The world of A Chinese Ghost Story.
Within the Man Sui Empire, countless civil officials undergoing assessment—ranging from dozens to over a hundred individuals—swiftly occupied more than seven hundred counties of the dynasty, seizing half of its territory.
The imperial court had tried everything: surrender negotiations, bribery, gifts of money and women, and even dispatching troops to suppress them.
But those people still acted as they pleased, defying imperial authority and ignoring the law, continuing their own work.
They regarded the dynasty as nothing, and the emperor even less—gods and buddhas across the heavens meant just as little to them.
Capital City.
Wang Zhengang stood by the window on the second floor of an inn, watching a procession parading down the street below—drums beating, flutes playing, and banners waving.
The entire procession consisted of demons.
Mortal emperors—utterly useless!
The capital was practically turning into a den of monsters!
He focused his gaze on the so-called National Protector Monk hidden behind white silk curtains and threw out a scanning pulse.
Centipede spirit!
Sensing someone probing him, Pudu Cihang frowned slightly. This was not the first time such a thing had happened.
That group of soulless puppets remotely controlled from afar would always scan whenever they encountered him.
And no matter how many were destroyed, more appeared.
They had easily taken over half the realm.
However, their acts of exterminating noble families, killing landlords, and redistributing land had deeply offended the aristocracy, giving the dynasty renewed support from many of the great houses.
Of course, Pudu Cihang cared little for that.
What concerned him were the so-called Chosen Ones behind those soulless puppets.
According to the puppets, their masters were beings who combined the power of gods and emperors—individuals chosen by divinity itself.
Both deity and ruler.
Possessing power great enough to annihilate kingdoms, and the strongest among them could even destroy worlds.
Although he was a centipede spirit, Pudu Cihang had lived long enough to know how to avoid danger.
If he weren't so close to completing his transformation into a dragon—and thus bound to the dynasty's dragon qi—he would have fled long ago.
Naturally, Pudu Cihang wasn't foolish enough to believe every rumor. From other foreign spirits, he had gathered much information about these Chosen Ones. In other nations, they had gone mad with slaughter.
A single one could wipe out an entire kingdom—slaying gods, killing buddhas, and sending demons fleeing in terror.
His investigations revealed that there were five Chosen Ones within the dynasty. One of them had secretly eliminated the tree demon of Lanruo Temple.
That tree demon's cultivation was inferior to his, but to kill it silently and even leave the Black Mountain Demon powerless against them—that was no small feat.
And there were four others like that.
At present, none of them were using their true bodies. These were merely external incarnations. Killing them was meaningless.
And if their avatars were already this strong, how terrifying must their real bodies be?
Fortunately, among the dynasty's Chosen Ones, two merely observed events from afar while three roamed about without taking action—unlike the overseas ones who slaughtered everything from start to finish.
"Do it."
Wang Zhengang pulled out an exorcist-grade grenade, blessed with holy sigils, locked onto Pudu Cihang below, pulled the pin, and hurled it.
Boom—
A violent explosion erupted.
From the surrounding buildings and alleyways, soldiers armed with automatic rifles leaped out and opened fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets tore through the air along the street.
Amid the explosion, a radiant golden Buddha slowly emerged, deflecting every bullet fired at him.
"First form's been activated."
Wang Zhengang leveled his rifle at the golden Buddha that Pudu Cihang had transformed into and emptied his magazine.
"Your sins of slaughter are too heavy. Today, this humble Buddha shall deliver you from them."
Hovering in midair, the golden Buddha pressed his palms together, releasing beams of golden light. Those struck—both soldiers and commoners—instantly turned to ash.
A small invisible demon crept up behind Wang Zhengang, dagger poised for his throat. But he was ready—swiftly dodging and tackling the creature, smashing its head repeatedly with his rifle butt until it stopped moving.
When it no longer stirred, he quickly reloaded.
Boom!
The entire inn trembled.
Wang Zhengang immediately leapt from the second-floor window, rolled across the ground, and rose to his feet once more.
He fired several shots at the golden Buddha.
The bullets struck the golden, metallic body of the Buddha and bounced harmlessly away.
Seeing that his attack hadn't even pierced the defense, Wang Zhengang shouted, "No effect—prepare to use that."
"Got it."
He and his men ran while continuing to shoot.
In the distance, a sniper locked onto the enormous golden form of the Buddha and pulled the trigger repeatedly, each shot echoing through the air.
High above, Man Sui and Iron Maiden hovered, observing the battle below.
"Do you think your subordinates can actually kill him?" Iron Maiden smiled faintly. This giant centipede spirit was a formidable being among monsters.
"No," Man Sui shook her head.
She hadn't granted them access to energy weapons. Wang Zhengang and the others were still using traditional kinetic arms.
If there were no monsters or spirits involved, those weapons could have easily dominated the entire world.
"I thought as much. Hmm—they're about to detonate the thermobaric bomb."
The moment she finished speaking, a violent explosion erupted below.
A pre-positioned thermobaric bomb had been triggered. The blast wave tore through everything, flattening vast sections of buildings and streets.
Sensing the danger, Pudu Cihang immediately abandoned his golden Buddha form and burrowed underground to escape.
"He ran."
"I saw."
Man Sui wasn't surprised by this outcome.
She merely wanted to see how far these people could go.
"We should get ready as well," Iron Maiden said, lifting her gaze toward the sky, where the faint outline of heavenly palaces could be seen.
Time flowed differently in the space where the Heavenly Court resided—one day inside equaled a year in the outside world.
Within the heavens, there were countless beings far stronger than Pudu Cihang.
Soon, the Heavenly Court, Mount Ling, and other such spiritual realms would once again reconnect with the physical world.
A war between them and this world's gods and buddhas was inevitable.
"You don't plan to weaken their power first?" Iron Maiden asked.
The power of incense and faith was no secret among the Chosen Ones. Weakening deities who relied on those forces was simple—
Attack their followers.
Ban religion, destroy belief, and the gods would weaken.
"They're not our equals," Man Sui replied calmly.
The same deities and buddhas differed greatly between worlds.
The gods of this world were still like children playing with mud—an exceptionally weak version.
The Chosen Ones who had arrived here had already resolved the nations' affairs and were now gathering strength, preparing to invade this world's spiritual dimensions.
...
In a dense forest, Kiana Kaslana held a crystal flower formed from condensed Honkai energy and spoke to a white serpent as thick as a barrel.
"The moment I saw you, I fell in love with you. Come home with me—I'll take care of you."
The white serpent was stunned. This was the first time it had encountered such a person.
It flicked its forked tongue and tilted its head, staring at the white-haired girl and the glowing purple crystal flower.
It could sense that the object held great benefit for it.
After a moment, the white serpent took the initiative and swallowed the Honkai crystal flower.
In the next instant, it transformed into a girl dressed in a white gown. Two long ribbons coiled around her arms and draped gracefully from her sleeves to the ground. Her legs were shapely, her figure marked by soft, feminine curves, and her bare feet gleamed with delicate beauty.