The sky over Beijing had been bright and sunny in the morning, but just after noon, dark clouds quickly gathered from all directions, like a huge black curtain covering the sky, pressing down on this international metropolis of twenty million people.
The wind howls through the city, heralding a coming storm.
The warehouse doors and windows were tightly shut, the main gate secured with a large lock. In the dim light, everyone huddled together, their faces filled with fear.
Outside the windows, shadowy “people” crowded around, like gray ghosts in the gloomy daylight. They whimpered and scratched at the doors and windows. The iron rolling door was already covered in scratches, and the glass windows, protected by burglar bars, were still intact for now, but judging by the ear-piercing sound of metal scraping, they probably wouldn’t last much longer.
Situ Yingzhi crouched in a corner of the warehouse, tearing off his shirt to bandage his bloodied right arm, sighing, “This is Hermès…”
The young policeman he had just saved stood beside him, full of gratitude. His first reaction was to thank Team Leader Three and promise to compensate him for the shirt. But then he heard the word “Hermès” and was struck dumb as if by lightning. “Team… Team Leader Situ—”
“It’s not your fault,” Situ Yingzhi said. “I was careless. I didn’t expect a corpse that decayed to still reanimate.”
Yu Jingzhong, his face grim, held a cigarette and asked, “What in the world is going on outside?”
With a sharp scrape, another long gash was clawed into the rolling door, which was on the verge of breaking. Everyone in panic turned their guns. The two members of Team One at the front could still hold their ground, but the policemen behind them were so scared they couldn’t even hold their guns steady. A few rookies were trembling so much they were about to accidentally fire.
It was no wonder. They had been dispatched to investigate a murder and body-dumping case at the warehouse. Who would have thought that just as the body was being removed from the concrete wall, the sky would suddenly darken with ominous clouds, and mournful wails would sound from all directions, followed by a horde of things that were neither human nor ghost crawling out of the ground and surrounding the abandoned warehouse.
A group of policemen had never seen such a scene. Those with a richer imagination immediately thought of the latest Resident Evil movie with a zombie siege. If it weren’t for Team Leader Situ and Deputy Director Yu at the front, they might have pissed their pants on the spot.
“This unlucky fellow—” Situ Yingzhi pointed to the corpse behind him, which was almost a skeleton. “After he was killed here two months ago, someone cast a spell on him, using him as the core of an extremely powerful Four-Direction Walking Corpse Array. There happens to be a late Qing Dynasty mass grave near this warehouse. The bones buried deep underground were attracted by the array’s core and slowly crawled out of the ground towards the warehouse. That’s what’s surrounding us now.”
“What’s the purpose of this array?” Yu Jingzhong asked.
“To gather death qi. Using the earth’s veins under this warehouse as a channel, the death qi is transmitted to the master of the array. If we hadn’t removed the body from the concrete wall, within seven days, all the corpses within a thousand-mile radius would have crawled here. The amount of death qi gathered would be terrifying. If it were all released, it would be enough to cover half of Beijing like a fog.”
Yu Jingzhong’s eyelid twitched. “That guy Liao is just a ‘red third-generation.’ Is he bored out of his mind? Or is he trying to usurp the throne?!”
But Situ Yingzhi shook his head. “The power of this Four-Direction Walking Corpse Array is beyond your imagination. Look at the speed at which the corpses are gathering. Even I can’t do it to this extent. It’s at least at Boss Zhou’s level… There must be a bigger mastermind behind this, and that guy Liao is just a pawn being used.”
The shuffling footsteps and scratching sounds outside grew denser. Yu Jingzhong looked around and asked, “Have you notified Zhou Hui?”
“I just sent him a message. He said he probably found the master of the array, but he can’t get away to come to us right now. He sent people from Team One to support us.” Situ Yingzhi said thoughtfully, “The most crucial thing now is to figure out what the other party wants to do with so much death qi, and also, how to break this Four-Direction Walking Corpse Array…”
He was about to go back to the corpse to look for more inspiration when a furious and mournful roar suddenly came from outside the door, followed by a loud clang as the rolling door was hit!
The policeman at the very front immediately lost his grip on his gun, and it went off with a bang!
“F*ck—” several people cursed at the same time. The glass shattered, and several black, withered hands reached in through the burglar bars, grabbing the policeman closest to the window!
The young policeman let out a bloodcurdling scream. The next second, Yu Jingzhong dropped his cigarette and stomped it out, pulled a gun from his back, and fired directly, shooting off the withered hand from more than ten steps away!
The young policeman scrambled and fell to the ground. But just then, the rolling door was pushed by countless dead hands and collapsed onto the ground with a loud crash!
