Volume 2: World of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio Chapter 46 Painted Skin
The gods of Kyushu don’t know what Jiale is thinking yet, but at this moment they are really frightened.
Especially the gods of the three states of Jing, Yang and Jiao. You should know that the mountain god of Daqing Mountain is a sixth-grade mountain god, at the Hedao level, and has already reached the pinnacle level in the human world.
But even such a divine being was killed by Sun Zichu's mere words.
If the mountain god of Daqing Mountain was like this, how could the city gods of the three states be an exception? At this moment, their murderous intentions were completely suppressed. Killing Jia Le? How could they not know that it was Jia Le who killed the mountain god of Daqing Mountain, not Sun Zichu? How could Sun Zichu, a mere mortal, know so much? He was just a gun for Jia Le.
But Sun Zichu just listens to Jiale, what can he do?
Jiale was a nuisance, but they dared not provoke Jiale again until they were completely sure of his safety. Otherwise, they might be wiped out by a single decree.
However, if left alone, their plans would fail and they might end up being controlled and enslaved by the Way of Heaven and Earth, and then be enslaved by humanity, something they are absolutely unwilling to do. Being enslaved by the Way of Heaven and Earth is fine, after all, the Way of Heaven and Earth are the supreme beings in this world, but what is humanity, and what qualifications does it have to be above them.
Perhaps it is really time for the gods of Kyushu to form a united front.
At this moment, the gods of Kyushu inexplicably united their front. Jiale naturally didn't know all this. At this time, he had already completed the relocation of the graves and started to return with his grandson Chu and others.
"Enter Shu!"
A month later, at Sun Zichu's command, the army set out directly and advanced towards Yizhou.
It seems that the relocation of the graves has taken effect. In the past month, good news has been coming one after another from the three states, making the entire Sun Zi Chu force further stable and increasingly powerful. The battle between the three kings in the north is nearing its end. It seems that they are being pushed forward by a force. Among the three kings, King Liang has surpassed the other two kings and is poised to rule the Central Plains.
At this time, there is not much time left for Sun Zichu. He must take Yizhou before King Liang unifies the Central Plains. Only then can he join forces with King Liang in Central Plains and compete for the Central Plains.
"The King of Chu is about to enter Yizhou!"
The gods turned their eyes to Yizhou. Yes, the reason why King Liang was able to gain the upper hand so quickly in the battle among the three kings was because the gods began to come out in the open and strongly support King Liang. The condition was also very clear, which was to become a force that could check and balance the court after King Liang became emperor.
After knowing this condition, King Liang agreed without even much hesitation. These were gods. If he could get their help, he could reverse the situation in one fell swoop and regain the chance to fight for the nine provinces. Yes, the gods were very cunning. When they found King Liang, he was in the midst of the Three Kings' Battle for Supremacy and was in a disadvantageous situation. The appearance of the gods could be said to have become King Liang's life-saving straw.
At this time, the god only made a request that King Liang thought was very reasonable, and King Liang naturally would not refuse.
Sun Zichu is now in a dominant position. Although they are gods, it is impossible for them to capture and kill Sun Zichu with their divine power. The only way is to balance humanity with humanity, support a human king who is strong enough to compete with Sun Zichu in terms of humanity power , and defeat Sun Zichu head-on. Only then will they have a chance to kill Sun Zichu.
And only after killing Sun Zichu, they dared to take action against Jiale. They had already seen the movements of Maoshan. It turned out that Maoshan did not go down the mountain to target the gods, but to seize the opportunity and prepare to preach in Jiaozhou. After knowing this, the gods were completely relieved. It was a dispute between the immortals, and there was no need to interfere, as long as it did not affect them.
Liangzhou.
Liangzhou is the westernmost place among the Nine Provinces. Because it is close to the prairie, it is often harassed by nomadic peoples. Therefore, the people of Liangzhou are tough and it is the place where elite soldiers and famous generals are gathered. However, the military is strong but the culture is weak. The powerful soldiers and generals gave King Liang an advantage in the early stage of the struggle for hegemony, but not in the later stage. The struggle for hegemony is not a matter of one day or one night.
