Chapter 404

Chapter 404: Under the Abyss

Just as the two people had anticipated, every time they descended to a certain depth, they would encounter a new Headless Guardian Deity.

Moreover, inside each Guardian Deity, there were numerous lost souls, negative emotions, and a Yamata no Orochi.

The types of lost souls were diverse. Apart from the premature children and fallen soldiers they had seen before, there were also those who drowned, died from illnesses, earthquakes, bullying, and traffic accidents.

After understanding this, Chu Jiang and the others no longer attempted to touch the Guardian Deity. They would only break free from the cycle whenever they encountered one.

After passing at least twenty-one Guardian Deities, Chu Jiang and Soga Hayayuki finally reached the bottom of the Ghost Abyss.

No, it couldn’t be called the bottom because they didn’t know how deep it went. However, they could no longer continue descending.

It was already several kilometers deep here, with almost no light. Chu Jiang and Soga Hayayuki could only see a deep black "ocean" when they looked down.

This ocean was far from calm. It presented a swaying motion, and faces of all ages and ethnicities appeared on the surface: yellow, white, and black.

The only commonality was that all these faces displayed various negative emotions – fear, pain, sadness, helplessness – and even a tangle of different feelings, distorting their features.

In this dark ocean, there is a huge thing floating, and it is a head!

To be more precise, it is the head of a Guardian Deity statue.

Even though it is the head of the Guardian Deity Bodhisattva, it looks like the head of a Buddha; it has a calm expression, tightly closed eyes, just like a baby, floating in the amniotic fluid of its mother’s womb.

At the moment Chu Jiang saw this dark ocean, he felt like he couldn’t breathe; and when he looked at the head of the Guardian Deity, he felt an intense sense of foreboding, what in the world is this spooky thing??

Soga Hayayuki’s face turned pale, her eyes couldn’t hide the expression of astonishment, she couldn’t understand as well, is this the true form of that S-class ghost? Or is it a collection of all the heads of the Headless Guardian Deity?

Hayayuki looked at Chu Jiang, and Chu Jiang just frowned and said, "The true form of the ghost, it should still be Ghost Abyss itself."

"But this head… it’s eerie, perhaps it’s just another reflection of Ghost Abyss’s instincts, like the Yamata no Orochi before it; but there’s also a possibility that Ghost Abyss is creating a body for itself that can move freely."

"So what should we do? We need to at least destroy this head, right? Otherwise, if Ghost Abyss invades the outside world through the Guardian Deity, our country will face a catastrophic disaster."

After Soga Hayayuki finished speaking, she added, "We can also do this at Peaceful Spirit Garden. Captain Chu, thank you for your hard work this time."

Obviously, she also knew that the promise she made earlier couldn’t make Chu Jiang take such a big risk.

Chu Jiang shook his head, "If we can achieve great results by dealing with this skull alone, it’s worth taking a chance."

"But the problem now is that once we attack the skull, it could cause disturbances in the negative ocean below. I believe you also know how serious the consequences could be."

Soga Hayayuki frowned, and after a while, she said, "So, this time we can only temporarily retreat?"

Speaking to herself, she said, "This operation cannot be considered a failure, at least we have obtained very important information; even the illusion-making demon sword has been taken away, the next time we come in will be easier."

Chu Jiang thought for a moment, "I will make one last attempt, if it fails, then we will retreat first and discuss later."

Looking at the restless ocean below, Chu Jiang took out a sealed pottery jar.

Inside it was a special and powerful ghost that possessed the ability to hypnotize, literally putting the ghost in a deep sleep.

Last time, in order to compete with Belfast for ownership of this ghost, Chu Jiang didn’t hesitate to temporarily entrust a hard-earned diary page to Sister Bel for safekeeping.

Soga Hayayuki was curious, "Is this an item from the Nine Provinces? What does Captain Chu plan to do?"

On this island, they use a special seal stone produced by the Peaceful Spirit Garden to suppress restless spirits. In their history, they also have legends of using the "Life-Taking Stone" to seal away the nine-tailed fox spirit, Yukionna.

"It’s simple. Since a direct seal won’t work, let’s try to make the Ghost Abyss fall back into slumber. Even if we can’t fully achieve it, we can at least reduce its activity and shrink its range."

As Chu Jiang spoke, he uncovered a Protective Talisman on the jar, revealing a pale woman’s hand.

In the hand, there was a delicate square music box. As it was freed from the seal, its fingers twitched, showing signs of gradually opening the palm.

Chu Jiang’s eyes turned blood red, and he quickly used the abilities of a tethered spirit on the Music Box Ghost, trying to temporarily control it and make it his own.

But unexpectedly, even though the mark was successfully made, once the supernatural power from the White Tiger Fury seeped into the music box, it gradually transitioned from being active to being dormant.

Furthermore, this seemed to stimulate the Music Box Ghost, as it started to revive at an accelerated pace. Not only did its fingers fully open, but the lid of the music box also showed signs of wanting to open.

Chu Jiang quickly changed his strategy, and a sun-shaped flame wheel appeared around him. Large amounts of black flames surged out from his right hand, carrying the power of memes to swiftly invade the music box.

But right after that, something happened that worried Chu Jiang!

The black flames infiltrated and the voices inside the music box that said "We will live forever in heaven" gradually fell silent. Even inside the music box, there could faintly be heard a soothing and melancholic tune, as if someone was holding a funeral…

Soga Hayayuki was taken aback and unconsciously moved back.

She roughly guessed what kind of power this was, but she never expected that Chu Jiang wouldn’t seal it somewhere, carefully using a hint of hypnotic power that naturally leaked out. Instead, he carried it with him everywhere, and even tried to control it so recklessly.

Seeing the Music Box Ghost about to fully revive, Chu Jiang clenched his teeth and reluctantly took out the Ghost Diary.

He almost forgot how twisted this ghost was, even able to suppress the power of sleep talking. Controlling it seemed to be not so easy.

"You’re getting off easy." Chu Jiang muttered, then he opened the latest page and forcefully stuffed the music box, which still had its lid partially closed, inside along with his hand.

This time, the Ghost Diary finally showed some reaction. It was no longer as discreet as before. On the diary, it felt like the gateway to death had opened, emitting an invisible sense of horror.

And this time, it was different from before. Even though the Music Box Ghost was clearly swallowed up, the melodious music not only could be heard from the diary, but it was even clearer than before.