Nan Zhi had no interest in watching Basong Zhalunpeng's end.
This was a ghost domain; even if he turned into a ghost after death, there was no way he could truly escape.
The Ghost City of Ultimate Bliss was filled with weirdness at every turn.
Everything here seemed fake, yet also real—a blend of illusion and reality that was impossible to tell apart.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
Holding a flame in her hand, Nan Zhi walked down the long morgue corridor.
Countless yin spirits sensed her presence and scrambled to flee in all directions.
In contrast, several young infant spirits caught sight of the Chakkri bridal gown she was wearing and couldn't help but cheer as they approached her.
These little ghosts all had the appearance of children. Their large heads were pitch black, and their eyes had no whites, filled only with an ominous, inky darkness.
Their naked bodies were covered in web-like blue veins, and long umbilical cords dragged on the ground behind them like tails growing from their bellies.
“It's the bride! It's the bride!”
“Hehehe, we have a new bride to play with us!”
They surrounded Nan Zhi, blocking her path. Dozens of tiny hands tugged at her Chakkri gown, their eerie faces completely devoid of expression:
“Come play! Play with me!”
“Play with me, play with me!”
“Play with me! Play with me!!”
—These were Kuman Thong made from infant corpses.
She just didn't know why they would appear here.
Seeing that Nan Zhi did not react, one of the little ghosts instantly flew into a rage. Opening its frog-like mouth wide, it revealed countless tiny, sharp, needle-like teeth:
“If you won't play with me, I'll kill you!”
“Kill you! Kill! Kill!”
“Kill!!”
The Kuman Thong let out beastly growls, extending their sharp, long nails as they lunged straight at Nan Zhi like a rising tide!
Perhaps there were hundreds, or perhaps thousands.
From the ceiling, the floor, the corridor, and the morgue drawers, countless tiny black shadows crawled out, screaming as they rushed toward Nan Zhi.
These infants varied in size. Their bodies were bruised purple, and some still had umbilical cords attached to their bellies.
Some were not even fully formed, with their eyes gummed shut and their fingers and toes underdeveloped.
The only thing they had in common was that they harbored equal malice and murderous intent toward all living things in the world.
Though they had been innocent infants in life, they were now completely controlled by the Ba Yan God, turned into bloodthirsty and vicious little ghosts.
They had no thoughts, no wisdom.
Driven solely by instinct and bloodlust, they were completely at the mercy of their controller.
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.
At the sight of a vibrant life, their minds held only a single thought: to tear the person before them to shreds, rip out their heart, and feast on it.
Pfft!
Nan Zhi did not hold back at all. Pressing two fingers together, a speck of milky-white flame appeared at her fingertips.
In an instant, the surrounding Kuman Thong shrieked and scattered. Those that were too slow to dodge had their flesh melt like modeling clay, dripping onto the floor as liquid!
The Bodhi Buddha Fire was naturally the bane of all sinister and ghostly entities, let alone inside this Ghost City of Ultimate Bliss, which was thick with yin energy!
As the milky-white flame flickered, countless piercing shrieks rushed into Nan Zhi's ears.
Her expression remained unchanged.
【Congratulations on slaying the Level 11 red-named wild monster “Kuman Thong”! You have received Experience Points ×10 and “Kuman Thong Spirit” ×1】
【Congratulations on slaying the Level 13 red-named wild monster “Kuman Thong”! You have received Experience Points ×10 and “Kuman Thong Spirit” ×1】
【Congratulations on slaying the Level 7 red-named wild monster “Kuman Thong”! You have received Experience Points ×7 and “Kuman Thong Spirit” ×1】
...
A long string of notifications rang out. Without the slightest hesitation, Nan Zhi manipulated the milky-white flame to move at high speed.
Within half a breath, the ground was piled high with layers of black ash left behind by the deceased Kuman Thong. Stepping on it felt exactly like walking on unhardened asphalt.
“Screeech! Waaaah!”
A larger Kuman Thong scrambled on all fours, attempting to flee, but was caught squarely by the Bodhi Buddha Fire. It turned to ash in the blink of an eye.
In just a brief moment, the long corridor was swept clean.
As the vicious Kuman Thong shrieked and turned to black ash, a gentle glow, faint as fireflies, slowly dissipated into the wind.
“Bodhi Buddha Fire, deliver these souls. Go on to a good rebirth.”
Nan Zhi condensed a wind shield around herself and walked straight into the cold, damp morgue.
In the Ghost City of Ultimate Bliss, everything was a projection of reality.
The morgue before her looked no different from a real one, but upon closer inspection, one could spot subtle discrepancies.
The morgue drawers along the wall could only be opened from the outside.
Bottles filled with small pebbles were neatly arranged on metal trays.
Mutilated pieces of corpses were being wheeled into the morgue, where heavily scarred nurses were using dense cotton thread to stitch them back together bit by bit.
