Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

These strange creatures never escaped the mud covering their bodies until their deaths. Therefore, when they escaped the mud to hunt living people, simply pressing them back into the mud at the bottom of the lake would rapidly weaken their mobility. This is a fairly typical rule for strange creatures, but perhaps because their location is difficult for ordinary people to approach, no one has studied or summarized these rules?

As he pondered, Gao Hai could sense that he was approaching the surface of the lake and was about to surface.

It's certain that the spatial anomalies within the [Water Ghost Lake] are quite severe, but the source of these anomalies isn't a deity, but merely the power of strange entities. Therefore, after detonating the aerial bombs to suppress the offerings, the spatial anomalies in the lake were temporarily relieved, allowing Gao Hai to accelerate his ascent back to the ground.

{I'll be up here in a minute, no more than 10 seconds. Everyone on high alert. If the enemy is going to make a move, it's likely now.}

After issuing a solemn warning in the temporary mental link, Gao Hai activated the power of etherealization, using its flight ability to grab the statue and accelerate upwards.

I could sense that the wedding dress ghost was chasing after me again.

As the first true core obsession Gao Hai encountered in this dungeon, this thing was quite aggressive in its pursuit of living people. Unfortunately, no matter how fast it sped up to catch up, it couldn't outrun Gao Hai, who directly used the explosive shockwave.

boom!

After a loud bang, Gao Hai, carrying the flesh-and-blood rock statue, burst out of the still lake and flew directly into the air.

It's worth mentioning that despite the obvious sound of water splashing, the surface of the eerie lake remained completely unchanged, without a single splash. The same was true for Gao Hai's clothes; although they were completely soaked, not a single drop of water dripped down, as if the water on his body had lost its ability to flow.

However, this is not the key issue that needs to be addressed right now.

{Sea King! Above!}

The voice of Maki echoed in the mental link.

Gao Hai looked up and saw a blood-soaked severed hand falling from the sky, about to press down on the flesh-and-blood rock statue he had brought out.

whoosh-

A flash of bloody light appeared; it was Kaguya who had shot an arrow that struck the palm squarely, sending it flying.

But Gao Hai clearly saw a semi-transparent hand phantom still standing in place, continuing to approach the statue, trying to touch the thing that Gao Hai had finally managed to bring out.

The future is being delivered, let's get started!

The next second, the statue Gao Hai was holding vanished into thin air, its whereabouts unknown.

Unprepared for this situation, the illusory hand stopped moving and quickly dissipated. Then, sensing something, Gao Hai looked down at the water and saw the pale-clad female ghost in a wedding dress emerge from the water and head straight for him.

whoosh-

Kaguya's second arrow pierced the creature's body, carrying it to the side before it fell back into the lake.

Then, the statue reappeared, and Gao Hai quickly carried it to the shore, pricking his finger and lightly wiping it on the statue as a mark just in case.

This statue, a fusion of the mountain god and the fox goddess, isn't an obsession, but as an important item marked by the black watch, it might possess some inherited or preserved characteristics. If possible, Gao Hai still doesn't really want to go into that lake to retrieve it every playthrough. After all, even if he can overcome the discomfort of claustrophobia now, experiencing that kind of thing is still quite unpleasant.

{Oh dear, it seems they're serious this time.}

Tangyuan's voice rang out in the temporary mental link. The woman pulled out a cup of coffee from somewhere, calmly drinking it while grinning.

The Taoist priest, Li Nianyou, was deathly pale. It was unclear what he had divined, but his mental state had deteriorated drastically.

However, considering the things around us, such a reaction is quite normal.

{Gao Jun, these are...}

Holding the Soul-Stealing Bow, Kaguya and Maki quickly stood on either side of Takami and spoke cautiously through the temporary mental link.

{It seems what I retrieved this time has had quite an impact on these people.}

Gao Hai was also somewhat moved. His gaze swept over the different paper figures dressed in red and white around him, and he clearly sensed that these things had a completely different filthy and sinister aura from the paper figures in the previous paper figure village. His brows slowly furrowed.

Unlike the paper figures supposedly created by the old Taoist priest Ge Yuan to soothe children's obsessions, these paper figures, though seemingly of the same kind of eerie nature, possessed an aura far too mixed and filled with a nauseating discomfort. It was as if these things were filled with the malice and darkness of their creator when they were made, completely corrupted and covered by those twisted and vicious desires.

These are paper figures made by the villagers of Lijia Village.

Even though it was his first time encountering this thing, Gao Hai already had this feeling in his heart. After all, this disgusting feeling was all too familiar, and besides, these guys had appeared with the paper figures, hadn't they?

