NHWSG chapter 97

In the chaotic realm, a crack was forcibly opened.

A glaring sunlight cast a slender line under the cold tiles, and Zhang Jian, still unable to see, could at least feel a gentle breeze on his exposed skin.

It wasn’t until the young master plunged into the reincarnation platform that Zhang Jian struggled to break free from the deep dream. He was half-astonished and half-angry, his chest heaving violently, his temples throbbing like needles, and a constant buzzing in his ears. He didn’t know if it was because he had been too immersed in his past life for too long and hurt his body, or if he had been deluded by the confusion.

He gasped heavily for a long time before gradually regaining his lost senses. He struggled to open his eyes in the direction of the wind, only to see a blurry figure standing not far away, backlit, tall but indistinct.

Zhang Jian’s vision was scattered with colorful blocks, and he closed his eyes in pain, tilting his head and gasping twice.

“Lian Yin Yue” he called out the other’s name.

Lian Yin Yue stepped forward at the sound of her name, assuming a neutral stance.

“Zhang Jian… right?” Lian Yin Yue said softly. “You see, we are of the same kind. Since you can’t see through it, you probably understand my intentions. So why do you insist on coming here to play the villain?”

Zhang Jian’s ears were ringing incessantly, and listening to Lian Yin Yue speaking felt like listening through a cloud, unclear and muffled. He struggled to pick out a few key words from her long sentence, listening in a mixture of guessing and intuition, and couldn’t help but sneer.

“Who’s like you?” he sneered coldly. “You use evil spells to harm people, gather the luck of those precious lives. For what purpose?”

Before Lian Yin Yue could respond, Zhang Jian continued, “You’re also over two hundred years old this year. You’re neither a ghost nor demon, and you don’t age or die because you’ve been harvesting people’s lives, right?”

Although Zhang Jian exposed her secrets, Lian Yin Yue wasn’t angered. She just sighed softly, looking at him with a pitying gaze.

Zhang Jian felt dizzy when he opened his eyes, but he felt as if her gaze was substantial, piercing him like needles, making him uncomfortable.

“I fell in love with someone I shouldn’t have,” Lian Yin Yue said. “… Just like you.”

Zhang Jian found her absurd. He didn’t have the energy to entertain such nonsense and instinctively grabbed the fabric over his chest, taking a deep breath.

“You still don’t understand,” Lian Yin Yue sighed. “Perhaps you don’t want to admit it to yourself, or perhaps you haven’t truly understood your own heart. But I’ve said it before, you and I are the same. What I’m attached to is also the delusion in your heart.”

“You’re trying to deceive me with your words,” Zhang Jian said sternly. “I come from a legitimate background, serving the will of heaven and blessing the people. I don’t have the habit of harming innocent lives and extracting their luck.”

“I don’t gather those people’s lives or their luck,” Lian Yin Yue said. “Whether you believe it or not, I’m alive because I still have unfinished business. If I finish it, this mere vessel… can be discarded.”

Zhang Jian furrowed his brow in confusion, but before he could inquire further, Lian Yin Yue’s expression suddenly changed. The calm and compassionate expression she had just now was instantly replaced by a rage. She turned around abruptly, her throat emitting a low growl that sounded inhuman.

Stimulated by something unknown, she displayed a furious impatience, not even bothering about Zhang Jian, and rushed out of the room.

Zhang Jian was startled by the sound, subconsciously wanting to follow her footsteps out the door. However, he felt weak all over, and as he tried to get up, he fell back halfway.

Only then did he belatedly realize that the place where he was being held was a dingy little tiled room, about three meters square. The roof was densely covered with dark lines, outlining a complex array whose name couldn’t be discerned.

The lingering effects from his time in the underworld hadn’t subsided yet, and Zhang Jian wanted to leave this room, but after trying twice and failing, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and kneel up in the corner of the room, bracing himself against the wall with great effort to support his body.

He was just about to muster the strength to take a step forward when he suddenly heard a scream not far from the backyard.

“Xiao Zhao—!”

Zhang Jian’s heart suddenly jolted.

In front of the backyard’s tiled house, Hu Huanyang burst out like a giant nuclear bomb, almost smashing the door of the “monk’s” room open with a rush.

Originally, Sheng Zhao was sitting against the door, facing off against the monk, but unexpectedly, there was a sudden attack from behind. He was pushed forward by a powerful force and almost threw himself onto the monk, feeling sore and painful all over.

Sheng Zhao: “…”

It was the monk who, just now, had a calm and unmoving appearance as if seated on a lotus flower. But now, he moved very quickly, propping himself up with one hand on the edge of the kang, flipping over in place, and gracefully landing on the ground, the hem of his robe lightly sweeping over the overturned stool.

It was Sheng Zhao who ended up crashing onto the earthen kang. His belly hurt from the collision, and he gritted his teeth in pain.

Hu Huanyang, this stupid fox!

“Xiao Zhao!” With his eyes closed, Hu Huanyang rushed into the room, not bothering to look at the awakened person inside, and started gesturing wildly, shouting incoherently, “Are you okay!”

“Almost got hurt by you!” Sheng Zhao cursed. “How did you get in here!”

Hearing his voice, Hu Huanyang opened his eyes, then, as if facing a formidable enemy, made a defensive posture towards the monk, stammering, “I-I-I—the blue phoenix helped me get in!”

