Chapter 127

While they were talking, the Taoist priests had already exchanged names with this suddenly-appearing mysterious figure. Then the blind man suddenly popped up, startling them again.

When they learned that he was also sent by the Underworld to help handle the situation, the Taoists' expressions became even more worried.

It seemed that the appearance of the Gates of Hell in the mortal world was an extremely serious incident even in the Underworld, for two such imposing figures to have shown up. Fortunately, both Lian Cheng and the blind man appeared quite calm, which brought the Taoists a bit of comfort.

The blind man introduced himself as surnamed Chen, so Ke Xingzhou automatically gave him the nickname “Chen the Blind” in his head.

Lian Cheng stood in the rain, facing Ke Xingzhou. Although his eyes were hidden behind white cloth, everyone still had the illusion that he was staring directly at Ke Xingzhou.

Zhu Chu silently stepped between him and Ke Xingzhou.

“Master, don’t you think this guy looks like our junior brother?”

Ke Xingzhou had been bothered by how he’d mistaken the man's back for someone else earlier, so he kept staring at Lian Cheng. When he heard this, he froze a moment before looking away. “You think so too?”

“Right?!” Zhu Chu nodded firmly. “The way he looks at you is just like how our junior brother looks at you!”

Ke Xingzhou: “?”

What kind of look?

“It’s exactly the way our junior brother looks at you.” Zhu Chu tried to demonstrate, squinting his eyes mysteriously. “...Like this. If our junior brother didn’t seem so not-that-kind-of-person, I’d almost suspect he had some improper thoughts about you.”

Ke Xingzhou: “……”

His heart skipped a beat — he thought Zhu Chu had figured something out — but it turned out to be just this?

Ke Xingzhou fell silent, thinking that in a way, Zhu Chu’s words were really enough to drive someone mad.

Then he heard Zhu Chu calling again, “Master, Master!”

Ke Xingzhou thought, What now? Only to hear Zhu Chu whisper, “That blind guy’s looking at you kinda ambiguously too!”

That blind guy?

Ke Xingzhou paused, then realized he meant Chen the Blind. He looked over and, sure enough, saw Chen the Blind staring at him with those gray-white eyes.

When Chen noticed him looking back, he even waved and smiled.

That expression was inexplicably benevolent.

Ke Xingzhou: “……”From an outsider’s perspective, these two really did look like blind men.

Ke Xingzhou saw Director Wen speaking to them cautiously, as if unable to shake a guilty feeling about ordering around people with disabilities.

Only after learning that both of them could “see” things through other means did Director Wen’s flustered expression start to ease. But then, glancing at the now-empty simulation base, he grew nervous again: “Everyone… what should we do now?”

The first one to appear, Mister Lian Cheng, didn’t seem to be fond of talking, so it was Chen the Blind who spoke up: “We’ve only heard that the Gates of Hell manifested in the human world — we don’t know the reason yet. Let’s wait for it to appear again, then ask and see before we talk about how to handle it.”

“Ask… ask who?” Director Wen was a bit confused, and the other Taoists looked equally puzzled.

“The Gates of Hell, of course,” Chen the Blind said matter-of-factly. “You don’t really think it’s just a door, do you?”

“It’s… it’s not?”

“…” Chen the Blind had no choice but to patiently explain: “The human world and the Underworld weren’t originally connected. The Gates of Hell is a one-of-a-kind magical artifact that creates a passage between the human world and the Underworld, allowing living souls to pass on to their resting place. The Gates of Hell stands at the intersection of yin and yang, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. After countless millennia, it naturally developed a spirit.”

He spoke casually, his pale gray eyes betraying no emotion, yet somehow everyone could sense a trace of wistfulness in his tone.

That must have been from a time before the decline of spiritual energy — an era when not just humans, but all things under heaven could attain intelligence. Many powerful cultivators had weapons that gave birth to spirits, each with its own personality and preferences.

What a flourishing age that must have been — people of today, no matter how hard they tried, probably couldn’t glimpse even one or two percent of it.

Chen the Blind withdrew his gaze from afar. “The Gates of Hell’s manifestation this time is likely due to something going wrong with its spirit.”

