My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 423 Yin Spirit
Bottom of the River of Oblivion.

The human-shaped, snake-tailed shadows piled together, flowing with the current, vast and boundless.

One of the dark figures seemed to wake up from a nightmare. With a shudder, its limbs trembled, and it suddenly leaped into the air.

Chen Mu felt his brain was a complete mess, and his thoughts seemed to be out of control.

He instinctively tried to shake his head to clear his mind, but found it was futile; his head remained motionless.

In his dazed state, Chen Mu noticed an endless torrent of dark shadows, and his heart was filled with terror.

He tried to move his arms and body, but found that the connection between his body and mind was intermittent.

He tried to raise his arm more than ten times, but only managed to move his black, smoky hand slightly once.

My mind was filled with anxiety, but to no avail. After trying for a long time, I had to calm down and try again.

And so it went, its arms and limbs moving intermittently, pausing for a while, then moving again, pausing again, like a machine running out of power, constantly starting and shutting down. Its body rose and fell with it along the riverbed.

In the silent depths of the river, Chen Mu was oblivious to the passage of time.

After an unknown amount of time, his hand and foot movements became slightly more coordinated, and his body finally began to slowly rise.

puff!
At one point, Chen Mu's face emerged from the river.

As if suddenly waking from a nightmare, my sluggish and hazy thoughts abruptly cleared.

His body, composed entirely of black smoke, contracted and condensed, and the outline of his facial features appeared and quickly became clear.

The jet-black color on his body first faded, and then, as if someone had applied paint, it gradually turned into normal skin with a white and rosy tint.

Before long, he transformed from a humanoid cloud of black smoke into a normal human body.

At this moment, Chen Mu was completely powerless, but he had no choice but to struggle and swim towards the riverbank not far away.

By the time he touched the gray pebbles on the shore, he was completely exhausted and on the verge of unconsciousness.

"Hey! I found another one! I'm rich!"

A voice suddenly rang in my ears, and I saw a pair of black cloth boots appear before me.

He tried to look up and see who it was, but his eyelids drooped and his consciousness suddenly went dark.

……

Three days later, at night.

The sky was covered with thick clouds.

A dim light peeked through the clouds, casting a gray hue over the entire earth.

On a flat, open field, several bonfires burned, dispelling the darkness.

At this moment, Chen Mu, who had climbed out of the riverbed, sat down next to a bonfire.

At this time, he was wearing a rough gray cloth shirt, looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, and had a shaved head.

Apart from a slightly eerie silver vertical line between his eyebrows, his face and figure were exactly the same as when Chen Mu was fifteen or sixteen years old in this life's memories.

"Young man, accept reality sooner rather than later," a gaunt old man with white hair and beard said gently beside me.

"Since you have come to the underworld, it means that your previous body was indeed dead."

"But if you can climb out of the River of Oblivion, then you have been reborn."

"Your past life is just a passing cloud; don't dwell on it and ruin your present life," the old man advised with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Chen Mu looked down at his fair and delicate hands, a strange expression on his face.

Can you become young again after death?
Is death another great adventure?
Pah, pah, pah, what a load of crap!
He could clearly feel that there was a dark space in his mind, where a broken but still alive body was lying.

Chen Mu narrowed his eyes.

The true form of the celestial demon!

However, I didn't die, but these people in front of me...

Chen Mu looked towards the campfire.

There were seven or eight people, some old and some young, and at first glance, they looked no different from living people.

But apparently...

"Elder Shi, what are we now?" Chen Mu asked the gaunt old man beside him.

The man's name was Shi Dechun. According to him, he was a sculptor who specialized in carving various wooden statues. He was said to be carving his last statue before he died. Exhausted after finishing it, he took a nap and ended up here.

"According to what they say here, we've become spirits," the gaunt old man, Shi Dechun, said with a chuckle.

"Actually, being a spirit isn't so bad. You don't need to eat; you can survive just by drinking dew. At least you don't have to worry about making a living."

Chen Mu glanced sideways; this old man seemed to have a good outlook.

But do people become ghosts after they die? Nonsense!
He has been in this world for over ten years and has never heard of this claim.

The evil spirits and ghosts encountered initially were actually malevolent spirits causing trouble. These things could absorb the essence of the three treasures of the living, transform into human form, and frighten and kill people, hence the legend of malevolent spirits taking lives.

But... what's with these people in front of me?

Are they the so-called evil spirits?

If they discover that I am actually a demon in disguise...

"Is it possible that I didn't actually die, but just turned into something else?" Chen Mu cautiously probed.

The seven or eight people sitting around the campfire laughed; they looked just like that when they first arrived.

Immediately, someone chuckled and joked, "Yes, yes, you're not dead, I'm not dead, nobody's dead. Haha..."

"Laugh! Laugh! What the hell are you laughing at!"

"Have you even learned the Dew Gathering Spell? And you're all laughing like this!"

"Let me tell you, each of you owes me twenty jade dewdrops."

"If you don't hurry, don't even think about me taking you to Jigu City!"

A tall, burly middle-aged man with a large nose and bull horns on his head suddenly walked up to the group.

The whip in his hand cracked loudly in the air, and his face was fierce and menacing, as if he wanted to devour someone.

Upon hearing this, the people around the campfire fell silent and dared not speak.

One by one, they quickly closed their eyes and began chanting incantations.

The old man Shi sitting next to Chen Mu had already sat up straight and was solemnly chanting incantations.

Chen Mu couldn't help but twitch his lips.

Just a moment ago you were a gentle and magnanimous old gentleman who seemed indifferent to life and death, but as soon as the bull-horned man came, you backed down.
Isn't your reaction speed a bit too fast!

Chen Mu looked up at the bull horn of the newcomer and narrowed his eyes.

He thought of the bearded man in Qiandeng City.

I really want to break those bull horns off him!
"New guy, what are you looking at!" The horned man glared at Chen Mu and shouted angrily.

The group of people by the campfire froze instantly, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire, and tried to shrink back like quails.

Chen Mu also noticed that the old man sitting cross-legged next to him was actually using the fingers of both hands to slightly prop himself up, and then quietly moving away from him.

Chen Mu: “…”

That old fox!
Meeting the bull-horned man's angry gaze, Chen Mu said solemnly, "Your bull horns are really beautiful!"

"Is...is that so?" The horned man scratched his head, then grinned foolishly, "I think it looks great too."

After saying that, he turned and went to another campfire, cracking his whip again and reverting to his fierce and menacing appearance, as if his previous kind attitude was an illusion.

The group of people around the campfire looked at each other in bewilderment.

"How did you do that?" Old Man Shi asked in astonishment.

How?
"Maybe it's because I speak very sincerely," Chen Mu said earnestly.

The people around the campfire: "..."

You're kidding me!

Chen Mu smiled.

That's just fooling ghosts.

The reason he was able to fool that horned man was, of course, by using the true form of the Heavenly Demon.

In the past few days, he had already discovered that the true form of the Heavenly Demon seemed to be able to manipulate other people's emotions and briefly bewitch their minds.

(End of this chapter)