After Marrying the Lord of the Underworld

Upon hearing the screams, Lu Yingjiu and the others rushed over.

 

They were all shocked by the chaotic scene:

 

A group of people huddled in the corner, shivering.

 

Ye Feng’s second grandmother was scrambling around on the ceiling.

 

Ah Mei was also crawling around on the ground, vomiting blood.

 

Each party was focused on their own tasks, not interfering with each other, creating a strangely harmonious scene.

 

Xiao Li was dumbfounded. “Brother Ye Feng, your second grandmother is a Spider-Man! She climbs so fast!”

 

Ye Feng was also stunned for a moment, unsure of which side to deal with first.

 

Lu Yingjiu pushed him from behind: “You take Ah Mei away.” Then he urged Xiao Li, “You keep an eye on the rest.”

 

After saying that, he drew his short knife and quickly walked towards Zhang Nianyun.

 

Zhang Nianyun was still using her hands and feet, and no one knew how she was sticking to the ceiling, moving flexibly. Her messy hair hung down, swaying in front of everyone. She was sniffing around on the ceiling, as if looking for something.

 

No one knew whether she had quietly followed everyone along the way, or had stumbled upon them by chance.

 

Seeing Lu Yingjiu approaching, she suddenly turned her head 180 degrees and screamed at him! The next second, she jumped down with her palms open, her sharp nails aiming straight for Lu Yingjiu’s throat.

 

No one doubted that those nails could easily pierce the throat and nail a person to the wall.

 

Lu Yingjiu raised his knife, and with a flash of cold light, her long nails were cut off at the root – the broken nails spun out and plunged half a foot into the ground, still trembling.

 

Zhang Nianyun was exceptionally agile, retreating like a monkey to avoid Lu Yingjiu’s stab at her heart. Her ragged skirt fluttered in the wind, and with a push and a jump, she covered a distance of three to four meters in an instant, quickly widening the gap.

 

Xiao Li was once again dumbfounded. “The second grandmother can do gymnastics!”

 

Ye Feng finally managed to bring Ah Mei to Xiao Li, then hurriedly ran over and shouted, “Grandma!”

 

Zhang Nianyun had no reaction, her eyes were dull and there was no sparkle in them.

 

Ye Feng took a few more steps forward. “Second Grandma, do you remember me? I’m Ye Feng!”

 

Zhang Nianyun bared her teeth at him, revealing sharp, beast-like canines.

 

Lu Yingjiu had seen many such ghosts and monsters.

 

She had no sense left, and it was impossible to communicate with her anymore.

 

He couldn’t help but sigh slightly. On one hand, he felt that Ye Deyong’s despicable methods had not brought back his loved one, but had turned her into this state, which was truly lamentable. On the other hand, he regretted that he could no longer ask about the photo.

 

Of course, Ye Feng knew this too.

 

However, when it involved his own family, people always held unrealistic hopes.

 

He continued, “Don’t you remember me? I used to follow you around the nursing home. You made ginger tea for me, washed my muddy clothes, and said that when Second Grandpa had time, he would definitely take me to the mountains…”

 

Zhang Nianyun screamed again!!

 

The sound was so sharp that everyone couldn’t help but cover their ears, their heads feeling as if they were being stabbed.

 

Zhang Nianyun climbed onto the wall again with her hands and feet, her severed nails regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

 

Ye Feng felt a pain in his heart.

 

He knew that the situation would not improve, and he also took out a talisman, thinking that death was also a kind of release for her. Fortunately, she was already mad. If she knew that her resurrection was built on countless lives, it might make her feel worse than death.

 

Lu Yingjiu looked at him, Ye Feng nodded slightly at him, and whispered, “Do it.”

 

Lu Yingjiu nodded.

 

He made a gesture to invite the gods, and hairball appeared with a howl. Then, power surged from every drop of blood, his heartbeat accelerated, steady and powerful like the sound of war drums.

 

He took a deep breath.

