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Chapter 440 The Forbidden City
Everyone looked at each other, but no one took that step.

In the end, it was Zhou You, as the leader of the alliance, who stepped forward with his sword.

What you feel in your hand is a sticky, strange sensation.

It wasn't blood; it was more like freshly applied, not-yet-dry paint—but not like the inorganic substance that paint is.

It is alive.
For some reason, this sentence flashed through my mind.

But before Zhou You could make any move, the towering city gate opened.

In fact, they didn't even hear the sound of the slamming gate falling.

At the same time, everyone was stunned.

It wouldn't be surprising if it were a massive army, but...
—After the door opened, what appeared before everyone's eyes was a garden.

A garden that should not exist here.

Logically speaking, after passing Chongwen Gate, one should have truly entered the inner city of Beijing. However, all the pavilions and shops had vanished, replaced by an endless expanse of colorful and bizarre flowers!

Am I even still in Beijing?

One person murmured these words.

Of course, this also represents the meaning of everyone.

moment.

Some people still cautiously took a step forward.

Zhou You frowned, and before he could stop it, a stamen suddenly emerged from a flower beside him and gripped the man's arm tightly.

That man was also quite skilled; he immediately drew his weapon from his waist and cut off the vine in an instant.

However, in those few short breaths, all the veins on his arm had bulged and swollen to almost transparent, and one could vaguely see countless tiny insects wriggling within them—

Without hesitation, he immediately reversed the weapon in his hand and chopped off his own right hand!
Thanks to his timely reaction, the moment his arm fell, it turned into a cloud of bloody mud, from which countless pink jumping insects burst forth, hopping and leaping at a speed that was not slow at all, heading straight for the crowd!

Just as Zhou You was about to make a move, flames suddenly rose out of thin air and engulfed all the insects in the blink of an eye, turning them all into ashes.

An old man in a black robe covered the candle in his hand, nodded to Zhou You, and then silently retreated.

The man with the missing arm also returned to the group, asked for a roll of packing strap, and silently wrapped his wound.

As expected of an elite individual, even if they make a mistake, they can react immediately.

However, at that moment, another exclamation came from Cang Le's side.

"Sir, here."

"what happened?"

Zhou You immediately gripped the Broken Blade tightly, while the others also assumed a stance ready to strike at any moment.

But Cang Le didn't look like she had been attacked.

He pointed to the ground and said in a trembling voice.

"There looks like there's a corpse underground."

"Moreover, there was more than one."

Corpse?

Zhou You lowered his eyes and looked at the ground.

The lush greenery and abundant grass, which should have been a peaceful and natural scene, were so overgrown that they gave people a sense of nausea.

However, having learned from past mistakes, he did not take action himself, but instead unleashed his malevolent energy, scattering large areas of vegetation and soil.

Sure enough, what appeared before them was a corpse.

Densely packed, like an endless stream of corpses!

The corpses were crammed together, looking like blocks crushed from a garbage dump, with no gaps between their hands and feet, or between their feet and bodies—but surprisingly, no blood was seen flowing out, only countless exposed eyes staring blankly at the sky.

Even those present, who were used to seeing supernatural occurrences, were still taken aback by the shock.

However, someone quickly regained their composure and said...

"Peddlers, commoners, and... oh my... that's the official robe of the Ministry of Personnel. Looks like a first-rank official. Did the Empress Dowager bury the entire court here?"

The other person shook his head and said.

"Not only that, did you see those guys in the prison robes?"

"Qing soldiers? Haven't we already seen them before?"

"No, these are not ordinary Qing soldiers, but the imperial guards of the court."

The person who spoke first was speechless for a moment.

—She even killed the Imperial Guards with her own hands, then used them as fertilizer for the fertile land.
How does this old lady plan to stop the foreign enemies? Is she going to rely on the flowers that ordinary people have turned into and these strange plants that are everywhere?

However, the answer was soon revealed.

Zhou You frowned, as if listening intently to some sound—then suddenly, his expression changed drastically.

"Something big is coming! Run if you don't want to die!"

Before the others could turn around, they saw a tentacle more than ten feet long suddenly extending from the lush bushes not far away.

Then came the second, and the third.
Everyone has forgotten.

Since this is a garden, there must be insects here.

