Rules of the Strange: I Became a God in a Bizarre World Through Taoist Arts

"What is that?!"

Madam Pei suddenly widened her eyes and hid behind Shen Xingzhuo with a look of fear on her face.

"..."

Shen Xingzhuo looked in the direction she was pointing and saw several ethereal soul shadows floating up at the end of the straight road.

A vengeful spirit?

Shen Xingzhuo shook his head after looking intently at it.

Those ghostly figures all seemed to be holding something in their hands.

But the thick fog obscured her vision, preventing her from seeing the details clearly; she could only make out the outlines vaguely.

"Knife, spear, whip, halberd?"

"So it's just some little devil pretending to be a ghost soldier."

Shen Xingzhu raised an eyebrow, tied up the complicated sleeves of his clothes, and took out the long sword that had not seen blood for a long time.

"You must stay close to me," she turned and instructed. "If we are separated by fate, remember to identify each other by the red string on your wrists!"

Seeing her serious expression, Pei Jinyu and the other two also answered seriously.

[When heading to the ancestral hall on the back mountain, you must take three steps back after every thirty steps; otherwise, you will encounter obstacles and never reach the end.]

Looking at the layers of confusion before him, Shen Xingzhuo's lips twitched.

"If I just follow the rules, will this fog clear up?"

She asked the question earnestly.

"call out--"

A gust of wind swept away the fallen leaves, but the mist did not dissipate even slightly.

Shen Xingzhu rolled her eyes and stepped onto the straight path.

One, two, three... thirty...

Shen Xingzhuo took each step with great strides, but when she looked back, she realized that Madam Pei, at the very end of the line, was still only three steps away from the door.

After measuring the distance with her arms outstretched, she laughed in exasperation.

"Only three feet were walked out of thirty steps?"

Shen Xingzhuo switched the long sword to his left hand and took out the jade pen.

Seeing her serious and prepared demeanor, someone in the live chat raised a question.

[What's wrong? What's wrong? I only ate a bite of food, why did Sister Shen pull out so many weapons?]

Although I kept looking at all the details, I really didn't understand it...

[She didn't break any rules; Sister Shen stopped at the thirtieth step.]

The only unusual thing is that he's only walked this far at thirty?

[Isn't that a big deal? This ghost story is just saying that the Pei family trapped Pei Jinyu and Pei Yin for their entire lives, like Sun Wukong trapped under the Five Fingers Mountain, unable to escape the Buddha's palm no matter what he did.]

So, are you just a disgusting person?

"Yin'er, why aren't you leaving?" Pei Jinyu noticed something was wrong with Shen Xingzhuo and asked casually.

"I just discovered that this road is a bit longer than I expected."

She wasn't telling the truth.

Pei Jinyu noticed it, but didn't ask any further questions.

Madam Pei gripped Shen Xingzhuo's clothes tightly, her knuckles white, as if she would be swallowed by darkness if she let go.

Pei Xi followed quietly at the back, her bloodshot eyes fixed on Shen Xingzhuo's back, as if waiting for something.

Shen Xingzhuo took a deep breath and continued walking.

For every thirty steps they took, they only advanced three feet.

After taking three steps back, they returned to their starting point.

It goes on and on, like being trapped in a giant circle.

The fog didn't dissipate; instead, it grew thicker and thicker.

The wild grass on both sides of the straight road rustled in the wind, like countless mouths whispering secrets.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Shen Xingzhuo's forehead.

It wasn't fatigue, but the feeling of helplessness—the feeling of "no matter how hard I try, I can't move forward"—that was slowly eroding her patience.

She glanced back.

Madam Pei's face was as white as paper, and Pei Jinyu's breathing became rapid.