Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 226 - 223: Title: Living Yama!

Chapter 226: Chapter 223: Title: Living Yama!

Hate, the culprit walks free after committing their heinous crime! Hate, corrupt officials protect one another! Hate, in these dark times good people have nowhere to turn!

Hate, scholars are useless and trampled at will! Hate, heaven is blind, and there is no justice in the mortal world!...

Boundless resentment surged over and over in Zeng Wentai’s chest.

In the end, the dense grudge spewed from his seven orifices, forming a pitch-black smoke above the Turbid River that was hardly visible to the common eye.

"Ah——!!!!"

He had transformed into a fearsome fierce ghost with bloody tears flowing from his eyes in just the short time it takes to brew a cup of tea!

Resentful ghosts, evil ghosts, fierce ghosts, the stronger the obsession, the more ferocious they are amongst their peers. A fierce ghost, compared to the ordinary wandering souls, is like a battle-hardened soldier compared to an ordinary farmer.

Even though he had just transformed, he was already more than capable of killing the living.

"Revenge! Revenge!..."

However, when Zeng Wentai raised his ghost hand, now with sharp nails, attempting to break free from the corpse,

He was shocked to discover that his ghost soul was firmly locked within his corpse and could not break free at all.

And in the vision that was so different from mortals after his ghost transformation,

Zeng Wentai clearly saw beneath the "Yunhe Bridge," accumulated thick malevolent energy transformed into countless black and red chains at the bottom of the Turbid River, drifting with the current like water grass.

One of those chains was tightly wrapped around his own corpse, dragging him bit by bit towards a boat-shaped bridge pier.

Zeng Wentai gave a miserable smile.

Only then did he realize why those three beasts left without any care, even though it was not uncommon in this world to turn from human to ghost. Perhaps they already knew the weirdness of this place.

Even after becoming a fierce ghost, he had no chance to return for revenge.

For him, this was a despair far deeper than a complete lack of hope.

This father, who only wanted to avenge his daughter, humbly and futilely reached towards the moonlit surface of the river.

At this moment, how desperately he wished to be saved.

"Heavenly gods and Buddhas, please, open your eyes!"

Then...

There really was a hand reaching down from above the water, firmly grasping his ghost hand, and with a pull, his soul was dragged out from the corpse.

Splash!

When Zeng Wentai came to his senses, he found himself on a small wooden boat.

He looked up to see a valiant youth with dark blue eyes standing before him.

There was also a pretty girl sitting by the edge of the boat, wearing a fiery red dress, from whom a faint silver divine light seemed to emanate.

Zeng Wentai realized he had encountered noble beings and promptly kowtowed on the deck, choking with gratitude as he thanked them:

"I, Zeng Wentai, a humble scholar, thank the two immortals for saving me."

Wang Yuan looked him up and down somewhat surprised:

"Just transformed into a ghost and yet your consciousness remains clear, your thoughts lucid, and even retaining your full memory, that is indeed quite extraordinary."

"Unfortunately, it’s not the true source of the resentment."

In the Ghost Path, unless one is born with an odd Life Chart, harbors deep hatred, grievance, or vengeance, or has arranged corresponding Magic or rituals in life,

otherwise, upon death, one would only become a low-level Wandering Soul, muddled and confused.

This Zeng Wentai, however, without any prior cultivation, managed to maintain a nearly identical clear-mindedness to when he was alive, which was indeed rare.

At that moment, Huang Wu exclaimed,

"Xiao Yuan, quick, look at those bridge piers under the water, there seems to be something!"

The little girl ghost beckoned with her hand, gathering the moonlight from the sky to form a huge round mirror, illuminating the sights beneath the murky river water.

All three looked down together and couldn’t help but take a sharp breath of cold air.

"Yunhe Bridge" had been constructed for a mere fifteen years.

Yet the underwater parts of its forty-four boat-shaped piers had grown three times the size of their initial granite structures.

Aside from the marine life that kept growing on it, more than half of it was... human bones!

The densely packed, innumerable skeletons and marine life growing together on the piers, accumulating thicker and thicker layers, had almost entirely assimilated into solid rock.

