Unorthodox methods, cultivating immortality relies on rich women

Chapter 176 Soul-Hooking Rope

The runes all over Shen Qingzhou's body instantly froze, and the "ant swarm" that was seeping into the yellow earth road and carrying unknown runes were frozen in place as if a pause button had been pressed.

He slowly raised his head, and the "8" pattern in his eyes suddenly accelerated, trying to penetrate this invisible gaze and find its source.

Everywhere you look, there are still densely packed, hazy figures, still a desolate and lifeless wilderness, and still a cold, round moon hanging high in the sky.

But that oppressive aura from a higher position was getting closer and closer, not in terms of spatial proximity, but rather it was seeping out from the underlying logic of the world, like the administrator privileges in the world of code, which could directly lock down the abnormal program without moving it.

Shen Qingzhou finally understood that this was not a concrete "existence", but the "manager" of the underworld.

The legendary Ox-Head and Horse-Face are not the green-faced, fanged creatures that people imagine.

They do not exist in physical form; they are themselves special rune codes that embody laws and authority, and are the embodiment of the rules that maintain order on this road to the underworld.

Just as his thoughts were racing, ripples suddenly appeared in the void ahead.

It wasn't a ripple like water, but a distortion at the level of runes. Countless tiny runes, shimmering with a dark gold hue, appeared out of thin air, as if drawn by an invisible force, and quickly intertwined and entangled.

They did not follow any known rune logic, yet they instantly coalesced into a thick chain.

The chain was made entirely of black gold runes, with each link engraved with intricate restrictive runes. The chain gleamed with a cold luster and, with a sharp whistling sound that seemed to tear through space, it hurtled straight toward Shen Qingzhou.

The dazed figures around them seemed to sense a deadly threat, their bodies beginning to blur, yet they still couldn't stop moving forward.

Shen Qingzhou's body was easily bound by chains, but he did not panic or try to escape.

The instant the chains touched his body, all the runes around him exploded, transforming into a dense, tidal wave of ants that rapidly climbed up the chains, frantically "devouring" the dark gold runes that made up the chains.

The speed was as fast as wildfire or a deadly virus spreading out of control; in the blink of an eye, it had already eroded most of the chain.

But the higher-level consciousness that had been locking onto him showed no emotional fluctuation whatsoever.

There was no surprise, no anger, and no panic whatsoever. It seemed devoid of emotion, merely a cold, rigid set of rules and code that only knew how to execute order.

Seeing the chains being eroded one after another, it still strictly followed the underlying logic. The runes condensed again, and new chains continuously emerged from the void, rushing towards Shen Qingzhou, only to be devoured by the swarming rune ants time and time again.

After several repetitions, it seemed that the rule's judgment threshold was triggered, and a brand new command was instantly activated, causing the void to suddenly distort.

There was no sharp whistling sound, no earth-shattering roar, only a large sword formed from runes, which materialized out of the void without warning and slashed down at Shen Qingzhou.

Faced with this broadsword, all of Shen Qingzhou's previous reliance and methods were like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, insignificant and not worth mentioning.

The blade flashed, silently.

Shen Qingzhou's body, along with all the runes around him, vanished into thin air the instant the blade touched him.

Even those around them, who were living in a daze and heading down the road to the underworld, were affected by this attack. They instantly turned into nothingness and were completely erased from this world, losing all chance of reincarnation.

But the Great Way is ruthless; the rules that govern order simply don't care whether these people are innocent or not.

The flash of the sword dissipated, and the void returned to calm.

It was as if nothing had happened; the gaps in the crowd were filled.

The road to the underworld remains eternally silent. The cold light of the high-hanging full moon pours down, and the countless souls move forward along the dirt road in a daze, like puppets on strings, their steps perfectly synchronized without the slightest pause.

They, too, are like pre-programmed code.

At the very moment that the Netherworld was annihilated by a single strike, Shen Qingzhou, who was sitting cross-legged on a futon in reality, suddenly opened his eyes.

His face contorted instantly, and his body convulsed violently and uncontrollably, as if he had truly taken that knife wound.

Excruciating pain swept through his body, and he could no longer maintain the cross-legged position. He fell heavily to the ground, curled up in a ball, his muscles twitching uncontrollably, and sweat pouring down his face.

Its mouth was wide open like a fish dying out of water, and it could only squeeze out intermittent hoarse sounds from its throat.

Even so, he still held the ghost mirror tightly in his hand.

The mirror silently cracked with countless tiny fissures, rendering it completely unusable.

In the mirror, another Shen Qingzhou was clearly reflected. His body, like the mirror surface, was full of cracks, as if he were a shattered ceramic doll being pieced back together.

But he now had something else in his hand: a dark gold chain.

As Shen Qingzhou lay on the ground convulsing, the groans she made in pain gradually turned into soft giggles.

He was laughing, laughing hysterically.

The pain in his body receded like the tide, and he lay on his back on the ground, laughing uncontrollably.

The dense runes re-emerged from the ghost mirror and began to rapidly crawl back onto his body along his wrist.

As all the runes returned, the Ghost Mirror's surface shattered completely, turning into tiny pieces of glass that scattered all over the ground.

But Shen Qingzhou suddenly had something in his hand: a dark gold chain.

With the last of his strength, Shen Qingzhou lifted the chains in front of his eyes.

Its existence is quite strange; it is right in front of you, yet it seems to be completely non-existent.

It feels weightless in your hand, as if it were just a phantom, its edges constantly melting and reforming, as if it would completely dissipate into the air in the next second.

"From now on, you shall be called Heavenly Decree, Void and Formless, Manifestation of Yin and Yang, Submission of All Souls, Soul-Chasing and Life-Taking, Flawless and Leak-Free, Supreme Soul-Hooking Rope —"

Shen Qingzhou grasped one end of the chain, and the chain immediately transformed into countless tiny runes that slowly climbed up his palm, eventually wrapping around his arm as if giving him a large floral tattoo, eerie yet with a touch of sacred beauty.

But soon, all these runes disappeared beneath Shen Qingzhou's skin, returning him to his original color.

At that moment, he really wanted to smoke a cigarette, but lifting the chain had already exhausted all his strength.

He no longer had the strength to move a finger, so he lay on the ground and drifted off to sleep.

In a daze, he suddenly felt his body plummet downwards, as if an invisible force was pulling him.

Shen Qingzhou instantly snapped out of it and understood what was going on.

Damn it, what a terrible choice of this time.

Although he was proficient in dual cultivation techniques, it was impossible for him to search for enemies in the void and refine essence across thousands of miles.