Chapter 229: Escaping Alive and Sudden Enlightenment

Chapter 229: A Narrow Escape and Sudden Enlightenment

The paper figure’s face was dull and rigid, utterly devoid of life; in those ghastly white eye sockets, two points of vivid red stared fixedly at the space beneath the bed.

In that instant, Zhang Yuanqing’s heart gave a violent, sickening lurch, fine gooseflesh rising in a dense rash along his arms, a long-forgotten fear surging up from the depths of his being.

This fear was not merely the simple dread of crisis; it was, more profoundly, the instinctive human terror of the bizarre and the macabre.

Like not daring to leave the room for the toilet after a horror film, or needing to pull the blanket over one's head to sleep.

Yes, the paper figure had frightened Zhang Yuanqing back into the fears of his childhood.

Since becoming a Night Wanderer, he had never encountered such a situation.

The "Night Roam" skill was elusive and unstoppable; he had met enemies who countered Night Roam with technique, but this was the first time he had faced a vengeful spirit that saw straight through it.

Yes, Zhang Yuanqing was absolutely certain—the paper figure had seen him.

Terror gripped his heart, yet his actions betrayed not the slightest hesitation. He rolled away from beneath the bed, snatched at the void, and the Bursting Pistol materialized in his grip; he calmly squeezed the trigger.

The paper figure possessed a physical form; what had form could be destroyed. A pistol for long-range shooting was the perfect tool.

According to the Rouge Box’s attribute description, a vengeful spirit could only possess objects smeared with rouge; if the vessel was destroyed, the paper figure should be "resolved."

Worth a try!

*Bang bang bang~*

The muzzle spat tongues of flame; crimson trajectories crisscrossed and slammed into the paper figure, but the bullets did not explode. Instead came a soft, wet *puff-puff* sound, a faint sizzling.

Like a branding iron plunged into a quagmire.

Thick, profound Yin energy billowed around the paper figure. The bullets struck it, their kinetic energy dissolving, their flames extinguished, vanishing into nothingness.

Nearly substantialized Yin energy... Zhang Yuanqing’s pupils dilated slightly.

This was absolutely not power a vengeful spirit of the Transcendent stage could possess.

*Bang bang bang...*

Zhang Yuanqing maintained his firing stance, letting the dense hail of bullets pierce the Yin energy, spattering dark red motes of light, emitting that same *puff-puff* sizzle.

Simultaneously, two streaks of dark red light bloomed in the darkened room.

*Tap tap, tap tap...*

The Red Dancing Shoes rose and fell, marching in place.

Zhang Yuanqing immediately issued the command to hunt down the paper figure.

*Tap tap tap...*

The Red Dancing Shoes shot forward at extreme speed, stomping viciously and accurately upon the paper figure’s face.

The dense Yin energy surged violently, like the surface of a lake churned by a sudden splash.

The paper figure’s face remained intact; the Red Dancing Shoes had failed to stomp through the Yin energy shrouding it.

But the Red Dancing Shoes did not relent, launching a tireless, relentless assault.

Facing a vengeful spirit of this caliber, the Red Dancing Shoes' output falls short... Zhang Yuanqing wasn't surprised; he knew the shoes' limits well. Summoning them was purely to interfere with the vengeful spirit, to increase the pressure on the enemy.

Zhang Yuanqing rapidly reviewed his artifacts and methods, first thinking of the Red Bridal Veil, then discarding the idea—the Ghost Bride's yin energy paled in comparison to the paper man before him.

Besides, he lacked the courage to engage the paper man in close combat.

The Houtu Boots' lethal kick could unleash the power of a Saint; destroying the paper man with them shouldn't be difficult... Zhang Yuanqing didn't hesitate to pull out the Houtu Boots and toss them to Corpse Walker No. 1 at his side.

Corpse Walker No. 1 slid his feet into the boots, completing the equipping, while Zhang Yuanqing himself donned the Yin-Yang Taoist Robe.

Thud-thud-thud... Corpse Walker No. 1 charged with heavy steps; as he neared the paper effigy, his right boot flared with a thick, substantial yellow light.

His right leg muscles suddenly swelled, tearing his trouser leg.

Crack!

The whip kick cut an afterimage through the air, shattering the paper effigy like a reflection; the leg force stirred up a gale within the room.

The paper effigy vanished—Corpse Walker No. 1 had kicked apart an illusion-crafted shadow. Such ghostly arts, when wielded by a vengeful spirit, are executed with consummate ease.

Tap-tap-tap... The Red Dancing Shoes suddenly scurried toward their master.

Behind me?! Zhang Yuanqing's heart tightened.

Almost simultaneously, a paper man with a deathly pale face smeared with vivid rouge appeared behind him, raising stiff arms to claw at the human's nape.

