Knife splashing

Chapter 734 The Allure of Jiaozi

The thick fog enveloped everything, gradually thinning to reveal a bizarre scene.

Lü San and Wu Ba turned their heads to look around, and saw that under their feet was an ancient street made of a mixture of bluestone slabs and rammed earth, stretching in all directions with no end in sight.

The fog was thick and the houses on both sides were dilapidated, making it seem as if one had entered a ghostly realm.

Upon seeing this, the two men felt a chill run down their spines.

Wu Ba clenched his fists, cautiously observing his surroundings, while Lü San made a hand seal and listened intently.

Even after entering these Nine Gates of Yin Ruins, one can still use supernatural powers and spells.

Some special magical artifacts, such as Li Yan's Dust-Severing Blade, can also be used.

However, weapons like Wu Ba's Tiger Crouching Cannon cannot appear in this space.

Just then, Lü San's ears twitched slightly, and he made a shushing gesture.

Wu Ba quickly lowered his body and looked into the distance.

Susu~
A figure slowly emerged from the mist.

It was a huge rat, sneaking around, sometimes walking upright, sometimes sniffing around on the ground, just like a little thief.

This guy is still alive...

Upon seeing this, Lü San smiled slightly.

This guy is a rat spirit hiding in the Nine Gates Yin Ruins, who steals the incense offerings from the local earth god.

Li Yan followed the other party and infiltrated this place.

The entrance to the local earth god temple had been discovered and destroyed by the Imperial Clan Court, but unexpectedly, this guy escaped and is still alive today.

Swish!
Suddenly, the rat spirit transformed into smoke and burrowed underground.

Lu San's ears twitched slightly, and he pulled Wu Ba to hide in the dilapidated house.

Before long, several yellow-robed sorcerers appeared from a distance.

They all held ancient jade sacrificial vessels in their hands, with yellow talismans tied to their feet. The wind howled and the mist dragon surged, clearly indicating that they were using some kind of supernatural speed technique.

In the blink of an eye, these Taoist priests from the Imperial Clan Court had vanished.

"What to do?"

Wu Ba loosened his clenched fist and asked in a muffled voice.

After the incident at the Nine Gates Yin Ruins, the Imperial Clan Court strengthened its security. Fatty Lin and his group only managed to sneak in by taking advantage of the academy's opening ceremony.

Now, it will be even more difficult for them to get in.

Lu San looked thoughtfully at the rat spirit that had reappeared furtively, chuckled, and winked at it, "Follow it."

The two held their breath and stealthily made their way along the bluestone street.

Just as Lü San had thought, this rat demon must have a special sense of danger to have survived for so long in the Nine Gates Yin Ruins.

It would quickly disappear whenever a patrol team from the Imperial Clan Court approached.

The two of them thus successfully passed through the Imperial Clan Court's defenses.

In the mist, the outline of a majestic city gate slowly emerged.

The words "Chongwen Gate" are written on it.

The towering city gates floated in the air, moving slowly.

When moved to a special location, the city gate will open with a loud rumble.

Without the slightest hesitation, the rat spirit leading the way darted into the city gate and disappeared into the air.

"Follow!"

Lü San gave a low shout and leaped up with Wu Ba.

Time was of the essence; the longer Lin Pangzi and his two companions remained trapped inside, the more dangerous it would be.

Knowing full well the dangers of this place, they couldn't care less.

After a brief moment of obstruction, the scene before my eyes suddenly spun around!

The thick fog was torn apart, and a piercing din rushed out.

"what happened?"

Upon seeing the scene before him, Lü San was immediately stunned.

He remembered Li Yan saying that behind Chongwen Gate lay eerie streets and a ghost market.

However, things have changed now.

Before them lay a brightly lit academy corridor.

With its carved beams and painted rafters, the sound of students reciting their lessons filled the air. Scholars, dressed in the long gowns of the previous dynasty, sat upright and recited the sayings of Confucius and the Book of Poetry. The air was thick with the fragrance of sandalwood, and portraits of sages hung high on the walls, creating a scene of flourishing culture and learning.

“This is…” Wu Ba was stunned, his huge body momentarily unsure of where to place itself.

Lu San, however, keenly detected a faint, almost imperceptible stench of blood in the air.

However, the tranquil atmosphere of books before us lasted for less than a moment before it was torn apart, as if a painting had been ripped apart.

The sound of reading aloud turned into a piercing scream!

The bright lights were instantly stained with blood.

The gentle Confucian scholars' faces twisted into grotesque grotesque expressions, their eyes turning bloodshot as they brandished spears and scimitars, hacking and slashing at each other like madmen.

Their robes were soaked in blood, and portraits of saints were torn and trampled. The sounds of clashing swords, shattering flesh, and dying screams intertwined to create a cruel symphony of hell.

"Kill! Kill all the pedantic scholars!"

"Protect our cultural heritage! Slay the traitors!"

The frenzied roars assaulted their eardrums.

This was not a simple battle, but utter madness.

A suffocating killing intent and a bloody, violent aura, like a tangible tide, suddenly engulfed Lü San and Wu Ba.

