CH 36

The roots of the tree formed a towering statue that looked down upon them. Shi Jingzhi had a strange illusion at that moment—they resembled crickets trapped in a jar, being observed from the outside.

Fortunately, none of the statues, regardless of which deity they represented, showed any signs of movement. Shi Jingzhi trembled in place for a while and gradually resigned himself to the situation.

He might as well see it to the end*. He took a few steps and reached for the lantern.

*(一不做二不休) Idiom referring to being determined and resolute in pursuing a course of action without hesitation or compromise (AKA to be in for a penny, in for a pound).

The scene before them was horrifying, and the young girl’s legs went weak from fear. Finally encountering a living person, she immediately clung tightly to Shi Jingzhi’s thigh, crying so hard that she almost fainted.

Since seeing the root statue, Yin Ci had been frozen in place. It was only when he heard the terrified cries of the young girl that he managed to regain his composure.

“That Great Goddess is a liar,” Yin Deng cried hoarsely. “Sister is here, and brother is here too. They never ascended to immortality.”

Shi Jingzhi and Yin Ci exchanged glances.

Shi Jingzhi: “Don’t cry… Yin Deng, how did you come down? Do you remember?”

“I… I dreamt that my sister was crying, and I wanted to comfort her. But it seemed like she couldn’t see me, so I wanted to get closer, even closer.”

Summoning up her courage, Yin Deng lifted her head slightly and pointed to the stone platform closest to the statue.

“When I fell, I woke up. Brother saved me. He’s here…”

Previously captivated by the giant root statue, the two finally noticed the stone platforms around them.

Each small platform still had a flesh idol standing on it.

They all faced the central stone platform, resembling a hundred birds facing a phoenix. Compared to the one in the middle, they were much smaller and less exquisite. The small statues were also supported by human bones, but they were crudely made, with many distorted and deformed details, almost like…

“Trial versions,” Yin Ci whispered softly. “They are the draft of an idol.”

The situation became much clearer now—someone had built flesh idols at the bottom of this forbidden area, and they had put in a lot of effort. These statues were based on the giant root statue, and countless idols were made during the production process to ensure a flawless final product.

Thick white cloth was piled under the trial versions, and several chains were coiled around them. No wonder Su Si said the “white-clothed monsters” had their internal organs exposed; they were originally made of living flesh. The deformed flesh statues weren’t presentable, so they were wrapped in white cloth and tightly bound with ropes.

After being used as draft models, they could also serve as puppets. This “immortal” scheme was well thought out.

Considering that the residents of Yuanxian Village were completely unaware of all this, there was only one person who could have done such a thing—

In this situation, undoubtedly, it was the work of the Goddess.

But why did she create such monstrous images? What was the purpose of the flesh statues? The giant root statue was covered in climbing vines and seemed to have a history of hundreds of years, but where did it come from?

Yin Ci had wandered the mortal realm for over three hundred years, and instead of everything becoming clear, it only grew darker. Apart from monsters and Monster Material, he seemed to know nothing about the “other side” of the world.

The current scene was more absurd than his nightmare.

Thinking of the nightmare, Yin Ci couldn’t help but touch his face. This time, his facial features were intact, and there were no strange roots on his face. The familiar sensation of the ghostskin robe came through his fingers.

Shi Jingzhi remained silent for a long time. Finally, he squeezed out a bit of composure from the depths of his bones, half-squatted down, and placed his hands on Yin Deng’s shoulders.

“Yin Deng, you just said, ‘Sister is here, and brother is here’… Can you communicate with them?”

Yin Deng vigorously shook her head, wiping away the tears on her face. “They can’t—they can’t speak. But I just know.”

She pointed to the flesh idol on the central stone platform and then pointed to a draft model not far away. “That’s sister, and that’s brother. I can feel that they are here.”

Perhaps this was what people referred to when they said that human children had spiritual senses that weren’t completely closed. It was unclear how this child could recognize the statues, as all of them were bloody and indistinguishable.