Before the crudely crafted paper palm could touch him, a frigid breath surged forth first; a thin layer of frost formed on Zhang Yuanqing's back and neck.

"Bang!"

He raised his muzzle and fired a shot into Corpse Walker No. 1's chest.

The bullet exploded, a flash of fire.

With a "whoosh," a crimson fire stream surged up, engulfing Zhang Yuanqing's body; the flames from the exploding bullet, just about to die out, suddenly swelled and condensed into a figure draped in the Yin-Yang Taoist Robe.

He had donned the Yin-Yang Taoist Robe not to deploy the Water-Fire Grand Array, but to exploit the Fire Master's fire-walking and the Water Ghost's water-melding abilities to tangle with the paper man.

The Water-Fire Avatar ignores physical attacks, but cannot ignore damage on the spiritual level.

Against a powerful vengeful spirit, deploying the robe's array is foolish—splitting one's spirit in two is tantamount to crippling oneself, and a strong vengeful spirit would kill you in seconds.

When dealing with ghost dolls, it was mainly due to insufficient numbers that avatars were used to make up the count; once numbers were sufficient, the ghost dolls couldn't attack.

But the paper man was different.

Blazing flames rose in Zhang Yuanqing's palm; he pressed them to his nape. His face instantly twisted, the corner of his mouth spasming; the back of his neck hissed and sizzled, blue smoke rising.

Hiss—this yin energy could "freeze" my flesh and blood to death; if caught, even a Night Wanderer couldn't endure it... Zhang Yuanqing used fire to dispel the yin energy, his other hand not idle, continuously pulling the trigger.

Simultaneously, he connected with the brand in his sea of consciousness; his spirit split in two, possessing the Yin Corpse, launching a heavy, powerful charge.

Zhang Yuanqing ceased firing, fingers delving into his pocket to press a button on the Cat King Speaker.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Deafening drumbeats reverberated through the room, bringing immense pressure, shaking the spirit, instilling primal dread.

The paper man's body trembled, then froze rigid.

Thud, thud, thud. The First Dead advanced with heavy strides, the boot of his right foot flaring with a thick, substantial yellow light.

From the exchange just now, Zhang Yuanqing realized the Paper Man deeply feared the Houtu Boots' "Mortal Kick"—after all, that kick could strike with the power of a Saint.

Thus, he swiftly devised a plan: using the drumbeat from the Cat King Speaker to intimidate the Paper Man acting as a vengeful spirit. His spirit split in two because the drumbeat distinguished not between friend and foe; the First Dead could not claim immunity—only he, the master, could.

The First Dead's right leg muscles bunched, preparing to unleash a whip kick.

Suddenly, the two streaks of crimson in the Paper Man's eye sockets flared, coalescing into two twisted, bizarre runes.

The Bewitching Eye!!

Damn it... Viewing the runes directly through the Yin Corpse's perspective, Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank. In the next instant, his will fell into utter chaos, his thoughts a tangled mess, stripped of the ability to think calmly.

The Yin Qi shrouding the Paper Man surged. With a series of sharp *cracks*, a thin shell of ice condensed on the First Dead's body, racing across his form until, in a blink, he became an ice sculpture.

Then, the Paper Man's head tilted ninety degrees, gazing at Zhang Yuanqing behind the Yin Corpse. Its figure vanished instantly, reappearing behind the only human in the room.

Rough, paper-crafted arms rose up, clamping around Zhang Yuanqing's neck.

The Yin Qi in the room surged violently. At the back of his neck, a spiral-shaped, invisible cyclone spawned in response.

Great mouthfuls of essence blood were sucked away by the cyclone, pouring into the Paper Man's body. Its ghastly pale face actually flushed with a hint of human ruddiness.

Under the intense stimulation, Zhang Yuanqing broke free of the Bewitching Eye's influence, only to immediately feel his limbs stiffen and numb, his body frozen by the terrifying Yin Qi—even moving a finger was a struggle.

In the span of a few breaths, Zhang Yuanqing's skin lost its luster, turning dry and dull. Then, fine, dense wrinkles crept up the corners of his eyes, climbed his forehead, his nasolabial folds deepening and worsening...

He had aged twenty years in an instant.

Zhang Yuanqing desperately ordered the Yin Corpse to attack, but the First Dead was frozen solid, joints and flesh locked in icy paralysis, powerless to aid his master.

The attempt failed. The Paper Man could not be beaten; the gap in strength was too vast... Zhang Yuanqing discovered with both pessimism and despair that the plan to brute-force the mini-boss with raw power was simply unrealistic.

Even with so many artifacts at his disposal, even with so many tactics combined, he still could not defeat the Paper Man.

