I changed the world.

Page 384

No, to be precise, it's not an ancient tomb, but a feeling of life fading away; it's the realm of the dead.

An Huiling looked around curiously. In the mist, everything around her seemed to be insects frozen in amber. Although they looked like ordinary flowers, plants and trees, they gave people a sense of deathly stillness.

"May I ask how you are addressed?" The misty environment created a great deal of mental pressure, and An Huiling was somewhat uneasy. As she followed, she tried to find a topic to talk about.

"I am a Yin official under the jurisdiction of the Jin'an Yin Division, surnamed Wang and named Kang."

"So it's Mr. Wang." An Huiling didn't know how to address him, so she simply called him "Mr."

Gradually, An Huiling discovered that although this underworld official seemed unapproachable, he was actually quite easy to talk to and always very respectful.

So she simply asked what had happened here, and then she learned that there were demons here who were using living people to perform evil magic. This was a serious crime under the laws of the underworld, and they, the underworld officials, were here to capture them.

Not far ahead, there was a farm's outer fence. Just when An Huiling thought the ghost would take a detour around the fence, she found that it didn't stop or go around. It walked straight towards the iron fence. Then, she discovered that a road had appeared out of thin air inside the tall iron fence!

An Huiling followed behind and walked straight through the road into the farm.

From afar came a mournful cry that sounded like weeping. Then, several flying monsters broke through the mist and rushed towards her. Seeing this, An Huiling subconsciously flipped her wrist, and a long sword appeared in her hand. She could tell that these monsters were obviously fleeing, but one of them was fleeing in the direction she was going.

However, before she could make a move, she saw the ghost messenger in front of her shake the chains coiled around his body, and one of the chains flew out as if it had a life of its own, striking the first monster that flew in directly. The monster was then blown apart in mid-air, turning into specks of ashes with a loud bang.

The monsters following behind seemed to be startled and scattered in all directions. Seeing this, An Huiling did not hesitate. She leaped up, tapped her toes on a nearby low tree, and swung her sword, striking a monster that was trying to escape to the side. With one strike, one of the monster's heads was severed off. However, the monster still had a head left, and it opened its mouth full of sharp teeth, spitting out a mouthful of liquid!

An Huiling dodged the spit, and with a backhand stroke, severed its other head, turning the monster into a handful of ashes...

After a short but intense battle, the last monster was caught by a chain that flew out of the mist and dragged back. An Huiling discovered that this chain seemed to be extremely effective in capturing such agile monsters and seemed to have some kind of restraining effect on these monsters, and was not a simple ordinary iron chain.

"Thank you for your help, Fairy An." The underworld messenger in front turned around and bowed. At this moment, another underworld messenger dressed similarly emerged from the mist not far away. After exchanging a few words, the two underworld messengers continued to lead An Huiling forward, still with the first messenger leading her.

As An Huiling continued forward, she vaguely noticed a crimson light flickering within the fog ahead. The further she went, the brighter the light became, like a lighthouse shining through the thick fog.

An Huiling wanted to ask what it was, but after glancing at the underworld officials in front of her and considering her identity as a Kunlun disciple, she ultimately didn't ask. She also tried her best to maintain a calm and composed demeanor, so as not to appear like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world...

After traveling a while longer, An Huiling noticed a strong, increasingly intense smell of blood emanating from the fog ahead. As she continued forward, the smell of blood rapidly intensified. Then, she began to notice that in the open space ahead, many items seemed to have been arranged, resembling a destroyed altar.

Her keen eyesight allowed her to vaguely make out the collapsed altar and the various sacrificial items placed on it in the open space.

However, at this moment, she only glanced at it briefly before her attention was drawn to the huge tower-like building in the sky that was emitting a strong spiritual light!

The moment An Huiling saw the building, she thought of the legendary mirage.

The building floated in the sky, its radiance undiminished even by the mist. From its lowest level to its highest point, layers upon layers of spiritual light radiated outwards, accompanied by an atmosphere of extreme oppression and even trembling.

This aura gave even cultivators of her level a sense of oppressive power that made it almost impossible for them to breathe, just by looking at it!

At the same time, she seemed to hear endless wailing sounds in her ears. These sounds were like the endless wails of thousands of vengeful ghosts in the eighteen levels of hell in legends, filled with an inescapable resentment, curses, pleas, and wails!

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 780 Igniting the Fire

As these wails echoed, An Huiling noticed that the main body of this enormous structure, and the source of these wails, was actually a collection of heads of varying sizes. These heads all shared a common characteristic—they were not human-shaped! Some had mouths, some were covered in fangs, some were twisted and deformed, and some resembled deformed wild beasts…

What they all had in common was that these heads were all in extreme pain; some had their mouths wide open in agony, some had their faces twisted and grotesque, and some were crying and wailing...

