Chapter 61: What did that woman do outside just now?!

Before Lu Yuan's furious curse could fully dissipate through the mountain forest, gunfire erupted from the direction of Fengtian City, exploding in a continuous barrage.

These weren't just sporadic shots.

It was a dense, unrelenting crackle, like frying beans!

Lu Yuan shot out of the woods in a single step, landing atop a hill crest, gazing into the distance toward Fengtian City.

The city under the night sky had lost all traces of tranquility.

Seven or eight pillars of fire soared skyward, but they weren't the warm orange-red of normal flames. Instead, they were a sinister, eerie, sickly green.

Those green fires danced silently in the darkness, flickering unsteadily, like gigantic ghostly eyes peering down upon the mortal realm.

At this moment, Fengtian City had transformed into a ghost domain on earth.

On the streets, people were thrown into chaos, horses reared, and the air shook with wails and screams, turning into a boiling pot of spoiled porridge.

Countless evil spirits and malevolent entities loomed and drifted.

The most common were the "Hanging Guest Robes."

One after another, translucent, deathly white burial garments, dripping wet, floated in the air between streets and alleys, silently gliding through.

There were also "Mirage Ghosts," swirling masses of colorful mist the size of washbasins, hovering at low altitudes, shifting unpredictably.

Within the mist, images would sometimes appear—piles of gold and silver as high as mountains, then transform into sumptuous feasts overflowing with aroma, and then again into peerless beauties covering their faces with light laughter.

They specialized in devouring the greed in people's hearts.

A man dressed like a cart driver wore an idiotic grin as he madly threw himself toward a mass of mist that had manifested into a pile of banknotes.

His hands clawed frantically at the empty air, tearing at nothingness, completely unaware that his pants had slipped down to his ankles!

There were even more: Mother-Child Malevolences, Noose Resentments, Drowned-Beneath-the-Bridge, Cartwheel Grudges...

Innumerable fierce evil spirits and malevolent entities had swarmed out of their nests!

The soldiers of the Security Regiment and the policemen were completely thrown into disarray.

When had they ever seen a scene like this?

The bandits and robbers they usually dealt with would fall cleanly with a gunshot.

But these ghostly things before them? Bullets fired at them either passed right through or merely stirred a negligible ripple upon their shadowy forms.

This sense of powerlessness, in turn, incited the ferocity of the evil spirits.

"Shoot! Shoot the hell out of them for me!" a man who looked like an officer, his face as pale as paper, raised his Mauser pistol and fired three shots at a "Hanging Guest Robe" drifting toward him.

The bullets passed uselessly through the garment, sparking against the wall opposite.

That "Hanging Guest Robe" merely paused slightly. The swollen human face at its collar opening became even clearer, its features sharpening as it stared fixedly and accelerated toward him.

"Mother of god! They're ghosts! They're really fucking ghosts!" The soldiers' psychological defenses completely shattered. They began firing their guns wildly at the sky, in all directions.

Stray bullets whistled, instead hitting several innocent commoners who couldn't escape in time.

The commoners were scared out of their wits.

Some collapsed on the ground, losing control of their bowels. Others hugged their heads, curled up behind door panels, trembling like sieves. More people ran amok through the streets like headless flies. Wails, screams, gunfire, and the strange noises of the evil spirits all mingled together.

The once-prosperous Fengtian City had completely become a playground for evil spirits.

The evil spirits that had drifted out from the collapsed temporary Nurturing Malevolence Site were already this numerous.

Then the Song Residence, as one of the Nurturing Malevolence Sites, was even worse!

From the crevices of the rockery, slimy, slippery "Shadow Claws" continuously slithered out.

The surface of the pond was covered densely with deathly white "Hanging Guest Robes," reflecting a sickly green light upon the once-jade waters.

On the vermilion pillars of the covered walkways and the moon gates, weeping black "Tear Trails" seeped out.

Several "Mirage Ghosts" swirled in the flower hall, conjuring illusions of jewels and fine silks, luring the maids and servants who had lost their mental composure.

The Song Residence's servants and hired guards had all retreated to the rear courtyard now, their faces devoid of color.

Song Meiqin was protected in the center by several loyal old maids and young servant girls.

Her face was pale, her lips pressed tightly together, but her eyes remained calm. In her hand, she clutched tightly the few small protective trinkets Lu Yuan had given her earlier.

A peachwood piece strung on a red cord, carved with a simple Bagua diagram.

A small bronze mirror the size of a palm.