Then he had no choice but to use the Subduing Demon Pestle. Unless driven to a dead end, Zhang Yuanqing didn't want to use this artifact—quenching thirst with poison solves nothing. But now there was no choice; quenching thirst with poison at least bought a little more time alive.

Feeling weakness and exhaustion emanate from his very bones, Zhang Yuanqing went all in, gathering the last dregs of his strength. His fingers trembling, slow, probed into his pocket, intending to activate the Cat King Speaker's Suona.

He needed this to grant his body a final rally, to recover enough strength so that after drawing the Subduing Demon Pestle, he would have the surplus power to strike the Paper Man.

Fingers probing, pressing against the Suona button—at that moment, a question flashed through Zhang Yuanqing's mind: How did the Demon Lord beat it?

The Paper Man's tier clearly didn't belong to the Transcendent stage. No matter how strong the Demon Lord was, as a rogue cultivator, his overall strength during the Transcendent period might not even surpass mine. If I have zero hope, how did he clear this stage...

In the split second of a spark flint, fragments of information from the instance flashed rapidly through Zhang Yuanqing's mind.

Finally, two crucial pieces of information were filtered out:

One: On the night Mr. Xu bought the Rouge Box, the Paper Man killed only Mr. Xu; the villagers next door were unharmed.

Two: The vengeful spirit craves fresh blood intensely; only sacrificing sufficient essence blood can appease it.

I see. The Rouge Box kills only one person a night—or rather, one person's blood is enough to sate it. Once it drains the target's blood dry, it stops killing. That's why only Mr. Xu died that night... Fuck, this is a solo instance. For a Spirit Realm Walker, killing only one person is tantamount to certain death... Zhang Yuanqing released the finger resting on the Suona button, reaching out into the empty air instead.

He grasped a glass test tube, inside which lay a clear, transparent, golden liquid.

The mouth of the tube was stoppered with wood, sealing a vigorous breath of life tightly within.

Essence of Life!

A figure, seemingly real yet illusory, drifted from Zhang Yuanqing’s physical body, clutching a glass test tube, and shot toward Corpse Walker No. 1.

This phantom silhouette was precisely Zhang Yuanqing’s spirit body; he had cast Spirit Roam to separate from his fleshly shell.

Zhang Yuanqing intended to take a gamble, leaving his physical body to be drained of its essence and blood, to see if the Paper Man, having "killed" its victim, would depart satisfied, or continue its assault on Corpse Walker No. 1.

If the former, he would have won the bet; if the latter, his spirit body would immediately use the Essence of Life to revive his physical form, then summon the Demon-Subduing Pestle to burn jade and stone together with this vengeful spirit.

He dared such a wager firstly because he held the Essence of Life, and secondly because after casting Spirit Roam, his physical body would enter a state of suspended animation; within twenty minutes, if his spirit returned, there was hope of resuscitation.

Therefore, he did not fear his essence and blood being sucked dry.

Zhang Yuanqing feared even less that the Paper Man would prioritize attacking his spirit body, for the item description of Blood Rouge stated the Paper Man craved only fresh blood; Corpse Walker No. 1, though a yin object, at least possessed a "vital" aura.

In no scenario would the crisis fall upon the spirit body to face directly.

Taking a step back, even if the Paper Man truly attacked him in spirit form, Zhang Yuanqing had a final trump card: instantly return to his body, activate the Red Dancing Shoes’ second form, and flee with it.

In the arts of escape and evasion, the Red Dancing Emperor had never been inferior to anyone in his life.

At this moment, his physical body was rapidly withering, cheeks sunken, skin wrinkled from dehydration, slowly transforming into a desiccated corpse.

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but hold his breath (psychologically), unsure if the Demon Lord had used a similar method, but this was the sole solution he had comprehended from the instance data to break the deadlock.

One man, one spirit body, watched tensely from the sidelines; only the Red Dancing Shoes refused to yield, continuing to attack the Paper Man. Even, enraged by its master's physical death, it stomped with increasing frequency, its power seemingly growing more ferocious.

Finally, the physical body thoroughly turned into a dried corpse; the grand Primordial Heavenly Venerable met his end at the hands of a vengeful spirit.

Having drunk its fill of essence and blood, the rouge on the Paper Man’s face grew ever more vivid.

*Snap.* It released its crude, simple hand, letting the withered corpse topple to the ground.

The Paper Man stiffly twisted its neck, looking toward Corpse Walker No. 1.

After a silence of perhaps ten seconds, the Paper Man marched in stiff goose-steps, accompanied by a soft *shasha* sound, walking toward the door outside.

It had ceased its killing.

The Red Dancing Shoes followed like a shadow, relentlessly pursuing the Paper Man.