Though the Taoists didn’t fully understand what a ‘spirit’ was, Chen’s words still gave them a sense of looming crisis, and they nervously asked, “Th-then… what should we do?”

Lian Cheng still didn’t speak to anyone, and Chen the Blind had no interest in answering their questions either. For some reason, his gaze landed on Ke Xingzhou.

Ke Xingzhou: “?”

Just as Ke Xingzhou was puzzled, something flickered in his vision. He suddenly turned his head, but failed to catch the figure.

After a brief hesitation, he asked, “That spirit you mentioned — what does it look like?”

Chen the Blind seemed to have a strange fixation on Ke Xingzhou, and snapped out of his thoughts as soon as he spoke — but before he could respond, Lian Cheng cut in first: “No one knows. Since the moment it was born, every time someone sees it, it looks different.”

Chen the Blind: “……”

He glared at Lian Cheng, annoyed — why did he steal his line again!

Zhu Chu crept closer, covering his mouth with his hand: “Master, they’re both definitely acting weird around you!”

Ke Xingzhou: “……”

When he turned his head, Lian Cheng was already beside him, looking toward the spot Ke Xingzhou had just been staring at. “You saw it?”

Ke Xingzhou shook his head. “Not sure… but I saw demons.”

Lian Cheng frowned. “Demons?”

Finally, a topic the Taoists could join in on. Daoist Master Li from Changsheng Temple’s expression darkened. “Could the demons be stirring up trouble again?”

Lian Cheng’s expression shifted slightly, and he exchanged a glance with Chen the Blind.

They were stationed at the Huangquan Inn — a necessary checkpoint on the way to the Underworld. If demons wanted to enter the Underworld, they would have to pass through Huangquan Inn. Yet neither of them had sensed anything unusual.If it really was the demons’ doing, then they must have mastered a method unknown to them.

Their exchange was extremely brief—so much so that no one else noticed—before both returned to normal. The Taoists, however, were deeply worried. “The demons again? Weren’t they all sealed away by the Demon-Sealing Formation ten thousand years ago? Don’t tell me… they weren’t wiped out completely?”

Just as the words fell, Lian Cheng suddenly swept a cold glance over the Taoist who had spoken.

Taoist: “?”

Lian Cheng turned away, his tone rather unfriendly: “The Demon-Sealing Formation only blocks the demons. It doesn’t stop the malicious thoughts of other races.”

The Taoists were baffled by his sudden hostility, until Daoist Master Li quietly explained: “There was once a theory that demons have no true origin—their power comes from the negative emotions of other beings, such as malice and desire. The more turbulent the times, the stronger they become.”

The other Taoists were stunned. “Turbulent times? But isn’t this an age of prosperity…”

The sentence trailed off halfway.

Previously, it could indeed be said that the human world was in an unprecedented golden age. But in recent years, with the surge of supernatural incidents and the demons breaking out of their seal to stir up trouble across realms—

They had realized the abnormality too late. Now it was impossible to root out every last demon, and they still had no idea what the demons’ true goal was.

But one thing was certain: if the demons succeeded, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Given the demons’ cruel nature, even the phrase “mountains of corpses and seas of blood” might fall short in describing the disaster.

The Taoists swallowed nervously, barely able to picture the scene.

Lian Cheng withdrew his gaze from Zhu Chu: “Let’s go.”

—

Perhaps it was just an illusion, but the rain seemed to be falling harder.

The capital’s temperature had been gradually rising over the past few days, but in the southern part of the city—likely due to too many overcast days—it had dropped again to its coldest. The falling raindrops now showed signs of freezing.

As everyone searched for traces of the Gates of Hell, the clouds above grew thicker. Something seemed to be brewing within them, and the occasional flicker of dark light sent chills down their spines.

They arrived at the mock “Gates of Hell” that had been built earlier just to fool tourists.

Strangely enough, although Director Wen was supposed to be leading the way, both Daoist Ke from the Xiaoyao Sect and the two envoys from the Underworld acted as if they were already very familiar with the place.

So the group simply followed Lian Cheng and Chen the Blind to the destination.

