Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 236 Ning Caichen, Yan Chixia, and Nie Xiaoqian

Kim Suk-mi's eyes narrowed, and she said no more.

As a core member of the Bloodstained Team and a Level 2 Priestess, she has absolute confidence in her abilities.

She stared at the cursed wooden nails and the eerie scarecrow wrapped in black energy in Li Sheng's hand, her heart sank, and her mind raced: Curse!

The art of curses and warding off evil spirits is one of the most insidious and treacherous branches of ancient Chinese witchcraft. It does not directly kill, but rather subtly distorts fate, causes disasters, and even manipulates people's hearts invisibly through curses, talismans, and rituals. Its core lies in "cursing and subduing the person, and achieving victory through curses," making it extremely vicious!

Kim Suk-mi is very interested in ancient Chinese history, and the art of cursing has always played an important role in Chinese history.

For example, the "Witchcraft Persecution" in the later years of Emperor Wu of Han (this witchcraft is completely different from the profession of witchcraft)! Chancellor Gongsun He and his son, Princess Zhuyi, Princess Yangshi, Marquis Changping Wei Kang (son of Wei Qing), and even Empress Wei Zifu and Crown Prince Liu Ju, how many nobles ultimately lost their families and lives, all because of a buried wooden doll symbolizing a curse! That disaster almost shook the foundation of the country!
There was also the "Empress Wang's Cursing Case" during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang! Empress Wang and Consort Xiao fell out of favor and resorted to cursing Wu Zetian with witchcraft. After their scheme was exposed, it became the key evidence that Wu Zetian used to bring them down. In the end, the two were deposed and executed, and the methods used were extremely cruel! This incident completely cleared the obstacles for Wu Zetian to ascend to the position of empress!
Even the "Cat Demon Witchcraft" case of Empress Dugu and her brother Dugu Tuo in the Sui Dynasty! They manipulated cat demons to harm people and steal property. Even the high-ranking Duke's mansion was shrouded in the shadow of such evil magic, which aroused the wrath of Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, who issued a strict order to prohibit it!

Materialists would see these records as baseless, but Kim Suk-mi, as a reincarnator, believes that the horrors of witchcraft are indeed real!
The man in front of us, Mr. Li, is a Level 2 Suppression Master. He is a Reincarnator of the Cursed Objects in the Insect Nest Team. The cursed objects he can control are extremely vicious and bizarre. We must be extremely careful and never give him the opportunity to set up curses or cast spells!

Even when facing a sorcerer of the same rank as herself, she still dared not be careless and launched the first attack!
She took two short daggers from her Reincarnator watch and crossed them in front of her chest. She rapidly chanted an obscure prayer, and her body emitted a faint, bloody light—a symbol of her communication with an ancient evil god she worshipped.

A surge of eerie blue light erupted from the short spike, transforming into two intersecting arcs of light, like venomous snakes emerging from their holes, aimed straight at Li Sheng's vitals!

The abilities of a shrine wielder tend to rely on divine power for purification, blessing, and close combat, and they have a certain degree of restraint against sinister professions like witchcraft.

However, despite being only a Level 2 talisman master, Li Sheng appeared unusually calm. He didn't take the hit head-on, but instead retreated rapidly, simultaneously using the strange scarecrow in his hand as a shield in front of him!
"Spell of Cursing: The Substitute Grass Puppet!"

Jin Shumei's determined strike, the two sharp arcs of light, were about to hit Li Sheng when they suddenly deflected, and with two "plop" sounds, they both struck the tattered scarecrow!
The scarecrow was torn in half in an instant, but Li Sheng behind it was unharmed, only his face paled slightly, obviously the damage reduction skill had taken a toll on him.

"Interesting!" Jin Shumei snorted coldly, her attacks becoming even more rapid. Her figure was like a ghost, her short daggers creating afterimages as she swung them, and a continuous barrage of eerie blue light emanated from them!
At times she chants solemnly, bestowing upon herself blessings such as "divine speed" and "great strength," and at other times she acts like the most valiant gladiator, launching a fierce close-quarters attack like a storm.

