Chapter 119: The Netherworld
Chapter 119: The Netherworld
Ning Zhe held Ji Taiyu's head and looked back at the road they came from. One fat, one thin, one old, one young, four shadowy ghosts floated slowly from the distant intersection, some happy, some angry, some resentful, some hateful, all kinds of human emotions were reflected on their faces, vividly.
"What is that? A ghost?" Feng Yusu nervously moved her body closer to him, standing in front of Ning Zhe.
She was much shorter than Ning Zhe, and even in thick-soled sandals she was still half a head shorter than him. However, the fire in the ginkgo tree's heart sprinkled on Feng Yusu's body, projecting a huge, deformed, terrifying and hideous black shadow like a monster, as if it was a god nailed to the cross.
Te Rang was agitated by Feng Yusu's nervousness, and wanted to rush forward and kill the approaching ghosts one by one.
But Ning Zhe stopped her from doing so.
"That's not a ghost." Ning Zhe said, raising his hand slightly, and a girl in red appeared in front of him. But this time, Ning Zhe was not the only one who could see her appearance - Feng Yusu also noticed He Nianjun's appearance.
"This is..." Feng Yushu was a little surprised: "From Hejia Village?"
"Sure enough, if it was here... even you can see Zhao You." Ning Zhe nodded slightly, waved his hand gently to call He Nianjun to him, and then said: "Those things around are not ghosts, they are just people whose lives have been reduced to zero. But because of the restrictions of the rules of Yanglao Village, people here cannot die normally even if they are killed, and can only wander half-dead in this... Netherworld."
Look at the shadows walking out of the streets, some of them happy, some sad, all kinds of emotions overflowing on their faces. There are white-haired old ghosts with smiles on their faces, and skinny ghosts who are limping and holding human legs. Their steps are shadowy, muttering to themselves, and they are all approaching here.
After experiencing several strange events, Feng Yusu's courage has become much better than before. Seeing the shadowy figures surrounding him from all directions, although he was still nervous, he managed to stay calm.
She leaned close to Ning Zhe and asked in a low voice: "The Netherworld...what is that?"
"It's just a little folk story." Ning Zhe was unmoved and said lightly:
"Legend has it that there was a scholar in ancient times, whose birth dynasty was unknown. One day, he was reading at home by lamplight. In the middle of the night, he was exhausted and fell asleep. He opened his eyes in a daze and saw two impermanences, one black and one white, standing in his room. They held an iron chain and said, "Your life span is over. Come with us to the underworld."
"The Black and White Impermanence tied up the scholar's soul with an iron chain and dragged him to the gates of hell. However, the scholar's life span was not over yet. The Black and White Impermanence mistakenly hooked up a living soul, and the scholar took the wrong path on his way to the underworld. Instead of going straight to the gates of hell, he mistakenly entered a strange place called 'the netherworld'."
"The God of Death took the wrong road and missed the time to escort the soul. When the judge of the underworld found that the scholar's life span had not yet ended, the scholar was already dying, with only a thread of breath left. The soul-escaping God of Death was afraid of making a big mistake, so he hurriedly returned the scholar's soul to the body of the living, and even forgot to erase the memory of this journey, letting him return to the world of the living with what he had seen and heard in the underworld."
"After the scholar returned to the world of the living, he created a painting called "The Picture of the Underworld", which depicts the underworld he accidentally entered on his way to the underworld."
"The so-called netherworld is neither in the underworld nor in the underworld, nor in the world of the living."
"It is dark as gray, cold as water, vast as the sea, and deep as the abyss... There is a kind of deformed spirit that looks like a human and a beast, but is neither human nor beast. It wanders around in the underworld. Its name is - '聻'."
"An ancient book says: When a person dies, he becomes a ghost, and people are afraid of him. When a ghost dies, he becomes a demon, and ghosts are afraid of him. Ghosts fear demons just like people fear ghosts."
Ning Zhe has a big heart. In this environment, he still has the interest to tell folk stories to his aunt. It is not only because he is confident in his abilities, but also because Ning Zhe has a clear idea of the current situation.
"聻..." Listening to Ning Zhe's description, Feng Yusu couldn't help but think of the human bone snake that crawled out of Ji Taiyu's grandmother's body.
She lowered her voice and whispered, "After Ji Taiyu's grandmother died, it seems that she turned into a deformed spirit called '聻', which is similar to a human and a beast?"
So, have we entered the Netherworld in the Netherworld Imaginary Map? "No, the Netherworld is on the -1 floor, and we are now on the 0 floor," Ning Zhe said openly, "but we are about to go deeper."
"Deeper?" Feng Yushu was stunned: "Then how are we going to get to... that dark and mysterious realm?"
Ning Zhe turned his head and gave her a clear smile: "It's very simple - we just need to die together."
As he spoke, the ghosts around him had already gotten closer, and the Central Plains Mandarin with a little retroflex sound was murmuring in the quiet environment, as if someone was whispering in your ear. The ginkgo tree behind the land temple was on fire, but the air was cool at the moment. A sense of crisis surged into Feng Yusu's heart, but then Ning Zhe held her hand.
"Let's go to the next floor." As he said that, Ning Zhe reached Feng Yusu's hand to the chest of the red-dressed girl and opened a page of the almanac.
The next moment, both of them died.
The ancients said: When a person dies, he becomes a ghost, and when a ghost dies, he becomes a demon.
What is 聻? If you write this word in seal script and stick it on your door, all evil spirits will stay away from you. This is what ghosts are afraid of.
As Zhao You's instant death rule was triggered, Ning Zhe and Feng Yusu both died, but here, in Yanglao Village, death is not the end of everything.
Feeling that his consciousness had once again gone through a journey between life and death, Feng Yusu's brain felt dizzy. When he opened his eyes again, everything in front of him seemed to be no different from before. It was still the ginkgo tree, the same land temple, and shadowy ghosts were wandering in the gloomy village, as if nothing had changed.
Do not have.
Feng Yusu lowered his eyes and looked around. All he saw was the dark black, the white of the accumulated snow, and the ashes of the burnt embers. It was as if the whole world had lost its color. The two of them walked into an old faded photograph in death. Everything around them was so desolate.
Before Feng Yuxu could observe this "faded" world, a white skeleton snake with a human face and an old head suddenly jumped out from nowhere, and its open ribs flew straight into her face.
The resentful eyes and dry, wrinkled skin were exactly the same as Ji Taixuan's grandmother. It was undoubtedly the human bone snake that she had just killed.
Feng Yuxu was startled and subconsciously wanted to trigger the special agent to kill him again, but once again, Ning Zhe stopped her.
"You can't kill it, you will only send this evil thing deeper into the depths." His voice was soft, but every word was clear, making Feng Yuxu feel relieved.
Ning Zhe ignored the human bone snake that appeared again, and just opened the almanac again, asking Zhao to kill him again for violating the death taboo.
The ancients said: When a person dies, he becomes a ghost; when a ghost dies, he becomes a demon; when a demon dies, he becomes a spirit.
What is rare? It is written in the Tao Te Ching: "If you hear something but do not hear it, it is called rare."
(End of this chapter)