The Terror of the Heavens Begins with Gu

Chapter 298 The Bizarre Underworld and Numerous Evil Spirits
As far as the eye can see, there is a yellowing grass and a dark gray sky.

Apart from the pale yellow of the grass, there was only gray here, with no other colors.

The whole world was filled with a gloomy atmosphere and an indescribable deathly silence. There was no sound, not even wind, as if everything had fallen into stillness, which was extremely oppressive.

Li Zhen looked at his own body.

After his primordial spirit leaves his body, it may appear somewhat illusory in the human world, but here it is very solid, no different from the real person he was in the human world.

The ghost fetus clinging to Li Zhen's arm and the red-eyed bat perched on his shoulder have also changed significantly since they were in the human world.

Both were more ferocious and terrifying than when they were in the human world. The red-eyed bat was even more similar in appearance to the bat-faced demon, as if it had revealed its true form directly in the underworld.

Correspondingly, when they are in the human world, their bodies seem to be more like shells that conceal their true nature.

Upon arriving in the underworld, not only the red-eyed bats but even the ghost fetuses that had been dormant for a long time became excited and barely opened their eyes to look around.

It may have sensed the aura of the underworld before, which is why it followed him here.

Turning his head to look at Huang Yongfa, Li Zhen noticed that Huang Yongfa's body had become even more solid.

When Huang Yongfa was in the human world, his soul was so ethereal that it could be blown away by a gust of wind. Here, he has regained his human form.

Huang Yongfa is indeed a bit special...

At this moment, Huang Yongfa was also looking at Li Zhen, and his shock was far greater than Li Zhen's.

When he was in the human world, his ability to see ghosts allowed him to see fragments of things through Li Zhen's body.

This was something he had never encountered before.

Before meeting Li Zhen, his ability to see ghosts could only see the scenes of vengeful spirits dying.

Huang Yongfa himself believed that Li Zhen was too strong, or rather, the resentment and yin energy he carried were too strong, which stimulated his yin-yang eyes.

However, he never really grasped the extent of Li Zhen's strength.

It wasn't until they arrived in the underworld, abandoned their physical bodies, and saw Li Zhen's true spirit as his soul that they gained a completely new understanding of how terrifying Li Zhen was.

That sense of oppression...

He had never seen such a thing, not even on the most terrifying ghosts he had ever encountered, or even on the underworld officials.

"Is this the underworld? And what's that place?" Li Zhen looked up ahead.

There is a dirt road in this desolate grassland.

At the end of the road stood a huge gray building.

The building was made up of countless modern Hong Kong-style buildings stacked on top of each other in a way that defied the laws of physics. It stood in the very center of the entire lawn, as if it were the center of the entire underworld.

“Yes, this is the underworld.” Huang Yongfa also looked at the building. “But in a narrow sense, that is the real underworld, where many ghosts are hidden. As for outside, apart from the wandering ghosts who have just arrived in the underworld, I rarely see any ghosts.”

“Interesting, I can already smell the resentment unique to evil spirits.” Li Zhen calmed the red-eyed bat down, preventing it from flying around, and led it and the ghost fetus toward the crooked building.

Huang Yongfa quickly followed behind, saying, "I dare not go deep inside. I don't know what kind of evil spirits might exist in the innermost part. No matter why you came here, you have to be careful."

Without turning his head, Li Zhen said, "I really enjoy dealing with evil spirits, especially those with deep resentment. I hope this place will give me some surprises."

The underworld here was completely different from the underworld he had ever imagined, and also different from any other eerie underworld he had ever visited along the path he had followed the ghost messengers.

This is the underworld, but his previous impression of the underworld was wrong?

Or is it that a special change has occurred in this underworld, causing it to become like this?

This underworld was too cramped, which reminded Li Zhen of the story about the armored ghost.

Could the underworld officials here give him an answer?

Huang Yongfa, who was stunned for a moment, quickly caught up with Li Zhen: "Although I have already said it, I will say it again: there are ghost messengers involved, so you have to be careful."

"This is their territory; offending them will cause a lot of trouble."

Li Zhen didn't say anything.

Upon reaching the enormous building, a white door appeared before them.

The portal is also very modern, with a spherical handle that could only have been produced in the industrial age.

