I Went Crazy Killing in the World of Gods and Demons - Chapter 49

Chapter 49

In her field of vision, the drooping canopy of the locust tree was also shrouded in a crimson shadow. Against the pitch-black, profound night sky, it cast an eerie and haunting silhouette.

Though the Red Veil hanging before her eyes still obscured her sight, and her feet clad in Embroidered Shoes throbbed with a piercing pain, in this place, she was not the one who needed to worry.

The Red Wedding Dress followed closely behind, drifting silently to land before Xie Qingling.

Locust trees gathered Yin energy, and the area was saturated with it, often revealing the true forms of things not usually seen.

Xie Qingling saw a pair of feet wearing Three-Inch Golden Lotus Embroidered Shoes land on the small lawn in front of the low factory building.

The feet merely floated over the grass without truly touching down.

The Red Wedding Dress hovered stiffly in mid-air, its crimson robes hanging down, the hem fluttering in the night breeze like a blooming red lotus, slowly unfurling.

It no longer wore the Red Veil, yet Xie Qingling still couldn’t clearly see its face. Its head was bowed low, with long black hair cascading down both cheeks, covering most of its features.

The dense hair reached all the way to its ankles, like a tangled mess of withered grass, chaotically draped over its head. At that moment, the long hair showed signs of continuing to grow, like wild grass flourishing unchecked in desolate fields.

The hair crept along the ground like little snakes, slithering and crawling toward Xie Qingling.

A “swish, swish, swish” sound arose as the green blades of grass were licked by the hair, immediately corroded black by the Yin energy of the River of Forgetfulness Water clinging to the strands, losing their vitality and rapidly withering.

The hair drew closer and closer to Xie Qingling, soon reaching her feet and deftly coiling around her ankles.

When the gongs sounded and the suonas urged departure, it would take Xie Qingling’s feet and head.

Just then, a faint, ethereal song drifted in from afar, now near, now distant. The melody was hauntingly eerie, trembling with an unearthly quality it was the Red Wedding Dress’s own voice:

“Drinking from the same well, walking the same stone path;

In the same village for eighteen years, growing up playing together.

Sitting on the same bench by day, sharing the same oil lamp by night;

Spinning hemp from the same basket, grinding grain at the same mill…”

In the blink of an eye, the Red Wedding Dress arrived with the song.

Its hair snaked around Xie Qingling’s back and coiled around her neck.

The next moment, a face suddenly appeared before Xie Qingling.

The Red Wedding Dress pressed nearly face-to-face against her, abruptly entwining itself. Its cheek pressed against Xie Qingling’s, and through the strands of black hair hanging beside its face, Xie Qingling caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes pupils pitch-black, devoid of any white.

Those Yin-chilled eyes fixed on Xie Qingling, as if a hand had seized the nape of her fate.

Everything was ready.

With just a slight exertion from the Red Wedding Dress, it could take Xie Qingling’s feet and head as intended, ending tonight’s pursuit.

But…

At this moment of reaping the spoils of victory, the Red Wedding Dress suddenly realized that even though its hair had already ensnared Xie Qingling’s body, it remained powerless against her.

Its hair seemed to no longer obey its commands.

An invisible, formidable force appeared to be thwarting it all.

In the pitch-black eyes of the Red Wedding Dress, a trace of what could be called bewilderment appeared.

At that moment, Xie Qingling smiled.

She revealed a brilliant smile, but to a ghost, this smile was more terrifying than a Fierce Ghost.

“General Jin, General Yin,” Xie Qingling called out clearly, “I’ve brought you some merits to earn!”

“I request the two of you to quickly take your positions and capture this Fierce Ghost!”

In an instant, the crown of the locust tree behind Xie Qingling moved without any wind.

The short grass on the ground suddenly bent over to one side, bowing without any breeze.

Something had descended.

Xie Qingling couldn’t see them, but she could feel that the hair of the Red Wedding Dress wrapped around her neck and ankles was trembling in fear, wanting to escape.

Soon, a high-pitched, sharp, and miserable scream erupted from the Red Wedding Dress, as if it was suffering immense pain and torment. Xie Qingling quickly covered her ears to block out the sudden cry.

It was violently dragged backward by an immense force, the Embroidered Shoes scraping against the ground. Its body, which had solidified considerably with Yin energy, suddenly became ethereal and floating like a wisp of gas.

Xie Qingling could faintly see that a shackle had been clamped around the Red Wedding Dress’s neck.

The mournful cries of the Red Wedding Dress still echoed all around.

With her ears, Xie Qingling “witnessed” this long-overdue trial and pursuit.

[Rewarding good and punishing evil, the divine officials are absent. Jin Jia Yin Suo do not know where to find the judge who decides life, death, and reincarnation, nor can they allow the Red Wedding Dress to continue wreaking havoc in the mortal world. Righteously indignant, Jin Jia Yin Suo decided to carry out a trial on behalf of the Punishment Department.]

[There was a graceful maiden in a household, married at twenty. A clash of red and white sinister energies caused her death on the wedding procession. Her vengeful spirit preyed on passersby, killing all who saw her. She wandered alone by the River of Forgetfulness, roaming freely for eighty years.]

[Jin Jia Yin Suo pronounced the death sentence on the Red Wedding Dress. They used the Soul Extraction Whip to end the pitiful and hateful ghostly existence of the Red Wedding Dress.]

Beside her ear, the Red Wedding Dress’s piercing cries abruptly ceased.