"go!"

Seeing the crazed scholars rushing towards them, Lü San grabbed Wu Ba and left.

He knew that these were reflections of the past, and they couldn't be killed.

As for what happened, he couldn't be bothered to find out.

The academy was extremely large, and they were inevitably caught up by the crazed scholars. Fortunately, Wu Ba's powerful strength cleared the way, knocking away all the strange scholars who blocked their path.

Since none of the spirit pets can be brought in, Lü San's combat power will inevitably be greatly reduced.

Wow!

As soon as I rushed out of the gate, the scene of the "bloody prison of the academy" before my eyes shattered like a mirror!
The two lost their footing and staggered backward, feeling dizzy and disoriented, only to find themselves in another place.

boom!
In an instant, the deafening roar of artillery fire replaced the fighting.

The scorching heatwave, carrying with it gunpowder smoke and the smell of burning, violently assaulted the senses.

They were standing atop a dilapidated city wall!
Beneath our feet lies a purgatory of raging flames.

Flames spewed from the massive earthen cannons, and below the city were grotesque rebels wielding various weapons, their foreheads adorned with the lotus symbol of the Maitreya religion, as well as barbarian cavalry riding tall horses, clad in armor and armed with sharp weapons.

The city wall was blasted open by the cannons of the Red Barbarians, and the soldiers defending the city, wearing tattered armor from the previous dynasty, fell like weeds.

"Heavenly Fire! The Buddha's Heavenly Fire has descended upon the world!"

"Break down the city! Leave no one alive!"

The roars of the rebels, the clash of weapons, the neighing of warhorses, the wails of the wounded, the crackling of flames... countless sounds mixed with the scalding air currents formed a destructive storm, threatening to tear the intruders to shreds.

The city walls trembled violently, stones fell in a flurry, and the entire space was filled with the terrifying clamor of war.

Time stretched out here, as if they had fallen into the heart of this grueling siege that had lasted for an unknown period of time, and every moment was incredibly agonizing.

After another charge, the two finally broke away from the battlefield.

Absolute silence descended instantly, almost making their ears ring.

The blinding sunlight disappeared, replaced by a deathly still darkness.

They were standing on a cobblestone street lined with shops on both sides, their storefronts wide open and their signs hanging motionless in the still air.

The stall was filled with all sorts of items: porcelain, silk, spices, mountain products... a dazzling array, but all covered in a thick layer of dust, their colors as dull as old paintings covered in dust.

Strangely, the streets were deserted.

It was eerily quiet; you could even hear the soft rustling of dust falling.

The bloody, pungent smell of the previous war had transformed into an overwhelming musty odor and a faint, stench reminiscent of countless dead rats rotting in a heap. Behind every shop and every door, it seemed as if countless empty eyes were peering into the darkness.

The two looked around warily, feeling their hair stand on end.

The more frenzied the noise was just moments ago, the more suffocating the silence is now.

In a short period of time, they traversed three completely different time-space images in succession. The intense sensory impact and the tearing sensation of time-space dislocation caused the two people, who had emerged from the bloody storm, to feel a strong sense of dizziness and exhaustion deep in their souls.

This is no simple illusion!

Lu San felt a chill run down his spine, and he vaguely understood the reason.

They seemed to have been caught in some kind of powerful spacetime vortex.

The nine gates connect "fragments" left by different historical nodes in the capital, each filled with strong obsessions or huge disasters. Each fragment is an independent time-space prison.

Once trapped within it, one will be firmly drawn in and lost by its specific "rules" and residual intentions, exhausting one's spiritual power in endless cycles of terror, and ultimately becoming a part of this Yin Ruins.

They vanished like the drifting shadows of those who may have once been intruders.

The rat spirit from before has long since disappeared.

Or perhaps it is itself part of this eerie Nine Gates Yin Ruins.

The two roused themselves and continued their search.

Perhaps they were lucky, because they quickly discovered the anomaly.

"Look!"

Wu Ba spoke in a deep voice, pointing forward.

Lü San followed his gaze and his eyes suddenly narrowed.

But at the end of the street on the left, in the dim light, a huge piece of paper money was hanging on the gate of a dilapidated courtyard!

The paper money was ancient in form, far from being an ordinary funeral offering. It was stamped with the character "朱" (Zhu), surrounded by twisted, claw-like black runes, and the edges bore scorch marks from burning.

A chilling, bone-deep aura crept up the spine from a great distance.

"The emblem of the Imperial Paper Mill!"

Lu San's heart sank.

Having previously followed Li Yan in searching for Zhao Qingxu's origins, he was extremely familiar with this symbol.

The Jiaozi Bureau of the Great Song Dynasty was the origin of paper currency issuance, but it also collapsed due to excessive issuance. This event is recorded in the ancient book "Dazhong Xiangfu Bianliang Yiwenlu".

The "Yizhou Paper Demon" who caused the trouble was Zhao Qingxu's previous incarnation.

"Moved!"

