Hao Tian paced back and forth in the apartment, the wooden floor creaking under his footsteps. The Lingfei Jing lay open on the coffee table, the golden figure rising into the air on the third page emitting a faint glow. Outside the window, raindrops tapped against the glass, like countless tiny fingers scratching.
"The Qi flows through the Shaoyang meridian, the mind focuses on the Baihui acupoint..." He muttered the incantation, then suddenly slammed the book onto the sofa. "What the hell does this mean!"
The wound on his arm began to throb again. Although the black blood had been expelled, a faint green glow occasionally flickered beneath the skin. Recalling the woman's mention of a "three-day deadline," Haotian's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. Tomorrow was the final deadline.
He grabbed the yellowed ancient text and tried again. Following the diagram on the first page, he stood with his feet neither too close nor too far apart, imagining a surge of heat rising from his feet to his head. Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded from his temples—
"Ah!"
Haotian fell to the ground, stars dancing before his eyes. But when he opened them again, the entire world had changed. Dense gray threads floated in the air, walls were covered in spiderweb-like black patterns, and most terrifyingly, a purple-blue infant was sitting on his shoulder in the mirror!
"What the hell is that!" He frantically slapped his shoulder, but the infant emitted a piercing laugh and dissipated into black smoke.
His phone suddenly rang, displaying "Captain Zhang" on the screen. Hao Tian forced himself to answer the call, and Zhang Dahai's rough voice blared, "Hao Tian! There's a blank spot in the parking lot surveillance from yesterday, and Aunt Wang is now in the hospital babbling nonsense. You better give me an explanation!"
"I... I fainted at the time, probably due to low blood sugar..."
"Bullshit!" Zhang Dahai lowered his voice, "The duty roster shows you were assigned to the 'death shift' every day this week. Come to the hospital immediately; someone wants to see you."
The call ended, and Haotian noticed his hands were trembling. He didn't understand what the "death shift" meant, but his instinct told him Zhang Dahai knew far more than he was letting on.
A flash of lightning split the sky outside the window. Haotian suddenly saw a dark figure standing on the roof of the building across the street—it was the woman in the windbreaker! She was holding an oil paper umbrella, and the Bagua diagram painted in cinnabar on the umbrella's surface glowed with a blood-red light in the rain. As they locked eyes across the distance, the woman made a throat-slitting gesture and then pointed toward the mall.
Haotian's heart raced. He grabbed the Lingfei Sutra and stuffed it into his backpack, then rushed out into the rain. As the elevator descended, he was horrified to discover that it was filled with semi-transparent shadows—an old man missing half his head, a pregnant woman dragging her intestines... These ghosts pointed at him but dared not approach.
"Get out of here!" Hao Tian wildly waved his arms, and a golden light suddenly shot out from his backpack, causing the ghosts to scream and disperse. He trembled as he unzipped the backpack and discovered that it was the *Lingfei Jing* that was glowing.
Rushing out of the apartment building, Hao Tian froze in place. The city in the rain had completely transformed—some buildings were shrouded in black mist, deformed creatures lingered under streetlights, and even the rain seemed to oddly avoid certain areas. Most terrifyingly, everyone had differently colored auras floating above their heads, and his own hands were uncontrollably emitting a faint golden glow.
"Once the Yin-Yang Eyes are opened, they cannot be closed." A cold voice came from behind him. The woman had appeared behind him at some point, holding an oil paper umbrella over both of their heads. Up close, she had a tear tattoo at the corner of her eye, and the lotus pattern on her neck flickered in and out of view.
"Who are you?" Hao Tian's voice was hoarse. "Why can I see these... these things?"
"Su Xiao Yao." The woman handed him a wooden plaque engraved with runes. "Hold this; it can temporarily suppress your spiritual energy fluctuations. The Zombie King's men are already searching for you."
The plaque felt icy to the touch, and the strange phenomena around Hao Tian immediately weakened significantly. He noticed a circle of fine tooth marks on Xiao Yao's wrist, as if she had been bitten by some small beast.
"Zhang Da Hai just called..."
