Chapter 63: A crowd of vengeful spirits gather, one step at a time, a vengeful spirit

What kind of existence is hell? As a Taoist priest, I myself don’t know, and I’m not even sure if such a space exists. But there are many descriptions of hell in various classic texts and legends.

No matter what the differences in the details of these descriptions, one thing is always the same: hell is where the ghosts and spirits of the wronged stay, and it is full of ghosts and spirits everywhere!

Little hell, doesn’t that mean… I can imagine that the core of the Yin-Yin Array must be full of ghosts and spirits. After all, the existence of ghosts and spirits like the Rakshasa is common in the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts, but if it is called Little Hell, then the image is like a city of ghosts and spirits, and if a few strangers suddenly break in, how conspicuous would it be?

Seeing my expression change constantly, Zheng seemed to think that the fire was not burning hot enough, and he walked a few steps to my side, leaned over and looked at me, and said seriously, “Little Hell, I’m not exaggerating at all!”

No exaggeration? I frowned and looked at Zheng Dajie and said, “Master, have you been to the gathering of evil spirits?”

“I haven’t been there, but a senior member of our clan who guarded the lake went there. He died shortly after coming out because of his injuries. He was a senior member of the clan. He only left one sentence about the gathering of evil spirits in the lake. Do you think so? By the way, at that time, the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts did not yet have the existence of the ghost Rakshasa.

I was speechless, looking up at Zheng Daxia and saying weakly, “Master, you’re actually trying to scare me, aren’t you?”

At this time, Mr. Zheng had already turned around and returned to his seat. He laughed and said to me, “This is not intimidation, it’s just the truth! You are from the Li family, and people from this family are all good. How could I let you die without doing anything? Okay, I won’t say any more. I’ll say it here. It’s up to you to decide what to do. Now let He Zhi tell you in detail about the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts.

He Zhi is a steady middle-aged man, sitting opposite us. After Zheng Dadao gave the order, He Zhi immediately stood up, clasped his fists at us in a very old-fashioned manner, and then, without further ado, began to tell us the story of the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts.

The formation of the Yin-Gathering Array in the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts naturally occurred many years ago. In any case, the discovery of its existence by Taoist masters should be traced back to the early Ming Dynasty.

“Why was it discovered in the early Ming Dynasty? There is a theory here. Before that, everything in the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts was normal, except that people would get lost when they approached the Yin Gathering Array! It wasn’t until one year later that the villagers in the seven villages near the Yin Gathering Array in the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts all died inexplicably overnight that it attracted the attention of the higher-ups. That year, the ghosts even haunted the few arrays closest to the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts.” He Zhi told us this.

“That means that before the discovery of the Wan Gui Lake’s Yin Gathering Array, there may have been some kind of natural barrier. Later, for some reason, this natural barrier was destroyed, and the ghosts of Wan Gui Lake ran out? Is that the theory?” I immediately grasped the key point of the matter.

“Yes, that’s the theory! In fact, after several Taoist masters came here to investigate, they confirmed this theory and also felt amazing. This Lake of a Thousand Ghosts not only formed a gathering of yin formation, but also had a natural maze, a maze that had a huge effect on ghosts and humans… How could all this not be shocking? But for some unknown reason, part of this maze has lost its effect, which led to the tragedy.” He Zhi said seriously.

Then he told me the history of the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts. The so-called Great Array of the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts was built on the basis of the damaged natural maze. Of course, because of the many years that have passed, each generation of Taoist masters has presided over the maintenance of the Great Array, and the outer Great Array has long since become a compound array, but the most important of these is the maze.

“We have to use this maze as the foundation, to prevent ordinary people from accidentally entering the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts.” He continued to explain.

The outer array is there, but that doesn’t mean that having the array is the end of the matter, because the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts has a strange characteristic: when it attracts ghosts, the array is almost useless.

As a human, I dare not speculate about the world, and I only know that the consequence is that the ghosts and spirits of the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts will accumulate more and more!

I was shocked and couldn’t help but ask, “If things continue to develop like this, then the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts will have long since… Let’s put it this way, even a box with a large capacity has a limit, right? When it’s full, it will overflow!

