After Marrying the Lord of the Underworld

Even in such a critical moment, Lu Yingjiu’s heart was filled with relief.

 

It seemed that hairball was very well-nourished, and its height had suddenly increased, making it majestic and spirited.

 

The servants rushed forward again, their bodies torn apart by sharp claws and tough tails.

 

“Awoo!” The black beast let out a few light roars, tugging at the corner of Lu Yingjiu’s clothes with its teeth. It still wanted Lu Yingjiu to use the contract of inviting gods.

 

Lu Yingjiu was helpless.

 

He originally threw hairball far away because he thought it had no combat power and the target of the Heavenly Way was himself. This way, it could avoid confronting the Heavenly Way and avoid being restricted and punished like Jing Xian.

 

Unexpectedly, hairball underwent a super evolution, becoming handsome and strong, and even have longer legs.

 

He even began to suspect whether the things Jing Xian fed it really had some effect, such as skull heads, weeds, rotten cardboard boxes… In short, it caused some kind of genetic mutation.

 

He held the big wolf head in his hands and said to it, “You don’t get involved in this. I won’t do the inviting gods, and you shouldn’t continue to help me.”

 

The black beast was naturally dissatisfied, shook its head to break free from Lu Yingjiu, and showed its fangs—

 

After all, it was a Tao Tie beast, and the cold light from its fangs was chilling.

 

When cats and dogs prey, the angle of their mouths was at most over a hundred degrees, and snakes, which have the largest opening angle, were only around 130 degrees. However, the black beast’s huge mouth almost opened 180 degrees, biting wildly, swallowing dozens of servants without chewing, and even swallowing the divine weapons into its stomach.

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…”

 

This time it’s really going to have indigestion!

 

The situation became more and more urgent, and he was also on the battlefield, with black blood constantly blooming on the blade in his hand.

 

Lu Yingjiu was afraid that the punishment of Heavenly Way would fall on Jing Xian and hairball, but in fact, they didn’t care. He didn’t have the energy to stop the black beast’s attack, and could only watch it fight with the same cold killing intent and fiery anger as Jing Xian.

 

In this round of melee, he and the black beast fought side by side, and actually forced hundreds of servants to retreat.

 

The talisman paper burned, and the light was dazzling.

 

The claws tore and bit, and the black beast’s long tail flicked, causing the servants to fall into the dark tide one after another.

 

When the battle ended and the last servant disappeared, the eye in the sky turned a circle and slowly closed.

 

The bridge was filthy, with black blood mixed with various limbs, like the scene of a massacre.

 

When Lu Yingjiu walked over the bloodstains, there was a sticky “plop plop” sound under his feet. He didn’t know whether it was blood or broken flesh that made it, which would make any people’s scalp numb.

 

The black beast elegantly licked its front paws, yawned lazily, and looked at Lu Yingjiu with silver-gray eyes.

 

Lu Yingjiu reached out and touched its big head, and said after a long time, “I don’t want you to have an accident.”

 

“Awoo~” The black beast answered.

 

It was saying, it’s okay.

 

Lu Yingjiu had mixed feelings.

 

The coastal bridge’s end still couldn’t be seen, and a man and a beast walked slowly.

 

Lu Yingjiu took out his phone again, confirmed that all communications and positioning were invalid, and it was impossible to use any means of rescue.

 

He looked around, there was not even a reef in the sea, let alone birds and fish. Looking around, there were no living things, only the salty sea breeze blowing on his face—his cheeks were a bit stinging, he didn’t know if it was splashed with black blood, or because of the wind.

 

They seemed to be on an island, with only waves left, even if they called for help, it would be drowned.

 

Bypassing one abandoned car after another, walking past one steel cable falling from the sky after another, Lu Yingjiu almost felt that he would never see the end again.

 

Until he saw the black smoke again.

 

In the middle of the road, a car was slowly burning.

 

Just like Zhang Haokong’s car, it was burned to only a black frame…

 

No, something was wrong.

 

Lu Yingjiu squinted his eyes, the entire frame of this car looked very familiar, whether it was the size, the model, or the still burning trunk, they were all exactly the same.

 

He walked a few steps to the front of the car.

