Metaphysics Live Stream, Going Viral Across the Internet Ch. 16

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Hearing Ma Xi's voice, Shen Huo turned around and saw the door separating them from the group of monsters, covered with some flowing, brush-stroke-like talisman symbols.

He stepped forward and sniffed gently. A strong metallic blood smell mixed with a faint fragrance came through.

"It's blood and cinnabar," Shen Huo said plainly.

Hearing Shen Huo mention blood, Ma Xi, already on the verge of collapse, immediately asked, "Blood? Whose blood?"

Shen Huo said, "It should be some kind of animal blood. Looks like it's meant to stop something from coming in or going out."

He recalled the info he found: under the ghost city used to be a graveyard, and there once appeared a man-eating evil spirit suppressed by Taoist priests at the surface.

Could this be the thing suppressing the evil spirit?

"It's probably to keep the monsters behind the door out," Wu Tong said. "If you think about it like that, maybe we're safe!"

The two girls exchanged a glance, relief flashing in their eyes.

But Shen Huo didn't feel that way.

Looking carefully, the entire door was covered with talisman symbols written in cinnabar mixed with blood. At first glance, the talismans looked really eerie.

He felt uneasy.

Cinnabar was supposed to ward off evil and bad luck, but on this door, he didn't feel safe—in fact, his mood tightened.

Those ghost-like creatures weren't afraid of anything, so why did their bodies wither quickly after crossing the door?

Shen Huo turned and looked behind him, seeing a towering, magnificent palace.

"Boom!"

A bolt of lightning flashed by, revealing the plaque on the palace.

"Taiyin Palace."

"What's that place?"

"The palace of the ghost city's ruler, the legendary Fengdu's Great Emperor!"

The Great Emperor of Fengdu Northern Yin — legend said he was the incarnation of the Northern Polar Ziwei Emperor of the central heavens, the most mysterious existence in the underworld.

He manages the underworld bureaucracy, commanding the six heavens of Luofeng beneath Fengdu and the six heavens' ghosts and gods.

And Fengdu imprisoned all unforgivable evildoers, wicked villains, and all kinds of demons and monsters...

This underworld god was feared by evil ghosts.

While Shen Huo was distracted, the main door suddenly opened by itself, making all three shiver.

Wu Tong looked at Shen Huo and quietly asked, "Is this welcoming us in?"

Shen Huo rolled his eyes.

'The gates to hell, and you want to go in?'

'This sister's something else.'

Shen Huo stepped aside to let Wu Tong go first.

Wu Tong kept backing up, "I'm just kidding, just kidding."

Shen Huo shook his head and stepped through the palace doors.

As soon as they entered, the two girls screamed in fright at the fierce statues inside.

Shen Huo, with ears still ringing, silently moved away from them.

Outside, the palace was grand and imposing; inside, the beams and carvings were exquisite.

This was the main hall where the Northern Yin Great Emperor interrogated criminals. Besides his own statue, there were statues of several other six heavens ghost gods.

The statues were vivid and lifelike—at first glance, almost alive.

The two girls, already jittery, couldn't help but be scared.

Shen Huo looked up at the tall central statue, majestic and forbidding, warning the living to stay away.

Its eyes half-closed, like a god watching over the mortal world.

Shen Huo stood beneath the statue, saw some incense nearby, lit three sticks, and bowed to the statue.

Then, he closed his eyes, knelt before the statue, and kept his back straight, looking exactly like a believer praying sincerely to a god.

The whole routine was smooth, like he did it all the time.

Wu Tong couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "Shen Huo, is Fengdu's Great Emperor the deity you believe in?"

"Yeah."

Shen Huo gently nodded his head.

His beautiful peach blossom eyes opened, still burning with a faint, lingering passion.

Believing in the Great Emperor of Fengdu?

Wu Tong couldn't help but feel curious.

Because of their different professions, people in their line of work worship the God of Wealth or various gods and Buddhas, but very few believed in underworld gods.

Shen Huo, this idol, actually believed in the Great Emperor of Fengdu?

The thought of Shen Huo's house being filled with pictures of the Great Emperor of Fengdu made Wu Tong want to laugh.

Facing Wu Tong's confusion, Shen Huo didn't say much.

He inserted all three incense sticks into the censer, and the smoke slowly rose.

But before he could turn around, the incense sticks snapped in half at the middle, the break looking strange—three long and two short.

"?"

Compared to Shen Huo's confusion, Wu Tong was more startled.

"The incense broke? What's going on? Could it be that the deity doesn't accept your offering?"

"Impossible!"

Shen Huo denied Wu Tong's words.

He had done this incense-offering ritual countless times before—why wouldn't it work this time?

Puzzled, he took out three more sticks and repeated the exact same action, but the incense still broke into three long and two short.

The place fell into silence.

The candles inside the main hall went out instantly, and the temperature dropped suddenly.

The two girls hugged each other for warmth, nervously watching Shen Huo persistently repeating the same motion, no matter how many times he placed the incense, it kept breaking in half.

It was as if, somewhere unseen, someone was deliberately snapping them.

Shen Huo's beautiful peach blossom eyes darkened, his invisible dog ears drooping like a big dog abandoned by its owner.

Anyone who saw him couldn't help but want to come over and comfort him.

After all, who didn't like a handsome boy?

Wu Tong stepped forward and gently comforted Shen Huo, "Maybe the deity has received enough offerings for now and doesn't need more. How about trying again tomorrow?"

Shen Huo still shook his head, "I've worshiped the Great Emperor of Fengdu since I was a kid and never had this happen before. Unless... he's trying to tell me something bad is going to happen."

"Bang!"

Just as Shen Huo finished speaking, a strong gust of wind slammed the doors of the hall open.

The strange wind swept wildly through the hall, blowing Shen Huo and the two girls around dizzy and staggering, but nothing inside the hall moved an inch.

All credit goes to the original author
Feel free to pinpoint us if there are any grammar error or typos
Please don't use Guazi's translations to re-translate in other languages

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