Some of the nurses had poor craftsmanship, matching a man's hand with a woman's head, or an elderly body with a child's limbs.
“Don't worry, your illness will be cured very soon.”
She happily stitched the struggling body parts together roughly with red cotton thread.
“Mmph, mmph!”
“Mmph!”
“Mmph!”
Several living people with their mouths stitched shut pleaded with Nan Zhi for help. After identifying them as the most devout and fanatical participants from the Ba Yan God's wedding ceremony, she retracted her hand.
—These were the very people who had told Patipan that Sariya becoming the Ba Yan God's bride was a supreme blessing and honor.
By the looks of it, they seemed to quite enjoy this "honor."
They were shaking violently with joy.
The "corpses" hummed a cheerful tune. A doctor in a filthy white lab coat stood before a disemboweled body, holding a scalpel.
“Doctor, my eyes hurt, my stomach hurts, and my toes hurt too.”
The doctor blinked and looked maliciously at Nan Zhi, who had intruded into the morgue:
“I want her eyes, and her internal organs!”
“How absurd. In a hospital, how can the doctor perform surgery on the patient?”
Nan Zhi shook her head in mock dismay, offering a very kind suggestion to the largest mass of stitched flesh:
“Carp fly in the sky, and eagles swim in the water. In a hospital, it should be the patients treating the doctors!”
“Exactly! What a genius idea!”
That mass of flesh praised her warmly and suddenly lunged at the scalpel-wielding doctor, cheerfully dissecting its body parts:
The brain, internal organs, eyes, limbs...
Everything was grotesque and terrifying.
Nan Zhi shrugged. Bypassing the dismemberment scene that would drain one's Sanity with just a single glance, she walked to the deepest part of the morgue.
It was dark, damp, and dead silent, save for the slugs crawling on the floor, making squelching wet noises.
With absolute precision, she pulled a shriveled monster that looked like old tree bark out of one of the morgue drawers.
The creature was not large, only a little over a meter long, but its entire body writhed like black mud, and over twenty faces continuously manifested on its head.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that this thing had no physical form; it was merely composed of a dense, nearly materialized mass of resentment.
【Ba Yan Ghost King (Pseudo): Level 40 (Foundation Establishment Level 2)】
The faces on the black monster shifted and changed, finally settling on the face of an octogenarian. It spoke to Nan Zhi in a flattering and submissive tone:
“Great Master, your devout servant Ba Yan submits to your mighty power and is willing to pledge loyalty to you.”
This creature's strength was equivalent to a blue faced ghost wraith. As a manifestation of condensed malice with no physical form and control over thousands of Kuman Thong, it was normally quite troublesome to deal with.
Unfortunately for it, it had run into someone who was practically a walking cheat code.
“Cut the crap. I ask, you answer. If you get even one word wrong...”
Nan Zhi didn't feel like wasting breath. Summoning the Bodhi Buddha Fire, she hung the creature upside down from the ceiling and began slow-roasting it:
“First question: what happened to the local deities?”
“You don't know?”
The Ba Yan God's eyes flickered, and black mist began to seep along the corners of the room. Yet, it maintained its honest facade:
“The yakshas who guarded the Buddha-land—Thao Wessuwan, Thao Dhataratha, Thao Virulhaka, and Thao Virupakkha—perished long, long ago. The Naga Goddess also died in the natural disaster.
There are no more gods in this world. Whether it was the Western Buddha-land or the Eastern Divine Kingdom, the gods all died in that great catastrophe.”
—In Thai mythology, these four yakshas were the guardian deities of Buddhism in Thailand. Fierce in appearance and wielding dharma swords, they were specifically tasked with managing the ghosts in the Buddha-land and preventing any wandering spirits from approaching.
“Then how do you know all this?”
Nan Zhi brought the Bodhi Buddha Fire closer, narrowing her eyes:
“So after discovering this secret, you used the Infant Spirit Tower as a medium to open the entrance to the secret realm, attempting to take over this Ghost City of Ultimate Bliss?”
“Aaaargh!”
Half of the Ba Yan God's face melted, and its body size instantly shrank by half. It hastily switched to the face of a sorrowful young girl, weeping delicately:
“Master! Great Master! The coordinates of the Buddha-land have always been secretly recorded in ancient texts. For so many years, I remained asleep due to a lack of spiritual energy, until my believers summoned me.
Since my birth, the Buddha-land has only ever been recorded in writing; no one has ever truly discovered its physical existence.
I stumbled into the Buddha-land by chance, devoured the residual souls of the yakshas, and learned of all this.
‘The Buddha-land shattered, the continent collapsed,’ ‘all the beauty of the past was destroyed,’ and ‘when the disaster struck, the Buddha-land turned into fragments scattered everywhere.’”
“When the disaster struck, the continent collapsed.”
—This referred to the Four Provinces Continent shattering due to the heavenly tribulation.
Nan Zhi was suddenly enlightened.
She had always been looking for the connection between the real world and the world of the Four Provinces, but she had overlooked the most important point.
