The demon monk in the second dimension

There was still no one on the stage, but the ghosts seemed to be listening with great interest.

Each ghost sat at one end of a long red-lacquered bench, leaving the other end empty, as if inviting others to enjoy the show with them.

When Xia Zhi opened her ghost domain, they seemed to be disturbed, and they all stood up from the red bench and turned to look at Xia Zhi.

Their faces showed anger, and their bloodshot bodies revealed pale whites of their eyes and jet-black pupils.

At this moment, Xia Zhi noticed that many red-lacquered benches had suddenly appeared behind him, blocking his way.

These benches seemed to be telling him to sit down and watch the play with these "people".

Xia Zhi glanced around at the ghost faces, strode forward, and sat down next to a boy ghost.

The ghost looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old. When Xia Zhi sat down, a happy smile appeared on its face.

The other ghosts laughed as well, took their seats, and continued to turn their heads to look at the stage.

On the bench, the young ghost reached out his hand to shake hands with Xia Zhi.

Xia Zhi reached out and grasped the small hand, leaving a faint bloody handprint on the bandage.

The next moment, the bandage on Xia Zhi's hand quickly extended and climbed upwards, the long bandage wrapping around the boy ghost's body, as if dressing him in clothes.

Black mud seeped from Xia Zhi's bandages, quickly absorbing the boy ghost.

One of the boy ghosts disappeared easily, but the other ghosts didn't react at all.

Xia Zhi stood up, intending to devour the next ghost.

But as soon as Xia Zhi stands up, these ghosts turn their heads at the same time, their faces showing anger, as if blaming him for disturbing the people on stage.

Two ghosts approached Xia Zhi and reached out to grab his face, as if they wanted to peel it off and present it on the stage as an apology.

Xia Zhi pressed down on a ghost with her left hand, and the corpse spots on her hand exerted a corrosive power, invading the ghost's bloody body.

At the same time, the ghostly shadow beneath his feet extended forward and bound the legs of another ghost.

But it's like a domino effect.

When Xia Zhi stopped the two ghosts, four more ghosts stepped forward.

With each step they took, they left a bloody footprint. The stench of blood gradually rose around the stage, as if some terrible tragedy was about to unfold.

"At first, one ghost attacked, then two ghosts, then four ghosts. Once I stop these four ghosts, will eight ghosts come to attack me?"

As Xia Zhi looked around at the skinless ghosts, a large amount of water suddenly dripped from her feet.

The water stains quickly coalesced into a puddle, connecting to Ghost Lake, and rapidly spread outwards.

The ghost who stepped on the puddle fell into the ghost lake with a thud, but the red-lacquered benches around the stage seemed to be welded to the ground and remained motionless.

As summer solstice approached, the puddle spread rapidly, enveloping the entire stage.

After all the ghosts were thrown into the Ghost Lake, the stage remained standing in the same place.

The sounds of singing and dancing on the stage continued, but the lack of applause made it feel somewhat desolate.

Once the stage is set up, there are audiences from all directions. One side consists of mortals, and the other seven are ghosts and gods.

Once this grand spectacle begins, it just won't stop.

Xia Zhi waited in place for a while. Under the eight layers of ghostly influence, nothing happened on the stage.

Xia Zhi didn't casually walk onto the stage; instead, she observed from below the stage first.

This stage must have something special about it to withstand the ghost lake.

He's devoured all the ghosts here; there's nothing left to gain. Being trapped on this empty stage for months would be a huge loss!

Before the summer solstice, it was discovered that the red-lacquered benches under the stage were not full, with more than a dozen benches empty.

Moreover, there are several square marks around these red-lacquered benches, which match the leg marks of the benches.

This means that there used to be a bench here, but it was taken away by someone later.

"Judging from how engrossed these ghosts are in watching the play, it means the ghosts on the stage can attract other ghosts to watch as well. And these ghosts don't have skin on them, could it be some kind of supernatural rule? Is being skinned a sign of being bound to the stage? So this is another arrangement by the ghost controllers of the past?"

