164: Chapter 164 Entering the Borderland
The core logic of the resurrection ritual is simple: equivalent exchange and the severing of ties. To bring a soul back from the underworld, all photos and personal items of the deceased must be completely incinerated.
Only by completely erasing the traces of the deceased in the real world and making them thoroughly "disconnected" from the underworld can the laws of The Land of the Living and the Dead be deceived to complete the sacrifice and resurrection.
This is a key step in maintaining the stability of the barrier.
But this family clearly didn't follow the rules.
Before the ritual began, the daughter, Megan, secretly hid one of the photos instead of throwing it into the brazier because of her reluctance to let go of her father and her guilt.
This tiny bit of selfishness directly caused the barrier to fail.
After they entered the Realm of the Dead through the ritual, the professional wizard they had hired for a high price immediately became cannon fodder, torn to pieces by the monsters of the Realm of the Dead.
And worse, the rupture of the barrier allowed the evil forces of the underworld to take advantage of the opening.
Barbara not only failed to resurrect her husband but also allowed a high-level evil spirit to seize his body.
Ultimately, this resurrection ritual completely devolved into a one-sided flesh-and-blood sacrifice; the entire family was ruined by the evil spirit, and the gates of The Land of the Living and the Dead were thrown wide open in the process.
"This family is doomed," Qin Ming said, looking at the magic circle on the ground and delivering an extremely accurate judgment.
Sam stood up, looking solemnly at the circle of scorched earth emitting a chill: "If the ritual circle was broken from that side, then the things inside will continuously leak into the real world. How do we shut down this ritual now?"
Dean Winchester stood up straight: "Right, we have to end the ritual, otherwise heaven knows what kind of hellish things will crawl out of that crack."
After saying that, the two brothers turned their heads simultaneously in perfect unison, their gazes falling squarely on Qin Ming.
In their eyes, this "Son of God" who came with his own holy light and could casually turn someone into a Ghost Rider was practically a walking supernatural phenomenon processor.
Qin Ming looked at the two pairs of expectant eyes and blinked: "Why are you looking at me?"
Dean was stunned: "You don't know how to stop this thing?"
Qin Ming spread his hands and answered with complete frankness and confidence, "I don't."
The divine filter in the antique shop shattered into pieces at that moment.
Dean almost choked on his own spit. He pointed at the magic circle on the ground, his voice rising an octave: "You're a glowing deity! You're telling me you don't know how to close a crappy circle drawn by a Medium?!"
"I'm a combatant," Qin Ming shrugged nonchalantly. "Support technical work like sealing, dispelling barriers, or reverse-engineering magic circles isn't within my scope of business."
Sam rubbed his brow helplessly: "So what now? If we forcibly destroy the magic circle, will it cause any bad consequences?"
"But there is one more way," Qin Ming said, looking at the scorched earth on the ground, a hint of excitement curling the corner of his mouth.
"What way?" Dean asked immediately.
"Go in and see."
Without a moment's hesitation, Qin Ming stepped forward and walked directly into the scorched earth in the center of the magic circle that belonged to The Land of the Living and the Dead.
Qin Ming's figure seemed to be covered by a black cloth out of thin air, disappearing directly above the scorched earth.
Dean and Sam looked at each other.
"The physical salvation method," Dean's lip twitched.
Without any hesitation, the two followed in Qin Ming's footsteps and stepped into the scorched earth.
The surrounding air instantly became extremely thick and cold, like plunging headfirst into a frozen swamp.
His vision distorted for a moment, and then Qin Ming landed steadily on the ground.
Dean and Sam followed through right after. Both of them shuddered simultaneously and instinctively raised their guns.
The spatial rules here had undergone a perfect mirror reversal.
In the real world, outside the magic circle was old wooden flooring, and inside was scorched earth corroded by the aura of the Realm of the Dead.
But now, they were standing on that circular wooden floor, less than ten square meters in area—this was also the only projection and safe haven of the real world here.
Beyond the edge of the magic circle lay boundless scorched black earth.
There was no sky, no light source, only an absolute darkness so thick it almost dripped like ink, along with the nauseating smell of blood and the stench of rotting flesh in the air.
"Don't blow!" Sam suddenly shouted.
At the edge of this ten-square-meter wooden floor, a girl covered in dark red blood was kneeling on the ground.
Her eyes were swollen, her gaze was unfocused, and her whole body was shaking like a leaf.
The girl's cheeks were puffed out, aimed right at the circle of white bone ash on the ground used to maintain the barrier.
As soon as that breath was blown out, the circle of ash would break, and the magic circle would completely collapse.
The door to the real world would then be thrown wide open as well.
Hearing Sam's roar, the girl shuddered violently and turned her head stiffly.
It was Megan.
When she clearly saw the three living people who had suddenly appeared within the barrier, a glimmer of life finally emerged in those ashen eyes. "Living people... living people!"
Megan scrambled toward the three of them, grabbing the pant leg of Sam, who was closest to her. Tears mixed with the blood and grime on her face poured out frantically: "Save me! Please, take me out of here!"
Sam quickly crouched down, comforting the emotionally broken girl: "It's okay now, we're here to deal with this."
"Dead... they're all dead!" Megan gripped Sam tightly, her voice hoarse beyond recognition. "The mage had just come in when he was dragged into the darkness by something outside. He was torn to pieces before he could even finish screaming!"
She pointed into the depths of the darkness while crying: "My dad... we wanted to bring him back, but what crawled out of there wasn't him at all! That monster crawled into my dad's body. He came back to life, but he wasn't my dad... he bit through my mom's neck in one go!"
Megan clutched her head, burying her face in her knees, tearing at her hair frantically: "It's all my fault... if I hadn't hidden that photo, the ritual wouldn't have failed... it's too dark here, they're right outside, they've been laughing, waiting for the barrier to disappear..."
If it had been half a second later, Megan would have blown away the bone ash.
Dean gritted his teeth and chambered a round in his gun: "Quite the classic family tragedy. The question now is, just how many hellish things are hiding out there?"
"You'll find out soon enough," Qin Ming said casually.
"Buzz—!" The brightness of the golden halo behind Qin Ming's head suddenly soared.
If it had been a blinding searchlight in the antique shop before, now it was a miniature sun forcibly ignited in the Realm of the Dead.
The golden holy light, like a physical tsunami, instantly swept out in all directions, forcibly slicing through the thick absolute darkness and illuminating the scorched earth for a hundred meters around the barrier as bright as day.
The darkness receded.
The true scene was revealed.
"Jesus Christ..." Dean gasped.