Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

In Partridge's spirit hall, Ah Mei removed the red cloth strip from the eyes of the evil spirit infant. After being controlled by the evil spirit infant, she carried the doll onto the carriage.

As the carriage left the town and passed a barren hillside, the sky suddenly darkened.

It wasn't the kind of darkness that comes with sunset, but a chilling, dim gloom that sent shivers down your spine; the roadside weeds swayed without any wind.

An indescribable, sweet-smelling fishy smell filled the air.

The driver shivered and was about to turn around to ask Amei if she smelled anything strange when two teams suddenly appeared on the road ahead.

A group of eight people dressed in blood-red clothes carried a bright red sedan chair and played suona horns, like a wedding procession. The smiles on everyone's faces were stiff, as if they were painted on.

Another group, dressed in stark white mourning clothes, consisted of eight people carrying a pitch-black coffin, scattering joss paper, their wails high-pitched and thin, as if squeezed from a crack in the ground.

It's the Red and White Duo!

The two most ferocious evil spirits on this barren slope, who usually don't come out, were enraged today by the pure evil aura of the evil spirit infant.

The evil spirit infant is formed from the resentment of babies who died before birth in many lifetimes. Its resentment is so strong that even the Red and White Demons have to be wary of it.

But even ghosts have pride. How dare the evil spirit release such strong resentment on their territory? Isn't this a slap in their face?

The evil spirit infant floated up from Amei's arms, its eyes blazing with two beams of green light, and head-on confronted the red and white duo.

Three evil spirits fought fiercely on the barren slope, causing the bridal sedan chair and coffin to collide, and red silk and white cloth torn apart and flying everywhere.

In the end, the evil spirit infant had a slight advantage, kicking the red demon's sedan chair pole in half and using its resentment to blow off the white demon's coffin lid.

The red and white duo retreated in a sorry state, not forgetting to leave a ghostly mark on Ah Mei and the coachman before leaving—

They couldn't defeat the evil spirit infant, but they still had to get their revenge.

Once the evil spirit infant is gone, we'll settle accounts with those two mortals.

The driver and Amei were completely unaware of what had just happened.

From their perspective, all they felt was that the sky suddenly darkened for a while, the road was a bit bumpy, and the air didn't smell very good; nothing else.

The carriage continued towards Yun County. Because of the delay caused by the Red and White Duo, by the time they returned to the entrance of the Marshal's Mansion, it was already completely dark, well past 8 p.m.

The Yunxian Marshal's Mansion at night is a completely different place from the one during the day.

During the day, everything here is normal, but as soon as the sun sets, the whole house seems to be muted by an invisible hand.

Those who worked at the Marshal's Mansion all knew two unwritten rules.

First, never leave your room after 8 p.m.; second, never go near the dry well in the backyard.

These two rules were repeatedly emphasized by the butler, Shoubo. The first thing a new employee did upon joining the company was not to familiarize themselves with the work process, but to be pulled in front of Shoubo and repeatedly reminded of these two sentences.

Once you break any taboo, you never know what you'll encounter.

There was once a servant named Ah Kun who forgot to empty the chamber pot and had to go to the outhouse to relieve himself. That's when he encountered something strange.

The outhouse was on the west side of the backyard, only a few dozen steps away from the dry well.

Ah Kun was comfortably relieving himself in the outhouse when he suddenly heard a child's laughter coming from outside.

The clucking sounds were crisp and clear, like three or four children playing hide-and-seek.

Ah Kun felt a chill run down his spine. It was almost nine o'clock. What kind of child was still running around in the Marshal's Mansion?

He mustered his courage and shouted, "Who is it?", and the laughter stopped abruptly.

He pulled up his pants and went outside to look. The yard was empty; there wasn't a soul in sight.

Then he realized he couldn't get out.

The distance from the outhouse to the side room was less than a hundred steps, but it took him almost the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, and he kept going around in circles.

The surroundings were hazy and gray. The June night should have been very hot, but he felt a chill creeping up from the soles of his feet.

Goosebumps rose on my arms, and even my breath turned into white mist.

Just as his legs were trembling with fear, a figure appeared in the gray fog ahead, walking slowly with his hands behind his back.

Ah Kun, like a drowning man grabbing onto a piece of driftwood, scrambled after him, shouting, "Brother, wait for me!"

The figure stopped, slowly turned around, and revealed an incredibly handsome young man with fair skin, smiling eyes, and wearing a traditional Japanese kimono. He nodded kindly to him.

The boy led the way, guiding the bewildered Ah Kun through the gray fog to the door of the side room.

Ah Kun turned around to thank him, but the moment he saw the boy's face, he was almost scared out of his wits.

That's hardly a handsome young man—

Standing over two meters tall, with a ferocious, blood-red face, five horns on its bald head, and a gaping maw spewing out eerie blue sparks.

Ah Kun let out a heart-wrenching scream, smashed open the door and rolled inside, bracing himself against the door with his back. Luckily, the monster didn't chase after him.

His roommates, Ah-Xiao and Ah-Gan, were woken up by him and asked him what had happened.

After hearing Akun's incoherent narration, he was also quite frightened.

The three of them didn't sleep all night, fearing that some ghost or monster might break in and eat them.

Later, Ah Kun had a fever for three days and three nights. After recovering, he quit his job.

Not long after that, two more maids were possessed by evil spirits.

They went out because they remembered that the fish maw hadn't been soaked before going to bed. As a result, they saw squads of Japanese soldiers covered in blood patrolling the corridor leading to the kitchen.

