Chapter 179: May You Perish!
The General stood still, frowning as he gazed at the decaying land ahead, lost in silence for a long time.
Generally speaking, it’s hard for a high-level Spiritual Ability User to d*e a natural d*ath… Here, a natural d*ath means aging like an ordinary person until a peaceful passing arrives at some moment.
The normal cycle of aging, sickness, and d*ath is an unattainable luxury for high-level Spiritual Ability Users.
Even when they have reached the point of being close to the end of their lifespan, they do not d*e immediately. The immense powers corresponding to their spirit patterns, along with the vast spirit energy within them, continue to sustain their lives as their bodies slowly age and deteriorate.
Thus, souls that should have perished are imprisoned within decaying shells, suffering from weakness and pain day after day.
From a certain perspective, this process is also a form of corruption, similar to the degradation of urban legends.
The Siye Society had once discovered a dissection report of an A+ Grade Spiritual Ability User over one hundred fifty years old while destroying a Solar Eclipse Society stronghold.
The report indicated that the Spiritual Ability User had over thirty malignant tumors larger than 5CM in diameter throughout their body, along with various organ calcifications and extensive bone deformation and hyperplasia, yet even at that state, they were still alive before the dissection.
To avoid torment, some high-level Spiritual Ability Users, after falling into a state of aging, find ways to deal with their aftermath properly.
Others, lacking the courage to end their own lives, endure until they lose their sanity, their spirit patterns going out of control, and they become urban legends.
There are some even crazier who will try to swap bodies to extend their lifespan, such as Zhang Shuo cultivating spirit patterns similar to Hu Chuan’s within him, then merging with Hu Chuan and further taking control of the body, which is a feasible method.
Although Zhang Shuo’s intention was to possess multiple spirit patterns, he ultimately failed and was instead controlled by Hu Chuan…
For powerful Spiritual Ability Users, especially those who have reached Disaster-Class, the price to be paid for wanting to create spirit patterns is even more monumental.
Many times, even when their lives have ended in some way, their consciousness might not completely dissipate, but linger as remnants, attached to items they carried with them for a long time.
Even if they themselves might not wish for it…
If that item they carried was a high-level spirit energy item, it could help them retain some combat power, just like how Qing Ji’s remnants are attached to Ling Tai Purification.
And for a Disaster-Class Spiritual Ability User like the Nanling County King, who unexpectedly died in his prime, his remnants are nearly guaranteed to persist.
This is the reason why the Nanling County King’s mausoleum will not gradually be consumed with time, being corrupted by the flesh and spirit energy of urban legends alongside other things within Yumen Pass.
Spiritual Ability Users with relatively low spirit energy fluctuation levels and urban legends cannot even approach that mausoleum closely, let alone destroy it.
Under the protection of spells laid down by several heads of Lantern Carriers and dozens of Lantern Carriers, perhaps only a Disaster-Class can make the mausoleum disappear.
“……”
Things have become tricky!
Who on earth did this?
What was that guy’s purpose? The General thought in confusion.
Just as he was bewildered by the bizarre phenomenon before him, even more terrifying things happened—information about the exact location of the mausoleum in his memory suddenly began to blur.
In just a few breaths, he could only remember that his chief Lantern Carrier ancestor had discovered the Nanling County King’s mausoleum while repairing the walls of Yumen Pass and had left behind a manuscript.
As for the detailed contents of that manuscript, the location of the Nanling County King’s mausoleum, what it contained, who left it… all such information had become vague.
Like a wisp of smoke, he could clearly see it there, but reaching out to grasp it was impossible.
As the mausoleum vanished into thin air, it also altered others’ cognition of related information, which was somewhat chilling.
This effectively, to a certain extent, erased the traces of another Disaster-Class existence, something that most Disaster-Classes would find difficult to achieve.
Over the long ages, from the tribal era to modern times, there have been many brutal wars fought for the uniqueness of “deities.” Countless Spiritual Ability Users, urban legends, people, and even plants and animals have lost their lives in these wars, yet countless legends of “deities” have not disappeared and persist to this day, proving how challenging it is to erase the existence of a Disaster-Class urban legend.
