Chapter 362: Eerie Battlefield

What should be done now? Was all this just the Sorceress's illusion, and how could it be broken?

He Lingchuan thought for a moment, identified the direction, and jumped off the big tree toward the Gan mansion.

All this trouble stemmed from Gan Sanye Gan, and He Lingchuan always felt the crux lay with him.

Moreover, the only living person he could find seemed to be Gan Sanye Gan.

The evil ghosts on the road were surprisingly sensitive, and not long after, they discovered him and controlled the paper men to chase after him.

With a massive swarm of followers behind him, He Lingchuan did not want to waste any more energy on them, so he wove through the halls and alleys.

Several times at corners, he encountered huge bronze mirrors; those were for guests to straighten their clothes in teahouses and inns, and He Lingchuan caught them eye-to-eye without warning.

The reflection in the mirror was eager to catch him, but He Lingchuan was already on guard and kept his mind tight; how could it be so easy for it to succeed? Just at this moment, the eyeball spider suddenly sent a signal.

He Lingchuan connected to see; Gan Sanye Gan was dragging his injured body and finally crawled back to the Gan mansion, but there wasn't a single person in the mansion from inside to outside! Old Madam Mao wasn't here, and the Second Master wasn't here either.

So many servants and maids, none of them were to be seen.

This was just an empty mansion, and the night wind blew through the hall windows, wailing like ghosts.

Gan Sanye Gan called out for a long time without anyone responding, and just as he was hesitating, he suddenly heard a voice calling: "Gan Sanye Gan, Gan Sanye Gan!"

He was startled: "Who!"

This wasn't the voice of his family, yet it kept calling him.

Gan Sanye Gan gathered his courage and crawled forward a few steps, and a whole row of lanterns under the eaves suddenly lit up by themselves, sweeping away the black haze in the courtyard.

He saw a reflection in the pond, but it wasn't his own.

And then, someone rose from the pond water and walked toward him step by step.

"Sor..." His upper and lower teeth chattered non-stop. "Sorceress?"

This middle-aged woman, if not the Sorceress, who else could it be?

"Aren't you dead?" So the He kid didn't kill the Sorceress, and now she had come to take revenge on himself!

He Lingchuan, who was watching the live broadcast, frowned, but through the eyeball spider's perspective, he couldn't tell if the resurrected Sorceress was a paper man or if there were evil ghosts clinging to her.

"I am immortal." The Sorceress walked to Gan Sanye Gan and squatted down, her tone not a bit cold, but instead full of sympathy. "I did everything wholeheartedly for you, why did you help an outsider deal with me?"

"I, I was forced." The closer her face got, the more terrified Gan Sanye Gan became. "If I didn't lead the way, the He kid would have killed me."

"Do you want to live?"

"... Yes."

"Do you want to save the Gan Family Chamber of Commerce?"

"Yes!" So the Sorceress knew everything?

"Do you want to kill the He kid?"

Gan Sanye Gan hesitated and didn't dare to make a sound.

"Your thoughts cannot be hidden from me." The shamaness laughed, revealing her ghastly white teeth. "You want him dead, you want it so badly!"

Gan Sanye Gan only begged: "Sorceress, spare my life!"

"I will not only spare your life, but I will also help you solve all your troubles." The Sorceress extended her palm; her palm was as bright as a red-hot branding iron, and on it were densely packed small characters, as fine as fly heads, each one glowing.

Gan Sanye Gan said with a trembling voice: "What is this for?"

"Sign the contract." The Sorceress said softly. "Press your palm on it, and the contract will be successful. Leave the rest to me."

"Why, why help me?"

"Originally, I would have done three things for you, and the contract would naturally be successful." The Sorceress sighed. "But it couldn't be transferred to someone else halfway, and this last one hasn't been done yet, so I might as well find you to sign the contract directly."

"This contract..." Although Gan Sanye Gan was terrified, he also felt something was wrong. "What do I need to do?"

"You don't need to do anything, just watch!" The Sorceress smiled. "I will try my best to help you achieve what you want in your heart."

Gan Sanye Gan's eyes rolled non-stop.

"If you don't sign, you won't be able to get out, and before you die of thirst or hunger, you will be eaten by other evil ghosts!" The Sorceress tempted. "Actually, even if you could get out, you wouldn't be the Gan Sanye Gan who could call the wind and rain in Wu Ze County anymore. The Gan Family Chamber of Commerce is about to fall, and you will soon become a beggar on the street, fighting for food with wild dogs!"

She cackled: "You are already in this state; even if you sign the contract with me, could it be any worse than now?"

This really hit Gan Sanye Gan's weak point, and he didn't even tremble anymore, only muttering: "If I sign, can I go back to the days of the past?"

Yes, his life had never fallen into such a low valley.

"Of course you can, and it will be even better." The Sorceress smiled. "At that time, you won't need to be restricted by Eldest Brother Gan anymore, and the Old Madam and Second Master Gan will be obedient to you."

Gan Sanye Gan's breathing became smooth.

He Lingchuan had already rushed to the gate of the Gan mansion, just jumped over the screen wall, and shouted when he heard this: "Don't sign the contract, she's tricking you!"

Hey, something seems wrong here? At the critical moment, how could he stop to look at the details? He strode toward the courtyard.

