"High God Shen-Ming, I think there's something wrong happened here..." the Middle-God seems to notice something weird after Chen Xuan was swallowed by the portal.
"Huh? What could be happening? There shouldn't be any problem." the High-God said.
"I have no idea, but it seems he already arrived at the Lingyu Realm." the Middle-God immediately answered.
"Arrived? That shouldn't be happening! Based on the time right now, it was a full-moon night. Even if it was considered safe, there are still one or two newborns roaming around searching for prey." it seems this was something they did not expect to happen.
"Yuan-Ling, we have to return to Lingyu Realm immediately. If he died there, our effort this time is going to be wasted!" the High-God said as he quickly opened a portal for them to return.
-----
"Ahh!!!" the screaming of someone falling from the sky can be heard miles away. But it was less significant compared to the explosive landing that followed when that individual touched down on the ground.
'Two terrible gods... Can't you give me a more considerate entry like walking through the portal or whatsoever?' Chen Xuan complained before he stood up from the remains that mitigated all the damage from his fall.
He took a good look for a piece of solid ground before making a jump over there. A hint of curiosity followed as he wondered about what could have beautifully received the brunt force from his fall.
Calmly, Chen Xuan turned his head around to "look" at where he was earlier.
"Urgh..." he immediately regretted his choice as he felt nauseated right away. He would choose not to look if he was given another chance to choose again.
The "thing" that covered his fall was actually a pile of corpses with people in simple clothing. At this moment, Chen Xuan feels somewhat thankful to one of his ex-girlfriends who enjoyed horror and thriller-genre movies.
But no matter what, the scene before him was real and not something made for people who love the thrill and bloody moment. And among some of the deceased people here, their eyes were still opened wide in disbelief.
It was a blatant sight that was not suitable for the faint-hearted individuals.
'So many people died here, but not a single drop of blood is seen on the ground. Why was that?' Chen Xuan immediately detected the oddness from a quick look. Perhaps, he was too used to seeing those scenes to notice the differences.
Unfortunately, while he discerned that there was no blood around this place, he didn't see that all the dead people here had an identical bite mark on their necks.
'Wait a minute...' Chen Xuan seems to notice something odd here.
'Didn't the Middle-God suggest that I look for a human settlement as soon as possible when I arrived in this world? And regarding the exorcism request... What is that all about?" Chen Xuan tried to decipher the incomplete information given by the two gods before he came to this Lingyu Realm.
From the look of it, they'll be giving him an induction right away after he arrives here. But no matter where he's trying to look, there doesn't seem to be a person or NPC waiting for him.
There's an unsettled feeling deep inside Chen Xuan as he felt that everything was too fishy at this moment. Furthermore, the thought about what might happen while in this world made Chen Xuan wonder about what is next after finding a human settlement.
And the longer he took to think, the faster something would appear out of nowhere. Less than a few minutes after Chen Xuan walked away from this pile of corpses, something was moving.
Attracted to his scent and breathing, two pairs of hands were crawling out from the pile of corpses, dragging their heavy body out from within.
It was two corpses with unbelievably wide-opened eyes resembling a goldfish. But evidently, the eyes seem to be staring blankly at the surroundings instead of Chen Xuan, who was walking away.
The more Chen Xuan casually breaths as he walks around searching for living human tracks, the more agitated the two dead corpses seem. By the time the two corpses were ready to move, a pair of sharper fangs had grown and replaced the blunt teeth they had as a human.
Instead of walking, the dead corpses jumped from one spot to another, covering three human footsteps in a single jump. Although their body seemed to be moving awkwardly and their movement was rigid, their leap was almost undetectable.
It was just unbelievable that with such a body, these corpses could move quieter than Chen Xuan. Silently, the moving corpses closed their gap from Chen Xuan, tracing him through the air he breaths.
As for Chen Xuan, he was still busy looking for the human tracks walked around here before. Only by finding these tracks can he decide on a direction to move forward. Without this guidance, he could be wandering around this desolated and eerie place until he's starving and dying.
'How long has this place been abandoned for?' Chen Xuan asked himself as it felt that nobody had ever been here for ages. The houses were in tatters, and the wooden furniture was rotten to the point of crumbling into scraps.
Furthermore, this place doesn't seem like a place where people would choose to stay due to the density of Yin-related energy around here. Even if the god pays him good money to stay here, he won't because he would be depressed for sure from the lack of Yang Energy around here.
A gust of wind suddenly came from his back and surprised Chen Xuan. But due to his cautious nature from cheating many people, Chen Xuan's methods were somewhat different from others. Instead of turning around immediately, he took a step forward before turning around to check what was behind him.
Unfortunately, his cautiousness was incomparable to the dead zombies with acute sense. Unlike the zombies from the TV, the two dead corpses had hidden behind walls and trees when Chen Xuan turned his head around.
