Cataclysm Chapter 118: The Roofless Crypt 10

Chapter 118: The Roofless Crypt 10

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

In the mural, King Ksitigarbha was at the top, adorned with a precious crown and necklace. His left hand held a lotus flower, and his right hand held a precious pearl as he stood on a lotus seat. His golden light illuminated the evil spirits and wronged souls below him, who, upon hearing the recitation of King Ksitigarbha’s vows, were given a chance to be liberated and reincarnated.

Behind this, there was another mural. It depicted a Taoist priest from the human world impersonating King Ksitigarbha during the Zhongyuan Festival, performing a Soul Releasing Ceremony for the souls of the dead. The families of the deceased were sincerely praying, and behind each person, there were one to three ancestors bathing in the golden light of merit. This ceremony was called ‘Breaking the City.’

After examining the mural, the five of them continued toward the basement and encountered six other Taoist priests. When they first met, they fought, but once they realized they were not mirage ghosts in disguise, they spoke to Chen Yang and the others, saying, “We also encountered a mirage ghost. It disguised itself as a familiar Taoist priest to deceive us. After being exposed, it led us to the sixth house, claiming that the source of resentment was here.”

Chen Yang asked, “How did you end up in the basement?”

They all answered in unison, “We opened the door and walked forward to the basement. We thought it was the sixth house.”

After exchanging information, all the Taoist priests realized something was wrong. Logically, they had all been in far-off houses, some even in rooms on the fifth floor. When the doors opened, instead of finding a hallway, they stepped into a dim underground corridor. It was clear that the space was in chaos, and they had all encountered mirage ghosts. The goal of the mirage ghost was clear—it was leading them all to the sixth house.

Kou Xuanling remarked, “Sounds like catching turtles in a jar.” All the Taoist priests were like ducks being driven into the same spot, waiting to be slaughtered.

Zhang Qiudao said, “The purpose of the mirage ghost is certainly not beneficial to the Taoist priests. As Old Kou said, it’s likely trying to trap us all in one place and slowly kill us. Like a cat toying with a mouse. But why do some people experience a shift in location when they open a door? A direct space transfer? This seems like the power of the gods.”

Chen Yang pressed his palm against the wall, deep in thought, “Perhaps… Have you thought about what the entire haunted house is made of?”

Kou Xuanling asked, “Mn? What do you mean?”

Chen Yang’s copper coin sword was extremely powerful for slaying evil spirits, but it wasn’t sharp enough to even cut a piece of paper. So, he didn’t consider using his sword but instead borrowed Zhang Qiudao’s Seven-Star Sword, which was sharp and exquisitely crafted, though heavy. Chen Yang took the Seven-Star Sword, inserted it into the wall, and began rotating it, cutting into the wall. He said, “The Ghost City is embodied by the entire Roofless Crypt. The Roofless Crypt is a metaphor for a grave. Since it’s a grave, there wouldn’t be so many houses. The entire space—from the Road to Nowhere to the Qing Stone Alley, the Cloud Pool Bath, and the so-called ten houses—are actually all part of the Roofless Crypt. These houses and roads were all built from the source of resentment, and each time the resentment grew, new houses were built, starting with roads and growing to the first house, and slowly increasing to the tenth. And the materials used for these houses—”

With a loud crash, Chen Yang dug a hole in the wall about the size of a brick, revealing a pile of white bones inside. He stepped aside to let the other Taoist priests see the bones in the wall, “The material is the souls of the dead. They are turned into bones and used to fill the houses, which is why you experience space shifting. The whole building is alive, and you’re being deceived by the ghosts.”

A chill ran down everyone’s spine. The house was alive, meaning it had been built entirely from ghosts. Each of the ten haunted houses had five floors with hundreds of rooms and countless corridors. Each room held an evil spirit, and each door was decorated with a human head lantern. They knew that the entire haunted house was full of ghosts, but the sheer number still shocked and terrified them.

“There are too many,” they all murmured.

Chen Yang said, “Maybe there aren’t that many.” The others looked confused, and he explained, “Perhaps the rooms don’t actually hold evil spirits. We thought they were all filled with them, but it’s very likely that the ghosts inside are merely haunting the walls, posing as bricks and stones.”