Zhu Chu looked up at the tall gate tower in front of them and was silent for a moment. “I thought those tourists were exaggerating when they said they could smell formaldehyde. Turns out it’s real…”

Since the building had been rushed to completion and the skies had stayed overcast, it hadn’t had a chance to dry properly. The paint smell from the gate tower was so strong it could be detected from over ten meters away.

In fact, one didn’t even need to smell it—just one glance from a distance made it clear something was off about the building’s placement.

Zhu Chu had recently taken an interest in feng shui and taught himself some basics. He quickly noticed that the architectural layout of the entire Xiaoyao Sect followed feng shui principles. But the placement of this gate tower felt awkward to him.

In short, it clashed completely with the other elegant, antique buildings in the sect. It was clearly a late addition, forcibly tacked on.

He whispered to Ke Xingzhou, “The original feng shui was great, right? Everything arranged neatly with yin-yang and bagua principles… and then they just slapped this clunky gate on top of it.”Zhu Chu was the kind of person who couldn’t keep his mouth shut—he always had to chat with someone. Normally, his master couldn’t be bothered to respond, so Zhu Chu would just grumble and move on.

But to his surprise, his master actually replied this time.

Ke Xingzhou looked at the renovated Xiaoyao Sect. The mix of familiarity and strangeness made him a little emotional. Hearing Zhu Chu’s comment, he glanced at the newly constructed gate tower and actually nodded in agreement. “The original was better.”

The other Daoists also felt the same and nodded in agreement.

Director Wen awkwardly wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Time was tight—we didn’t have time for refinement.”

Ke Xingzhou ignored his excuse and strode forward.

It wasn’t until they got closer that everyone realized the absurdity went far beyond what they’d seen from afar—

The still-damp pillars of the gate tower were covered in handprints of various sizes, likely left by tourists during their visit. On the ground nearby, there was also a mess of trash and paper scraps that hadn’t been cleaned up.

Director Wen grew more embarrassed and was just about to explain when Zhu Chu suddenly said, “Huh? Why are there handprints up there too?”

Everyone looked up and indeed saw two trails of handprints going straight upward, extending all the way to the top of the eaves where they could no longer be seen.

Zhu Chu thought it might have been a mischievous child who had climbed up—those prints looked fresh, maybe even from right before the park closed.

He casually looked up, but the Daoists had already realized something and, with serious expressions, reached for their ritual tools.

Ke Xingzhou cautiously confirmed with Lian Cheng and Chen the Blind, “Do I have to pay you extra for this job?”

Chen the Blind: “?”

Lian Cheng paused. “...The Underworld will cover it.”

Ke Xingzhou immediately sighed in relief.

When they first arrived, Director Wen had only mentioned the total budget for this operation. It wasn’t until later that Ke found out all the Taoist temples were splitting it. There were already too many people sharing the cut—he didn’t want to split it further with these two.

As they were speaking, a fierce wind suddenly howled through the area, whipping up raindrops and garbage from the ground and hurling them violently at the group.

The thunder and lightning that had been brewing in the clouds for so long finally struck, hitting the top of the gate tower dead-on.

Zhu Chu froze for a moment, thinking—did some careless parent leave their kid up there?

And then, sure enough, a small figure leapt down from the top of the gate tower!

Everyone was shocked. But unlike Zhu Chu, who panicked and reached out to catch the child, the others either moved to shield the Cultural Tourism Bureau staff behind them or had already raised their ritual implements and begun chanting incantations.

Lian Cheng and Chen the Blind moved at the same time. No one could clearly see how they did it—only that the two figures suddenly rose into the air, floating without any support. With a slight tilt of their bodies, they shot forward at great speed, transforming as they moved—

Zhu Chu kept his arms out, waiting for the child to fall, but nothing happened. Squinting through the increasingly heavy rain, he saw that the child who was supposed to fall on top of him had twisted in midair and shot off sideways—in total defiance of Newton’s laws.

Zhu Chu: “...???”

The Daoists were all dumbfounded by the scene.

