Volume 2: Ren Ping Sheng Chapter 35: Hooking the Soul

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  That night, Chen Jianchen had a worry and lay in bed early to think, without his usual practice of the "Three Character Classic".

  Nie Xiaoqian has also appeared...

  Isn't the world we are living in today a strange and weird world?

  Or maybe it's just an absurd proximity surface.

  In his view, Liaozhai was originally composed of small stories that were strange and wonderful, very fragmented, with no main thread to link them together, nor a complete worldview or rules.

  "Let us just say it and listen to it, the bean shed and melon trellis are like silk in the rain; I suppose one should be disgusted with human words, but love listening to ghosts singing poems in autumn graves."

  It's roughly like this.

  However, the world he is currently in is quite different. Although there are also various ghosts and demons, they have many differences from the original work and cannot be matched one-to-one.

  Forget it, since we're already here, let's just accept the world as it is. It's an objective fact that can't be changed; what can be changed is ourselves, and all we can do is keep improving our adaptability.

  Only in this way can we live well in this different time and space.

  No matter where you are, life has never been an easy thing, especially now. A slight mistake may lead to a situation from which there is no return...

  A dark wind arose, and two dark spirits suddenly appeared before his eyes. One had the head of a cow and human hands, with feet shaped like hooves, its entire body rippling with muscles, extremely robust, holding in hand a steel spear that shone with a cold light; the other had the head of a horse and a human body, grasping in hand a thick iron chain, its appearance extremely ugly.

  It's exactly like the typical ox-headed horse-faced appearance.

  "Hark! The ox-head pointed at Chen Jiaming and shouted: 'You dare to offend the Yinsi, Chen Jiaming, a scholar of great audacity! We have been sent by the City God of Jiangzhou to take your soul away for punishment, as a warning to others!'"

  The horse shook its mane and the iron chain rattled, saying: "Scholar, don't struggle, it's futile to suffer more." Then he was about to put the iron chain around Chen Jianchen's neck.

  Chen Jianchen was shocked and angry: "Evil spirits and little ghosts, how dare you be so presumptuous?"

  The bull-headed man, seeing that he was not willing to surrender, immediately pounced on him, stretched out his big hand, and forcibly pressed down Chen Jian's head. The horse-faced man's hands and feet were quick, and with a flick of the chain, he had already tied him up.

  Chen Jianchen was unable to break free.

  In the "Three Orthodox Chapters", it is said that those who cultivate Confucianism should have no ghosts or gods in their hearts, do not believe, do not worship, and are not afraid. This is the orthodox way. However, Chen Jianchen's cultivation has not reached home due to his shallow days, and he hasn't even condensed a single thread of righteous energy yet. Although it was easier for him to achieve non-belief and non-worship due to his identity, when he suddenly saw the ferocious appearance of ghosts and gods, he couldn't help but feel some fear.

  When this happens, a person's energy weakens slightly, their blood and vital energy become disordered, and they will be oppressed by evil spirits.

  It all boils down to a lack of real power.

  Without real power, whether speaking or acting, one is naturally inferior to others, let alone being timid in front of ghosts and gods.

  But Chen Jianchen was a man with a heroic and unconventional temperament, not the kind of person who would submit to circumstances. In the mortal world, he had no choice but to bow his head and be a good citizen, but he never expected that just because he accidentally broke a clay statue's head, he would be repeatedly scolded and rebuked by the underworld authorities, and even have his soul summoned for punishment. This was truly infuriating, and while Uncle could tolerate it, Auntie couldn't.

  "Ah!"

  He suddenly opened his eyes wide and let out a loud roar like thunder in spring.

  The ox-headed horse-faced creature had captured Chen Jianchen's soul, and just as he was about to walk out, he suddenly heard this shout, and couldn't help but be greatly shocked. Before he could even react, a white light flashed before his eyes, shining brightly like the sun, scorching his entire body with pain.

  They were shocked and saw that wrapped in a faint white light was a black pen, extremely large in shape, just like the legendary giant pen.

  "This is..."

  The ox-headed and horse-faced men's faces all turned green: "Could it be that this is that pen..."

  In an instant, the two were frightened out of their wits, their faces pale with fear, and they dropped the steel fork and iron chain in their hands and rushed to escape.

  A huge brush stroke swept through the void, swift and unparalleled, with a white light flashing down like lightning.

  "Ah!"

  The mournful cries of the ox-headed and horse-faced demons rose up, their two massive bodies had been smashed to smithereens, vanishing without a trace.

  With a stroke, the big pen trembled all over, as if it had exhausted its energy, and its body rapidly shrunk back to its original size, then disappeared with a whoosh.

  Chen Jianchen suddenly woke up, opened his eyes, and saw that the oil lamp on the table had gone out, the room was pitch black, and he couldn't see his fingers when he stretched out his hand. His sleepiness completely disappeared, and his heart was filled with shock and anger:

  What a dark and sinister place! It's really outrageous. One day, when I've cultivated my righteous energy to perfection, I'll definitely go and storm the eighteen layers of hell to see what it's like!

  Chen Jianchen suddenly thought of Sun Dasheng in Journey to the West, who was unknowingly lured into hell while sleeping and dreaming. With a fiery temper that soared three thousand feet, he even dared to hit King Yanluo, finally turning the underworld upside down and making it unrecognizable. Unfortunately, his current self was only a weak and poor scholar, without such earth-shattering abilities.

  Must quickly cultivate positive energy...

  He secretly made up his mind, looking at the evil pen's appearance, it wasn't always able to appear and rescue him, once its energy was exhausted, it would sink into silence and could no longer be used.

  An outsider is always an outsider after all.

  ……

  Jiangzhou, Chenghuang Temple.

  That faint voice was echoing, but it was the horse face who had escaped and returned to cry: "Lord Cheng Huang, that scholar is really too cruel, with one stroke of his brush he tore apart our dark spirits, poor Niu Tou couldn't escape in time, his soul has flown away and his name has been erased from the register of life and death!"

  "What? That bookworm actually has such skills?"

  The city god was greatly shocked.

  "Marshal City God, you must take charge for me!" Ma Mian begged sorrowfully.

  "Tell me in detail about what happened!"

  At that time, Ma Mian cried and began to speak one after another, inevitably adding oil and vinegar, and adding fuel to the fire. From this, it can be seen that so-called ghosts and gods are also existences similar to ordinary people, with a small abacus and a curved path, not missing a single one.

  "Hmph, it's impossible that it was that pen. If it really were that pen, how could you have escaped back here? Not to mention you, even if I, Ben Da Ren, had encountered it, we would only have been reduced to ashes... Moreover, considering he is just a weak and bookish scholar, what abilities does he possess to obtain that pen? My guess is that perhaps this scholar accidentally cultivated a thread of righteous energy while studying and cultivating his character, resulting in the pen having righteous energy. Such things are extremely rare, but not unheard of."

  "What should we do then?"

  Cheng Huang hesitated for a moment: "I will report this matter to the Yin Division, and let the superior decide... You go and receive fifteen yin de, and retreat."

  "Thank you for your reward!"

  Ma Mian happily left.

  "Is this a sign of justice? It seems that such a thing has not happened in many years. This is no trivial matter, I must report it to the judge immediately..."

  Muttering to himself, he eventually dissolved into the vast darkness.