 

Sure enough, there was still a charred corpse in the driver’s seat, and the posture hadn’t changed.

 

This was Zhang Haokong’s car, and the roadside sign still read: “Kangli Bridge, 228KM”

 

They were back again, this was a cycle!

 

The black beast sniffed around the car and barked in one direction.

 

Lu Yingjiu reached under the charred seat and touched something hard. He took it out, and it was that golden pocket watch again.

 

The pocket watch contained a photo, from which Lu Yingjiu had previously found a drawing of a formation.

 

However, this time, there was a heavy object in the middle of the photo.

 

Could it be that the things sandwiched in the photo are different in this cycle?

 

Lu Yingjiu took out a butterfly knife and cut open the photo in the same way as before. A small hard object similar to a USB flash drive fell into his palm, with a button on it.

 

He pressed it, the hard object vibrated slightly, and a few seconds later, a human voice came from it:

 

The sound of waves, wind, and cars driving.

 

Male voice: [I just got on the bridge now, and still have over two hundred kilometers to go.]

 

Female voice: [Hmm, you have to be careful. If there is anything wrong with the formation, you should run away immediately, don’t care about anything.]

 

Formation?

 

Lu Yingjiu frowned slightly. It seemed that Zhang Haokong was indeed planning to activate the formation to the ghost realm while driving, but he encountered an accident on the road.

 

The male voice did not deny it, but laughed twice.

 

The female voice was anxious: [I’m serious! Nothing is more important than your safety!]

 

The male voice said: [The Zhang family has been preparing for the formation for many years. I… I won’t give up until the last moment. We must find a way to the ghost realm. Yaya, if I really have an accident, you should forget me sooner.]

 

Wang Yaya: [You…..]

 

She was angry and spoke quickly: [Not to mention whether this broken formation can work, in the final analysis, you don’t even know if going to the ghost realm is useful? Paying such a big price, what if you can’t avoid Heavenly Way even if you go to the ghost realm? Isn’t it a waste of effort? Is it worth it for you? Who knows where the limit of Heavenly Way’s power is?]

 

Lu Yingjiu was stunned.

 

So the Zhang family wanted to go to the ghost realm to avoid the punishment of Heavenly Way??

 

Zhang Haokong laughed again: [We always have to try.]

 

[I have no regrets in my life, except for the guilt towards you… I should have gone home more often to see our parents. I know they miss me, they have been talking about it for almost five or six years, but I really can’t get away. Yaya, remember, no matter what, I am…]

 

The voice suddenly stopped.

 

Wang Yaya realized something was wrong and asked, [What’s wrong with you? Haokong, why aren’t you talking, what happened?]

 

Zhang Haokong did not answer.

 

In the audio, there was the harsh sound of brakes and the subtle sound of objects breaking through the air—Lu Yingjiu distinguished it, that was the sound of talisman paper cutting through the air.

 

Crash—plop plop!

 

Bang! Bang bang!

 

Ka-chak—!

 

These sounds were very familiar, they were the sounds of divine weapons rubbing against the car body, and the attendants hooking the metal with their claws! It was unknown when they climbed under Zhang Haokong’s car and climbed up one after another!

 

The car was pressed down by the weight, and the chassis almost hit the ground, sparking a string of sparks at high speed.

 

The load of a regular car was between 300-500 kilograms, and these three or four servants were agile, but heavy enough to press the car down. The tires were squeezed to deform, and after a few seconds, there was a loud explosion, and the tire burst!

 

The car’s head tilted and hit the guardrail.

 

Zhang Haokong turned the steering wheel violently, trying to control the skidding car while using the talisman paper, he was overwhelmed.

 

A man’s grunt came from the audio.

 

Sure enough, he was seriously injured.

 

After that, there was a lot of noise, friction, roaring, and the sound of talisman paper burning. Mixed in the chaos was the panicked shouting of a woman on the phone.

 

Everything ended in a loud explosion.

 

The audio played to the end and then there was no sound.

 

After that, it was the scene Lu Yingjiu saw: the car was burning, and Zhang Haokong’s corpse in the driver’s seat.

 

Lu Yingjiu wanted to rewind the recording and listen to it again. But this unknown device had no response, no matter how he fiddled with it, it didn’t make any more sound.