"But where did the ghosts who should be performing on the stage go? Could it be that in order to dismantle the paranormal puzzle and remove these performing ghosts from the stage, thus reducing the level of terror here, they were sent to another location to prevent problems from arising?"

Xia Zhi discovered that these ghost-controlling masters from a hundred years ago, during the Republic of China era, actually had quite a few arrangements.

Whether it's the Ghost Temple, Ghost Lake, the stage, or this Taiping Ancient Town, or even the Sanhu Valley Shrine that we first encountered on the summer solstice, they are all creations of this period.

This is about as difficult as the legendary Yu Gong moving mountains. After all, using the ability to alter terrain with the Ghost Domain makes moving mountains and filling seas quite simple.

"The matter of ghost tamers is complicated. Could it be that, like the centenarian at the Asian headquarters, there are other ghost tamers from the Republic of China era still alive?"

Using his identity as the old demon to step into the situation, Xia Zhi said decisively.

"I'll definitely live! There's immense terror between life and death! Even if I became a ghost, I would live on! As long as you're alive, there's hope; if you die, it's all for nothing!"

After overestimating the potential for ghost-tamers during the Republican era, Xia Zhi made other discoveries.

He took out three-yuan and seven-yuan bills from his pocket and examined them carefully.

In fact, paper money is a relatively recent phenomenon that has become popular only in modern times.

Ancient paper money had some problems, more or less.

At that time, the most commonly used currency was coins, such as precious metal coins like gold, silver, and copper.

"The ghost money in the Heavenly Realm is copper coins, so logically the ghost money in this world should also be copper coins, not paper money. Could it be that during the Republic of China era, a terrifying ghost tamer changed the rules of the supernatural in the country and created this kind of paper money to be used as ghost money?"

Think about it again: is it free to take a boat across Ghost Lake? Is it free to watch a play on the stage?

Expanding the scope a bit, and thinking about the Class A paranormal events abroad, like the ghost train, do you think staying in a hotel is free? Do you think taking a bus is free?

It would be impossible for one or two ghost tamers to create such paper money and circulate it among vengeful spirits, thus creating a new breakthrough.

Only if several ghost-controlling individuals during the Republic of China era collaborated and planned together could they have accomplished something so significant.

"But the Ghost Temple is out of control, the Ghost Lake is out of control, and there are probably many other arrangements that have also gone out of control. The centenarian at the headquarters also told me that the future belongs to the young. So the Ghost Masters during the Republic of China era actually knew that they hadn't handled things very cleanly, but they couldn't perfect it and could only hope for the successors?"

With too few clues, Xia Zhi could only speculate this far.

Xia Zhi glanced at the stage that was still making noise, then turned and left.

He retrieved the satellite phone that had been buried a thousand meters underground and used the Ghost Domain to quickly arrive in Oshima City, where Yotsuya Miko and the others lived.

Seeing a flash of black light around them, Yotsuya knew that Natsumi had returned.

She looked around and, upon spotting Xia Zhi, exclaimed with delight.

"My Lord, you've returned!"

"Ah."

Xia Zhi glanced at Yotsuya Miko's legs and noticed that the originally white bandages had turned gray.

Miko Yotsuya herself also suffered some damage from the wrestling leg, and her skin became a bit pale.

After all, once the summer solstice is over, the bandage is only a disposable item and will wear out in three months at most, requiring it to be reapplied.

He nodded to Yotsuya Miko and asked.

"Did something happen while I was away?"

"Nothing major happened, everyone is doing well."

Yotsuya Miko thought for a moment, then suddenly said.

“There’s only one thing. Five days after you left, Your Excellency, the owner of this house came looking for us. He said his name was Zhang Dongfei, that he was the head of Oshima City, and that he knew you, Your Excellency. He offered us the villa, but wanted to take back the gold inside. I saw that his name was indeed on the property certificate, so I agreed.”

"It's just some gold, it's fine to return it to him."

Although Xia Zhi knew that gold could be used to build a safe house to keep out evil spirits, it wasn't actually very safe. At least he knew many ways to break through or bypass the safe house.

To protect oneself in this mysterious era of resurgence, one must rely on strength.

Upon seeing Xia Zhi return, the other residents of the villa also hurried over to pay their respects.

