The Terror of the Heavens Begins with Gu

Chapter 140 Never to Reach the Shore Again: The Path He Walked Was a Dead End

After Li Zhen left, a young woman dressed in gorgeous clothes slowly sat up from the huge coffin.

The woman's right sleeve was missing, and her right arm was severed at the shoulder, leaving only pale flesh hanging down her shoulder, writhing like some kind of creature and making strange creaking sounds, which looked extremely eerie.

If Li Zhen were here, he would have noticed that this woman's appearance was about 60-70% similar to the female ghost he had killed.

The only difference was that this woman's eyes had both black and white parts, just like normal human eyes.

At this moment, the woman seemed to have just woken up from a deep sleep, her eyes devoid of any light.

After a moment, the woman's eyes slowly began to focus.

Just then, she suddenly let out a scream.

An ominous black tinge appeared on the constantly writhing flesh to her right.

The black spot started at her shoulder and quickly spread across her body.

The skin and flesh on the shoulder that was first corrupted by blackness lost its vitality in just a few breaths, and finally turned into pus and fell into the coffin.

When a light black layer appeared on the woman's skin, it gradually turned into pus and dripped down, starting from her face.

The woman covered her face, her screams growing even more piercing, but she couldn't stop her flesh from turning into pus.

In less than half a minute, the woman who had gotten up turned into a skeleton and lay back in the coffin.

The incense burner in front of the coffin suddenly shattered.

"My lady..."

Numerous small lanterns hung from the roof above the coffin, each bearing the character "婺" (Wu), with a young female ghost of varying appearances painted opposite it.

Then four or five lanterns fell out.

Just as the lantern was about to fall to the ground, the female ghosts in the paintings appeared beside it and reached out to catch it.

The female ghosts got to work methodically without saying a word.

Some went to find new incense burners and lit the incense and candles again.

Some people took out a light red liquid from under the coffin and poured it into the coffin.

A female corpse crawled from downstairs to upstairs in a contorted posture.

A skeletal hand emerged from the coffin.

As if drawn by an irresistible temptation, the female corpse stiffly crawled into the coffin.

The coffin shook for a moment, and then the woman sat up again.

Her flesh and blood were growing at a visible rate, covering her bones in just a few breaths.

Except for her right arm, her body has fully recovered.

Suddenly, her flesh and blood exploded again.

Shattered flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the two female ghosts whose faces were splattered with the flesh turned into wisps of smoke on the spot.

The other female ghosts were too frightened to approach the coffin.

The woman fell backward into the coffin without a sound.

Several more female corpses climbed up to the second floor and, at the women's will, climbed into the coffin one after another.

Not long after, a cracking sound came from the coffin.

The coffin shook for a moment, and the coffin lid, which had been pushed open, closed itself up, sealing the coffin tightly and completely severing the connection between the inside and outside of the coffin.

The entire building shook.

All the yin energy was converging on the coffin.

The woman in the coffin finally stopped exploding, but the yin energy inside the building had weakened considerably compared to before.

The river water outside began to flood into the house.

The female ghosts frantically searched for all sorts of things to plug the leaks that were letting the river water in.

……

Li Zhen, who was chanting incantations, opened his eyes and frowned as he looked at the severed arm on the makeshift altar.

The severed arm was constantly cycling between exploding flesh and healing, but after the fourth explosion, the arm no longer healed and remained as bone.

The bones were covered only with a thin layer of blood, as if someone had shaved off the flesh.

Li Zhen reached out and poked at the bone, discovering that the yin energy on this arm was much weaker than before, and therefore its activity was not as strong.

Did the other party use a special method to sever the connection between their arm and their own senses, or were they simply unable to resist?
Li Zhen couldn't sense the other person's condition through the skeleton, so he naturally didn't know if the other person had been severely injured and was about to die.

However, he felt that the latter possibility was a bit small.

When he cast his spell, the opponent still had the power to fight back and was not directly defeated.

This Wunu woman is very powerful...

This was the first time Li Zhen had encountered a situation where someone had escaped after being hit by several of his full-force curses.

Li Zhen, who was contemplating casting another spell, suddenly looked up at the wide river.

A thick fog rose from the scarlet river.

A female ghost carrying a lantern emerged from the thick fog, stood on the river, and stared at Li Zhen.

