The Terror of the Heavens Begins with Gu

Chapter 290 The Disappearance of Immortals and Gods and the Split of the Underworld

As soon as Li Zhen finished speaking, a cold wind rose from the wetlands by the river, carrying a strong stench of decay, and blew towards Li Zhen.

This eerie wind alerted the ghost face moth.

The female ghost face moth spread her wings and emitted a warning vibration.

Startled, the numerous ghost-faced moths fluttered their wings and scattered around Li Zhen, protecting him and the ghost-faced moth mother in the middle.

"Please don't misunderstand, sir. I've only come here to see you and admire your demeanor. I have no other intentions." A muffled and obscure voice came from behind.

Like a march, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed from the wetlands.

The cold wind grew stronger.

A plume of black smoke rose from the wetland.

After the black mist dissipated, rows of decaying ghosts appeared out of nowhere on the wetland.

Standing at the very front was a man wearing tattered armor, whose body was mostly decayed.

A pale-faced female ghost, holding an oil-paper umbrella, stood beside the man.

As soon as these ghostly creatures appeared, Li Zhen smelled the unique rotten scent of the swampy land emanating from them.

His gaze swept over the scene, lingering on the female ghost for a few more moments.

The red-eyed bats seemed to sense Li Zhen's subtle emotional fluctuations and became restless.

Li Zhen reached out and pressed down on the red-eyed bat.

The female ghost, who was being stared at, shrank back in fear.

The armored ghost reached out and shielded the female ghost behind him, then said to Li Zhen, "Have you ever seen an oil-paper umbrella before?"

The ghost's face was completely covered.
Li Zhen's voice came from among the swarm of ghost-faced moths: "I've never seen her before, but I just feel that this female ghost is a bit special."

The armored ghost didn't delve deeper into the topic.

He then changed the subject, flatteringly saying, "To be able to fight and win against a Taoist priest who uses thunder magic under such celestial conditions is truly admirable."

"I can't smell much stench on you, which means you must have been cultivated in the current environment, rather than being a resurrected ancient being. This... is truly astonishing."

"From you, I see sights that can only be seen in times of great cultivation. What a pity... In this environment, how could you possibly appear? You are truly an anomaly..."

A thought struck him, and Li Zhen asked curiously, "May I ask what your previous identity was?"

The armored ghost shook its head and smiled bitterly: "The past is gone, let's not talk about it. After waking up from the swamp, I forgot my past and just consider myself an old ghost wandering in the human world."

It was unwilling to say more, and Li Zhen didn't ask any further questions. Instead, he directly asked the question that concerned him the most: "Everyone says that the current environment is not suitable for cultivation. I have never understood why the world has suddenly become like this?"

"To be honest, I can't really explain it either," the armored ghost said. "When I was buried, I never thought I would wake up, but when I did, I realized that this world is completely different from when I was alive."

After a pause, it continued, "I was not a cultivator in my previous life, so I can't explain that change. If I had to put it in a nutshell, it would be that some spiritual energy disappeared."

Li Zhen frowned: "What is a flash of inspiration?"

The armored ghost continued to shake its head: "It's hard to explain, but something is missing that restricts the cultivator's path of cultivation."

"The most obvious change is..."

It pointed to the sky and said, "Those immortals and gods have all disappeared. Since I awoke, I have not sensed their existence."

"In many places, it seems that there are traces of gods and immortals, but after I went there, I found that those places were either the work of humans or relics left by gods and immortals."

Li Zhen looked up at the sky without saying a word.

The armored ghost's words sparked his imagination.

Not only in the real world, but also in the mission world, he had never seen a single familiar deity.

The closest I've ever seen to immortals and gods are the Xie sisters, who have attained the Dao of Ghost Immortals.

After a long while, Li Zhen lowered his head and looked at the armored ghosts opposite him: "Does nobody know where they went?"

"Perhaps someone knows," the armored ghost gave Li Zhen a somewhat unexpected answer.

"Who is it?" Li Zhen asked.

The armored ghost looked north: "That old Celestial Master who has dominated the world for decades might know."