Yes, behind these paper figures, many villagers stood in the roads and fields holding torches, each with a cold expression as they looked at the five players by the lake.

"You outsiders, you'll never know what restraint is, will you?"

Li Duosun, dressed in clothes similar to those of Li Ziyong, stood at the forefront of the villagers, staring at Gao Hai, or more precisely, at the statue Gao Hai had created, his teeth clenched, his words and gaze filled with hatred.

Splash—splash—

Hearing the sound of flowing water, Maki turned around to look at the [Water Ghost Lake] behind her, but did not see anything emerge from the lake.

But when she turned around again, the girl noticed that various blurry or clear shadows seemed to appear behind the paper figures and quickly merge into them. Then the paper figures' appearances and expressions became more vivid, as if the victims buried at the bottom of the lake had become one with them.

Could these villagers possibly control these strange creatures through paper figures as a medium?

As Zhenfei was thinking this, she then saw a terrifying, ferocious woman in a wedding dress, whose aura was completely different from the surrounding monsters, silently appear and land behind a very exquisite red paper figure. Then they merged together and became indistinguishable.

"Oh, you have this trick up your sleeve? Why haven't we seen you use it before?"

Tangyuan muttered to herself, sensing the heavy aura emanating from the rows of eerie creatures; her expression had grown serious. As for the fake Taoist priest, who always seemed to be saying "everyone's doomed," his reaction was surprisingly the least intense.

"Let me guess, you used that old Taoist priest Ge Yuan to find a way to suppress the strange creatures attacking the village, and then managed to steal and modify this technique. After learning it, you killed the Taoist priest without hesitation, is that right?"

Gao Hai did not panic; he even had time to mock and test the waters.

He could sense that the fusion of these paper figures and the strange creatures was extremely strained. Some kind of rule-based power that should have worked seemed to have lost its effectiveness, which meant that the villagers' actions were likely not a pre-planned ambush, but rather a desperate act of mutual destruction. It was quite possible that the paper figures and the strange creatures would separate within two minutes of the fight starting, and the villagers' control would completely fail.

It seems that the statue they took out is truly important. So important that these cowardly villagers have no choice but to take action and use dangerous forces they can't control to try and take it back.

This is really getting more and more intriguing. What kind of magic does this magical statue, which combines the mountain god and the fox goddess, possess that drove the villagers mad after I brought it out? It's impossible that I could just make a wish on this statue and all these villagers would die instantly, right?

"There's no point in talking to you scoundrels. If you dare to threaten the Li family's lifeline, you'd all die here!"

Li Duosun roared in a low voice, speaking fiercely to Gao Hai. With a wave of his hand, the paper figures imbued with strange objects came into action, targeting the players present.

Gao Hai's gaze swept over Li Duosun and the surrounding villagers, but he found that his mental power could not lock onto them. The villagers' real bodies did not seem to be here. What appeared in his sight was just some kind of illusion, or it might be a trap deliberately set.

The fake Jack Tower from before seemed to have used a similar ability, so are the [Treasure Hunters] secretly protecting the safety of these villagers?

As I pondered, the strange paper figures of various shapes and sizes wobbled as they approached.

Gao Hai knew that no matter what his plans were, at least for now, he had to find a way to deal with the things around him.

Chapter 95: The Moment of Confrontation and the Use of New Crimson Moon-Class Obsessive Objects

I heard the dull sound of drums and the creaking of opera singing.

At that moment, all the villagers knelt down, banging their heads heavily on the ground, muttering incantations, and displaying a humble and begging posture.

The surrounding environment is changing.

With the arrival of the power of the mountain god of Xiaoheishan, the original farmland and lakes began to become distorted and blurred, as if they had arrived in another world and had left their original place.

Gao Hai noticed the obvious fear in Li Duosun's expression, and the villagers who were kowtowing and begging also seemed visibly unwell. They appeared terrified of the changes around them, even though these changes were actually of their own making.

Clearly, the statue Gao Hai unearthed was seen by these villagers as a threat to their very survival. Therefore, in order to deal with Gao Hai and his group, they were prepared to go to any lengths, even at the cost of heavy casualties, all in an effort to eliminate Gao Hai and his crew.

Although these guys have done one horrible thing after another, at least one thing is certain: they are relatively united when dealing with outsiders.

{Hey, this isn't the time to watch the show. These guys are clearly preparing something terrifying. Are you sure you're okay with this?}

Tangyuan had already taken out a strange-looking little trinket, ready to fight the enemy. However, as she turned her head, she noticed that Gao Hai was just standing there, continuing to examine the statue that had just been retrieved, so she couldn't help but ask a question in the temporary mental link.

no respond.