Countless horribly decayed corpses poured in. A few policemen who couldn’t fire in time were instantly grabbed, some almost completely submerged by the corpses. Gunfire erupted in the warehouse. Everyone was roaring and desperately pulling the trigger, but many of the corpses only fell back after being shot, and after a while, they would stagger back up, missing arms and legs, their numbers seemingly undiminished.
Amidst the fierce gunfire, someone soon ran out of bullets. A few corpses took the opportunity to crawl up and grab a policeman’s leg. Two steps away, Yu Jingzhong swung the butt of his gun, smashing the skull of a corpse lunging at him. He then threw away the empty gun, grabbed the corpse trying to tear at the policeman with his bare hands, and slammed it hard against the wall with a bang. The corpse’s neck instantly bent at a ninety-degree angle and fell off.
“Deputy Yu!” the policeman said gratefully. But the next second, more corpses crawled over, roaring. Countless ferocious and terrifying faces crowded in front of him.
“Get—down—!” a roar came from far to near. A young man from Team One charged over, practically stepping on everyone’s shoulders and heads. He leaped into the air, a dazzlingly white garrote appearing in his hand. The end of the rope was tied to his four fingers, and the other end swept out in a fan shape, creating a shower of stinking blood as the heads of more than a dozen corpses were twisted off and sent flying!
But it was still useless. There were already over a thousand corpses gathered outside the door, and more were continuously breaking out of the ground. Situ Yingzhi grabbed Yu Jingzhong and pushed him behind him, having no time to care for anyone else. He raised his hand and let out a piercing shriek that shot into the clouds.
The next second, lightning struck down from the dark clouds. He caught it in mid-air, and it became a whip of blindingly bright light. With a flick of his hand, he lashed it into the horde of corpses!
Crackle—!
Electricity raged. The corpses fell like a field of rice under a scythe, instantly clearing a large area!
The stench of burnt electricity and cooked corpses filled the air. Many policemen vomited on the spot. In the dazzling light, balls of lightning zipped and crashed, turning corpses into charcoal wherever they went, even blasting some newly emerged corpses in the distance into two pieces!
“I’ll stay behind and cover you!” Situ Yingzhi yelled at Yu Jingzhong, “You take the men and run! Get Team One to break the array!”
Yu Jingzhong’s ears were bleeding from the thunderous noise of the lightning. He had no time to answer and pointed to Situ’s side.
Situ Yingzhi turned to look and saw that the ball lightning had finally exploded, blowing dozens of corpses to smithereens. Amidst the scattered limbs and bones, a large hole had been blasted into the concrete floor, leading straight underground.
—It must have been dug beforehand, its surface sealed with concrete, which collapsed under the electric shock, revealing the tunnel inside.
“There’s no time! We can’t escape!” Yu Jingzhong yelled, wiping away the blood pouring from his ears. “Everyone, down!”
Situ Yingzhi was afraid they would encounter the master of the array in the tunnel. With a group of mortals, it would be impossible to retreat unscathed. But in the distance, more corpses were continuously gathering, like an endless supply of radishes growing in the ground. If they stayed up here, none of these people would survive either. He had no choice but to turn and roar at the others, “Deputy Yu will cover the rear, I’ll take the lead!—Stay close to me!”
The corpses staggered closer again. Situ Yingzhi flicked his wrist and grabbed two long sabers out of thin air. He threw the one in his left hand to Yu Jingzhong, and in the blink of an eye, the one in his right hand had chopped the several corpses in front into pieces!
Through the rain of scattered limbs, he shot through the blood like lightning, leaped to the front of the tunnel, and jumped in. The remaining policemen ran after him as if their lives depended on it. In the emergency, they couldn’t stop in time and tumbled into the tunnel in a heap.
Yu Jingzhong, covering the rear, was almost surrounded by the corpses. He practically fought his way through a sea of bodies, then hacked down two more corpses that were roaring and circling the tunnel entrance before leaping into the hole, his face covered in blood.
In an instant, his feet found no ground. The wind howled in his ears. Half a second later, he fell to the ground with a thud and was immediately helped up by several pairs of hands.
“Deputy Yu, how are you?” “Are you okay, are you okay?”
Deputy Yu stood up and wiped away the blood. “Comrades, you’ve worked hard. All events today are classified as top secret. I ask all comrades to cooperate with the work of the State Security Special Affairs Department and always remember the confidentiality regulations… Situ? What are you doing?”