Li Zhen was somewhat surprised.

It seems I should try to see that Celestial Master as soon as possible...

The armored ghost then said, "I sensed the aura of the underworld within this strange phenomenon; you should be wary."

"For some reason, the underworld seems to harbor great malice towards you. Given the opportunity, the underworld may create some trouble for you."

Li Zhen himself also sensed the malice emanating from the fog.

Hearing this, he was not surprised. Instead, he asked, "If the gods and immortals in heaven no longer exist, do the gods and immortals, as well as the ghosts and spirits in the underworld, still exist?"

"I don't know." The armored ghost shook its head honestly. "Although I am a ghost, I have never seen the so-called underworld soldiers, let alone the ghosts and gods in the legends."

"Logically speaking, a ghost as powerful as me should have attracted the attention of the underworld's soldiers. Hundreds of years ago, if nothing unexpected had happened, they would definitely have come to guide me to the underworld, or to send me to the eighteen levels of hell, or to reincarnate me."

"The problem is that no ghost soldiers have come to find me yet."

"But... as you can see, if there is no underworld, then where do those faint ghostly figures in the mist, and the malice of the underworld, come from? This is also a question that puzzles me."

Li Zhen asked, "If the underworld doesn't exist, then where do the souls of the deceased go?"

“Perhaps it has disappeared, or perhaps… it has gone to the underworld,” the armored ghost said. “I have a rather immature guess.”

He raised his foot and stomped on the ground: "After a person dies, their soul should return to the underworld, to the netherworld. In other words, the netherworld retains its basic functions, but..."

As if recalling something, the resentful aura surrounding the armored ghost began to swell: "I once entered a strange world in a special state, and I've always suspected that place might be part of the underworld."

"I'm not afraid to admit it, but as a ghost, I was quite frightened by the eerie situation inside."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhen suddenly remembered that when he killed the ghost messenger in the mission world, he had followed the ghost messenger to a strange place that resembled the underworld.

After a moment, the armored ghost continued, "The strangeness of that place is hard to describe. I almost didn't make it back. However, I did feel the aura of the underworld there."

"The sense of oppression wasn't as strong as I expected, and there were no underworld officials or ghosts inside. It was as if the underworld had been torn apart..."

Li Zhen's heart skipped a beat: "The Underworld has been split up?" The armored ghost nodded: "Yes, the Underworld seems to have been split up."

"The place I went to wasn't very big, and I walked around it in no time."

“From then on, I suspected that the underworld might have been split up, with one part remaining in its original place, which is where the ghosts pointed, and some parts probably hidden somewhere.”

Upon hearing this, Li Zhen suddenly had a guess.

Is the underworld in the mission world a part of the real underworld?

This conjecture is based on the premise that the mission world is actually a real world in some sense, rather than a fictional world created solely for him.

If you can bring back items and ghosts from the mission world, does that prove that the mission world is real?
Detective Li believes it is impossible.

Turning falsehood into truth is a magical thing for him, but for some beings it may be something that can be done in the blink of an eye.

After processing what he had just heard for a while, Li Zhen asked, "Are you sure?"

The armored ghost gave a wry smile: "Of course, we can't be sure, but I've found some other ghosts and we're going to combine what we all know to explore what the underworld is all about."

"If you have any definite news, please let me know."

"That's thoughtful." Li Zhen casually tossed out a talisman. "If you find anything, you can tear this talisman, and I'll be able to sense it."

A ghastly moth bit the talisman and delivered it to the armored ghost.

The armored ghost caught the talisman and said to Li Zhen, "This world is very different from the past. In the past, if a ghost lingered in the world, all the underworld officials would come to capture it. But now, no, so many old ghosts remain in the world, just like me."

"However, this world not only restricts the cultivation of cultivators and greatly limits their destructive power, but also suppresses those old ghosts."

"No matter how long they hide, they can never become those world-destroying monsters, and they form a balance with the current cultivators."

"For ordinary people, this is definitely a good thing."

"Sometimes I wonder if this was deliberately arranged by someone?"

Li Zhen fell into deep thought.

This coincides with some of his ideas.