Having strong soldiers and horses would be a disaster if they could not be supplied. There were no outstanding scholars to govern the land under the rule of King Liang. In addition, King Liang's extravagant and tyrannical nature made him fall behind the other two kings step by step in the later stage of the struggle for hegemony. If it were not for the intervention of the gods, King Liang might have been the first to be eliminated.
Jiale walked on the land of Liangzhou and looked at the disaster in Liangzhou, feeling a little emotional.
Everything in the world has cause and effect, and balance is important. King Liang's momentum has declined, and it is difficult to change even after the gods intervene. However, the gods do not want a human emperor. They just want someone who can defeat Sun Tzu's army in a short period of time. King Liang's Liangzhou is adjacent to Yizhou and is in such a state of decline, it is easiest to control, and he can be said to be the best candidate.
So after getting King Liang's consent, the gods offered sacrifices to the dragon energy of Liangzhou to make King Liang's luck flourish again.
However, this is like fishing in a dried-up pond. If King Liang cannot annex a state in a short period of time and use the luck of other states to nourish Liangzhou, the luck will backfire and Liangzhou will be hit by constant natural and man-made disasters. By then, King Liang will not only lose the battle for hegemony. King Liang has no idea that at this moment, he is just a poor creature tempted by the prospects mentioned by the gods.
Naturally, the changes in the power of King Liang could not be hidden from the power of Sun Zichu, let alone Jia Le. After careful calculation, it was known that it was the plot of the gods of Jiuzhou. Since the gods had already made a move, Jia Le naturally had no reason not to accept it. So after absorbing the energy beads of the demons and monsters such as the mountain god of Daqing Mountain, Jia Le left Jinling and came to Liangzhou.
One was to teach the gods of Jiuzhou a lesson, and the other was to go out for a walk and take a good look at Jiuzhou. To be honest, he had been traveling through time for so long, but he had only been wandering around Yangzhou and had never left Yangzhou. This was somewhat of a failure.
Moreover, the Black Mountain Demon's lair is located in Black Mountain, which is within the territory of Liangzhou. Jiale is about to come and check it out. If the trip goes smoothly, he may be able to get rid of the Black Mountain Demon as well.
"Monster, monster!"
As they were walking, a panicked voice suddenly came. Jiale looked closely and saw a scholar dressed in scholar's clothes running out of the bamboo forest.
When Jiale stopped, the scholar also saw Jiale, and his face lit up with joy, and even his steps became lighter. It was obvious that after encountering a terrifying thing, he couldn't help but empathize with his compatriots. After drowning, he regarded the first person he saw as a life-saving straw.
"Brother, help me, there is a monster."
monster!
Upon hearing this, Jia Le couldn't help but look behind the scholar. This scholar had a heavy yin energy, which was probably because he was possessed by some evil spirit. Maybe he had some unspeakable experience with that evil spirit. In fact, Qiu Sheng's behavior was really nothing. There were really a lot of people like Qiu Sheng in the world of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, but few of them could live well like Qiu Sheng after his romantic affairs.
Looking closely, the bamboo forest was indeed surrounded by yin energy, and it seemed that there really were some evil spirits there.
For Jiale, this is a good thing. Traveling is boring, and it is a good thing to collect a few energy beads at the same time.
The scholar stretched out his hand to stop Jiale and was about to rush in front of him, and even rushed over to grab Jiale's arm. Jiale was now terrifying in the art of divination. After seeing the scholar for the first time, his true identity was revealed to Jiale without reservation.
The human heart is like a ghost, even more vicious than ghosts.
It is said that the most terrifying thing in the world is ghosts, but in Jiale's opinion, ghosts are nothing, the human heart is the most unpredictable.
Just like the scumbag in front of me.
In fact, the plot is very familiar. A poor scholar went to Beijing to take the imperial examination and met a love-minded brothel girl. After a disagreement, she promised herself to him and even entrusted her wealth to him. However, the girl did not think that even if he was a poor scholar, in this era that emphasized family background, he could not be locked up by a brothel girl.
