My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 803: Criminal Ghost

Jiang Xinghuo walked out of the room where the ghost bride was. There was still no movement outside, and Qi Hu and others did not seem to notice his disappearance.

This ancient house seemed to be in another space. Although it was connected to the outside world, it was completely separate from it. Relying on the power of the Anointed Crown of Thorns, Jiang Xinghuo could only cover the spiritual network within the ancient house, and had no reaction to the scene outside the house.

He could only perceive that there were many illusory buildings outside the ancient house, looming like projections, overlapping with the space where Qi Hu and others were.

"It seems there are still many secrets hidden here..."

Jiang Xinghuo looked thoughtful, then turned and walked back to the Ghost Bride's room, found a few peach wood puppets from the void drawer, and found a lost shrine and placed it in the corner of the room.

In order to prevent being discovered by people who accidentally broke in here, he also deliberately left behind a breath-covering talisman and an eye-blocking talisman. Unless someone can find and destroy these two talismans, no one can detect the Lost Shrine he left behind.

This is also Jiang Xinghuo's plan for exploring here again in the future. With a one-time teleportation item like the Lost Shrine, he can teleport himself here directly from the outside world without going through the Zhenwu Cave Heaven, thus avoiding a lot of unnecessary trouble.

After doing all this, Jiang Xinghuo walked out of the room again and went towards the depths of the ancient house.

But unexpectedly, the door, which was originally half-open, was suddenly closed tightly at some point, and was even wrapped with rusty chains, as if it was afraid that someone would break in from outside.

Moreover, these rusty chains were not ordinary ones. Jiang Xinghuo tried to destroy them by force, but the evil star's bite and chop had no effect at all. Instead, his arms became numb and the chains flew with sparks.

"This chain is interesting..."

Jiang Xinghuo looked carefully at the chain on the door and activated the effect of the Sky-Peeking Eye.

"Ghost locks are supernatural artifacts left over from a vanished secular era. For some reason, that vanished secular civilization underwent an unknown mutation, which caused the history of that civilization to change. It became a supernatural and chaotic world where humans and ghosts coexisted. Various strange and bizarre ghosts emerged one after another, and the ghost lock was one of them."

"It is said that the ghost lock was created in prison. It does not have any killing power. However, once it is tied to the door, no external force can destroy it unless the user automatically unlocks it. It will also give the locked object an indestructible property. Even supernatural products of the same level cannot affect the ghost lock."

Looking at the information detected by the Sky-Peeking Eye, Jiang Xinghuo's heart was suddenly moved.

A supernatural creation left behind from a lost secular era?
Judging from the meaning of this sentence, the ghost lock seems to be a relic of the old secular world, and its age is even older than the era of Emperor Xuanyuan.

It is very likely a creation left over from the previous secular civilization, or even an even more ancient secular civilization.

If my guess is correct, this ancient house is also a relic left by that civilization.

"A supernatural and chaotic world where humans and ghosts coexist?"

Jiang Xinghuo thought about it and realized that if things like ghost babies and ghost brides were released into the outside world and if they were not stopped, it would not take long for a city to be completely paralyzed.

If the number of ghosts is large enough, they can even kill all living people and completely turn the human world into a world dominated by evil spirits.

"Fortunately, this civilization was destroyed. If I lived in a world like this, I would have been better off dying..."

Jiang Xinghuo sighed inwardly with a sense of sympathy. Although the secular world has also had a significant impact on the earth, at least it has not affected the lives of ordinary people. All supernatural powers are within the controllable range.

The Sky-Peeking Eye saw the information about the ghost lock, and Jiang Xinghuo knew that he could not unlock it with his own strength, so he could only continue to go deeper into the ancient house.

However, before he walked in, he deliberately tried the Golden Law. The Evil Star Bite with the Golden Law did have some effect on the ghost lock, but it was limited to leaving some traces. If he wanted to completely cut off the ghost lock, it was not possible with his current completeness of the law.

Seeing this, Jiang Xinghuo gave up and stopped worrying about the ghost lock. Instead, he walked into the dark corridor. The smell of decay and mold kept drilling into his nostrils, highlighting the emptiness and silence in the ancient house.

At this time, Jiang Xinghuo also put away the crown of thorns on his head. Although this thing could greatly enhance his spiritual perception, it also consumed a lot of mental energy. He had already noticed that his head was a little swollen and he felt a little dizzy.

Jiang Xinghuo continued to move forward.