This explanation made the Taoist priests shiver even more. They recalled the times they had stuck their ears to the walls or doors to listen, or peered through holes to spy inside. Now they realized that the walls were filled with dense white bones. The thought that countless evil spirits might have been pressed up against their faces through the walls, while they remained oblivious, was enough to send chills down their spines.

Chen Yang asked, “But there was still a layer of wall between you and them, so you didn’t come into direct contact with them, right?” The others fell silent. Chen Yang returned the Seven-Star Sword to Zhang Qiudao. “Alright. But you’re still surrounded by countless white bones, stepping on them, with spirits staring at you from every direction—above, below, and all around you.” He trailed off, realizing he should stop.

Among the ten Taoist priests, three were women, and they were thankful they had chosen to wear pants for practicality, or it would have been quite awkward. Chen Yang’s description was indeed unsettling, especially when visualized, but strangely, the more they imagined it, the less afraid they felt. Their capacity to accept such things was impressive.

One of the female Taoist priests, Hu Yingnan, the top disciple of the Shenshi Ziyang Palace, had been the one to welcome Chen Yang and the others during their visit to Shenshi City, so they were somewhat familiar with each other.

Looking at the other priests, Chen Yang noticed that some of them had previously worked together on cases involving evil spirits. For instance, Hu Yingnan from Ziyang Palace had been involved in the Ye family’s 444th house incident in Shenshi City, and Shen Yihui, a disciple from Baiyun Temple, had been part of the criminal police team. He had also met Qiu Shengmin during the Jinshui Middle School incident. Qiu Shengmin had some ability, especially due to her natural ghost-sight and yin-physique, though she hadn’t had a skilled teacher before and had gone down the wrong path at first.

Thanks to their connection through the Jinshui Middle School case, Chen Yang had introduced her to Chang Zile, a member of a local exorcist family. He hadn’t expected her to have such talent, and within two years, she had made significant progress.

Qiu Shengmin smiled shyly and said in a soft voice, “It’s because my master is generous and unselfish, teaching me everything he knows.” She was very grateful to Chen Yang. If he hadn’t introduced her to her current master, she might still have been pretending to be a spiritual healer with her brother, deceiving people—who knew, she might have ended up in a dangerous situation with no way out.

Chang Yue, Qiu Shengmin’s senior and a disciple from the exorcist family, added, “Junior Sister is exceptionally talented and hardworking. Her achievements are all due to her own efforts.” Chang Yue’s father was Chang Zile, the head of the family.

Two other Taoist priests, Mi Mi, a senior disciple of the Wu Clan’s Yi Wuchang, and Liu Zong, the top disciple of the North Temple and President of the Guangyue Daoist Association, had very peculiar names, which led the others to curiously ask, “Mi Mi, what’s your family name?”

Mi Mi replied, “Mi.” She had been raised by Yi Wuchang, learning her stern and serious demeanor. Yi Wuchang, however, was a person of contradictions—she would often use her position as a Wu leader to forcefully take the lead in dance performances. Mi Mi, though reluctantly forced to dance in square dances, still maintained a serious attitude.

Chen Yang said, “Mi Mi Mi?”

Mi Mi answered, “Mi Mi.”

Chen Yang asked again, “Your family name is Mi, and your name is Mi?” Mi Mi nodded, and the others were surprised. “Why such an odd name?”

Mi Mi’s expression was mostly emotionless, but a hint of grievance and helplessness showed through. “Yi Wuchang gave it to me.” Seeing the confusion on the others’ faces, she continued, “I was abandoned in the mountains when I was little, and Yi Wuchang found me. Originally, my name was Yi Mi Mi, but Yi Daochang, my master’s older brother, saw that my swaddling clothes had the surname ‘Mi’ embroidered on them, so when I registered, he insisted on changing it back to the original surname.” So, she became Mi Mi.

At that time, Yi Wuchang had been very displeased and hadn’t yet developed her current impeccable attitude. She had argued with her brother, crying and throwing tantrums, but couldn’t shed a single tear. She had insisted on changing her surname to ‘Yi,’ claiming it as her real name to repay the favor of saving her life.

Chen Yang asked, “Repay the favor of saving your life?”

