usatvline Chapter 134 Frequent Visitor to the Underworld
Chapter 134 Frequent Visitor to the Underworld
Generally speaking, people who care about their image will pretend to understand even when they don't, but Lan Ying clearly understood, yet she still pretended not to understand along with her companions. As long as she said she understood, the whole mission process would be faster.
By pretending to know nothing and handing over the main control of the team to his teammates, Lan Ying's actions were somewhat like playing dumb to outsmart others.
Qingyangzi deliberately spoke in an obscure and difficult-to-understand manner in order to test them. These time travelers all claimed to have been "modern people" in the past, but you can't tell anything just by looking at their appearance. You can only judge them by their words and actions.
According to the information obtained by Jian Feidao, there are at least two illegal transmigrators who have been lurking in the shadows for over a hundred years. Therefore, unless these two people have not eaten, drunk, or communicated for the past hundred years, and have been hiding in some extremely secluded place for a hundred years without ever contacting anyone, their words and actions will definitely be influenced by the natives.
Living in a place for over a hundred years will inevitably lead to being influenced by the local culture. Even if one intentionally avoids crowds, the extra hundred years of life experience cannot be ignored.
Although Liu Qingyuan initially assumed that the two illegal transmigrators were Yan and Ying, it was because both of them had abandoned their human appearances and their abilities were most suitable for escaping and hiding.
But compared to them, Lan Ying is even more out of place. Most of the time, Lan Ying's role in this team is simply that of an intelligence agent, occasionally providing support. Her daily personality is characterized by impatience, a bad temper, and a lack of patience. When problems arise during a mission, she is the first to complain.
With a somewhat impatient and complaining personality, Ke Lan Ying is in charge of intelligence gathering. Her ability is to attach cursed insects to other people. This ability and position are not suitable for a person with an impatient temperament.
Moreover, her ability is not limited to gathering intelligence by lurking. Her ability is essentially a kind of puppetry, which can turn any living creature she desires into an informant for her to follow. The reason people call her a "cursed insect" is because she basically only uses insects and has not used anything else much.
Because the cost of production is proportional to the type of target, using insects is the most cost-effective method. However, this does not mean that Lan Ying has not used it on other species, nor does using insects mean that it can be completed in one go; it still requires effort.
This can be understood as Lan Ying's greatest strength being her ability to produce meticulous work; the more patient she is, the better the final product she achieves. Someone who chooses this ability for themselves is unlikely to be impatient or easily angered.
She found it strange that there was competition among the illegal transmigrators, yet Lan Ying not only didn't show her strength but also marginalized herself. She was in charge of the main tasks and plans, but at the same time, her contributions weren't considered that important.
Normally, you don't pay attention to this person and think they are dispensable, but when you think back on it, you realize that this person is everywhere and has never left the core area. Isn't this characteristic very similar to those two missing illegal travelers?
The only problem is that, according to the intelligence we have, the Sanbao sect members remember two men, with no women involved. Moreover, in such a turbulent era, women who are capable of acting independently and participating in special worldly affairs would be very remarkable.
Back then, the Sanbao Sect had no female leaders. However, the two people described by the Sanbao Sect members not only did not exist, but their physical characteristics could not be found to match. Everything was connected, but no one could be completely certain.
"So who is this person who is both wise and brave?"
Shou Wanjie wiped his sword. He had spent more time with these people and understood them better. He could only say that they were all talents nurtured by the illegal system. Each of them had hidden trump cards and each was very special. Lan Ying seemed out of place in their eyes because in an atmosphere where the mission was the priority, she didn't seem to want to complete the mission.
They constantly urge others on and complain about the slow progress, but when they have the ability to push the task forward, they refuse to step forward and instead waste time with their companions.
"No matter who it is, it's already too late."
When it comes to disguise and playing dumb to fool others, he's already been doing that for a while now.
……
"Shouldn't this be called 'Three Visits to the Underworld'?"
Standing once again in the dim environment of the underworld, Liu Qingyuan couldn't help but sigh as above. He really came to this underworld again and again, like visiting someone's home.
"These kinds of topics won't attract viewers."
Jingtao Jun made a sarcastic remark with a blank expression.
"Why did I come with you? Why not just bring out Shulou Longsu?"
Moreover, the idea of accompanying someone to the underworld is really unsettling; it's as if the two of them have a deep-seated hatred and end up dying together.
"Well, Long Su came once and never wanted to come again. He thought this place was too gloomy and didn't suit his glamorous temperament."
The underworld is nothing but ghosts, how could it not be gloomy?