Time was not an unchanging river.
The true timelines of the two worlds did not run parallel to each other.
The true timelines of the two worlds did not run parallel to each other.
When the Four Provinces Continent shattered, its fragments fell into the real world as secret realms. It was highly likely that these fragments had already existed on Blue Star tens of thousands, hundreds of millions, or even countless years ago—at some untraceable point in time.
Nüwa mending the heavens, Cangjie inventing characters, Shennong tasting the hundred herbs, and Great Yu taming the floods—these familiar myths and deities might very well have originated from the fragments of the Four Provinces.
Huaxia's myths might be more than just myths, and the exotic beasts in the Classic of Mountains and Seas were not fictional.
The secret realm fragments of the Four Provinces Continent were likely the very source of the real world's mythology!
This was why the histories of the two worlds were so strikingly similar, and why many myths overlapped.
Perhaps many years ago, the secret realm of the Ghost City of Ultimate Bliss had overlapped with reality, giving rise to the myth of the "yakshas guarding the Buddha-land."
Even the image of flawless, winged angels in European mythology could find its counterpart on the Four Provinces Continent.
The existence of the Locust God Ma San was the best proof of this theory.
Thus, after stumbling upon the Ghost City of Ultimate Bliss, the Ba Yan God—an evil spirit born from obscure beliefs—decided to usurp the place and become a true "god."
It did not take brides for its own sake, but to feed the Kuman Thong with flesh and blood.
Unfortunately, it ran into her before it even had the chance to fully grow.
With all the clues falling into place, Nan Zhi felt incredibly refreshed.
【Congratulations to cultivator “Nan Zhi” for discovering a fragment of the world's truth! Current Four Provinces Continent fragment collection progress: (2/49)!】
【Finding the Lost Four Provinces Continent (Long-term) (Epic) (Main Quest) (Mandatory):
History can repeat itself, the past has been altered, and the future is about to be realized...
(Current collection progress: 2/49)】
The system notifications validated Nan Zhi's hypothesis.
—This meant that there was a higher probability of secret realm fragments appearing in the birthplaces of real-world myths.
With a new direction for her collection, Nan Zhi's expression softened slightly. She seemed not to notice a slender tentacle hidden in the shadows, which transformed into a sharp spike and thrust straight toward her heart!
“Die, you damned foreigner! This is my Buddha-land!”
The grin on the Ba Yan God's face was incredibly wild, but in the next second, that smile froze solid.
【Cultivator has suffered a physical attack from the Level 40 red-named wild monster “Ba Yan God”. The attack was evaded.】
【Cultivator has suffered a mental attack from the Level 40 red-named wild monster “Ba Yan God”. The attack was evaded.】
“Thank you for your cooperation. Now, you can die in peace.”
Nan Zhi grabbed the Kuman Thong, which was smaller than a fist, and gave it a gentle squeeze—
The Kuman Thong that had devoured countless souls merely let out a squeak before dying completely.
A massive pressure descended, and the Ba Yan God's figure was abruptly stretched. It tried to flee but could not move at all.
It was as if it had been firmly locked in place, with no escape to the heavens and no way into the earth.
“Monster! Devil! Evil spirit!”
The Ba Yan God cursed violently. It tried begging, flattering, and pleading for mercy, but all was in vain.
Since its birth, it had never been this terrified.
It shouldn't have provoked these Huaxia people!
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
It had a premonition that the flame was bizarre! It would truly die!
Its soul would be scattered, dissipating into the world.
Annihilation in the truest sense.
“You can't kill me! The Buddha-land is collapsing! If you kill me, you and those Huaxia people won't be able to leave either!”
The Ba Yan God shrieked. Nan Zhi's movements paused, and the former felt a surge of wild joy, unable to help but harbor a sliver of hope.
In the next instant, the scorching flames climbed onto its body, completely igniting its malice. In the darkness, the faint chanting of Buddhist mantras echoed, and the scent of Bodhi incense filled the air.
Countless milky-white souls separated from the malice, flying up toward the sky. Wisps of pale white spirits danced around Nan Zhi before slowly dissipating.
—These were the deceased brides, offering their thanks to her.
Nan Zhi watched quietly as the "Ba Yan God" worshipped by the people of Thailand was burned to nothingness by the Bodhi Buddha Fire.
Even though she knew the Underworld might not actually exist, she still hoped these brides would have a peaceful and smooth next life.
【Congratulations to the cultivator for slaying the Level 40 red-named monster “Ba Yan Ghost King (Pseudo)”! You have received Nether Cold Fire ×1, Experience Points ×500, Heavenly Treasure Tree Lottery Ticket ×5, Rejuvenation Pill Recipe ×1, and Yin Spirit Banner (Purple Quality) ×1】
The Nether Cold Fire was in her hands!
Nan Zhi's eyes lit up, and she couldn't help but clench her fist.
Rate on N.U.