Mi Mi nodded, and the others were equally confused. At that moment, Mao Zhen spoke up with a tone that was both tired and authoritative, “You young Taoist priests don’t even know what ‘repaying the favor of birth’ means? Tsk, tsk, the Taoist world has fallen behind.”

“Say it or don’t,” Mi Mi muttered.

Mao Zhen clicked his tongue but still explained, “Cultivators fear getting entangled in karmic retribution. Sometimes, a small cause can ruin decades of cultivation. The power of karma is so great that even gods and Buddhas fear it.” He pointed at Mi Mi. “Her parents gave birth to her but then abandoned her. By abandoning her, they severed the karmic connection between parent and child. But the favor of birth is still a karmic force that can’t be easily erased. Returning to her birth surname is one way to repay the favor of birth and sever the karmic tie. Karmic connections could lead you to meet your biological parents again. When you do, the karma might either intensify or dissipate.”

The others finally understood. Meanwhile, Chen Yang glanced back at the murals left far behind, a thought stirring in his mind, but it was trapped behind a transparent barrier, unable to emerge. Karma?

Mi Mi seemed uncomfortable with the attention on her name. To divert the focus, she pointed at Liu Zong and said, “He used to be called Liu Zongquan.”

Pfft! The others stifled their laughter. Liu Zong sighed. His master and Mi Mi’s master were close friends, so they had known each other since childhood and were aware of each other’s embarrassing histories. He said, “This was before I was ten. After that, I used my own money to hire someone to pretend to be my father and change my name.”

Hu Yingnan, seeing the others laugh, also wanted to tease Shen Yihui, but before she could speak, Shen Yihui quickly covered her mouth and seriously said, “Do you all remember our purpose? We’re here to find the source of the resentment. Speaking of which, the mirage ghost deliberately told us that the source of resentment is in the sixth building. Now we’re all gathered in the basement. While we might be suspected of being turtles, the source of resentment should really be in the sixth building, right?”

“Did it show up? Where had it been hiding before? Doesn’t anyone know?”

Chen Yang and the others looked toward Mao Zhen. Mao Zhen shrugged. “I only know it will appear in the sixth building. Nearly every ghost in the haunted house knows about it.”

Mi Mi seemed to sense something was wrong, her eyes filled with suspicion. She glanced at Liu Zong, who returned her gaze, also filled with doubt. At the same time, Hu Yingnan, Shen Yihui, Qiu Shengmin, and Chang Yue all sensed something amiss. They stopped and quickly turned around, drawing their Taoist instruments, pointing them at Mao Zhen, and questioning him, “Who are you?” They also became wary of Chen Yang and the others.

Zhang Qiudao, “Are you guys really this slow? Mao Zhen’s been with us the whole time. He just spoke up, and I thought you all knew—!”

The others only then realized that, aside from Kou Xuanling, who was curious about Mao Zhen’s identity, the six others hadn’t noticed anything strange about his appearance. It seemed as though his presence was entirely natural and unremarkable.

Mi Mi and the others looked quite troubled, hesitating as they spoke, “We didn’t realize he was here. I always thought there were only ten people in the group. If it wasn’t for making eye contact with him just now, I wouldn’t have noticed his presence at all. Who is he?”

The others admitted they had also thought there were only ten people in the group, only noticing Mao Zhen’s presence after making eye contact with him.

Zhang Qiudao, Kou Xuanling, and Mao Xiaoying showed signs of wariness toward Mao Zhen, who remained silent. Mao Xiaoying, thinking about his uncle who was still in bed, asked sympathetically, “Don’t you have anything to say?”

Mao Zhen looked at him. “Aren’t you looking for me?”

“I’m looking for my uncle,” Mao Xiaoying explained.

Mao Zhen replied, “I’m Mao Zhen. That’s the absolute truth.”

Kou Xuanling asked, “Chen Yang, what do you think?”

Chen Yang said, “Brother Du told me that the source of resentment will actively appear around us. Mao Zhen is the only ghost from the haunted house that has actively appeared by our side. I want to know your purpose.” The last sentence was directed at Mao Zhen.

Mao Zhen shook his head and only said one sentence, “I haven’t harmed you.” After speaking, he took a step back and pressed against the wall. In an instant, countless ghostly hands appeared on the wall, embracing Mao Zhen and pulling him into it. As he merged with the wall, Mao Zhen glanced at Chen Yang and opened his mouth to speak, but was soon drowned by a sea of bones.

