Chapter 97: Tianyuan Dharma Assembly (End)
What is hell like?
Zhong Qi had no idea about it before. He had read many literary works, such as Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West" and Dante's "Divine Comedy"...
Without exception, these works depict various types of hell from ancient times to the present, both in China and abroad.
In his impression, hell should be a sea of blood and corpses, with wailing everywhere. But he didn't expect that the scene in front of Zhong Qi was so peaceful.
Zhong Qi found himself in the apartment building where he grew up in a daze.
This apartment building is obviously old, and the corridor looks very shabby. There are many cobwebs on the ceiling of the corridor; the windows in the corridor are also missing some glass; the handrails of the stairs have accumulated a thick layer of dust because no one has cleaned them for many years. The afterglow of the setting sun shines on the half-open old glass windows in the corridor, reflecting a row of orange-yellow light. It is as dazzling as those gilded years.
There was a noisy sound of cicadas outside the window, it must be midsummer.
Zhong Qi stared at all this in a daze. His dazed consciousness had just come back to his senses, as if he had suddenly fallen back into his body from tens of thousands of feet in the air. Everything in front of him began to become clear, and the sounds he heard were no longer blurry as if they were through a layer of glass.
At the same time, Zhong Qi suddenly felt uncomfortable: his whole body was covered with sticky sweat, and the heat made him weak. He looked down and found that his arms and legs had become shorter, as weak as a seven or eight-year-old child, and he was holding a test paper in his hand.
It was a test paper with a full score of 100.
Zhong Qi remembered that today was the day when his midterm exam results were released. He did very well and was about to show them to his parents. Thinking of this, he quickly entered the house and walked through the entrance to the living room.
His parents were sitting on the sofa in the living room waiting for him. They couldn't see their faces clearly, only the outline of their faces and a pair of lips that looked a little exaggerated with a smile.
Seeing this, Zhong Qi felt a little confused: "Mom and Dad are so weird today."
But Zhong Qi didn't have time to dwell on these little things. The most important thing now was to tell his parents about his excellent results. So Zhong Qi took out his perfect test paper and said to the two figures on the sofa, "Mom and Dad, I got 100 points in math today."
The smiles on Zhong Qi's parents' faces did not change at all. They did not even take a close look at the test paper in Zhong Qi's hand. They just slowly lowered their eyes from looking forward, glanced at Zhong Qi's face, and then said in a calm tone: "You did well in the test."
After saying that, they moved their eyes back and continued to look forward, as if the matter was over.
Zhong Qi was disappointed by his parents' indifference. He put down the test paper in his hand, turned around and was about to walk into the room, but he heard his parents behind him calling him: "Wait."
Zhong Qi turned around in surprise, thinking his parents had figured out something to say to him to encourage him, but he heard them ask, "How is your practice of the Ghost Taming Talisman going?"
Zhong Qi couldn't answer and he began to hesitate because he had tried for a long time yesterday but the talisman still had no effect.
Then he looked up, hoping to get comfort from his parents, but he saw the two figures on the sofa were still sitting upright, but the smiles on their faces had disappeared. They looked at Zhong Qi and said disappointedly, "Why are you so useless?"
This sentence hit Zhong Qi's heart hard. At that moment, Zhong Qi remembered that this was a scene that happened when he returned home in the fifth grade of elementary school. This scene has been imprinted in his heart for many, many years.
Later, Zhong Qi studied harder and studied the art of controlling ghosts. His knowledge grew. Finally, he even started teaching at a university. Not long ago, a professor in the Chinese department found an ancient book that contained many strange spells. The professor was a good friend of his and knew that his family was engaged in this business, so he copied a copy and gave it to him.
When Zhong Qi was reading ancient books, he found a spell that said that if this spell was used, it could summon the evil spirits from the deepest part of hell. It was very powerful. However, if you are not careful, it could easily backfire, so future generations need to use it with caution.
Even as a ghost-controlling sect, Zhong Qi felt that this spell was too dangerous and ominous, and should be sealed. So for the sake of safety, he sealed the copy of the book in his study and did not tell anyone.
However, not long ago, something happened in Xuanmen: Zong Nian, who originally had very ordinary talent, suddenly became like a genius after returning from Fengxu Village, and learned many high-level Xuanmen spells overnight!
