I changed the world.

Taking a deep breath, Yan Jishen had made his decision.

"In that case, we should not delay and should contact the Religious Affairs Bureau as soon as possible..." Before he could finish speaking, a low rumble of thunder suddenly came from the sky.

According to traditional solar terms, this time of year is just after the Rain Water solar term and before the Awakening of Insects solar term. The tail end of winter is not yet over. Normally, even if it rains at this time of year, there will be no thunder.

Ordinary people might not realize the abnormality here, but as elites of the Fourth Division, Yan Jishen and Yuan Shen had both received special induction training. They stopped talking at the same time and looked up at the sky.

At this moment, the sky above them was dark, with no stars or moon in sight, only a faint light flickering behind the thick clouds, accompanied by rolling thunder.

The next moment, it was like a silver bottle suddenly shattering!

A thick bolt of lightning burst forth from the dark clouds!

For a moment, both Yan Jishen and Yuan Shen saw only a white blur. Yan Jishen subconsciously squinted, while Yuan Shen covered his face with his hand.

Then they saw the bolt of lightning shoot straight down from the clouds, falling directly overhead and landing in the gray fog area not far from them...

"This is..." The two of them stared wide-eyed at the same time.

..............................

A deafening roar resounded, and the entire surrounding space seemed to tremble and shake...

The sound continued to spread, even creating the illusion that it wasn't just one person yelling, but rather a roar coming from all directions, even the entire surrounding space...

The sound spread in all directions like a shockwave, so much so that some soldiers who were firing immediately covered their ears and rolled to the ground as if hit by a bomb blast, and some even had blood seeping from their ear canals...

The roar was repeated twice more, filled with intense resentment, despair, and fear, subconsciously evoking images of a fallen elephant, a dying whale plunging into an abyss, and similar scenes...

Eventually, things calmed down...

At the same time, the monsters that had been roaring and charging at the soldiers suddenly collapsed to the ground as if their strength had been drained, rolling around before turning into ashes with a loud bang.

Monsters of all sizes fell from the sky, flapping their wings in vain, howling and trying to grab anything they could, but in the end it was all in vain, turning to ashes the moment they hit the ground.

Faced with this shocking scene, some soldiers who had struggled to their feet stopped firing and stared blankly at the changes around them, not knowing what had happened.

The gray fog was dissipating and fading at a visible speed. As the vision gradually cleared, the scene in the distance began to appear in the soldiers' field of vision. About a hundred meters to their side, a huge and strange humanoid figure, about the size of a several-story building, emerged from the chaotic vision.

The sheer size and conspicuousness of the figure immediately reminded the soldiers of the massive "Moonlight Pagoda" they had just witnessed. It had silently moved, no longer in its original location, but instead, using the smoke as cover, silently shifted to the side, dozens of meters away. Furthermore, it appeared considerably shorter than the giant.

The enormous figure stood there motionless, without making any movement...

As the fog dissipated further, the soldiers finally saw clearly what was happening before them—what a monster it was!

From a distance, it resembled a giant fused with the ground, its lower body completely integrated. The hazy figure the soldiers had previously seen was merely its upper body. From a distance, it also looked like a person standing in a swimming pool, with their lower body submerged in the water. However, this was only from a distance. As the fog rapidly thinned and the last three detection orbs were released once more, the soldiers finally saw the giant's true appearance clearly…

Chapter 326 Smoke Dissipates

What a terrifying monster this is!

From the topmost head to the bottom part that has merged with the earth, this entire giant is actually composed of twisted, intertwined, and pieced together corpses. Most of these corpses were already decayed, many even reduced to bones. However, under the influence of some unknown force, they intertwined like worms in water, tightly binding themselves into a single entity, forming this giant…

At the very bottom of the giant, where it merges with the earth, are also corpses. Some have just emerged from the soil, some are half-exposed, and many more have already crawled out, maintaining their upward climbing posture. These corpses have become part of the giant's body...

What is particularly horrifying is that many of these corpses are still writhing and struggling, their mouths agape as they wail silently.

Some soldiers then realized that this was the true form of the "Moonlight Pagoda"!

What truly drew the attention of everyone who saw this terrifying "giant" was a long sword piercing through its chest and abdomen. This sword, several meters long and gleaming with lightning, resembled solidified white plasma, obscuring its true form. Yet, when one gazed upon it, one seemed to hear faint thunder, inspiring instinctive awe.

This is a kind of awe for the powerful forces of nature that originates from the depths of our genes.

The longsword pierced through the monster's chest and exited through its back, completely penetrating it. Clearly, those enormous roars from before must have come from there.

At this point, the giant was clearly extremely weak. Even the soldiers, who knew very little about the mystical, could tell that the giant had been severely injured and had even lost the ability to struggle.

As the gray fog quickly dissipated, some soldiers shifted their gaze from the giant to a man standing a dozen meters in front of it, with his hands behind his back.