There is no need to think too much about the final result, which is that both people and money will be lost.
This scumbag was very talented and learned. After he passed the imperial examination, he was directly selected as a son-in-law of the Minister of Rites. If the scumbag hesitated for even a second in front of the brothel girl and the daughter of the Minister of Rites who had huge political assets and could help him rise to the top, it would be disrespectful to the word scumbag.
Even worse things are yet to come. The girl in the brothel was waiting for the scumbag to come back, but she couldn't see him no matter how hard she looked. Feeling uneasy, she went straight to the capital, and only then did she know that the scumbag had married the woman of the Minister of Rites. How could the girl bear this, so she went straight to his door.
The scumbag was even more ruthless. He used both coaxing and deceiving methods to calm the love-minded girl down and settled her in a small courtyard he had purchased before. Then he burned the courtyard down in the middle of the night. This time there were no hidden dangers. Afterwards, the scumbag acted as if nothing had happened and continued to live with his wife.
Unfortunately, the wife is a jealous one, which makes the scumbag very annoyed. After all, how can he have fun if she is watching him so strictly?
The Minister of Rites was demoted to Liangzhou as the governor a few years ago, and the scumbag also followed him to Liangzhou. Now, he and his father-in-law, Minister Chen, are both working for the King of Liang.
However, Minister Chen was also lucky. He managed to escape the disaster caused by Cihang Pudu and is now the right-hand man of King Liang.
After Jiale saw the scumbag's identity, he also had some ideas in his mind.
"Brother, I am Wang Anxu. There are monsters in the forest. No, there are ghosts. Please take me back to the city. Before I saw you, I had been running in the forest for most of the night. It was like a ghost wall and it was difficult to get out. Now I see you, it's so good."
oh!
Jia Le suddenly realized that it was his arrival that broke the ghost's domain automatically. No wonder the ghost didn't dare to chase him. It seemed that he knew he was not someone to be trifled with.
"Since there is a demon ghost, I will just capture it. You lead the way."
Um!
Wang Anxu then discovered that Jiale seemed to be wearing a Taoist robe. He was too nervous just now and did not notice it. It was not his fault that he could not see clearly. It was really that Jiale's clothes did not seem to be very similar to the tattered Taoists in Wang Anxu's impression. It was too gorgeous. If he hadn't looked carefully, he would have thought it was just an ordinary Taoist robe.
But these are not important. What is important is whether Jiale can catch ghosts. Looking at Jiale's young face, Wang Anxu called him "brother" because he was too happy to see him. Looking carefully, Jiale looks a bit younger than Wang Anxu. How much Taoist skills can such a young Taoist have?
If we go back, won't we just take him with us?
Thinking of this, Wang Anxu hurriedly shook his head, "Master, no, the ghosts are powerful, we must not be careless, why don't you just follow me back first, and then you can ask the elders of the sect to come and subdue the ghosts, wouldn't that be foolproof."
Jiale suddenly looked at Wang Anxu, "Do you think I can't defeat that ghost?"
Wang Anxu's expression froze. Wasn't it obvious? But it was not easy to say. After all, it was his only lifeline. Wang Anxu didn't want to make the relationship too awkward, so he hurriedly smiled.
"Of course not. The Taoist priest looks extremely powerful. It's just that this ghost is really powerful. It wants the Taoist priest to be completely defeated. Then..."
Jiale didn't want to listen to his nonsense, "Since you believe in me, let's go."
As he spoke, Jiale threw away his Taoist robe and walked forward. However, Wang Anxu's mind was full of the lawsuit. He didn't know what tricks Jiale had used, but he couldn't help but follow Jiale closely. He was struggling in his heart, but his body was so honest that he didn't retreat at all.
"Master!"
"Master!"
…
Wang Anxu was already sweating profusely as he called out to Jiale, hoping that his voice could awaken a little bit of Jiale's conscience. Unfortunately, Jiale seemed determined to send him to the female ghost. No matter how he struggled and shouted, it was of no avail, so Wang Anxu gave up in the end.