At this moment, the Sorceress drew a line in the direction he was rushing, and then said to Gan Sanye Gan: "Sign the contract! You can kill him now! Think about the humiliation you've suffered these two days!"

Go back to the days of the past! No, to live even better! Gan Sanye Gan gritted his teeth and pressed his hand on her palm.

"Ah—" It was like pressing on a branding iron and not being able to let go, and he screamed in pain.

The Sorceress opposite him, her skin withered rapidly, and in just a few breaths, she became a little old woman wrapped in skin and bones, her body hunched over, covered in wrinkles, looking much older than Old Madam Mao.

She withdrew her palm, no longer calm and composed, but looked up at the night sky with a sigh: "Finally, I am liberated."

"I hope you can also be liberated soon."

After saying these two sentences, her skin turned dark, and the whole person turned into paper ash, blown away by the wind.

Gan Sanye Gan looked at his palm; those reddish small characters had transferred to his palm.

He clenched his fist and opened it again, and the characters were gone, his palm smooth.

At this moment, his gaze had changed, and he suddenly sneered twice.

He Lingchuan was cursing the fool, but then after passing through the round moon gate, the scenery in front of him changed drastically.

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

After passing through the gate, he was actually standing at a dusty street corner, cavalry were hacking and killing, commoners were fleeing in panic, and there were burning houses and screaming and crying everywhere.

He seemed to have entered a city battlefield in a second.

This isn't right, changing scenes in a second? But he looked closely again; those on horseback, those fleeing on the road, those looting house by house, those laughing and screaming, were all paper men! This large-scale war show, the enemy army, the defending army, and the commoners, were all played by evil ghosts, with an attitude as serious as it could be.

Both grotesque and terrifying.

Several cavalrymen discovered He Lingchuan and rushed toward him with weapons.

He jumped back into the wall, turned several corners, and left the cavalry behind.

The layout of this building was completely different from the Gan mansion.

Not only the Gan mansion, but all the buildings he saw on the street were different from Wu Ze County, larger and more ancient.

Just looking at the width of the street, it looked like a capital or a big city.

Just at this moment, he heard a strange long whistle, grand and clear, shocking the heart.

He Lingchuan jumped onto the wall to look, and then he was shocked:

There was a crimson giant bird soaring in the sky, with a high crown on its head and gorgeous feathers on its tail, more than ten zhang long, and a pair of wings spread out to cover the sky and the sun, easily covering the buildings and people below in the shadow of its wings.

This physique was comparable to a giant whale, but it flew in the sky, making it even more spectacular.

The big bird ruthlessly sprayed fireballs toward the ground, and one explosion destroyed a building.

So the raging flames everywhere were caused by this.

Although this big bird was also made of paper, He Lingchuan didn't doubt the power of the true fire it spat.

And he also felt endless pressure from this giant bird; with this thing circling overhead, it truly felt like the end of the world was coming.

Wherever it passed, the horses below either neighed and fled in fear or simply softened their four hooves and lay paralyzed on the ground.

The big bird flew in the sky, dancing gracefully, and seven or eight tornadoes blew up on the ground, each at least ten zhang in diameter.

Fire borrowed the wind's momentum, and with a "whoosh," it turned into a fire dragon, devouring everything.

It needs to be explained that if there wasn't He Lingchuan's truth filter, if someone else were to look, these characters, birds, and beasts would all be vivid and lively. So the scene of the commoners and children of this city screaming and fleeing while being swallowed by the fire dragon was also exceptionally real and miserable.

Seeing it could burn half the city single-handedly, several points of light suddenly flew from the edge of the sky.

He Lingchuan looked closely, and was even more dumbfounded:

These seemed to be six or seven sorcerers, some riding cranes, some stepping on auspicious clouds, rushing to the surroundings of the red bird, and almost simultaneously throwing out a mirror each.

These mirrors were located above, below, left, right, front, and back of the red bird, exactly in six directions, each shooting a beam of light, hitting the red bird.

The red bird, which had been coming and going suddenly, was actually fixed on the spot, unable to fly out even after flapping its wings repeatedly.

But its power seemed to be very strong, and after a few angry screams, hurricane winds blew in the sky over the city, and the wind force was at least level 14, blowing the six mirrors so they swayed left and right, almost unable to hold it.

One of the sorcerers shouted to the bottom: "General You, take the opportunity now!"

General You? He Lingchuan thought, had he heard this name somewhere?

Several cavalrymen suddenly jumped out of the alley ahead, and the great general sitting on the horse was not an ordinary steed, but a tall alien beast, shaped like a fierce tiger but with a tight abdomen and waist, full of spots, with a single horn on its head and three tails behind it.

He Lingchuan saw this alien beast and couldn't help but say in a low voice:

"Zheng!"

He had read many idle books in the Panlong dream, and there were special books about ancient great demon alien beasts, and even very sloppy and abstract illustrations. Although the author was a soul painter, the characteristics of this alien beast were very distinctive, which didn't hinder identification.

This was Zheng, and people even invented a word specifically for it:

Fierce (Zheng Ning).

It is said that an adult Zheng has five tails, but General You's mount only had three, so it seemed it hadn't fully grown up yet.

Even so, its movements were already exceptionally agile, and under General You's control, it jumped several times in succession, jumping higher than the four-story building roof where He Lingchuan was!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 363 =====