After having lunch, Xia Zhi dialed the headquarters.

Fang Ziling quickly answered the phone and respectfully addressed Xia Zhi.

"Your Excellency, have you resolved the Ghost Lake incident?"

Xia Zhi spoke into the phone.

"It's been resolved. This ghost lake is comparable to the ghost temples in Japan; it should be classified as an S-level incident. Also, I'd like to meet with that centenarian ghost tamer at headquarters to discuss some matters."

Chapter 442 Conversation with Elder Qin

"A centenarian ghost tamer?"

Fang Ziling seemed unaware of Elder Qin's existence and was taken aback upon hearing this.

"Sorry, I don't have that permission. I need to report this."

Not long after, Cao Yanhua received Fang Ziling's report.

"Does this ghost want to talk to Elder Qin? Did it discover something while dealing with the Ghost Lake incident? But Elder Qin is nearing his end; I wonder if he would still be willing to see him."

Cao Yanhua thought about it and realized that he couldn't make the decision for Old Qin, so he went to Old Qin and explained the matter to him.

At this point, Old Qin was almost at his last gasp, nearing the end of his life.

He had developed many age spots, and his hair had almost all fallen out, leaving only a few strands that could be used to name him; clearly, his time was near.

Several IV lines were still inserted into Old Qin's body, infusing him with various nutrient solutions that could kill a person, hoping to have some effect, even if it was just to prolong his life by a few more days.

Upon hearing what Cao Yanhua said, he slightly opened his eyes and smiled with some difficulty.

"Since he just dealt with an A-level paranormal case, let's meet him. He might be our hope for the future."

Old Qin was deeply amazed.

He had heard of that lake; it was something that was almost impossible to deal with, and simply could not be dealt with at all.

Even among S-class paranormal events, this is a rather troublesome one.

It's amazing that someone can actually control Ghost Lake!

"The title is 'Ghost God'? Daring to compare oneself to a god, ordinary ghost tamers don't have that kind of guts."

With Qin Lao's consent, Cao Yanhua also asked Fang Ziling to inform Xia Zhi.

Using the Ghost Domain, Xia Zhi returned to the Asian headquarters in less than a month.

Fang Ziling was responsible for greeting people at the door.

She was wearing a telephone operator uniform and had a sweet face. She was young and had a baby face, looking like a high school student.

"Nice to meet you, Your Excellency. I am your personal operator, Fang Ziling."

Xia Zhi nodded to Fang Ziling, who was smiling broadly, but felt a little strange.

Could it be that headquarters saw Jianzi, Xiaohua, and Yulia, and that's why they assigned him a switchboard operator who looks like a high school student?

Not long after, Xia Zhi saw Cao Yanhua in the conference room at headquarters.

He explained some questions about Elder Qin to Xia Zhi.

"Old Qin is a born ghost tamer, our ace in the Asian headquarters. He was able to control ghosts even when he was still a fetus, and at the same time, he could cause the ghosts to crash. He can use the power of vengeful ghosts without limit, but it is completely unreplicable. Once he dies, the ghosts in his body will definitely come back to life."

"At Elder Qin's request, we built a golden statue to enshrine him. With the golden statue suppressing him, Elder Qin can probably still manage to make a move once or twice more. This may very well be your last conversation with him, so seize the opportunity."

Old Qin's time is running out.

After listening to Cao Yanhua's explanation of the key points, Xia Zhi finally met Old Qin.

The old man is now lying in a hospital bed, holding an ancient book in his hands.

Seeing Xia Zhi walk in, he revealed a set of snow-white teeth and smiled and nodded at her.

"It's truly remarkable that they were able to handle Ghost Lake!"

Xia Zhi sat down in a chair in the room with an air of authority and asked Old Qin a question.

"Do you know those people in Taiping Town? There are many shops on that old street, but now only two or three are still open."

Are there only two or three left?

A look of reminiscence crossed Old Qin's eyes as he sighed.

"I know some people from Taiping Town, but they're probably all gone now. You went to Ghost Lake, so you should know the current situation in Taiping Town, right? How many people are left?"