The man was dressed in a gray robe, wore leather boots, and had an iron crown on his head. The soldiers recognized him as the mysterious man who had warned them before.

However, although he was tall compared to ordinary people, his size was vastly different from the giant in front of him. At first glance, he looked like a giant tree compared to an ant. In addition, the fog had not yet dissipated, so almost everyone ignored his presence at first.

However, even from a considerable distance, people could clearly see wisps of lightning swirling and coiling around him, a truly spectacular sight…

His hands were slowly coming together, forming a strange hand seal.

The next moment, a thick pillar of lightning, formed by several intertwined bolts, pierced through the chaotic gray mist above and struck down. The lightning arrow that had pierced the giant's chest and abdomen acted as a lightning rod, becoming the point where the pillar of lightning struck.

For a moment, all that could be seen was a white blur. The giant, composed of corpses, was the first to be affected. Several parts of its body erupted with dazzling sparks of electricity. This time, without even a roar, the giant collapsed straight down, like a collapsing building, its corpses beginning to crumble and disintegrate...

As the corpses landed, they disintegrated into ashes, filling the air with dust that shot straight into the sky.

As the monster began to collapse, the mysterious man stepped forward, treading through the swirling ashes, until he reached the giant's remains. He reached out and grabbed the longsword that had fallen with the giant's remains and was now stuck in the ground. He held the longsword, which looked like it was formed from plasma, in his hand and then pulled it out of the ground.

The longsword that pierced through the giant's body looked disproportionately large in his hand, as if he were holding a spear.

The longsword, its surface crackling with lightning, was as gentle as water in his hand, completely unprotected, held by his bare hands.

Immediately afterwards, the longsword began to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye. At the same time, the lightning around it began to gradually fade. In just a few breaths, the longsword had shrunk to the length of an adult's arm, the lightning had completely disappeared, and the next moment, it vanished from the mysterious man's hand.

Just as the mysterious man picked up the longsword, like dominoes falling, everything around him, near and far, began to change in a chain reaction.

Some dilapidated and bizarre statues, buildings, even some strange trees, roadside decorations, and even the road itself—everything, and even this space—began to rapidly weather, crumble, and turn to ashes, scattering into the surrounding void…

In an instant, it seemed as if the entire world began to collapse, disintegrate, and turn into shattered ashes...

The soldiers instinctively covered their faces with their hands, like travelers caught in a sandstorm in the desert...

Fortunately, this situation did not last long. After about a few dozen breaths, all the surrounding ashes began to gather in the sky into a huge vortex. The vortex spun, grew smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared...

By this time, there was no more ashes left around, since the ashes that the monster turned into when it died were not a tangible physical ashes.

At this moment, looking around again, everything had changed. The gray fog had dissipated, and the eerie world that seemed like another world had vanished. Everything had returned to normal.

The soldiers cautiously observed their surroundings. They noticed a seemingly abandoned building not far from them, topped with a huge and ferocious monster head. The shape of this monster head looked strangely familiar, and some of the sharp-eyed soldiers recognized it as the second form of the "Moonlight Pagoda" they had just seen, the one with a blue face and fangs.

In addition, huge posters with terrifying ghost images are displayed high on metal poles around the building.

These images depict various terrifying, bloody, or bizarre figures, many of which are reminiscent of well-known horror films. However, to some soldiers, they seemed more familiar, as they had recently engaged in fierce battles with some of the monsters depicted in these images.

This building was none other than the haunted house in the Zhongtai Amusement Park. The soldiers were currently located in a small square about several dozen meters away from the haunted house.

Chapter 327 Sir, Please Wait

As the commander of this small unit, Zheng Xuzhou focused his attention on the mysterious person who was standing directly in front of the haunted house, with his hands behind his back, his back to everyone, and looking up at the main building.

This was the mysterious man who had ended the terrifying giant. Following his gaze, one could see a huge, gaping hole in the middle of the main building of the haunted house, on the right side of the center of the building, next to the monster's head. The hole pierced through the side of the building, and some of the steel bars inside the building were sticking out. At first glance, it looked like a building in a war-torn region that had been bombarded by powerful weapons.

The mysterious man stared silently at the breach in front of him for a while, then turned around as if to leave.

"Sir, please wait!" Upon seeing this, Zheng Xuzhou instructed his subordinates to quickly aid the wounded while waving his hand and shouting loudly.

This mysterious man was none other than Zhang Jing, who was preparing to leave at this moment.

At this moment, his internal energy was weak and unstable, a feeling of emptiness that came from being greatly depleted.

Not long ago, while the Earthbound Spirit's true form was distracted by the soldiers' powerful firepower, he used the True Fire Refining Eye Technique to lock onto the Earthbound Spirit's location, briefly unsealed the second form of the Azure Thunder Sword, and used the secret technique he learned from the Divine Firmament Thunder Control True Sword to unleash the strongest attack he could at this stage.