Below the tunnel was a narrow stone chamber, perhaps only the size of a basement in a suburban apartment, barely able to hold seven or eight people. The chamber narrowed on the east side, forming another tunnel that wound into the depths. Situ Yingzhi was standing at the entrance, staring into the darkness, his body ramrod straight and motionless.
Yu Jingzhong walked over and patted his shoulder. “What are you looking at?”
“…” Situ turned his head, his face terrifyingly pale. “Is it too late to go back up now?”
Yu Jingzhong was stunned. He heard the sound of dripping water from the tunnel.
Then, an extremely domineering and sinister aura, like an invisible giant python, slithered out from the other end of the tunnel, enveloping everyone.
Yu Jingzhong felt a heavy pressure on his chest, making it difficult to breathe. He looked back and saw that everyone was leaning against the earthen wall. A few of the more timid ones could no longer stand on their weak legs. The sound of running water grew closer. A few seconds later, a stream of black water flowed out of the tunnel, winding through the rubble and dirt, and gurgling into the stone chamber.
Situ stared at the black water and said, word by word, “—Sea of Death Qi…”
“Back off!” he suddenly raised his head and roared. “Back off! Don’t touch this water, back off—!”
Everyone retreated in panic, but it was too late. The young policeman he had just saved was standing closer and didn’t react in time. The black water had already flowed to the bottom of his shoe.
Half a second later, the young policeman let out a bloodcurdling scream. He was rapidly melting from his feet up. His bones dissolved like snow in boiling water, and the exposed flesh turned a horrifying black!
Situ Yingzhi lunged forward to cut off his leg, but it was too late. The young policeman fell to the ground, convulsing. His entire body decayed into bone at a speed visible to the naked eye. Within a few short seconds, he had completely dissolved into the pool of blood and water on the ground!
Everyone was in a panic, screaming and backing away, terrified that the spreading black water would touch their shoes. Situ Yingzhi flew back to the tunnel entrance they had just jumped down from, probably preferring to go out and fight the corpses with a group of mortals than to stay here and face the Sea of Death Qi. But the next second, a deep and gloomy voice came from the tunnel. “Since you’re here, don’t even think about leaving.”
Situ Yingzhi’s whole body trembled, and he turned his head in disbelief.
A man in fiery red appeared in the tunnel. He had three faces and eight arms, held a battle-axe, and stood barefoot on the dirt. A hot and domineering aura rushed towards them like a blazing fire.
“Trailokyavijaya… Wisdom King…”
Yu Jingzhong was puzzled. “What did you say?”
The fiery red man walked out of the tunnel and stood in the stone chamber. The terrifying Sea of Death Qi surged from behind him onto the ground, its momentum growing, almost converging into a small stream.
He was so deformed, like a golden statue from a temple that had come to life and jumped down. But such an appearance, while solemn and majestic in a temple, was a horror movie when seen in person. A few policemen couldn’t even scream, just trembled against the stone wall.
“One of the five orthodox Wisdom Kings of the esoteric sect, the embodiment of Akshobhya Buddha’s command, his status is even higher than the Phoenix’s…” Situ Yingzhi’s teeth chattered as he asked with a trembling voice, “A powerful being of the Heavenly Dao like you, coming to the human realm to kill innocents and accumulate death qi, what on earth are you planning to do?!”
The Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King had three eyes on each face. The vertical pupil on his middle face stood up, looking down on them.
In his eyes, these lower-realm mortals were as negligible as air. Only Situ Yingzhi, a hou cultivated from a jiangshi, could barely be considered a lowly creature on par with pigs and dogs.
“It’s truly unfortunate. The Sea of Death Qi was originally meant to deal with another, more powerful demon…”
The Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King paused, then said lightly, “However, since you are all lowly beings from the Four Evil Realms, this venerable one will subdue you first.”
Situ Yingzhi’s pupils constricted. The next second, the heavy battle-axe tore through the air, instantly thrusting before his eyes!
—Boom!
The ground of the Liao family villa shook violently. Decorations shattered all over the floor. Chu He suddenly grabbed onto a large floor-to-ceiling mirror beside him.
“It wasn’t like this the last time I came to his house,” Zhou Hui said, stroking his chin and looking around the hall. “Does Shakti have such a fervent love for mirrors?”
Chu He said with a blank expression, “I don’t know. You were the one who dated her, not me.”
The great hall, with a floor area of two hundred square meters and a height of over six meters, was draped in black curtains, on which hung countless huge mirrors. These mirrors covered every inch of the ceiling and walls in sight, leaving no gaps. No matter which angle one looked up from, one could see tens of thousands of identical selves with the same expression, which was truly chilling.