Yin Ci quickly calculated in his mind.

As long as they brought Yin Deng up and exposed one of the white-clothed monsters in public, the villagers would undoubtedly notice something was wrong—then they could ignite the situation, and at least someone would willingly help them get out.

That was also one way.

…But the problem they had to worry about at the moment wasn’t that.

The Goddess knew the secrets beneath the forbidden area, yet she still allowed them to enter. It might not be so easy to leave if they wanted to.

Shi Jingzhi was evidently considering similar matters. He paced in circles, trying his best to ignore the flesh statues around them.

“A’Ci, let me carry you on my back, and you hold onto Yin Deng. Let’s try climbing back up… and see…” His eyes caught something in the corner, and he froze in place. The latter half of his sentence trembled more and more as he spoke, eventually ending in a groan.

Following Shi Jingzhi’s gaze, Yin Deng let out an inhuman scream and fainted in fright—

The giant root statue slowly moved—no, it wasn’t the statue itself, but a massive worm monster emerging from within the roots. The giant worm twisted and slid around the statue, causing a cascade of soil and stones. After a moment, it settled in place, with its head hanging down towards the group. At first glance, it looked like rotten intestines coiled around the giant root statue.

Who the hell knew which rule they had broken to disturb this thing.

Being closer, the master and disciple had no choice but got a clearer view.

The body of the giant worm was reddish-brown, with a rough and tough outer skin that resembled old tree bark. It had three pitch-black holes on its head, devoid of eyeballs. The gaps between the holes were split into three segments, resembling the divisions of a human head. Within the gaps, uneven and densely packed yellowish teeth grew, resembling human teeth. Muddy yellow saliva mixed with soil dripped down steadily.

The giant worm coiled around the tunnel, sealing off the rock wall tightly. The long, hand-like objects were scraped off, allowing them to finally see their true nature.

They were worm eggs.

The insect eggs were about half the size of a person, with hard spindle-shaped shells. One end could easily penetrate the soil and rocks, while the other end was connected to long, arm-like structures that allowed them to crawl freely. They numbered in the thousands and were quietly embedded behind the root deity statue. Now, swept away by the giant worm, the insect eggs fell continuously into the water.

The insect eggs seemed uninterested in the flesh in the pool. They surged in groups, piercing into the thick skin of the giant worm, and the deformed hands flailed about randomly.

Unfortunately, this heartwarming reunion of parent and child didn’t touch Shi Jingzhi. Fox Shi’s eyes darted around, as if he wished to end it all right there.

In comparison, the white-clothed monsters seemed quite pleasant.

But it was too late; they had long lost their way out.

Shi Jingzhi attempted to use his yang fire to cover the flag, but he himself felt like a damp matchstick, unable to produce a single spark. The giant worm opened its mouth full of teeth, and Shi Jingzhi looked like he was about to vomit again.

Yin Ci was helpless. “Shizun!”

Hearing his disciple’s cry, Shi Jingzhi regained some clarity. He gritted his teeth, wrapped the unconscious Yin Deng and the Hanging Shadow Sword together, and handed them to Yin Ci. “Since you don’t have inner force, take good care of her and hide!”

This was indeed a reasonable plan.

Faced with such a huge monster, the lack of inner force could be fatal. Shi Jingzhi could still rely on brute force to fight it, but until they discovered the giant worm’s weakness, Yin Ci could only make superficial attacks on it.

Yin Ci held Yin Deng in one arm and wielded his sword in the other, quickly jumping off the stone platform.

Shi Jingzhi, on the other hand, awkwardly leaped up and barely clung to the surface of the giant worm. In the next instant, countless insect eggs reached out towards him, visibly exploding.

The yang fire blazed, instantly igniting the long arms of the insect eggs. With a series of popping sounds, they emitted an indescribable stench. The giant worm was burned by the yang fire and struggled against the cave wall.

Shi Jingzhi inserted his flag into its thick skin, barely stabilizing himself. Yin Ci took advantage of the geography and hid beneath a withered lotus leaf in the corner, ensuring that Yin Deng wouldn’t be affected by the giant worm.