I won the bet. Stop, stop... Zhang Yuanqing halted its endless pursuit.

Watching the embroidered-shoe-clad feet cross the threshold, stepping one by one into the darkness, the spirit-body Zhang Yuanqing remained tense, refusing to lower his guard.

After roughly five minutes, silence reigned inside and out; not a sound stirred from the thick darkness.

No, there was sound.

The Red Dancing Shoes paced within the room, sometimes stopping by the physical body, sometimes by the spirit body, a line of text floating above it:

[Are you willing to dance with me...]

But it didn't know whether to demand payment from the dead physical body, or seek recompense from the spirit body that could not dance.

It had encountered this bug for the first time.

It should be gone... Zhang Yuanqing could wait no longer and drifted toward his physical body. With a *pop*, he pulled the wooden stopper, pried open the stiff jaw of the corpse, and shoved the test tube deep into its throat.

This is because the fleshly body cannot swallow.

Only when all the primordial life fluid in the test tube had entered the fleshly stomach did Zhang Yuanqing pull it out, accompanied by another *pop* sound.

In a moment, the withered skin gradually swelled full, flesh propping up the slack skin; with every passing second, the fleshly body grew fuller by a degree.

This process lasted for a dozen seconds or so; the skin not only recovered completely but became even more dewy and smooth, as if reborn.

But there was no breath, no heartbeat.

When the Night Wanderer’s spirit body leaves the shell, the flesh is just like this—this is the state of feigned death.

Only then did Zhang Yuanqing truly breathe a sigh of relief, plunging into the fleshly body.

The next second, the fleshly body opened its eyes, pupils scattered as they stared at the ceiling, then rapidly contracting; he gasped in great gulps, like a drowning man whose heartbeat has been restored.

And at this moment, Corpse No. 1 had completely expelled the Yin Qi from its body, its joints regaining their agility.

"Hah! Hah! Hah..."

"So damn hard, this fucking can't possibly be an A-rank dungeon, I don't want to do anything, I need a rest, no one is allowed to disturb me!" Zhang Yuanqing breathed in the fresh air greedily.

Then, he heard a light, rapid *tap-tap-tap* sound echoing beside his ear.

You are the exception... Zhang Yuanqing’s expression stiffened, and he silently climbed to his feet.

After accompanying the Red Dancing Shoes for a full dance, Zhang Yuanqing sat on the edge of the bed; this wasn't to rest, but because sitting was more conducive to thinking.

Although he had barely escaped the crisis of the paper man, Zhang Yuanqing felt not a shred of joy, because he had already realized something was wrong.

"This is an A-rank dungeon? This fucking thing is more brutal than an S-rank; the paper man at the second watch nearly forced me to play all my trump cards, so what about the boss at the third watch? What about the Commandery Princess?"

The difficulty level of Mute Village completely exceeds the scope of an A-rank.

Even among S-ranks, it’s probably in the most vicious tier.

This is obviously unreasonable.

Zhang Yuanqing frowned deeply:

"There's something fishy about this dungeon; something definitely went wrong. I have to find the problem before the third watch, or I'm dead meat."

Taking a deep breath to calm his emotions, he replayed every detail since entering the dungeon.

The dialogue with Wang Er, the dialogue with the old grandpa, the exchange with the Cat King Speaker, and every detail he had seen and heard.

Time flowed slowly; in the repeated replays, he vaguely grasped something, but it wasn't clear enough.

Zhang Yuanqing didn't rush; clutching that vague notion, he fished a few small blue pills from his trouser pocket, held them in his palm, and then recalled his father's remains in his mind.

Mental power slowly boiled, his heart beginning to beat under overload; he quickly entered the "Superbrain" state, chaotic memory fragments flashing rapidly, his ears filled with meaningless noise.

His nasal cavity grew hot, bright red blood flowing out.

Zhang Yuanqing immediately swallowed the pills, suppressing these negative states.

Then, every frame since entering the dungeon replayed frame by frame—the texture of the stone room, the direction the roadside withered grass leaned... nothing too great or too small, all rehearsed once more in his mind.

"Some time ago, I met a wandering Daoist; he said the back mountain is a feng shui treasure land, that there must be a grand tomb in the mountain..."

"Villager Wang Xia'er pilfered the burial goods, intending to hawk them to a wealthy family in the provincial capital. Little did he expect that she would follow him out that very night…"

"Come the fourth watch, every soul in the village lay dead…"

"The ancient tomb lies twenty-three li to the southwest of the rear mountain."

"Run, run for your lives~"

Zhang Yuanqing jerked awake, snapping out of the 'Playback' state, eyes wide as sudden enlightenment struck him like a bolt from the blue.

"I understand the true mechanics of this dungeon now…"

…