A few bugs might not be a problem on ordinary days, but at this moment...
A colossal creature, resembling a hill, has emerged from the trees. At first glance, it looks like a dung beetle magnified thousands of times—but on its pitch-black shell are countless human heads of all shapes and sizes.

The moment they saw Zhou You and his group, the heads burst into laughter and then chanted in unison.

"You have asked me about this meaning. You should listen attentively and contemplate it carefully. I will now explain it." Vajrapani said, "Thus, the World-Honored One desires to hear this. The Buddha said that Bodhicitta is the cause, compassion is the root, and skillful means are the ultimate."

Soon, someone realized what was happening and muttered something.

"The Mahavairocana Sutra? That's some kind of Tantric Buddhist stuff."

He made the same guess as Zhou You before, but he also immediately shut up.

No, fundamentally wrong. It has the form but not the substance, and it doesn't resemble the teachings of Tantric Buddhism.

However, everyone quickly realized what was happening.

—Whatever that thing is, for now we'll listen to the alliance leader.
It's best to run now!
-
After dozens of minutes.

The dense thickets of trees seemed endless.

What was originally the palace has now been completely replaced by lush vegetation, and at first glance it looks like the rainforest of Lingnan—yet the snow on the ground has not disappeared. Summer and winter, extreme cold and warmth, bring a kind of strange beauty.

The dung beetle was so big that it had been left far behind, but even so, no one let their guard down.

Especially when you see a giant butterfly land on a branch, only to be swallowed up by the flowers in the blink of an eye.

Then, a chilling chewing sound was heard.

Upon closer inspection, all that remained of the butterfly were two still trembling antennae.

Even the most cheerful Cang Le shut his mouth tightly.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhou You suddenly spoke in a low voice to a feng shui master in front of him who was holding a compass and leading the way.

"Hey bro, where are we now?"

The feng shui master looked at the wildly beating compass, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"I'm not quite sure. The feng shui indicates it's on the side of the granary, but the inner city seems to have been transformed into a unique little world, making its location difficult to determine."

"Can you find the location of the palace?"

The Feng Shui master shook his head. "Difficult, very difficult. I can only do my best."

However, before he could finish speaking, Zhou You suddenly raised his hand and swung his sword—

The speed was so fast that the Feng Shui master had no time to react and could only watch as the blade headed straight for his neck!

—Damn, even if I didn't get the hang of you, it doesn't mean I have to kill you!

moment.

The feng shui master finally came to his senses and kept rubbing his neck.

There were no wounds, and no pain was felt.

At this moment, Zhou You finally pulled out the Broken Evil.

Hanging above was a worm that resembled tree bark, its mimicry so lifelike it was indistinguishable from the real thing. It was still struggling, its mouth, filled with sharp teeth, opening and closing, and it was less than half a foot away from the Feng Shui master.

If Zhou You hadn't intervened, he would probably have already become food for the insects.

Cold sweat instantly poured down his forehead. The Feng Shui master cupped his hands and quickly expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you for your righteous help, Alliance Leader. Otherwise, I..."

Zhou You shook his head, then unleashed his malevolent energy, burning the worm to ashes, and then spoke.

"You're welcome. What about my master and the others? Can we find them?"

"I can vaguely sense the direction, but I can't pinpoint it precisely."

Zhou You pondered for a few seconds before making his decision.

"Then let's go find my master first. We'll meet up eventually anyway, so a little delay is fine."

However, the speech suddenly stopped.

Suddenly, someone looked up, glanced around, and then frowned and said.

"Did you hear that?"

Everyone shook their heads blankly.

"What did you hear? Alliance Leader, there are only your voices and ours here."

However, Zhou You did not lower his guard; instead, his brows furrowed even more deeply.

He wasn't lying. At that very moment, there was indeed a voice in his ear.

It was neither the Buddhist scriptures that filled the ears, nor the chirping of insects, but rather a kind of language that sounded like a groan.

Moreover, for some reason, he seemed to resonate with something around him.
Wait, resonance?
Zhou You didn't care that people were watching him, and he opened the Diancang Ring and started searching through it.

Soon, a piece of bone that was gleaming faintly was taken out.

It was the one that Feng Qianlin had forced upon him, teleported him back to reality, and then guided him to find the last words.

At this moment, the bone seemed to be about to slip out of my hand, constantly reaching out in a certain direction.

Zhou You was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter.