Destroy it, I'm tired.
Looking at the bamboo house in front of him, Wang Anxu had only this one thought in his mind.
The bamboo house was built by Wang Anxu in the forest in order to avoid the jealous daughter of the minister, under the pretext of calligraphy and painting. Of course, it was far enough away from the city, and Wang Anxu would bring a few women to the bamboo house from time to time to paint their portraits, which were very pure. In front of the artist, it didn't matter whether they were wearing clothes or not.
One day, on his way to the bamboo forest, he met a woman being chased by gangsters. He was amazed by the woman's beauty and took her to the bamboo house.
A handsome man and a beautiful woman, a hero saving the beauty and giving himself to her, seems to be a very natural thing.
Xiaomei is really good at it, so much so that Wang Anxu comes to the bamboo forest more frequently. But just yesterday, he woke up from a dream and saw a horrifying scene. In front of the bronze mirror, a long-haired woman was sitting. Judging from her figure, it was Xiaomei. But when he looked at the person in the mirror carefully, she had a horrifying face. The face seemed to be burned, with ravines between it, which was extremely terrifying.
Wang Anxu suddenly thought of something and grabbed the quilt tightly, not daring to make any sound for fear of disturbing the female ghost. When the female ghost fell asleep, Wang Anxu pretended to get up in the middle of the night and fled directly from the bamboo house. The bamboo house was not far from the main road, but the road seemed particularly difficult to walk on tonight. He kept running and running until he was exhausted, but he still hadn't seen the end of the forest.
Wang Anxu was filled with fear. He knew that he might have encountered the legendary ghost wall, and the female ghost might have discovered him.
Thinking of the woman in the mirror, his face was actually being outlined stroke by stroke. His delicate face was actually created entirely by the brush. Thinking of how intimate he and the woman had been during these days, Wang Anxu felt terrified and at the same time, even more disgusted.
At this moment, the woman appeared again. Wang Anxu thought he was finished, but Jiale appeared so suddenly.
However, he still did not escape from the bamboo forest because his savior Jiale brought him back.
"Such a strong ghost aura, Wang Anxu, you must have done something that angered the heavens and the people to create such a powerful ghost."
Evil ghost!
sharp!
Wang Anxu, who was originally in a trance, suddenly became nervous, "Master, let's go quickly. Since he is so powerful, we still have to be cautious and not act rashly."
Jiale went straight forward.
"Don't worry, I am here to subdue the evil spirit."
No!
Wang Anxu was filled with despair as he watched himself being dragged again. As they got closer, the door of the bamboo house was opened directly. Jiale simply tapped it lightly, and the candles in the house were lit directly.
The house was as clean as before, and there was no female ghost sleeping in the same bed.
"Ghost girl, leave!"
"No, I didn't leave. I just hid myself."
Hiding!
Wang Anxu was even more nervous. At this moment, he felt that the female ghost was watching him in secret, ready to claw him at any time.
Jiale was walking around in the bamboo house.
Wang Anxu was indeed a man of some talent. His bamboo house was filled with paintings, most of which were of ladies. They were lifelike and vivid, and he had already achieved some level of artistic mastery. One of them was particularly vivid.
"Master Wang, you are an amazing painter. This painting is especially good."
Um!
Hearing Jiale's praise, Wang Anxu couldn't help but look over, but with just one glance, Wang Anxu was completely frightened.
"Sanniang!"
"No, Sanniang, I don't want to either. Why don't you stay in Yangzhou? Why do you have to come to the capital? I have a bright future. If I let you make trouble, my future will be ruined. Chu Niang is jealous and will not allow me to marry you. So, I have no choice, Sanniang, let me go."
Wang Anxu went completely crazy when he saw the painting in front of him. It turned out that the woman in the painting was Mei Sanniang, the prostitute who was betrayed by him and later killed by him. However, Wang Anxu wished he had completely forgotten about Mei Sanniang, so how could he paint a picture of Mei Sanniang?
At this time, Wang Anxu didn't know that the so-called ghost was probably Mei Sanniang who had transformed into a fierce ghost and came back.