Mao Xiaoying rushed forward, only managing to touch the wall’s surface. He tried to break through the wall but was stopped. Turning to the others behind him, he said, “I believe he is my uncle. I promised my dad I’d bring my uncle’s soul back.”

Chen Yang replied, “You can’t take him back.”

Mao Xiaoying shook his head, looking stubborn. “Since I’ve had memories, my grandfather, father, and aunt always spoke about my uncle with both sadness and pride. My uncle was the earliest genius of the Mao family to awaken his abilities, with an understanding of Taoism surpassing even my grandfather’s. My dad said if he hadn’t fallen in the haunted house, he would have been the youngest Shangqing Tianshi in the family’s lineage. Many people say my uncle died long ago, and his soul might have already vanished in the haunted house or been assimilated into a mindless evil spirit. But my dad always said that even in death, he should never have died in that dark, damp haunted house. My uncle cared a lot about his image. Even his grave had to be on a hillside with water in front, clean and neat.”

The group fell silent, but none of them stopped him. Suddenly, Qiu Shengmin said, “Isn’t this corridor endless?”

Chen Yang looked ahead and saw that at just ten meters away, the corridor dissolved into darkness. Even if there was an end, they couldn’t see it. Qiu Shengmin said, “We’ve been walking for a while, surely covered a good distance, but we still can’t see the end.”

Only then did the group realize that the corridor might truly be endless. Kou Xuanling suggested, “Should we go back?” They turned around and found only darkness behind them, as if the path they had taken had been consumed by the shadows, and there was no path anymore.

Shen Yihui, always observant, hesitated and said, “Did you all notice the corridor shrinking? I mean, the range of darkness is expanding, and the area lit by the light is shrinking. I remember when we first entered, the light could almost illuminate the entire corridor, creating the illusion that it had an end. But that illusion is gradually fading.”

“You’re right,” Chen Yang said, holding up the lantern to illuminate ahead. Before they had spoken, the darkness ahead had been ten meters away. Now, it was only five meters. “What happens if we’re swallowed by the darkness?”

Zhang Qiudao used his Seven Star Sword to cut through the wall and pulled out the bones inside, throwing them into the darkness. Soon, the group heard the sickening sound of bones grinding. “I don’t think it’s anything good.”

“Obviously,” Chen Yang turned his head and saw the skull of a body with a missing rib, its eye sockets facing Zhang Qiudao. “You’ve angered it.”

Zhang Qiudao didn’t look back but instead plunged his sword into the eye socket of the skull. The skull slowly retracted and extended its hand to pick up stones to block the wall he had cut open, dropping several finger bones along the way.

Hu Yingnan glared at the ceiling. “We’re blocked in on both sides. How about we break through the ceiling and escape?”

Shen Yihui said, “The ceiling is built too low. It must be thick. The speed of digging wouldn’t be faster than the darkness swallowing us; we only have three meters left.”

The group formed a circle, huddling together. Kou Xuanling asked, “Chen Yang, do you have any ideas?”

Chen Yang said, “Do you remember what I said about ghosts blocking the vision?”

“Be more specific,” Kou Xuanling knew about the “wall of ghosts” and also about “ghosts blocking the eyes,” understanding that they were similar, but only to a certain extent.

“Ghosts blocking the eyes affect what we see, making us see what they want us to see. Like just now, some of you couldn’t see Mao Zhen because of the ghost blocking your vision. The entire haunted house is filled with ghosts, and we’re all being affected.”

“You’re saying everything we see now is fake? There’s no darkness, and there’s nothing strange in it, and the door is actually just up ahead?”

“No,” Chen Yang lifted his gaze and took a deep breath. “I’m just saying that perhaps everything we see—the houses, the lanterns, the rooms, and everything in them—are fake. The mirage ghost, the ghosts, they aren’t real. Brother Du told me before that ghostly words can’t be trusted, and the source of the resentment will appear among us. Your elders must have told you the same thing at home. So what exactly is the source? It’s the resentment of the ghosts, gathered together. So when we’re inside, the source has already appeared among us.”

