Chapter 54: Night Parade of One Hundred Ghosts¹

As Xie Sui’s voice fell, a terrifying, malevolent aura swept through the entire courtyard like a tsunami.

Facing this crushing, horrific presence, the mortal flesh of Daoist Xiutian simply could not withstand it. He collapsed to his knees with a heavy thud.

The sickening sound of bone cracking as his knees hit the ground suggested that Daoist Xiutian would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair – if he even had a life left to live.

After recognizing what Xie Sui was, the evil cultivator made a decisive move.

He was not only ruthless toward others, but even more so toward himself.

While his hands could still move slightly, he pulled a talisman from his robes. After a rapid incantation, the thin slip of talisman paper between his fingertips flashed with a cold light, transforming into something as sharp as a sword that could cut through iron.

Then, gripping the sharp talisman, he hacked down at his own left hand without hesitation.

The hand hit the ground and blood splattered. Veins bulged on Daoist Xiutian’s forehead from the agony as he screamed at the top of his lungs, “By the life-bond contract² established twenty-five years ago, your devout believer summons you with the flesh and blood of that pact! For the final time, I invite Lord Wuchang to appear!”

Not the Horse-Headed Lady, nor the Wutong God; Daoist Xiutian directly called out the Wutong God’s original title.

A true name, whether for a human or a monster, was a vital existence with the most direct connection to the source of the soul.

Earlier, the standard ritual summoning had failed to call forth the Wutong God. Driven into a corner, Daoist Xiutian had no choice but to burn his bridges and use his final trump card.

This method could forcibly summon the Wutong God, but the price was that the Wutong God would never again be subject to his control.

Years ago, the Wutong God had fled from the siege of the Xuanmen and, in order to survive, had signed a life-bond contract with Daoist Xiutian.

This contract was extremely important to the Wutong God. Once signed, it would be bound to Daoist Xiutian until his death, unless he voluntarily released the contract.

Although Daoist Xiutian, like other believers, had to provide blood sacrifices to the Wutong God, the god could not arbitrarily decide his life or death as it did with others. Their relationship was not one of master and servant, but rather a partnership of mutual restraint.

The Wutong God could never harm this believer who held the contract, and its true body could not stray too far from him. With this contract in place, if other believers wanted to summon it, they could only call upon its projection.

The Wutong God, who had been shivering in its mountain shrine because it sensed Xie Sui’s aura, was suddenly dragged forcibly before him by Daoist Xiutian.

It looked at the source of its nightmares appearing just a short distance away with a dazed expression, its body trembling even more violently.

Finding this unexpected harvest, Xie Sui couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, isn’t this the Wutong God? What a coincidence, we meet again.”

What a touching display of devout faith. Daoist Xiutian was so pious that he would rather mutilate himself just to invite his ‘god’ out to take a blow for him.

The relationship between this evil cultivator and the Wutong God was flimsy indeed. It was a classic case of ‘better you die than I.’ But it worked out well; it saved him the effort of tracking the Wutong God down… none of these dregs would escape.

The Wutong God’s monkey-like face twisted in despair, but soon, that despair could no longer affect it. Everything in its vision began to blur and warp, leaving only those blood-colored double pupils as the sole, unshakable reality.

The terrifying pressure emanating from those blood-colored double pupils made its soul shudder uncontrollably – it was a fear etched into the depths of its soul, the dread of a creature at the bottom of the food chain facing its ultimate predator.

Being a mere Shanxiao that had attained spirit form, how could it dare to face this malevolent star and divine calamity³ who had reincarnated as a human?

However, the village had been completely overtaken by Xie Sui’s aura, turning into a demonic den that allowed entry but no exit. It had nowhere left to run.

The massive array designed to shroud their presence, constructed using the layout of every house in the village, was originally meant to hide them from the righteous sects of the Xuanmen to ensure their safety… but now it had become a cage accelerating its own death.

No matter how the ghosts here rioted, even if a true catastrophe manifested, no one would notice.

Daoist Xiutian watched as the expression on the Wutong God’s monkey face shifted from horror to despair, and then from despair to a blank stare, as if it had completely given up resistance. His heart sank with it.

Xie Sui’s power seemed to far exceed his imagination.

Taking advantage of the confrontation between the Wutong God and Xie Sui, Daoist Xiutian held his breath and endured the agonizing pain in his knees, slowly dragging himself toward the interior of the temple.

“Did I give you permission to move?”

That cold voice, sounding like the whisper of a death god, seemed to ring right in his ear. Daoist Xiutian’s body froze instantly.

He discovered in despair that his body was no longer under his control. No matter how his brain urged his limbs, he couldn’t move an inch.

With eyes full of terror, Daoist Xiutian watched Xie Sui. He watched as this being, neither human nor ghost, commanded a swarm of ghost infants to easily tear apart the ‘god’ he had always relied upon.

He devoured the Wutong God.

He would be next. Daoist Xiutian thought despairingly.

Before an absolute power as formidable as a god, everyone – whether it was him or the evil god he worshipped – was nothing more than an ant to be crushed at will.

Daoist Xiutian had no idea how he had provoked such a terrifying existence. They clearly had no prior grievances… yet Xie Sui hadn’t even given him a chance to speak in his own defense.

Why him? Why did this horrific entity have to target him? Was it just because he had captured Liu Wuyong?

Even unto death, the evil cultivator did not feel he was in the wrong for using life-swapping talismans to transfer his own sins onto innocent orphans. He felt no guilt for feeding children’s flesh to the Wutong God, nor did he see anything wrong with this village he had personally built into a living hell.