Although he no longer had the blessing of the crown of thorns, he could also sense that there were things spying on him in the houses on both sides. They were all strange and evil spirits, some looked like humans, some were objects, and some were neither human nor object, existing in the form of shadows.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at these evil ghosts and felt very itchy in his heart. He wished he could call out the goddess Meng Po immediately, feed these evil ghosts a bowl of Meng Po soup, and then take them all for his own use. With so many hells and caves in his hands, he could just let these free laborers come to work.

However, the rooms where these evil spirits are located are tightly locked with ghost locks, and it is impossible to push the doors open. Not only is it time-consuming and labor-intensive to force them to break in, but it is also uncertain whether they will succeed.

Jiang Xinghuo had no choice but to continue walking down.

I walked for about several hundred meters.

Normally, this distance had already exceeded the range of an ancient house, but Jiang Xinghuo still hadn't seen the end of the ancient house.

It seemed as if the corridor under my feet was endless.

But at this moment, Jiang Xinghuo suddenly felt a sudden surge of evil wind all around him. The cold wind, as sharp as a knife blade, began to swirl around him. His skin also cracked into tiny cuts, and blood slowly flowed out, bringing a vague tingling sensation.

"what happened?"

Jiang Xinghuo was startled and subconsciously deployed the Nine Deaths Cicada, making his body invisible, which stopped the spread of the wounds on his body.

"This wound..."

Jiang Xinghuo gently brushed the scars on his body, and the power of spring surged, and the wounds began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

However, he did not relax his vigilance. Instead, he sent out a palm thunder, which blasted into the deep darkness not far in front of him, but it did not cause any ripples.

"Pretend to be a ghost, get out of here!"

Jiang Xinghuo roared, and a golden light of talismans flashed across his right palm. Purple-red lightning suddenly burst out from the palm of his hand, like sharp arrows and spears, shooting in all directions.

As the lightning flashed, the surrounding darkness was torn into ashes, revealing a desolate wilderness.

Jiang Xinghuo looked back and saw an ancient house behind him. It was the ancient house he had explored before.

No wonder I couldn’t find the end of the ancient house after walking hundreds of meters. It turned out that I had already left the ancient house, but I didn’t realize it.

"Are ghosts hitting the wall?"

Jiang Xinghuo turned his head and looked forward again, his eyes narrowed, and said: "Since you are all here, there is no need to hide anything anymore. If there is anything, let's talk about it face to face."

As soon as the words fell, ripples appeared in the air, and more than a dozen figures of various shapes quietly appeared in the wilderness.

"Your Excellency is very capable. You were able to detect our presence so quickly. Even in our era, it is rare to find practitioners with such spiritual perception."

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man dressed in ancient costume. He wore a loose robe, but bloodstains were faintly visible underneath. It seemed that he should be the leader of these people.

"What is your name?"

Jiang Xinghuo put his hands behind his back, golden talismans flashed in his palms, and purple-red lightning was ready to be launched.

"I will be tortured to death."

"These are my brothers and sisters. We share the same roots and have lived together for countless years."

"I have seen you, fellow Taoist."

A big man with only half of his body clasped his fists and bowed. "Excuse me, Chen He."

This was a delicate and charming woman, but her body was wet, as if she had just been fished out of the river.

"I am Gong Xing, nice to meet you, brother."

The person who spoke this time was a feminine man in a Confucian robe, holding a scroll of bamboo slips and speaking politely.

"I'm poisoning you."

A man with a dark complexion but wearing a python robe and a jade belt spoke.

"I have seen you, Daoist friend, beheading you."

"I am hanged."

"It's polite to be torn apart by a car."

"Here is the punishment."

"I'll skin you."

"Someone's family soup."

"I'm sawing now."

"My name is buried alive."

"I have the five punishments."

"Clan execution."

Jiang Xinghuo listened to the ghosts in front of him introducing themselves, and the more he listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He discovered that the names of these evil spirits in front of him were actually various tortures in ancient times.

Lingchi, beheading, drowning, beheading, hanging, poisoning, quartering, skinning, trampling, sawing, boiling human flesh, burying alive, five kinds of punishment, extermination of the whole clan...

None of them sound like human names, they are all names of various tortures.

Jiang Xinghuo opened the Sky-Peeking Eye and secretly looked at the evil spirits in front of him.

