382: resentment

"Damn it... son of a..."

When Li Chengqian woke up, he was on the verge of a breakdown. He roared at the sky, "Damn you, Darwin! Are you ever going to finish? If you have the guts, come out! I'll fight you to the death!"

That's right. After experiencing successive meteorite crises, this time, something different finally arrived.

An earthquake. That's right, an earthquake!

And this wasn't just any ordinary earthquake; it was an earthquake as if the sky was collapsing and the earth was sinking. This earthquake even plunged the entire Chang'an into Hell, and then the whole city rebooted!

Everyone on the city walls was still in a daze. Only Wu Zhen was looking at the sky absent-mindedly, then looked inside the city, revealing a trace of confusion.

"Senior Brothers, have you felt it? The Resentment in this city is getting heavier and heavier!"

Wu Zhen suddenly blurted out.

"Hmm? Resentment?"

Pigsy suddenly turned around to look, and seeing the direction Wu Zhen was staring at, he couldn't help but be shocked.

Practitioners are very sensitive to various auras, especially negative ones. Right now, throughout the entire city of Chang'an, a faint black aura was slowly rising from the houses of every household, evaporating upwards bit by bit.

Seen individually, it seemed insignificant, but if these black auras were gathered together, I believe it would be much thicker than the black smoke produced by burning coal.

"It really is... Resentment!"

Pigsy said in a deep voice, "We're in trouble now!"

"Elder Zhu, what is Resentment?"

Li Jing, who was on the side, couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that kind of Resentment produced when the spirits of the dead cannot be reincarnated?"

"Generally speaking, Resentment is indeed produced by spirits that cannot be reincarnated. Either they suffered injustice while alive, or they died prematurely with unfulfilled wishes, thus generating Resentment. Once Resentment is generated, it turns into a vengeful spirit. Vengeful spirits harbor resentment and anger, and when they see ordinary living beings, they treat them as enemies and slaughter them. Slaughtering living beings then generates more Resentment, which makes the vengeful spirit even more fierce and evil. In this way, it becomes a vicious cycle, endless!"

Pigsy said in a deep voice, "However, there is another situation that can cause living people to generate Resentment: when a monarch is unkind, greedy, and tyrannical, causing people to live in misery and complaints to fill the streets. Resentment will constantly breed among the people, leading to endless evil in the world!"

Li Chengqian's breath hitched, and he smiled bitterly helplessly: "Elder Zhu, although I haven't been emperor for long, I am not a tyrannical ruler. This... how should the current situation be explained?"

With Luck protecting his body, Li Chengqian could more or less see the existence of some Resentment, so he couldn't help but say helplessly.

"It's simple!"

Pigsy said in a deep voice, "These people have all been dragged into a dream by some kind of spell or Formation. Although their physical bodies are still alive, they have experienced countless hellish situations in their sleep, which is equivalent to dying countless times... And every 'death' accumulates a certain amount of Resentment. Once it crosses a certain threshold, the Resentment will become heavier and heavier, causing the living people in the entire Chang'an city to turn into half-dead, half-alive living dead. At that time, it will evolve into a huge catastrophe..."

"Then what should we do?"

Li Chengqian smiled bitterly helplessly, "The entire Chang'an is now trapped in a nightmare. How can this situation be resolved?"

"Don't worry, we still have time!"

Wu Zhen suddenly said, "I just made a rough estimate. From when we solved the meteorite threat to just now when we experienced the earthquake again, it was less than half an hour in total... Right now, we still have time to discuss countermeasures!"

"No... that's not how the time is calculated!"

Yuchi Gong smiled bitterly, "Little Master, you don't know, when we first experienced the meteorite impacts, the interval between each one was also about half an hour, but this time... it will shorten bit by bit!"

"That's right!"

Qin Shubao said, "Each time the time will be shortened by half. If we can't think of a way, the second earthquake will probably not be too far away!"

"Unless we find a way to wake everyone up, but in this kind of realistic dream, even we might not necessarily have a way to wake up directly!"

Sha Wujing rarely spoke, but he always hit the nail on the head.

"We can think about solutions slowly, but the next earthquake crisis is imminent..."

Pigsy said in a deep voice, "We must find a way. We cannot let the Resentment increase again. I can imagine that in the real world now, Chang'an city must have already begun to be filled with Resentment..."

Everyone was at a loss. Suddenly, Little White Dragon Ao Lie jumped up from the crowd, holding a long spear, like a silver-white missile, and rushed towards a certain direction outside the city wall.

"What is he going crazy about again?"

Wu Zhen couldn't help but say with a strange look on her face.

"He seems to have discovered something. Let's follow and see!"

Several people flew up, only to see Little White Dragon Ao Lie had already crashed into the ground. Amidst the terrifying impact, the entire city wall shook. Immediately afterwards, the place where Ao Lie stood was frozen, and the ground for hundreds of meters around was suddenly frozen into a huge ice surface.

"Lie Lie, what did you discover?"

Wu Zhen couldn't help but ask.

"I... just saw a figure emerge from the soil, and then it disappeared, so I just gave this place a hard hit!"

Ao Lie said in a deep voice, "The ground here for hundreds of meters down has been frozen by my cold energy!"

"In other words, the guy you saw is also sealed underneath?"

Pig Wuneng pursed his lips and said, "It seems that guy is very likely one of the culprits!"

"Whether it is or not, we'll know if we wait and see. If Chang'an city doesn't sink again, it means that guy is the mastermind!"

Sha Wujing suddenly squatted down, knocked on the ice, and frowned, "I suddenly thought of a strange thing. Why can we still use our spells and weapons in the dream?"

Everyone was suddenly dazed!

"If the other party wants to turn this place into Hell and create Resentment..."

Wu Zhen frowned and said, "They would very likely place a Seal on all of our abilities. The other party can create such a vast world in the dream, and it is so realistic, I believe they wouldn't be unable to do this!"

"Hehe, then you've guessed wrong. Those guys might really not be able to do it!"

In mid-air, a golden figure suddenly expanded from a point of light and instantly turned into the appearance of Tang Ku. His figure appeared in a semi-transparent state, floating there!

"Master!"

Everyone spoke in unison, but they heard Pigsy say, "Have you also entered the dream?"

But they saw Tang Ku shake his head slightly and say: "You are wrong about two things. First, this is just a strand of my Divided Soul; I am not here myself. Second, this is not a dream, but... the real world!"