This is a building made entirely of monster skulls!!!

At this moment, countless net-like chains extended from it, burning and binding the huge monster's remains in the sky from all directions. Also locked, bound, and captured were numerous monsters that were struggling to escape.

It was a bizarre creature that appeared to be a giant slug cut into several pieces. Upon closer inspection, the parts still wriggling in the sky were composed of countless strange heads and an equally large number of arms. It was a disgusting creature that could make anyone with trypophobia shudder!

At this moment, it struggled violently like a leech dipped in salt, releasing intense spiritual light and power fluctuations from its body, but it was completely unable to break free from the chains binding it!

As a result, more smaller monsters split off from its body, which was probably some kind of escape method. When it was outnumbered, this kind of monster could split itself into pieces of various sizes to escape...

An Huiling recognized these monsters at a glance as the same type she had encountered in the mist. These monsters resembled deformed children haphazardly pieced together from infants' heads and arms; she thought that if these bizarre creatures were allowed to escape, there should be some way to restore them to their original state…

Then all that could be seen were these monsters, large and small, screaming and crying, trying to escape, but most of them were quickly bound and dragged back...

Even the few who managed to escape seemed trapped by the surrounding mist, struggling and thrashing about. The underworld officials that An Huiling had seen earlier were hunting these escapees.

The chains that stretched out from the sky dragged the monsters they had captured toward the massive building, as if trying to meld them into it, making them a part of it...

An Huiling stared at the building in shock. Only then did she notice what appeared to be huge characters on the building...

Those were fourteen ancient seal characters, shimmering with a crimson, blood-red flame:

"Demons, monsters, slaughter, exhaust, for, the capital, spectacle,"

"Mysterious Gate, Town, Earth, Ten Thousand, Ten Thousand Years!"

An Huiling quickly noticed that in front of the tower, there was a huge ghost in a black robe. This ghost also wore a tall, cylindrical hat and looked somewhat similar to the underworld officials beside her, but it was much larger, estimated to be over five meters tall. At the same time, An Huiling could feel a powerful force that leaned towards death itself emanating from the ghost!

The demon was now focused on the monster in the sky, raising a scepter-like object of unknown material high above its hand. Simultaneously, the chains that had been spreading across the sky began to tighten, pulling the grotesque and repulsive monsters towards the massive structure. Flames burned along the chains, causing the bound monsters to howl and scream in agony…

Ultimately, no matter how much the spirit struggled and tried to escape, it was still dragged into the massive, dilapidated building...

As these monsters approached the awe-inspiring building, their bodies began to burn as if ignited by flames! It was as if the monsters' bodies themselves were a form of combustion. As they drew closer to the massive building, the flames on their bodies grew increasingly intense, like firewood being thrown into a furnace, gradually blazing fiercely.

The golden-red flames were like layers of spiritual light on the building. No matter how the monster struggled and roared, it could not extinguish these flames that clung to its bones. Finally, the flames gradually became blinding, and the monster was pulled into the huge building. The flames and the spiritual light on the building completely merged into one.

This shocking scene left An Huijiu speechless. Zhang Ba clenched his fists tightly, his heart filled with trepidation and tension.

She suddenly realized that the building seemed to be some kind of torch, and the monster was like the fuel burning that torch...

She desperately wanted to ask what it was, but she was afraid of revealing her ignorance and disgracing her sect. So she suppressed her nervousness and curiosity, thinking to herself that she must ask her senior brother when she saw him again. Her senior brother was knowledgeable and would surely know...

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After an unknown amount of time, the spectacular scene in the sky finally came to an end. All the monsters were pulled by chains and dragged into the enormous building, which began to blur, as if retreating into the depths of the mist...

It was only then that An Huiling began to realize that the building was not actually in front of her, but rather that it was being projected in some way, with the building's location unknown.

She let out a long breath, and then noticed that the huge black-robed ghost in the sky was slowly descending, finally landing not far in front of her.

"Who goes there?" A deep voice rang out, its sound seemingly trembling through the air.

By this time, An Huiling could clearly see the ghost's appearance. His face was pale, as if covered in white powder. His black robe, made of some unknown material, was adorned with ancient cloud patterns, seemingly real yet illusory. The hem of the robe resembled drifting black mist, blending seamlessly with the surrounding fog. What caught An Huiling's attention most were the four clearly visible seal characters on his enormous black top hat: "Peace Under Heaven."

The ghostly being looked down, its gaze, seemingly tangible, fell upon An Huiling. It was indifferent and chilling. Faced with the enormous presence before her, An Huiling felt an almost instinctive fear arise. The moment she saw this ghostly being, it was as if all her senses were warning her that a great danger was approaching...

