Free Web NovelChapter 249: Chapter 53: The Convergence of Multiple Despairs
）.The day had indeed dawned brighter, confirming their resolution. As the late evening bled into today, by morning it was certain that... estimating conservatively, they should start opening the next Chapter, rolling back the mysterious veil layer by layer once they had collected their pens and notes.
"...I have done something wrong... save me... brother"
. A single word of plea for help echoed with clarity... As his memories started to surface intact, the white fog in his brain began to lift, unveiling a Chapter of history that unfolded along with it.
... The complete sacrifice of the Zhao family had ultimately led to their demise amidst the hidden dangers that had lurked behind the white fog.
. The Zhao family’s livestock began to rage wildly within the pens, sparking a conflagration. The Zhao home was lost to the flames—this was the moment when all had occurred simultaneously.
. He wanted to untie and wriggle out of the ropes binding him, struggling with all his might.
? Yet nothing had changed, even though he had clearly made his choice... but why?
. Why should he believe in the creature lurking in the dark waters and the whispers of the Zhu Jia, in the God Granny?
. The fact was, if he wanted to return to reality, to find a deep crimson solution, he had to make a choice. He knew he hadn’t made a mistake, and he felt an acute sense of danger emanating from the white fog.
. One despairing scene after another appeared. ƒreewebɳovel.com
...
...
. Nonetheless, not even immense internal sorrow could be suppressed. He knew nothing about what had befallen this young villager, who seemed to feel nothing for his plight, child-like indifference.
! It was Elder Zhao who was playing the role of the child. This dark figure, this monster, finally came to the realization at this moment.
. Although the paper figurine shopkeeper Old Plank might seem to have heard an illusory sound, at the very end of its wailing it had uttered no human words, and it had not even screamed this phrase during its final moments in history.
"... save me... father"
: The creature uttered a piercing and sudden cry of distress, suggesting that it might have been fully immolated by the great fire at any moment, but the dark figure had not spoken.
. Elder Zhao felt nothing but numbness to the pain, simply watching the creature wail at this very moment.
. This black creature, which he had never seen before and did not recognize, was merely glimpsed from the front. It seemed to be hiding behind a paper figure, an ugly visage that Elder Zhao was willing to face to protect himself from some evil creature.
. While watching this scene, Elder Zhao felt nothing but a wrenching pain in his heart. If this had been the white fog, it would have been able to untangle the threads and clear the scene.
... The black creature would never speak.
. The black creature began to engulf him, sensing his prey like a ravenous beast, and the fire, which seemed even more ferocious than Elder Zhao could imagine, was about to quickly consume the few remaining supports.
. Elder Zhao could also sense the creature’s profound despair, despite being at a great distance from it.
. Slowly but surely, the fire drew closer to that glossy black creature... She held the torch in her hand, hopping and chanting spells, staring into the sunken eyes of the God Granny.
. A sudden fear sprouted in Elder Zhao’s heart, triggering memories to surface.
... Elder Zhao, the village chief, and God Granny, all came into sight on the raised platform.
. Yet there he was, bound upon the grand structure, while just earlier he was still at home playing with his paper figurines; that dark, murky creature was there.
. The entire lake seemed to boil with resentful steam, as if transforming the mist into bubbling water.
. The Dazhong Lake, shrouded in a deathly silence, beckoned without delay, tracing a path he had once dawdled on.
. Elder Zhao could not find any joy in this spectacle.
". Only sacrifice to the Divine Lake can quell its raging fires, only if there is an offering for the Divine Lake. But those who are cursed cannot live, are entangled with misfortune from above"
: He heard the villagers’ words in the past, listening to the sound of water before the waterfall, hearing the water’s voice as it fell.
. Jiaxie felt as though he was being pulled by some force within himself, feeling a presence in the empty space. The coffin materials had all been sealed tightly, yet Jiaxie couldn’t begin to guess how he could push them, let alone move them.
