[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-after-the-sky-fell":3,"chapter-after-the-sky-fell-after-the-sky-fell-chapter-869":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","After the Sky Fell",{"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},2281725,4462,"Chapter 869: A Family of Three","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-869",869,"\u003Cp>Li Yi’s idea of feigning death was strange, but not without potential success; after all, facing these ghostly things, he had to draw on his experience as a messenger, not rely solely on his strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The deceased cultivators had already proven to him that raw power alone was useless inside this house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of this, he immediately acted on it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He picked up a paper robe and put it on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The paper robe was ordinary, nothing unusual—it carried no strange energy, and nothing peculiar happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi sat back down on the living room sofa, still wearing the paper robe, silently waiting for time to pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silent room was littered with motionless corpses, sprawled haphazardly on the floor, their hollow eye sockets staring at the ceiling as if voicing their final despair, their stiff faces still etched with fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too bad Li Yi wasn’t afraid of corpses—or ghosts; he was a martial artist who had crushed countless foes on his path, and corpses were merely tools to frighten ordinary people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, these corpses were unfortunate souls from Earth, so he kindly collected them into the storage ring he’d found, planning to bury them somewhere once he escaped this place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though buried in another world, at least they’d find peace in the earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After disposing of the corpses, the room lost some of its eerie atmosphere, but as dusk faded and night fell, the lights inside dimmed further than usual, illuminating only the dining table, leaving the rest in gloom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sitting on the sofa, Li Yi, clad in the paper robe, remained utterly still like a corpse—even his breathing ceased—yet his eyes glowed faintly in the dark, occasionally flickering with silver lightning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was like a crouching predator, utterly out of place in this haunted mansion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The time reached eight o’clock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The building was utterly silent, save for the ticking of a second hand and distant car horns outside the windows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the time reached nine o’clock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The building remained silent, everything normal, nothing happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi still sat motionless on the sofa; for a cultivator like him, prolonged stillness was no hardship—he had time, and patience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when the time reached ten o’clock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi’s head turned slightly, listening toward the hallway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Footsteps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint footstep appeared in the hallway—as if someone had entered the building. Wait, not just one footstep, but two, no, three.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were three footsteps altogether.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One was lighter, not like an adult’s—more like a child’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A family of three?” Li Yi immediately recalled the three bowls of food he’d seen during the day—exactly three people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant three dead people lived in this house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He continued feigning stillness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Waiting for the three footsteps to arrive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The footsteps climbed from the first floor to the second, then the third, slowing as they reached the top.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi’s guess was correct—the three dead ones lived here; he could now precisely sense they had stopped in the hallway, just one wall away from him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instinctive hostility made him clench his fists, his body coiling with energy, lightning flickering across his skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But remembering the strangeness of this place, he forcibly suppressed his killing intent and dispersed the power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then came the sound of jangling keys at the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They seemed to be fumbling for the key to unlock it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet through the narrow crack in the door, Li Yi glanced outside—the dim hallway was completely empty, the entrance bare, no family of three, no keys.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at that very moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The door lock turned, and the door creaked open slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the invisible family of three did not enter; silence descended briefly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s going on?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi frowned, puzzled by this situation, but he sensed something ominous—had his feigned death been too obvious? Had he been discovered?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The invisible family of three outside the door erupted into violent quarreling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The voices were muffled, impossible to make out—as if blocked by some barrier. Though loud, their words were unintelligible, and as they argued, the child outside began to cry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Waaah!” It was a little girl’s scream, piercing and mournful, echoing through the entire building—even audible outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve been found.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Li Yi finally understood—his paper robe ruse had failed; the three dead ones had detected him and were now quarreling over it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The quarreling grew louder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi’s ears rang with a buzzing din, as if every noise had drilled into his skull—headache, irritation, rage. How unbearable—why such a terrible family? I just sat on your sofa for a while—I even washed your dishes, and you don’t even thank me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that little girl—crying, always crying, what the hell are you crying for? Do you think I won’t punch you all to death?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His fists hardened again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The suppressed power surged back into his fists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wanted to vent, to explode.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But reason told Li Yi he must suppress this agitation—he could not be controlled, or he’d die in this building like the other cultivators, unable to escape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Endure. Endure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi even formed a hand seal and practiced the White Bone Contemplation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it was useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The quarreling, the fighting, the crying—roared endlessly in his ears; he felt his entire being about to burst.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I must find a way quickly, or I won’t leave this building.” Li Yi realized the paper robe was useless—it had not helped him, but instead provoked the three dead ones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He immediately tore off the paper robe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the moment the robe was torn, the quarreling and crying outside ceased abruptly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All sound vanished in an instant, replaced by deathly silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My guess was right—the paper robe was a mistake. It didn’t help me—it backfired.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi felt his mind grow lighter, his hardened fists slowly relaxing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the situation hadn’t improved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without the paper robe’s disguise, Li Yi was now fully exposed in this haunted mansion—as a living man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Footsteps sounded again at the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One set of footsteps rushed into the house, bypassing the living room entirely, heading straight for the kitchen. Li Yi saw nothing, but tracked the intruder’s location by the sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound of metal clashing came from the kitchen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The intruder had taken a knife.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Li Yi remembered—the kitchen had no knife.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the hurried footsteps left the kitchen, now heading straight for Li Yi on the sofa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’re coming to chop me?” Li Yi understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, he heard the swish of a blade slicing through the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A sharp pain shot through his shoulder, and he looked down in surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the pain was real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Worse—he sensed his life draining away, as if truly slashed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Recalling the deaths of the earlier cultivators,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>he began to understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cultivators hadn’t starved or been trapped here—they’d been hacked to death by the mansion’s dead, no visible wounds, yet the damage was real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Li Yi could think further,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the sound of the cleaver slicing through the air came again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi listened and dodged effortlessly—even though the attack was invisible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shifted like a bolt of lightning, moving to the dining table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet a searing pain pierced his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Can’t dodge?” Li Yi’s expression darkened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hurried footsteps closed in again; outside the door, the child’s shrill laughter and a woman’s stiff clapping echoed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If every attack hit without fail, dodging was pointless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi abandoned evasion and tried another item.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The paper umbrella.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the paper robe had angered the three dead ones, what was the paper umbrella for?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He immediately opened the umbrella.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cleaver’s slashing sounds vanished, the child’s laughter disappeared, and all returned to calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Li Yi’s body instinctively stiffened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he felt someone standing behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>",1289,"2026-06-20T01:27:08.613Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","5de7fdb26996b45af69972aba9c313a60aa1dc877fcc3ffbe07b68e77e5be3b0","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-870","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-868",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fafter-the-sky-fell-cover.jpg"]