Perhaps in other places, a constantly growing reef might be an "Oyster Reef," but here, what was constantly growing was the terrifying "Corpse Skeleton Reef"!

Even more horrifying, within every petrified skeleton, there was a twisted Ghost Soul ceaselessly wailing, numbering in the thousands, if not millions.

They were the actual source of the dense resentment; Zeng Wentai was merely a catalyst.

Seeing this, Wang Yuan suddenly realized and muttered to himself,

"The Dragon-Breaking Gate, the Heart-Piercing Formation, is their essence actually this ’Living Human Stake’?!

When I went out to sea that day to avert my calamity, it was broad daylight, and I failed to notice the oddity of this bridge.

Zhou Wenrui and the Imperial Observatory Bureau truly made a bold move! How ruthlessly efficient!"

Having seen this, he had already understood the operational principle of this vast formation.

All the corpses in the Turbid River that hadn’t been eaten by fish and shrimps flowed downstream, and upon reaching this spot, most were blocked by the formation.

This was especially true for bodies carrying resentment, whose negative energy had not dissipated, and those with great grievances.

After being adhered to the piers by the aquatic life and the chains of negative energy, they would transform into tragic ’Living Human Stakes,’ wailing day and night, unable to find release.

It was clear that it wasn’t just good luck that Wang Yuan and Huang Wu had stumbled upon Zeng Wentai, who had died full of resentment, upon arriving nearby.

But because almost every moment, those who harbored great vengeance, hatred, and grievances were intercepted by "Yunhe Bridge," their bones absorbed to become a part of it.

It was these Corpse Spirits that allowed the "Dragon-Breaking Gate" and "Heart-Piercing Formation" to grow stronger over time.

They even evolved from initially absorbing ready-made corpses to spreading negative energy that muddled people’s minds, luring the "Weird · Double Shadow Bridge" to actively kill.

"The Imperial Observatory Bureau congregates the finest Feng Shui Masters of the entire Great Yan Court; they probably understand the consequences of setting up this scheme here far clearer than what we have witnessed with our own eyes.

Zhou Wenrui, of course, is also fully aware.

Yet the existence of this bridge is tied to the imperial seat of the Emperor of Great Yan, and one could even say it’s linked to the most powerful position among all the nations of the mortal world.

The mere sacrifice of thousands or tens of thousands of commoners is, of course, acceptable.

If a mere seventh-rank County Magistrate can arrogantly call himself Marquis of Hundred Miles, able to command wind and rain, destroying families and households with impunity in his jurisdiction, would an Emperor have less mettle than him?"

Because death is not the end, those corrupt officials and ruffians, after killing someone, found it not so easy to deal with the corpse.

But ever since the "Yunhe Bridge" was built, one only needed to throw the body into the river after a murder, and the bridge would naturally take care of the cleanup, leaving no trace.

There was never any worry that they would climb back up from the water.

In this way, each was an accomplice to the other’s deeds.

At this time.

The gigantic silver mirror once again revolved, resembling the "Evil Mirror Platform" in the Yin Department, revealing the wrongful obsessions of these underwater ghost souls.

[In the city of Shanyang.

An old beggar, half-blind, was viciously thrown out of the city gates by the constables, embodiments of malevolence and brutality, dragging one of his legs behind him.

Behind him, the Magistrate Lord Xia Ying, holding his nose, commanded:

"I, the benevolent official, truly cannot bear the sight of refugees and beggars under my rule. Hurry and drive them all away, I do not want to see them within a hundred miles of here."]

[In Ninghai State.

A man, honest and hard-working, would rise early and stay out late to earn money to feed his family, only to be betrayed by his beautiful wife.

One day, he inadvertently discovered his wife’s affair with a local official, and from their conversation, learned that none of his three children were his own!

In a rage, he confronted them, only to be beaten to death by the official’s paid house servants and his body discarded in the river.]

...

Naturally, the presence of the old Confucian scholar Zeng Wentai at his side.

[In Yunhe County.

A daughter, seen as the apple of his eye, was violated by the sons of three officials, but his pleas for justice were ignored. Instead, he was severely beaten with twenty heavy blows by the County Magistrate, stripping him of half his life.