In any case, the General honestly doubted his own ability to achieve such a feat.
He remains a genuine Disaster-Class, not a “fake” like Huaiyuan Jun, who has incredibly unstable powers with vast differences between upper and lower limits.
For the first time in his life, the General felt an impulse to shout, “d*mn it, this is ridiculous!”
Before this, having grown up as a descendant of a Lantern Carrier in a family dealing with urban legends, witnessing his elders subduing urban legends, the General had never feared urban legends and didn’t even know what it meant to “see a ghost.”
An uneasy feeling lingered in his heart, and a chill ran down his back, as if a female ghost were perched behind him, blowing cold air at him.
He had experience with such chills…
During one scorching summer when he was still young, the old house in the mountains lost power; with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius and no fans or air conditioning, his family, worried that he, who had just drawn spirit patterns and had a low spirit energy level, couldn’t bear it, had captured an evil spirit type urban legend and sealed it up for him to hold onto for cooling.
“Hey, hey!” Bai Kai called out to the General several times, but seeing no response from him, he impatiently waved a hand in front of the General’s eyes, saying, “What’s wrong with you? You seemed fine, but now you’re acting all strange?”
“Where’s the mausoleum? Why haven’t we seen it yet? Didn’t you say we were close?”
“Whoa—!” The General took a deep breath, turned to Bai Kai, and said gravely, “There’s a problem, and we may have a hard time finding the Nanling County King’s mausoleum.”
In fact, whether that mausoleum still existed was uncertain… the General added in his mind.
“Huh?” Bai Kai looked perplexed, after a few seconds of stunned silence, he pouted and said, “Who was it that was so certain before, claiming their family had dug up the Nanling County King’s grave and that there wouldn’t be any deviations? Looks like it’s not very reliable…”
As he spoke, he noticed the General showing no signs of refuting him and continuously frowning, with a hint of panic in his eyes, immediately losing interest in continuing to mock him.
Firstly, a non-resistant opponent gives no desire to attack.
Secondly, if the General showed even a slight sense of unease, it meant that the situation was really serious.
After a pause, Bai Kai asked seriously, “What exactly went wrong?”
“It seems someone has erased the existence of that mausoleum…” the General replied, then incoherently described the horrifying fact he discovered.
After listening, Bai Kai stared blankly at the General, frowning, “I understand, but I don’t fully grasp it…”
“Hey!” The General sighed helplessly, “I told you to read more books. You can’t be spending all your time on women; now you can’t even understand this.”
“Why, what’s wrong with spending time on women?” Bai Kai rolled his eyes and retorted, “d*mn it, it’s either a timeline, location, or character confusion, or it’s just omitted. Even stream-of-consciousness novels don’t dare to write like you; it’s a miracle I could understand anything!”
“Moreover, what’s wrong with spending time on women? I’m just comforting my lonely heart and saving wounded souls, doing good deeds—you don’t understand a thing!”
“……” The General was silent for a few seconds, directly ignoring Bai Kai’s last remark, “I would love to tell you more details, but with the mausoleum erased, my understanding of it has also been significantly affected, and I can’t explain it clearly to you.”
“Alright, alright!” Bai Kai waved his hand, “If you can’t explain it clearly, then don’t. Hearing too much gives me a headache. Just say we can’t find the mausoleum and what to do next, and I’ll follow.”
“Looking at it now…” The General thought for a moment, gazing far into the depths of Yumen Pass, shrouded in darkness and mist, “We’ll have to go somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else?” Bai Kai asked.
“Yeah.” The General nodded slightly, “In fact, to find items that might carry the remnants of the Nanling County King, aside from what’s inside the mausoleum, there are three alternatives.”
After saying that, he paused deliberately, allowing some time for Bai Kai to ask why he knew so much.
However, Bai Kai, who already anticipated the General’s response of “family tradition,” was too lazy to ask and just listened quietly.