Because they had no pulse nor presence, the corpses managed to blend nicely with the surroundings. The rigor mortis on their body only benefits them as they could remain inanimated for as long as they need.
"Weird..." Chen Xuan feels unexplainably nervous in his heart. At this moment, the advice from the two gods made Chen Xuan suspect if there's a particular threat here in this Lingyu Realm.
And when he thought about the request to conduct an exorcism on the evil spirits here, Chen Xuan suddenly had an idea of what he had just signed for. The clothing that those dead villagers were wearing made him remembered something ominous.
'Oh, Shit...' the little knowledge about a thing or two from learning Taoism made him realized what he's might be facing. As he unconsciously took a step backward, he stepped on a rusty, abandoned sword.
'A sword?' Chen Xuan maintained his gaze at his front as he slowly bending down to pick the sword. Although it was rusty, having something blunt is better than not having anything at all.
But even with a sword in hand, it couldn't calm his heart. The fear in him is visibly shown on the trembling sword in his hand.
"Hah! Hah! Hah!" Chen Xuan then breathed in panic on purpose. He's intended to see if his suspicion was the real deal.
His sudden breathing immediately caught the two moving corpses' attention behind a wall and a tree. To these animated corpses, the breathing action is akin to a signal in their sense, which allows them to tell where the living human was.
Ordinary people might have no idea, but the dead corpses were actually blind. In the Taoism record about the deceased, these recently animated or turned corpses hunt for human blood through breathing and human scent.
And since both dead corpses were blind, they quickly made their appearance and hopped towards Chen Xuan's current position. It was evident that the scent from his few erratic breaths made the two moving corpses feeling restless.
"JIANGSHI AHH!!!" Chen Xuan ran without looking back. All his potential in escaping was unlocked at this moment. He had a feeling that his five sense was intensified to the point he could feel how close is the Jiangshi from him.
(Jiangshi: Jumping/Hopping Corpses or Ghouls. In this novel of mine, Regular Jiangshi were those transformed into one after getting their blood sucked by a purely evil Jiangshi, aka Government official uniform Jiangshi)
But close or not, Chen Xuan knew that if he did not think of something, his chances of survival would definitely be 0%.
"Think, Chen Xuan... Remember, what you can do!' his brain worked hard in search of a solution method. If he can wish for something, he would immediately ask for a talisman or copper coin sword.
Of course, neither of them is possible. Able to discover a rusty sword in this desolated place was considered lucky for Chen Xuan.
He would be happy if he could get some glutinous rice grains somewhere. Or, he might as well ask for a rooster to appear and crow. Still, based on how eerie and concentrated the Yin element here, he might have better chances asking for a snake, rat, or centipede.
'Hup!' Chen Xuan suddenly held his breath as one of the Jiangshi hopped past him. His immediate response gave him a chance to quickly escape.
Although the sudden loss of Chen Xuan's breathing made the Jiangshi clueless about what to do, Chen Xuan himself was not in an advantageous position either. As a living human, he could at most hold his breath for a few seconds.
Barely three steps away from the first Jiangshi, the second one suddenly appeared right before Chen Xuan. The surprising arrival made Chen Xuan lose control over his breath and spontaneously inhaled a mouthful of air.
In a flash moment, he was unsure how many things went across his mind as the second Jiangshi attacked Chen Xuan with both of its hands that come with long and sharp nails.
*Ding!*
Chen Xuan could only put all his bet on the rusty sword in his hand. Using both hands to firmly hold the handle and blade, Chen Xuan risked his all to defend that attack.
"Bam!*
The result was Chen Xuan got thrown over five meters away from where he stands. Slamming on a vast tree hard before he fell on the ground, Chen Xuan's entire body was in pain from defending against that particular attack.
"Oh, Fuck... This feels like I got hit by a car running at 30-50miles per hour." Chen Xuan cussed. This was his only way to relieve his mind from all the pain.
But while he was in pain, it doesn't mean the Jianshi would stop right there until he was ready to run again.
"Hup!" Chen Xuan took a deep breath before holding his breath and sneaks away. This time, the rusty sword no longer had its use because it had been deformed from the previous attack.
His entire body was in a wreck. Although there was no bleeding on him, Chen Xuan felt like he would collapse if he relaxed now. Then, the cat and mouse game continued. For every few steps Chen Xuan took, he had to take a deep breath.
The two Jiangshi would then took that opportunity to close their distance when he breathed. This continued until a silhouette went past him and headed straight at the Jiangshi.
"Hey! Who are you? Don't mess with that two things! They're Jiangshi!" Chen Xuan had no idea if that silhouette was someone alive or dead. But due to his mentality as a human being, he shouted at the individual.
"Perish, Evil Spirit!" instead of responding to him, the silhouette pulled a beautifully polished sword to fight against the Jiangshi.
The coldness of the air here seems to be making the individual's breath turning into white mist, but in exchange, the sword in hand appears to be glowing in golden light.