Wu Ba suddenly lowered his body and stood in front of Lü San.

squeak-

With a sickening sound, the half-closed blue brick gate opened slowly inwards without any wind!

The moment the door opened, an even stronger aroma, a mixture of aged paper and ink, sandalwood, and rotten wood, wafted out.

The sight in the courtyard instantly caused their pupils to shrink.

Where is this abandoned courtyard?
It turned out to be a grand and solemn ancient hall!

A tall wooden counter loomed before me, its dark wood gleaming with an eerie light. Rows of carved money boxes had their drawers tightly shut, and on the counter were scales, counting rods, and talisman brushes still damp with ink.

It is clearly a branch of the Song Dynasty's Jiaoziwu that disappeared a thousand years ago.

However, what truly sent chills down one's spine was the scene in the center of the hall.

Kong Shangzhao, Lin Yu, and Kuai Dayou stood with their backs to the door in a small circle, their postures stiff like marionettes.

Their faces were pale, their eyes were empty and lifeless, and the corners of their mouths were strangely twitched upwards, frozen in a chilling "joyful" expression.

Even more horrifying, a pale, vertically elongated piece of paper money was tightly stuck to the back of each of them!

The style of the paper money is exactly the same as that on the lintel.

At this moment, the paper money was undulating slightly, like a parasitic living thing.

Inside the hall, air currents surged, and hundreds or even thousands of identical, deathly white paper money fluttered without wind, like a swarm of living white butterflies, densely packed and buzzing, forming an eerie white "curtain."

They gather and disperse, leaving cold trails in the air.

Each time it swept over the three people's heads, it brought with it an even stronger sandalwood scent and a chilling aura.

If Li Yan were here, he would have discovered that this was a technique Zhao Qingxu had used before, but now it had turned into some kind of trap.

"Watch out!" Lü San stopped Wu Ba, who was trying to go in.

However, the movement underfoot still alerted the ghosts inside.

But then Lin Pangzi, Kong Shangzhao, and Kuai Dayou suddenly turned 180 degrees in unison, as if pulled by invisible threads!

Their faces still wore that stiff "joyful" expression.

Controlled by the paper money, it suddenly lunged outwards.

The three moved faster than anyone could imagine, at a speed far beyond that of a living person.

Lin Yu's obese body moved with surprising agility as it crashed into Wu Ba's fist.

They crossed their arms, adopting a suicidal fighting style.

Kong Shangzhao then pulled out a talisman brush covered in cinnabar from somewhere. The tip of the brush carried a sinister penetrating power and pointed it at the weak spot under Lü San's ribs.

Kuai Dayou, with sharp cone-shaped finger guards on all ten fingers, aimed straight for Wu Ba's eyes!
These three people who were being manipulated were still able to use their own martial arts.

"Smash the talismans behind them!"

Lü San spun around and bypassed Lin Pangzi's back.

Wu Ba also spread his large palm-leaf fan and pressed down on Kong Shangzhao and the other two who were having a fit of madness.

Stab it!

Lu San directly ripped off the paper money from behind Fatty Lin's back, and then quickly stepped forward to rip off the paper money from behind the other two people who were being suppressed by Wu Ba.

The moment the paper money disappeared, the three of them stopped, looking completely bewildered.

"Brother Lü... Brother Lü?"

Fatty Lin was the first to come to his senses, his face full of surprise.

After learning the reason, he was immediately filled with embarrassment, "This... we're so sorry to have troubled you, Brother Lü, it was our fault..."

"Cut the nonsense!"

Lu San glanced at him coldly, "How did you manage to barge in here?"

"It was all by accident."

Fatty Lin quickly explained, "We were lucky enough to escape the Imperial Clan Court, so we wandered around aimlessly. This place is indeed strange, and we ended up here without really knowing what was going on."

"Have you found any clues about the Taodu Mountain wood?"

Now that things were out in the open, Lü San no longer tried to hide anything and asked directly.

"Right inside!"

Kuai Dayou pointed to the old money shop and said, "Behind the accounting office is the scene of the Nuo God Temple back then, but it was deliberately blocked by a trap. There must be clues inside."

"Ah."

Lü San nodded and went to the door.

He began to dance strange steps, patting his chest and making drumming-like sounds, a sound both desolate and heroic, yet tinged with sadness.

"Why are they dancing..."

Kuai Dayou frowned, somewhat curious.

Before he could finish speaking, Kong Shangzhao covered his mouth and whispered, "This is an ancient shamanic ritual of Chu, do not disturb it."

Kuai Dayou was even more puzzled upon hearing this.

Why use a necromancy technique to deal with this evil thing?
Before he could think any further, his eyes widened.

But the paper money flying everywhere turned into flames and vanished without a trace, leaving not even ashes. The faint, ethereal human figures also disappeared into the air.

Kong Shangzhao immediately understood, his face stiffened, and he gritted his teeth, saying:

"Just how many people has this demon harmed..."

He had never understood why Li Yan and the others were so persistent in pursuing Jianmu.

But seeing this moment, I made up my mind completely…

(End of this chapter)