“One is the temple of Hong Bian Monk; it’s rumored that he exchanged tokens when he allied with the Nanling County King…”
“The other place is the former residence of the Nanling County King, but to get there, we would have to pass through the former military camp inside Yumen Pass, facing numerous urban legends that have taken up residence there, which poses a high risk.”
After hearing this, Bai Kai nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly seemed to realize something was off and frowned, “Wait! Didn’t you say there were three alternatives? What about the last one?”
“The last one is the former hook column inside Yumen Pass…”
“Hook column?” Bai Kai’s eyes lit up as he interjected, “Great place! It’s settled then; we’re going there!”
As the top male host in Huacheng and a shareholder in underground entertainment venues, going to the hook column can also be considered a home game to some extent.
With a home advantage buff, isn’t that enticing?
Perhaps he could learn some special things by researching the workplaces of ancient peers and bring them back to enhance the service quality of the underground entertainment venue and add some new tricks.
Seeing Bai Kai look like he was about to go home right away, the General rolled his eyes, “Do you know why I didn’t mention that hook column?”
“What else could it be?” Bai Kai replied nonchalantly, “Is it not because you look down on us spiritual mentors who work in the arts?”
“……” The General hesitated multiple times to say something but restrained the urge to retort. He glanced sideways at Bai Kai and said lightly, “That’s because I can’t remember where I heard about the existence of that hook column, nor can I recall where it is.”
“I guess this is because the information about that hook column is related to the Nanling County King’s mausoleum, and now that the mausoleum has been erased, my understanding of that hook column has also been affected.”
Going to search for a hook column whose location is unknown within Yumen Pass and without knowledge of what ghostly things it hides is clearly not a good choice.
“Then…” Bai Kai thought for a moment and said, “Does that just mean we can only go to the monk’s temple?”
They had already seen the Longxiang Army haunting inside Yumen Pass the previous night and knew that those urban legends transformed from the Longxiang Army were formidable, with numbers large enough to be difficult to handle.
Now, as night was approaching, crossing half of Yumen Pass to the Nanling County King’s residence would likely lead them through the military camp, where they would encounter numerous Longxiang soldiers, facing the Disaster-Class urban legend lying on the roof of the County King’s mansion, making it quite tricky.
“But that monk’s temple seems to be the destination of the Miracle Cult, right?”
“The Miracle Cult is nothing to fear. Conflicting with the Miracle Cult is definitely simpler than dealing with a Disaster-Class urban legend plus an army with an average level above B.” The General said, tilting his chin slightly.
In fact, if he weren’t in a rush to come to the south of the city searching for the mausoleum, the first thing he would have done after entering Yumen Pass would have been to find those Miracle Cult members, give them a lesson, and dissuade (physically & spiritually) them from their dangerous actions.
Bai Kai thought for a moment, nodded, “Alright then, let’s go to the monk’s temple!”
He was merely reminding the General what to expect when heading to Hong Bian Monk’s temple, not worrying about a conflict with the Miracle Cult.
After all, he had once participated as an operative twelve years ago in the Siye Society’s actions against the previous Miracle Saint.
————
Meanwhile.
Taking advantage of the arrival of “daylight,” the active urban legends within Yumen Pass hid themselves and fell into slumber. Fang Ji led a group of Miracle Cult members through a substantial section of Yumen Pass, arriving at a small temple with a unique style related to Zoroastrianism.
Then.
Under the solemn and fervent gaze of the Miracle Cult members, elders holding soul urns containing sacred relics followed Fang Ji, who had changed into a pure white robe, into the innermost building of the temple.
It was a peculiar structure, resembling a giant cubic block of white jade more than five meters on each side, with a seamless design. Except for the entrance side, the other four sides were adorned with elaborate carvings—tigers with swords, hunting dogs herding flocks, bulls bearing wine, and elephants with tusks of gold.
From a distance, it looked like a beautifully wrapped gift box or a massive coffin.
In that moment, a fierce glint flashed in Fang Ji’s eyes.
May you perish!
Though the ritual to awaken the First Saint had not yet begun, he could not help but express his wish in his heart in advance…