If the changes in the present world are indeed deliberately guided by certain beings, then what about the mission world?

As he continued to grow stronger, Li Zhen felt that he was getting closer to the answer.

After a moment of silence, Li Zhen said to the armored ghost, "If you obtain any information, I hope you will not conceal it."

“Of course,” the armored ghost said happily. “In the past, I was alone and there were some places I didn’t dare to go. Now, with your support, I dare to go to those places boldly. If I have any news, I will share it with you as soon as possible. However, if I encounter any trouble, I hope you can lend a helping hand if you can do so.”

He looked toward a certain place in Dongyang City: "I have been hiding in the swamp over there. Decades ago, I made an agreement with a Taoist priest from Changshan that I would not come out of the swamp and enter Dongyang City unless someone actively caused me trouble. Therefore, I have rarely come out these years."

"Meeting you, and knowing of your existence, is the most delightful thing I have encountered in recent years. I came on a whim, and now that the whim has passed, I bid you farewell. If you need anything, you can come find me in the swamp."

The armored ghost turned around, grabbed the shoulder of the female ghost holding the oil-paper umbrella, and said its last words with its back to Li Zhen: "From now on, the ghosts in the swamp will never set foot in Dongyang City again, and will not cause any panic in Dongyang City."

After saying this, it flicked its sleeve, creating a cloud of ghostly mist.

When the ghostly mist dissipated, the armored ghost and the numerous ghosts behind it vanished.

It left in such a hurry that it looked like it was running away.

After pausing for a moment, Li Zhen continued walking towards his home.

There should be quite a few onlookers who have been attracted to the scene.

I wonder if there are any other old ghosts as interesting as this armored monster?

After talking with the armored ghost for a short while, Li Zhen felt he had gained a lot.

He could tell that the armored ghost was not lying to him, which is why he allowed it to continue investigating matters related to the underworld.

……

The ghostly mist dissipated.

The armored demon, accompanied by a host of evil spirits, appeared beside the swamp.

It breathed a sigh of relief and said with lingering fear, "I almost didn't make it back..."

The female ghost behind him shook her oil-paper umbrella.

The armored ghost said helplessly, "It's all because of you. If I hadn't diverted his attention with a topic that interested him, you might already be dead. Didn't you feel his killing intent?"

The female ghost shook the oil-paper umbrella again.

The armored ghost said, "I don't know either. He only has murderous intent towards you. If you want to know what you've done recently, it's only that one thing. No matter what you think, don't do anything unnecessary recently."

“I have assured him that neither of us will appear in Dongyang City, nor will we cause trouble for anyone. You had better keep your promise.”

The female ghost shook the oil-paper umbrella violently, clearly somewhat displeased.

The armored ghost sighed again: "I know you helped me, otherwise I wouldn't have tried to protect you. Why do you think I told him so many secrets and shared everything that followed with him? That was my way of letting you live."

"Tell me, haven't I done everything I could for you?"

The female ghost lowered her oil-paper umbrella in disappointment.

"Now that things have come to this, I hope you can live up to my good intentions." The armored ghost looked back. "I originally thought this person might be like me, an old ghost who has lived to this day. I didn't expect him to be a living person. But can a living person really cultivate to this level? It's truly astonishing."

"I didn't expect him to come down from the top of Fog Mountain unscathed. You saw the way Thunder was that day."

"You should know how terrifying he is. You should know that if he wanted to kill you, you wouldn't survive."

“From now on, the area around Dongyang will all be his territory. Since we are living under someone else’s nose, we should have the corresponding attitude.”

"This guy still has some sense of propriety; he didn't kill you outright but forced me to reveal those secrets. Otherwise, I would have had to try to cut my losses and survive... Cooperating with him shouldn't be a mistake."

"This may not be a bad thing. With this tiger skin, there are some things I can do."

It walked into the swamp, its form slowly disappearing, but its voice rang in the female ghost's ear: "I have to do something, you stay in the swamp."

The female ghost turned and glanced at Dongyang City, let out a soft sigh, and then disappeared into the swamp.

(End of this chapter)