Li Shengze was completely on the defensive! However, his methods were unpredictable, and he kept throwing out various cursed objects: wooden nails engraved with cursed runes, small scissors wrapped with hair, and strange powders filled with a fishy stench!
He rarely clashed head-on with Kim Suk-mi, always using various insidious talismans and curses to constantly weaken and interfere with her. His movements were as slippery as an eel, making it impossible for Kim Suk-mi to subdue him for a while.

"Damn those insectoid reincarnators!" Jin Shumei's frustration grew as she couldn't break through their defenses.

She hadn't expected a Level 2 sorcerer to be so troublesome; the strangeness of his lineage and his combat experience far exceeded her expectations. If she couldn't defeat him, wouldn't her reputation as Jin Shumei be undeserved?

Finally, she decided to use one of her trump cards.

She suddenly took a step back and carefully took out a small, seemingly ordinary white marble fragment from her bosom, which contained strange energy fluctuations!

This is a fragment that the knight reincarnator painstakingly cut off from the "living" David statue in Florence, Italy!

It embodies the contradictory power of "perfect flesh" and "petrifying gaze"—two forces that pollute the rules of life! Through the cleaner's processing and incorporation of resentment crystals, it becomes her weapon!
She used her priesthood skills, consuming SAN points, to communicate with this fragment!
The marble fragments suddenly burst forth with a blinding white light!

A beam of light, imbued with an aura of holiness and death, instantly shone upon Li Sheng!

Li Sheng's expression changed drastically; he sensed a deadly threat!
He roared and summoned all his defensive and protective items—a blood-stained bronze mirror, a heart-protecting bronze coin, and even the broken scarecrow—in an attempt to defend himself!

However, the power emanating from the higher-level memetic contaminants was incredibly domineering! Where the white light passed, the bronze mirror shattered, the copper coins melted, and the scarecrow turned to ashes! The beam of light finally slammed into Li Sheng's crossed arms as he tried to block!
"Crack!"

A sound of bones cracking rang out!

Li Sheng's arms turned an unnatural grayish-white, as if they were rapidly turning into stone!

He screamed in agony as the immense impact sent him flying, crashing heavily into the wall, spitting out blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.

Jin Shumei pressed her advantage relentlessly, suppressing her exhaustion and weakness, and charged forward, her short dagger aimed straight for his heart!

"Pfft!"

The short thorn pierced Li Sheng's heart with precision. His body stiffened abruptly, his eyes filled with resentment and bitterness as he stared intently at Jin Shumei. Finally, his head lolled to the side, and he died.

A moment later, a distorted skull key, exuding a strong aura of malevolence, slowly materialized and emerged from his arm.

Jin Shumei, panting heavily, pulled out the short thorn and picked up the skull key with lingering fear.

She didn't win easily; she was even forced to use a valuable trump card.

This Li Sheng is definitely not as simple as an ordinary LV2 reincarnator. The Insect Nest team... is indeed full of hidden talents and extremely dangerous.

Meanwhile, inside the Buddhist hall.

Huikong leaned against the cold Buddha statue, gazing at the empty and desolate hall before him, and a realization that "I might really die here" became clearer than ever before.

Death… He was only in his early twenties, his life had just begun. He suddenly thought of Su Wen, the girl he once thought would mean losing the whole world if he lost her.

Memories flooded back like a tide. I remembered the first time I saw her in the library, sunlight streaming through the window onto her focused profile, making her seem almost unreal; I remembered the first time we mustered the courage to hold hands, the sweat on our palms; I remembered how she loved the double-skin milk pudding from the stall behind the school, always making him queue up to buy it; and finally, I remembered how she broke up with me so decisively, without a trace of reluctance…

If Huikong were to travel to the present day, where there is a severe gender antagonism between men and women, he would know what it means for a "simp to die a horrible death."

Those heartbreaking breakup scenes that once tore his heart apart now seem somewhat blurry in his memory. What remains are instead some ordinary yet heartwarming details.

