Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 374: North Sea (Part 374)
"It is a ghost born from the resentment and despair of the people in this village. It has been haunting this village for a long time."

"Condensed resentment?"

Lin Beixuan's expression gradually became serious: "You mean, it's not a single individual, but a collection?"

"Uh……"

Ge Hong had obviously never heard of the terms individual and collective, and his words froze subconsciously, and it took him a long time to understand.

"It can be said that this resentment gathered the despair in the hearts of hundreds of people in the entire dilapidated village. On the day of disaster, it finally broke free and turned into a hungry ghost and came into the world."

"So it was it that killed the people in this village?"

"It didn't touch anyone in this village." Ge Hong said slowly: "This village is where the first cannibalism incident occurred in Luozhou."

"The earth veins were destroyed, and natural disasters followed. The first to bear the brunt were the most impoverished people in Luozhou."

"Although the ruined village looks very wealthy to outsiders, almost all of the wealth here is concentrated in the hands of the Wang family."

"I discovered these things when I came here specifically to investigate the source of the starving ghosts."

Having said this, Ge Hong's expression suddenly became somewhat fierce.

"After some investigation, I found out that the Wang family had colluded with the government for more than a decade and used various means to seize the land around the dilapidated village.

Originally, this incident alone was enough to sentence him to death, but he actually used it as a threat to force the farmers in the poor village to work for him, and agreed that as long as each family worked for him for 50 years, he would return their land.

"This man deserves to die!" Lin Beixuan's emotions were also a little fluctuating, with a cold light flashing in his eyes.

Perhaps this matter sounds incredible to many people. Why could an entire dilapidated village of 200 people be threatened by just one family, the Wang family?

But many things cannot be viewed one-sidedly. There are those who take the lead and want to fight for the land back, and naturally there are also those who are timid and afraid of the power of the Wang family.

Driven by the separation of the two ideas, more people tend to choose to live in peace.

In ancient times, the poor people who worked in the fields for a living did not understand any principles at all. In their naive worldview, the county magistrate was already a very high-ranking official who could basically decide their life or death easily.

This is also why there is a saying that a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake, because in most places, even if you are born into a noble family, you still have to keep a low profile when you are in other people's territory.

"It was in such an environment that the people of the ruined village, full of resentment, worked for the Wang family in the ruined village for more than ten years."

"They have lived an extremely difficult life over the past decade or so. They have neither enough to eat nor starve to death, and they have to work long hours every day in order to have a hope of getting their land back."

"These despair and resentment have accumulated for more than ten years, and finally erupted some time after the natural disaster!"

"When people start dying of starvation around you, people with resentment will focus their attention on the culprit who caused this scene."

Lin Beixuan silently listened to Ge Hong's story about the ruined village. He asked coldly, "Did the villagers kill the Wang family in the end?"

"They didn't kill them." Ge Hong shook his head: "They ate them!"

"After they entered the Wang family's house, they did not look for the food stored by the Wang family. Instead, they bit everyone they saw and ate up everything in the Wang family's mansion."

"At this time, they have gone crazy. The resentment and despair that have been accumulating for a long time have broken out at this time, radiating to the entire Luozhou with the ruined village as the center."

Ge Honglin Beixuan and the others had arrived at the gate of the Wang family mansion without knowing when. This house was larger than the Ruan family's house in Huangshi Village, and the gate was even more magnificent.

"right here."

Ge Hong sighed and looked at the gilded plaque in front of the door, and exclaimed in admiration: "Even the plaque of the Ling family in Luozhou Prefecture is not as magnificent as his!"

Just as the two stepped onto the stone steps in front of the palace, the environment of the entire dilapidated village changed instantly.

The sun in the sky set rapidly in the west at a strange speed, and then rose again quickly. This continued for several days and nights, and the flow of time accelerated before Lin Beixuan's eyes.

Seeing this astonishing change, Lin Beixuan's eyes showed vigilance.

"This illusion created by past scenes can actually manipulate time!"

"Heh... this is nothing strange, because this village is the memory of that hungry ghost."

Ge Hong hit the key point in one sentence.

"You said this is the memory of the Xuanhuang hungry ghost?!" Lin Beixuan was shocked. He had thought about many origins of this illusion, but he did not expect that it was composed of the memory of the Xuanhuang hungry ghost.

No wonder after he saw through his memory, the Xuanhuang Hungry Ghost attacked him directly, and after he returned to the illusion itself, the opponent's attack stopped.

