Free Web NovelChapter 357: Chapter 161: Jing Er’s Physical Exorcism
(For Silver Alliance, random addition is not possible, 36/100 completion.)
Hong Yin was curious. Not far from the other side of Zao Lake was the boundary of the region, and she had wondered, what was on the other side of the region?
Hong Yin looked at the White Deer, which trod upon the ripples of water, its eyes also sizing up Hong Yin.
Hong Yin was certain that the other party had crossed the boundary.
Even someone as powerful as her, bound by the territorial limits, had to adhere to them. The White Deer began to show signs of astonishment, seemingly surprised that the guardian of this place was no longer the black Lake God that resembled it closely but was a girl in a black dress instead.
It sensed an indescribably intense resentment, yet the girl’s eyes were very clear.
This place had always been shrouded in resentment, but unexpectedly, following the disappearance of the black deer, she had met such a girl.
A strange existence where human nature and evil thoughts coexisted.
But quickly the White Deer figured it out, the girl surely had a transcendent status to these malevolences, they were clearly fused as one, yet ultimately, the control of the body was handed over to the girl.
"Why are you here? Can you too ignore the territorial restrictions, or are you different from me?"
Hong Yin was the first to ask.
She did not practice the policy that even if a friend came from afar, they must be punished if they transgressed, but since the other had stepped into her territory, it seemed appropriate to inquire.
The White Deer actually didn’t know the place now belonged to Hong Yin, it only wanted to check on the black deer and planned to eradicate its resentment.
But since the black deer was no longer there and a new guardian had appeared, it suddenly did not know what to do.
"Are you from the adjacent region?" Hong Yin asked.
The White Deer could actually understand Hong Yin’s words. It shook its head, retreating slowly, creating ripples with its hooves upon the water.
Shaking its head in negation was a human habit, which suggested that the deer might be an Evil Fallen form of a human, or perhaps a beast that, in the midst of Evil Fallen Transformation, learned human customs.
No matter how one looked at it, in Hong Yin’s view, this White Deer was somehow connected to Zao Lake Village.
Hong Yin did not want it to leave, so she followed.
The White Deer, seeing Hong Yin follow, didn’t rush and leisurely led her on.
Hong Yin meant no harm to the White Deer, for she sensed that the White Deer was not in a hurry.
Before long, she finally understood why the White Deer was able to cross this region. Because her own steps had also crossed over the area.
On the other side of Zao Lake, it was still a silent hillside.
Once a convergence of resentments, many animals in Zao Lake Village had mutated, but many other animals, sensing unease, had fled elsewhere.
Hong Yin found it odd:
"Why doesn’t the region restrict me anymore? Is it for the same reason that you could come to Zao Lake?"
The White Deer emitted a gentle deer call. It continued to move through the area with Hong Yin.
In the deathly still hillside, many beasts converging with grudges were present, but along the way, Hong Yin, in high spirits, killed them all.
Or rather, absorbed them all.
The White Deer remained calm, as if it had already adapted to Hong Yin’s behavior.
Hong Yin said:
"Aren’t you afraid of me?"
The White Deer gave the young girl a glance, implying that she’s the one who should be afraid. However, Hong Yin did not catch that implication.
Past the hillside was a stone forest.
According to the geography, the environment shouldn’t change that drastically. Hong Yin always felt that if she went deeper, she would encounter danger.
But she kept on walking; she walked when the White Deer walked, and when it stopped, she killed all the surrounding hostile creatures.
Hong Yin gradually also noticed something strange.
"Although previously in the hospital, when everyone was separated by just one floor, there were huge disparities in strength, but we’ve walked for so long, and the creatures I’ve come across... don’t seem to be very powerful?"
The White Deer still didn’t speak, probably thinking... this young girl’s standards for what’s considered powerful were a bit too high.
In fact, the creatures that the White Deer and Hong Yin encountered along the way met the minimum standard of the red zone.
But indeed, many powerful creatures somehow either hid themselves or left the area; in any case, they were not seen.
What remained were a bunch of not so powerful Evil Fallen, and even if occasionally there were one or two with the potential to become top-tier Evil Fallen, against this girl in a black dress, they couldn’t even put up a fight.
The journey of the duo, a human and a deer, lasted a whole day, starting from Zao Lake, then passing through hillsides, the Stone Forest, cliffs, and woodlands.
Eventually, Hong Yin arrived at an extremely distorted region.
