Nine Netherworld Demon Subduing Record

As dusk deepened, the streets were shrouded in darkness, with only a few shops still lit by candlelight, most of which were located near the dock.

Even at night, there were still people working at the dock, and these shops were left for the workers to have something to eat after their night shift.

Several figures were gathered around a cargo ship at the dock. The ship was not large, with its bow only about one person above the shore. The ship owner was at the head of the group, directing the crew to launch the ship.

This type of engine hoisting tool is called a "crank handle." It has a T-shaped structure with pulleys on both sides. The rope rises and falls with the pulleys. The operator stands under one of the pulleys and continuously cranks the crank handle in his hand. Therefore, this is also a slang term used by shipwrights.

At the other end, a huge wooden box was hoisted up and down with the rope.

"Slow down, slow down! Everyone's in a hurry to get home, there's no rush," the burly man in charge shouted.

After the boatmen placed the box on the wooden platform with wheels at the four corners, the foreman called over a burly man in an open shirt and said, "Li Erhu, take this cart to the warehouse, and then you can go back."

The burly man called Li Erhu stopped, wiped his face with the cloth hanging around his neck, and pushed the cart with a big smile.

"Everyone else, disperse!" With a wave of his hand, the crowd scattered.

"Brother Li, wanna go for a drink?" a burly man wearing a straw hat and bare-chested called out to Li Erhu, who was pushing a cart in the distance.

Upon hearing this, Li Erhu replied, "Okay."

Most dockworkers who work the night shift will rest a little longer during the day, but few of them will go home to rest immediately after work. Instead, they will gather together and chat in a tavern, which has become a common practice.

After all, going to sleep immediately after get off work has a different effect than relaxing for a while before sleeping. Many people believe that relaxing for a while is stolen time.

Seeing that Li Erhu would be arriving in a while, the burly man quietly went to a corner, facing the sea, and untied his waist rope.

As the sound of rushing water filled the air, the burly man whistled and gazed at the sea before him.

The seawater was completely black, with no light to be seen, but the eyesight of the laborers who worked in the dark at the dock year-round was much better.

Suddenly, he saw something moving on his calm face.

He assumed it was a sea fish and didn't think much of it. After all, although such large fish usually don't approach noisy harbors, it's inevitable that large fish will come closer to the shore at night when the harbor quiets down.

The shadow was coming toward him. The burly man was delighted. Normally, fish would be scared away even by a sound, but this big fish came running at the sound, showing no fear of people.

"Hey! That's strange."

The strong man regretted not having a suitable tool by his side. He saw the fish slowly approaching, only to sink back to the bottom of the water when it got close. He used the reflection of the dim navigation lights in the harbor to search for the big fish.

After pulling up his pants, the burly man bent down and lay prone on the bank, examining the area closely.

Suddenly, a black shadow leaped out of the water, carrying the salty smell of seawater, and pounced straight at the burly man, splashing his face with seawater.

Before he could react, the dark figure suddenly hooked his neck and pulled him into the sea.

-

Li Erhu had already parked the trolley when he suddenly heard a loud splash coming from the harbor.

"Brother Wang!"

He called out once, and when no one answered, he called out again.

Seeing no response after two attempts, he realized something was wrong and hurriedly ran towards the direction where the person had fallen into the water.

Ripples still rippled on the sea surface, but the burly man from before had vanished without a trace.

-

"Where am I...?"

Fu Qing slowly woke up and suddenly found himself in a strange place. Beneath his feet was a dark green ocean, and the sky was also as dark green as ink.

In the distance, a dazzling light, as bright as the sun, emerged. Countless threads of light emanated from that blinding light, swaying erratically. Fu Qing gazed at those threads, as if she had seen them somewhere before.

Fu Qing walked toward the point of light, and in a daze, the point of light seemed to come alive, and the surrounding threads also twisted and turned.

"What are these...?"

Fu Qing stared at the bizarre scene before him, utterly shocked.

Suddenly, he recalled the scene when he was unconscious, with golden light connecting his veins, which was remarkably similar to the scene before him.

"So what's wrong with me now?" He pinched his thigh hard, but found that he didn't feel anything.

"A dream? Or a remarkably lucid dream?"

He tried to control his real-world self to wake up, but found that his body was completely disconnected, which even frightened him.

Suddenly, the silk threads that stretched for thousands of miles twisted and intertwined. In an instant, Fu Qing saw the silk threads transform into something resembling runes. The runes twisted and intertwined, eventually splitting into six enormous runes that slowly revolved around the sun.

"These runes? What are they?" Fu Qing looked at the runes curiously, but found that he couldn't understand them at all.

"No, please translate this, I can't understand it."

As if responding to his request, the runes began to change. The first rune transformed into a giant human figure, the second into a lush tree, the third seemed to have a thousand variations, with straight threads resembling a circuit board, the fourth evolved into smaller runes, the fifth was a giant central rune connected to the surrounding smaller runes by threads, and the sixth transformed into a giant, humanoid creature that Fu Qing couldn't name.

"This...this is...Taoist magic?"

The reason Fu Qing was able to sense that it was a Daoist technique was because he sensed a familiar aura from the runes, like the lush and leafy tree, just like the aura Bai Yi used when casting spells. The fourth one was exactly the same as Chen Xing'an's aura, the third one corresponded to the spirit mechanic named A Zi, and the sixth one was the same as the giant bird named A Xue.

Could these be the so-called Medicine Master, Talisman Master, and Spirit Weapon Master they were talking about? And what are the other three?

Just as Fu Qing was wondering, the six runes flew towards him, gradually shrinking until they landed on different parts of his body. Fu Qing only felt that the parts of his body that were invaded by the runes were a little hot, but otherwise there was nothing unusual.

Finally, the runes were affixed to his limbs, torso, and head. Suddenly, Fu Qing felt as if his body was transparent; he could clearly see golden threads connecting his body, just as he had seen at night.

"This...could it be a spiritual vein?" Fu Qing recalled the scene when he went to take the test during the day, and the voice of the tester was still echoing in his ears.

"Wasn't I already diagnosed as having no spiritual veins? What's going on here?"

Before he could calm down, the six runes seemed to come alive and merged into the golden threads all over his body. In an instant, Fu Qing felt his whole body emitting a buzzing sound like an ancient temple bell.

At this moment, a Daoist scripture appeared in Fu Qing's mind.

That method was all-encompassing, and it was vividly etched into every part of Fu Qing's mind, body, and soul.

It wasn't a series of characters, but rather array patterns that seemed to resonate, faintly appearing on Fu Qing's body.

Before Fu Qing could understand the incantation, he felt his vision slowly darken and his consciousness gradually fade away.