Zong Nian's attainment in the mystical arts instantly reached a new level, and he could even discuss the Dao with many masters of the mystical sect without falling behind. It was like he had suddenly opened a golden finger.
Zhong Qi didn't care at first, but one day when he went home to visit his parents with a lot of luggage, his parents looked at him worriedly and said, "It would be great if you were the one who suddenly came to your senses."
That night, Zhong Qi dreamed of the old house of his childhood and the disappointed eyes of his parents again.
After waking up from the dream, Zhong Qi walked into the study and opened the ancient book that he thought was ominous...
The memories came to an abrupt end. Zhong Qi, who had been recalling the past with a clear mind, suddenly felt his thoughts become confused again.
Then, he found that the scene around him began to change, and finally turned back to the corridor of the apartment building at the beginning. At the same time, his memory began to become blurred, his consciousness began to become scattered, and his eyelids became heavy.
In the last second before he could think, Zhong Qi looked at the test paper in his hand and said, "Ah, so this is hell." Then he slowly closed his eyes.
After a while, Zhong Qi opened his eyes again. With his thoughts in a mess, he looked at his surroundings and the test paper in his hand in confusion. Then he remembered that today was the day for the midterm exam results to be released. He did very well in the exam and was about to show it to his parents...
…
In the real world, Zhong Qi's body seemed to be lifted up by an invisible hand.
His mouth was wide open and black mist could be seen swirling out of it. He looked extremely painful and groaned continuously. The sound was like the sound of a dilapidated wooden door opening and closing, which sounded harsh and strange and made people feel very uncomfortable.
Seeing this, the people from the Xuanmen around him all retreated. After all, Zhong Qi was in such a state that it was obvious that he was possessed by something, and that thing was trying to get out. If someone approached rashly, they might be possessed by Zhong Qi instead. Who could resist that?
The black gas surged up and actually jumped out of Zhong Qi's mouth, floating in the air like a ball of black mist.
The young and inexperienced Xuanshi in the crowd pointed at the black mist in surprise and shouted, "What is that?!"
The black mist was an evil ghost, but it was not the evil ghost that the people of Xuanmen were used to seeing. After all, no matter how ferocious the evil ghost was, it would not show its true form in broad daylight, nor could it possess the descendants of the Zhong family. The Zhong family was the best at , and they had passed down countless secret methods of controlling ghosts from generation to generation. No matter how poor Zhong Qi was, he had learned a lot of self-protection methods since he was a child, so it was impossible for him to be easily taken over by an ordinary evil ghost.
For a moment, everyone felt insecure and was very afraid of this evil ghost.
The evil ghost was patrolling in the air, seemingly searching for a new prey.
In fact, this evil ghost is in urgent need of a new body, preferably a body like Zhong Qi's, with full of negative energy.
For evil ghosts, creatures like them that are not tolerated by the three realms cannot accept the offerings of mortals, nor can they enjoy the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They can only hide in the darkest corners and feed on the greed, anger, and delusion of mortals. Although these negative emotions will make the evil ghosts hungrier and hungrier, they can only drink poison to quench their thirst and sink deeper and deeper. The three corpse gods living in Zhong Qi's body, as gods in charge of various evil desires, were afraid of being swallowed up by evil ghosts together, so they had to leave his body while Zhong Qi was still alive.
For those whose greed, anger, and ignorance are eaten away by evil spirits, the greed, anger, ignorance, and desires in their hearts will be infinitely magnified. Any tiny dark side that has never been noticed before will slowly be framed and magnified in their hearts.
For example, Zhong Qi, Zhong Qi's soul is crying at this moment. When his greed, anger, and ignorance are enjoyed by evil spirits, his soul will no longer be complete. His remaining body will become a cage, locking him in the hell called "self".
But what does all this have to do with evil spirits?
Just like humans would not look back at the chicken bones they had left over, the evil ghost would not look back at the Zhong Qi that he had eaten. What he had to do now was to find a new meal and have a good feast. Then, he would continue his grand plan of opening the gates of hell.
Speaking of the reason why the evil ghost must open the ghost gate, it is actually not a major reason, he just wants to have a good sleep.
After all, the air in the human world is too unsuitable for him to survive. He needs to make the human world like the underworld so that he can live more peacefully. He needs a world full of screams and pain, otherwise he will always suffer from insomnia for nights.