The soldiers were dressed in simple military uniforms, their faces were ashen, and they walked with their heels barely touching the ground. They exuded a sinister aura and were clearly not living people.

The two maids were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground, unable to utter a sound. If Uncle Shou hadn't appeared in time, they probably would have fainted from fright.

Later, they also quit their jobs.

And there's also that friend of Young Master Long Ci, named Cheng.

In broad daylight, while passing by a dry well, I don't know what possessed me, but suddenly my eyes went blank, and I walked toward the well as if I had lost my soul, muttering, "Someone in the well is calling me."

He might have jumped in if someone hadn't shouted loudly and woken him up.

During that period, the entire Marshal's Mansion was in a state of panic. If it weren't for the high wages and the intense competition for employment outside, all the servants in the Marshal's Mansion would have run away long ago.

There's no way around it; people starving to death isn't uncommon these days. Sometimes, poverty is more terrifying than ghosts.

Later, Uncle Shou comforted each person, saying that each person's room had a talisman drawn by a real person, so ghosts and monsters couldn't get in.

Moreover, those ghosts and monsters were raised by Master Qian to guard his home and property, and they did not harm anyone, which barely calmed people's hearts down.

However, from then on, everyone stayed in their rooms obediently after eight o'clock, and no one dared to wander around in the middle of the night anymore.

If there's an urgent matter requiring you to go out, you must first go to Uncle Shou, who will personally lead you there.

Strangely enough, whenever Uncle Shou was with him, all the gray fog, ghostly shadows, and strange noises would disappear.

Lin Yi knew perfectly well the root of all these things.

It was all caused by his Thousand Ghosts Banner.

Mahakala, the White Bone Bodhisattva, the Water Corpse Aqiang, and the Golden Corpse Lao Zhou reside in the Hanging Coffin Cave, providing nourishment for its growth.

Even when they went out, Lin Yi would take them out to hunt and live a simple life, only occasionally venturing out for leisure and wandering.

A little over a month ago, the Thousand Ghost Banner only contained a little over a thousand Japanese soldier spirits, but now the number of soldier spirits in the banner has exceeded ten thousand, and the Thousand Ghost Banner has naturally become the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner.

He even made a special trip to Japan to capture Shuten-dōji, who was known as the King of a Hundred Demons, and refined him into the Mankiban (Banner of Ten Thousand Demons) as its main soul.

Shuten-dōji is the leader of the three great evil spirits of Japan, and is worthy of being called the main spirit.

The Ten Thousand Demon Banner also underwent a transformation with the help of Shuten-dōji's Demon King power, becoming a true treasure of the demon path. Now it can no longer be easily restrained by sacred objects such as holy salt.

The area beneath the dry well had long been corrupted into a ghostly realm by the Yin energy of the Ten Thousand Ghost Banner, and this was only after Lin Yi had it subdued.

If the Ten Thousand Ghosts Banner were to release its aura without reservation, the entire Yun County would be transformed into a ghostly realm on earth. At that point, not only would no one be able to live there, but crops within a radius of a hundred miles would also be unable to grow.

Now, the dry well is sealed with dozens of seals, and all the walls, doors and windows of the Marshal's Mansion are covered with talismans and restrictions drawn by Qian Youcai and Maoshan Jian.

Qian Youcai and his apprentice had long since moved out, and now lived alongside Mao Shanjian in houses on either side of the Marshal's Mansion.

There was no other way; if he didn't move out soon, the ancestral masters and deities he worshipped would start to have a problem with him.

The incense ash in the incense burner began to spontaneously form patterns to ward off evil spirits; the meaning couldn't be clearer.

As for Uncle Shou, he is now a ghost.

More than a month ago, Uncle Shou passed away peacefully and dignifiedly in his sleep.

Since the underworld's ghost messengers dared not come to collect his soul, he remained in the general's mansion.

At first, Uncle Shou thought he was still alive and busied himself like a normal person until he was injured by the sunlight and realized he was dead.

After obtaining Shoubo's consent, Lin Yi allowed him to continue serving as the steward of the Marshal's Mansion.

Uncle Shou also has a large family to support, so this wage is very important to him.

Moreover, his talent as a ghost far exceeded Lin Yi's expectations—under Lin Yi's tireless training, Shou Bo is now a powerful ghost at the level of a ghost king.

If it really came down to a fight, even if Qian Youcai and Maoshan Jian joined forces, they might not be able to suppress him.

Actually, if it weren't for Michelle and Mi Nianying living here, Lin Yi would have replaced all the servants in the Marshal's Mansion with ghost servants—

Ghost servants can be on standby 24 hours a day, without needing to eat or sleep. How wonderful!

……

Then, Ah Mei got off the car holding the evil spirit baby doll.

Soldiers were on guard at the entrance of the Marshal's Mansion, but the gate was not bolted from the inside.

The soldier on duty, A, recognized Amei and greeted her with a smile: "Amei, why are you so late?"

Amei ignored him and went straight in through the door.

Soldier A paused for a moment, then turned to Soldier B and whispered, "What's wrong with her today?"

Soldier B shrugged: "Who knows, maybe his relatives are visiting."

The moment Amei stepped across the threshold, the evil spirit infant in her arms shuddered violently.

A fear that surged from the depths of its soul overwhelmed it—

The atmosphere permeating this house was more terrifying than anything it had ever seen in its life.

It wanted to escape...

The door behind him suddenly slammed shut, the two heavy doors closing automatically with a dull thud.