Gao Hai simply continued to stare at the statue, seemingly captivated by its presence.

{Haijun is trying to analyze this item. We'll handle the enemy; don't let them disturb Haijun.}

Maki's calm voice rang out in the temporary mental link, while Kaguya had already taken a deep breath, her eyes emitting a red light, and then directly released the Crimson Domain, instantly enveloping all the players present.

hum-

Almost the instant the crimson domain appeared, Kaguya felt an extremely powerful force resisting her, as if it were crushing an egg, directly trying to shatter the crimson domain she had summoned.

Before the tangible paper figures approached the players, an invisible force arrived first.

However, this does not mean that players have no means of resistance.

With a soft chant, Tangyuan gently tossed something out, and Kaguya immediately felt the pressure in the crimson field lessen, as if something had absorbed the invisible curses and pollution.

At that moment, the fake Taoist priest reached out and gently patted the ground. The approaching paper figures swayed precariously, as if drunk and unable to stand. Even the villagers behind them began to stagger, but after Li Duosun shouted, they returned to normal.

Kaguya fired another arrow, but strangely, this time there was nothing in the direction she was attacking; she was attacking an empty space.

But then, the paper doll in the wedding dress, possessed by the core obsession, staggered and was clearly hit by an arrow. The strange power on its body began to be suppressed slightly.

"What...what kind of sorcery is this?"

Li Duosun cursed. He had already distorted the surrounding space considerably using various methods. Therefore, even if the players attacked the paper figures to stop their movements, they couldn't hit their targets, just as they couldn't hit the villagers standing there. But just now, Maki glanced to the side, and Kaguya immediately fired an arrow in that direction. The arrow passed right through the distorted space and hit its target, striking the very core of the paper figure cluster.

This is naturally the effect of Maki's [Blessing of Nothingness]. This blessing from her teacher not only granted Maki and Takami the ability to resonate and amplify each other's blessings, but also gave her the ability to see through reality and illusion. Therefore, even in a distorted space, she can find the correct path and will not be misled. In this situation, as long as she acts as an observer and points out the correct direction, Kaguya, with her superb archery skills, will definitely be able to hit the target from that direction.

The paper figure, draped in a blood-red wedding gown, swayed precariously, seemingly showing signs of losing control.

Li Duosun was not surprised by this. From the moment this thing crawled out of the lake, it had never been truly controlled. Even when they begged the mountain god for help, the mountain god could only suppress it for a period of time at most, and never destroyed it according to their requests.

Even after they managed to trick a fool from outside into giving them some ideas, and after some research, they finally found a way to properly deal with the thing and stop it from harming the good people in the village. But no matter how hard they tried, it was difficult to control the thing any further. On the contrary, several attempts to control it failed, and the thing attacked and harmed many more people.

Therefore, Li Duosun hated these strange creatures the most, because he had once suggested controlling them and using them to rob passing caravans. As a result of his suggestion, people in the village died, and everyone resented him for a long time, ultimately preventing him from becoming the clan chief.

Li Duosun didn't know why he was suddenly recalling things from the past, but he knew that if he couldn't seize the item here, they would all be doomed. So he gritted his teeth and took a small bell out of his pocket.

"Brother Li, it doesn't seem to be working?"

A villager who discovered the problem with the paper figure whispered in alarm.

"What are you afraid of? I'm here, and right now, what other choice do we have but to fight for our lives?"

As he spoke, Li Duosun rang the bell, and a clear, crisp sound rang out.

Almost immediately, Kaguya felt intense pressure again.

Something has touched the crimson realm.

It seemed to be some formless entity again, but unlike the previous ones, this one was more twisted, more insane, and more malevolent. Unlike the directly effective supernatural rules or cursed powers, this approaching aura seemed more like a locking mechanism, providing coordinates to something that didn't exist here, allowing it to see the players present.

Is this thing meant to lure the Black Immortal here? Or is it just a mob of soldiers, or something else entirely?

The girl frowned, unable to find a way to deal with this.

Not far away, Tangyuan was still focused on dealing with the invisible forces summoned by the villagers who were constantly trying to infiltrate the crimson domain. Among those forces was even the invisible deathly aura from the abandoned village that Gao Hai and Yili hadn't dared to touch during their first playthrough. The Taoist priest, however, managed to free up his hands to try and redirect the target of this newly emerged force, but several objects of his obsession were ineffective; Kaguya could still feel the force gradually encroaching upon her.

{Red Moon level... This might be a lock-on technique at the level of a Red Moon core artifact. Ordinary attacks won't work; you'd need at least a Red Moon level artifact to counter it.}

After several failed attempts, the Taoist priest figured out the level of this thing.