I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 391 - 355: Edge of the Ghost Realm

Sang Que rode the flower sedan day and night nonstop, advancing southwest based on the concentration of the Evil Mist.

What he saw along the way, Sang Que could only describe as shocking, with corpses strewn everywhere and spirits running rampant.

Within the Evil Mist that covered the land, Evil Spirits and evil ghosts appeared frequently without distinguishing between day and night.

There were Evil Spirits that Sang Que did not know the names of, dispersing like a flock of Blood Crows, transforming into black hellhounds upon landing, gathering in groups to tear at corpses by the roadside.

Granny Yin also wandered through villages, searching for and devouring children’s bones.

On the battlefields where two armies clashed, rivers of blood flowed and blue phosphorous fires illuminated soldiers and officers who turned into Evil Spirits after death, their bodies covered in blood, pierced with arrows, wandering aimlessly in the wilderness in groups.

They occasionally appeared nearby without warning and vanished inexplicably, not causing much harm, but always appearing in groups, startlingly frightening.

Sang Que also encountered many ghosts rarely seen, such as starving ghosts with emaciated bent bodies and mouths as small as pinholes, squatting at various crossroads, swarming towards the flower sedan as it passed by.

In the past, starving ghosts would only appear on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, when families would burn paper and offer food at crossroads to commemorate deceased relatives, attracting starving ghosts to fight over the offerings.

Anyone who forgot to commemorate their deceased relatives within three generations might find starving ghosts appearing in their home at night, consuming people.

Starving ghosts were also on the fourth layer, not something the Red Umbrella Ghost could easily disperse with a wave of its umbrella. It chased Sang Que for a long while before he managed to shake it off, thanks to the Yin Child’s intervention, who obstructed them for a time and dismembered a bloody piece from one of the starving ghosts.

The stomach bag of a starving ghost, a one-time use yin object, capable of instantly swallowing a person or ghost no stronger than the fourth layer, at the cost of feeling near deathly hunger for seven days afterward, weak and unable to alleviate it through eating.

Suddenly encountering a swarm of starving ghosts wasn’t the most thrilling part of the journey; the most thrilling was just after nightfall, when the flower sedan passed straight through a mountain. After passing through, Sang Que saw a village in the gray mist, from which many eerie trees grew.

Trees sprouted from corpses, breaking through houses in the village, with bodies half-exposed on trunks and branches as bare as white bones, devoid of leaves, with tips hanging blue-white ’fruits’ resembling infants’ heads.

As Sang Que appeared in the village, all the ’fruits’ opened their blood-red eyes, staring at her while emitting a chilling laughter.

Sang Que dared not be careless for a moment, taking just a second to retract the flower sedan and enter the Hidden Realm using her embroidered shoes to temporarily avoid them.

Then in the Hidden Realm, she saw an even larger and more terrifying corpse tree, as if the tree itself grew from the Hidden Realm to the outside. Fortunately, this time the large corpse tree was some distance away from her. Sang Que instantly teleported far away, returning outside to continue her journey.

In the Deceit Dynasty, one should absolutely not indulge in unnecessary curiosity, regardless of what it is or whether she can handle it; it’s best not to explore it.

Beyond the thrilling sights, Sang Que also saw several Taoist temples and monasteries, where the fog was relatively thin, and there was smoke, indicating the presence of living people.

Having traveled the whole night, Yin Child sat atop the sedan, keeping watch, as Sang Que leaned inside to rest. Near dawn, as Sang Que shifted due to discomfort, she opened her eyes to see Yin Child’s head dangling down from the sedan roof, staring at her with blood-red Ghost Eyes, intently fixed on her.

The scene was quite terrifying.

Sang Que snapped awake instantly, pulling aside the sedan curtain to find herself in a chaotic burial mound, with bodies wrapped in straw mats by the roadside and a few scattered, half-open coffins. Occasionally, a hand would stretch out suddenly to try and tear at the passing flower sedan.

With the speed of the flower sedan, passing through such a burial mound should take only a few seconds, but after observing for over a minute, Sang Que sensed the flower sedan was meandering within the burial ground.

Sang Que instructed the Red Umbrella Ghost to stop, bending to step out of the sedan.

The Evil Mist here was already extremely thick, just a bit stronger would qualify as the Ghost Realm, indicating this might be the edge of the vast Ghost Realm, large enough to cover all of Qinzhou.

Yin Child appeared beside Sang Que, also looking around. From a toppled coffin by the roadside, a hand suddenly reached out, grabbing Yin Child’s hand. Yin Child looked down, and from a hole in its abdomen, a green hand stretched out, yanking the coffin’s hand off, raising it for a glance before casually tossing it aside.

Seeing this, the other coffins around instantly behaved, and as Sang Que walked by, no hands reached out to grab at her.

Walking a bit further casually, Sang Que began to notice corpses clad in armor by the roadside. Despite their bodies being highly decayed, their armor was merely bloodstained, but still bore the emblem belonging to Jingzhou.

The further she walked, the more such corpses appeared, exclusively soldiers from Jingzhou.

This suggested that they were nearing the main forces of Jingzhou. It’s possible that within the depths of the Ghost Realm was the battlefield, where the Sixth Level Yin Walking General Qiu Wanjun from Jingzhou might be found.

Sang Que had learned from the Puppet Master Chu Mo Wei that the Ghost Opera Troupe currently only had the Class Leader, who might possess the strength of the Sixth Level or approaching the Seventh. The leaders of the Martial Arts and Music Department were nearing the Fifth Level, with the rest being the fourth level and below.

But just possessing the strength approaching the seventh level might not be sufficient to create such a vast Ghost Realm; Yin Child’s battle with Jeouzhou’s Yin Walking General Cao Huiyuan only covered the entire Fengning City. Surely other reasons must be contributing to the formation of this Ghost Realm.

Sang Que hesitated only for a moment before deciding to explore inside.

Seeking wealth through danger, if Sang Que could not retrieve the Yin Child’s tongue this time, Yin Child undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to break through to the Sixth Level in the future. As for the Deceitful Bride, although she was slightly stronger than Yin Child for now, she clearly wasn’t as ’smart.’ Intelligence also signifies potential.

Just as Sang Que was pondering which direction to take to enter the expansive interior of the Ghost Realm, a robust operatic singing voice suddenly echoed from deep within the chaotic burial mound.

"So it’s you——alienating us from Yunzhou——if I’m not mistaken, that Puppet Master should have been captured by you!"

Suddenly, a fierce wind arose, mist churned, and paper flags atop the desolate graves rustled loudly. In the distance appeared a dilapidated opera stage, upon which three martial artists stood, glaring angrily towards Sang Que.

Upon later learning, Sang Que discovered the categories of martial artists.

In the middle, occupying the main position, backed by four flags, with long black mustache, wielding a Big Gate Saber, and possessing the demeanor of a general was the Long Robed Martial Artist.

To the left stood another martial artist in short attire, holding dual sabers, agile and nimble, known as the Short Fighting Martial Artist.

Another dressed flamboyantly in yellow garb, acting wildly like a monkey from a Monkey Opera, flipping occasionally was the Flipping and Pouncing Martial Artist.

"Today, I’ll use your head to honor the Opera God, helping me step into the rank of Leader!"

Currently, these martial artists need only perform one more martial arts opera and take a person’s head, blood-sacrificing to the Opera God to officially step into the Fifth Level.

Before Sang Que could make a move, the entire opera stage, along with the martial artists on it, suddenly vanished. In an instant, the stage had sprouted from under Sang Que’s feet, with three martial artists charging in a three-directional assault.

As the gong echoed, the grand opera commenced!