I am a swordsman in a strange city

Chapter 51 Paper Figure, Person in the Mirror
one room.

The doors and windows in the room were tightly closed, and even the thick black curtains on the windows were drawn tightly.

It was daytime, but the room felt like night.

A person stood in the room, wearing a white shirt and black casual trousers, barefoot on the floor.

The living room was very spacious. There was a full-length mirror against the wall, but it was covered with something.

On the floor in front of the full-length mirror, there were seven white candles arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper.

The full-length mirror was coated with a black substance, so the reflected candlelight was only a tiny glimmer, and there was no candle inside.

It's like seven faint stars falling into the dark night sky.

Just then, the person in the white shirt started dancing a strange dance in front of the mirror, clapping his hands with each movement, the applause echoing in the empty, enclosed living room.

Slowly, he walked up to the mirror, stood still, closed his eyes, and then reached out and used his fingers to trace and wipe a vertical eye on the mirror. The cleaned area corresponded to the space between his eyebrows.

The living room was extremely quiet; you could hear a pin drop. Then, footsteps were heard.

But the footsteps seemed to come from afar, slowly approaching, getting closer and closer; it was the sound of leather shoes stepping on the wooden floor.

It drew closer and closer, as if it were coming from within the realm, and finally stopped.

"Du Xin, how's it going?" A voice suddenly came from inside the mirror.

"Reporting to you, sir, everything is proceeding according to plan." The young man standing in front of the mirror trembled, but kept his eyelids tightly closed.

"Well, the organization approved your plan and paid a considerable price for its implementation. If you mess it up, don't blame the organization for being heartless." The voice in the mirror had a hint of age, yet possessed a strange vitality.

"I understand, I will definitely obtain the divinity from that temple," the young man in front of the mirror said.

"Very good, now tell me where we are in the process," the voice in the mirror asked.

"After I planted the evil seed in Xiao Qiu's heart, she was taken to the Sword Hall for treatment, so it never sprouted successfully. In the end, I decided to forcibly awaken the evil seed. After she entered the Sword Hall, she indeed controlled the heir in the Sword Hall. The temple keeper also invited the spirit field to descend, using the method of the spirit field to eliminate the evil spirit in her heart."

"But it was precisely because of this that Xin Gui entered the Shan Jun Temple. Sure enough, Xin Gui was not eaten by the Shan Jun, but was left behind by Him. He was willing to cooperate with us to break the Shan Jun Temple's shackles and get rid of the temple keeper."

“However, the mountain king said that the temple keeper must be devoured by Him.”

The person in the mirror then spoke up: "This Pei Jieyang has become a temple priest, which is equivalent to a shepherd, but he can also invoke the divine power of the mountain god, just like a pastor. Go on."

"Some time ago, a fish monster caused chaos in the city. Pei Jieyang took action and killed four people with one sword. The sword was indeed awe-inspiring, but it was also clear that his body could no longer withstand the erosion of the mountain lord's divine power."

"After that, I started to set up an altar here to worship the mountain god and increase his divine power. But later, Pei Jieyang probably sensed something, so he performed a ritual every night. According to the mountain god, Pei Jieyang learned the 'method of cutting divine flowers' from somewhere and had to cut them every night, so the mountain god got a little anxious."

"Moreover, Pei Jieyang also sent his grandson into that temple world. The mountain king is worried that once he grows up, he will go into the temple with Pei Jieyang and cause him harm. So he wants to kill his grandson before he grows up, and he must lure him into the temple to kill him."

"I don't understand why we must lead Him to His temple to be devoured. It's just the soul of an unserving person. Once He comes out, thousands or tens of thousands of people can eat it. Why bother with this one?"

The young man in front of the mirror had his eyes closed the whole time, and then he stopped talking.

The person in the mirror chuckled and said, "If I'm not mistaken, He wants to complete a ritual of 'consuming five generations.' If he can complete it, he will obtain the five elements. After obtaining the five elements, there will be a ritual of 'generating the five elements and five organs,' thereby obtaining a physical body. He wants to truly break free from the cage. He has a beautiful dream. You don't need to worry about that. Continue."