“Why should a real man worry about not having a wife…” Huikong muttered to himself, a bitter smile that was more painful than crying tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Looking back now, I realize how naive and stubborn I was. There are so many women in the world, why fixate on just one? Just because of one heartbreak, I felt life was meaningless, became disillusioned with the world, and came to this godforsaken place to become a monk…

Now look what's happened! He's severed ties with the mortal world, but he's probably going to lose his life here. Is this supposed to be seeing through the illusions of the world? This is practically courting death! It's utterly spineless!
If I had been more open-minded back then, found a new job, and made new friends, I might still be eating pineapple buns and char siu rice in some Hong Kong-style cafe, complaining about my stingy boss and difficult colleagues, instead of being in this eerie and terrifying temple, licking the tears of the Buddha statue, waiting for death that could come at any moment.

A deep sense of regret gripped him. He would rather go back to face the pain of heartbreak, the pressure of work, and the mundane details of life than stay here and challenge the bizarre rules of this godforsaken place every single second!

He raised his head and looked at Ning Caichen, who was silent beside him. Suddenly, he mustered up his courage and asked, "Benefactor Ning, how exactly did you disappear that night? That alley was clearly a dead end."

Ning Caichen paused slightly as he wiped his glasses, then casually put them on and said in a relaxed tone, "Master Huikong, were you too nervous and saw things wrong? Perhaps the light was too dim and I turned into a side road that you didn't notice? This temple has a complicated structure and it's easy to get lost."

He was still dodging the question! Huikong's heart sank lower and lower.

This man is shrouded in mystery and contradictions. He appears to be a frail scholar, yet he remains unusually calm amidst numerous terrifying events; he claims to be here to study for exams, yet he shows an extraordinary interest in the strange occurrences within the temple; his current avoidance only makes Huikong more wary!

Just as Huikong was about to ask further questions, that deadly, mournful, and lingering zither music rang out once again without warning!
Both of their bodies stiffened at the same time!
According to the rules, you cannot tell the other person that you heard the music! You must go alone!

The two stood up expressionlessly, exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with fear and suspicion, yet they had no choice but to silently and tacitly walk out of the Buddhist hall, one after the other, towards the direction from which the music was coming. Each step felt like walking on a knife's edge.

The music seemed to come from all directions, yet it also seemed to have a clear source, guiding them through the dimly lit temple.

Just when their nerves were stretched to the limit—

"boom!"

A deafening gunshot shattered the silence of the night and instantly interrupted the eerie piano music!
The music stopped abruptly!

Huikong and Ning Caichen were both startled and looked sharply toward the source of the gunshot.

Not far away, Yan Chixia, holding his signature hunting rifle, strode out from the shadows of a palace, his face stern and his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.

"Benefactor Yan!" Huikong felt as if he had seen a savior. A tremendous sense of security surged into his heart, and he was almost moved to tears. He no longer cared about the rules and ran over excitedly, "It's so good to see you! So good!"

Ning Caichen also came over and immediately told Yan Chixia everything that had just happened in the Buddhist hall, including Huiming melting, the white-robed monks turning black, and their experience of being forced to lick their tears and turn off the lights, but tacitly omitted the part about the zither music.

As Yan Chixia listened, his brows furrowed even more deeply.

“Master Huiming also…” Then, Yan Chixia’s gaze sharpened, “Now it seems that the most terrifying and root cause of Lanruo Temple is that ‘Grandma’ who has only been known by name but never seen. All the strange rules probably originate from her.”

After a brief discussion, the three decided that they could not sit idly by and wait for their doom; they had to continue trying to find a way out of this living prison.

They moved cautiously through the temple in pairs, wary of any disturbance.

They hadn't walked far when the sights that appeared on either side of the path ahead made them gasp in shock—

Mummified corpses! A huge number of mummified corpses!

These mummies are similar to those that appeared by the ancient well before; their skin is black and shriveled, clinging tightly to the bones, and they are in various struggling and terrified postures!
The dense aura of death and resentment emanating from the mummies almost solidified into a tangible substance, making the air thick and heavy.

Huikong was so frightened that his legs went weak and he could barely walk.

He seized the opportunity to get closer to Yan Chixia and said in a very low, trembling voice, "Yan... Benefactor Yan... Be careful... Be careful of that Ning Caichen! Something's very wrong with him! He clearly disappeared before my eyes that night! He's definitely not an ordinary person!"

