Chapter 177
Chapter 177: Let's listen to the dragon's chant and return, and the phoenix will rise again
The next second.
Clang!
The Horse-Cleaving Blade dropped to the ground.
The Ghost Constables immediately ceased their obstruction of Guo Shuai's trio and stepped aside.
And then...
Thud!
The Corpse Captain's knees buckled, and it crashed heavily to the ground before Jiang Nan, kneeling!
It raised its bony claws and slapped itself across both cheeks twice, producing the sound of cracking bone.
It then turned around, waving its arms at the dazed Ghost Constables and paper figures behind it, pressing downward with force.
"Damn it! How could I forget the rules laid down by our ancestors! Kneel!"
"The Honored One possesses absolute privilege—he may bring as many people as he wishes!"
"From this moment on, the Honored One is our one and only sovereign!"
Rustling!
With the Captain's series of physical gestures, the entire wedding procession behind it dropped to their knees in unison.
Their bodies prostrated themselves in the mud, expressing submission to Jiang Nan.
Guo Shuai stood watching from behind, absolutely dumbstruck, his arms holding Quanquan trembling.
"What the hell, Boss…"
"Why did they suddenly start self-gaslighting?"
Han Fei also drew in a sharp breath.
Without lifting a blade or firing a single shot.
He could make the enemy submit—this was simply too formidable.
More like a bandit than even her own Plunder ability.
However.
Jiang Nan, standing in place, furrowed his brow ever so slightly.
His deep gaze passed over the kneeling Corpse Captain at the front and fell upon the rear of the procession.
Among the mass of eerie figures kneeling in the darkness, one person stood out as impossibly conspicuous.
That was Tang Sirui.
He stood there blankly in place.
Not kneeling, not moving—not even the faintest flicker in his eyes.
As though he had not received the memory alteration from 【Divine Oracle】 at all.
The Rabbit-Ear Girl beside him was anxiously tugging at his collar, trying to pull him down to kneel alongside her.
But he remained completely motionless.
"Interesting…"
Jiang Nan narrowed his eyes.
【Divine Oracle】 directly erases and reshapes cognition at the soul level—not even eerie beings should be immune to it.
Yet this man before him had rendered his Word Spirit…
ineffective.
Without a moment's hesitation, Jiang Nan activated the 【Sovereign Lantern】 at his waist.
Rattling!
Several chains burst forth from the lantern, shooting straight toward Tang Sirui who stood frozen in place!
Just as the chains were about to reach Tang Sirui's body, a small dark silhouette suddenly darted out.
The Rabbit-Ear Girl delivered a whip kick against the chains, and miraculously deflected them half an inch!
She then planted herself in front of Tang Sirui.
Yet before she could even steady herself, her vision suddenly blurred.
Jiang Nan's figure had appeared before her at some unknown moment, and one kick landed squarely in her chest.
Bang!
The Rabbit-Ear Girl flew backward and crashed into a pile of rubble over ten meters away.
Jiang Nan did not even spare her a glance. With a subtle shift of his intent, the deflected chains bent mid-air and pierced straight through Tang Sirui's chest.
Yet…
The anticipated scene of blood spraying or a soul being dragged away never came.
The chains passed as though through air, entering through Tang Sirui's front and exiting through his back.
Without causing him any tangible harm whatsoever.
Tang Sirui remained standing in place, not even lifting an eyelid.
Guo Shuai, watching from behind, looked thoroughly baffled and couldn't help scratching his head.
"What the hell? Why is this happening?"
"Is this guy a ghost or something—immune to both physical attacks and chains?"
Just then, Albert's laughing scolding suddenly rang out in his mind.
"You brainless little brat, you've got it backwards!"
"It's not that the chains can't hit a ghost—those chains are specifically designed to deal with ghosts!"
Guo Shuai grew even more confused after hearing this, and asked in his mind with only half an understanding.
"Old man, are you saying…"
"This guy with his mouth sewn shut is actually nothing but an empty shell?"
"So Boss's lantern has no effect?"
"Exactly! That is precisely what this Divine One means."
Albert replied approvingly. "Look carefully at the front end of those chains—that thing is called a Coffin Nail!"
"A special-use cursed weapon specifically designed to counter souls!"
"It can bypass all physical defenses and directly seal and pin down a soul body!"
"Combined with that chain, it's an absolute weapon of peerless power for forcibly extracting the souls of others!"
"That lantern in your Boss's hands is undoubtedly a terrifying cursed instrument capable of imprisoning the souls of all things."
"But the monster before you…"
"His soul has long since been extracted by someone else or completely dissipated."
"What remains now is nothing but a flesh puppet being controlled by someone."
"Ahhh~"
"If the body of mine that fled hadn't been occupied by another soul, it would probably be in this same condition."
"Only unfortunately… there is no 'if.'"
After hearing this, Guo Shuai kept swallowing his saliva.
"Damn! The way you put it…"
"Why does it feel like Boss is the peerless demon king who kills without blinking?!"
"What if he uses that thing on me someday…"
Albert teased from within his consciousness: "Oh? Scared?"
"Who's scared!"
Guo Shuai's neck stiffened, and rather than fear, his heart surged with wild jubilation.
"I'm freaking celebrating!"
"Think about it—if there ever comes a day when I'm about to croak and my body gets destroyed, Boss can use that lantern to lock my soul inside it!"
"That way, wouldn't I essentially be alive again in a different form?!"
"Hahaha! With Boss as my safety net, I never have to fight with my tail between my legs again!"
"Straight into mad-dog mode!"
Albert listened to Guo Shuai's roundabout survival theory, the corner of his mouth twitching nonstop.