The evil ghost looked around the crowd, picking and choosing. Finally, he chose Qi Yu, who had become very self-deprecating recently because his summoning magic failed. He looked Qi Yu up and down, then nodded with satisfaction: "It looks like it should be very delicious."
However, before the evil ghost could make any move, the people in the Xuanmen sect had already reacted and began to throw all kinds of magic tools and talismans at him. How to describe the scene, it was like hundreds of people playing a hoop together, and the prize was an evil ghost, and whoever caught it would get it.
However, when there are too many circles and too few targets, a problem arises: the circles start to fight each other. For a while, shouts echoed across the field:
"Why did your peach wood sword hit my soul-suppressing nail? Do you know how to aim?"
"Why did you throw the water spell when you saw me use the fire charm?"
"You did this on purpose, didn't you? You don't want anyone else to catch you even if you can't catch him."
The one who can defeat you is never your opponent, but your own stupid teammates.
In short, under the "escort" of the Xuanmen people, the evil ghost successfully came in front of Qi Yu and rushed straight towards Qi Yu's forehead.
Lu Ren, who was standing by, saw that this was not going to work, and shouted anxiously, "Qi Yu! Get out of the way!"
Shan Gui seemed very calm. She said to Lu Ren who was anxiously standing by, "Don't worry."
She looked very confident, as if she was absolutely sure. Seeing this, Lu Ren, who was originally nervous, gradually calmed down. He knew that the mountain ghost must have a good idea.
On the other hand, Qi Yu was not stupid. When he saw the evil ghost rushing towards him, he immediately ran away to avoid the evil ghost, but he could not resist the evil ghost chasing him.
He ran, he chased, they were all unable to escape.
After a while, Qi Yu was caught up by the evil ghost.
The evil ghost crashed straight into Qi Yu's body, but before he could feel happy, he felt as if he had sunk into the depths of the vast ocean. It was pitch black and silent, but he felt a shudder from the depths of his soul.
"How is this possible!" the evil ghost said in horror, "Why is there the aura of the ancient god in this place?!"
That was the soul mark left by the mountain ghost on Qi Yu. Even other gods could not bear it, let alone a small evil ghost.
The evil ghost had not felt fear for many years. He had been entrenched in the underworld for many years and had seen all kinds of blood and gore. But now, the whole ghost became like a mouse whose nest was suddenly overturned, terrified.
The evil ghost didn't want to stay in Qi Yu's body any longer.
He quickly jumped out of Qi Yu's body, trying to find a place to hide and preserve his strength.
He did not run away immediately, but rushed towards the crowd first, disrupting their formation and creating chaos to facilitate his escape plan.
The crowd thought that the evil spirit was going to possess them again, and they all dodged in panic like headless flies. Due to the crowds and disorder, they almost caused a stampede.
The scene was extremely chaotic at one point, and a few people running around almost bumped into Lu Ren.
The Qilin cub was very angry when he saw this: "How can this be allowed! Ah Ren must not be bullied!"
So the Qilin cub quickly transformed into its original lion-sized form, and quickly carried Lu Ren, the mountain ghost, the teddy bear and Jun Fang into the air to prevent them from being accidentally injured by the frightened crowd.
The Kirin cub's take-off successfully brought the originally chaotic crowd to a standstill.
"That... is that a Qilin?!" The crowd looked up at the sky in amazement and exclaimed. Their eyes widened, their breathing quickened, and some even wanted to cry on the spot, not for anything else, but because it was a Qilin, a Qilin that had only been heard of in legends, and it was the dream of many mystics.
But now is not a good time to pay homage to the Qilin, because the evil spirits have taken advantage of the distraction of the crowd and started to escape towards the back mountain.
Seeing this, Lu Ren shouted, "Oh no! He's trying to run away!"
Upon hearing this, the Qilin cub hurried to catch up, but there were too many people on his back, which caused his speed to drop significantly, and the distance between him and the evil ghost became larger and larger.
Seeing this, the people of Xuanmen also hurriedly followed Qilin's steps and stepped forward to help catch him. However, the crowd came from different families and had been fighting each other for many years. They were not of one mind at all and had no order at all. They could only move forward in a hurry. It was simply a fantasy to catch the nimble and mobile evil ghost. The evil ghost was obviously also very clear about this. He put all his strength into it and went through the back door, and was about to enter the forest.