This child was likely the artifact spirit of the Gates of Hell. They’d already mentally prepared for that when the figure jumped down. But no matter how ready they thought they were, they hadn’t expected to witness a real-life scene of immortals fighting.

Flying from the ground, ignoring gravity like it didn’t exist—this was the kind of stuff even fantasy dramas didn’t dare to show anymore, and now it was happening right before their eyes.Lian Cheng and Chen the Blind coordinated seamlessly. With just a glance at each other, they split up cleanly and moved to block all escape routes of the Gates of Hell.

The Gates of Hell spirit was agile, and just a second before being trapped between them, it spun around and easily slipped out from under their hands. But with the path ahead cut off, it had no choice but to turn back.

At that moment, the full form of the Gates of Hell’s artifact spirit appeared before everyone.

It was a chubby little boy, exquisitely carved like jade.

He looked around four or five years old, with a small tuft of hair tied at the top of his head, wearing a red dudou and dark gray lantern pants, barefoot.

The Gates of Hell had pitch-black eyes. His childlike face still held some youthful roundness, but when his gaze swept over, the Daoists felt their knees nearly buckle.

It was an instinctual terror, the fear of an overwhelmingly powerful being.

Fortunately, the Gates of Hell paid no mind to these weak humans on the ground. His gaze only swept over them briefly before moving on.

With Lian Cheng and Chen the Blind chasing closely behind and heavenly thunder striking from above, the Gates of Hell only wanted to find an escape route and get out of this cursed place.

He had existed since the dawn of creation. His cultivation was unfathomably deep, and now, focused entirely on escape, he was formidable.

Though Lian Cheng and Chen the Blind pursued and blocked him from every angle, he eventually found an opportunity to shake off their lock and was just about to cast a spell to flee.

But the next second, the chubby boy’s expression twisted hideously. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, and black, strange markings appeared across his porcelain-like face. Fangs sprouted from his mouth.

He roared forward, “Get lost!”

Only then did everyone notice that Ke Xingzhou had somehow made it into the air too.

Unlike Lian Cheng and Chen the Blind, who had ascended as if ignoring gravity, Ke Xingzhou had apparently climbed up the gate tower without anyone noticing and now leapt down from its top—straight onto the Gates of Hell.

—Grabbing the tuft of hair on his head.

Apparently, even artifact spirits felt pain when their hair was yanked.

The Gates of Hell was dragged downward by Ke Xingzhou, feeling as if his scalp was about to be torn off.

He couldn’t understand why this strange human could touch his true body—fine—but why was he using such a lowly, shameless move?!

Feeling his dignity utterly trampled, the Gates of Hell was enraged and immediately raised a hand to strike Ke Xingzhou down.

Though small in size, his body was incredibly agile. With just a twist, he could easily kick Ke Xingzhou.

With millions of years of cultivation, even though this artifact spirit had only existed for less than ten thousand years, killing an ordinary human was as easy as crushing an ant.

He hesitated briefly before making a move, but something came to mind, and a chilling look crossed his youthful face. This time, he didn’t hold back.

However, as he kicked, Ke Xingzhou caught his leg.

The Gates of Hell: “?”

Furious and shocked, he struggled and cursed, but Ke Xingzhou’s hands seemed to possess endless strength. Gripping the hair tuft and his leg, he held on without the slightest looseness, completely unmoved no matter how hard the spirit struggled.

Instead, it was the Gates of Hell who ended up tumbling through the air with Ke Xingzhou in tow. Somehow, in the midst of all the twisting and turning, Ke Xingzhou managed to lock down all his limbs.Gates of Hell: “???”

Ke Xingzhou finally let go of the hair tuft on his head but kept hold of both his hands and feet, lifting him high overhead like deploying a parachute to buffer the final impact of their descent, landing steadily on the ground.

His first time landing wasn’t exactly smooth—Ke Xingzhou’s legs went numb for a moment, and his expression immediately darkened.

Just as the others were about to step forward to help, they saw him release the Gates of Hell’s legs, grip his wrists instead, and slam the artifact spirit viciously into the ground!

Lian Cheng: “……”

The Daoists: “!!!”

Gates of Hell: “?????”