He shook his head and said, “Ordinary ghosts can’t enter the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts. The lowest level of ghosts that enter the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts are all vengeful ghosts! In other words, the ghosts that gather here are all those that have grievances in their hearts and therefore linger in the human world. So, do you understand?”

I was listening to him and I felt cold sweat all over my body. Ordinary ghosts, no matter how many there are, don’t necessarily have the heart to harm people, but resentful ghosts are different. After all, they are resentful things in their hearts… And the lowest level in the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts is the resentful ghost!

“In fact, it’s not just that. Since the year the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts was discovered, there has been an inexplicable phenomenon. No matter how sophisticated the formation is, it will be destroyed by nature over time, allowing the negative energy here to leak out and causing ghosts to appear. This is why we, the Lake Keepers, exist. We not only have to keep the ghosts and spirits here, but also take the risk of repairing the formation from time to time. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.” He Zhi said to us seriously.

“Of course, we also suspected that the problem with the formation was because powerful ghosts had appeared in the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts, constantly destroying the formation. That’s why the predecessors went into the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts to investigate, but they couldn’t get to the core area. From the time of discovery to the present, only one person has completely investigated the formation and come out intact.” Zheng added, looking at us meaningfully.

Seeing Zheng’s expression, we all had a guess in our hearts at the same time. With shocked expressions, we looked at each other several times, and finally I asked, “Grandpa, are you saying that person is us…?”

Before I could finish my sentence, the impatient Zheng had already nodded eagerly, saying, “Yes, it’s your famous master, Lao Li.”

“It really is!” I was too lazy to be shocked, and I didn’t even bother to think about how many magical footprints my master had left in this world. I just wanted to know what happened next.

The story continued to be narrated by He Zhi, but the result was unexpected. After my master, who didn’t like to explain, came out in one piece, he didn’t say a word about the specific situation inside, but only left a sentence: “I left an opportunity in there. If my descendants come here, they will naturally realize what the opportunity is.”

After saying this, my master floated away. When the Shuhu lineage reacted and deliberately looked for my master, my master had already disappeared.

“Don’t underestimate the power of the Shouhu lineage. Even if you go to the West, you may not be able to find it, but your master searched the whole world and still couldn’t find it.” Master Zheng was old, and he still called the West the ancient West, but this also shows the power of the Shouhu lineage. But he searched the whole world and still couldn’t find it… I smiled wryly. If it was really that easy to find, why would my master embark on an unknown path in his later years?

“We in the Shouhu lineage believe that your great-grandfather must have discovered something before he could say that! You have to understand how significant this is for us in the Shouhu lineage. If we can solve the root cause of the constant destruction of the formation, it would be…” Zheng Er is a man who doesn’t like to express himself, and his ability to express himself is limited, but when he gets so excited, he can’t help but speak up. It’s just that he can’t describe it as simply as that.

But we can understand their feelings. It’s just that… I frowned and thought, if there is such an opportunity in the Lake of Ghosts, why didn’t my master come? And since we are the descendants of the Li family, they should eagerly hope that we go in, so why did they repeatedly stop us?

Thinking about this, I asked the latter question.

In response to my question, it was Granny Yun who answered. She said, “This question is very simple. Although we hope to solve all the mysteries of the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts, we cannot ignore human lives! In the past, there were powerful beings in the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts, but now, as you know, the ghost Rakshasa is a real being. How can we just watch you die?”

“This ghost Rakshasa…?” Chengqing asked with a frown.

“Yes, the existence of this ghost Rakshasa is a recent thing, that is to say, the incarnation of the ghost Rakshasa is only a ghost Rakshasa in recent years, and the worse situation is that in recent years, there has been a considerable problem with the outer great formation, and some protective formations against people have almost failed. Our days here are getting harder and harder.” Grandma Yun sighed and said to us in a low voice.

Her words reminded me of something. Could the problem that Cheng Zhen had identified in the county town be related to this great formation?

Before I could ask, Chengzhen had already revealed her discovery and speculation. “Is the problem of the flow and accumulation of negative energy in the county town related to the problem of the great array? Why not repair it?”

Everyone present shook their heads and smiled wryly at her question. Grandmother Yun said, “What else could it be? It’s because of the existence of the ghost Rakshasa!”