Chapter 14: Lamps of All Lives, Sick Domain!
Jiang Yan was speechless—it couldn’t be that he had a hidden Historical Talent: Tang Sanzang meat?
Otherwise, how else could he explain… encountering the Corpse-Dissolution Court by day and another one appearing by night?
It couldn’t be that the Luck Goddess favoured him again?
Indeed, the Chen Yu before him—or rather, the thing inhabiting her body—was a diseased organism.
Having just refined the Lamp of Ashes, Jiang Yan peered through the peephole and saw two lamps entwined on her body.
One burned with a dim dark-red flame, on the brink of being extinguished.
The other glowed a fierce ink-green, its lamp body grotesque, covered in white hair like bone-clinging maggots desperately latched onto the red lamp.
They sucked life energy greedily.
Why was such a monster present in the mortal realm?
Even Commander Lu, due to lacking an anchor in the modern world, had been forcibly pulled back into deep history.
He had lived many years without many bizarre incidents—and those he’d encountered belonged to secret cults like the Rice God of Wealth Church—suggesting diseased organisms were much rarer than imagined.
So his first reaction upon seeing this thing was…
This creature was likely backed by an organization!
And a powerful one at that.
Could it be… Pan’an County had become a demon’s lair?
To be cautious, Jiang Yan gave her one chance: don’t mess with him.
But she persisted and came in anyway, which meant…
She’d already targeted him!
In that case, Jiang Yan wouldn’t hold back. He opened the door, prepared to subdue her fully and then interrogate her.
He didn’t expect…
“So weak!”
Jiang Yan looked puzzled at this diseased being, whose head he held in his grasp. If he hadn’t held back, he nearly crushed her on the spot.
Her strength… wasn’t even half that of the Vajravārāhī cavalry.
But it made sense—Vajravārāhī cavalry were no joke.
They were the regular troops of the Corpse-Dissolution Court, empowered by the Vajravārāhī Seal, possessing powerful physiques and eight severed-limb hooves. They could scale walls and move with terrifying agility.
Fewer than thirty modern special tactics soldiers might not be able to take one of them.
As for Commander Lu, he was a fortress unto himself.
Of course, this considered how ordinary people misunderstood extraordinary powers and didn’t react well.
If high-calibre firepower were used, then disregard what he said.
Yet even from the name, Commander Lu was only a mid-tier officer of the Court.
Hard to imagine the power wielded by the ruler of the Corpse-Dissolution Court.
“This creature is covered in white fur, kind of like one of those legendary… demons?” Jiang Yan inspected her and drew that conclusion.
In folklore circles, goblins, demons, and monsters fell into four categories.
‘Yao’ (demon) were forged by humans: humans turned demonic, or animals taking human form—like fox demons or human-like spirits.
‘Jing’ (spirit) were the essence of objects: mountains, plants, or animals not taking human form—like mountain spiders or wraith-like creatures.
‘Gui’ (ghost) were souls that lingered, appearing as spirits or phantoms—like painted skins or vengeful spirits.
‘Guai’ (monster) was a broader category covering unknown, incomprehensible beings—like the Tiangou or Baxia recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
Immortals and gods were separate from these four categories.
However, after the historical long river became diseased, these creatures could undergo earth-shattering transformations.
They couldn’t be viewed through old lenses.
One had to keep up with the times.
Jiang Yan asked, “What’s the name of the organization behind you? Where are you hiding?”
He was naturally timid—once he made enemies, he’d toss and turn all night, unable to sleep.
So why not probe the enemy’s strength? If they weren’t powerful, send them home and maybe grow some new offspring.
If they were strong, then let himself develop for a time, and when his power had risen, deal with them.
Chen Yu was utterly confused when she heard Jiang Yan's question, and she said painfully, “What organization? I really don’t know…”
“Stubborn,” Jiang Yan wasn’t surprised by her answer.
To have hidden in the modern world for so long, she must belong to an organized and well-structured evil group—one that wouldn’t make a public scene, or it would’ve already been exposed.
In that case…
Crack crack crack!
Jiang Yan coughed lightly.
The zipper on a backpack in the corner opened by itself, and thick threads of blood spilled out, rapidly forming into a terrifying blood coffin that emanated ominous energy.
Seeing this scene, Chen Yu became even more certain…
This guy was definitely some great demon wearing human skin.
The burial coffin slowly opened, and thousands of blood threads emerged, wrapping around Chen Yu and, under her terrified gaze, dragging her into its dark interior.
Deathly stillness… silence…
But her body wasn’t attacked.
This made “Chen Yu” breathe a sigh of relief and even sneer inwardly—it was just imprisonment, nothing serious.
But she didn’t realize…
In the darkness, the Eye of the Burial Coffin had already opened and was silently watching her.
The aura of death gradually spread.
Back in Room 401, by the time Jiang Yan came out from his shower, the Coffin Spirit informed him that “Chen Yu” had already submitted and was willing to confess everything.