"All I can say is—only you could think that."
……
At this moment, Jiang Nan was reaching out and patting Tang Sirui's cheek.
As the one who had cast the Word Spirit, he understood more clearly than anyone what had just happened.
Inside the shell before him, there was simply no soul.
That was why 【Divine Oracle】 had failed.
It was like trying to use correction fluid to alter text on a document.
Only to find the paper had not a single word on it to begin with—how was one supposed to change anything?
Just as Jiang Nan withdrew his hand, his gaze suddenly froze.
Moonlight reflected off a ring, allowing Jiang Nan to see a line of text on the middle finger of Tang Sirui's right hand.
【Huaxia Second Base·Armory】.
Jiang Nan raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Marginally counts as one of our own."
A member of a Huaxia official squad—reduced to a soulless walking corpse right here.
And mixed into Soul-Return Town's wedding procession to boot.
"How interesting."
Jiang Nan turned his head and looked toward the Rabbit-Ear Girl he had sent flying with a kick into the distance.
This thing was entirely different from the empty shell before him.
She emanated a dense death aura—clearly a genuine zombie through and through.
He strode over, grabbed the Rabbit-Ear Girl by her long ears, and lifted her single-handedly off the ground.
"Him…"
Jiang Nan pointed at Tang Sirui. "Did you do this to him?"
Upon hearing Jiang Nan's question, the Rabbit-Ear Girl suddenly stopped struggling.
She seemed to have discerned that Jiang Nan had only been testing her earlier and had no genuine intention of destroying Tang Sirui's body.
So she shook her head and spoke in halting, broken syllables.
"He… is… my… hus… band."
"I… did… not… harm… him…"
"Speak… ing… now… in… con… ven… ient…"
"Wait… un… til… Soul… Re… turn… Town…"
"I… will… ex… plain… to… you…"
Just these few short sentences.
Due to her stiffened vocal cords and the effects of zombification, it took her a full minute of labored effort to finish saying them in a drawn-out crawl.
And Jiang Nan, who pursued absolute efficiency, had his brow twitching incessantly at this sloth-like pace of speech.
"Fine."
Jiang Nan impatiently cut her off and agreed offhandedly.
The zombie Rabbit-Ear Girl let out a long breath of relief, thinking that she and her husband were finally temporarily safe.
However, the very instant she let her guard down—
Jiang Nan's right hand, which had been gripping her rabbit ears, did not release.
Instead, he directly extended the index finger of his left hand and pressed it to the very center of her forehead!
"By the Divine Word, let the soul be branded forever loyal!"
"From this moment forward—you are forbidden from telling me any lie!"
Tu Xiaowu's gaze went vacant for a moment.
She blinked.
Her dark red pupils refocused, clear as before.
She was still herself—memories intact, will intact, everything unchanged.
Only a voice had been added to her heart, very soft, very faint, like a string drawn taut in the dark.
‘You may lie to anyone—but not to him.’
"Name?"
Jiang Nan asked.
Tu Xiaowu raised her head, her rabbit ears trembling.
"Tu…"
"Xiao… wu."
Jiang Nan gave a nod.
He did not look at her again. Instead, he turned around, and his gaze swept across Guo Shuai's trio.
His expression bore nothing extra—only the slightest lift of his chin, tilting slightly in the direction of the sedan chairs.
The meaning was unmistakable: follow.
Guo Shuai understood at once, taking Quanquan by the hand and heading toward the sedan chairs.
Han Fei followed behind him.
Jiang Nan lifted the curtain of the middle sedan chair, bent down, and stepped inside.
The curtain fell, concealing his figure.
Tu Xiaowu stood in place, watching the sedan chair for a moment, then turned and walked toward the rear of the procession.
Tang Sirui was still there.
He stood in place, eyes gazing forward—toward the sedan chair whose curtain had just fallen.
Holding the bamboo pole in his hands, motionless.
Tu Xiaowu walked to his side, reached out, and touched the back of his hand.
No response.
She bit her lip, her fingers sliding down to clasp his wrist.
"Come."
She pulled him, walking a few steps forward to the right sedan chair.
She crouched down, hoisted the carrying pole onto her own shoulder, then turned her head to look at Tang Sirui.
Tang Sirui did not move.
Tu Xiaowu said nothing, only pressed his hand onto the carrying pole, prying open his fingers one by one and making him grip it.
"Carry."
Her voice was very soft, like coaxing a child who wouldn't listen.
Tang Sirui's fingers curled closed.
He gripped the carrying pole.
The movement was slow, stiff—but he had undeniably gripped it.
The Corpse Captain propped itself on that bone-carved Suona, standing at the very front of the procession, its hollow eye sockets sweeping over the newly re-assembled procession.
3 sedan chairs, 12 Ghost Constables, over a hundred eerie beings, bearers in position, musicians at their posts.
It raised a bony claw and waved.
"Lift the chairs!"
The Suona rang out.
The procession set off.
The sedan chairs departed from the ruins of the Scholar's Dojo and advanced in the direction of Soul-Return Town.
The eerie beings played their instruments in a cacophony, the Ghost Constables guarded in silence, and the honored guests within the sedan chairs said not a word.
The procession moved further and further, and was soon swallowed by the night.
Only the light of red lanterns remained—flickering on and off, growing more distant, growing smaller.
In the end, even the light disappeared.
The ruins of the Scholar's Dojo returned once more to silence.
On the cliff above.
Confucius stood there.
He gazed in the direction where the procession had vanished, gazing for a long while.
Then he spoke.
"And still the dragon sings its return…"
"The phoenix cries…"
"Its resonance, unbroken…"