. They had all transformed into true figures, or so it seemed in the second scene, although there were no real people among them to play the parts.
Well Si realized he was lying in the coffin by himself, the one he was about to pry open.
To his shock, Well Si found himself suddenly lying in the mouth of the coffin. It was as if he had stepped into this scene... he wasn’t a complete stranger to this coffin.
He backed away swiftly, as if jolted by a sudden burst of dizziness. The back of his head seemed to crash into the void beyond the wall.
His breath became urgent, and he felt an abrupt tightness in his chest as he walked along the lake’s edge, past landmarks he knew well.
Weeds and grasses were protruding from every corner, but the street was even more abnormal than usual.
The entire scenery had begun to morph, giving rise to the start of some ominous activity with the white mist performing some sort of taboo ritual.
...
...
Elder Zhao, in this body, fundamentally lacked any fighting ability against the white mist...
God Granny’s message dissipated swiftly, urging the Zhao household to unlock Elder Zhao immediately.
There was a tremendous force from Pang preventing him... All the white mist intended was not to let him through.
The most crucial was to change the course of events that were unfolding; the white mist looked as if it cared little for what was happening below, not understanding a fraction of the situation.
Or perhaps it could be equated with some kind of life-or-death premonition. It might only be a harbinger of a major family disaster, or it was coming to warn them of an impending curse, and it was not simply a bizarre creature bearing an evil spell.
As for the white mist, it was just a pretense of a wicked aberration from Divine Lake... after informing the Zhao family, its original plan was to shatter the apparent peace and expose all hidden dangers.
Yet somehow he had managed to dispel such an overwhelming force.
The Zhao family seemed oblivious to the strange happenings, even as he was recounting it to them at that very moment. It was as if the extinguished candles could be relit again.
He, too, suddenly realized he was helpless to do anything on his own... However, the white mist was merely trying to straighten things out at that moment.
Even if the family Zhao’s candles went out, it would just keep burning. Regardless of the mutations among the livestock, the candles would continue to burn, just like the original ones should’ve kept burning until the wax oil was completely gone.
Once the items within the house began their Spiritual Possession, they would likewise burn, just as candles do. And soon, they might truly turn into something evil.
The same question arose with this dog too. Elder Zhao was still keeping the old yellow dog, which showed signs of mutations just like the pigs in the animal pen of the Zhao homestead had.
He began to inspect every nook and cranny of the Zhao household using Erleipu’s eyes.
White mist returned home to the Zhao family very quickly.
...
Watching the white mist depart, God Granny’s expression turned from rage to bewilderment, and ultimately... to vengeful spite.
Was it really as benevolent as it seemed, that thing which was displaying such an ebullient crimson glow?
For what reason would such a thing seek help for itself, if it truly was the great protector of the family? What was its purpose, if it were actually the annual sacrificial offering to Dazhong Lake’s vengeful spirit?
Well Si had a rough understanding of the whole story, but he still felt he was missing a key piece of the puzzle.
This creature was of an extraordinarily high level, one might even imagine it came from the realm of divine spirits, showing no signs at all of belonging to this sector.
If this area was indeed the world of a certain supernatural creature, then it was highly likely that this monster was the source of the disease.
Seven hundred years.
He hurried along, increasingly frantic, understanding that God Granny would have no reason to handle the white mist.
"You’re cursed now! Why do you want to do this, you’ll just hurt your father if you go back,"
God Granny blocked his path, as white mist stood to leave,
"If I don’t go back soon, Elder Zhao might simply die. I doubt my existence in Divine Lake, I should go back,"
"You still doubt the existence of Divine Lake?"
God Granny said furiously:
Her visage was undoubtedly filled with the resentful memories of the village chief — eyes devoid of soul. Although God Granny had appeared in his vision, he paid no attention to the white mist’s mocking twin gleams.