Zhou Hui was silent for a moment, then looked up. Countless Zhou Huis around him also turned their gazes at the same time. “But, you were the one who had a marriage contract with her.”
“I was just the one who picked up the pieces,” Chu He said coldly.
Zhou Hui: “…”
Zhou Hui scratched his hair and walked around a bit, seemingly trying to find a hidden door behind the mirrors. But this was futile. The light was bent and reflected repeatedly by the hundreds of large mirrors, creating extreme distortion. Many things were difficult to spot just a few steps away. The field of vision was filled with nothing but tens of thousands of identical figures.
This environment could easily cause a mental breakdown. Someone with a weaker psychological constitution would have definitely gone mad by now. Chu He squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, he lowered his gaze to avoid looking at the mirrors and asked, “Should we retreat first?”
“No, if we don’t deal with Shakti, we can’t break that Four-Direction Walking Corpse Array. Although I don’t know what she’s up to with all these tricks, it will be a big problem if too much death qi accumulates.”
Zhou Hui walked around the hall, searching for a passage through the overlapping mirrors. He added, “And she collected so many corpses, and she has a wisp of your soul. I’m worried…”
Before he could finish, a cold female voice suddenly sounded from all the mirrors at once. “You’re so biased, Zhou Hui. I don’t remember you being this attentive when you were with me.”
Chu He and Zhou Hui looked up at the same time. In the countless huge mirrors, the Snow Mountain Goddess, Shakti, was dressed in a black robe, her long silver hair draped over her shoulders. She looked down on them with a faint smile on her lips.
Zhou Hui’s first reaction was to look at Chu He’s face, but he stopped as he turned his head.
“Shakti…” he slowly smiled. “You still remember something from so many years ago. If it delays you from finding a new boyfriend, how could I bear the responsibility?”
A woman’s cruelty always stems from emotion. When a man becomes cruel, he can be surprisingly cold and hard.
Shakti did not show a hurt expression. On the contrary, she even smiled, seeming quite pleased. “You’re still the same, even your tone of voice hasn’t changed… However, for you to admit our past relationship in front of His Highness the Phoenix, it seems you have a lot of confidence in your new relationship. That’s really not easy.”
She smiled at Chu He. The latter’s profile was as white and cold as an ice sculpture, without a trace of any extra emotion. “An ex should have the self-awareness of an ex.”
“Oh? Are you saying I shouldn’t have come back? Unfortunately, even the suffering of thousands of years of reincarnation has its day of release. Compared to you, whose true phoenix form has been destroyed, I, who have regained my divinity, am actually a bit stronger.”
Shakti leaned down. Countless images simultaneously looked down from above, tens of thousands of pairs of eyes meeting Chu He’s gaze up close. The scene was truly horrifying.
“The last time I tried to kill you, your six senses were all sealed, your mind was clouded, like a walking corpse that was both tempting and utterly defenseless. I told you to stab yourself with a knife, and you did it blankly. Thinking back now, you were so much sexier then than you are now.”
Chu He said lightly, “I have so many dark histories. Which one are you talking about?”
He had not reverted to his human form and was still in his true form. The indescribably awe-inspiring beauty of the Phoenix faced the Snow Mountain Goddess up close. The two faces, famous for their beauty throughout the nine heavens and ten lands, were almost face to face, creating a strange and bewitching beauty amidst the tense atmosphere.
“Just ‘so many’? Your entire being is made up of dark histories, isn’t it?” However, Shakti immediately straightened up, resuming her condescending posture, a hint of schadenfreude appearing in her eyes.
“An origin that can never be erased no matter how you hide it, an unspeakable, dirty secret, the secret torment in your heart for thousands of years… I heard that the Peacock Wisdom King once went to the Thirty-Three Heavens to devour the Buddha, and was punished by heaven for it? In the final analysis, it was you who, at the very beginning of everything, created an irreversible cause and effect, wasn’t it?”
As she spoke, although she was facing Chu He, her gaze was pointedly directed at Zhou Hui. “—No wonder you were willing to accept the heavenly retribution for the Peacock Wisdom King. Because you knew in your heart that you were the one who deserved the heavenly retribution.”
Zhou Hui frowned slightly, sensing the obvious hint in her words. After a long moment, he looked at Chu He with suspicion.
But Chu He stood there, motionless.
His face was slightly turned, his hair obscuring his eyes, making it impossible to see his expression. But his jaw was clenched so tightly that even his jawbone appeared a bloodless, icy white and stiff.