Xie Qingling tentatively lowered her hands.

The world around her returned to silence.

The cold that made her feel as if she had returned to the depths of winter was gone, as was the clinging, Yin-chilled gaze. The Yin energy within her dissipated, gradually warming her, and Xie Qingling felt she had returned to the world of the living.

It was over.

No matter how fierce a ghost was, before Jin Jia Yin Suo, it was nothing but a weakling hopping about.

Capturing Fierce Ghosts these two were professionals.

From the moment they struck to the moment of destruction, it took only the blink of an eye.

However, Xie Qingling’s feet still ached, and her vision remained tinged with crimson.

Although the Red Wedding Dress was dead, the crisis didn’t seem entirely resolved.

The curse it had placed on Xie Qingling remained.

Even though the Red Wedding Dress could no longer claim Xie Qingling’s life, the Three-Inch Golden Lilies on her feet and the Red Veil over her head still hindered her normal movement and vision.

She needed to find a way to remove these two troublesome things.

At that moment, Xie Qingling’s earpiece had restored its normal communication function. Just as she was about to activate it to seek help from other department members, her vision suddenly blurred. A moment later, her sight returned to normal.

Even the Three-Inch Golden Lilies on her feet, which had been troubling her, no longer tightly bound her toes.

Had the curse been lifted?

Xie Qingling froze, not quite understanding what had happened.

Could it be that after a ghost’s death, the traps it had set earlier would also become ineffective?

[Jin Jia Yin Suo have concluded their judgment of the Fierce Ghost. They put away the Soul Extraction Whip and turned their gaze toward you. Kind passerby, they still remember you. To express gratitude for showing them the way, the two Generals have decided to lend you a hand.]

[General Jin reached out and lifted the Red Veil from your head. General Yin bent down and removed the Three-Inch Golden Lotus Embroidered Shoes from your feet. They placed the items belonging to the Red Wedding Dress before you – you may decide their fate as you wish.]

In her field of vision appeared a neatly folded Red Veil embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in water.

Beside it lay a pair of Three-Inch Golden Lotus Embroidered Shoes adorned with golden tassels.

These were now her spoils of war.

Xie Qingling collected the Red Veil and the Embroidered Shoes.

[The two items from the Red Wedding Dress, having received the blessing of Jin Jia Yin Suo, have become fundamentally different from their former selves.]

[Lotus blooms with every step, swaying with graceful charm. These Three-Inch Golden Lotus Embroidered Shoes, handmade by a mother, embody profound maternal love and expectation. Yet for the wearer, they represent a terrifying curse. Once worn, they will rob the wearer of mobility, turning them into a flower rooted in place, meant only to be admired.]

[Mandarin ducks frolic in water, symbolizing eternal marital bliss. This Red Veil, personally embroidered by the Red Wedding Dress, is covered with stitches representing its hopes and dreams for the future. Yet this crimson veil blocks vision and covers dark eyes. Wearing it will deprive the wearer of sight, plunging them into darkness. Unless a kind bridegroom lifts this veil, the wearer will remain perpetually blind.]

So these were two cursed items with negative effects.

Their effects sounded quite useful in combat.

If an opponent lost both mobility and vision during battle, they’d essentially become meat on the chopping block.

Delighted, Xie Qingling wrapped up both items and hung them at her waist.

“General Jin, General Yin, thank you both for your help tonight.” Xie Qingling spoke toward the empty space beneath the locust tree.

After conversing with thin air, Xie Qingling decided to leave this place.

It was already early morning, very late, and Xie Qingling was exhausted.

Walking back from here was clearly impractical. Even using the Swift Ghost for travel wouldn’t be enough to cover the great distance from here back to the office.

So Xie Qingling decided to seek help from other department members.

She activated her earpiece, and the call connected immediately. All department members were present – clearly they had been in a meeting before Xie Qingling joined the channel.

When Xie Qingling’s connection sound was heard, silence fell over the comms for a moment before Ling Fang’s furious voice erupted: “Xie Qingling?! Are you fucking alive?!”

“…Still alive. I’m at the City God Temple.” Having never heard Ling Fang sound so enraged before, Xie Qingling replied softly, “The Red Wedding Dress is dead. I’m the great contributor now.”

Cautious, but not intimidated.

Surely he wouldn’t curse her out at a time like this… right?

“Good, very good.” Ling Fang’s voice carried a complex mix of emotions both the relief of a burden lifted and gritted-teeth frustration. “All of you, go bring her back to me.”

“Right now, immediately, bring her before me.”

A chorus of “Received” echoed uniformly through the earpiece.

After a moment of waiting, Dai Xingyu suddenly asked, “But Chief, what about you? Where are you?”

That’s right after Ling Fang took Xie Qingling out, he had disappeared too.

After a brief silence, Ling Fang said, “Old Yu, come find me at the overpass.”

He then added, “Just you alone is enough.”

Yu Wei responded, “Received.”

After cutting off the communication, Ling Fang let out a heavy, turbid breath, feeling as though his heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys had all been trampled on. In short, he was seething with anxiety and fury close to being driven mad with anger.

Dragging his cursed, paralyzed lower half a consequence of using the Wooden Eagle he struggled to crawl across the ground, trying to put more distance between himself and the occasional passing traffic.

Just then, Ling Fang heard a “clink” as someone tossed two coins in front of him.

“Poor soul,” a passerby remarked. “It’s been a long time since Future City has seen a disabled beggar.”