Nine Netherworld Demon Subduing Record

Fu Qing slowly opened his eyes, and what he saw was a cloud of mist, which surged and changed unpredictably.

He felt a tingling sensation all over his body and was somewhat weak, so he thought it was a dream. But soon, his sense of touch returned, and he felt the scene was very real.

"Where am I...?"

He forced himself to stand up, but the discomfort from his body and head made him shudder. He touched the back of his head and then ran his hand through it, revealing a clump of rough, long hair that reached his waist.

"This is...me?" Fu Qing couldn't help but feel a little doubtful.

He looked down at his clothes again. He was wearing a simple hoodie, light blue jeans, and white sneakers. The only unusual thing was that the clothes were really worn out and covered in dust, as if they had been buried in the ground for years and then dug out.

Upon seeing the familiar clothing, he hurriedly looked at the human-shaped mark on the floor. The surrounding area was covered in dust, but the spot where he had just gotten up was spotless, revealing the gray-blue floor tiles.

"Judging from this situation, I'm not going to be lying here forever, am I?" He was quite incredulous.

At this moment, he began to recall what had happened before he came here. Images flashed through his mind, as if memories from a long time ago were playing in his head.

It was a low hillside, with a gentle breeze and a faint smell of grass mixed with horse manure in the air. Scattered yurts and various tents were located at the foot of the hill.

"Oh right, I originally went there for vacation!"

He suddenly remembered why he had fainted. He was just an ordinary sophomore in college. During his summer vacation, he and some of his roommates went on a trip together. When the car arrived at the vast grassland, they all decided to camp overnight at a roadside campsite.

Regarding what happened that night, Fu Qing only remembered that she noticed a strange bright spot in the night sky. They just assumed it was a bright star and didn't pay any attention to it, continuing to play the piano and chat.

Then, the light spot became clearly visible even to the naked eye, accompanied by a heart-shaking roar, like a dragon's cry, rushing straight towards Fu Qing and the others. Fu Qing was the first to notice something was wrong, but by then it was too late.

The light grew brighter and brighter, soon becoming like a sun rising in the night, illuminating the ground as if it were daytime. In his last memory, the earth was shrouded in a blinding white, and amidst this ghastly white, a huge explosion rang in his ears. Almost instantly, Fu Qing lost consciousness.

"Could it be that we encountered a meteorite?" Fu Qing wondered.

Fu Qing wasn't sure about this speculation. If it were true, he certainly wouldn't survive such a large meteorite hurtling towards him.

After rummaging around on his clothes for a while, he patted the dust off his clothes and began to look around at his surroundings.

Thick fog surrounded him. Fu Qing had never seen fog like this before. It seemed to be alive, changing into different shapes. He walked forward for a while, and the blue brick ground under his feet seemed to stretch endlessly.

After walking for about three minutes, the ground ahead was no longer blue, but rather rows of buildings with red walls and green tiles. They were all antique towers, but they looked like they had been abandoned for a long time. Thick nets covered the window frames and brackets, and the ground was covered with dust.

Some of the buildings had plaques with characters that looked like a combination of seal script and bronze inscriptions. Fu Qing had once read a book called "Annotations on Ancient Characters" and knew some ancient characters, but he couldn't recognize the characters on those plaques at all.

"Could it be some kind of antique-style building?" Fu Qing naturally thought that these were methods to create a theme and attract diners.

He walked forward along the tower, surrounded by ruins. Fu Qing looked around and saw that the buildings and pavilions were shrouded in mist, their tops hidden from view.

"I just don't know why it was abandoned. Such a beautiful ancient building could be renovated and used as a tourist attraction or a film and television base," Fu Qing thought with a bit of business acumen.

The ground was also littered with various shelves and rubble. It was a street with what looked like shops on both sides, some of which were still open. He walked a little further and a collapsed tower stood in front of him, blocking his way.

After looking around for a while, Fu Qing noticed that the door to the house on the right was slightly ajar. He peered inside and saw that the collapsed tower had crushed half of the house, with broken tiles extending outwards, seemingly allowing one to pass through between them.