When she looked into the distance, she was greeted by a visual sense of extreme confusion.
Previously, as she looked far into the zones, at least they seemed coherent. It was as if the world was still the same World.
But it was rare to see a place where the seasons were mixed up and the scenes were jumbled.
To the right of a desert was a snowy area, to the left of an ocean was a mountain range, urban ruins interspersed with forests.
Hong Yin didn’t know how to describe this place for a moment.
"Where is this? Why is it so heavily twisted?"
The White Deer still didn’t speak, but this time it didn’t start moving forward either.
It planned to go back, back to its original zone.
Hong Yin, however, felt that this place was something she had never seen before, too strange, as if scenes from various places in the world were mashed together.
It was like a complete jigsaw puzzle that had been torn apart and divided into many zones, but the person who did it didn’t restore the positions of these zones in order; instead, they violently pieced them back into their original shape.
This feeling was so strong that Hong Yin did not turn back.
The White Deer cried out again, no longer gentle, with a hint of warning in its tone.
Hong Yin said,
"There is a very powerful force here, do you come from this place?"
The White Deer shook its head, its eyes looking back.
Well.
That word came to Hong Yin’s mind.
If she ventured deeper into this zone, perhaps it would mean that she had formally entered the heavily mutated area, impacted by the Well.
She already knew that the several locations arranged by the Traveler were in fact just the outermost layer of the Well.
The Lake God, the White Deer, all sorts of powerful creatures were influenced by the power of the Well.
But venture deeper, and one would find that perhaps not only living things, but even non-living things, the world itself, were being twisted by the Well.
Without seeing it with one’s own eyes, it was hard to feel the shock of the world as if it had been crumpled into a ball.
Beyond the confusion and fragmentation, Hong Yin also felt danger. This place was still very, very far from the Well.
But Hong Yin could already sense the forbidding, the repulsion from powerful rules that signaled no entry for the living.
The White Deer felt that continuing inward would probably be too dangerous, although it believed it could survive.
But it seemed tired now and intended to go back.
Hong Yin had originally planned to go back as well. She didn’t know how long the regional restrictions would close for, and while Zao Lake Village was quite boring, if she had to choose a place to stay permanently, she hoped to choose a place with memories.
At least in Zao Lake Village, Bai Wu had recklessly risked her life for her own reasons.
But just as she was planning to retreat, Hong Yin saw two women appear in the distance.
She didn’t know one of the women but felt she was very dangerous.
The other woman she recognized, although they had only met twice, Hong Yin considered this woman’s abilities and beauty to be top-tier threats.
Why had these two women appeared here? Why had the regional restrictions suddenly disappeared?
Hong Yin intuitively felt that the two women knew the answers to these questions.
So, Hong Yin changed her mind and walked deeper into the area.
White Deer cocked its head, probably expressing its confusion. Was this young girl truly heedless of her own life?
Though it was curious about the depths of the distorted world, it didn’t know what lay there.
White Deer and Hong Yin were in a very strange state. White Deer’s goal was to see the black deer that resembled itself.
But instead of finding the black deer, it found a little girl in black clothes. Initially thinking the girl was purely evil and could be absorbed directly, it then saw an unreasonable humanity in the young girl.
Such beings were rarely seen in the nearby regions.
As for Hong Yin, it was purely because... of loneliness.
If a region could have two Guardians, her future might not be so agonizing.
Moreover, having absorbed the resentments of the people of Zao Lake Village, everyone had a certain curiosity about the true Lake God—White Deer.
Thus, although it was their first meeting, the girl and the deer seemed very amicable.
As Hong Yin entered, White Deer let out a low moan, its antlers bloomed with flowers, and its figure vanished.
It did not return to its original place but went somewhere it had never been before.
...
...
Outside the tower, an unknown region, a quagmire.
The removal of regional restrictions was ongoing. The reason lay in a certain place... being forcibly opened. Once this place was opened, all regions in the world would temporarily have their restrictions removed.
However, there was a difference between forcibly opening and natural opening. The natural opening of the Well would deepen the world’s distortions.
At the same time... it would expand the world.
But forced opening would not do this; it would only gradually eliminate the regional restrictions.
Many evil creatures lay hidden under the mud. Seven hundred years ago, this area was a blue zone; ever since the last Well opening, it had turned into a red zone.
Because of twisted rules, a powerful Mutant had been born, turning from a Mud Monster into something akin to the mythological Sea Lord.