 

Lu Yingjiu put it away and put it together with the talisman paper that had been drawn with the formation.

 

He was just about to let hairball sniff inside the car, when he saw the black beast’s ears move, and it suddenly crouched down and bared its teeth at the edge of the bridge!

 

Lu Yingjiu felt a sense of foreboding. When he turned around, sure enough, another giant eye had opened in the sky!

 

This time, the rotating talismans in its pupil were tinged with red, as if it was filled with rage and greed. The grating sound of friction echoed from the bridge again, and countless servants, drenched in seawater, crawled up.

 

This round, their numbers were even greater, making it quite challenging to deal with them.

 

Even with the strength of the black beast, it would inevitably suffer some minor injuries.

 

This was when the benefits of having thick fur came into play.

 

The young hairball was round and fluffy, its body covered in puffy black fur. If one percent of its fur was given to bald programmers, they would be overjoyed and feel rejuvenated… The large black beast was no different, its fur was thick and soft, absorbing much of the impact.

 

Another round of fighting ended, leaving the ground covered in blood and severed limbs.

 

Both of them were greatly exhausted. The black beast was panting, sticking out its tongue to dissipate heat. Lu Yingjiu reached out, gently smoothing its fur, and used a talisman to lightly brush over its wounds.

 

The talisman couldn’t heal the wounds, but it could alleviate the pain.

 

As he did this, the black beast licked the back of his hand with its tongue. Its tongue had barbs similar to those of a feline, and it felt like sandpaper.

 

Lu Yingjiu laughed, “If you lick any harder, you might scratch my hand.”

 

The black beast responded with a “awoo awoo” and couldn’t help but lick him again.

 

The surroundings quieted down, leaving only the sound of the sea.

 

They continued to move forward, the bright lights of the bridge casting long shadows on the silent cars.

 

About ten minutes later, Lu Yingjiu felt a few drops of coolness on his face. He reached out and touched a few drops of rain.

 

Looking up, countless raindrops fell from the sky, each one seeming to fall directly into his eyes. A gust of wind blew, tilting the rain, and the sound of water droplets hitting the sea surface could be heard.

 

The further they went, the heavier the rain became.

 

The temperature dropped rapidly, and soon Lu Yingjiu was exhaling cold air, which rose white into the air. He was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and his clothes were wet and sticking to his body. He only relied on the talisman to maintain warmth.

 

Lu Yingjiu wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he felt something stirring beneath the sea.

 

However, when he looked down from the bridge, he saw nothing.

 

After walking for nearly ten minutes, the talisman could no longer resist the low temperature. As the wind howled in his ears, Lu Yingjiu’s hands and face began to hurt, followed by numbness. He could hardly feel the coldness of the raindrops anymore.

 

This was a very bad sign.

 

The temperature was still dropping, and rapid body heat loss could be fatal.

 

He bit his finger and used his blood to strengthen the talisman.

 

The talisman suddenly brightened, and a more intense warmth enveloped his body. The black beast automatically stood upwind, using its thick fur to shield him from the cold.

 

They walked for another five or six minutes, and the thick black smoke appeared again.

 

Lu Yingjiu quickened his pace to get there.

 

The car was slowly burning, and the driver’s seat was occupied by a charred person.

 

He had gone through another cycle.

 

The items in Zhang Haokong’s pocket watch were different in the previous two cycles. So he leaned into the car and reached for where the pocket watch had been—

 

He touched nothing.

 

Lu Yingjiu was taken aback and wanted to reach deeper, but his hand was stopped.

 

A charred hand grabbed his wrist.

 

Lu Yingjiu: “…..”

 

His expression remained unchanged as he silently looked up. The charred corpse, or perhaps Zhang Haokong, turned to face him, leaning towards the passenger seat, his hand firmly gripping Lu Yingjiu’s.

 

Without discernible facial features, Lu Yingjiu couldn’t read his expression, but instinctively felt that he was being watched.

 

They were at a standoff.

 

The black beast suddenly bared its teeth, ready to tear the corpse to shreds, but was stopped by Lu Yingjiu: “Wait!”

 

It lowered its body, barely suppressing its killing intent.