 

Everything in the world slowed down, and he could see the traces of every dust particle dancing in the air.

 

Zhang Nianyun let out a few strange laughs, slapped the wall, and the ground trembled faintly.

 

Points of light appeared on the ground out of nowhere.

 

It was the light of kerosene lamps.

 

Ghosts howled out in an instant, their skin swollen, wearing the uniforms of a nursing home staff, with broken needles stuck in their arms. They gathered together, like a wild storm, crying in unison. Zhang Nianyun disappeared into the crowd of ghosts, and for a moment, everyone completely lost sight of her!

 

Lu Yingjiu slapped Ye Feng, “Use fire!”

 

Ye Feng raised his hand, and the flames of the snake rushed towards the group of ghosts, the heat rising in the small space. The heat drove them back, but a thick fog rose, rolling like milk, and everything was white and unclear.

 

During the turmoil, a harsh friction sound came.

 

Countless scratches appeared on the ground and walls out of nowhere, and large stones were easily cut open. When they fell to the ground, they stirred up flying debris and rolling dust.

 

The people in the corner screamed and huddled together, trying to avoid the white fog.

 

They had all seen how agile Zhang Nianyun was just now. In the fog, if she killed them in the next second, no one would be surprised!

 

Lu Yingjiu stood silently.

 

Numerous ghostly faces emerged from the white fog, either pale and swollen or dark and shriveled, rushing towards him one after another.

 

He hung his head slightly, listening to the ghostly howls in his ears.

 

Hairball looked around.

 

Its legs were short to begin with, and now its whole body was in the fog.

 

It wasn’t afraid of those scratches, even if the scratches were almost in front of it, it still lazily yawned.

 

Just as the group of ghosts was about to touch Lu Yingjiu’s body, he suddenly moved –

 

No one saw clearly how that knife was drawn.

 

They only saw Lu Yingjiu’s figure like a graceful swallow, leaping off the wall, the cold light cutting through the fog, the bright light like a meteor tearing through the night sky, followed by the sound of a heavy object falling! The ghosts let out a mournful howl, scattered one after another, and Zhang Nianyun fell to the ground, her throat almost completely cut, and blood bubbled out.

 

This knife accurately found its prey in the chaotic group of ghosts and thick fog, without any extra movement from beginning to end.

 

One knife determined life and death, and also victory and defeat.

 

Lu Yingjiu landed steadily, taking a long breath.

 

He didn’t even pant at all.

 

The leaderless ghosts gradually dispersed.

 

Zhang Nianyun was dying.

 

She convulsed on the ground for a few seconds, and a large pool of blood spread on the ground. Just before she died, she stared straight at Lu Yingjiu, and a strange color slowly appeared in her eyes –

 

It was like some kind of deathbed resurgence.

 

For the first time, something that could be called “rationality” appeared in her eyes.

 

In such a gaze, Lu Yingjiu inexplicably felt: she recognized him.

 

Although Zhang Nianyun only had his childhood photos, traces of the past could still be seen from his eyebrows and bone structure.

 

Moreover, she might have been watching his every move for a considerable length of time, and was already extremely familiar with him.

 

But she couldn’t speak anymore.

 

The blow Lu Yingjiu gave her was absolutely fatal, and even when Lu Yingjiu reached out, trying to cover the wound on her throat, it didn’t improve her condition at all.

 

The cold blood of the ghost gushed out.

 

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Nianyun’s lips trembled.

 

She said with her mouth shape and the faint sound of her breath: “…”

 

Lu Yingjiu didn’t hear clearly, he bent down slightly, getting closer to her face.

 

“…Inner room.” She said.

 

Lu Yingjiu was stunned. “What inner room?”

 

The light in Zhang Nianyun’s eyes disappeared quickly, like the setting sun suddenly plunging into the forest sea, the light disappearing in an instant.

 

She didn’t explain much more, in fact, she couldn’t hear what Lu Yingjiu was saying anymore.

 

In the last second of her life, she spoke again. “Lu Yingjiu.”