"He's the demon lord's minion." Xiao You interrupted him, the umbrella suddenly turning toward the northwest, "A security guard who should have died thirty years ago, surviving by feeding on the yang energy of new employees."
Hao Tian's stomach twisted in pain. No wonder Captain Zhang always assigned newcomers to night shifts, no wonder his office was always filled with the heavy scent of sandalwood incense...
"Follow me." Xiao You suddenly grabbed his wrist. Hao Tian felt a flash before his eyes, and the two of them had already arrived in the alley behind the mall. This ability to shrink the earth was clearly a divine power only possessed by those in the True Gāng Realm!
Xiao You pulled out a bronze compass from her bosom. After the needle spun wildly, it pointed toward the underground parking lot. "The evil spirit's zombie is setting up an array down there, intending to drain the souls of the entire mall." She handed Hao Tian three purple talismans, "You are of the Tian Shi bloodline; only you can activate these celestial-grade demon-suppressing talismans."
"Wait! I haven't even mastered the Lingfei Sutra yet..."
"You don't need to master it." Xiao You suddenly leaned in close, her breath brushing his ear, "The blood of Zhang Daoling flows through your veins. When faced with danger, it will awaken on its own."
The underground parking lot was even more eerie than during the day. Haotian moved along the wall, the talismans in his hand growing slightly warm. As he rounded the pillar in Section B, he froze abruptly—seven men in suits were standing in a circle, with the unconscious Aunt Wang lying in the center. They moved in unison to slit their wrists, their black blood dripping into the strange patterns on the ground.
What was most terrifying was that Hao Tian recognized these people. Chen, the manager of the marketing department, Zhou, the manager of the jewelry store, and even the deliveryman who frequently came to deliver goods... Their faces bore eerie smiles, and their eyes had turned completely black.
"Keep out," Hao Tian instinctively shouted, his voice carrying a certain ancient authority. The seven puppets turned their heads simultaneously, their mouths stretched wide.
The talismans flew out on their own, igniting into a golden fire net in the air. Haotian felt a burning sensation in his spine as some dormant memory began to awaken. Without any prior training, he formed the Thunder Seal and shouted, "Five Thunder Gods, heed my command!"
A bolt of lightning struck down, causing cracks to appear in the ground array. The puppets let out inhuman screams, but their speed only increased. Hao Tian dodged hastily, but one of them still managed to grab his ankle. In that instant, he saw a terrifying sight—the souls of these people were being controlled by countless black threads, the other ends of which extended to the top floor of the mall...
"Look down!"
Xiao You's voice came from above. Hao Tian instinctively bent down, and a silver light flew past his scalp, severing seven puppets at the waist. It was a spinning bronze bell!
The severed bodies continued to crawl. Xiao You leaped down from the ventilation shaft, her oil paper umbrella tracing a golden arc. As the tip of the umbrella touched the ground, the golden light within Hao Tian surged uncontrollably, merging with her power to form a Tai Chi pattern. The ground array shattered with a boom, and the puppets finally came to a stop.
"Tian Shi Blood combined with the Holy Maiden's Seal..." Xiao You panted as she retrieved the bell, "No wonder the Demon Lord went to such lengths to find you."
Hao Tian was about to ask more questions when a sudden sound of shattering glass echoed from above. The two looked up to see Zhang Dahai lying on the skylight, his mouth stretched into an unbelievable grin, with yellowish fluid flowing from his eye sockets...
"Run!" Xiao You pushed Hao Tian aside. The next moment, Zhang Dahai's body exploded like a balloon, and countless black beetles poured down like a waterfall!
Haotian was dragged along by Xiao You as they sprinted away, the sound of gnawing echoing behind them. As they turned a corner, he glanced back and saw the beetles devouring the puppet's corpse. With each bite, the swarm grew larger.
"Corpse beetles!" Xiao You threw out her last talisman, the flames temporarily blocking the swarm. "Go to the Ancient and Modern Pavilion—there's a barrier there!"
When they burst into the antique shop on the fourth floor, which they had never noticed before, Hao Tian's legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees. In the display window, the bronze mask identical to the one in his dream was grinning at him with an eerie smile...