[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-after-the-immortals-disappeared":3,"chapter-after-the-immortals-disappeared-after-the-immortals-disappeared-chapter-44":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","After the Immortals Disappeared",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2283928,4468,"Chapter 44: Soul-Snatching","after-the-immortals-disappeared-chapter-44",44,"\u003Cp>Unable to hold it in any longer, a few people couldn't help but let their guard down and take deep breaths. *Huff, huff*—the sound was completely drowned out by the gale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the hundreds of vengeful spirits wandering in the air suddenly froze and turned to look over in unison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These unlucky fellows hadn't even managed to take two satisfying breaths before they saw the vengeful spirits rushing toward them, slamming directly into their heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a *pop*, the three life-fires on their bodies were instantly extinguished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this situation, who would dare to step in and stop it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the onlookers, after the vengeful spirits burrowed into their ears and noses, these people would briefly go catatonic for two or three breaths before clutching their heads and screaming incessantly. Their eyes turned red and saliva dripped from their mouths; they looked like they were suffering from a rabies attack, but unlike the puppets possessed by Three-Corpse Insects, they didn't attack the humans around them. Instead, they scrambled about blindly, rolling on the ground or crashing into walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dozens of vengeful spirits arguing, pulling, and attacking each other within the same sea of consciousness—the feeling was like having dozens of firecrackers going off in one's head at the same time; who could endure that? In less than ten breaths, these people collapsed to the ground and died, bleeding from their seven orifices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone watched in horror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The trouble was that the faster the heart beat, the shorter one could hold their breath. Now, most people were starting to lose the ability to hold it; their faces were turning blue and purple, yet the vengeful spirits kept gushing out endlessly. When would this ever end!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was either suffocate or be killed by a vengeful spirit piercing the brain. After only a few breaths, five or six more people were forced to choose the former.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Lingchuan and Nian Songyu were doing alright, as a martial artist's lung capacity is naturally strong, but He Chunhua’s face had already turned a liver-purple, and it was clear he couldn't hold on much longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Lingchuan couldn't worry about anything else; he grabbed Sun Fuping’s sleeve and mouthed to him: \"Think of something!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He practiced the martial Dao, and the tricks he had on hand were useless against vengeful spirits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps Sun Fuping also felt the time had come; he flicked his large sleeve to shake off He Lingchuan’s hand, walked into the middle of the army, and raised his magic staff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stuffed something into the beast’s mouth, then held the staff up and slammed it into the ground! With the beast head as the center, a yellow-glowing barrier appeared, just enough to cover everyone inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A barrier!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Fuping said loudly: \"You can breathe now!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crowd felt as if they had been granted a reprieve; they even bent over at the waist, and some coughed uncontrollably from inhaling too deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, even He Chunhua was somewhat angry: \"Why did the State Preceptor only act now?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he had acted a dozen breaths earlier, those five or six people wouldn't have had to die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sun Fuping’s expression was grave: \"My Void Barrier exists for a very short time, and its effect is not as good as the life-fire; I only use it as a last resort. Can you predict how much longer the vengeful spirits will keep gushing out?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one could.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Chunhua had nothing to say. The expressions of the many soldiers looking at Sun Fuping, however, were hard to describe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he didn't take it to heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Keeping the majority of people alive is what matters most.\" Nian Songyu asked, \"What now?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Keep waiting.\" Sun Fuping stared fixedly at the pool surface, \"Only when no more vengeful spirits come out from inside will we have a next step.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crowd, their nerves finally settling, had the time to observe the vengeful spirits wandering all over the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Situ Han gave an 'eh': \"There are mostly humanoid vengeful spirits coming out now, and there are also large groups of armored cavalry.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These dead souls galloped on horseback, waving their blades and roaring, as if they were still on a battlefield of endless slaughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The dead soldiers from the battlefield are the most numerous, and their resentment is the greatest.