The Blade-Wielding Legend

Chapter 1424 733: Jiaozi Charm (Part 2)

The city walls were blasted open like tofu by the Red Barbarian cannons, creating a huge breach, and the soldiers defending the city, clad in the ragged armor of the previous Great Xing dynasty, fell like weeds.

"Heaven's Fire! Buddha's Heaven's Fire has descended!"

"Breach the city! Leave no one alive!"

The rebels' wild howls, the clash of weapons, the neighing of warhorses, the wails of the wounded, the crackling of flames... countless sounds mixed with the scorching currents, forming a destructive storm aiming to tear intruders apart.

The city walls trembled violently, stones falling with a rustle, the entire space filled with the nerve-wracking clamor of war.

Time stretched here, as if they had fallen into the center of this protracted siege, every moment was excruciating.

Another charge, and the two finally left the battlefield.

Absolute silence suddenly descended, almost deafening the two of them.

The blinding sunlight disappeared, replaced by a dead and eerie darkness.

They stood on a street paved with bluestone slabs, flanked by closely lined shops with their doors wide open, the hanging banners motionless in the windless air.

The stalls were filled with a variety of items: porcelain, silk, spices, mountain goods... all sparkling and colorful, yet covered in thick dust, their colors dimmed like old paintings shrouded in gray.

Weirdly, there wasn't a single person on the street.

The silence was terrifying, one could even hear the rustling of dust falling.

The previous bloody smell of battle smoke turned into a thick, greasy mustiness and a faint odor like the rotting stench of countless dead mice piled up.

Behind each shop, behind each door, it seemed as if countless hollow eyes were peeking from the darkness.

The two of them cautiously surveyed their surroundings, feeling their hair stand on end.

The craziness of the previous chaos made the current silence that much more suffocating.

In a short time, they passed through three completely different time-space images, the intense sensory impact and the tearing sensation of time-space displacement made the two who walked out of the bloody storm feel intense dizziness and fatigue deep in their souls.

This was not a simple illusion realm!

Lv San felt a chill in his heart, vaguely understood the reason.

They seemed to be trapped in a powerful time-space vortex.

The Nine Gates connected to different historical fragments left within the Capital, filled with strong obsessions or marks of great disasters, each fragment was an independent time-space prison.

Once trapped inside, they would be firmly absorbed and lost in its specific "rules" and lingering thoughts, exhausting their Divine Soul Power in endless terrifying reincarnations, eventually becoming part of this Yin Ruins.

Disappearing like those drifting shadows that might once have been intruders themselves.

The Mouse Spirit previously mentioned was long gone.

Or perhaps it was part of this eerie Nine Gates Yin Ruins itself.

The two of them gathered their spirits, continuing their search.

Perhaps due to luck, they soon discovered an anomaly.

"Look!"

Wu Ba spoke in a muffled voice, pointing ahead.

Lv San followed his gaze, his expression suddenly tensing.

At the end of the corner street to the left, in the dim light, hung an exceptionally large piece of Paper Money on the door of a dilapidated courtyard!

That Paper Money had an ancient design, hardly a common funerary item, printed with the word "Zhu", surrounded by ink-black rune patterns twisted like ghost claws, the edges carrying scorched marks of burning.

A bone-chilling yin energy crept up their spines from afar.

"The emblem of the Jiaozi Office!"

Lv San's heart sank suddenly.

He was no stranger to this symbol from his previous search for Zhao Qingxu's origins with Li Yan.

The Jiaozi Office of the Great Song, the source of paper currency issuance, but also its downfall due to over-issuance and collapse, was recorded in ancient texts like .

The troublemaker "Yizhou Jiaozi Office Charm" was Zhao Qingxu's past life.

"It's moving!"

Wu Ba suddenly lowered his body, shielding Lv San.

With a creaking sound that set one's teeth on edge, the ajar green brick courtyard door moved by itself, slowly opening inward!

As the door opened, a thick scent, mixed with aged paper ink, sandalwood incense, and rotting wood, rushed toward them.

The scene in the courtyard made their pupils sharply contract.

What desolate courtyard?

It was a grand and solemn ancient hall!

A tall wooden counter spanned before them, the dark wood shimmering dimly, rows of carved cash drawers tightly closed, with ink-stained scales, abacuses, and talisman pens with wet ink still on the counter.