"Your Majesty is a woman who has no worldly strife and has no grudges against you. Why did you attack her?" the female ghost said expressionlessly.

Li Zhen scoffed, "If you're so eager to avoid conflict, why get involved in things on land? Isn't that just courting death?"

Although his tone was blunt, he felt a chill in his heart.

From the female ghost's words, it can be inferred that the so-called Goddess Wu is definitely not dead.

The female ghost was silent for a moment, then took a tattered lantern from behind her.

She threw the lantern into the river before saying, "The Empress has been in a deep sleep for many years and can only vaguely convey her thoughts."

"The actions of the maids who came ashore earlier were not the intention of the Goddess Wu. To express her apology, the Goddess has already punished the maid."

Watching the lantern sink into the water, Li Zhen shook his head: "They interfered in my affairs, and your mistress thinks she can get away with it by saying it has nothing to do with her?"

The female ghost tilted her head and listened, as if she were listening to someone speak.

After a moment, she said, "Her Majesty is too badly injured and will fall into a deeper slumber."

"Your Majesty can assure you that she will never come ashore and will also restrain her ghosts to prevent them from coming ashore."

She paused, then continued, "The reminder that Her Majesty instructed me to give you was not meant to intimidate you, but is based on fact. Killing that evil spirit will cause you a lot of trouble."

"That evil spirit was born in Yandang Mountain. Wu Qiyuan, the previous sect leader of Changshan, chose to seal it instead of killing it. This was not only because his own magical power was insufficient, but also because of the special circumstances of Yandang Mountain."

Li Zhen, who had just looked back at the female ghost, remained silent.

Unable to elicit any questions from Li Zhen, the female ghost, somewhat discouraged and unable to stir his emotions, continued, "There is more than one evil ghost buried in Yandang Mountain. That evil ghost thought it had chosen a feng shui treasure land and successfully performed the water dissolution method, waiting only for the time to come to become an immortal. In reality, it was just doing the work for someone else."

"Now that the evil spirit is dead, Yandang Mountain may undergo a change. If the next evil spirit gets away, it will be a hundred times more troublesome than the blue-faced ghost you killed getting away."

"I know that no matter what I say, you may not believe me. You can understand the truth of the matter by going and seeing for yourself."

"The reason why Her Majesty sent people ashore after she sensed that the evil spirit had escaped was to check the state of that evil spirit."

This matter cannot be verified at the moment, and Detective Li does not know whether it is true or false.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "What is the identity of that blue-faced ghost?"

The female ghost replied, "A local official from several hundred years ago used his power to build his own burial site on Yandang Mountain. He was our neighbor, but we didn't have much interaction."

"Who is this other evil spirit you mentioned from Yandang Mountain?"

"I don't know. The Empress just noticed that the feng shui of Yandang Mountain was unusual. After personally going to observe, she told us that the old ghost was doing all the work for someone else."

"The hydrolysis of the Blue-Faced Demon failed?"

"The Queen said that even if no one interferes, its so-called hydrolysis method will be difficult to succeed, and it will eventually turn into a vengeful ghost."

"The owner of this arm is the Wu Nu? Then what were those people I saw locked behind small doors on the first floor?"

"Those are the molted shells of the goddesses of the Weaving Maidens throughout history. Once they ascend to heaven, the goddesses of the Weaving Maidens will leave behind their molted shells."

"Wu Nu is not a single person?"

"No, the current Empress is the eighteenth generation of the Wu Nu."

"What was your empress's status during her lifetime?"

"These are the mundane affairs of the goddess, which I do not know, but if you wish to learn about the goddess of the past, you can take a look at this." The female ghost threw a book onto a rock not far from Li Zhen. "This is the county annals, which contains information about the goddess."

"Our goddess and that evil spirit are definitely not on the same side. Since the construction of the Wunu Temple, our goddess has protected this area and done countless good deeds, eliminating countless harmful ghosts. All of this is recorded in this book..."

Li Zhen glanced at the book cover and suddenly tied a red string that he had prepared beforehand to his severed arm.

The red rope tightened instantly, leaving a clear mark on the severed arm.

The arm, which seemed to have lost its vitality, began to struggle again.

The female ghost exclaimed in shock, "What are you doing?!"

Li Zhen looked up at the female ghost.

The approaching female ghost suddenly stopped, taking a few steps back in fear. After a slight shattering sound, the arm exploded into three or four pieces, leaving no trace of blood, turning into pure white bones.