Yan Chixia's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly, but he replied calmly, "I understand. I will find an opportunity to test him."

After a pause, Huikong suppressed his fear and offered his analysis: "Master Yan, I think... the key to everything is probably that ancient well! The black-robed monk came out from there, and Senior Brother Huiming also died because he drank the well water... and those mummies... everything seems to revolve around that well! That well water... might lead to where 'Grandma' is!"

Yan Chixia nodded thoughtfully and said in a low voice, "Just as I thought. The Buddha statue's tears and the manifestation of rules are probably all due to the curse of that so-called 'Grandma.' And Nie Xiaoqian... is very likely just an evil spirit controlled by Grandma to lure its prey. It's just that... that well can't be found now either."

The two spoke in hushed tones, seemingly unaware of what was happening, as Ning Caichen cautiously observed the piles of mummified corpses around them.

After walking a while longer and passing through a moon gate, the three of them stopped almost simultaneously, staring incredulously ahead—

The ancient well they had been searching for so desperately, and which filled them with fear, was actually sitting quietly in the center of the front courtyard!

It appeared so abruptly, as if it had been waiting for them all along.

At that moment, Huikong's body trembled, and he subconsciously swallowed. He glanced at Yan Chixia beside him before calming down a little.

This benefactor Yan is incredibly skilled; he's probably a so-called exorcist master, right? With him around, there shouldn't be too much to fear!
Yan Chixia immediately raised his hunting rifle, pointed the muzzle at the ancient well in front of him, and said in a low voice, "There is indeed a problem! Master Huikong, perhaps you are right, this well is the key!"

The three of them cautiously approached the ancient well. The closer they got, the stronger the chilling, ominous aura became.

Arriving at the well, Huikong subconsciously looked towards the well opening—the well water was deep, yet it clearly reflected a perfect full moon radiating a pale white light!
A full moon? Huikong suddenly looked up at the sky—the night was still deep, and he couldn't see the moon, let alone a full moon!

“The sky…there is no moon!” Huikong exclaimed.

However, just as he looked up and then down, something unexpected happened!
Yan Chixia, who was standing next to him, suddenly turned his gun around without warning!
It wasn't aimed at the ancient well, but at Ning Caichen's chest, which was right next to him!

"boom!"

The deafening gunshot rang out again! At such close range, the rune shotgun was incredibly powerful!
Ning Caichen had no time to react before a huge bloody hole was blasted into his chest!
His astonishment froze on his face. The enormous impact sent him flying backward, plunging him directly into the ancient well that reflected the false full moon!
"Splash!" A heavy sound of falling into the water rang out.

"Benefactor Yan! You!" Huikong was terrified by this sudden turn of events, staring at Yan Chixia in utter horror. "You...you've already confirmed that Benefactor Ning is a demon?! You..."

However, Yan Chixia slowly turned his head to look at Huikong. His eyes were no longer sharp and steady as before, but filled with an indescribable eeriness.

"No."

Huikong felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his blood instantly turned ice-cold!
This voice...

He stepped back in terror: "Wait! Your voice?! Who...who are you?!"

Yan Chixia found his terrified expression amusing and chuckled softly before tossing his hunting rifle aside.
"What? You've already forgotten me after such a short time?"

Bottom of the well.

Ning Caichen struggled desperately and immediately used the Ghost Hunter's class skill, imitating what he had seen Han Wei do in the [Head Balloon] dungeon, turning his body into a ghost to heal his wounds!
At the same time, under Huikong's horrified gaze, "Yan Chixia" made a chilling move—

He raised his hand, grabbed his full beard, and then... pulled it upwards with force!
The thick beard, along with the entire face beneath it, was pulled upwards with ease, just like a hood!
Soon, the beard moved to the top of the head and turned into hanging "hair"!
Then, Yan Chixia raised his hand and slowly parted the "hair"...

A pale, delicate, and breathtakingly beautiful woman's face was revealed, yet it also carried an inhuman, eerie, and icy aura!

She tilted her head, her smile becoming increasingly eerie.

"Didn't I tell you that day..."

"My name is Nie Xiaoqian."

(End of this chapter)