Free Web NovelThe sky was deep gray, without a single cloud, yet no moon or starlight could be seen, as if it were a polluted lake, calm and still, suffocatingly oppressive.
Eerie sounds drifted in the wind incessantly, very faint, like someone singing a song, but only a strange syllable between laughter and screams, cycling in a long and monotonous loop.
Beneath the firmament, numerous low-rise houses made of loess mixed with weeds and rammed earth lay prostrate; as time passed, most of the wooden supports for the roof tiles had rotted away, causing large sections to collapse, forming dark and deep holes, making the houses resemble piles of skulls gazing at the sky.
The main road, paved with bricks and stones, was overgrown with weeds and moss, and a certain grayish-black lumpy fungus, somewhat resembling the rumored coffin fungus, but enormous and distorted.
Twisted fungal masses, over five meters in diameter, piled together like distorted, diseased organs, continuously eroding the earth.
The air was as humid as after a heavy rain, sticky and muggy, and something was stirring in the darkness, emitting a bone-chilling chewing sound, or the crisp snap of joints moving.
Just like that Miracle Order member, in this ancient city pass, being attacked by a strange existence seemed to be everyone's fate...
...
“Whoosh—!”
Fang Ji ran through the misty streets and alleys, stirring up a hum in the air.
As he moved at high speed, the dilapidated and crumbling scenery turned into blurry shadows, reflected in the corner of his eye, making him feel, in a trance, as if he had returned to Qianqiu Town.
Everything he saw bore an inexplicable resemblance to that city completely corrupted and occupied by the Plague Tai Sui.
“Is this uncomfortable feeling a characteristic of all corrupted cities?” Fang Ji wondered.
Just as he briefly lost focus due to the painful memories of being lost in Qianqiu Town resurfacing, a hallucination-like shriek sounded in his ear.
“Damn it, have they caught up so quickly?” Fang Ji cursed under his breath, abruptly accelerating his pace.
Not long ago, he had just passed through the city gate and, before he could rendezvous with the elders of the Miracle Order who controlled the holy relic, he was attacked by this black shadow, whose nature was unknown.
Fang Ji really wanted to refer to it as a certain urban legend, but he felt it was somewhat inappropriate.
Although, in essence, it was indeed a urban legend, it was also different from all the urban legend Fang Ji had seen. This difference referred to the difference in its birth method and the composition of its authority, with a disparity even greater than that between coelenterates and mammals.
So, he mentally referred to it as the black shadow.
After that, this black shadow relentlessly pursued him for over an hour.
It was even crazier than the neighbor's mad dog when he was a child; that mad dog would at most chase him for only two or three li. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
What was more fatal was that he also detected that the circulation of his Spiritual Energy was being affected by an unknown force, becoming sluggish and slow as if filled with mercury.
“......”
“Is this the bad luck carried by the Disaster?”
“Encountering a boss-level monster right after entering the instance...”
In a sense, it was also a miracle.
In Fang Ji’s view, his encountering such trouble was 100% due to the bad luck influence of the Disaster.
If he hadn't transferred his miracle flower to the Disaster through contact, in order to let the Disaster be tainted with the fragrance of the miracle flower and awaken the holy relic controlled by the Disaster, he wouldn't have fallen to this state.
If following the normal procedure, after entering Yumen Pass, he should have just picked a direction and marched forward to rendezvous with the elders of the Miracle Order, and smoothly found Hong Bian Holy Monk's mausoleum.
“I wonder when this bad luck will dissipate. If this continues, it will probably delay important matters...” Fang Ji thought, feeling vexed.
As he pondered, a large expanse of shadow enveloped the street behind him. Under the shadow, the dilapidated houses silently crumbled, as if mercilessly dismembered by a pair of invisible large hands.
Something was approaching...
The dark shadow was boiling.
Within the shadow, crimson Spells rippled.
Teeth-grinding bone friction sounds continuously rang out, as if preparing for a hunt, stretching muscles and bones.
The next moment, the entire space fell into a brief silence. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Then, the hum of the air erupted.
A black shadow, over ten meters tall, half-beast and half-human, flew out from the darkness. Dozens of skeletal arms stretched out from its back, like twisted wings, stirring up gusts of foul-smelling yellowish-brown dense smoke as they waved.
The dark shadow, like clothing, enveloped its body with twisted bones. Faintly, one could see faces, some ferocious, some painful, struggling within its body, as if they would break free and escape at any moment, yet they were imprisoned by crisscrossing, cage-like bones.
Dozens of pupils, like startled insects, scurried across its dark, snake-like head, searching all around, finally locking onto Fang Ji's back.
Then, a piercing shriek resounded.