He could not understand why he had to die, and even felt himself to be the victim.

Xie Sui did not attack Daoist Xiutian as the man had expected.

It was as if he couldn’t even be bothered to look at him; he simply gave a dismissive wave toward the shadows.

The entire village shuddered once more.

Daoist Xiutian stared blankly ahead, his face contorted with horror.

The darkness seemed to take on a physical form, rushing toward him like a torrential flood… No, that wasn’t darkness, it was a pitch-black resentment so thick it was impossible to dissolve!

The black mist was filled with the innocent souls of those who had died in this village. Every twisted, hideous expression in the fog was frozen in the moment of their most agonizing and desperate deaths. Their wide-open mouths seemed to be venting resentment that had been suppressed for ages, as if trying to let out the wails they couldn’t scream before they died… as if they wanted to feast on their enemy’s flesh and blood.

Under Xie Sui’s influence, every innocent soul that had perished in this village rose tonight in their most terrifying forms, fueled by the fires of vengeance.

The slaughtered lambs had turned into sharp blades as countless vengeful ghosts enveloped Daoist Xiutian.

The sensation was like falling into a boundless ocean, where one could only watch as the last breath in their lungs turned into bubbles rising toward the surface, watching the sea’s surface cover them like a transparent coffin lid, watching life drift further and further away.

His frozen body was carried by the icy seawater, slowly sinking into the dark, lightless depths.

He could not resist, nor did he have the strength to try.

The lightless night was supposed to be the protective camouflage for an Evil Cultivator like him; the darkness was when they were most active. But now, this deep blackness had become the thing he feared most.

Never before had he craved the arrival of light so desperately, praying for the sun to appear and burn away all evil things.

However, it was all the delusion of a dying man.

He could only feel his own flesh being torn from his body, bite by bite, by the vengeful ghosts. He couldn’t even let out a cry of pain as he watched his flesh being ripped into thousands of pieces, his soul shredded along with it.

Daoist Xiutian had never imagined he would be killed by these ordinary spirits he had once held in utter contempt.

He never thought his end would be like this… his “grand ambitions” would never have the chance to be realized.

From this moment on, he would vanish from this world, with not even a soul remaining.

Tonight was a carnival for all souls burdened with deep resentment, a night of vengeance for all the innocent lives that had been destroyed.

A woman held her twin daughters, standing silently in the corner of the courtyard. She watched with cold eyes as her “husband” wailed and begged for mercy with a distorted face, watching him be bitten and torn until his skin and flesh were mangled by the ghosts.

The Wutong God that her “husband” had always relied upon gave no response to his prayers. Without the protection of the Wutong God, he was nothing more than a rabid dog that had lost its fangs, able only to beg the ghosts for mercy through howls and pleas.

The woman had been trafficked into this village. She had resisted and struggled, but in the end, it had all turned into numbness. By now, she had forgotten what life was like before she came to the village, forgotten her parents, and even forgotten her own name.

If she didn’t cut off her own senses, she wouldn’t have been able to survive a single second in this purgatory.

She had given birth three times, and all three times they were girls.

Her eldest daughter had been drowned by her husband before she even had a chance to look at her, simply because the gender was wrong.

But the husband was quickly punished for drowning the infant, because the Daoist had said that girls couldn’t be drowned at will; they had to be kept to be sold for money or given to the Water God as brides.

And so, as soon as she had barely recovered her strength after giving birth, she was brutally beaten by her husband again. The reason was that she, lying in bed at the time, had not stopped him from drowning the baby, which led to him being punished by the Daoist.

The second daughter was just as the Daoist said; she was raised until she was twelve and then sunk into the lake to be a bride for the Water God.

The third birth resulted in twins. They were raised until they were five, then sold by her husband to a cook to be used as ingredients.

She knew clearly what her own end would be. There were old people in the village, but they were only men. To this village, all women were nothing more than breeding tools and materials for making money.

She thought her life would just be like this, passing through a muddled existence in this man-eating village until she lost her fertility and her body was dumped at the waste disposal station.

Until two days ago, when her sold twin daughters were actually brought back by members of the Law Enforcement Team.

They were her own flesh and blood, after all. Though she didn’t want them to return to this living hell, she was still happy to see her daughters again and to see that they weren’t dead. As long as she could spend a few more years with them, she would be satisfied.

Moreover, it was the first time the woman had seen the Law Enforcement Team in this village. She vaguely sensed that something was changing imperceptibly.

So she took a gamble and gave a map to the Law Enforcement Team officer and his companion, hoping they could at least take one of her daughters away from this hell.

However, it didn’t succeed.

That Law Enforcement officer probably died at the hands of the villagers… but at least she had tried, and she didn’t regret it.

But she hadn’t expected that today, her twin daughters would take the initiative to contact a “guest” in the village and give him the second note she hadn’t had time to give to the Law Enforcement man that day.

Looking at the situation now, it was clear that while her gamble hadn’t paid off, her daughters’ gamble had.

The woman stroked her daughters’ heads, tears sliding from the corners of her eyes.

She had never felt so liberated.

Watching her “husband” howling in despair on the ground, a look of savage satisfaction appeared on the woman’s bruised face.

It wasn’t enough. This pain didn’t even equal a thousandth of what she had suffered over the years.

She picked up a wooden club from the corner of the courtyard—the one her husband used to use on her. It was time to return all the pain he had given her.

…

Similar scenes were playing out all across the village.

Tonight, the Night Parade of One Hundred Ghosts was underway.

Debts of blood were paid in blood, and grievances were answered with vengeance.

Translator’s Notes