Of course, in his own mind, if the first attack failed, then he would have no choice but to use the "Heavenly Punishment Sword". However, using the Heavenly Punishment Sword was too costly and had certain uncontrollable factors, so Zhang Jing was not really willing to use it.

He wanted to try to solve the problem on his own.

It must be said that the power of modern heavy firepower is quite considerable, especially after Zhang Jing exposed its "plot" of using ghouls to lure these soldiers, and the battle directly entered a typical positional attack and defense mode.

The overwhelming firepower drew most of the Earthbound Spirit's attention. However, the Earthbound Spirit's true form could actually move freely throughout the plaza using a skill similar to earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic that allows one to escape through the ground). The seemingly clumsy giant was far more agile than it appeared in the thick fog. Furthermore, it could continuously create various monstrous puppets to repeatedly attack the soldiers' positions. It could be said that without Zhang Jing's presence, even if the soldiers had seen through the Earthbound Spirit's tricks, they would ultimately have been worn down and killed.

In fact, they were almost on the verge of collapse at that point.

Of course, without these soldiers drawing the enemy's attention, Zhang Jing would undoubtedly have had to use the "Heavenly Punishment Sword" to resolve the problem here.

Hearing Zheng Xuzhou's distant plea for him to stay, Zhang Jing stopped. After a quick mental assessment, he decided it was appropriate to leave these officials with some information. So, he stood still, turned to look at Zheng Xuzhou running towards him, and asked calmly:

"Now that this matter is settled, is there anything else you wish to discuss, sir?"

"I am deeply grateful to you for saving my life, sir. I must thank you in person!" Zheng Xuzhou ran up to Zhang Jing and bowed deeply as he spoke.

He was well aware that the Fourth Division paid close attention to such extraordinary individuals and had prepared several contingency plans to deal with any potential contact. Zheng Xuzhou had also received training in this area and understood the superiors' eagerness for such "breakthroughs." Furthermore, this mysterious person had indeed saved his group, and logically, his actions suggested considerable goodwill. Therefore, both officially and personally, he hoped to detain the person for some communication, at least to express his gratitude. If he could uncover more information, that would be even better, a truly significant achievement.

"You're too kind, sir. It was nothing at all," Zhang Jing replied with a cupped-hand salute.

"To be honest, sir, many people have gone missing in this godforsaken place. If it weren't for you, we would have been trapped here too... You are a man of noble character and should not take credit for yourself, but we cannot be ungrateful." As he spoke, Zheng Xuzhou rummaged through his pockets for a moment, then pulled out a business card and handed it over: "My name is Zheng Xuzhou, courtesy name Hanxian. I am currently the squad leader of the Special Operations Team of the Fourth Division of the Special Crime Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. This is my business card. Please accept it, sir. I will not refuse any requests you may make in the future."

Zheng Xuzhou did not ask Zhang Jing's name. After all, he was not ignorant of the ways of the world. The expert in front of him was obviously concealing his face, which clearly meant that he did not want to reveal his identity. Asking too many questions would only annoy people, so it was better not to ask.

"Captain Zheng, you're too kind." After a moment's thought, Zhang Jing accepted the business card without hesitation.

“I know you must be very capable, sir. I’m not afraid to admit it, but even though we are armed to the teeth, we are still caught off guard by such strange things. We have lost many brothers in recent days, all fine men… what a pity…” Zheng Xuzhou sighed, then bowed respectfully and asked, “This is truly unbelievable. Perhaps we are too ignorant to have seen such a ghost before. Sir, you must know the cause. May I ask you for some advice? If you can help us prevent it, it will be a great deed in the future…”

Zhang Jing stroked his virtual beard, feigning deep thought, and after whetting the other party's appetite, he said, "Alright, I'll explain a few things to you."

"I don't know, Captain Wang, do you know anything about Earthbound Spirits?"

"A bound spirit?" Zheng Xuzhou was taken aback, and then many novels and comics he had read in his student days flashed through his mind... The entertainment industry in this world is quite developed.

"It seems to be some kind of evil spirit? Is it someone who is bound to a certain place after death and cannot escape?" Zheng Xuzhou asked tentatively.

“If that’s your understanding, then you’re not wrong. However, a more accurate way to put it is that you control the spirit of a piece of land…” Zhang Jing nodded and then pointed to the haunted house next to him: “Just like this.”

"You mean, the accident here was caused by a bound spirit?" Zheng Xuzhou's eyes widened as he looked at the haunted house next to him, following Zhang Jing's gaze.

“This place was originally a cemetery, and given its unique geography, it’s a gloomy and unclean place, prone to attracting evil spirits.” Zhang Jing sighed softly, “If that were the case, it wouldn’t be a big problem. But now this building is very inappropriate.”

"You mean this haunted house?" Zheng Xuzhou asked thoughtfully.