"So I devised a plan with the Mountain Lord. Because the Mountain Lord was severely imprisoned, I used magic to create a person to enter the temple world together with the Mountain Lord. We discussed with Pei Jieyang's grandson about entering the temple to kill the Mountain Lord, thus luring him into the temple."

"The plan has only progressed to this stage."

After a moment of silence in the mirror, the young man in front of it trembled slightly, but he still did not open his eyes.

"Do you still remember our purpose?" The voice of the person in the mirror rang out again, his voice now more authoritative and less youthful.

"My lord, the purpose is naturally to obtain divinity," the young man said.

"So how do you plan to attain divinity?" the person in the mirror asked.

"I think we can wait until Pei Jieyang, the guardian of the temple, dies, then rush into the Sword Hall and take the shrine away," the young man in front of the mirror said.

"Hehe, you think it's that easy? If it were that easy, the shrine would have been taken away long ago. This shrine has already been registered with the Spirit Purification Bureau. It's not so easy to take it away."

The person in the mirror sneered and continued, "Don't wait any longer, let's go straight into the temple, then your mission is complete."

"I...I don't understand?" the person in front of the mirror said somewhat flusteredly.

“You don’t need to understand. It’s precisely because you don’t understand that the opportunity has come. When will the next ritual be performed to send someone in?” the person in the mirror asked.

"It will be this morning. I will send a paper effigy in, but it will be linked to my consciousness," the young man in front of the mirror replied.

“Very good. When you enter in your paper doll form, find a mirror inside, then set up the mirror gate ritual. After that, you don’t need to worry about anything else,” the person in the mirror said.

The young man in front of the mirror didn't dare ask any more questions and immediately agreed.

"Remember, once you go in, just do this. You don't need to do anything else."

"Yes, sir, I will certainly remember." The young man in front of the mirror answered respectfully, and he could sense the seriousness and solemnity of the man.

As he answered, he fell silent. Even though his eyes were closed, he felt the light in the mirror receding and heard footsteps fading away. But he remained standing there, too afraid to move, until the living room returned to silence.

He opened his eyes again. The living room was dark. He then saw that the white candles on the floor had all gone out, with only wisps of smoke drifting in the air.

He tugged at his clothes and found that his back was already soaked with sweat.

Although he didn't know why the adults wouldn't let him do the rest, he was afraid that he had made a mistake, but he also felt that his task was only one step away from completion, so he was a little uneasy.

He glanced at his watch and went into another room.

There was also an altar in that room, on which was placed a statue of a deity with a tiger's head and a human body. In front of this tiger-headed, human-bodied deity was a memorial tablet, which read: "The Divine Tablet of Tiger Thousand Mountains, Lord of Misty Ridge".

He began to burn incense and set out sacrificial offerings of three kinds of animals.

Pork, beef, and dog meat.

Next, he took out a paper figure.

This is one of his abilities. He has the abilities of bewitching minds, awakening spirits, enlightenment, paper dolls, and eating ghosts. So he cut out a paper doll, then used the methods of awakening spirits and enlightenment to bring the paper doll to life, and then used the ability of bewitching minds to give the paper doll its own thoughts.

He then used his fingertip to apply blood to the paper figure's eyes. The paper figure slowly stood up in front of him, glanced at him, and then turned and walked towards the brazier.

Paper should burn when placed in fire, but this paper figure did not. The smoke in the brazier acted as a gateway, and the paper figure disappeared in the smoke and mist as it stepped through.

……

Pei Ju also entered the world within the temple.

Stepping out of the thatched hut, since it was daytime, one naturally saw a field of rice, and people were walking on the ridges of the field.

People were working in the fields, weeding.

Pei Ju looked around but didn't see Bao Duxing.

I searched all around the house but couldn't find them, thinking they probably hadn't arrived yet.

Thinking about his grandfather's meaning, he remembered that in the sword hall earlier, his grandfather hadn't spoken, but had only expressed himself through gestures.

Pei Ju knew that his grandfather wanted him to kill Bao Duxing.

Grandpa didn't explain why, and perhaps he couldn't articulate it, but his intuition, or perhaps he sensed some danger, led him to do it.

He stood leaning on his sword, waiting for Bao Duxing to appear. He made up his mind to see whether Bao Qianshan was a human or a ghost.

He stood there waiting for about an hour before he finally saw Bao Duxing arrive late.