 

Zhang Haokong silently held onto him for a while.

 

The cold rain mixed with the chilly wind, blowing over the car frame, caused the charred fragments on him to flutter in the air.

 

Who knew how long after…

 

Zhang Haokong let go of his hand and slowly raised his finger to point in a direction.

 

He was pointing at the edge of the bridge. Lu Yingjiu followed his gaze and saw the pitch-black sea water.

 

“What’s there?” he couldn’t help but ask.

 

Zhang Haokong didn’t answer.

 

His hand fell limply, resting motionless on the seat, turning back into a proper corpse.

 

Lu Yingjiu, following the direction he pointed, returned to the edge of the bridge.

 

A thick fog rose from the sea, and with the darkness of the night, he couldn’t even see the sea surface clearly.

 

He folded a talisman into a paper plane and threw it down. The talisman ignited, illuminating the fog.

 

At first, there was nothing unusual.

 

Until the flame fell, it made a “sizzle” sound, as if it had been directly extinguished.

 

Ordinary rainwater couldn’t extinguish it, but it didn’t seem like it had hit the sea surface either—it indeed suddenly went out in mid-air.

 

Lu Yingjiu squinted his eyes and looked carefully. After a while, he bit his finger again and drew on a blank talisman.

 

This time, he drew an extremely complex pattern. The lines twisted together, gradually forming an abstract lamp.

 

He folded the talisman into a paper airplane and gently threw it into the sea.

 

The paper airplane, carried by the wind, glided lightly through the rainwater.

 

Its illumination range was much larger than the previous flame, illuminating the thick, rolling fog.

 

Sizzle!

 

It went out again.

 

Lu Yingjiu saw it clearly. It didn’t touch the sea, but went out in the fog.

 

Only Yin energy could extinguish the talisman so quickly.

 

That was to say, this endless, tens of kilometers wide black fog was actually all Yin energy!

 

The last time Lu Yingjiu saw a large amount of Yin energy was during the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade. And now… now it’s probably a hundred times worse than that!

 

Was there something hidden under this fog?

 

The black beast rubbed against him and growled at the fog, as if trying to tell him something. It lowered its head and gently bit a piece of paper.

 

It was the array to the ghost realm that Lu Yingjiu had kept with him.

 

The rain quickly soaked the paper, and the wind made it flap violently.

 

He took back the paper and looked at the black fog again. Suddenly, he felt a connection with the black beast and understood its meaning—

 

He also folded the paper into a paper airplane and gently threw it out.

 

The paper ignited with a bright light.

 

The fog dispersed.

 

The black fog dissipated, leaving only a thin layer floating in mid-air. And above it…

 

Lu Yingjiu’s breath hitched, above it were layers upon layers of ghost faces!

 

Countless ghosts were surging, their faces distorted, some with the heads of bulls and horses, some with green faces and sharp fangs, their bodies either hunched or as tall as mountains… They stretched out their strange hands to scratch in the air, howling silently, as if they were about to surge out and wreak havoc in the world of the living at any moment.

 

As far as he could see, the sea was endless, and so were the ghosts, like a scroll of hell.

 

Lu Yingjiu was only surprised for half a second before he composed himself.

 

The previous Hundred Ghosts Night Parade didn’t have this kind of momentum, it was as if someone had directly overturned the home of the ghosts, then threw out flesh and blood, causing a frenzy among the ghosts.

 

Or rather, this should be a scene that only belonged to the ghost realm.

 

He took another careful look at the ghosts on the sea and thought for a few seconds.

 

Zhang Haokong gave this hint, and he himself died on the way to set up the array.

 

—What was the array for?

 

It was used by the Zhang family to evade the Heavenly Way and open the ghost realm.

 

In other words, the terrifying scene in front of him was likely to be the ghost realm.

 

Under this bridge was the entrance to the ghost realm!

Could it be that Zhang Haokong meant that the only way to survive is to go to the ghost realm?

 

Jumping into the nest of thousands of ghosts is the only way out at this moment?

 

But for the living to enter the ghost realm, it’s certain death.

 

Lu Yingjiu’s thoughts were somewhat chaotic.