It was clearly a Song Dynasty Jiaozi Office branch, vanished for a thousand years.

However, what truly chilled them to the bone was the scene in the center of the hall.

Kong Shangzhao, Lin Yu, and Kuai Dayou stood with their backs to the entrance, forming a small circle, their postures stiff as marionettes.

Their faces were pale, their eyes hollow and lifeless, and the corners of their mouths bizarrely curled upwards, frozen in a creepy "happy" expression.

Even more horrifying was that at the back of each person was tightly attached a pale, vertical, long piece of Paper Money!

The style of the Paper Money was identical to the one on the lintel.

At this moment, it was silently undulating as if parasitic living entities.

In the hall, air currents surged, and hundreds to thousands of similarly crafted pieces of Paper Money were flying without wind, like a swarm of living white butterflies, densely buzzing, forming a layer of eerie white "curtain."

They gathered and scattered intermittently, tracing cold trajectories in the air.

Every time they swept over the heads of three people, they carried an even heavier scent of sandalwood incense and coldness.

If Li Yan were here, he would realize it was a spell Zhao Qingxu once used, but now it had turned into a certain trap.

"Watch out!" Lv San quickly stopped Wu Ba who wanted to go in.

Yet, the movement below still alerted the ghostly entities inside.

Then, Lin Yu, Kong Shangzhao, and Kuai Dayou, as if pulled by invisible threads, suddenly turned 180 degrees simultaneously!

Their faces remained in that stiff "happy" expression.

Controlled by the Paper Money, they suddenly lunged outward.

Their actions were faster than imagined, completely beyond the speed of living people.

Lin Yu's fat body, surprisingly agilely, crashed towards Wu Ba's fist edge.

Arms hugging together, it was a suicidal fighting style.

Kong Shangzhao somehow drew out a talisman pen coated with vermillion, with its tip exuding an evil, penetrating power, pointing at the flaw under Lv San's ribs.

Kuai Dayou, with fingers adorned with sharp conical sleeves, straightly aimed at Wu Ba's eyes!

The three controlled individuals could actually still use their martial arts.

"Hit the talisman paper behind them!"

Lv San spun around, bypassing the back of Lin Yu.

Wu Ba also opened his palm fan-sized hands, pressing down the frantic Kong Shangzhao and the others.

Rip!

Lv San directly tore away the Paper Money behind Lin Yu, then swiftly advanced, tearing away the Paper Money behind the other two suppressed by Wu Ba.

The moment the Paper Money disappeared, the three stopped, their faces confused.

"Brother Lv...?"

Lin Yu was the first to recover, full of surprise.

After clarifying the reasons, he was suddenly fully embarrassed, "This...thanks a lot Brother Lv, it was our mistake..."

"Enough rubbish!"

Lv San glanced coldly, "How did you break into here?"

"We stumbled in accidentally."

Lin Yu quickly explained: "We luckily evaded the Ancestral Affairs Office, then wandered around. This place was indeed eerie, and we unwittingly ended up here."

"Did you find the Taodu Mountain Wood clue?"

With things now clear, Lv San didn't hold back and directly inquired.

"It's inside!"

Kuai Dayou pointed towards the old money house and spoke: "Behind the account office is the scene of the Nuoshen Temple back then, but a trap was deliberately set, inside must be clues."

"Okay."

Lv San nodded, walked to the door.

His feet danced an eccentric step while patting his own chest, emitting drum-like sounds from his mouth, desolate and heroic, yet with a touch of sadness.

"Why is he dancing suddenly..."

Kuai Dayou frowned, somewhat curious.

Before he finished speaking, Kong Shangzhao covered his mouth and whispered: "This is the Ancient Witch Soul Summoning Technique of Chu Territory, do not disturb."

Upon hearing it, Kuai Dayou became even more puzzled.

Facing this sinister stuff, what use is there in the Soul Summoning Technique?

Before he thought more, his eyes widened.

As seen, the Paper Money fluttered everywhere, each piece turned into a flame and vanished, not even leaving ashes, and the vaguely humanoid shadows also disappeared in the air.

Kong Shangzhao suddenly understood, expression stiff, gritting his teeth:

"How many people did this demon harm after all..."

He had always been unclear, why Li Yan and others pursued Jianmu relentlessly.

But seeing this moment before him, he was completely determined in his heart...