Spirit Realm Wanderer

Chapter 16: Unexplored Lands

Zhang Yuanqing returned to the main hall, bathed in candlelight, soothing the throbbing pain caused by the recurrence of his old ailment while performing a purification ritual on himself. Based on his calculations, the vengeful spirit would be upon him in a minute or two; this was certainly not the right time to enter the East Courtyard and face the zombies head-on. After resting for four or five minutes, his physical condition grew increasingly worse; a headache was accompanied by mild dizziness. He knew this was the zombie poison gradually eroding his body, with the initial symptoms now manifesting. The candlelight in the main hall seemed unable to purify the toxins within his body. “I can’t put this off any longer…” He had to make the most of the Red Dance Shoes’ half-hour duration to fight quickly and decisively, clearing the dungeon in one go. Zhang Yuanqing left the Main Hall, followed the cobblestone path through the overgrown weeds, and arrived at the courtyard complex. Standing in the courtyard amid the undulating weeds, he opened his inventory and summoned the Red Dance Shoes. Two faint dark-red glimmers danced nimbly through the night, transforming into a brand-new pair of dance shoes. “Select the second form!” Zhang Yuanqing silently chanted to himself. The red dancing shoes once again dissolved into dark red glimmers, tracing two arcs as they enveloped his feet. In an instant, the running shoes on his feet transformed into a pair of oversized red dance shoes. This… isn’t this basically cross-dressing? Thank goodness they’re red dance shoes and not high heels… Zhang Yuanqing glanced at his feet, feeling somewhat out of place; it just felt weird. He forced himself to ignore this detail, took out the Corpse-Sealing Talisman, clenched it in his hand, and—amid the soft rustling of the great banyan tree—passed through the arched gate, returning once more to the East Courtyard. In the East Courtyard, wild grass undulated beneath the bright moonlight, and two large houses stood silently; everything was so still. He cautiously scanned the area but saw no sign of a zombie. He immediately made his way carefully across the courtyard toward the large house, which had been partitioned into four rooms. In the room where the coffin was displayed, the wooden door had been smashed off its hinges. He didn’t need to go inside; he peered into the room from a distance, standing just beyond the threshold. Moonlight streamed in through a gap in the roof tiles. The corpse, the coffins, the flung-open coffin lids, and the brass pestle—all lay quietly in their original places, not moved an inch. There was no sign of the zombie in the room. “Could it have crawled back into the coffin?” From his angle, he couldn’t see inside the coffin. Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly noticed that the moonlight seemed to dim, and a dark shadow descended from the sky, enveloping him. Immediately afterward, the night breeze carried a thick stench of decay, along with a low, guttural growl. It… it’s hiding in the tree? Zhang Yuanqing was terrified; his heart clenched suddenly, and he instinctively thought to dodge. The next moment, the red dancing shoes on his feet glowed with a faint crimson light. Zhang Yuanqing’s feet suddenly slipped, and before he could even react, he slid forward, plowing a furrow through the wild grass. Boom! The zombie, clad in ragged clothes, lunged at thin air. I dodged it... Zhang Yuanqing scrambled to his feet, overjoyed, his heart finally settling back into his chest. The red dancing shoes were truly magical—their evasion capabilities were even stronger than he’d anticipated. Given his own reflexes, there was no way he could have dodged the zombie’s lunge just now. Zhang Yuanqing’s confidence soared. “Hah… hah…” The zombie, with hair like withered grass, let out a roar that shook his eardrums; its bulging eyes glowed with even greater ferocity. It snapped its knees and lunged at its prey once more. Its speed was as swift as a car racing at high speed. As the stench of blood hit his nose, the terrifying creature was already right before his eyes. Zhang Yuanqing’s feet twisted uncontrollably, like a ballet spin, smoothly tracing a semicircle that allowed him to dodge the sharp claws while cutting in behind the zombie. Immediately afterward, he “naturally” split his legs wide, his body collapsing suddenly as a powerful gust of wind whistled overhead and his two arms swept across the air. Ouch, he’d been grabbed by the balls… Zhang Yuanqing’s face contorted; he desperately wanted to clench his thighs and scream in agony, but the red ballet shoes were already controlling his legs as he hopped and sprang upward. He soared high into the air and slammed both feet down hard on the zombie’s chest. Boom! Amid the dull thud, fine dust swirled from the zombie’s tattered, ragged clothes. It let out a furious, resentful roar as the immense force sent it tumbling backward onto its back. His chance! Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing, ignoring the searing pain in his groin, sprinted forward and slammed the zombie-subduing talisman he held in his hand hard against the highly decomposed, foul-smelling face before him. He struck it right on the forehead. Smack! The frenzied, bloodthirsty zombie froze in place as if struck by a petrification spell. All movement ceased, and silence fell. The zombie lay stiff as a board among the wild grasses, the crimson glow in its hideous eyes slowly fading. It had lost its “vitality.” Looking at the zombie, now as lifeless as a clay statue and unable to wreak havoc, Zhang Yuanqing gasped for breath as exhaustion and joy welled up inside him. He had survived! “Without Red Dance Shoes’ help, it would’ve been nearly impossible to take down a zombie on my own—and zombies are just one of the many supernatural threats. As expected of an S-class Spirit Realm—it’s just too difficult. “But the construction crew had plenty of people—logically, dealing with the zombie shouldn’t have been a problem. A group of grown men—how could they be so utterly helpless…” Zhang Yuanqing suddenly let out a sigh; he now knew the reason. The Zombie-Sealing Talisman had been found in the pocket of the corpse beneath the window. That senior had obtained the item but hadn’t told his companions; instead, he’d kept it to himself. Human hearts are more complex—and more terrifying—than ghosts and monsters. Now that the zombie was dealt with, it was time to head down the well to find that shameless female ghost. But before that, there was something else that weighed heavily on Zhang Yuanqing’s mind. Leaving the zombie behind, he walked toward the room where the coffins were displayed. Bracing himself against the doorframe, he stepped over the threshold. In the dimly lit room, moonlight streamed in like a beam. He paused before the mummy, bent down, and picked up the copper awl. Even though it was clearly a bronze object, it didn’t feel cold to the touch; instead, it was as smooth and warm as jade. Immediately, a message appeared in my field of vision. [Name: Demon-Subduing Mace] [Type: Weapon] [Functions: Purification, Spirit Subjugation, Demon-Slaying] [Description: A weapon imbued with the power of the Sun God, it is the nemesis of all dark entities. By offering a sacrifice of one’s essence and blood to this staff, one will gain the power of the Sun God. ] [Note: Is it powerful? It was obtained at the cost of a life. ] It really is an item. Judging by the description, it seems even more powerful than the candles in the main hall. The senior members of the construction crew must have intended to use it to kill the zombies, but they failed. Sigh—they’d already lost too many men before they even faced the zombies... Zhang Yuanqing was relieved that he’d made the right call. He ingeniously used the Red Dancing Shoes to overcome the obstacle. Of course, the senior members of the construction crew had no choice; they couldn’t possibly subdue this rule-based item, and the vast majority of them died precisely because they were trampled by the Red Dance Shoes. “With this item specifically designed to counter Yin entities, paired with the Red Dance Shoes, my chances of completing the trial mission have greatly increased.” Holding the Demon-Subduing Mace, he felt a surge of confidence well up inside him. Before the five minutes were up, he left the room and returned to the courtyard. This time, he headed straight for the ancient well to conduct a final investigation. The well’s mouth was deep and dark, and a damp, musty scent of rotting vegetation rose up from within. Let’s go down and take a look… Zhang Yuanqing gripped the Demon-Subduing Mace tightly, assumed a defensive stance, placed one foot on the well’s rim, and then simply walked down, traversing the well wall as if it were level ground. In the past, he certainly wouldn’t have dared to go down and explore. Setting aside whether there were dangers at the bottom of the well, jumping to the bottom without a rope or any help would have been a sure path to death. Soon, he reached the bottom of the relatively shallow well, where the moonlight was already very faint. The water in the well had long since dried up; black silt lay at the bottom, clumps of weeds grew along the edges, and the well walls were covered with deep blue-green moss. “There’s no ghost in the well...” Zhang Yuanqing furrowed his brow, thinking to himself, “This doesn’t add up. I clearly saw a faceless female ghost peering out of the well.” He searched the well’s bottom repeatedly, but since the Red Dance Shoes could only be worn for a limited time, he finally had no choice but to climb back up the steep well wall, return to the surface, and hurry back to the eaves of the main hall. Only then did he feel safe enough to remove the Red Dance Shoes. In the main hall, bathed in the dim glow of candlelight, Zhang Yuanqing leaned listlessly against the offering table. The corpse poison was eating away at his body more deeply; following the dizziness, he began to experience shortness of breath, chest pain, and other symptoms. Time was running out. “I’ve already explored both courtyards and successfully subdued the zombies. The mission isn’t over yet, which means there’s still somewhere I haven’t explored…” He had searched every room in the back courtyard and even gone down to the bottom of the well—there was no way he could have missed anything. So, where exactly could it be? When all possibilities are ruled out, the one remaining—no matter how implausible—must be the truth... He muttered to himself and slowly braced himself to stand. The place he hadn’t “explored” was right here—this main hall before his eyes. Zhang Yuanqing’s gaze slowly swept across the main hall, finally resting on the clay statue of the Three Mountains Goddess. The first time he’d entered the main hall, a particular detail on the statue had caught his attention. The clay statue’s right hand was empty, yet it was positioned as if clutching something, indicating that it had originally been holding an object. He hadn’t known what she had been holding before, but now he knew. It was the Demon-Subduing Mace. Thinking it couldn’t hurt to give it a try, Zhang Yuanqing stepped forward, inserted the golden Demon-Subduing Mace into the clay statue’s palm, then leaped down from the pedestal and took a few steps back. Almost the instant he stepped back, the surface of the pedestal cracked with a “crack,” sending a fine cloud of dust billowing into the air. Immediately afterward, the entire pedestal collapsed, revealing a pitch-black underground chamber.