Chapter 363: The Bizarre Battlefield

The scene was utterly absurd. Their actions were exactly like those of living people, yet they themselves were nothing but figures pasted together from paper.

Well, what am I supposed to do now?

Is all of this the spirit medium’s illusion? If so, how exactly am I supposed to go about breaking it?

He Lingchuan thought for a moment, oriented himself, then leaped down from the tree and headed straight for the Gan Residence.

All of this trouble had started with Third Master Gan. He Lingchuan could not shake the feeling that the crux of the matter lay with him. Besides, the only living person he could still find now seemed to be Third Master Gan.

The evil ghosts along the road had frighteningly sharp senses. Before long, they detected him and sent their paper puppets in pursuit.

A vast crowd of paper puppets followed at his heels. He Lingchuan had no desire to waste more strength tangling with them and instead darted through corridors and alleys, cutting through courtyards and weaving between houses.

Several times, he rounded a corner and came face-to-face with huge bronze mirrors, the ones placed outside teahouses and inns for guests to adjust their attire. Caught off guard, he found himself locking eyes with his own reflection.

The mirrored figures lunged urgently, trying to seize him, but He Lingchuan was already on guard. With his mind kept tightly focused, how could it be so easy for them to succeed?

At that moment, the eyeball spider suddenly sent him a signal.

He connected to it at once. Through its vision, he saw Third Master Gan dragging his wounded body back to his family’s grand residence. Yet from inside to out, the residence was utterly deserted.

Old Madame Mao was not there, and neither was Second Master Gan. The residence that was usually completely filled with servants and maids was now completely empty.

Night wind whistled through the hall windows, producing a sound like ghosts wailing.

Third Master Gan shouted himself hoarse, but no one answered. Just as panic was setting in, he suddenly heard a voice calling out, “Third Master Gan, Third Master Gan!”

He shuddered violently and asked frantically, “Who’s there?!”

It was not the voice of any family member, yet it continued to call his name.

Summoning his courage, Third Master Gan crawled forward a few steps. Suddenly, an entire row of lanterns beneath the eaves lit up on their own, sweeping away the gloom in the courtyard.

He saw a reflection in the pond, but it was not his.

Then, someone rose up from the water and walked toward him step by step.

“Y-you...” His teeth clattered uncontrollably. “Spirit medium?”

Who else could this middle-aged woman be, if not the spirit medium?

“Aren’t you dead?” He thought frantically.

That brat surnamed He hadn’t managed to kill her! Now she’s come to take revenge!

Watching the scene live through the eyeball spider, He Lingchuan’s brow furrowed. From this angle, he could not tell whether the resurrected spirit medium was a paper construct or whether evil ghosts were clinging to her body.

“I cannot die,” the spirit medium said. She walked up to Third Master Gan and squatted before him. There was not the slightest chill in her voice, only sympathy. “I did everything for you with the utmost devotion. Why did you help an outsider deal with me?”

“I, I was forced!” The closer she leaned in, the more terrified Third Master Gan became. “If I didn’t lead the way, that brat surnamed He would have killed me!”

“Do you want to live?”

“...Yes.”

“Do you want to save the Gan Family Merchant Guild?”

“Yes!”

So she knows everything?

“Do you want to kill that brat surnamed He?”

Third Master Gan hesitated and did not dare answer.

“Your thoughts can’t be hidden from me.” The spirit medium smiled, baring a set of ghastly white teeth. “You want him dead, desperately at that!”

Third Master Gan could only beg, “Spirit medium, spare my life!”

“Not only will I spare your life, I’ll even help you solve all your troubles.” She extended her palm. It glowed as brightly as red-hot iron, covered with densely packed characters as tiny as flyspecks, every single one shining.

Third Master Gan’s voice trembled. “What is this?”

“A contract,” the spirit medium said gently. “Place your hand against mine, and the contract will be sealed. Everything afterward, leave it to me.”

“W-why help me?”

“Originally, I was to do three things for you. Once that was done, the contract would naturally be complete.” She sighed. “But it couldn’t be transferred midway, and that last request was never completed, so I might as well have you sign directly.”

“This contract...” Though terrified, Third Master Gan sensed that something was clearly wrong about it. “What do I have to do?”

“You don’t have to do anything at all. All you have to do is watch.” The spirit medium smiled. “What you desire in your heart, I’ll do my best to make happen.”

Third Master Gan’s eyes darted back and forth.

“If you don’t sign, you won’t be able to leave,” the spirit medium coaxed. “Before you die of thirst or hunger, the other evil ghosts will eat you alive! And even if you could escape, you’d never again be the Third Master Gan who once lorded over Wuze County. The Gan Family Merchant Guild is about to collapse, and you’ll soon be a beggar on the streets, fighting stray dogs for scraps!”

She cackled. “You’re already in this state. Even if you sign this contract with me, could it really get any worse?”

Those words struck straight at Third Master Gan’s weakest point. He even stopped shaking, muttering instead, “If I sign, then can I go back to living as before?”

Yes, his life had never sunk to such depths.

“Of course, and you’ll rise even higher,” said the spirit medium with a smile. “You won’t need to be restrained by your eldest brother anymore. Even that old madame and Second Master Gan will obey your every word.”

Third Master Gan’s breathing steadied.

By then, He Lingchuan had already rushed to the gates of the Gan Residence. He vaulted over the courtyard screen wall and, hearing this, bellowed, “Don’t sign it! It’s a trick!”

Eh? Something feels off here.

But at such a critical moment, how could he stop to examine details? He charged straight into the courtyard.

