My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 829 The Walking Dead
"You read the suicide note left by the criminal officer and got a glimpse of the reasons. According to the description in the suicide note, this criminal officer is the descendant of one of the nine criminal officers under Lord Luling. He should have inherited his ancestor's legacy and become a criminal officer who upholds justice. However, fate played tricks on him. Since the generation of the criminal officer's great-grandfather, this lineage has lost the status of a criminal officer."

"When Lord Luling bestowed the nine ghost-head knives, he had already explained the relevant matters. If anyone dared to deceive heaven and earth and do something unkind and unjust, they would definitely be cursed by him, and the disaster would affect their descendants for a hundred generations."

"At the beginning, the nine judges all remembered the warnings of Master Luling and educated their descendants strictly. The family tradition is upright and they are known for their chivalry in various places. There has never been any bastard who bullies men and women or bullies others by taking advantage of their power."

"But as time went on, the nine great judges and their descendants grew old and died, and the ghost-head knife continued to be passed down. After more than a dozen generations, things gradually changed."

"This is also unavoidable. Just like no matter how prosperous a dynasty is, it will eventually have various drawbacks. It is impossible for there to be wise and powerful kings from generation to generation."

"It's the same with aristocratic families. Over time, a large number of termites will appear. When the ghost-head knife was passed to the criminal official Tu Gaozu, the family style had already changed greatly."

"Not only did the criminals of that generation hang out in places of entertainment all day, they sometimes even let some extremely vicious people go for money. However, this situation was still within control. Perhaps they were afraid of the teachings passed down by their ancestors and did not go too far. But something happened later that completely changed the fate of their lineage."

"It was during an execution that the great-grandfather of the criminal officer learned from the prisoner on death row that his family had a treasure that was passed down from generation to generation. It was priceless and was a treasure that came from the palace. The prisoner wanted the great-grandfather of the criminal officer to tell his family where the treasure was hidden. Because the nine criminal officers were well-known for their integrity in the secular world, there was no need to worry that they would be tempted by the money and kill people to silence them, or take the treasure for themselves."

"But the prisoner on death row never expected that the person he entrusted his life to before his death, the criminal officer Tu Gaozu, would actually be tempted by the treasure and take it for himself. Not only that, he also forcibly insulted the innocence of the prisoner's wife and daughter. Afterwards, in order to erase all traces, he even chopped off their heads with a ghost-head knife. In this way, even if someone used the method of summoning souls, they would not be able to call back the soul of the prisoner, and no one would know about the evil deeds he had done."

"However, although the actions of Xingguan Tu Gaozu were unknown to the gods and ghosts, they could not be concealed from the conscience of heaven and earth. The curse left by Master Luling took effect. Within three days after returning home, abscesses began to grow on his body, and they quickly spread to his entire body. He invited dozens of medical experts, but there was no improvement. He suffered from pain day and night, unable to live or die. Even his family members were affected and became like him, lingering on the sickbed all day long."

"But apart from Xingguan Tu Gaozu and his family, this disease did not spread to other people. It seemed that it was a curse specifically targeting their lineage. Xingguan Tu Gaozu realized belatedly that he had violated the promise of his ancestors and was punished by heaven. This was why he ended up in such a state, and also brought disaster to his family members."

"But now it's too late to regret. The matter is done and cannot be reversed. Fortunately, this lineage has been upholding the right path and exorcising evil spirits for many years, and has accumulated a lot of merits. The great-grandfather of the Xingguantu invited the followers of Feng Shui to use secret methods to transfer the merits accumulated by more than a dozen generations of Xingguan in his family, as well as the fate and karma of the surviving members of the clan, to his grandson who is still in his mother's womb and has not yet been born, that is, the grandfather of the Xingguantu."

"Although this action cannot completely cancel the curse, it can weaken the power of the curse a little. It is also because of this that Xing Guantu's grandfather was born safely and was not implicated by the curse and died."