 

“…Lu Yingjiu, your time has come.”

 

Lu Yingjiu’s heart was deeply shaken.

 

He loosened his grip, and Zhang Nianyun turned into a cloud of gray mist and dispersed.

 

The room was silent, leaving only a mess and a large pool of blood.

 

Lu Yingjiu stood silently in place for more than ten seconds before slowly raising his head and looking at the corner.

 

The people in the corner were still shivering.

 

Ah Mei had returned to normal, sitting next to Xiao Li, coughing with her head down.

 

The violent cough broke the silence, and she coughed up a large mouthful of fresh blood. Only this time, what she vomited was not just blood, but also some fragments.

 

Like fragments of internal organs.

 

She didn’t have much time left.

 

People retreated again, distancing themselves from her.

 

Lu Yingjiu took a deep breath to calm his mind.

 

Ye Feng also looked solemn. “We can’t wait any longer, we should head to the next pavilion now, and then descend the mountain.”

 

He turned his head and saw Lu Yingjiu staring at the ceiling, and was taken aback. “Is there a problem?”

 

Lu Yingjiu said, “Just now, it seemed like she was looking for something on the ceiling.”

 

He was very concerned about what Zhang Nianyun said about the “inner room”.

 

Could it be here?

 

He told Ye Feng what Zhang Nianyun had said, and looked around carefully himself.

 

The ceiling had been damaged a lot during the fight, with steel bars exposed everywhere, and water was seeping from the ceiling.

 

While Xiao Li was pouring a cup of hot water for Ah Mei and calming everyone down, Ye Feng also helped to look.

 

They searched and searched, but found nothing.

 

The ceiling was just a ceiling, no matter how much they stared at it, they couldn’t stare out a flower.

 

Lu Yingjiu originally wanted to draw more talismans and look around again. With his level, he could always find it if he spent some time.

 

But now time was pressing, and it might be too late.

 

Unless…

 

Lu Yingjiu called out: “Jing Xian, come here.”

 

Jing Xian was originally playing with hairball, trying to feed it two weeds – he had promised Lu Yingjiu not to take action, and he really did it, but it seemed that he had some kind of obsession with feeding hairball.

 

Perhaps he considered himself the head of the family and had to take on the responsibility of taking care of his wife and children. Not only did he insist on feeding Lu Yingjiu, but he also wanted to take good care of hairball.

 

A man has to be responsible for his family to be happy!

 

Family happiness starts with eating!

 

And Lu Yingjiu absolutely forbade hairball to eat junk food.

 

He quickly went over, glared at Jing Xian, picked up hairball with one hand, and led Jing Xian to the center of the room with the other.

 

Ye Feng was originally immersed in a bit of sadness, focusing on the ceiling. When he turned his head, he saw Lu Yingjiu’s picture of bringing his family along, and his thoughts were shattered again.

 

He wanted to speak but stopped, stopped and wanted to speak again. After several times, he barely moved his gaze away.

 

With this, he didn’t feel sad at all.

 

In a sense, the effect was immediate.

 

Lu Yingjiu clearly realized that Jing Xian was the best tool person here… or tool ghost.

 

He pulled Jing Xian into the middle of the room and said, “Help me find where the problem is.”

 

Jing Xian’s eyes lit up. “What benefits can I get?”

 

Lu Yingjiu looked at his eyes and knew that he was calculating in his heart. He shook hairball in his hand. “What benefits, you feed it rotten things every day, I haven’t settled the account with you yet.”

 

Jing Xian said, “Then I can’t work for nothing. How about we two…”

 

“No kiss.” Lu Yingjiu interrupted him decisively.

 

But then, he suddenly remembered something.

 

When dealing with the Chen family’s extermination case, he once promised Jing Xian that he would go to the amusement park after the case was over. Later, something happened to Ye Feng, and the amusement park plan was canceled.

 

Lu Yingjiu changed his words and said, “After this case is over, I will go to the amusement park with you.”

 

Jing Xian: “You said that last time.”