The gigantic black shadow instantly pounced behind Fang Ji.
Sensing the black shadow closing in, before he could react, his vision suddenly went black, followed by a pain in his back as if he had hit something hard.
Fang Ji, sent flying by a sweeping blow, crashed heavily into an earthen house, immediately feeling the shadows inside surging, like sleeping insects awakened by blood. Instantly, countless hands in the darkness twisted like worms, clinging to his body.
Immediately after, before those hands could harm him, a sense of weightlessness accompanied by the muffled sound of flesh tearing struck, and his world once again spun upside down.
After being toyed with like a thrown plaything by that giant black shadow, crashing through countless earthen houses, and even experiencing spatial distortion, Fang Ji finally found a brief moment of tranquility.
After slightly adjusting his breathing, he parted his dry lips and softly chanted.
“miracle Sword, Third Form, Thousand Brocade Clusters...”
Accompanied by a soft murmur, brilliant golden light erupted from beneath Fang Ji's feet, spreading in a breath. Then, as the golden light dissipated, like a symphony beginning, the sound of metal clashing emerged, and numerous sharp blades appeared out of thin air around him.
Cold light interwove on the blades, precisely as the poem says, “Suddenly scattered by the wind, a Thousand Brocade Clusters; reflecting in the water, a glimpse of rosy clouds.”
The suddenly appearing blades, layered and intertwined, vibrated simultaneously under the control of Spiritual Energy, cutting back and forth, forming an effect similar to a shredder. The limbs of the half-beast, half-human black shadow that had lunged forward were instantly pulverized.
Foul-smelling blood plasma, mixed with tiny bone fragments, splattered.
Moreover, countless strands of flowing light, imbued with the fragrance of the miracle flower, like shooting threads, drilled into that massive body through the points where its limbs had shattered.
And so, a miracle descended.
The pale, twisted bones gradually turned golden, and the decayed, broken body grew fresh flesh, revitalizing...
And vitality, for an existence that had already “died,” was even more fatal than the most potent poison.
Stimulated by the intense pain, the black shadow seemed to fall into a state of frenzy, its twisted body thrashing violently. Its deformed limbs and massive body, as if out of control, crashed into its surroundings, tearing through walls with loud thuds and leaving cracks in the ground.
Looking at the wildly destructive black shadow from afar, Fang Ji secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but the expression on his face seemed not entirely satisfied with this outcome.
One must know that if his Spiritual Energy circulation hadn't been suppressed and the miracle flower hadn't been transferred, casting that Spell originating from the First Generation Holy Child would have been merely a thought for him. Now, he even needed to chant a simplified version of the incantation.
It was like needing a page of scratch paper just to solve an example problem from an elementary school textbook.
When had he ever suffered such hardship?
“Well, it’s fine! Now is not the time to be so demanding; escaping danger is enough...” Fang Ji thought.
However, just as he thought the long pursuit was finally over, an overwhelming darkness filled the sky and earth behind him.
Pairs of crimson eyes opened in the darkness, and foul-smelling mucus dripped and oozed as the darkness writhed.
As if sensing something, Fang Ji stiffly turned his neck to look behind him, and upon seeing the terrifying sight, he couldn't help but Spell.
“F*ck!”
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A roar erupted.
He flew backward to the ground, crashing into the architectural ruins.
Before he could get up, a twisted, thick arm suddenly extended from the shadows in the ruins, grabbed his ankle, and violently flung him far away.
Immediately after, before he could land, he was sent flying into the sky by the branch of a humanoid banyan tree, then came a blood shadow sweeping across the sky, tentacles reaching out from a filthy pond, and buildings standing upright...
It wasn't until fifteen minutes, thirty-two seconds, and zero-seven that he finally landed.
It was just like a 3D pinball game.
The Disaster's bad luck seemed much more intense than Fang Ji had imagined.
He was completely a person cursed by heaven.
He wondered how she had managed to grow up so healthily...
Only after Fang Ji finally landed did he realize that during the continuous levitation, he had unknowingly flown deep into Yumen Pass...
Although he hadn't reached the core area yet, he had penetrated much deeper than before.
The surrounding buildings had changed from uniform rammed-earth houses to a mixture of rammed-earth houses and brick-and-stone structures. The buildings were denser, and the ancient, dilapidated alleys were even more winding and secluded.
A faint shriek came from afar.
Noticing that the black shadow was still in hot pursuit, Fang Ji adjusted his state slightly, wiped away the blood plasma mixed with internal organ fragments that welled up from the corner of his mouth, and resumed his escape.
And this time, compared to before, it was even more thrilling and dangerous, requiring even greater caution.
He hadn't yet sensed the return of his miracle flower, which meant that suddenly arriving so deep would not bring good luck...