Li Zhen reached out, grabbed the handle, and twisted it to both sides.

With a creak, the door opened.

It wasn't a room, but a spacious corridor.

The corridor is only black and white, and the sides are filled with all kinds of different buildings, large and small, which look somewhat similar to what they look like from the outside, giving people a chaotic and bizarre feeling.

Although these buildings are chaotic, they vaguely form an arc in the long corridor, with a dark gray "line" at the top of the arc, directly opposite the corridor.

The two ends of the "line" are densely packed buildings, making it impossible to see how tall they are.

Even though Li Zhen had seen many strange worlds, he was still somewhat surprised when he saw the environment here.

The impact of this place on a normal person is indescribable.

As Li Zhen walked into the corridor, he looked around. He didn't see a single ghost or anything that could move, but the powerful resentment and yin energy he sensed told him that there were a great many ghosts here.

"It's in there." Huang Yongfa, who had just entered, pointed to a small door on one side of the corridor.

Only then did Li Zhen notice that there were small doors among the messy walls on the left side of the corridor.

As he walked toward the doors, he asked, "Tell me your mother's name and date of birth?"

Upon hearing this, Huang Yong was stunned for a moment.

Li Zhen turned to Huang Yongfa: "Didn't you want to see your mother again? If she hadn't reincarnated, I should be able to find her here."

Huang Yongfa asked instinctively, "How did you know?"

When his mother committed suicide, he almost jumped off a building with her, but Jiang Xue saved him at the last moment and accompanied him as he grew up.

Even though he had almost forgotten what the woman looked like, Huang Yongfa still wanted to see her again and ask her a few questions.

This was his deepest secret, which he had only told Jiang Xue.

He was naturally shocked to suddenly hear his secret from a stranger he had only met that day.

The person in front of me seems to know everything...

"I can tell from your face." Li Zhen just smiled, looking somewhat unfathomable.

After a moment of silence, Huang Yongfa admitted, "I want to see her again and ask her some questions. If... if you can find her, I would be very grateful."

Without any further ado, he directly told Li Zhen his mother's name and birth date.

Huang Yongfa was not worried that Li Zhen would harm him.

Given the other party's capabilities, if they wanted to do something to him, they would have countless direct methods; they wouldn't use such a troublesome way to harm him.

After speaking, Huang Yongfa looked at the doors and said to Li Zhen, "Each door here leads to a different environment, filled with vengeful ghosts who have not yet been reincarnated and are extremely dangerous. Moreover, each door may lead to a different place after it reopens. Although I have been here several times, I have not yet figured out the pattern."

"If I'm not mistaken, the danger level should be lower towards the back; I've opened the last few portals."

There are probably a dozen or so doors here.

Li Zhen didn't count the doors; the third door he was in was just a door he had chosen randomly.

Looking at the doors behind him, Li Zhen asked, "Why is this place like this? I mean, it's completely different from the rumored underworld. There's no Yama's Palace here; it looks more like... a huge ruin?"

“I don’t know why this place is like this. This is the scene I’ve seen since I first entered here,” Huang Yongfa said. “I discussed it with… and we believe that this place may be a ruin formed by negative emotions such as resentment, despair, and hatred in people’s hearts.”

"This large building may be a projection of some forgotten or collapsed old buildings, which are generally filled with some negative things."

Li Zhen then asked, "There's some truth to that. So, what does this have to do with the underworld? Or is the underworld, as described by the ancients, actually composed of negative emotions?"

He felt that what Huang Yongfa said made some sense, but it probably wasn't the truth of the matter.

He himself appeared here as a primordial spirit, confirming that this was the underworld.

So, what exactly are negative emotions? Are they a kind of thing that constitutes the underworld?

With his eyes closed, Li Zhen sensed for a moment and indeed felt strong negative emotions here.

Huang Yongfa shook his head: "I can't answer that question, but perhaps the underworld officials can. These doors can't be opened casually, you'd better..."

Li Zhen pushed hard, and the door in front of him was opened.

It was darker and more cramped inside.

The alleyway was lined with haphazardly constructed houses on both sides, and the ground in the middle was littered with household garbage, making it look like a small alley with a lively atmosphere.