The red rope that Li Zhen tied to the arm was not destroyed by the explosion, but remained tied to his forearm bone.

This is a simple method of sealing ghosts that Li Zhen saw in the memories of the Taoist priest in "The Seven Heroes Who Chase Ghosts".

The string was originally white, but it turned red after being stained with his blood.

Before the female ghost appeared, Li Zhen had already been refining this thin rope for some time.

This is the perfect opportunity to use it on this arm.

Numerous red bubbles emerged from the Wushui River.

One by one, the strange fish weakly floated out of the water and quickly became dead.

Before long, the red water and the fish carcasses were washed away, and the river quickly returned to its original state.

"Since your lady has promised not to go ashore, she shouldn't care about my little tricks."

Li Zhen picked up the section of arm bone that was bound by the red rope and said to the female ghost, "If the red rope isn't broken, then nothing will happen. If the red rope breaks, you'll have to bear the consequences."

He always kept his word to himself when he heard anything from any ghost, believing at most only half of it.

Li Zhen knew that he couldn't kill the Wushui Goddess hiding at the bottom of the river without paying a price.

The best course of action now is to use a special method to place a seal on the Wushui Goddess, ensuring that she cannot sneak ashore.

As long as he can keep entering mission worlds, his cultivation progress will not stagnate. Therefore, the longer the time goes on, the less trouble this Wu Nu can cause.

No matter how much truth or falsehood the female ghost spoke, it didn't have much impact on Detective Li.

The female ghost gritted her teeth and said, "The Queen said that if she breaks her oath, she can be dealt with at your disposal."

"Your Majesty has something else to remind you of."

Seeing that Li Zhen was listening, the female ghost said, "Your Majesty knows that you came to Changshan to get that book, but that book not only involves the matter of Yandang Mountain, but also involves something even more troublesome."

"When Wu Qiyuan was in charge of Changshan, he sealed away many fierce and evil spirits, but also offended many terrifying evil spirits. Some of these terrifying evil spirits are still alive today and have always been eyeing Changshan covetously."

"After Wu Qiyuan sealed the book, those evil spirits were watching and sending other ghosts to test whether Wu Qiyuan had left any backup plan. That's why Changshan has been plagued by minor incidents all these years."

"Now that you've taken that book, you've essentially taken on the karma of Changshan. They might come after you, so you'd better watch out."

The female ghost kept calling them evil spirits, her tone filled with a strong sense of superiority, as if she and the Weaving Maiden were not evil spirits at all, but rather immortals truly residing in a celestial realm, showing no regard whatsoever for evil spirits.

Li Zhen said dismissively, "They couldn't even do anything to the former head of Changshan Sect, so why would they dare to cause me trouble? They've discovered that I'm involved in this mess, so I'm not the one who should be worried."

The female ghost tilted her head and listened for a moment, then said meaningfully, "It's precisely because you are stronger and more vicious than Wu Qiyuan that they are even less willing to let this book fall into your hands."

"The Goddess Wu also told me to tell you that Wu Qiyuan is most skilled in Zi Wei Dou Shu (a form of Chinese astrology), loves to play mind games, and likes to calculate every possible possibility when doing things."

“Your appearance here, taking on their troubles for Changshan, may not have been unexpected by Wu Qiyuan.”

Li Zhen was slightly taken aback.

This was the first time he had heard the name Wu Qiyuan.

Can a dead person accurately predict what will happen to them after death and make arrangements for it?
Zi Wei Dou Shu (Purple Star Astrology)...

What kind of person is Wu Qiyuan?
"I have said all I can say. You may take care of yourself." The female ghost retreated into the mist.

The fog was also shrinking back.

"Wait a moment," Li Zhen suddenly called out.

The fog stopped contracting, and the female ghost's figure reappeared within it.

Li Zhen said, "I need to go to Yandang Mountain, and I need you to provide me with a detailed map."

After a while, the female ghost said, "Please wait a moment."

The fog quickly dissipated, and the female ghost vanished without a trace.

Li Zhen looked down at the arm bone tied with a thin red rope, then looked at the little devil next to him.

"Go back and see Li Xiangwen. I have something to tell him."

The little devil vanished from the spot in response.

It's a cloudy day today, and the yin energy here is very strong, so the little ghosts' activities won't be affected.