He wasn’t surprised at all.
Because the Burial Coffin’s strongest ability wasn’t the blood threads or white bones, but—
Burial!
Once suppressed inside the coffin, one would fall under the gaze of the Coffin Spirit’s eye, losing all sense of time, experiencing endless darkness… eternal silence…
And the sensation of death!
They could feel their body slowly dissolving, decaying, until they turned to dust.
For the dead, it was peace—a return to the cycle of life—but for any intelligent and emotional being, it was supreme torment.
Crack!
The coffin lid opened.
“Chen Yu” staggered out, her eyes vacant.
When she saw Jiang Yan, she first froze, then showed an expression of horror, her body trembling uncontrollably.
She had no idea how long she had been confined—years… or decades—but no matter what, she never wanted to go through that again.
It was truly a fate worse than death!
Jiang Yan looked down at her, continuing to apply psychological pressure, and said coldly:
“Speak. Why did you target me?”
He remembered what the Rice God of Wealth Church woman had said: that he possessed abundant spiritual sensitivity.
Could it be that he emitted some aura that attracted these diseased lifeforms?
Or perhaps extraordinary lifeforms shared some unique sense of each other, drawing them together?
If that were true, he would need to acquire some skills to hide his presence, or else risk attracting high-level diseased entities.
As he pondered this, Chen Yu replied:
“Because… you’re handsome.”
Jiang Yan slowly typed out a “?”
Is it you who has a problem, or is it me?
Is it wrong to be good-looking?
If that were true, then he must indeed be deeply sinful, bearing the guilt of this world!
Still… Jiang Yan squinted, wondering if this woman was mocking him.
But after a thorough interrogation, he realized—
She wasn’t lying!
This diseased organism had no backing, and Pan’an County hadn’t become a demon’s nest.
But her origin was no small matter.
Because she had escaped from a sick domain ruled by a powerful lifeform!
This was her first time coming into the mortal realm, and before this, she couldn’t have imagined that such a prosperous and beautiful world existed.
After arriving in the mortal realm, it did initially consider turning over a new leaf and living quietly among humans.
But alas, human flesh and blood were simply too enticing.
Friend, you smell so good!
Hidden among them, it had to inhale the scent daily without being able to eat—this extreme hunger nearly drove it mad.
Moreover, as demons and monsters from the past, if they lacked sufficient flesh and blood to anchor themselves, they could very likely be dragged back into the historical long river.
It didn’t want to return to that nightmarish place.
So it resolved to hunt again—after all, in this era, humans were abundant, and a few missing wouldn’t be noticed.
To stay safe, it moved to a new location after every feeding, and to avoid the surveillance networks like a net in the sky, it never took roads—only mountain paths.
A real-life version of “crossing mountains and rivers to eat you”!
As for why it chose young men, it wasn’t because they had stronger life force—it was simply because…
It was lustful.
It liked handsome men to satisfy its own desires.
It had only arrived in the mountainous Pan’an County today, surrounded by peaks that offered natural cover.
Unexpectedly, not long after entering town, it saw Jiang Yan—the most handsome individual it had seen in its life.
Because the Dragon Banner and Commander Lu’s hand both carried supernatural auras, to avoid scaring pedestrians, he had used the Dark God Embryo to quietly suppress their presence, making them seem like decorations.
As a result, the monster before him hadn’t sensed any danger. Driven by desire overpowering reason, it had followed him all the way to the hotel.
Jiang Yan listened with a furrowed brow.
His understanding of supernatural knowledge wasn’t vast, but from the little information provided by the historical long river, he knew that sick domains and borderlands were not the same.
A borderland referred to when a tributary of the historical long river overlapped with the mortal realm due to disturbances—like a temporary bridge being built between two separated lands.
Through rituals to reinforce the bridge and anchor it to the present, it could be used long-term.
Or it might be washed away by the river’s currents and swept back into deep history.
As for a sick domain, it was formed when pathological changes deepened in the historical long river—like cancer cells proliferating in a patient’s body, disturbing time and forming unique micro-worlds, i.e., “tumors.”
The downside was that massive numbers of monsters would gather there, sinking into the depths of history to form huge lairs. The upside was, because of their size, it was harder for them to descend into the real world compared to individual diseased beings.
But these sick domains greedily absorbed power from the historical long river and continued to mutate. If left unchecked, they would grow stronger and could clog the tributaries or even the main river.
The illness of the historical long river would worsen, becoming increasingly twisted and affecting the real world.
Eventually…
The historical long river could potentially be replaced by these “tumors.”
What would happen then?
Jiang Yan didn’t know—and he didn’t want to see that day come.
This monster before him had claimed to escape from a sick domain and, after climbing just a few mountains, had fled into a nearby county.
Didn’t this mean…
That there was a sick domain not far from Pan’an County—one that was currently or had already connected with the present world?