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 781 Black Impermanence

"Reporting to Lord Hei, this is Fairy An from the Kunlun Sect," a ghost messenger hurriedly stepped forward and said.

"So you are a fairy from Kunlun. Kunlun is a great sect and a legitimate lineage of the Xuanmen. I have always admired it." The ghost's originally gloomy and rigid face immediately softened, and his posture became much more respectful.

The next moment, a large cloud of gray-black smoke billowed from his enormous body. Then, the giant, who was over five meters tall, vanished, and in his place appeared a tall, thin, pale-faced middle-aged man. Only from his black robe, cylindrical hat, and the words "Peace Under Heaven" on the hat could An Huiling recognize that this "person," whose height was already within the normal range, should be the "Black Lord" from before.

However, although she now looks "like" a human, An Huiling can still feel the powerful pressure emanating from the other party, as well as a more profound and deathly essence, just like the feeling of facing an abyss.

A certain instinct deep within her body seemed to be constantly reminding her of the power of the ghost before her!

"My surname is Jiang, and I am Hei Wuchang, a subordinate of the City God of Jin'an Underworld." He then cupped his hands in greeting, and although his face still looked gloomy, his tone was extremely polite: "May I ask how you, Fairy, address that Kunlun True Lord Zhang?"

"So it's Lord Black Impermanence. The one you're referring to is my senior brother." An Huiling hurriedly cupped her hands and said respectfully. She tried her best to maintain a calm and polite demeanor, but her eyes unconsciously glanced at the other person. After all... she was curious!

After all, who has ever seen the real Black Impermanence while they were alive?

Let alone seeing him, whether he even saw him at all... is still uncertain!

These days, many people don't believe that ghosts and gods really exist!

After all, in this era of advanced science and technology, what many people have seen since childhood is the rapid development of science and technology among all humankind: the widespread use of the internet, nuclear weapons, advancements in power technology, materials science, chip technology, energy technology, space technology, interstellar mining, planetary colonies, and travel to distant star systems...

The ever-expanding technology of bells has made humanity more confident than ever, while the religions, myths, and legends that have accompanied humanity since ancient times have begun to enter an unprecedented period of decline...

However, An Huiling now knew that all of this was real!

The very existence of this underworld spirit before her tells An Huiling with undeniable truth that myths are real, that they truly exist!

"So you're Zhang Zhenjun's junior sister. Zhang Zhenjun has a past with my master, so you're no stranger here." Hei Wuchang's tone softened, and he then asked, "May I ask what brings you here, fairy? Is there anything I can do to assist you?"

After a slight hesitation, An Huiling decided to tell the truth: "The day before yesterday, I was attacked by a demon. So I wanted to find out if someone was behind it, so I performed a ritual to track it down here. I didn't expect to meet you underworld officials here."

As she spoke, she subconsciously glanced at the chaotic scene and tentatively asked, "What happened here before?"

"A sorcerer here is using living people as sacrifices to practice evil magic, which has been discovered by the Night Wanderer..." The Black Impermanence didn't hide anything, briefly describing what had happened here before, and then said, "Currently, there is still one sorcerer on the run, who will be apprehended shortly..."

As An Huiling listened to Hei Wuchang describe the bloody sacrifice that had occurred here in a calm tone, and heard about the dissection of a pregnant woman, she couldn't help but frown. At this moment, she was almost certain that the sacrifice that had occurred here was inextricably linked to the monster she had encountered that night!

"Cousin...cousin...cousin..."

“Cousin…is it…you? Cousin…” Just then, a soft, hoarse, and trembling voice suddenly called out from the side…

An Huiling was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, almost missing the voices. It wasn't until she heard the repeated calls that she curiously turned her head to look. After a moment of hesitation, her gaze fell on a ghost messenger not far away, and the voices were coming from beside him.

"Cousin...cousin..."

A figure bound by chains and dressed in a Taoist robe lay limp on the ground like a puddle of mud.

The figure seemed to have difficulty even moving, appearing to be on the verge of death...

“Cousin…cousin…it’s me…” When the man saw An Huiling looking at him, he struggled to lift his head. It was a face covered with age spots, with wrinkled skin and white hair.

His aged and cloudy eyes forced out a smile, but he clearly had no strength left. The mere act of raising his head had already exhausted him greatly, and he collapsed again, panting heavily.

"You...who are you?" An Huiling looked at the old man in front of her and didn't recognize him for a moment.

Why would this old man call himself his cousin?!

An Huiling frowned, carefully considering whether she had any relatives who were older than her in the family. This was not uncommon in large families, but she couldn't recall any in a short time...

“Cousin…cousin…” The person seemed to have a choked breath, coughing violently for a while before continuing in a hoarse voice, “I…I am Guanyun…cousin Guanyun…” As he spoke, he could barely catch his breath and coughed violently again.