[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-nothing-is-taboo":3,"chapter-nothing-is-taboo-nothing-is-taboo-chapter-94":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Nothing Is Taboo",{"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},2310479,4514,"Chapter 94: Inviting the Mountain Ghost (Second Update!)","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-94",94,"\u003Cp>In fact, even without the fox’s warning, Xu Yuan wouldn’t use this thing often.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whenever it came to mountain runners, Xu Yuan naturally kept a watchful eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every village in the mountains reeked of strangeness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan had already suspected that the villagers and mountain runners were no longer truly “human.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He put the stone tablet back into the leather pouch—then suddenly picked it up again, studying it thoughtfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Jingyu and the others came down and discussed with Xu Yuan: “Enter the mountains tomorrow?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan nodded, gravely saying: “Find those people, capture a few alive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right now, the Purification Office had no evidence whatsoever regarding Chen Liangxuan and Su Bingyue—everything was mere speculation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But capturing people in the mountains was extremely difficult for Xu Yuan and his group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The enemy was formidable, and they had the Locust Witch aiding them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Requesting reinforcements from the county was already too late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So tomorrow, once inside the mountains, they’d have to think of another plan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan added: “No one else comes. Just the four of us. Too many people make too big a target—it hampers movement.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Jingyu nodded: “Exactly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ordinary Captains would be useless if they came along, and “inviting the mountain ghost” would accelerate the corruption of strangeness on their bodies—if ordinary Captains couldn’t withstand the transformation, they’d become a burden.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The corruption of strangeness was simply yin energy entering the body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet different strangenesses carried different kinds of yin energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Rest now. Preserve your strength.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the second half of the night, the town was utterly silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps the surrounding malevolences had all been driven off by the old fox.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After dawn, Xu Yuan checked today’s taboos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prohibitions: traveling at night, shouting in the mountains, breaking ground, cutting wood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone ate breakfast together, then Xu Yuan’s group set out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as they stepped outside, Dafu flapped its wings and honked loudly as it chased after them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan had no choice but to tell it: “I can’t look after you today.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dafu stared wide-eyed, whether it understood or not, it refused to go back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan let it follow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today they took the route through Meirenba and Mao’erzhong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Meirenba, a row of beautiful female heads called out sweetly: “Sir,” “Husband,” “Good Brother”—but the four ignored them completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They passed Mao’erzhong without incident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan carefully caught a mountain chicken, confirmed it wasn’t a malevolence, then prepared to “invite the mountain ghost.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This ritual required blood offerings and had to be performed within the mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan found an open patch by the roadside, stacked stones into a small shrine, and reverently placed the stone tablet inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything followed the original “Head Shrine” protocol.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he took five incense sticks, snapped two, arranging them into “three long, two short.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He lit them and stuck them before the shrine, then drew his small knife across the chicken’s throat, letting its blood pour entirely over the shrine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He placed the chicken as an offering before the incense, and Xu Yuan and the other three bowed together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After three bows, Xu Yuan dipped three fingers into the blood on the shrine, pressed them to his hairline, and drew a vertical line down his forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three streaks of blood extended all the way to his eyebrows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, Xu Yuan suddenly felt the Ghost Witch Mountain had “accepted” him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world turned a strange, eerie blue in Xu Yuan’s eyes; sounds he’d never heard before whispered softly at his ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan turned to look around:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the overgrown ditches beside the path lurked many bizarre shapes—beast-like but not beasts, ghost-like but not ghosts—with lower bodies fused into the vegetation, upper bodies protruding, swaying with the wind like wild grass, greedily staring at the road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many had gaping mouths full of fangs, waiting for blood offerings to roll down the path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as it falls, it’s ours!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the distance, voices of arguing malevolences drifted on the wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Children taste better—soft, tender flesh.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s just because your teeth are bad. Old men are better—meat and bone both chewy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve seen too little. Wu Xiu are the tastiest…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Jingyu and the other three had also completed the ritual and now saw and heard the true face of the Ghost Witch Mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan gave a signal; the four walked together into the mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Along the way, ordinary malevolences plainly ignored them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But they encountered one malevolence covered entirely in mouths, half its body emerging from an ancient locust tree, insisting on chatting with Xu Yuan and the others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every mouth on its body spoke at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Xu Yuan’s group could hear, they could not speak—so they quietly killed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But two passing malevolences had seen it happen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fu Jingyu and the others looked to Xu Yuan—he alone was a Golden Core cultivator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan had no choice but to swallow the malevolence, gritting his teeth against the nausea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two passing malevolences were startled and fled like the wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Malevolences did devour one another in the mountains, but only the most monstrous did so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two passing ones feared that merely watching might draw them into the same fate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several hours later, Xu Yuan stood at the spot where he’d buried his mountain goods before—but he glanced once and moved on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On a crooked tree nearby, a hanged ghost stared blankly, tongue hanging out, swinging gently in the mountain wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Xu Yuan, its tongue stretched longer, its eyes rolled down to scrutinize him closely: “That kid? How’d he turn into this ghostly form?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No good. I must tell Bai Lao.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hanged ghost untied its noose, wrapped it around its waist, and floated away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Yuan walked another half-hour before reaching Wangxiang Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gatekeeper was still Zhang Sanba.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Xu Yuan and the others from afar, Zhang Sanba jumped in fright, slammed the gate shut with a bang, then sprinted toward the old dead tree in the village center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the way he tripped and fell, scraping his knee open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Purple-black blood oozed out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ignoring the pain, he limped to the old dead tree and pounded hard on the broken bell hanging from it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gong! Gong! Gong!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The whole village erupted. Adults rushed out and gathered beneath the tree.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhang Sanba, what’s happened?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanba pressed ash from his pipe onto the wound: “Strong enemies have come! Wait for Bai Lao to arrive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old mountain runner wore the same attire—feathered cloak, yellow crystal glasses, hands behind his back, walking over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind him trailed the hanged ghost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanba hurried forward: “Bai Lao, did you start a feud with another village? Four mountain runners have come! We can’t possibly fight them…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old mountain runner replied calmly: “Not from another village.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanba froze: “Not from another village? What do you mean? Are there other mountain runners?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Lao waved his hand: “Everyone, disperse. I’ll go see.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Villagers stared at each other, some eyelids flickering open and closed, full of questions, but obediently scattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Lao led the hanged ghost toward the village outskirts, then told Zhang Sanba: “After we leave, lock the gate.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Sanba followed behind; as Bai Lao and the hanged ghost exited the village, he slammed the gate shut, climbed atop it, and looked out—this time he saw clearly, stunned: “How is it that kid?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1226,"2026-06-20T12:07:23.516Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","606b1755160b07c22446ec3c0fe39cd352f48871dfac476da17284f9e2ad37cd","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-95","nothing-is-taboo-chapter-93",413,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnothing-is-taboo-cover.jpg"]