"Punishment ghosts are the collection of resentment, curses, and hatred of humans before they die from corresponding tortures. They each possess different powers of punishment. As long as the tortures related to them are still recorded, or there are still people in the world who know about these tortures, then these evil ghosts will be immortal. Even if they are killed for a while, they can come back again in the future."

Seeing this, Jiang Xinghuo couldn't help but gasp. No wonder the names of these evil spirits were so strange. It turned out that they were a collection of various tortures and resentments.

Jiang Xinghuo recalled the attacks he had suffered previously and the inexplicable wounds that appeared on his body. They must have been caused by Ling Chi.

He felt a little strange when he saw the wound. It was clearly just blown by a cold wind, but the skin looked like it had been cut by a knife.

"I wonder if you have any advice?"

Jiang Xinghuo sneered and said, "You all brought me here, you can't be bored and want to make friends with me, right?"

Ling Chi said, "To be honest, sir, we brothers asked you to come here because we have something to ask for. We have been trapped here for countless years. Although we are immortal, we cannot escape from this predicament. We know that you are from the outside world, so we would like to ask you to help us and take us away. In return, we can give you the power of criminal justice, and you can use our power to dominate the world."

Jiang Xinghuo raised his eyebrows upon hearing this and said, "You are ghosts, and I am a human. The outside world is now peaceful and prosperous. If I let you go, I am afraid that countless people will die at your hands. Therefore, we have different positions and I am sorry that I cannot obey your order."

"Ah, is there no discussion?"

A trace of regret appeared on Ling Chi's face.

Jiang Xinghuo asked back: "After you get out, will you find a place to live in seclusion? Can you guarantee that you won't attack ordinary people?"

"No."

Ling Chi said frankly: "Although we evil spirits are immortal, we have to kill people to maintain our power. The only thing we can guarantee is that we will not harm your friends and family."

"Then there's no need to talk."

Jiang Xinghuo decisively rejected Ling Chi's request. What a joke! If these evil spirits were released and they started hunting without restraint, not only would a country fall, but at least a city would fall. He, Jiang, did not have the courage to trade the lives of tens of millions of people.

"Brother, I told you not to waste time talking to him. He won't agree to our request. We should just turn him into a ghost slave. Then he will naturally take us out."

The person who spoke was a man dressed as a groom, holding a horsewhip in his hand. Jiang Xinghuo remembered that when he introduced himself, he said it looked like some kind of torture.

Trampling?

Jiang Xinghuo recalled some records in ancient books. Trampling was a very ancient form of punishment and also a very serious form of punishment. People who died from trampling could be described as having their bodies mutilated.

In ancient feudal dynasties, only serious crimes such as assassinating the king and killing his driver would be punished by trampling on the ground.

Generally, the victim would be tied up and thrown into an open area, and then thousands of horses would be driven to gallop back and forth and trample on him until he was completely trampled into meat paste. This was considered the end of the torture.

The ancients were particular about burying the body intact. Even lingchi and lingchi wailing could keep the body intact. However, trampling would completely crush the body into meat paste, and there would be no complete body at all.

"Then let's turn it into a ghost slave."

A woman with a livid face suddenly spoke.

At the same time, a rough hemp rope came silently behind Jiang Xinghuo, and automatically tied a knot around Jiang Xinghuo's neck, and then suddenly tightened to hang him in the air.

The hanging has been made!
Hanging, also known as gallows, simply means strangling a person to death with a rope. This hemp rope is the means of killing by hanging. Once it is put on the target, it will become tighter and tighter until the target completely loses vital signs, and then the rope will be loosened again.

But Jiang Xinghuo didn't feel anything at all. Although he was hanging in the air, there was no sign of depression on his face. Instead, he looked at the ghosts below with a relaxed expression.

"Ok?"

Ling Chi felt something was wrong, looked at the hanging, and asked, "What's going on?"

"do not know."

Hanged Man shook his head and frowned, "My rope has indeed locked onto the target, I can be sure of that."

At this moment, the executioner next to him suddenly turned over and knelt on the ground, covering his neck with his hands. It could be clearly seen that his neck had turned into a funnel shape, as if there was an invisible rope strangling his neck.

"Hanging... your method... has been transferred to me... hurry... I can't hold on any longer..."

Taxing spoke intermittently, the marks on his neck were getting tighter and tighter, and it looked like he was about to be strangled completely. Hanging did not dare to delay and quickly took back his hemp rope.

Only by stepping on the tortured body can this ghost's life be saved.

(End of this chapter)