“The endless path, the woman holding the black umbrella, the blue stone alley, the cloud pool bath, Old Man Yun, including the ten houses, the axe-wielding ghost, the painted skin ghost… they’re all part of the source. Every brick and tile, every ghost, they’re all part of the source. It’s been with us all along, and it started approaching us the moment we entered,” Chen Yang said as he held the copper coin sword in his hand and sat cross-legged. “So, the source is right here with us. This is the ghost blocking the eyes.”

The Roofless Crypt is the incarnation of the City of Wrongful Deaths, and it is filled with the source that occupies all the space. The source absorbs the resentment of the ghosts, and the ghosts themselves are a part of the source. Beneath every brick and tile, the ghosts we encounter, the greedy spirits, are all part of the source.

From the very beginning, we were warned: ghostly words are full of lies, don’t believe anything the ghosts say.

The ghosts don’t want to return to the human world—they’ve long lost their sanity and just want to keep adding bricks. Each brick and each tile hides countless vengeful spirits and bones. They don’t want to occupy the bodies of the Tianshis to return to the human world; they want to feed off their souls instead.

Chen Yang continued, “What Mao Zhen said was half true and half false. He reminded us several times not to trust ghostly words, but he also told me that the ghosts were trying to steal the souls of Tianshis to return to the human world. However, when his own soul was trapped in the haunted house, no ghost returned to occupy his body.”

Mao Zhen, in the human world, had lost his soul and had been a vegetable for over twenty years. If the ghosts really wanted to return to the human world, they could have consumed Mao Zhen’s soul, buried beneath the ground, and revived him.

“When I came in, Old Du told me that the most normal thing is usually the biggest problem. The ten houses, countless ghosts—we subconsciously thought this was the most normal situation and believed that the source was a single ghost.”

The other nine fell into deep thought. This truth was hard for them to accept at first, and they weren’t sure whether to believe it. After a long silence, Kou Xuanling asked, “If what you’re saying is true, why didn’t the Taoist Association’s masters tell us directly, and instead told us to find the source of the resentment?”

Chen Yang replied, “Cause and effect.”

The King of Hell’s Sutra mentions cause and effect, observing its causes and discussing its consequences, teaching through hundreds of methods. Encounters occur due to fate, and the results are borne from them. The power of cause and effect in the haunted house and the King of Hell’s influence is incredibly profound, and that’s why the King of Hell himself cannot perform the Soul Releasing Ceremony. The force of cause and effect is something even gods and ghosts cannot fight against.

Therefore, the resentment source was cast into the human world, creating a bond of cause and effect with the Tianshis of the human world.

Without understanding the cause, how could they attain the result? To speak of the consequences, one must teach through countless methods. Therefore, they had to find the source themselves, connect with it through cause and effect, in order to perform the Soul Releasing Ceremony.

When Chen Yang pierced through the true form of the source, the Tianshis formed a bond of cause and effect with it. The seemingly slow-moving darkness froze in front of them, and the surrounding darkness swallowed everything, leaving only the ten Tianshis in the center, forming a circle like the sun, their light blinding.

Suddenly, the entire space began to shake. The waves in the air were visible to the naked eye, like a television losing its signal, with the image flickering. A terrifying shriek, like a tsunami, erupted from all directions, pressing in on them. The group covered their ears in agony, blood pouring from their seven orifices. The darkness disappeared in an instant, as if receding with the tide, and the houses, corridors, and walls in front of them began to collapse. The entire space was crumbling.

Endless rain poured down, melting the stone slabs. The head lanterns, Old Man Yun, the painted-skin ghost, the axe-wielding ghost… countless spirits stood before them, all wearing the same eerie smile. Then, they were melted into massive chunks of flesh by the rain. The shrill screams they had heard earlier, the sound of nails scraping against the walls, all merged together, drowning out the sound of the rain hitting the ground.

There was no longer a corridor or house before them, only massive chunks of flesh, gathering together and nearly breaking the sky. The flesh was covered with growths, which cracked open to reveal countless ghostly faces. Chen Yang recognized some of those faces—faces he had seen before.

Now, these faces all shared the same twisted expression, staring directly at the Tianshis below.

 

 

 

This Title is available for faster chapter releases through paid Patreon membership. Any proceeds go to keeping the website running. Check it out HERE.