 

“This time it’s true.” Lu Yingjiu promised, “–definitely will have a good time.”

 

So Jing Xian’s expression moved slightly.

 

Lu Yingjiu looked at him.

 

There was a saying that when people were familiar with each other to a certain extent, just one look could tell what the other person was thinking. Unfortunately, at this time, Lu Yingjiu suddenly seemed to have opened up the Ren and Du meridians, and he was in sync with Jing Xian.

 

In these few seconds of eye contact, Jing Xian’s eyes kept changing, and Lu Yingjiu understood all his thoughts from it: for example, holding hands on a roller coaster, eating a cotton candy together, visiting a haunted house like shopping, and then kissing on the Ferris wheel…

 

These images are too concrete!

 

Jing Xian’s inner drama, like a flood, rushed into Lu Yingjiu’s mind, leaving him no room to refuse.

 

Lu Yingjiu had a headache and regretted the promise he had made.

 

Sure enough, Jing Xian grabbed his hand and said firmly, “Okay!” Then he looked up at the ceiling. After a second or two, he pointed to a corner, “The Yin Qi there is the thinnest, there should have been some talisman paper.”

 

Lu Yingjiu and Ye Feng went over.

 

Ye Feng moved a table, stepped on it to look, and reached out to touch it. It took a lot of effort to see some clues – as Jing Xian said, there had been talisman paper here.

 

In such a place, it was mostly Ye family’s talisman paper that had been used.

 

He came down again, simply drew five talisman papers and pasted them on the ceiling, faintly forming a strange snake shape.

 

He made a gesture.

 

The talisman paper rose automatically without wind, making a rustling sound.

 

A few seconds later, the ground shook slightly.

 

A dull friction sound came from the end of the room, as if a secret door had been opened.

 

They went over, there was originally a dead end at the end of the corridor, but now there was indeed a new space.

 

A stench hit their faces, pungent and sour.

 

Lu Yingjiu thought: this is probably the “inner room” that Zhang Nianyun talked about.

 

He asked Xiao Li to watch the others outside, and because he was worried about Ah Mei’s condition, he let her follow him.

 

Ye Feng was anxious, and took the lead in going in with a flashlight.

 

As soon as he entered, he hadn’t walked a few steps when the flashlight illuminated the wall next to him.

 

The wall full of cracks was covered with photos.

 

The photos were arranged in chronological order from top to bottom, all of them were group photos of mountain worshippers. The earliest was [December 29, 1965], and then all the way down, until the last time was [November 30, 2002].

 

Ye Feng glanced at it quickly without looking closely.

 

And there was a small monument in front.

 

[June 18, 1995]

 

Ye Qunshan, Ye Fangfang

 

[July 1, 2000]

 

Ji Lan, Chu Qing, Ye Chengyi

 

Deeply mourn and remember the 6 comrades who sacrificed for our nursing home.

 

“These are the victims of the mudslide.” Ah Mei stared at it, pointed to “Ji Lan”, “This is my mother, they actually built a monument for her.”

 

She smiled, with mixed feelings.

 

Ye Feng was eager to know what was hidden in the inner room, and hurried to the depths of the room.

 

The pale light of the flashlight shone forward, but he stopped.

 

This room was very deep, probably more than a hundred meters.

 

At the end of the room was a huge stone tablet.

 

The stone tablet was about 10 meters high, square, and densely engraved with tiny characters.

 

Ye Feng couldn’t understand the characters on it. It didn’t look like human writing, nor like talisman paper. Each stroke seemed to be casually drawn by a person, without any rules. Some characters were extremely elegant, like the authentic works left by calligraphy masters, and some characters were cute and childish, as if they were from the hands of children.

 

But he felt creepy out of nowhere.

 

The stone tablet stood there, quiet and silent.

 

——It’s watching me.

 

Ye Feng’s mind was blank, leaving only this one thought.

 

This stone tablet is watching me.

 

He didn’t know how long he had been standing there.

