Chapter 23: Actively Seeking Self-rescue
In the shantytown, terrified screams rang out incessantly.
On the streets, densely packed worms surged like a flood, only to vanish in the blink of an eye.
On either side of the doorframe, the Chicken King and Guardian Tiger faintly glowed. The two practice scroll paintings had not fully formed, but they were still products of spiritual materials, containing considerable spirituality, and were now quietly exerting a profound effect.
Wu Xian calmed down from his shock and swallowed hard.
Dimensional Mirage!
It was the legendary Dimensional Mirage.
A special disaster once mentioned in history textbooks, where otherworldly power invaded the world in a manner similar to a “mirage.”
The difference was that a mirage was merely an illusion, but a Dimensional Mirage was far more than just an illusion.
The probability of a Dimensional Mirage occurring was extremely low; historical records showed the most recent one was nearly a century ago.
Therefore, most of this generation had never experienced such a disaster and had no idea how to cope with it.
“Grandpa is still outside!”
Wu Xian hurriedly pulled out his phone, trying to contact the old master, but the phone signal was severely disrupted by dimensional fluctuations, making it impossible to get through.
Although the old master had recovered some cultivation level and had the Guardian Tiger by his side, no one could say for sure about the calamity brought by this Dimensional Mirage.
“How did that alert message get sent out?”
Perhaps the authorities had some special signal transmission device.
“Gho… ghost!”
Screams erupted from the surrounding neighbors, making Wu Xian’s heart race.
Soon, chaos broke out from Grandpa Wang’s house next door. “What the hell is that? Damn it… ah—! Don’t eat me… don’t eat me… I’m old, my meat is tough… no… not tasty!”
Wu Xian unhesitatingly released the God of Wealth Painted Spirit and vaulted over the wall into the yard.
With a roar from the Black Tiger, the eerie fluctuation in Grandpa Wang’s house instantly dissipated.
“Grandpa Wang, Grandpa Wang…”
In front of him, a few ghostly shadows drifted by as if no one else was there, seemingly unable to see Wu Xian at all.
Wu Xian rushed straight into the house and soon saw Grandpa Wang curled up in the corner, hugging his head. The old man’s frail body trembled nonstop, his mouth repeatedly muttering: “Don’t eat me… don’t eat me…”
“Grandpa Wang, don’t be afraid!” Wu Xian stepped forward and patted Grandpa Wang on the back. “I’m here.”
Grandpa Wang jolted in fright and scrambled away.
Wu Xian was also badly startled.
Grandpa Wang’s face was grotesquely distorted, blood streaming from all seven orifices. A tentacle shot out from his terrified open mouth, aiming straight for Wu Xian’s brow, only to be blocked by the circulating aura of wealth and treasure light.
Bang!
The steel whip in the God of Wealth’s hand twitched slightly, and a flash of electric arc streaked by.
The eerie tentacle convulsed and dissipated instantly.
A wisp of green smoke rose from Grandpa Wang’s head, and he regained normal consciousness. “Little Xianzi? What… what the hell was that just now?”
“Nothing, just an illusion from the Dimensional Mirage. As long as you don’t take them seriously, it’s fine—just treat it like watching a 3D movie.”
Wu Xian said this, but he was secretly unnerved.
Especially the eerie state on Grandpa Wang earlier—it was clearly not an illusion or hallucination, but a real abyssal monster.
Though only a first order minor one, it was still beyond what ordinary people could handle.
“Come on, go to my place. It’s safer there.”
The neighbor old men had watched Wu Xian grow up and trusted him greatly.
After arriving at Wu Xian’s rundown little courtyard, Grandpa Wang’s panicked emotions gradually settled. The Chicken King painting and Guardian Tiger painting on the door seemed not only to ward off evil spirits but also to calm negative emotions.
“Stay here and don’t wander off. I’ll go bring Grandpa Zhang, Ox Master, and the others over.”
“Okay, okay, okay. You be careful too.”
Grandpa Wang nodded obediently, worried about those old pals in his heart.