"But since the generation of Xingguantu's grandfather, there has been a tradition that the father dies and the son is born. This means that only one person in their lineage can survive. Once the son is born, the father will immediately die on the street."

"And there will definitely not be twins. Even if twins happen to appear, one of the babies will die before the full term."

"In order to break this curse, Xingguantu's grandfather and father traveled around the secular world all year round. It was not until their old age that they married and had children. Then they told their descendants everything in the form of a suicide note."

"Xingguantu has not escaped this fate since he was born. Fortunately, after two generations of exploration by his grandfather and father, they have some clues on how to break the curse. The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. If we want to truly break this curse, we must focus on Master Luling."

"But Master Luling has disappeared from the secular world for a long time, and no one knows where to find him. The criminal officer's disciple tried every possible means to find some clues, saying that Master Luling might be in the abandoned medical school in Lingnan City. So it came to Lingnan City, and with it came the descendant of another criminal officer, who was also cursed. The two ghost-head knives were the ghost-head knives that their family wielded in the past.

Seeing this, Jiang Xinghuo suddenly understood the whole story and the reason why the two ghost-head knives appeared here.

I couldn't help but feel a little sad.

The curse left by Lord Luling is really cruel. It will directly exterminate your entire family and will not give you any chance to mend your ways. Even if you can barely weaken the power of the curse, you can only leave a single survivor, and will never allow a second person to appear alive.

While Jiang Xinghuo was sighing at Lord Lu Ling's ruthlessness and decisiveness, he continued to read the text.

He now knew why the criminal officer came here, but he didn't know how he died here, or where the descendants of the other criminal officer were. The game text did not provide a detailed description.

"Official disciple and another descendant of an official came to Lingnan City, intending to enter the medical school to investigate and find out the whereabouts of Master Luling. They never expected that the abandoned medical school was full of dangers, with a large number of evil spirits and ghosts wandering around, and their strength was extraordinary. It was suspected to be connected to a Jedi in the underworld. Even though it tried its best to resist, it could not escape the pursuit of those evil spirits. In the end, it put itself in a body bag and hid in a body pool filled with preservative liquid. It was lucky enough to escape the disaster, but its heart was also invaded by the sneaky Yin Qi. It was seriously injured and dying and fled to this room, slowly waiting for death to come."

"After reading the suicide note left by the criminal officer, you learned the reason why his body had not decayed. It was because he had been soaked in preservative fluid, which was why his body did not decay after death. However, the suicide note he left behind did not record the whereabouts of the other criminal officer's descendants. I don't know if it was for some reason or if they really didn't know."

Jiang Xinghuo read the game text twice and captured several key information from it.

First of all, Lord Lu Ling is suspected to be hiding in that abandoned medical school.

But this should have happened a long time ago. Maybe Lord Lu Ling was hiding there at that time, but the probability of him still being there now is small, almost zero.

Secondly, the abandoned medical school is very dangerous. There are a lot of evil spirits wandering around in it, and it is suspected to be connected to the underworld.

This means that there may be a Yin-Yang road or a Yin-Yang door hidden in the medical school, allowing the monsters from the underworld to enter and exit freely.

Then there is a descendant of the criminal official whose life or death is unknown and whose whereabouts are unknown. This person is just like the criminal official’s prisoner. They are all unlucky people whose ancestors committed sins and the retribution for their sins has come to their descendants.

"What are your options next?"

"Will you choose to go deeper and explore the abandoned medical school? Or will you choose to leave now and not get involved in this mess?"

"Of course, you can also choose to continue exploring Tianyi Lane or the two nearby streets, and perhaps find some unexpected gains." The game gives three options: entering the abandoned medical school, leaving Tianyi Lane, and staying in Tianyi Lane and exploring the surrounding areas.

Jiang Xinghuo thought for a moment and chose the third answer. The first option he ruled out was leaving Tianyi Lane. This option was impossible to choose, otherwise there would be no point in him spending so much time here. As for the other two options, the abandoned medical school was right there, and it was impossible to run to other places. It didn't matter whether he went early or late.