… Oh, Sheng Zhao thought, so that’s where this favor was used.

“Then you—” Sheng Zhao was about to ask why he came in at this time when he suddenly felt a tremor in his heart, suddenly overwhelmed by an inexplicable panic.

He instinctively grabbed Hu Huanyang and pulled him back, and Hu Huanyang staggered back a step. Only then did he notice that the place where he had been standing just now was emitting strange white smoke.

That thing didn’t look good at all, and Sheng Zhao was startled. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure with a fierce momentum flash past the door, heading straight for Hu Huanyang.

With an instinctive curse in his mouth, Sheng Zhao tried to dodge backwards, but before he could react, the monk who had seemed to want to “save all sentient beings” just now suddenly changed his face. Red marks spread from the corners of his eyes, blood flashed in his grayish pupils, and he suddenly attacked, reaching out towards Sheng Zhao’s chest.

These days, Xing Yingzhuo had only trained Sheng Zhao’s occult talents and hadn’t taught him any practical combat experience. When Sheng Zhao saw the monk grab his collar, he intended to dodge, but his hands were slower than his brain, and he was caught off guard.

It wasn’t until he instinctively struggled that he realized that the pendant hanging from his chest had been brought out by the collision just now and was now swaying left and right in front of him.

The monk seemed to be very wary of Xing Yingzhuo’s blood, but he also seemed somewhat eager. His eyes changed from time to time, and he looked at Sheng Zhao as if he were looking at a plate of braised pork that could be twisted.

“Damn it,” Sheng Zhao thought in shock, “Could this thing actually want to eat me?!”

Seemingly to confirm his suspicion, the monk suddenly exerted force and forcefully threw him onto the earthen kang. Sheng Zhao felt his head spinning and instinctively grabbed the monk’s hand, struggling desperately.

Fortunately, although this monk looked demonic, his physical combat abilities were still within the realm of “ordinary people.” Sheng Zhao kicked and struggled with all his might, managing to hold his own against him.

But before his brain could react to the current situation, he heard a sudden scream beside him.

“Help—”

Sheng Zhao was startled and instinctively turned his head to look.

But upon seeing, he almost vomited on the spot—even Lian Yin Yue, whom he had known, had turned into a bizarre half-human, half-demon creature. Her face remained the same as before, but her body had transformed into layers of seaweed-like plants, entangled and struggling fiercely with Hu Huanyang.

“Damn,” Sheng Zhao thought in shock, “This feels like something out of Lovecraft. My sanity points are plummeting!”

Fortunately, although Hu Huanyang didn’t look good, he still had some dignity as a fox spirit and managed to hold his own against the strange, deformed creature in front of him.

As for why he shouted for help—it was purely because he was disgusted to death by the opponent.

The seaweed tendrils were covered in living flesh and blood, falling off with a squelch, mixing blood and mucus. In just a moment, half of Hu Huanyang’s body was almost submerged in the mass of seaweed, looking like he was about to be swallowed by the creature.

From Sheng Zhao’s perspective, the visual impact was extremely terrifying, capable of giving someone nightmares for a week. Its destructive power was comparable to the sea monster movies Sheng Zhao had seen in his childhood, where people were swallowed alive.

“I don’t understand!” Hu Huanyang wailed, “How did seaweed become a demon?!”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Gritting his teeth, Sheng Zhao kicked the monk hard in the side, using all his strength to flip him over and pin him to the earthen kang.

“Don’t crack jokes at a time like this!” Sheng Zhao shouted impatiently.

In this room, with one person and one demon, busy fighting against the forces of evil, no one noticed that just as the monk was about to touch Sheng Zhao’s collar, a sudden appearance of a golden-black thread abruptly emerged from Sheng Zhao’s left wrist.

The golden thread flashed for a moment, smoothly disappearing into the air beside him, quickly vanishing from sight.

At the same time, in the Abyss of the Forbidden Sea, Xing Yingzhuo suddenly felt a momentary warmth in his right wrist. He glanced down and saw the previously bonded thread looped around his wrist, then quickly disappearing.

…What is that silly boy up to? Xing Yingzhuo thought puzzledly.

This demonic blood contract thing was also used by Xing Yingzhuo for the first time. Originally, there was a half-rolled “instruction manual” for this thing, but he found the font too small and dizzying to read, so he only glanced at the beginning and then threw it away. He didn’t have a very good understanding of the practical use of this thing, so when he saw that it only flashed for a moment, he didn’t pay much attention.

“Is this enough?” Xing Yingzhuo weighed the thing in his hand, facing the woman opposite him, continuing the unfinished conversation from earlier, “Are you really not coming in person?”

Bai Li tilted her head and said casually, “No, I’m busy going to Penglai for a drink.”

Xing Yingzhuo: “…”

He couldn’t be bothered to say much to this person. Upon receiving a definite answer, he turned and took a few steps forward, reaching the edge of the pillar.

The pillar of the Forbidden Sea soared into the clouds. From this angle, the Forbidden Sea seemed insignificant, appearing particularly small.

Just as he was about to throw the armor in his hand into the sea, Bai Li behind him suddenly stopped him abruptly.

“Yingzhuo,” Bai Li said in a casual tone, as if chatting with an old friend, “After so many years, with your cultivation, even if you were to cultivate, you could still attain another dragon body. Why persist in your original form?”