And a small packet wrapped in mulberry bark paper containing a mixture of incense ash and cinnabar powder.

"Everyone, don't panic! Hold on to the things the Young Master gave! Use the mirror to shine on those ghostly shadows! Use the powder to scatter at them!"

Aunt Qin was no delicate, pampered beauty.

At a time like this, she had to stand strong, couldn't show weakness. This whole household was now relying on her.

Even so, that barely perceptible tremor in her voice betrayed the fear in her heart.

One of the hired guards, gathering his courage, raised the bronze mirror Lu Yuan had given and shone it at a "Hanging Guest Robe" attempting to climb over the courtyard wall.

The rough surface of the bronze mirror actually emitted a faint layer of white light.

That "Hanging Guest Robe," illuminated by the white light, recoiled violently as if scalded. The human face at its collar let out a sharp, piercing shriek.

Another servant girl scattered the incense ash-cinnabar powder toward "Shadow Claws" trying to emerge from the shadows on the ground.

The powder touched the shadowy forms, emitting a faint sizzling sound like light burning, raising a few wisps of blue smoke. The "Shadow Claws" recoiled in pain.

But these small magical tools were truly limited in power, and there were too few of them.

The evil spirits seemed enraged, surging toward the rear courtyard with increasing frenzy.

More and more "Hanging Guest Robes" crowded the top of the wall. They piled upon each other, actually attempting to use their "bodies" to build a pathway.

The shadows on the ground, like boiling ink, continuously tried to seep into the rear courtyard.

An exceptionally large "Mirage Ghost" even manifested the image of Aunt Qin's deceased mother, weeping mournfully in the air, attempting to break her mental resolve.

"Miss! We can't hold on! The powder is almost gone!" an old maid cried out tearfully.

Song Meiqin immediately hardened her expression, gritted her teeth, and snapped sharply, "Shut up!! Hold on!!"

"My dear nephew will definitely come to save us!!"

But saying that was one thing. The glow from the peachwood piece was growing dimmer, and the white light from the bronze mirror flickered unsteadily.

A hired guard accidentally tripped over a "Shadow Claw" and was instantly entangled by several shadowy tendrils, his face rapidly turning bluish.

Aunt Qin bit her lower lip hard, tightening her grip on the peachwood piece in her hand.

She could feel those icy, malicious gazes had firmly locked onto her, the "backbone."

A "Hanging Guest Robe" with an exceptionally clear human face at its collar broke through the blockade of the bronze mirror's light.

Carrying a damp, cold, rotting stench, it lunged straight at her face!

People nearby cried out in alarm, but it was too late to rescue her.

Aunt Qin could even see the empty eye sockets and the gaping, toothless mouth on that swollen face.

At this critical moment of life and death—

"Heaven and Earth, Profound Ancestor, the root of all energy!"

A clear, resonant shout exploded like thunder above the rear courtyard!

Immediately following, a blazing golden sword light, like a thunderbolt descending from the Ninth Heaven, fiercely cleaved down from the night sky!

BOOM—!

The sword light struck with pinpoint accuracy on the "Hanging Guest Robe" lunging at Aunt Qin.

There was no sound of physical collision, only a shriek of extreme, soul-rending ghostly anguish.

That garment of condensed malevolent energy instantly evaporated under the supremely yang, supremely rigid sword energy and thunderous intent, not even leaving a wisp of smoke.

The remaining momentum of the golden light didn't cease. Like a giant broom, it swept horizontally through the rear courtyard.

Wherever it passed, "Shadow Claws" disintegrated, "Mirage Ghosts" wailed miserably as they dissipated into primal mist, and the weeping "Tear Trails" on the walls dried up.

Even the "Hanging Guest Robes" floating on the pond's surface were swept clean.

In the blink of an eye, the rear courtyard was cleared.

A figure landed lightly in front of Aunt Qin.

His white Taoist robe fluttered slightly in the night wind. The golden longsword in his hand still pulsed with faint thunderous radiance, illuminating his young yet steady face.

It was Lu Yuan.

...

Zhenlong Temple, rear courtyard side hall.

The old man sat cross-legged on a cushion before the coffin, hugging his gourd of wine, snoring loudly, fast asleep.

Also at this moment, a crimson figure appeared within the side hall. She glanced at the old man, and in the next second, her spirit form vanished into the coffin.

The instant Gu Qingwan entered the coffin.

The old man's eyes snapped open in shock, his head jerking up as he stared at the coffin before him.

What the hell did this woman just go out and do?!!!