However, it's probably for the best that he didn't come. It's true that the environment of the underworld is very dark, but the lighting here is always very abstract and gloomy. Shu Lou Long Su has a lot of precious jewels that can reflect light. When the two are combined, Shu Lou Long Su becomes a human-shaped self-propelled colored light, the kind that can change according to the light source of the surrounding environment.
There are no side effects, it's just a little dazzling.
"We're here to gather intelligence, and you can then pass that intelligence on to Qingyangzi. Wouldn't that be perfect?"
The matter of the Three Treasures Sect still needs further investigation. Those two missing illegal transmigrators are too mysterious and unpredictable. To get further information, we can only contact the parties involved.
But more than a hundred years have passed, and almost all of those involved are dead. If Liu Qingyuan wants to ask, he can only start from the underworld. It just so happens that those people back then all had sins on their hands; some participated in rebellion, murder, and arson, while others practiced evil arts and violated the laws of nature. Therefore, they could not be directly reincarnated after death.
The first question to ask is about the leader of the Sanbao Sect whom Jian Feidao and Ren Pingsheng encountered by chance. He was taken away by an illegal transmigrator and no one knows what he was used for. In any case, neither Shou Wanjie nor Qingyangzi saw that head, and they didn't hear about him in their daily conversations.
The remaining two were handed over to the local City God. After their identities and crimes were confirmed, they were sent to the underworld. From the interrogation at the time, it was clear that they had been used as pawns and were completely unaware that their thoughts had been guided by others. However, they at least knew that their disciple had betrayed them and that this was the reason they had come here.
The things Shuangxiu found show that the painter back then was not just an ordinary apprentice of the leader of the Sanbao Sect. He had come into contact with corpse refining, met illegal transmigrators, and was deeply involved. His constant painting of Buddha statues was definitely not just for psychological comfort.
Unfortunately, because the artist stopped the bleeding in time, he didn't have much sin to carry, and he even had the intention to atone for his sins. By all accounts, he couldn't have endured a hundred years of punishment and was reincarnated early.
The old monk who possessed the painter's memories had disappeared; unable to find him, the only option was to ask the two leaders of the White Lotus Sect. These two had only recently entered the underworld and still had much to suffer, making them the easiest to locate.
The messenger who came to guide the two was a young boy, who looked to be less than ten years old. He had a handsome appearance and did not look like a ghost messenger from the underworld at all.
However, judging from his aura, he was indeed a ghost. Liu Qingyuan was somewhat surprised. She had seen many ghost messengers, including Ox-Head, Horse-Face, Black and White Impermanence, but this was the first time she had seen such an obedient little boy.
"May I ask if you are a friend of Daoist Lingling?"
"Oh, you mean spirits are spirits?"
Unexpectedly, it's someone I know. Ke Ling has only been to the underworld once before, and that was with the people from the East Sea Dragon Palace. She's never met a child this age before.
No, that's not right. This is the underworld, and the people in front of us are ghosts. This child may have just died at a young age, and their actual age cannot be determined.
"Yes, Master Lingling has been kind to me. I heard that the two immortals are friends with her, and I specially asked for this job today. My former name was Gezi. I was killed by a blind demon monk and became his ghost. It was Master Lingling who helped me escape from this sea of suffering."
What a coincidence! Back then, Lingling and Ren Yunzong unexpectedly encountered a house demon and two ghost children enslaved by a demonic monk. After helping them break free, Zhu'er remained in the mortal realm, resurrected in the body of a child who had died young, and became the son of a merchant. Gezi came to the underworld and became the adopted son of a wealthy man named Jiang. Both children found their place in the world.
They were once bound and tormented by the evil monk, their souls becoming blurred and their faces indistinct, looking like a cloud of smoke that couldn't withstand the wind. Now, the brother's soul has recovered in the underworld and regained its original appearance.
This was a very good child. If he hadn't been killed by the blind monk, he would have grown up to be a handsome and talented man.
Ling Ziling and Ren Yunzong have both left, and Gezi wants to repay his debt of gratitude but can't find them. Hearing that Liu Qingyuan and the others are from the same place as Ling Ziling, Gezi volunteered to come here as a guide.
Although he still looks like a child, he has been a ghost for many years and his mental age is already mature. He is quick in his work and a likable filial son, so Master Jiang used his connections to help him this time.
"Lingling has really made a lot of good connections on this trip."
It's truly amazing that I could meet people I've helped before in this way again.