\" He Lingchuan was startled, \"Look at this!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vengeful spirits pouring from the pool went from the strange shapes at the beginning, to human souls as the main force, and now to ones of astonishing size. Although vengeful spirits have no weight, the one He Lingchuan saw was like a combination of seven or eight spirits; it not only had seven hands and eight feet, but also pairs of eyes on its chest and shoulders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An ordinary vengeful spirit standing in front of it was like an ordinary person standing in front of an old banyan tree; the volume was simply incomparable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pressure it gave to the living was also not in the same league.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this monster, Sun Fuping actually seemed to heave a sigh of relief: \"So it is as I thought.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Lingchuan: \"As what thought?\" Always speaking in half-sentences—you'll have trouble with your bladder at night, you know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"After being in the pot for a long time, some vengeful spirits begin to devour and fuse with each other, forming new, powerful individuals, much like raising *gu*.\" Sun Fuping pointed at the monster, \"Sure enough, the order of the vengeful spirits appearing is from weak to strong, so our endurance is coming to an end.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This seven-handed, eight-footed monster was crawling out and was originally supposed to follow the main force upward, but just as Sun Fuping finished speaking, it suddenly turned its head, sixteen eyes blinking together, and actually stared straight at the barrier!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Lingchuan was creeped out by its gaze; this thing’s eyes were much scarier than Nian Songyu’s: \"Can it see us?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Shh!\" Sun Fuping quickly cut him off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it was too late; the sixteen-eyed monster clearly made a sniffing motion, then moved out of the pool and crawled toward the barrier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sixteen-eyed monster’s movements were comical, its limbs uncoordinated, and it even stumbled a bit. But Sun Fuping knew this was only because it had just entered the human world and hadn't fully adapted yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Void Barrier did not have true defensive power—nor could it, otherwise it would instead provoke the vengeful spirits' aggression—it merely concealed the characteristics of the living, so that these dead could not smell the scent of flesh and blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, among the strange and varied vengeful spirits, there would always be a few with special abilities that were not easily deceived. Judging by the actions of this sixteen-eyed monster, it hadn't completely seen through the Void Barrier, but it had become suspicious and decided to come over to investigate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In its eyes, there was no scent of the living within the range covered by the Void Barrier, but it could vaguely sense a tiny bit of vitality, like sparse fireflies occasionally lighting up in the night; when it wanted to look closer, it became blurry again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This undoubtedly piqued its curiosity, and it wanted to get closer to take a look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing it was about to crash into the barrier, Sun Fuping gave a low shout: \"Baishan, Qingshui! Raise the Soul-Fixing Banner!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two attendants behind him dashed to the very front of the team, standing at the edge of the barrier, and from somewhere they hoisted a huge white cloth banner, waving it at the sixteen-eyed monster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The banner was covered in dense black and red talismans; as the white cloth banner swayed against the wind, the talismans also floated out, rotating slowly, and there was a faint sound of Buddhist chanting in the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This banner looked like nothing more than an iron-wood pole and a piece of white cloth, swaying and fluttering, yet the attendants danced it with great difficulty, requiring two people and four hands to hold it up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The way they waved the white banner was also like drawing an '∞' in the air at a constant speed and repeatedly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Sun Fuping also walked to the front of the crowd and signaled them to close their eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this order was given a bit too late. As soon as the white cloth banner appeared, everyone’s gaze naturally followed its movement. After it swayed twice, several people’s eyes went blank, as if attracted by a magnet, and they lifted their legs to walk toward it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One walked past He Lingchuan, who pressed down hard on his shoulder and closed his eyelids for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man struggled twice and then stopped moving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others followed suit, controlling their companions who had been soul-snatched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1468,"2026-06-20T02:23:30.219Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","dba8c0a857571599b32f5e407077589be037669093ea2b406546f4b4cac3cde2","after-the-immortals-disappeared-chapter-45","after-the-immortals-disappeared-chapter-43",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fafter-the-immortals-disappeared-cover.jpg"]