 

His legs were as heavy as lead and couldn’t move at all, the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and every joint was stuck. He was caught in some huge force, unable to breathe, and drowned in its majesty, mystery, and weirdness.

 

A few seconds? A few minutes? Or has it been hundreds of years?

 

Until there was a weight on his shoulder.

 

Warmth came, and Lu Yingjiu’s voice sounded in his ear. “…What’s wrong with you?”

 

Ye Feng suddenly woke up.

 

He was gasping for breath, greedily craving oxygen. His back was cold, and when he touched it, it was all sweat.

 

Not only him, but also others were abnormal.

 

When Lu Yingjiu looked back, Ah Mei was actually kneeling directly in front of the stone tablet, her head buried deep in the ground, and she dared not raise it.

 

He went over and patted Ah Mei, and she struggled to raise her head like waking up from a dream, her face full of confusion.

 

Lu Yingjiu reached out and pulled her up.

 

He didn’t know what had happened.

 

Seeing that stone tablet, he just felt a bit depressed, and didn’t have too many other feelings.

 

Jing Xian also looked as usual.

 

Ye Feng gasped and asked, “What’s going on? What is this thing?”

 

Lu Yingjiu shook his head and said, “This should be a very ordinary stone tablet for worship. The Zhang family and the Chu family like to do this the most. These two families believe in ‘Heaven’s Way’ the most and believe in the cycle of cause and effect. Many years ago, they engraved many such inscriptions for worship.”

 

When he said this, Ye Feng slowly reacted.

 

After calming down, he took a closer look and indeed felt that the stone tablet was familiar and ordinary, and he no longer felt creepy.

 

He just laughed at himself. “I’m getting worse and worse, I can be scared by this.”

 

Ah Mei also whispered, “Maybe the atmosphere here is really scary…”

 

Lu Yingjiu said, “There are other abnormalities.”

 

He shone the flashlight on the corner of the stone tablet again.

 

There was a skeleton.

 

Bones scattered all over the ground, it was unknown how many years had passed. The skull cast a terrifying shadow by the light.

 

Ah Mei let out a small exclamation.

 

There was something next to the skeleton, and Lu Yingjiu went over to pick it up.

 

A work badge and three notebooks.

 

The paper of the work badge had faded, and many places were unclear.

 

But one could still barely see the “name” column that says “Zhang Nianyun”.

 

This was Zhang Nianyun’s skeleton.

 

No wonder Zhang Nianyun appeared as soon as they arrived here.

 

Ghosts were very averse to others approaching their own bones. They rushed in here and startled Zhang Nianyun.

 

Ye Feng murmured, “How did she end up here?”

 

It’s unthinkable that she was left alone and for the second grandpa not coming to collect her body.

 

Lu Yingjiu sat down on the spot and carefully flipped through the notebook.

 

The pages of the book were almost rotten, and he had to be very careful not to ruin them.

 

He quickly read the contents of the notes and said, “Our previous guess about the satellite map was correct, she knew what Ye Deyong was doing. She wrote here that the Spider Mother is likely to invade the entire mountain range, replace the Li Snake, and occupy Wanming Mountain.”

 

Ye Feng’s eyes lit up, “Did she say how to solve it?”

 

Lu Yingjiu searched for a while, pointed to a line and said, “Burn it with fire. Use the fire of the Li Snake to set fire to the mountain, and it can be cured.”

 

“That’s harsh.” Ye Feng widened his eyes slightly, “Setting fire to the mountain, sitting in jail for a lifetime. As the saying goes, a fire on the mountain, the chief falls in love with me.” (TL: somehow with the same meaning as “you cause fire, prepare to be arrested” but in a nicer way)

 

Lu Yingjiu patted his shoulder, “It seems that the only way for us to get down the mountain safely is this one. Eating prison food alone for a lifetime, saving so many of us, isn’t it worth it?”

 

Ye Feng knew he was joking, and waved his hands repeatedly, “No, no.”

 

Although he was very puzzled about how the second grandmother ended up here.