Lin Beixuan recalled that he once saw the Xuanhuang hungry ghost from afar through the right eye of the Kuhe God. The other party was sitting at the edge of the dilapidated village, staring at the scene of the dilapidated village without blinking.

"Even killing its outer barrier clone cannot make it leave the vicinity of the ruined village."

"Presumably, the memory here must be very important to it."

Hearing Lin Beixuan's soft words, Ge Hong's face showed a hint of shock.

In his eyes, it seemed that it was not difficult for Lin Beixuan to kill the clone of Xuanhuang Hungry Ghost.

Ge Hong calmed his mind and took a long breath: "The ruined village is the place where it was born, so its importance goes without saying."

"Isn't that why you're here?"

After regaining consciousness, Ge Hong was no longer as crazy as before, but his memories of his madness had not disappeared.

However, when he saw the expression on Lin Beixuan's face, he was stunned.

"What do you mean? Didn't you enter this village to find a way to solve it?" Ge Hong pointed at Lin Beixuan with an incredible look.

Lin Beixuan shook his head: "I wanted to get rid of it, but I didn't come here on my own initiative. It cast a spell and forcibly teleported me to its side. It was going to kill me, but due to some special reasons, its position shifted and it happened to enter this village."

Ge Hong nodded thoughtfully: "But with your strength, even if it teleports you to its side, it should not be able to do anything to you. After all, its strength has barely entered the level of secular gods."

Ge Hong stroked the short, stiff goatee on his chin and spoke slowly.

"It's slightly stronger than me. Now that I've regained my lucidity, with the combined strength of the two of us, it shouldn't be difficult to deal with it.

By getting rid of this starving ghost, I have done what I can, and if I die later, the karma I carry will be somewhat alleviated."

After hearing his words, a sneer suddenly appeared on Lin Beixuan's lips.

"Just barely stepping into the level of secular gods..."

"Old man, have you stayed in this illusion for too long? You don't know how much time has passed in the outside world!"

Ge Hong frowned when he heard this. He had never thought about this question.

Lin Beixuan held up three fingers: "Three years have passed in the outside world."

"In the past three years, the hungry ghost you mentioned has swept across the entire Luozhou, eating up all the resources in Luozhou, which was originally abundant, and completely turning it into a ghost town."

"Even with this, you still think its strength is just barely at the level of a secular god?"

Ge Hong's pupils shrank, and he denied it in a lost voice: "How is it possible? Don't the secular gods in Luozhou care?"

“I did, but it was useless.”

Lin Beixuan directly explained the current situation of Luozhou, including the fact that successive dynasties had abandoned Luozhou, only one in ten of its people were left alive, and that a number of Luozhou's secular gods had been sealed and killed or injured.

"How could this happen!" Ge Hong opened his mouth in disbelief, unable to face the news.

Although he guessed that the Xuanhuang hungry ghost would have some impact on Luozhou, he did not expect it to be so serious.

He originally came here to find the root cause of the Xuanhuang hungry ghost and to get rid of him, but he didn't expect that he would be cast a spell by the other party and he fell into his own obsession.

"Three years have passed. What level of strength has it reached now?" Ge Hong's voice trembled a little. It was obvious that he had anticipated the worst outcome.

"I haven't actually fought it, but from the information I've learned from various channels, its strength may be comparable to that of the Great God..."

"Great vulgar god!"

"How come it has grown so fast in just three years?"

Ge Hong's voice was full of shock and confusion.

He could never imagine that in just a few short years, the hungry ghost, who had once been at the highest level of a secular god, could have reached such a terrifying level.

There are only more than twenty great gods recorded in the literature throughout the vast territory of all dynasties, and this includes the dynasties of the previous dynasties and even more distant periods.

Lin Beixuan's eyes were cold, and he said, "The imperial court has given up Luozhou, but they have not given up on the people who once lived here."

"In addition to the harsh environment in Luozhou, the biggest impact is the starving ghosts wandering in the wilderness."

"They are not like ordinary evil spirits that are completely afraid of sunlight. They can move around even during the day, and at night, they will gather in groups to look for strangers."

"Now I want you to tell me, besides defeating him head-on, what help can this village bring to me?"

Lin Beixuan looked around and saw that the frequency of day and night changes had returned to normal, but the environment of the entire dilapidated village had changed.

Desolate, dilapidated...

People wandered numbly in the streets, their faces thin and staggering, as if they had no support, like wandering ghosts.