Even Chen the Blind was stunned. Facing Lian Cheng’s accusatory glare, he quickly shook his head to clear his name—this wasn’t something he taught!

Back when he snuck into the human world and took the form of a doddering old Daoist to teach Ke Xingzhou, his teaching skills were mediocre at best and relied mostly on the student’s own comprehension—but what he taught was all proper orthodox Daoist material, not how to brawl like this!

Who actually taught him this could be sorted out later. Glancing at the Gates of Hell’s condition, Chen the Blind instantly forgot his shock at his disciple’s violence and shouted, “Shit, don’t look at me—go stop him! Don’t really beat the spirit to death!”

Though a magical artifact can still be used before its spirit awakens, once a spirit is born and then destroyed, the artifact suffers severe damage and requires countless rare materials to repair.

In times like these, even proper cultivators are rare—where would they even find the heavenly materials needed to restore the Gates of Hell?

On the other side, Zhu Chu was also desperately shouting to break up the fight: “Master! Master, stop! Let’s take this outside! Director Wen just said this crappy gate cost over a hundred thousand to build! Let’s not end up losing money on this trip!”

Hearing this, Ke Xingzhou did indeed ease up slightly in his beating.

Lian Cheng: “……”

Honestly, sometimes this entire sect really was united in its stinginess.

The Gates of Hell seemed to realize they weren’t actually trying to kill him. When he couldn’t escape Ke Xingzhou’s grip, he immediately began howling, “Help! Help me! Uncle Lian Cheng! Uncle Xiaoyao! Help!!!”

Ke Xingzhou paused upon hearing the last name and suddenly looked up at Chen the Blind.

Xiaoyao… Chen Xiaoyao?

He felt like he’d heard that name somewhere before, but couldn’t recall it right now.

His chest was heaving, the dizziness from being airborne hadn’t fully faded, and his gaze was fixed intently on Chen the Blind.

But Lian Cheng quickly stepped in to block it.

Lian Cheng strode toward Ke Xingzhou and the Gates of Hell. Ke Xingzhou, wary of how the artifact spirit had addressed the two of them, instinctively lifted the Gates of Hell by his hair tuft and backed away two steps.

“Wait. I need to confirm this with the Underworld.”

After all, whether it was the Huangquan Inn or this assistance now, it was all just Lian Cheng and Chen the Blind’s word. The Underworld hadn’t issued any official document.

Ke Xingzhou had suffered too much from bureaucratic red tape while trying to revive the Xiaoyao Sect, so he was very particular about proper procedures now.

Lian Cheng paused under his guarded gaze.

For some reason, even though Lian Cheng’s expression hadn’t changed and his eyes were still covered, Ke Xingzhou clearly felt a deep sense of hurt from that pause.He didn’t understand.

Injured? Over what? He and Lian Cheng weren’t even close—at most, they were strangers who had crossed paths once by coincidence.

The other party likely knew his past life, but Ke Xingzhou didn’t remember anything about it. That kind of connection meant nothing to him now. He stared back at Lian Cheng, perfectly justified and unyielding.

The two faced off for a moment. A strange tension spread between them, and even the howling wind seemed to freeze.

Ke Xingzhou felt a sudden, inexplicable irritation.

In the midst of this standoff, the Gates of Hell finally couldn’t endure the pain from his scalp any longer and howled again in agony, “AAAAAAAH it hurts! My hair!! Can you two show some respect to your opponent?!”

Neither Ke Xingzhou nor Lian Cheng reacted. Instead, their gazes turned simultaneously toward Ke Xingzhou’s side.

A mass of bluish-purple mist crept toward him under the cover of the rain. As soon as it realized it had been discovered, a figure shot out from the mist and lunged straight for Ke Xingzhou’s weak spot!

Chen the Blind suddenly raised his head: “Demon clan!”

Lian Cheng’s heart jumped as well. He lifted his hand, ready to shield Ke Xingzhou—only for Ke Xingzhou to coldly dodge his hand without hesitation. Instead, he swiftly stepped back in the opposite direction and flung something out with a flick of his wrist.

Gates of Hell: “AAAAAAAH!!!”