Despite the first scene being just a white fog with bouncing eyes, Dizziness didn’t notice that those eyes belonged to God Granny.
"Isn’t it because of your witchcraft that people have torn down your place? And isn’t it why your leg was beaten, ever since the village boys turned violent against you? Tell me, haven’t the villagers fallen ill again, their taxes have not skyrocketed in return for your services? Hasn’t anything good happened to the village since then?"
The white mist let out a cold laugh:
As if the ninth ward of the Red But Not Thoroughly Scared Hospital absorbed the resentment, this could result in a gathering of such resentful qi.
...is it possible that the resentment is accumulating so thickly... since the bones of those who sank to the bottom of the lake early on are already aware of the strange regulations that have begun to twist the high tower with the passage of time.
How many children have died over the millennia? How enormous is the children’s resentful qi in the lake?
White mist may not recall something monstrous lodged in his brain, but it looks like he himself has experienced some distoration of history.
The situation is heading towards the worst possible direction.
White mist still feels he underestimated the evil of this crowd, but he heard God Granny’s words.
This kind of blind faith and rumor must not carry any sort of evil, for Jiaxie had long since speculated on the outcome of these grand rituals; after all, his perspective differed greatly from God Granny’s.
Looking at Elder Zhao today, she always felt that something evil lurked within, God Granny was observing Elder Zhao.
"You are a child of Divine Lake, eternally your favorite place, unchanged for thousands of years, such is the nature of your secret... You speak strange things today."
"Since this is not a secret, why should I go back and ask Elder Zhao? After all, if it were something confidential, you would have straight away told me."
"How could you possibly know about Dazhong Lake’s grand ritual? The annual grand ritual has only just concluded."
White mist asked the most crucial question: "What is the grand ritual? What’s Dazhong Lake’s grand ritual about? I still don’t know."
A lot of it is this sort of nonsensical rhetoric, right? But White mist is originally from a century with a clear understanding of these matters, should he not believe in these ghostly nonsense?
You should believe the real reason too, not just the words spoken by these god-forsaken impostors, White mist, there are gods.
In this world, there are gods, Divine Lake exists. God Granny told him some of these purposes just to enlighten White mist, he guessed as well.
Perhaps God Granny herself believes she is an ordinary person, presenting herself as such to these ignorant villagers. People see this white deer as a divine sign, attributing every scientific discovery to divine intervention; she might do the same, feeling even greater reverence towards Granny knowing how closely connected she is to the divine.
It is worth continuing the legacy, the transmission of ancestral traditions. The grand ritual of Dazhong Lake is legitimate, and Divine Lake is very excited, as is the divine white deer, every time it appears.
They first acknowledge it as Divine Lake.
White mist had a rough understanding of God Granny’s stance.
"Everything I do is absolutely right. Divine Lake is very pleased with it, indicating that the grand ritual of Dazhong Lake is effective. That’s why the great families all believe that only good things will happen in the village because Divine Lake shows auspicious signs."
"Do you recognize that as Divine Lake? Why else would you worship the white deer by the lake?"
"When I first saw those white deer... not just a few... there was hunter Zhang Tiger, Zhu Jiasheng of the Zhu family was also there, as well as Feng Hai from the Feng family. If you don’t believe me as an old person, you can ask others, there are still many people who have seen... *cough cough cough*... I have seen with my own eyes indeed."
"Have you personally seen a corner of white flowers blooming, with only a single white deer treading the water ripples?" frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
White mist never really had such a close encounter before; in fact, he wasn’t even present at the event.
Even Jing Si and Jing Si Six did not make an appearance at the time, not to mention Teacher Tao, Jiaxie the Hero.
Even the influence of the catastrophic year is minuscule... if you turn back the clock to twelve years before the apocalypse, perhaps this is a relic from before Well’s time, but it’s undeniable this epoch can be definitively pinpointed as several centuries old. White mist doesn’t know how many years it has been.