However, for some reason, the Bao Duxing I met this time was a little different from the one I met yesterday.

“Bao Duxing.” Pei Ju turned around and looked at Bao Duxing, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and said, “You’re late.”

“Hmm,” Bao Duxing responded, but did not offer any further explanation.

"Aren't you going to explain why?" Pei Ju asked, frowning.

“There’s nothing more to explain,” Bao Duxing said. He hadn’t originally wanted to come here, but he felt he should come anyway, so as to finish what he started. He even wanted to say something to Pei Ju.

“There’s no such person as Bao Duxing in this world, is there?” Pei Ju suddenly asked.

Bao Qianshan, standing in front of him, was taken aback, but then smiled without denying it, saying, "Why do you say that? Aren't I Bao Duxing?"

"Because you are not human." Pei Ju's eyes widened, and he pulled out the sword that was leaning on the ground, a bright light flashing between the two of them.

"Qiang!"

The sound of a sword being drawn pierced the tranquility of the rice paddy.

Pei Ju drew his sword and thrust it towards Bao Duxing. In the instant the sword was thrust out, the sword changed again. Pei Ju twisted his body, took a step to the side, and was already behind Bao Duxing. The sword changed from a thrust to a slash, slicing across Bao Duxing's throat.

Bao Duxing saw a flash of sword light, but Pei Ju's figure had already disappeared from his sight. He quickly turned around, but the sword light had already slashed across his neck.

This sword strike was not a simple sword technique, but rather incorporated the sword intent of his Demon-Slaying Technique. Bao Duxing's head flew off.

The sword strike was unexpectedly light.

It wasn't that his sword was light, but rather that when the sword landed on Bao Duxing's throat, he couldn't feel any bone. The sword easily sliced ​​through Bao Duxing's throat, but he saw that the head turned into a piece of paper and float away the instant the sword flew up, and black gas gushed out from the broken neck of the paper figure.

To his surprise, the paper figure anxiously reached out to grab the fluttering paper figure with its own hand, as if unwilling to die like this.

But its hands had become paper hands, so how could it grasp anything? After the black smoke from its neck was exhausted, it floated to the ground and stopped moving.

He looked up at the sky and vaguely heard a scream, though it came from a very far away place.

"It's a paper figure. Whose paper figure is it?" Pei Ju wondered.

Just then, the sky suddenly became stormy, and soon it started to rain, quickly turning into a downpour.

He had to hide in the thatched hut, and the people in the fields below the hillside could no longer see clearly.

Pei Ju frowned. He had never encountered such severe weather before, and it was unprecedented.

Before my eyes, I could see water flowing swiftly. In the heavy rain below the mountain, people who had been working in the fields seemed to have emerged from the fields and were walking step by step up the hillside.

He assumed the other person wanted to take shelter from the rain in his thatched hut.

This is understandable, as his thatched hut was the only one in the vicinity. Although it was small, it could provide temporary shelter from the rain.

An old man, carrying a hoe on his shoulder, went up the hillside and came to the front of the thatched hut. He stared into the hut and said, "Young hero, the rain is too heavy. May I go in and take shelter from the rain?"

Pei Ju was about to say yes, but as the words reached his throat, a strange feeling suddenly flashed through his mind.

It was a feeling that agreeing would lead to disaster.

It felt like being pricked with needles, which was very uncomfortable.

Moreover, he saw that the other person's eyes were staring straight at him, and his face, washed by the rain, was so gloomy, not at all like the simple and honest farmer, nor did he have that rustic air. There was only a kind of ruthlessness hidden in his eyes.

He then saw the other person gripping the hoe on their shoulder with both hands, looking as if they were about to smash it down at any moment.

“This small thatched hut can’t accommodate two people. Please leave.” Pei Ju refused.

He thought of a possibility.

This person actually asked him if he could come in. He remembered that Teacher Han had mentioned that if one was trapped in a spiritual realm and could not get out, one could build a safe house to avoid ghosts and spirits.

And indeed, no one else has ever entered this thatched hut. Those who came to see him before always waited outside and never came in.

"The rain is too heavy, let me go inside to take shelter from the rain," the old man repeated again, he seemed a little anxious.

(End of this chapter)