Pushing open the door, the latch, long unused, creaked loudly, echoing through the quiet street.

The interior appeared to be a restaurant, with rows of tables and chairs piled high with various tableware. There was also a counter with books and an abacus on it, and bamboo baskets and other items hanging on the walls.

Fu Qing glanced at it and felt strange. He stepped forward, picked up a bowl, and examined it carefully.

"The way these cutlery are placed is as if the diners have just finished eating and the waiters haven't cleaned them yet. I just don't know why these plates are all empty, without even a scrap of food left."

He looked at the arrangement of the tableware: plates inside, surrounded by small bowls, with a wine jar on the side and chopsticks scattered around the bowls. Fu Qing could still imagine a group of people sitting around the table, enjoying their meal and chatting.

Fu Qing walked to the counter, where there was an inkstone. He brushed away the dust with his fingers, revealing ink stains that had been dry for who knows how long. The brush lay askew to the side.

"Hmm...this is..."

The brush was on a book. He gently wiped away the dust, and saw that the book was covered with delicate characters, which only covered half of the paper. The last character was only half written.

The handwriting was exactly the same as that on the plaque outside. Fu Qing flipped through a few pages and found that all the pages were written in the same handwriting. He became a little worried. If this was a tourist attraction or something, there was no need to use this kind of handwriting everywhere. There was no need to go to such lengths for a performance.

He opened the drawer and found it filled with silver coins, round on the outside and square on the inside, like ancient copper coins. Beside it were several pieces of jewelry, exceptionally exquisite. Fu Qing picked one up and examined it; it was remarkably finely crafted, without any sprue marks or welding traces, appearing to be purely handmade. Jewelry like this usually gives the first impression of being "precious."

He felt a little strange. Judging from the situation, something seemed to have happened here. People were leaving in a hurry, not even taking such valuables with them.

Fu Qing had no intention of continuing his exploration. His immediate priority was to find a way out. He came to the gap created by the tower and climbed up the pile of rubble with both hands and feet. After crossing the tower, the familiar street scene reappeared before his eyes. However, at this moment, Fu Qing seemed to hear some faint sounds.

Fu Qing rubbed his ears and closed his eyes. The sound seemed to be coming from a very far place. Puzzled, Fu Qing took a step towards the direction of the sound.

At this moment, some thin threads resembling spider webs began to appear on the street. Unlike the spider webs he had seen before, these threads were thicker. Before Fu Qing could see them clearly, he was tripped by the threads and stumbled. The threads seemed very elastic. Fu Qing pulled on the threads with his fingers and found that it took some force to break them.

"Could these be silk produced by some kind of creature? If so... how big must that thing be?" Fu Qing thought to himself, and considering the many strange things he had seen before, he couldn't help but hesitate.

He didn't hesitate for long. After calming himself down, he walked into a house next door with its door wide open. The layout was similar to the restaurant he had just been to, with the same scattered bowls and chopsticks on the table. Looking around, he saw a curtain behind the counter on the right. He went up to it, lifted the curtain, and saw various shelves inside, with a stove in the middle.

As he expected, a restaurant naturally has a kitchen. He looked around and saw some kitchen utensils on a shelf in the corner. He picked out a relatively long kitchen knife from the middle, weighed it in his hand, and felt quite satisfied.

Even if there is danger ahead, I won't be without anything to defend myself.

Stepping out of the house, I continued walking towards the source of the sound. The closer I got, the clearer the sound became, as if someone were chanting scriptures in the mist.

Pushing aside the fog, as he got closer to the source of the sound, suddenly, two lights appeared faintly in the fog. The lights were red and motionless. Fu Qing slowly walked over until the scene in front of him became clearer and clearer.

When the light revealed its outline, Fu Qing felt goosebumps suddenly rise all over his body.

The glowing red light was clearly the appearance of a strange human face. The face was entirely black, with a metallic sheen, and two torch-like eyes stared intently at him. The fangs in its mouth were constantly wriggling, and the chanting-like sound came from the mouth of this strange human face.