The insect eggs suffered heavy casualties, but the giant worm only sustained minor injuries. Shi Jingzhi pitifully poked at the worm’s body, resembling an ant trying to bite an elephant to death. The giant worm grew annoyed by this persistent ant. Seeing that scraping against the rock wall was ineffective, it began to curl its body and vigorously strike the wall, intending to crush the bothersome ant.

The entire forbidden area shook and rumbled as it struck, causing more intact insect eggs to fall, nearly pushing Yin Ci into the water.

It was a pity.

If Shi Jingzhi’s external martial arts were sufficient or if he could control his power with ease, this giant worm wouldn’t be his opponent. However, Shi Jingzhi had limited combat experience and was still at the stage of begging for food while holding a golden bowl*, completely unaware of how to wield his strength.

*Metaphor for having good conditions but not making good use of them and doing nothing.

After contemplating for a long time, Yin Ci couldn’t find the weakness of the worm monster either. One had the will but not the power, while the other had the power but not the will—they would only be consumed by this creature.

Yin Deng’s injuries were peculiar, and she was an important witness. She absolutely must not die down there.

In order to ensure that everyone survived, there was only one path left to take—Yin Ci had to provoke this fox.

From Yin Ci’s observation, Shi Jingzhi was most afraid of two things. First, being unable to survive, and second, losing his disciple. Currently, his fear of death was having the opposite effect, causing Shi Jingzhi to hesitate and not take action.

He needed to administer a strong stimulus to ignite that madness once again.

Just at that moment, Shi Jingzhi couldn’t hold on any longer and crashed onto the stone platform. He fell heavily and immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood. The giant worm had no intention of letting him struggle for his life, and it was about to crush him.

Yin Ci placed Yin Deng on a withered lotus leaf and rushed towards the stone platform. He held onto Shi Jingzhi, tiptoed, and both of them hung onto the stalk of an outer lotus leaf, barely stabilizing their bodies.

The giant worm brushed past the master and disciple, crashing into the stone platform where Shi Jingzhi had originally been, shattering the pillars. The broken stones shot into the shallow pool, and blood mixed with dust floated up. The draft model idol that originally stood on the stone platform was crushed into flesh and mud by the creature. It slipped back into the pool miserably, leaving a trail of blood, making the shallow pool even murkier.

“A’Ci?” Shi Jingzhi hadn’t come to his senses yet.

“Shizun, look, that thing only dares to attack the white-clothed monsters and doesn’t dare to touch the central flesh idol.” Time was of the essence, so Yin Ci got straight to the point. “Remember where you landed earlier.”

Shi Jingzhi deeply glanced at him and didn’t dawdle any longer. He grabbed the flag again and rushed out.

With a foothold, his attacks gradually became more systematic. The giant worm had been harassed by Shi Jingzhi for a long time, sustaining more and more burns on its body. It couldn’t bear it any longer, and it was growing more and more restless. Yin Ci took Yin Deng farther away and intentionally moved closer to the center of the battlefield. He made up his mind to act as a lively fish in the pond, waiting to be affected by Shi Jingzhi’s actions.

In the end, Yin Ci was indeed drawn into the battle, but it didn’t go exactly as he had planned—

Shi Jingzhi’s battle was reaching its climax. With one final blow, he could kill this worm monster.

The creature, fed up with Shi Jingzhi’s constant harassment, sustained more and more injuries. It couldn’t bear it any longer and was about to unleash a devastating strike, but suddenly, it froze in midair. After a moment, it curled up into a ring and rigidly crashed down, narrowly avoiding hitting the central stone lotus blossom in the forbidden area.

“I wondered why it was shaking so violently. It’s quite impressive that you survived for so long under the protection of the root burrower.” A cold voice resounded.

Just before the worm monster went berserk, the Goddess descended from the sky.