In one go, he transferred the nearby group of elderly trash collectors to his home. The old masters were all badly frightened, and a few had encountered similar situations to Grandpa Wang.
“Little Xian, where’s your grandpa?” The old pals couldn’t help but ask with concern.
“He went out early this morning; he probably won’t be back for a while.” Wu Xian felt helpless inside. “Stay here safely and don’t wander. I’ll go look for my grandpa.”
After settling the old masters, Wu Xian set out alone.
Dimensional Mirage scenes emerged before his eyes from time to time, making it hard to discern the route.
One moment it was clearly the road leading outside, the next it turned into a wasteland littered with insect carcasses or a “burial mound” piled with bones.
This greatly slowed Wu Xian’s progress.
Along the way, screams and wails filled the air everywhere. He rescued a few poor unfortunate families, but he couldn’t save everyone.
Looking at the corpses before him being gnawed by countless eerie worms, Wu Xian’s heart grew immensely heavy.
These were illusions akin to a mirage—how exactly were these eerie things and evil spirits harming humans?
At this moment, he had no clue whatsoever.
Not far away, a gaunt mother covered her child’s eyes, huddled in a corner piled with scrap.
“Baby, don’t be afraid. Mommy’s here…”
But the fear on the mother’s face escalated, her body trembling nonstop.
Vaguely, the nearby abyssal monsters, drifting as if no one was around, seemed to notice something and slowly approached the mother and child.
Strands of eerie aura began gathering toward the mother.
“Related to fear emotions?”
Wu Xian watched the scene from afar, muttering to himself.
The God of Wealth beside him immediately unleashed a bolt of lightning magic, scattering the eerie aura that had just gathered.
After hesitating, Wu Xian pulled out drawing paper and a brush. On a sheet of practice drawing paper, he drew a Chicken King and a Guardian Tiger on the spot, folded the paper, and handed it to the mother.
“Don’t be afraid. This painting will protect you.”
Seeing the faintly glowing folded paper in her hand, the mother felt a rare sense of reassurance and security. She knelt in grateful prostration before Wu Xian. “Thank you, lord… thank you, lord…”
Wu Xian didn’t respond and silently departed.
Not long after, he summoned the Chicken King and transformed once more into the rooster knight.
Activating both scroll paintings consumed quite a bit of spiritual power, but fortunately, he had the 【laurel tree】 as a power bank, so he didn’t need to worry about mana issues.
Thus, under the annoying obstructions of the Dimensional Mirage, he pressed on toward the edge of the shantytown.
Along the way, he casually rescued some poor bottom-rung folks.
Fortunately, the people in the shantytown had begun actively self-rescuing. Some with spiritual energy cultivation took up the banner, and though without scroll painting enhancements, they could still hold off some eerie situations.
In the sky, the eerie dimensional rift grew increasingly distorted and chaotic, like a terrifying eye gazing down at everything.
“Go, go, go, keep up!”
“As long as we reach the city district, we’ll be safe.”
Waves of fleeing crowds headed in the same direction as Wu Xian.
Upon seeing him, they silently followed nearby, perhaps feeling a bit safer that way.
However, shortly after the crowd exited the shantytown, they were blocked by a layer of icy barrier light screen. On the other side of the barrier light screen was the relatively safe San Zai Gang old city district.
“What’s going on? Quarantined and sealed off?”
“It’s not a plague—why quarantine?”
“Heh,” many mocked bitterly, “Maybe they’re afraid us poor ghosts will swarm into the city district all at once?”
Faced with this, Wu Xian was utterly disgusted. Though he had no intention of seeking refuge in the city district, he was revolted to the bone by the authorities’ “differential treatment.”
In the disaster, the ugliness and class divisions of the modern world were laid bare.
The key was that Grandpa Wu Mingchang was still over there, but he couldn’t get through now.
“Damn the sun god!”
A torrent of emotions boiled into a traditional curse.
But more critically, despair was beginning to spread through the crowd, with more and more fleeing groups gathering here.