Barely recovering from his injuries and wishing to seek justice elsewhere, he was intercepted and murdered by those three vile beasts.]

Under the water, there were in total 6,872 resentful and fierce ghosts, each with their own profound grievances.

While their stories are indeed harrowing, they are a true reflection of the struggles faced by the common people at the bottom of society.

The maximum harm an evil creature can do is eat a person, but the ferocity and cruelty of humans harming each other is what truly sends shivers down one’s spine.

The wailing cries of the ghosts, even to those with hearts of stone, could not help but provoke a sense of compassion upon hearing them.

Thinking of his deceased daughter, Zeng Wentai couldn’t hold back anymore; he covered his face with his hands and wept bitterly, old tears flowing freely.

In Wang Yuan’s heart, a quiet flame began to burn. He felt as though he saw himself, his cousin, his concubine aunt... and the shadows of many, many others in these ghosts.

It’s better to be a peaceful dog than a person in chaotic times.

Being born into such a world, if he did not have the "Small Book of Life and Death," wouldn’t he have become one of them?

Then, his cousin would have been used as elixir fodder, Zhou Jinhuan would have been annihilated by the sect, and his concubine aunt would have died miserably in captivity...

Is this what the mortal world should look like?

No! Absolutely not!

At the same time, he had a sudden realization: this was his causality with this land, he himself was the "change"!

So he asked in a low voice:

"Zeng Wentai, do you hate the filthy hearts of people in this world, and the brazenness of the wicked?"

Hearing Wang Yuan’s question, the old scholar’s body could not help but tremble vigorously.

"Do you hate the perilous ways of the world, where good people suffer?"

"Do you hate the injustice of the heavens and earth, where good and evil go unrewarded?!"

Thump!

Hearing this, the old scholar once again fell to the ground, sobbing bitterly:

"I hate! I do hate!"

The underwater ghosts also cried out in unison:

"Hate! Hate! Hate!"

At that moment, Wang Yuan’s voice suddenly became emphatic:

"When hearts are not virtuous, I shall rectify them!"

"When the world is unjust, I shall level it!"

"When heaven and earth fail to recompense, I shall be the avenger!"

"I vow to make the heavenly ways clear, ensuring good and evil receive their due!!!"

Each word was delivered with pause, yet each resonated more firmly than the last, and his aura climbed higher and higher.

The halo of the [Merit Golden Wheel] behind his head grew increasingly brighter, until it seemed that the heavens and earth themselves were resonating with it.

This was a very special cultivation method among cultivators—making a vow!

Perhaps Wang Yuan didn’t have the power to intervene everywhere in Great Yan, and he didn’t have the ability to turn around this dark world.

But he could at least ensure that, wherever his gaze and justice reached, there he would be!

Immediately.

The more than one hundred thousand [Yin Morality] in the "Small Book of Life and Death" instantly burned through half, channeling into the [Merit Golden Wheel].

The [Merit Golden Wheel], which had been upgraded to one hundred and fifty thousand Yin Morality last time to maintain full strength inside Xue Mansion’s family temple, immediately surged to two hundred thousand.

Clang!

A melodious celestial sound rang out.

"The ten directions proclaim the subtle, imperial decree seals the fountain gate, rescuing from the misery of San Tu, away from the Blood Lake Court, souls that sink, and spirits that linger, both men and women rise transcendently..."

In the midst of the solemn scriptures chanted in unison by countless voices, a second halo, reminiscent of a divine Buddha, slowly rippled out.

With this [Merit Golden Wheel] above his head, Wang Yuan likely surpassed ninety percent of human ghosts and Earth Gods in the mortal realm.

At the same time, the prayerful voices from within the [Merit Golden Wheel] also for the first time became extremely clear in Wang Yuan’s ears.

They were the voices of more than a million commoners who revered him.

As Wang Yuan’s firm vow dropped its final word.

The countless voices within the [Merit Golden Wheel] suddenly converged into one.

It seemed as though they had been waiting for this moment for too long, and they eagerly cried out in unison:

—Living Yama! Living Yama! Living Yama!...

Suddenly, the [White Tiger Seal] between Wang Yuan’s eyebrows burst forth with brilliant argent light.

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