Qing Lian Zi finally caught up.
At this moment, Mo Chuan was being pinned down by Nü Ba and subjected to a barrage of attacks, but whether it was an illusion or not, Mo Chuan's armor seemed to have become significantly more polished.
Qing Lian Zi quickly held the Bi An ink compass, leaped behind Nü Ba, and wrapped the ink rope around her neck, using his body weight to drag her backward.
"Mo Chuan! Help me control her first! She is the Heavenly Emperor's daughter and possesses an indestructible body. She can only be sealed, not killed!"
Mo Chuan's expression faltered. "Using this is only a temporary measure. Sister Lian, do you have no way to seal her for a longer period?"
While speaking, neither of them was idle. With exchanges back and forth, they bound Nü Ba tightly, forcing her to struggle in the center of the courtyard.
"Yes, but it requires time!" Qing Lian Zi replied.
Since the blood coffin couldn't be found, they could only suppress her for now with fragrant cedar wood, pig's blood mixed with crow's blood, an ink rope net, and an outer bronze horn golden coffin.
"How long!"
"Five hours... No! Three hours!"
"Alright! Hurry up!" Mo Chuan said, extending a hand toward Nü Ba and shouting, "Destiny! Dominion! Deceit!"
A ball of emerald energy erupted, striking Nü Ba. Amidst chilling laughter, a dark cloud enveloped the two, and they vanished from their original positions.
Qing Lian Zi stared blankly at the ink rope scattered on the ground for a few seconds before snapping back to reality. He hadn't expected Mo Chuan to have comprehended a perfect domain at the fifth stage. Even less did he expect Mo Chuan to single-handedly withstand Nü Ba's assault to buy him time.
Qing Lian Zi felt a slight sting in his nose, but he knew time was of the essence. He immediately summoned the Seven Emotions Ghosts, assigned their tasks, and then hurried to find the person in charge and the military personnel to prepare the ritual.
...
In the Avici Hell.
Mo Chuan gritted his teeth, slamming down on some ruins while holding Nü Ba, tightly bracing her hands and torso with chains to prevent her from scratching him further.
At this moment, Mo Chuan desperately missed Abe Haruko. If he could have summoned anyone to help, he wouldn't be in such an awkward situation.
Unbeknownst to Mo Chuan, after entering the Avici Hell, Nü Ba's eyes gradually began to clear up from their turbid, frenzied state.
After a moment, Mo Chuan felt the struggles beneath him gradually lessen. He subconsciously looked down and saw Nü Ba gazing at him with the look of someone who regarded him as dead.
Wait a minute... why did this gaze... look so much like a living person's?
Subconsciously thinking he was hallucinating, Mo Chuan shook his head and continued to suppress Nü Ba.
"Is it fun to pin me down?"
A slightly cold voice sounded.
Although Mo Chuan's body was now made of steel, he still got goosebumps the moment he heard that voice.
"Get up."
Before Mo Chuan could react, he was pushed away by a strange force and sent crashing into another pile of ruins.
A cloud of dust settled.
Mo Chuan, covered in dirt, crawled out of the ruins. Strangely, although he had been thrown a long distance, he suffered no significant injuries. It seemed Nü Ba didn't intend to harm him.
Mo Chuan looked up and saw Nü Ba standing above the ruins, surveying her surroundings. He hesitantly asked, "Um... big sister, you're not biting anymore?"
Nü Ba frowned upon hearing this but did not answer. Instead, she leaped lightly in front of Mo Chuan and asked, "Tell me, where is this place? What dynasty is it now? And who are you?"
Her tone was cold yet polite, as if she were the true daughter of the Heavenly Emperor, not the bloodthirsty flying corpse from before.
"Uh... Big sister, do you remember what happened just now?"
"Vaguely..." Nü Ba frowned, thinking for a moment, and then said, "My most recent memory is having my coffin opened by a woman in white, and then I was fighting you."
"Alright..." It seemed Nü Ba had little consciousness or memory in her flying zombie state. Mo Chuan then replied, "I am Mo Chuan, a junior, paying my respects to the princess. This is my domain, the [Avici Hell]. As for the dynasty... it is now the Longhua Republic era. The last feudal dynasty, the Qian Dynasty, has long since fallen."
"Qian Dynasty..." Nü Ba shook her head and said, "The last time I was out of my coffin, it was during the Sang Dynasty."
"Holy cow... Teng Sang Yuan Ming Gan... this big sister has slept for at least eight to nine hundred years..."
Nü Ba surveyed the surroundings and asked, "This is your domain?"
"Uh... yes."
"Then are you the King of Hell for this country?"
"??? What?"
"The death qi here is so dense, it's practically the Underworld. Otherwise, there's no way I could have regained my consciousness."
"Um... what's your situation, senior? Why did you turn into a flying corpse and kill people?"
"..." Nü Ba fell silent for a moment, seemingly choosing her words, and then said, "These are restrictions placed upon me by the Three Pure Ones."
"Zombies have essence but no soul; ghosts have soul but no essence. Therefore, in this place of the Underworld, my soul and essence can merge briefly and restore my consciousness."
"They buried me next to my Imperial father's tomb, hoping to find a method to revive both my father and me. But..." Nü Ba's thoughts seemed to become muddled at this point. She shook her head and continued, "I had woken up once before this, but at that time, I couldn't break out of the blood coffin. I only heard someone entering my tomb, and I faintly heard words like 'spiritual energy' and 'hope.' After that, someone moved me out of the tomb... and then I seemed to wake up frequently in the coffin. Each time, someone was strengthening my corpse power and suppressing me from leaving the coffin, until just now."
Mo Chuan's eyes darkened upon hearing this. The one who had been enhancing Nü Ba's corpse power and suppressing her was likely Dan He Zi, the one carrying the coffin.
Although he didn't know why such a thing was happening, after combining this with the list of collaborators provided by Prince Hongde earlier, he subconsciously arrived at an answer:
The Yama Hall.
For some reason, Mo Chuan suddenly felt as if he had stepped into a grand scheme, and he was deeply trapped within it, unable to see the full picture.
He re-examined all the events he had encountered: the little ghost incident, the hundred ghosts night parade incident, the spirit treasure theft incident, the Fifth Palace Lord incident, the Mount Tai King incident, and now the Nü Ba incident.
The little ghost incident was not truly over.
Although the blue-clothed ghost in the Erlang Temple had been eliminated and the missing man had been rescued, why was the man only drained of his yang energy and not killed outright, as in normal ghost attack incidents?
More importantly, according to the conversation with Sergeant Song and Nan Shan Zi at the time, it was known that the blue-clothed ghost draining yang energy was not the first time.
What was the purpose of draining so much yang energy? They wouldn't need to sacrifice yang energy for the hundred ghosts night parade later, right?
Furthermore, considering the blue-clothed ghost's strength at the end, it seemed to have absorbed very little yang energy.
The first point of illogicality.