The insect eggs intertwined with each other, forming a net of hands that held her in mid-air. She glanced at the chaotic bottom of the forbidden place and raised her hand, releasing a spell. A tree root shot out from the stone wall, poking a large hole in the giant worm’s body.

“These foolish creatures truly lack intelligence. They almost ruined my plans.”

The giant worm screamed in pain and didn’t dare to move. The insect eggs seemed to have received some instruction. They swarmed together, intertwining their arms and hoisting the central flesh idol in mid-air, suspending it in a safe position.

Shi Jingzhi had been locked in a battle with the giant worm for a long time and had reached the end of his strength. He gasped for breath as the yang fire on his flag flickered, ultimately failing to stop those arms.

With the flesh idol gone, only a pool of living flesh remained by Shi Jingzhi’s side. Without any vulnerabilities, the Goddess’s killing intent spread like a tidal wave.

Fortunately, compared to the giant worm, the Goddess looked completely normal, and Shi Jingzhi’s courage returned somewhat. He glanced at Yin Ci’s hiding place and provocatively said, “So you decided to come down after all. Why bother? If you had come earlier to save Yin Deng, everything would have been fine.”

The Goddess sneered. “You little brat certainly have a sharp tongue. At the brink of death, you still want to protect others?”

Another tree root sinisterly pierced out, directly aiming for Shi Jingzhi. Just as he was about to adopt a defensive stance, the root suddenly changed its trajectory, accelerating abruptly and crashing into the edge where Yin Ci was hiding, forcefully pushing him into the depths of the pool and burying him in the flesh mud.

Bubbles emerged from the murky pool bottom, releasing a burst of blood, and then everything fell silent. The water surface quickly returned to calm, but Yin Ci didn’t resurface. He couldn’t struggle, not even a little.

Shi Jingzhi hadn’t anticipated that she would target his disciple. His entire being froze like ice.

The sound of water had long ceased, the giant worm no longer screamed, and there was silence all around. Shi Jingzhi felt somewhat lost. This moment was too abrupt, too fast for him to react or even confirm what had happened.

He tightly grasped the flag in his hand—although he had burned the giant worm all over, just a little more effort and they would have won. Then he could have dragged Yin Ci back to the ground, scolded him thoroughly, or perhaps even given him a beating. After dealing with this disobedient disciple, the Kushan Sect could find another way out…

They were so close to victory.

But the appearance of the Goddess completely shattered Shi Jingzhi’s joy. It was like climbing to the mountaintop in a blizzard, exhausting all his strength, only to be pushed down into the abyss by a single step.

Shi Jingzhi felt chills all over his body.

If only the Goddess had arrived a step earlier, he wouldn’t have entertained such unrealistic illusions. If she had arrived a step later, they would have already escaped from the giant worm and could have found another path. Why? Why did she have to come at this very moment?

Why did she have to casually destroy his things in front of him?

That uncontrollable emotion surged once again. Resentment, grievance, fear, and hatred mixed together, and Shi Jingzhi was too exhausted and too heartbroken. This time, he let go of the reins and no longer tried to control it.

Finally, the desire for survival ignited madness, intertwining together. A strong aura of malevolence burst forth from the depths of his weary bones.

The golden flames turned into spears, soaring into the sky.

The web of hands instantly turned to ashes. The Goddess was caught off guard, narrowly avoiding being consumed by the sea of flames. A thin root promptly caught her, saving her from being directly scorched by the flames.

Shi Jingzhi stood on the central stone platform with a blank expression and disheveled hair. The unparalleled oppressive sensation erupted once again, like a young dragon venturing into the sea or a young tiger roaring in the mountains. The draft model idols on the stone platform were pushed by the wind and fell into the water, creating numerous dazzling water splashes.

Fortunately, Shi Jingzhi remembered Yin Deng, and the whirlwind around him scattered but didn’t harm the edges.

It was said that one force could suppress ten*. Shi Jingzhi didn’t use any spells or martial arts techniques. With this almost terrifying strength alone, he indiscriminately destroyed everything above the forbidden area.