Suddenly at a certain moment, someone looked towards the closed door of the Wang family.

His action immediately attracted people around him to follow suit.

They were so hungry that many of them even cut off their own flesh as food for their children to survive.

But this is far from enough.

They knew where to find food, but deep down they had been suppressed by power for a long time, so they did not dare to challenge the authority of the Wang family until they could no longer hold on.

Besides, the Wang family has a lot of thugs, who are simply beyond their ability to deal with.

But I’m so hungry!

They were really hungry. Even if a person was cooked and placed on the table, they would eat it without hesitation because they were so starving.

So, now that it has come to this, what is there to be afraid of?
In an instant, the resentment that had lingered over the dilapidated village for a long time finally took shape at this moment.

It turned into wisps of mist, slowly floated down from the sky, and penetrated into the mouths and noses of these people, releasing the evil thoughts suppressed in the deepest part of their hearts.

So, Lin Beixuan, standing in front of the gate of the Wang family’s tall mansion, saw a scene that he would never forget in his life.

Those people, who were as thin as skeletons, took difficult steps, with extreme resentment in their eyes, and slowly walked towards him.

Lin Beixuan's feet were frozen in place. The smell coming from the crowd made him feel very uncomfortable, as if there were constantly smelly corpses emitting a foul odor moving in front of him.

At this moment, these people in the dilapidated village were already dead.

Lin Beixuan didn't think twice and just stepped away from the Wang family's door. He had no reason to stand up for the damn Wang family.

When Ge Hong saw Lin Beixuan making way, a complicated look appeared in his eyes. Through these behaviors, he could infer the other person's character.

As for Lin Beixuan, he quickly came to a conclusion.

He takes pleasure in taking revenge and kills decisively.

So Ge Hong also walked to the side and made way for the hungry ghosts.

"Why didn't you stop them from eating the Wang family? Although everything that happened here is the memory of the Xuanhuang Hungry Ghost, if you stop them, you might be able to weaken the Xuanhuang Hungry Ghost's strength."

Ge Hong came in front of Lin Beixuan, stared into the other's deep eyes under the mask, and asked.

Lin Beixuan stared at Ge Hong coldly for a while, until Ge Hong shook his body uncomfortably, and then spoke indifferently.

"It would be great if there was a chance to weaken the Xuanhuang Hungry Ghost, but it is also true that the Wang family deserved to die."

While the two were talking, the first hungry ghost had already broken into the Wang family's door.

There was a terrifying power hidden under that skeleton-like body. The tightly closed door of the Wang family did not last long before it was pushed open by the joint efforts of a group of hungry ghosts.

The first to bear the brunt of the attack were the thugs responsible for guarding the Wang family.

These people often relied on the power of the Wang family to deliberately oppress the poor. When the door was pushed open, they noticed the noise and rushed out.

However, what they saw were no longer the farm workers whom they could beat and scold at will, but hideous hungry ghosts.

Under the gazes of Lin Beixuan and Ge Hong, these thugs undoubtedly abandoned their masters and ran away.

But this time they didn't know what affected them. Their originally agile skills could not be brought into play at this moment, and they were caught by the hungry ghosts that broke into the mansion in a few moves.

"I kill you!"

The mentally collapsed thugs and Wang family servants raised their knives and chopped off the hungry ghost's head.

However, what was strange was that even though the head was gone, the opponent still pounced towards them with a bloody broken neck.

Tearing off the tattered clothes of the hungry ghosts, it turned out that their stomachs had turned into big mouths full of sharp teeth.

"Help!!"

"No, I will return the food and land to you, please let me go... My child is still young, please don't hurt him!"

Mr. Wang twisted his fat body and ran into the courtyard, chased by hungry ghosts, and was surrounded.

He changed his previous expression and prayed to the hungry ghost to let him go.

But how could the resentment accumulated by the ruined village under his oppression for more than ten years be resolved by just a few words from him?

When a person's evil thoughts are completely released, it means that during this period of time, he is no longer a human being.

“Squeak…Crackle…”

The sound of teeth chewing, the sound of flesh being torn apart, the muffled groans of people dying...

One creepy sound after another came into Lin Beixuan's ears and echoed throughout the village.

He watched the rich man Wang struggle and beg for mercy, but ultimately failed to change his fate.

The flames burning in the eyes of hungry ghosts are like the two blazing suns in the sky. They will not easily let go of anyone who has inflicted suffering on them.

(End of this chapter)