The spirit medium stretched out a hand toward the direction he was coming from, made a slicing motion through the air, then turned back to Third Master Gan.

“Sign the contract! You can kill him right now! Think of all the humiliation you’ve suffered these past two days!”

I can return to my old life!

No, I can live even better!

Third Master Gan gritted his teeth and slammed his palm against hers.

“Aahhh!” It was like pressing down on a branding iron that he could not pull away from. The pain made him scream.

Across from him, the spirit medium’s flesh shriveled rapidly. In just a few breaths, she became a skin-and-bones old woman, her body hunched, covered in wrinkles, looking far older even than Old Madame Mao.

She withdrew her hand. Gone was her former composure. She lifted her head toward the night sky and sighed.

“At last, I’m free.”

“I hope you’ll be free soon as well.”

After those words, her skin darkened. Her entire body turned to ash, which the wind scattered in an instant.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Third Master Gan stared at his palm. The faintly glowing characters had transferred onto his own hand.

He clenched his fist and opened it again. The characters vanished, leaving his palm smooth and bare.

His gaze changed. He suddenly let out a low, cold laugh.

* * *

He Lingchuan was in the middle of cursing him as an idiot when, after passing through a round moon gate, the scenery before his eyes abruptly transformed.

Before stepping through the gate, he had clearly seen a three-story building ahead.

After passing through it, he found himself standing at a dusty street corner. Cavalry galloped through, hacking and slashing. Civilians fled in panic. Houses burned everywhere. Screams and cries filled the air.

It was as though he had entered a city plunged in the flames of battle in a single second.

Huh? What happened? Why did everything suddenly change?

Yet when he looked closely, the riders, the fleeing people, the looters going door to door were all paper figures!

This massive war spectacle, enemy troops, defenders, and civilians alike, was being performed by evil ghosts with meticulous seriousness.

It was both grotesque and terrifying.

Several cavalrymen spotted He Lingchuan and charged at him with their weapons raised.

He immediately leaped back over a wall, flipped through several passageways, and shook them off.

The layout of this place was completely different from the Gan Residence.

In fact, it was not just the Gan Residence, but every building he saw on the street was different from those in Wuze County. The ones here were larger and more ancient in style. Judging by the width of the streets alone, this looked like a capital or a major city.

At that moment, he heard a strange, long cry. The sound was vast, clear, and awe-inspiring.

He Lingchuan jumped onto a wall to look, then froze in shock.

In the sky soared a giant crimson bird. Its head bore a tall crown, and its tail was adorned with splendid feathers. Its body stretched over thirty meters long, and when it spread its wings, they blotted out the sky, easily shrouding the buildings and troops below in shadow.

Its sheer mass rivaled that of a great whale, yet it flew through the skies, making it even more magnificent.

The bird mercilessly spat fireballs toward the ground, each causing an explosion that obliterated an entire building.

So that’s the source of the raging infernos everywhere.

Even though the bird was also made of paper, He Lingchuan had no doubt whatsoever about the destructive power of the true fire it spewed.

Moreover, he felt an overwhelming pressure emanating from it. With such a thing circling overhead, it truly felt like the end of the world had arrived.

Wherever it passed, the horses below either neighed in terror and bolted or had their legs give out, collapsing to the ground.

As the bird soared higher and danced through the sky, seven or eight tornadoes rose from the ground, each over thirty meters in diameter.

Fire fed on the wind, instantly turning into blazing fire-tornadoes that devoured everything in their path.

It should be noted that without He Lingchuan’s own truth-filtering lens, anyone else would have seen these figures as vividly alive. Thus, the sight of civilians and children screaming as they fled, only to be swallowed by fire-tornadoes, was unbearably real and tragic.

Just as it seemed the bird alone could burn half the city, several points of light suddenly flew in from the horizon.

He Lingchuan focused his gaze and was left dumbstruck.

They appeared to be six spellcasters. Some of them rode in on cranes, while others flew in on auspicious clouds. They took positions around the giant crimson bird, and they each nearly simultaneously threw out a mirror.

The mirrors occupied six directions—above, below, left, right, front, and back—and each emitted a beam of light that struck the bird’s body.

The giant crimson bird, which had been flying around freely, was abruptly fixed in place by the six beams, unable to fly away no matter how it beat its wings.

However, its power was immense. After several furious shrieks, gales howled across the city skies, with winds easily reaching the force of a storm. The six mirrors shook violently, on the verge of losing their hold.

One of the spellcasters shouted downward, “General You! Now!”

General You?

Haven’t I heard that name before?

Several mounted figures burst from an alley ahead. At their lead was a general whose mount was no ordinary horse, but a towering exotic beast. The beast was shaped like a fierce tiger with a slender waist, and its body was covered in stripes. A single horn grew from its head, and three tails swayed behind it.

When He Lingchuan saw the creature, he murmured instinctively, “A zheng[1]!”

He had read many miscellaneous books in the Panlong Dreamscape, including some devoted to ancient greater monsters and exotic beasts, complete with extremely crude and abstract illustrations. Though the author had clearly been a terrible artist, this exotic beast’s features were distinctive enough to recognize.

This was a zheng (狰). It was so distinctive that people had even coined a word after it: ferocious or zhengning (狰狞).

Legend said that an adult zheng had five tails. This general’s mount had only three, so it was likely not fully grown.

Even so, its movements were astonishingly agile. Under General You’s control, it leaped several times in succession, each jump carrying it higher than the rooftop of the four-story building where He Lingchuan stood.

1. See note. ☜