23: Active self-help

Chapter 23: Actively Saving Himself

Inside the Shantytown, terrified screams were incessant.

On the streets, dense swarms of worms swept through like a flood, yet vanished in the blink of an eye.

On both sides of the doorframe, the chicken king and divine tiger glowed faintly. Although the two practice scrolls hadn't yet become complete scrolls, they were still made of spiritual Materials and contained considerable spirituality. At this moment, they were quietly exerting a mysterious effect.

Wu Xian calmed down from his shock, swallowing hard.

Dimensional Mirage!

It was the legendary Dimensional Mirage!

A special disaster mentioned in history textbooks, where extradimensional power invades the world in a way similar to a “mirage.”

The difference is that a mirage is just an illusion, but a Dimensional Mirage is more than just an illusion.

The probability of a Dimensional Mirage occurring is extremely low; the most recent historical record was nearly a hundred years ago.

Therefore, most of the current generation has never experienced such a disaster and does not know how to cope with it.

"Grandpa is still outside!"

Wu Xian quickly pulled out his phone, trying to contact Old Wang, but the phone signal was severely interfered with by dimensional fluctuations, making it impossible to make a call.

Although Old Wang had recovered some cultivation and had the Home Guardian Divine Tiger by his side, no one could predict the disaster brought by this Dimensional Mirage.

"How was that alarm text message sent out?"

Perhaps the official side possessed some special signal transmitting device.

"Ghost... a ghost!"

Screams from the surrounding neighbors made Wu Xian's heart pound.

Soon, a commotion came from Old Wang's house next door, "What the hell is that? I'll be damned... Ah—! Don't eat me... don't eat me... I'm already old, my meat is tough... no... not tasty!"

Wu Xian released the God of Wealth painting spirit without hesitation and leaped over the wall into the courtyard.

With a roar from the Black Tiger, the bizarre fluctuation in Old Wang's house instantly vanished into thin air.

"Old Wang, Old Wang..."

Before him, several ghostly figures vaguely floated by as if no one else was there, seemingly completely unaware of Wu Xian.

Wu Xian rushed directly into the house and soon saw Old Wang huddled in a corner, clutching his head. His aged body trembled uncontrollably, and he kept repeating, "Don't eat me... don't eat me..."

"Old Wang, don't be afraid!" Wu Xian stepped forward and patted Old Wang's back. "I'm here."

Old Wang was so startled that he stumbled and crawled away.

Wu Xian was also severely startled.

Old Wang's face was bizarrely twisted, with blood flowing from his seven orifices. A tentacle shot out from his wide-open, terrified mouth, striking directly at Wu Xian's glabella, only to be blocked by the circulating spiritual light of wealth.

Bang!

The steel whip in the God of Wealth's hand moved slightly, and a streak of electric arc flashed by.

The bizarre tentacle twitched and dissipated instantly.

A wisp of green smoke floated from Old Wang's head, and he subsequently regained normal consciousness, "Little Xianzi? What... what was that ghostly thing just now?"

"Nothing, just an illusion created by the Dimensional Mirage. Just don't take them seriously, treat it like watching a 3D movie."

Though Wu Xian said this, he was secretly feeling uneasy.

Especially the bizarre situation with Old Wang just now, which was clearly not an illusion or hallucination, but a real evil spirit.

Although it was just a first-tier minor evil spirit, it was not something ordinary people could contend with.

"Come, go to my place. My place is safer."

The neighboring Old Wangs had watched Wu Xian grow up since he was little, so they trusted Wu Xian very much.

After arriving at Wu Xian's dilapidated small courtyard, Old Wang's panic gradually subsided. The Chicken King painting and Divine Tiger painting on the door seemed to not only ward off evil spirits but also stabilize people's negative emotions.

"You stay here and don't run around. I'll go and move Old Zhang, Old Niu, and the others over too."

"Good, good, you be careful too."

Old Wang nodded obediently, also worrying about his old friends.