*Metaphor referring to a single individual’s power or ability is so exceptional that they can easily overcome or dominate a group of ten opponents.

The flames burned fiercer and fiercer.

The forbidden area was narrow, and the golden flames were at their peak. The Goddess struggled to evade, looking quite miserable. The heat in the air was terrifying, making it impossible to breathe normally. Her hair ends were charred, and her ethereal sleeves and skirt turned into ashes. However, with the flesh idol by her side, she didn’t dare to abandon it and escape. Instead, she futilely erected layer after layer of barriers, attempting to gain a moment of respite.

Finally, the golden flames reached the upper half of the goddess’s body. Just when she had no retreat, she opened her mouth and shouted loudly, seemingly calling for help from someone invisible. However, Shi Jingzhi’s senses were in chaos, and he couldn’t catch a single word.

All he saw was more tree roots curling over, separating the Goddess from the flames. Strangely enough, the golden flames also struck those roots, but the roots remained unscathed.

The giant worm wasn’t as fortunate. It couldn’t withstand the overwhelming golden flames. Its surface turned charred black and cracked, half-roasted while still alive.

Unfortunately, no matter how extraordinary Shi Jingzhi’s talent was, he was ultimately a mortal with a physical body. The uncontrolled yang fire had burned for a long time and gradually weakened.

But the Goddess didn’t fall.

“I underestimated you.”

Confirming that the flesh idol beside her was also protected by roots and unharmed, the Goddess disregarded her own damaged body and let out a sigh of relief. At this moment, half of her body was swollen with a dark red color, devoid of any divine aura and instead resembling an evil spirit that had infiltrated the mortal realm.

“…Humans are not gods, and their energy is limited. Even if you can still stand after using that move just now, it’s worth praising.”

Shi Jingzhi held the “Medicine Cures Illness” flag, but he couldn’t move an inch. His face was as pale as gold, sweat was pouring down, and his lips were devoid of color.

She wasn’t wrong. This time, he had almost depleted all his energy, and even breathing became extremely difficult.

However, despite suffering such a great loss, the Goddess didn’t show any resentment on her face. Instead, a hint of strange joy appeared. “Although you’ve turned this place upside down, you have quite a strong connection to the divine. Can’t you handle that pool of materials by yourself?”

Shi Jingzhi stared at her with anger, unable to muster the strength to speak. He could only exert his last bit of strength, straighten his posture, and force himself to stand.

The Goddess didn’t expect him to answer. She snorted coldly, lifted her right hand, and several tree roots surged towards them like living creatures. It seemed that they were about to entangle around him—

Ding.

The tree roots collided with a sword blade, producing a somewhat crisp sound.

An arm hooked around Shi Jingzhi’s waist, pulling him backward. The black blade flashed once again, sweeping away a malicious tree root. Shi Jingzhi slowly turned his head and saw a face that was both unfamiliar and familiar.

As cold as snow, peerlessly beautiful.

Underneath the Ghost Tomb, they had met once before.

Shi Jingzhi understood. The person in white was neither an “enemy” nor a “senior” he had caught a glimpse of. At this moment, the person used a voice that he was familiar with, but the warmth in the voice had vanished, leaving only ruthlessness and arrogance.

“It’s a pity about my ghostskin robe.”

The person whispered in his ear.

“Shizun, since I brought you in, I will definitely send you out… Don’t be angry about this matter, okay?”

The author has something to say:

Demonic Lord Yin: As long as I have the initiative, this layer of my little vest is not considered to be taken off*! (?

*Clarity: It’s an online term referring to “stripping the vest”. When someone has more than 2 IDs on a registered forum, the most commonly used or well-known ID is called the main ID, while the other IDs are called vest IDs. || In this case, Yin Ci has revealed his true form to Shi Jingzhi, but he’s not revealing his true identity so it’s not considered “stripping the vest”.

Fox Shi: ?

Fox Shi: (Takes out a little notebook and starts recording the number of lessons owed by the disciple)