"Divine Lake blesses tranquility upon our village, ensuring peace for our families. This village has maintained the tradition of worshipping Divine Lake for thousands of years, purely because I alone cannot uphold it."
"How could there be such beautiful creations if there were no divine clarity, but if you believe there are gods in this world, you’d see them in a heartbeat? That was just a single white deer, but white deer live up to five hundred years, and deer up to a thousand."
"Divine Lake still exists," I said with my own eyes. "It’s been twelve years since I saw it with my own eyes. There were mountain deer, deer with antlers like flowering branches, and deer hooves stepping on the water’s surface, making barely a ripple."
God Granny skipped the topic and said with a smile, the white fog smiling broadly, for she roughly knew the reason already.
Noticing God Granny look towards her own legs, the white fog turned her head for a brief glance, but at this moment, God Granny said nothing.
"But why have you come back again?"
The white fog turned back and responded to God Granny.
It seemed as if Shen Ta would continue to vanish, much like the lilies and the associated vanishing mist; it had been a good while since Shen Ta was last seen.
"You just have to deceive yourself to venture forth; witchcraft is all about deceiving others," the white fog nodded, indicating that one has to believe in their own deceit.
"I was once like you, with no reverence when I was a youth eager to leave the village, wanting to learn something basic, but it’s a very complicated world out there. Since I wandered away from one village to another, I managed to learn some medical arts and even some witchcraft; I can still support myself," said the white fog with a chuckle.
"Could you tell me about the connection between Divine Lake and Dazhong Lake’s evil spirits?"
The white fog said without hesitation or delay, "Let’s not ponder on that for now."
While God Granny was sitting inside the house, smoking a pipe, he was squatting outside her door at this very moment.
White fog looked at these herbal medicines, certain that God Granny was not merely pretending to know about spirits and deities.
Many young people helped God Granny gather herbs. There were a lot of people in need of her medical consultations.
The various village customs and one particular health incident, not necessarily caused by an illness impervious to the villagers, carried a whiff of medicinal herbs inside the house.
In front of the door hung many blessings on the branches of an old locust tree, without even a courtyard; the residence was just an ordinary village house.
Although God Granny was respected by the people, the place she lived in was not exactly nice.
...
...
...If truly aware of the genuine facts, Jiaxie would probably not continue towards that lake. But he’s still residing in this place that’s capable of inducing even more terror than the scarlet red of his face...
Compared to a complete seventh-tier domain, this place is entirely another unknown realm. She has already reached the second tenth-tier of her spiritual energy accumulation... Having such stacks of spiritual energy, her red skirt unexpectedly turned black in the past...
Relying on his old underestimation, he’d deemed this a mere super evil domain with only two tiers; Jiaxie, with his cautious preparation and wariness, was already well-prepared for this place...
If these monstrous creatures are not capable of creating a reality as surreal as this, then perhaps... In this place, there was at least a seventh-tier creature, observed by Jiaxie.
But as he got closer to that lake mooring, he began to feel more threatened by the keepers of this domain. Where on earth did White Fog learn about this domain’s code?
This domain is completely another realm, but after the stacking, these words, although belonging to the general distorted terms, are entirely different.
Such as 2* spiritual energy, 4* spiritual energy, and 5* spiritual energy, etc., all appear under extraordinary circumstances.
If spiritual energy is strong enough to a certain degree, then with super evil spiritual power, words will directly take shape.
All acquired information from Mechanism City research suggests that with Jiaxie’s findings, words will emerge with tiers of spiritual energy scarcity, especially of super evil strength.
But it’s different with evil collapse.
In Jiaxie’s recognized knowledge, people, after all, have no specific celestial hierarchy; as soon as they have life-associated energy, they naturally have an inclination towards spiritual energy, leading to more complex and diverse manifestations of spiritual energy, including aggrandized attack power.
Spiritual energy is a kind of abstraction of various things from the East and the West.