 

Anyone at this moment would be unable to sort out their logic and conjectures.

 

He didn’t have much time to think. On the horizon, the giant eye opened again. The black beast roared, showing its teeth, and the sound of climbing came from both sides of the bridge. The servants were back.

 

This time, there were even more of them.

 

One by one, talismans were ignited, bursting into light.

 

The black beast’s claws tore through bodies, and the rain soaked the broken flesh.

 

By the end of this round of battle, Lu Yingjiu was panting heavily, his heart pounding like a war drum.

 

His fighting moves were still beautiful, still flawless, textbook-level in dealing with all the servants. If it were anyone else, they would probably have died in the first round of attack – or rather, only he could have made it this far without getting hurt.

 

But he couldn’t stand the dropping temperature.

 

Nor could he stand the physical exhaustion.

 

After all, he was a mortal. He couldn’t fight endlessly like a ghost. Not to mention the psychological pressure brought by the situation, just the several hours of trekking on the bridge, the gale and zero-degree temperature, plus three rounds of outnumbered battles, were already too much beyond the limit.

 

The black beast rubbed against him worriedly.

 

Lu Yingjiu patted it. “I’m fine.”

 

As they moved forward, they never saw Zhang Haokong’s car again.

 

After guiding Lu Yingjiu to find the ghost realm under the bridge, Zhang Haokong seemed to have completed some kind of task and never appeared again.

 

But the road he guided was a dead end. There was no hope.

 

The frequency of the servants’ appearance was getting faster and faster.

 

From half an hour at the beginning, to a quarter of an hour, and finally only five minutes apart.

 

Lu Yingjiu was forced to do inviting the god, and a powerful force surged around him.

 

His senses were enhanced, the falling raindrops slowed down, the splashing blood slowed down, and even the sparks from the weapons, he could see clearly.

 

Suffering from the backlash of inviting the gods, his eyes were filled with silver light, and bloody horns grew on his forehead. He crushed the servants’ heads with his bare hands, and easily crushed their bones, kicking them away like trash.

 

The blade spun in his hand, bursting into a faint light that cut through the rain and the enemy’s throat.

 

The terrifying servants in front of them were no match, they were almost effortlessly defeated.

 

But the servants could fail hundreds, thousands of times, while Lu Yingjiu only needed one mistake, and it would be irreparable.

 

Lu Yingjiu didn’t know how long he had been fighting.

 

He only remembered that the blood had covered the entire road, mixed with the rain, reaching three or four centimeters high, reflecting under the street lights, staining his shoes red.

 

The servants fell in piles, their bodies disappearing.

 

If their bodies were still there, they would probably pile up higher than any garbage heap.

 

The cycle was endless.

 

He stayed in place, and the servants kept coming.

 

He continued forward, and the servants pursued relentlessly.

 

Round after round, there was no chance to catch a breath.

 

In the end, both he and the black beast were covered in wounds, mixed with blood from who knows where.

 

The black beast was panting.

 

It was limping, its left paw had been cut by a blade, leaving only the bare white bone exposed – like all ghosts, its wounds would heal, but at this moment it was also reaching its limit.

 

It gently rubbed against Lu Yingjiu with its big head, making a whimpering sound.

 

Lu Yingjiu’s hand was trembling from exertion, but he still stroked its head and comforted it, “It’s okay.”

 

He paused, wanting to say “We’ll be okay.”

 

But the words turned at his lips, and he said, “You’ll be okay.”

 

Crack! Crack!

 

Another round of attack.

 

One by one, faces peered out from the edge of the bridge, laughing maniacally. The giant eye in the sky turned, filled with cold satisfaction.

 

Lu Yingjiu scanned his surroundings.

 

The number of servants this time should be the most, even the weapons in their hands were shining with an unusual light.

 

He didn’t feel fear.

 

On the contrary, his heart was extremely calm, just indifferently watching the enemy. Blood flowed down his face, he casually wiped it with the back of his hand, feeling the shiver brought by the low temperature.

 

Even at this time, his brain was still working rationally, methodically analyzing all the details, taking in the enemy’s movements.

 

His analysis was never wrong.

 

So at this moment, he very rationally, very calmly judged –

 

He was going to die here.