In some parts of Hong Kong Island, such narrow alleyways are not uncommon.

Taking a deep breath, Li Zhen stepped through the door.

There was no movement inside.

Huang Yongfa, who followed them in, couldn't help but say, "You need to be careful, something could happen anywhere here..."

Before he could finish speaking, a hideous demon with a body reduced to skin and bones suddenly appeared from a recess in the wall, pressed itself against Li Zhen's face as he turned his head, and let out a heart-wrenching roar.

Li Zhen stared at the evil spirit without flinching.

The evil spirit stretched out its hands and grabbed Li Zhen by the neck.

Only then did Li Zhen raise his hand and grab the evil spirit's arms, examining it as if it were livestock that had been captured.

"You're full of resentment and your reason is clouded. Even as a vengeful ghost, you can't find peace. I'm a good person, so I'll lend you a hand."

Li Zhen casually picked up the evil spirit, violently twisted it into a small ball, and fed it to the impatient red-eyed bat.

The evil spirit wasn't enough to give the red-eyed bat another life, but eating it would be very beneficial for it.

Amidst the demon's mournful cries, the red-eyed bat swallowed the demon whole and then let out a strange, excited screech.

Seeing the red-eyed bats eating the ghost as if it were a snack, Huang Yongfa's heart skipped a beat.

A somewhat frightening thought suddenly occurred to him—

Could it be that this person came to the underworld for this purpose?

After having this thought, Huang Yongfa immediately dismissed the idea.

This is the underworld, the final resting place for all who die.

Are there really people who have no fear of the underworld, who dare to offend it, and who slaughter ghosts here without leaving any way out for their own afterlife?

Unless someone is insane, no ordinary person would ever do that.

But looking at Li Zhen in front of him, he felt that his idea seemed to be correct.

Moving forward, in a short while, Li Zhen casually caught three evil spirits and fed them to the red-eyed bats.

Although none of these evil spirits were powerful enough to save the red-eyed bat's life, they were still far stronger than the wandering ghosts outside.

Having devoured so many resentful evil spirits at once, the red-eyed bat's yin energy became even heavier, and its appearance became even more ferocious.

After arriving in the underworld and revealing their true nature in some sense, the changes in the red-eyed bat became much more obvious.

The red-eyed bats, who rarely had the chance to devour so many evil spirits at once, were even more excited and tried several times to fly up and search for the evil spirits on their own, but Li Zhen stopped them each time.

This place is mysterious and unpredictable, and there is a high possibility of danger. If we let the red-eyed bats go out, it would be very troublesome if they got trapped somewhere.

A demon silently wrapped around Li Zhen's legs from the ground, but Li Zhen lifted him up from the ground.

This ghost was a female ghost dressed in tattered clothes. She didn't have much resentment, and there seemed to be some rationality in her eyes.

Shaking his head, Li Zhen tossed the female ghost away as if it were trash.

The terrified female ghost vanished silently from the spot, never daring to approach Li Zhen again.

When you reach the end of the alley, the view suddenly opens up.

A vacant lot resembling ruins appeared before Li Zhen's eyes.

The ruins were filled with broken bricks and tiles left from collapsed houses, and at the end was a huge cliff.

Further behind the cliff were various dilapidated buildings piled up and floating.

There were so many buildings that they seemed to have been piled up from the bottom of the cliff to the same height as the open ground.

Some of the dilapidated buildings and bricks are even floating in the air.

This oppressive scene of ruins is very eye-catching.

But what Li Zhen saw at that moment was not those scenes, but a woman sitting in the ruins with her back to him.

The woman's back view was, of course, all too familiar to him.

Many years ago, he had called this person "Mom".

The moment he saw that figure from behind, some hazy memories in Li Zhen's mind were awakened again.

“Interesting…” He suddenly smiled, then walked into the ruins and headed towards the woman.

The woman turned her head, revealing a delicate face.

Her face bore a resemblance to Li Zhen's, but she possessed a more assertive air, clearly a strong woman.

"What are you doing here?" the woman asked, frowning.

"That tone is really annoying. Even though I know you're not her, it still makes me feel disgusted."

Without saying a word, Li Zhen walked up to the woman and extended his right hand to her...

(End of this chapter)