The young messenger was leading the way, and it was clear that he was extremely familiar with the surroundings, which meant he must have been helping out regularly. If things continued to develop normally, he would one day become one of the ghost messengers in the underworld.
As for why they didn't choose to reincarnate and start anew, Liu Qingyuan didn't ask. It was their own decision. Moreover, after being enslaved by evil magic for so long, they were no longer ordinary little ghosts, and reincarnation probably wouldn't be easy for them.
"I regret it, I really regret it... I was wrong, I was wrong..."
As they approached the cell, they could hear from afar the voices of the prisoners repeatedly admitting their mistakes and begging for mercy. This was their target: Li Huaiwen, one of the former leaders of the Three Treasures Sect rebellion.
Judging from his name alone, one might think he was an ordinary scholar, a man of refined taste and noble character. This name, taken from "Letter to Wu Zhi," suggests that in the beginning, he was simply a scholar from a family with some social standing, completely unrelated to cults or rebellions.
After being taken to the underworld, the eerie mixed state of one ghost and one zombie was dispelled, and they became two ghosts with intact forms. Their heads were also reattached and would not fall off easily, but there was still a conspicuous mark around their necks.
At this moment, Li Huaiwen was squatting in the corner of the cell, holding his head and muttering incessantly, as if he were possessed. Although there were no visible signs of torture on his body, his reaction alone showed that he had already experienced a personal tour of hell.
"Is it too late to regret it now?"
More than a hundred years have passed. He didn't regret killing and arson, he didn't regret establishing the Three Treasures Sect, and he didn't regret refining corpses to seek immortality. Now that he's been captured and thrown into the underworld, he's suffering and only now says he regrets it. Isn't that ridiculous?
"!"
Hearing a voice different from the ghost messenger's, Li Huaiwen turned his head. When he saw the white-haired, white-clothed people in front of the prison cell, he was startled. It was the two white-haired, white-clothed people who had dragged him into the City God Temple. However, Jianzi Xianji's appearance was also very distinctive and easy to distinguish. After realizing that it was not the two people from before, he crawled over on his hands and feet, and he had quite the air of a "ghost".
"……Who are you?"
There were three people in front of the prison gate: two adults dressed in complicated clothes and a normal-looking child. The child was a ghost, which was normal in the underworld, but the two adults looked like living people, or rather, more like immortals.
"A deity? A deity who came to save me? I was wrong, I really know I was wrong, I will atone for my sins, please let me go, I will never..."
“A while ago, the Bodhisattva came to the underworld to guide wronged ghosts. This guy saw it from afar and thought he could do it too.”
Faced with Li Huaiwen's somewhat neurotic reaction, the brother replied helplessly that if it was about ferrying away wronged ghosts, then it was naturally about helping the unjustly deceased to escape suffering, and it had nothing to do with a guy like Li Huaiwen, but this guy thought he could do it.
Indeed, his actions were instigated by illegal transmigrators, but would he really have done nothing without the encouragement of others? If he truly had no ideas of his own and relied solely on the instigation of others, Li Huaiwen might have been able to smoothly carry out the entire process of winning people's hearts, establishing a cult, and launching a rebellion.
Li Huaiwen's actions corresponded perfectly to the test question posed by the underworld for selecting the City God: "One person, two people, with intention or without intention." Li Huaiwen's statement meant that regardless of his actions or intentions, he could not escape his sins.
The illegal transgressors merely instigated through rhetoric, not directly controlled people's minds. If they had the guts to do these things back then, they should be prepared to be punished in the future.
“This job of helping people is the job of a good friend of mine. If you really need it, you can cooperate with me and I can consider letting him help you.”
Under Jingtao Jun's questioning gaze, he bent down and looked Li Huaiwen, who was kneeling on the ground gripping the cell door, at eye level.
"Perfect timing. My friend is a highly respected Buddhist monk. Not only is his understanding of Buddhist teachings profound, but helping others to attain enlightenment is also his duty..."
"Hey, Jianzi."
Jingtao disagreed and tried to stop them. Who else could they be describing? It's Fojian Fenshuo, isn't it? They're asking for the soul to be delivered, while you're talking about physical deliverance. You're just fooling people.
Uh... wait a minute, Li Huaiwen has been dead for over a hundred years. He used to be a zombie, but now only his soul remains trapped in the underworld. Is physical exorcism no longer effective?
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
He only said he could consider it, but he hadn't considered it yet. Anyway, the other party had never heard of the famous saying "killing to protect life," so he would use the name of Buddha Sword to fool the person and get him to cooperate with the interrogation.
"Now, there is something that can alleviate your sins."