————
Like a rabbit chased by a dog, Fang Ji ran around frantically, heart pounding, jumping and dodging.
Then...
Just as he gradually adapted to the rhythm of being chased and even started to enjoy it a little, those brutal black shadows suddenly stopped pursuing him.
A sense of loss came over him unexpectedly.
It was as if a suitor who had pursued him for a long time had suddenly left.
Not even a goodbye.
He was so close to saying yes.
After a brief moment of regret, he quickly became alert. First, he found a section of wall that had collapsed into a triangular structure in the ruins, concealed himself, and then cautiously observed his surroundings.
Based on his past countless hours of being chased, the twisted and strange urban legend hidden within Yumen Pass, once they reached a certain level of power, each had their own distinct territories.
The black shadows suddenly slowing their pursuit most likely meant they had trespassed into the territory of an entity capable of contending with them.
For example, that humanoid banyan tree...
When passing by that humanoid banyan tree, he personally saw those black shadows bypass it, even at the cost of him gaining distance.
And now, the black shadows suddenly stopping their pursuit very likely meant that an existence even more terrifying than that humanoid banyan tree had appeared nearby.
Dilapidated mansions, tilted stone towers inscribed with Spells, shrubs that had withered and flourished countless times, their decayed branches and leaves piled into a large black mud pit...
Fang Ji's gaze swept over the surrounding scenery one by one, finally settling on a figure dressed in white.
The person was half-crouching, in a similar posture to him, hiding atop a relatively intact stone tower, one hand holding binoculars, the other a notebook, observing and recording something.
She looked like a scout on reconnaissance.
And that person, he recognized, was Shen Baiwei, whom he had sent to assist Kurban in luring the Disaster.
But...
Why was she in this place?
Wasn't she Elder Xu's confidante?
At this time, she should be escorting the holy relic with Elder Xu!
Fang Ji thought, pondering for a moment, then moved silently, approaching Shen Baiwei's location.
To his knowledge, the Miracle Order never had scouts.
Members of the Miracle Order always went wherever they wanted; arriving safely was a miracle, and encountering an accident was bad luck...
————
“East side, night erosion degree 47.6, extremely high value, moderate exploration value... Existing urban legend provisionally numbered 7, 9, 10... Suggest implementing plan C...”
After writing this line of text in her notebook and briefly drawing a map, Shen Baiwei tore off that page of parchment from the notebook, then casually rubbed a small flame and burned it to ashes.
She watched the ashes being carried away by the wind, drifting into the distance, as if pondering something, frowned, and was about to pick up her binoculars to continue observing in another direction when a voice sounded behind her.
“Shen Baiwei, what are you doing here?”
A voice suddenly rang in her ear, startling Shen Baiwei, causing her body to tremble slightly and her face to turn pale.
Turning her head, she saw Fang Ji, who had appeared behind her at some point. She slowly exhaled a breath, then made a shushing gesture to Fang Ji, and then pointed her finger towards the distant main road that led directly to the deepest part of Yumen Pass.
Fang Ji followed the direction Shen Baiwei pointed, his pupils trembling slightly.
He saw a tall figure wandering back and forth on the main road paved with bluestone slabs.
It was clad in severely rusted black armor, beneath which was a severely twisted and deformed body. Its flesh was covered in bony growths, and its muscles were abnormally developed and irregularly swollen, almost bursting through the armor, making its figure appear unusually bulky. Tentacles resembling segmented animals protruded from the broken seams of the armor, constantly writhing.
Rough, twisted limbs, like plant vines, extended from its arms, tightly wrapped around a long spear.
On the cracked spearhead, an eerie crimson shimmered, as if a bloody scent could be smelled from afar.
“That thing might be a warrior under the Nangling Commander, the former owner of Yumen Pass. I don't know why it became like this, but from my observations, it should be one of the top urban legend among the local ones. Other urban legend avoid it,” Shen Baiwei said in a lowered voice.
“You must be very careful not to be discovered by that thing.”
No wonder those black shadows suddenly stopped chasing when they reached this vicinity... Fang Ji nodded thoughtfully, then was startled.
“Wait a minute! Did she change the subject?”
“She still hasn’t told me what she’s doing here!”
Fang Ji thought, glancing sideways at the notebook in Shen Baiwei's hand, wanting to see what she was recording, but unexpectedly saw a blank page.
That
As if sensing Fang Ji's gaze, Shen Baiwei snapped her notebook shut with a “thwack,” then looked at Fang Ji with a serious expression and said, “Greetings, Left Envoy Fang!”
Her demeanor suggested she was trying to bluff her way through.
Fang Ji, “...” This woman has a big problem!
