movements are always slow and hesitant.

"Roar!!!"

Amidst the wailing and howling of ghosts, the demons at the city gate swarmed forward and surrounded them.

Ghosts surged within the city gates, and a large number of them rushed out in a frenzy.

Lu Maohong and the others didn't escape even a single step, watching helplessly as they were surrounded.

Just as Lu Maohong and the others were filled with extreme fear, the human-faced ghost in the sky suddenly stretched out a huge ghostly hand and grabbed down at their heads!

This ghostly hand, also formed from thousands of skulls, resembled a human hand, but was missing an index finger. Even so, the four-fingered palm still possessed an overwhelming presence, carrying a heavy, chilling, and dense black shadow as it descended upon Lu Maohong and his group.

At the same moment, the two tall corpse puppets that had been obediently pulling the "A" shaped vehicle suddenly stood still, no longer under the control of the array plate. In the shadows they dragged behind them, pale human faces quickly emerged.

These faces floated out of the shadows like bubbles, and in the blink of an eye, they coalesced into a severed finger—a single index finger. The index finger hovered high in the air, easily hooking the "甲" (jia) shaped vehicle, and then continued to float upwards.

Whoosh!
In an instant, the severed index finger reconnected with the ghostly hand formed from the skull, restoring itself to a perfectly intact five-fingered hand. The taxes inside the "A"-shaped carriage, along with Zheng Que, were instantly seized firmly by the human-faced ghost!

However, at this moment, Lu Maohong and the others paid no attention to the taxes inside the "A" carriage. Their expressions became more and more anxious, but their movements became more and more sluggish. The ghosts around them were about to pounce on them, but they were helpless.

This scene was so familiar; memories of past experiences immediately surfaced in Lu Maohong's mind... This was the power of the Baozhen Valley Gathering!

And that "death" fortune slip is a curse from Wanshan Temple!
That ghostly human-faced creature hanging high in the sky is the "weird" Iron Tree Prison that was suppressed by the Four Symbols Soul-Locking and Spirit-Sealing Array beneath Taiping County!
Now, this "weird" creature has absorbed the power of all the ghosts and "strange things" they've encountered along the way!

※※※

"...May they never be reincarnated..."

In the underworld, Zheng Que's voice echoed for a long time.

Upon hearing that he was to be sent to the eighteenth level of hell, Mu Xiangu, who was kneeling below the hall, turned pale and hurriedly replied, "Don't worry, my lord!"

"I will do everything in my power to ensure that the human cultivator is not harmed!"

"May I ask, sir, where is that human cultivator now?"

Where am I right now?
Upon hearing this, Zheng Que pondered for a moment.

He is currently on his way to the prefectural city, and judging by the journey, he should be arriving soon.

However, he had told the ghost bride about this location before, but the ghost bride had not been able to find him.

This is weird!
It's possible that the ghost bride encountered some trouble on the way...

But there is another possibility: he gave the wrong directions!

Therefore, he is not entirely sure where he is now.

In the blink of an eye, Zheng Li immediately turned to the first page of the Book of Life and Death.

He doesn't know his exact location right now, but he has killed many ghosts today.

By simply checking the origins of these ghosts, he could determine his approximate location.

The first page of the Book of Life and Death was now filled with a dense array of names. In addition to the names he had just seen, more than a dozen new entries had been added: "...Qian Dahua. Place of origin: Taiping County, Tuzhou, Dali Dynasty. Lifespan...died suddenly at 2:45 PM."

"...Wu Erli. Place of origin: Xinghua Town, Taiping County, Tuzhou, Dali Dynasty. Lifespan...died suddenly at 2:45 PM."

"...Wang Zao. Place of origin: Xinghua Town, Taiping County, Tuzhou, Dali Dynasty. Lifespan...died suddenly at 2:45 PM."

Taiping County?
Zheng Que quickly glanced at the hometowns of the dozen or so names, and his pupils dilated slightly. Mu Xiangu was right below him, so these dozen or so new records were definitely not the work of Mu Xiangu.

Qingli, Kulan, Shuyunying, and Niannu are all impossible!

The Ghost Bride... The Ghost Bride sometimes goes to Taiping County to kill the ghosts of the Tongue-Pulling Hell?

These dozen or so new records should be of ghosts that attacked the imperial court's tax collection. They were killed by Lu Maohong while he was cultivating, and their names were recorded in the Book of Life and Death!

He hasn't gone to the prefectural city; instead, he's returned to Taiping County!
(End of this chapter)