It could control the land, using the power of the ley lines to devour other Evil Fallen.
A man with a serene face, wearing Buddha Beads on his chest and strange runes on his face, was currently in the mouth of this evolved Mud Monster.
He wore a monk’s robe, but his hair was long.
"A very interesting Mutation Entry, but your inner heart is too evil and turbid."
The man was spotless, and although his feet stood on the muddy ground, he seemed as if he was not part of this world.
"Appearance reflects the heart. The process of humans becoming Evil Fallen is intriguing; light beings turn dark due to resentment, yet some light beings maintain their humanity from beginning to end and become beings that transcend humanity. Unfortunately... you belong to the former category."
The monk’s eyes were so pure they seemed to reflect the entire world.
His presence was tranquil as he softly chanted the Buddha’s name:
"In order to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled, I have been guarding the outskirts of the Well for years. Much evil has emerged at the periphery, and even my subordinates’ hearts have been clouded. I am saddened. Where is the love in your hearts?"
The Mud Monster had intended to devour the long-haired monk, but as the wind stirred the monk’s flowing hair and he rotated his Buddha Beads while chanting sonorously, the creature found itself unable to move.
In that instant, the monster, which had become the Guardian of the red zone... realized in horror... that it was locked in place by a force so powerful, it was despairing.
"Spare... spare me..."
"Human nature is fundamentally evil at the outset; there are many twisted rules in this world, and some are able to control souls. May you find forgiveness from them after you die."
As his words fell, a Buddha Bead was shot out.
The immense impact distorted space itself. The Mud Monster, which was nearly immune to physical attacks and lacked a fixed form, had thought it might be fortunate enough to escape this calamity.
After all, any impact would at most shatter its body, but the body could reconstitute itself.
However, the next second, it discovered in shock... that the terrifying Buddha Bead seemed to have shattered the space around it.
From the ghastly cracks, an absorbing force akin to that from a different dimension emanated.
Its body was absorbed bit by bit until it turned to nothingness.
A Buddha’s chant imbued with compassion filled the air.
The shattered world began to heal slowly. What the monk displayed was a technique akin to the perfect Mutation Entry · Obliteration Black Hole.
But in his hands, this Entry was released as naturally as breathing.
Along the way, having set out from the edge of the Well, he encountered many evil creatures, all of which he physically "liberated."
Occasionally, he would meet weaker, kinder creatures, like the red Slime he encountered a few hours earlier.
This Slime had also participated in the mine, witnessing the death of an eighth-level Mutant, a very powerful creature, but due to its small size, many larger creatures always underestimated it.
Thus, the Slime eventually enacted scenarios where an ant killed an elephant.
The seemingly gentle and harmless Slime, since leaving the mine, had evolved from an eighth-level Mutant to a ninth-level Mutant.
It had been assigned to an area full of giant monsters, continuing to revel in playing possum, pretending to be frail to lure the Evil Fallen into letting down their guard.
Not long ago, the monk did the same.
He regarded the small, red being as cute, and his Buddha-nature surged, preparing to bestow this being a chance.
The Slime? It thought another fool had taken the bait, deceived by its adorable appearance. But just as it was about to change shape and attack...
It suddenly collapsed.
The moment it exuded malice, an indescribably powerful pressure came over it... The Slime realized in shock—this man, who appeared even gentle and benign than itself... was the true master of deception. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
It trembled with fear.
The monk, stroking the Slime, said:
"I hope you remember today’s feeling, or else next time, I will indeed have to liberate you. Such a cute appearance should not be marred by uncute actions. Be loving, love this world."
After releasing the Slime, the monk continued on his way.
He was headed for Baichuan City, where his informant had recently brought news from his sister—
The human said to destroy the Well had appeared in Baichuan City.
Though this news might be false, the monk believed, having gradually learned about the human’s deeds... that this person had achieved many things over the last seven hundred years that humanity had not.
Among the six siblings, the eldest brother had the most severe temperament, and he, as the second brother, was the mildest.
Despite Laosi and the youngest sister having taken dreadful actions, siding with humans, he always believed those two would find their way back.
As for humans, they were also a charming and interesting creature, but if humans sought to transgress boundaries, even pose threats to the Well, he would not hesitate to liberate them.
At least for now, the food chain was sensible and matched the order he envisioned among heaven, humans, and all things.
Thus, he set out from the edge of the Well—to destroy that human.