Like a bird flying into the forest, from then on the sky is high and the sea is vast, and we will never meet again.
However, before the evil ghost who successfully escaped had time to cheer, a giant snake suddenly jumped out from the back door. The snake had obviously been waiting for a long time. As soon as it saw the evil ghost coming out, it suddenly jumped up from the ground and bit the evil ghost's body.
The evil ghost didn't expect there would be an ambush in this place. He was stunned for a moment. When he saw the appearance of the snake clearly, he couldn't help but said in shock: "Xuanwu! How could you...!"
But before he could finish his words, the giant snake had already raised its neck towards the sky and swallowed the evil ghost whole in one gulp. From then on, the evil ghost lost the ability to speak forever.
Then, after eating and drinking its fill, the big snake spit out its tongue and slowly retracted into the ground, coiling onto a giant turtle that was quietly waiting on the ground, and formed a complete black tortoise.
Lu Ren took a closer look and discovered that the other half of the black tortoise's body looked quite familiar and was almost exactly the same as the stone turtle statue at the foot of the mountain.
Could it be that the stone turtle was actually the transformation of Xuanwu?
While Lu Ren was in a daze, Xuanwu, who had successfully taken revenge, had already walked leisurely to him. Lu Ren knew that he had something to say to him, so he signaled the Qilin cub to descend near Xuanwu. After the Qilin cub landed, Lu Ren jumped down and walked in front of Xuanwu.
When Xuanwu saw Lu Ren coming, he stretched out his two heads, a turtle and a snake, towards him and said solemnly, "Thank you."
Lu Ren smiled gently, then pointed at Qilin Cub and others behind him: "You're welcome. Actually, I didn't help much. It's all thanks to my friends."
Not far away, looking at Lu Ren and Xuanwu who were chatting, the elder Zong ordered everyone in Xuanmen: "Let's go."
After saying that, without caring what others thought, he turned around and walked back to the meeting room.
But there were also people in Xuanmen who were still coveting Junfang's body, and they asked fearlessly: "Aren't we going to get Hanba back?"
I saw that Master Zong glared at the person who spoke and said angrily: "Who will ask for it? Are you going to ask for it?"
The person who was speaking swallowed his saliva, not daring to refute what Master Zong said. Then, he looked at the young man who was talking and laughing with Xuanwu not far away. Behind him was the Qilin stepping on the auspicious clouds, in front of him was Xuanwu, one of the four spirits of heaven, and beside him stood a very sinister, evil and ferocious Hanba. Whether it was a mythical beast or an evil creature, at this moment, they all obediently snuggled up to the young man, like harmless kittens and puppies.
Then, the person who was speaking turned around and looked at his group of old, weak, sick and disabled fellow disciples.
He thought sadly: "Yeah, how can I get it? Can I rely on my bunch of stupid teammates to snatch it away?"
Thinking of this, he dared not say anything more, turned around and left, leaving the venue for the big guys to socialize. Okay, the drought demon flew away.
Zong Nian and Zong Chen, who were leaving with the crowd, also looked back at Lu Ren, who was still at a loss and desperately saying "You're welcome" to Xuanwu.
It would be a lie to say that they were not envious, but they finally understood clearly at this moment that Lu Ren had already reached a realm that many masters dreamed of, but this was also a good thing. Since a mortal could achieve it, didn't it mean that the now declining metaphysics actually had a chance to bloom again? Whether it was a hundred years or two hundred years, as long as there was a ray of light, it was worth carrying on for generations. The two looked at each other, their eyes burning with hope and fighting spirit, and then smiled at each other.
However, at this moment, Zong Chen and Zong Nian said nothing. They even covered Zong Yi's mouth as he was about to walk over while shouting "Lu Ren——" and forcibly took him away.
After a while, Lu Ren, who had finally gotten Xuanwu to stop thanking him, finally raised his head, but was surprised to find that everyone else present had already left. Lu Ren was a little confused and asked curiously, "Why do the people from Xuanmen come and go without a trace?"
What puzzled Lu Ren even more was that when he went to work on Friday, he received a courier. The sender was Zong Chen, and inside was an ancient book and a silk banner.
The ancient book was the one that Zhong Qi used to summon evil spirits, and when the banner was unfolded, one could clearly see the large characters "The First Person in Xuanmen", and the signature was written in small characters: Presented by all members of Xuanmen.
Lu Ren: ???