In one breath, he moved the surrounding elderly group of junk collectors to his home. The Old Wangs were all scared stiff, and several of them had encountered similar situations to Old Wang.

"Xianzi, where's your grandpa?" Several old friends couldn't help but ask with concern.

"He went out early this morning; I'm afraid he won't be back for a while." Wu Xian secretly sighed, "You all stay here safely and don't run around. I'm going out to find my grandpa."

After settling the Old Wangs, Wu Xian left alone.

Dimensional Mirage scenes constantly appeared before his eyes, making it difficult to see the route clearly.

One moment it was a path leading outside, the next it became a wasteland covered with insect remains, or a “mass grave” piled high with white bones.

This greatly slowed down Wu Xian's progress.

Along the way, there were screams and cries everywhere. He saved a few poor, unfortunate families, but he simply couldn't save everyone.

Looking at the corpses being devoured by countless bizarre worms, Wu Xian's heart was incredibly heavy.

Despite being illusions similar to a mirage, how did these bizarre and evil entities harm humans?

At this moment, he couldn't find the slightest clue.

Not far away, a sallow, emaciated mother held her child's eyes, curled up in a corner formed by stacked scrap metal.

"Don't be afraid, baby, Mama's here..."

But the fear on the mother's face intensified, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

Vaguely, the nearby evil spirits, acting as if no one else was present, seemed to sense something and slowly approached the mother and child.

Traces of bizarre Qi also began to gather around the mother.

"Is it related to the emotion of fear?"

Wu Xian watched this scene from afar, muttering to himself.

Beside him, the God of Wealth immediately launched a lightning spell, and the bizarre Qi that had just gathered instantly dispersed.

After much hesitation, Wu Xian took out painting paper and a brush, and on a practice sheet, he drew a Chicken King and a Divine Tiger on the spot. He then folded the paper and handed it to the mother.

"Don't be afraid, this painting will protect you."

Looking at the folded paper shimmering with faint light in her hand, the mother felt a rare sense of peace and security. She immediately knelt down and bowed to Wu Xian in gratitude, "Thank you, sir... Thank you, sir..."

Wu Xian did not respond, but quietly left.

Soon after, he summoned the Chicken King, once again transforming into a rooster knight.

Activating two scrolls simultaneously consumed a considerable amount of spiritual power, but fortunately, with the Laurel Tree acting as a power bank, he didn't have to worry about running out of Qi.

Thus, hindered by the annoying obstructions of the Dimensional Mirage, he advanced towards the outskirts of the Shantytown.

Along the way, he casually rescued some poor, low-income people.

Fortunately, the residents of the Shantytown had already begun actively saving themselves. Some people with spiritual abilities voluntarily took charge. Although they lacked the blessings of scrolls, they could still manage to cope with some bizarre situations.

In the sky, the bizarre dimensional rift became increasingly twisted and chaotic, like a terrifying eye watching everything.

"Go, go, keep up!"

"As long as we escape to the city, we'll be safe."

Waves of refugees were heading in the same direction as Wu Xian.

Upon seeing Wu Xian, they silently followed near him, perhaps feeling safer that way.

However, not long after the crowd exited the Shantytown, they were blocked by a chilling barrier of light. On the other side of the barrier was the relatively safe Three Calamities Post old city district.

"What's going on? Is it a lockdown?"

"It's not a plague, why a lockdown?"

"Haha," many people chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Perhaps they're afraid that us poor devils will swarm into the city?"

Wu Xian was thoroughly disgusted by this scene. Although he had no intention of seeking refuge in the city, he was equally repulsed to his core by the official's “discriminatory treatment.”

In the face of disaster, the ugliness and clear class distinctions of the current world were fully exposed.

Crucially, Grandpa Wu Mingchang was still over there, but he couldn't get through now.

"Dao, you son of a gun!"

Thousands of emotions condensed into a traditional greeting.

But even more critical was that despair had begun to spread among the crowd, and more and more refugees were constantly gathering in this direction.