 

But after all, a way down the mountain was found, and he couldn’t help but feel relieved.

 

Ye Feng bowed respectfully to the skeleton three times, then said, “Let’s go quickly. After burning the Spider Mother and ensuring that those people are safe down the mountain, I will come back with my family and have a good heart-to-heart talk with second grandma to make things clear.”

 

Lu Yingjiu nodded, stood up and said, “There’s no time to lose, let’s go.”

 

He took Ye Feng and walked out, his pace hurried.

 

Ye Feng was originally thinking about how to set fire to the mountain.

 

Being urged by Lu Yingjiu like this, he suddenly felt a little confused: Why is Lu Yingjiu so anxious?

 

Moreover, he always felt something was off.

 

As he was about to reach the door, he stopped and exclaimed, “Something’s not right!”

 

“What’s wrong?” Lu Yingjiu asked, “Let’s go, people are waiting for us outside.”

 

Ye Feng stopped in his tracks and said, “How could my second grandma know about the Spider Mother? This is completely wrong! And her skeleton is intact!”

 

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he was right.

 

He thought the sequence of events was as follows:

 

Zhang Nianyun died, and in order to resurrect her, Ye Deyong spent a lot of effort researching the Spider Mother.

 

He prayed for resurrection with the ashes of the dead, but unexpectedly, the Spider Mother brought back a crazy Zhang Nianyun, and also gained the power to invade the mountains, causing disaster to the nursing home and the entire village.

 

But if this is the sequence, Zhang Nianyun should not know about the Spider Mother, nor should she write such notes.

 

And looking at Zhang Nianyun’s skeleton, there’s no missing arms or legs, all parts are intact, how could there be ashes?

 

Ye Feng said, “Lu Yingjiu, think about it, the whole logic of this thing is wrong, my second grandma only died afterwards. Could it be that my second grandpa resurrected someone else?”

 

When he mentioned this, his first reaction was to look at the monument.

 

“Ye Qunshan, Ye Fangfang, Ji Lan, Chu Qing, Ye Chengyi”

 

He originally wanted to find if there were any other people close to his second grandpa.

 

But those victims of the mudslide, he didn’t recognize their names.

 

However…

 

Ye Feng said, “Aren’t there only five names here, why does the memorial say there are six people?”

 

He squatted down to look at the monument, and sure enough, he found that the inscription after “Ye Chengyi” had signs of wear.

 

A name had been deliberately erased.

 

His eyes lit up and he said, “Ah, I got it, it must be this person! We’ll know if we look at the photo of the mountain worshippers. Hey, say Lu Yingjiu, after so many years, I finally caught you being slow, actually discovered such a big bug on you! If I tell this out, I can brag for a lifetime.” (TL: mountain worship=tomb sweeping; bug here means YD discovered a flaw on LY)

 

Lu Yingjiu remained silent.

 

Ye Feng said, “Everyone makes mistakes, don’t get angry out of embarrassment, this will become the highlight of my life.”

 

He looked up at the photo wall and found the photo from July 1, 2000.

 

There were a total of six people in the photo.

 

The three strangers were Ji Lan, Chu Qing, and Ye Chengyi.

 

And in the front row stood Ye Deyong, Zhang Nianyun, and a not so very tanned Ye Feng.

 

Ye Deyong was alive, and Zhang Nianyun died afterwards.

 

So apart from the three strangers, the only one left was…

 

Ye Feng felt his thoughts freeze.

 

A terrifying chill started from his spine, engulfed his brain, paralyzed the nerves in his limbs, and made him feel like he was falling into an ice cave.

 

For the second time today, his hair stood on end and his teeth chattered.

 

After who knows how long, he turned his stiff neck.

 

Behind him, in the light of the talisman paper fire, Lu Yingjiu stood behind him.

 

The firelight flickered, sometimes bright, sometimes dark, and there wasn’t much expression on Lu Yingjiu’s face.

 

His eyes were filled with sorrow.