Only by combining information from multiple sources can one make the most accurate judgment about a matter.

Since the matter involved Changshan, it was natural to ask Li Xiangwen to inquire about the deeds of Wu Qiyuan and the Wunu.

After the kid left, Li Zhen pulled open his clothes and looked at his left chest.

Several purple wounds appeared on his chest, sending waves of pain through him.

Li Zhen's body could feel less and less pain, but this was an injury to his primordial spirit, unrelated to his physical body.

However, the injury is not serious and will heal on its own after a few days of rest.

Besides the purple marks, his skin had become even drier, a result of the witchcraft he had just used.

The Blue-Faced Demon, Wu Qiyuan, the Weaving Maiden, Yandang Mountain, Corpse Dissection...

Li Zhen put down his clothes and looked at Wushui.

He has begun to explore the most mysterious aspects of this world.

Get up.

Li Zhen walked to the side of the county gazetteer.

Picking up the county gazetteer, he randomly flipped to a page and found a record of the Weaver Girl on a marked page.

Li Zhen carefully read through the contents.

That was over four hundred years ago.

According to records, the goddess Wu Nu was named Xie Feilan. She almost drowned while crossing the Wu River, but was fortunately rescued and learned some remarkable magical arts.

She was active along the banks of the Wushui River for many years, eliminating many evil spirits that harmed the people. She was conferred the title of Wushui Goddess by the imperial court and enjoyed the court's incense offerings.

Li Zhen read through all the marked sections in the book and found that the descriptions there were exactly the same as the murals he had seen in the passageway.

After closing the book, Li Zhen looked thoughtfully at Wushui.

Neither the records here nor the wall carvings in the passage below explain why the Wunu would arrange such a ceremony under the Wushui River.

Li Zhen carefully put away the county gazetteer.

The county annals only record the surface of things; they don't record the deeper aspects. They only record what others want him to see, so their credibility is limited.

For example, from whom did the first Lady Wu learn her magic?

For example, why was she able to receive an official title from the imperial court and enjoy the honor of having incense offered to her?
According to the book, she had many achievements, but it seemed that it was not enough to receive an official title from the imperial court.

If this is the standard for conferring titles, then there are countless people across the country who meet the criteria for conferring titles. So why haven't those people received titles?
According to the county annals, Wu Nu's magical abilities were already quite remarkable when she was alive, and she was regarded as a deity in some places.

More than four hundred years have passed, and although this eighteenth-generation Wunu is strong, she is not strong enough to require four hundred years of preparation to achieve.

Could it be that after more than four hundred years, when it came to the eighteenth generation, the eighteenth generation was simply transformed into a ghost?

What's the difference between her and that blue-faced ghost?
Furthermore, how is the Wunu tradition passed down among themselves?
Why do they all look so similar?
More importantly, if the Wunu was really as righteous and awe-inspiring as the county annals describe, how could she let a maidservant watch that blue-faced ghost eat blood?
The blue-faced demon clearly did not regard this woman as an enemy.

Li Zhen knew that there must be many secrets hidden here.

Perhaps he only saw the surface and didn't truly understand the depth of this Wu woman's abilities.

The astonishing scene of the cave-heaven containing the main hall that Li Zhen had seen appeared in his mind...

The female ghost carrying the lantern returned to the coffin and respectfully lit three incense sticks in front of it.

A muffled voice came from inside the coffin: "Make... give him a map, don't keep anything."

The female ghost asked worriedly, "Your Majesty, are you alright?"

"I will fall into a deep sleep... for... a period of time..."

"Are we really never going ashore again? Then..."

“His… primordial spirit and physical body both have problems… bloodshed, evil… he can’t cultivate without killing, it’s a dead end… a dead end… he… can’t go far…”

The female ghost breathed a sigh of relief: "This person was terrifying. I'm relieved now that Your Majesty said so. But is this person really related to Wu Qiyuan?"

"I don't know."

"If there were no connection, how could such a terrifying evil figure suddenly be born into the world?"

No sound came from inside the coffin.

The female ghost asked again, "Your Majesty, will this person cause any trouble if he goes to Yandang Mountain?"

The person inside the coffin still did not answer.

The female ghost tentatively called out "Your Majesty" a few times.

After receiving no response, she sighed, found paper and pen, and quickly drew a route map.

After drawing it, she made some markings on the route map.

(End of this chapter)