Another reason is that by exploring Tianyi Lane and the surrounding area, one might discover traces of another descendant of the criminal judge. The situation in the abandoned medical school is unclear. Instead of risking one's life to find it, it would be better to look for more clues outside. Sometimes an inconspicuous clue could save several lives, and maybe even trigger some unexpected plots.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xinghuo no longer hesitated and directly made his choice.

"You chose to stay in Tianyi Lane and explore the two nearby streets."

Of course, Jiang Xinghuo did not forget to add some buffs to himself. He directly lit three lucky incense sticks and then activated the Qilin's blessing. With these two passive effects, the possibility of triggering new plots will be much greater.

"You left this shabby house and continued to explore Tianyi Alley."

"Exploring, please wait..."

Afterwards, the game entered a semi-idle state, and the character started exploring the alley on his own. Although he gained something, he didn't find much, and none of them were good things. Most of them were waste materials and ordinary props. Occasionally, he could see two high-quality things, but he couldn't use them, so he could only throw them into the niche shop to sell.

"Exploring, please wait..."

"Continuing exploration..."

This situation continued until the afternoon. He had explored Tianyi Lane thoroughly, but did not find any trace of the descendants of the executioner. Most of the items he obtained were sold at the niche shop, leaving only two things that might be of some use.

"Pharmacist's Blood-stained Coat (Excellent Item), a pharmacist's coat stained with the blood of unknown creatures. Wearing it will help increase the success rate of making medicines, and can also have a deterrent effect on some evil spirits."

"Potion jar (excellent item), produced in the Western world, is a masterpiece of the potion master when he was young. It will randomly produce a potion every day, with random effects and uses. After the potion is produced, it can only be kept for 24 hours. After 24 hours, it will automatically disappear and cannot be stored or collected."

Jiang Xinghuo only kept these two props and hung the rest on the niche shop to sell, earning a large sum of money from incense offerings.

"Where are you planning to go next?"

Jiang Xinghuo controlled the character to continue exploring, heading towards the two streets near Tianyi Lane.

"Exploring, please wait..."

The game once again entered a semi-idle state, but Jiang Xinghuo was not in a hurry and just waited quietly. The power of the Hongyun Incense never ceased and always lingered on the game character.

It didn't take long.

New game text popped up on the screen.

"You found a wandering corpse on the street near the left side of Tianyi Lane. Its body was covered with dark blue spots and various magical instruments. It was always wandering around the streets, as if it was waiting for someone, or it seemed to be trapped in some special illusion and never stepped out of this street. What do you plan to do now?"

"Will you choose to bypass this corpse and explore other places? Or will you go forward to capture this corpse and take the magic weapon hanging on it for yourself?"

When Jiang Xinghuo saw that it was a gift delivered to his door, he decided to take it and chose the latter immediately.

"You walked into the street and bumped into the corpse, but it didn't seem to sense your presence and continued to walk towards you with an expressionless face. You stepped aside to make way for it. The corpse slowly walked to the street corner and took another step outside, leaving the area of ​​the street. But just before leaving, it turned around and walked to the other side of the street. Just as you saw before, it never left the street and ignored everything on the street."

When Jiang Xinghuo saw the text description, he pondered for a moment. Although he didn't understand what was going on, he still activated the Five Ghosts Moving Technique.

Since this corpse has no consciousness and is wandering around like a rigid program, there is no need for me to take the risk of touching it. What if it causes bad changes? It is better to use the Five Ghosts Moving Method to get the thing from a distance.

"You activated the Five Ghosts Moving Technique."

"Wait until the corpse approaches, then perform the Five Ghosts Moving Technique and begin to gradually move the magical instruments hanging on the body into your backpack."

"At the beginning, there was nothing unusual, and the corpse did not show any reaction. But just when you were about to move the bronze gong hanging on its chest, the corpse's originally cloudy and dirty eyes suddenly turned pitch black!"

(End of this chapter)