Jia Le naturally did it on purpose. Wang Anxu really deserved to die, but to him, Wang Anxu was still useful and could not die at this moment. But even if he did not die, Wang Anxu would not live long. How could an evil ghost be so easy to deal with? After being in harmony with Mei Sanniang day and night, Wang Anxu's condition had long been not just depleted in energy and spirit, but even his life span was almost exhausted.
Although he looks fine now, he actually only has a month or so left to live. The reason he hasn't been killed is that Mei Sanniang just wants to torture him severely.
The woman in the painting suddenly became lively, and a graceful figure slowly fell down. It was Mei Sanniang.
"Who are you? Why did you save this ungrateful person? Why do you care about other people's business?"
Mei Sanniang ignored Wang Anxu who had collapsed on the ground, and just looked at Jiale with resentment. The murderous intent in her eyes could hardly be suppressed. Mei Sanniang had already turned into a fierce ghost, and it was already very remarkable that she could still suppress the murderous intent in her heart.
The most important thing is, how great must Mei Sanniang's resentment be that it allowed her to directly rise to become the Ghost King in just a few years.
That’s right, Mei Sanniang’s realm has actually reached the peak of the Ghost King realm.
Evil ghosts are a special kind of ghosts. They are a collection of resentment, and resentment is like a catalyst for evil ghosts. As long as the resentment is strong enough, they can even transform into ghost fairies in a short period of time. Of course, they also need the opponent to be strong. If the opponent is just a weak chicken, there is no need for them to become so strong.
For example, Xiaohong’s opponent is just Master Qian. After the resentment accumulates and turns him into a ghost, it is enough to crush him.
Although Wang Anxu in front of him is a weak scholar, the real situation is not like this. In the world of Liao Zhai, human luck is real. As a Jinshi of Daqian, Wang Anxu now has the convenience of his father-in-law and has even been awarded the sixth-rank official title. With his talent and the blessing of kingly luck, and the luck of the Chen family behind him, Wang Anxu can be said to be wearing a thick layer of armor. Not to mention the ghost soldiers, even the ghost generals are not enough to kill Wang Anxu directly.
That's why Mei Sanniang was pushed forward all the way, and now she has reached the peak of the Ghost King Realm.
I have to say that this qualification, even if it is slightly worse than Xiaohong's, is not much worse.
However, Jiale had no plan to collect another evil ghost. Xiaohong was about to break through the Ghost Lord realm and now needed energy nourishment. Among many energies, the resentment from such evil ghosts was the most nourishing for Xiaohong. The purer the resentment, the better the effect would be.
As for whether Mei Sanniang was too pitiful, Jiale didn't think so. There was always something hateful about pitiful people.
In order to get close to Wang Anxu, Mei Sanniang killed several people and took the best parts of their faces as materials to outline her own appearance, which was called Painted Skin. Only then did she have that magnificent appearance. She harmed so many people, and it can be said that she deserved to die. Wang Anxu deserved to die, but Mei Sanniang was not much better. If everyone was like Mei Sanniang, the world would be in chaos.
Therefore, Jiale felt no burden at all when he killed him.
However, Jiale felt that since he had finally encountered such a perfect evil ghost, he must do everything he could to maximize the benefits. A ghost at the peak of the Ghost King realm would not be as effective on Xiaohong as a ghost at the Ghost Lord realm.
Now the source of resentment is in Jiale's hands. As long as he can hold Wang Anxu in his hands, he can stimulate her a little and make Mei Sanniang more resentful, but she cannot kill her. In order to kill Wang Anxu, the resentment in Mei Sanniang will become stronger, and it is not impossible for her to advance to the Ghost Lord.
After making the plan, Jiale stopped procrastinating.
He left Wang Anxu behind, with a burst of momentum on his body, "You bold ghost, how dare you kill a living person and make a painted skin, and now you are committing atrocities in front of me, die!"
Jiale stabilized his strength at the early stage of the Refining Void Realm, swung the Qinghong Sword in his hand, and pressed towards Mei Sanniang.