"Well, it looks like we've been arranged perfectly."

Then he addressed the crowd.

"Keep up. Although I always feel like I've been tricked by that Feng Er Ye guy, this time, we've finally found someone to guide us."

With guidance now in hand, the road ahead will be much easier.

Although the overgrown plants and insects were still a nightmare, and even caused the team to lose a few more members, they finally managed to glimpse the palace walls covered with vines.

"Daqing Gate? It's not the main gate, oh well, it doesn't matter."

After investigating and finding nothing wrong, Zhou You led his team inside.

—To be honest, it's much quieter inside the palace than outside.

It's likely that the Empress Dowager genuinely disliked the inner palace becoming a nest of insects, so there weren't many extra insects inside.

However, there are other creatures in this place.

Right in front of Zhou You, a crow stared at him with its blood-red eyes and tilted its head.

It was unclear who owned it, but the crow's feathers were glossy and shiny, indicating that it was living a very comfortable life. It fluttered up and suddenly started to crow.

What came out was not a bird's call, but a sharp human voice.

"The crescent moon shines over the palace walls, while iron cavalry guards the four directions beyond the pass. The White Lotus Rebellion rages, the Nian Rebellion runs rampant, but the heavenly army arrives and sweeps them all away!"

Just then, the bone in his hand suddenly trembled.

Seeing the crows fly into the palace, Zhou You frowned, then made a decisive statement.

"Follow!"

The crow looked incredibly fat, but it was surprisingly fast. It roamed around using its magic, even leaving behind a few slower crows, barely managing to keep up.

The palace walls stretched out one after another, seemingly endless, while the cawing of crows never ceased.

"The Taiping rebels rose up, the South rebelled, Kashgar was soaked in blood. Take their bones and pile them up for posterity, who dares to invade our vast territory?"

Unlike the common people outside, although these were also songs praising merits, the sound of the voices was as if they were being subjected to some kind of torture, which was extremely shrill.

Before long, the crow finally stopped, landed on a treetop, and sang its last line.

"A little boy with downturned temples smiles broadly, flicks his braid, and sings a triumphant song: Let the tigers and wolves come fiercely, the Great Qing Dynasty will last ten thousand years!"

But when it came to the last word 'year', the crow suddenly seemed to choke, making a few dry cries before vomiting violently.

At first, there were only a few small bones, but soon, a mountain of rotten flesh and internal organs poured out, the amount of which even far exceeded the size of the crow—just as it spat out the last bit, it suddenly looked at Zhou You and suddenly chuckled.

"Let you invade as you please, the Great Qing Dynasty will last forever!!!"

Then, its body suddenly stopped, and then its head tilted to the side, and it fell into the pool of blood.

Zhou You glanced at it, but his attention was quickly drawn to something else.

—That was a mound of Jingguan (a type of ancient Chinese statue).

The Jingguan stands tall amidst the black snow, yet remains completely untouched by it.

At this moment, Cang Lefang followed, panting, but when he saw the pile of white bones, he was stunned and couldn't help but exclaim.

"Damn it, what kind of grudge is this that you'd use the Jiyan Bureau to build a mound of skulls?"

Zhou You tilted his head to the side.

"What do you mean?"

Cang Le scratched his head and said.

"It's not very interesting. This is a rather obscure method. It requires spending tens of thousands of taels of gold to obtain scorching hot materials from all directions, then taking out the enemy's corpse, carefully soaking each bone, drawing various magic arrays to draw out karmic fire, ultimately trapping the soul in the bones, suffering from the blazing flames every day, and never being able to be reborn."

"You know quite a lot."

Unexpectedly, a casual remark caused Cang Le's face to stiffen, but he quickly scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly.

"It's probably because I'm ignorant and incompetent. My master always scolds me like that."

Zhou You didn't notice Cang Le's slightly awkward behavior, but instead reached out and slowly touched the skeleton statue.

—The touch was icy cold, but my palm felt as hot as if I were touching a branding iron; the pain seemed to penetrate my skin and reach my very bones.

But Zhou You still frowned, slowly reaching into it.

The reason is simple: something deep within, even something almost essential, is calling to him from within the Jingguan (a mound of corpses).

Until the very end, a bone suddenly jumped out from the other hand, pulling the body and slamming it violently into the center of the Jingguan!
(End of this chapter)