“Do you want to kill me again, Shakti?” he finally spoke after a long time, mocking, “If you’re really that strong, why do you need to borrow this Thousand-Degree Mirror World from the Demon Lord? Your essence of being strong in appearance but weak in reality is still the same as back then.”
Unexpectedly, Shakti was unconcerned—or rather, when Chu He lost control and said those words, he had already fallen into a disadvantaged position.
She even shook her head mockingly. “I didn’t expect you to even recognize the Thousand-Degree Mirror World. How rare. This is one of the most secret treasures of the Asura Path… How many treasures has the Demon Lord shown you? I can’t even imagine how strong his desire to conquer you is, haha—”
As she spoke, she glanced at Zhou Hui with great interest.
Chu He looked around. Countless identical faces looked back at him.
He finally understood why the Demon Lord’s power was so strong the last time they met, even recovering faster than when he had sacrificed his heart’s blood. It really had nothing to do with Maha. It was because he had made a deal with the Snow Mountain Goddess.
He had lent her the Asura Path’s secret treasure, the Thousand-Degree Mirror World, and the Snow Mountain Goddess, driven by her strong desire for revenge, must have also exchanged something important.
“Then does the Demon Lord know you’re going to use it to kill me?” Chu He said coldly. “If the Thousand-Degree Mirror World is damaged, what will you use to compensate him?”
The Snow Mountain Goddess’s eyes sharpened. Then, Chu He took a step forward. A hurricane rose, and his white robe billowed in the wind. The Phoenix Spear, wrapped in immense lightning, struck at the countless mirrors!
The Snow Mountain Goddess let out a sharp, long shriek!
As the earth shook, hundreds of heavy mirrors moved and flipped. More mirrors fell from the sky, crashing to the ground, dividing the entire space into several blocks.
The electric light from the Phoenix Spear was reflected thousands of times, weaving into a dazzling net of light that was bright enough to burn one’s retinas. Then, in the overlapping layers of space, it was instantly thrown into a different dimension, turning into a brilliant arc of light.
Zhou Hui’s expression changed drastically, but in the overlapping and intersecting space, he couldn’t catch up in time. Several huge mirrors fell from the sky, blocking his path and trapping him in place.
“—Feng Si!”
“You should thank me,” Shakti’s voice sounded from behind him. “As an ex, I’m being very benevolent to my old lover.”
Zhou Hui turned and stared at her. “What on earth do you want?!”
Shakti was in no hurry. She sat down in the mirror. Her red lips were full, her chest prominent, and her crossed, snow-white legs were exposed from under her black robe. She was utterly seductive, but Zhou Hui’s gaze remained as hard as ice, without a single change.
“That’s hurtful. And here the Phoenix was so bothered by our past relationship. Did you know that what he saw in the mirror was you and me together?”
Zhou Hui laughed in disbelief. “Don’t joke around. That’s his most hidden fear?”
His attitude slightly displeased Shakti. “Why can’t it be?”
“The great Phoenix, an ancient divine bird, almost became a Buddha, stayed in the Thirty-Three Heavens for tens of thousands of years, once saved the entire Sea of Blood until it was empty, and you’re telling me he’s still hung up on something that happened so many years ago?” Zhou Hui sounded like he had heard a joke. He leaned against the mirror and looked down at the goddess. “It’s more believable if you say he has some resentment in his heart, but fear… you’re underestimating him too much.”
Shakti stared at Zhou Hui without moving.
In front of Zhou Hui, she seemed to have lost the aggressive momentum and leverage she had over Chu He.
“…I should have known. In your heart, the Phoenix is a flawless illusion on a pedestal. No matter what, you pretend not to see his true dark side… Fine, you don’t believe me, do you?”
Shakti pointed in the mirror. Her reflection in the opposite giant mirror suddenly disappeared. Darkness quickly swirled, opening an invisible giant mouth from the projected light, devouring every mirror in this small space.
Zhou Hui turned abruptly. In the dark and empty alternate space, everything seemed to have disappeared.
Then, a soft white light suddenly appeared not far away, enlarging and receding like layers of blooming lotuses. In the light, the magnificent Buddhist hall of the Thirty-Three Heavens emerged.
Zhou Hui’s pupils widened slightly.
In the empty hall, a small figure in a snow-white kasaya, with a young and serene face, was kneeling before the Buddha’s splendid golden lotus throne.
It was the young Phoenix.
“—Even in the Thirty-Three Heavens, not many people know about this.”
Shakti emerged from the darkness and leaned in close to Zhou Hui’s ear, her seductive voice almost dripping. “Take a good look, the Phoenix’s darkest secret… After you see it, you will know why he fears you leaving him.”
