Twilight Boundary-Chapter 659 - 650 Human Flesh Nails

The first arrow was merely aimed at the Zhang family door, representing the Noble Zhang Family, not too lofty to reach.

But the second arrow was unexpectedly fierce and wild.

The first arrow borrowed the resentment from the City of the Dead, shaking the entire Zhang family and shortening the blessings and lifespans of the Man Clan. When the second arrow landed on the lonely grave, it suddenly summoned endless cries of ghosts and wails of gods.

The true head of the Zhang family had just been startled by the strange movements of the ancestors in the Ancestral Hall. Rushing over, he saw the scattered ancestral tablets. Amidst his uncontrollable fury, he looked northward to see a mass of dark clouds rolling in.

At that moment, even his voice of anger and rebuke was swallowed back, his gaze slipping into a distant focus. Where did this monstrous curse power come from?

In shock, he saw figures moving back and forth as servants within the clan hurried to report:

"Reporting to the Old Master, eleven of the seventeen pots of white orchid nurtured by the clan have withered in an instant..."

"Old Master, it's not good! The clan's bronze spectroscope has suddenly become dirty, the mirror surface so filthy that even human blood won't clean it..."

"Hurry, Old Master, go and see! There's a fox howling mournfully in the graveyard where three generations of our clan are buried, and Old Master Rong from the fourth house, whom we buried a few days ago... has actually... climbed out of his grave..."

"..."

With each report, the Old Master's fury deepened, and by the end, his expression even held a hint of terror.

The seventeen pots of white orchid were used by the clan to observe their fortune. In twenty years, they had grown from three pots to seventeen, a testament to the prosperity of the Noble Zhang Family. But in the blink of an eye, eleven pots withered, the decline as rapid as a dive.

The bronze spectroscope was meant to counter those lurking in the shadows who bore ill will towards the Noble Zhang Family. Once struck by nightmare, the mirror would naturally reflect it back. Yet now the mirror was tainted, indicating a curse was at work.

And this curse was something even the Haishou's strange treasure couldn't block.

As for the grave...

Unrest in the household, the ancestors uneasy... Could it be that the Noble Zhang Family faced imminent doom?

"Such audacity!"

Though panicked, he remained composed. His expression darkened as he loudly ordered, "Quickly, light the lamps! Bring out the Palace Lanterns left by the first ancestors and illuminate all seven courtyards through twenty-eight halls. If they won't light, have a servant swallow a Soul-stabilizing Pearl and use their life to blow them alight!"

Lighting lamps in broad daylight was already an odd occurrence, but no one dared defy the family's orders.

Soon, the vast thousands of acres of the Noble Zhang Family's mansion were lit with one old Palace Lantern after another, many lit at the cost of lives. Yet, as strange as it was, they perfectly matched the ominous scene.

Hardly had the lamps been lit when the midday sun inexplicably darkened. Clouds enveloped all sides, thunder rolled, and the sky turned as dark as midnight.

In the black night outside, it seemed there were endless twisted ghostly figures, raging and wailing like a dark current, desperately trying to climb over the walls. It was only because the courtyard was timely lit that it didn't completely fall into darkness.

Yet a vast portion of the Noble Zhang Family's courtyard was unavoidably engulfed in endless panic. The main gates and corner doors everywhere were shut tight, while incessant, ferocious knocks accompanied by howling and wailing were heard from outside:

"I am Old Master Rong from the fourth house! How dare you unworthy descendants not open the door?"

"Open the door! Open the door! I am the twenty-first ancestor. How dare you keep me outside? Which servant is inside? I'll wipe out your entire family!"

"..."

Inside, the Zhang family members were stricken with terror, quivering and silent, while the servants desperately shouldered the doors, wailing, "Old Master Rong! Old Master! You're... you're already dead! How can you return home again?" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Yet those inside dared not open the doors, and those knocking outside refused to give up. More and more crowded at each door, continuously cursing their descendants.

Even the chickens and dogs cannot find peace, the ancestors return home...

The Zhang Family Head found it hard to believe. This can only happen if the family's fortune is completely suppressed! Where in this world did such a malevolent curse come from, to dare run to my Zhang family's door and cause trouble?

He dared not think further, fear gripping his heart. He suddenly shouted, "Quick, invite Mr. Wutou and the Four Great Hall Officials! It's time for those human flesh nails to take effect."

Many people in the world, including noblemen with grand ambitions, knew that ten earth veins controlled good fortune, misfortune, and worldly affairs.

They also knew that one end of these ten earth veins intertwined at the Noble Zhang Family's mansion. The other end flowed throughout the world, merging with mountains and rivers, forming Qi Eyes and Life Gates, like a vast net encompassing the entire world.

And those born at these Qi Eyes and Life Gates were people of abundant fortune and robust life.

There was an elderly man with extraordinary longevity. He was neither a man of the Path nor one who practiced virtue, and he had never tasted any Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Yet, he was the most blessed man alive, now over one hundred and ninety years old, still spry, with all his teeth and a full head of black hair.

There was a rich man who had risen from poverty. Originally a beggar, he later amassed a fortune and became a business tycoon, always keen on the right opportunities.

He sold umbrellas on sunny days and sowed grain on slopes. He ferried cotton robes to the South to sell and supplied cold noodles exclusively to Northern households. However unlikely the business, it always thrived and profited greatly. Twenty years later, he dominated a region, the wealthiest merchant across several states.

There was also a great scholar, born in another place. He knew characters by age three and understood scriptures by age five. He was conversant in matters of time and geography, could devise strategies for peace and bandit suppression at will, and composed texts with ease. Despite his youth, he was renowned far and wide.

In one village, a woman raised a grand and plump pig. She refused to sell it, instead using it as a breeding boar. It sired twenty litters a year, becoming the ancestor of all domesticated and wild pigs in the surrounding villages and even in the wild mountains.

Yet, changes occurred in an instant. As the crisis befell the Noble Zhang Family, a middle-aged man in dirty, black robes with one arm missing hurriedly arrived. He burned Yellow Paper and began chanting incantations to the dark night sky, and various changes began to manifest.

The long-lived elderly man was being carefully attended to. To prevent any mishaps, his descendants had kept him locked in a small room for seventeen years, and he hadn't taken a step outside. But on this day, he heard crows cawing outside, felt flustered, couldn't catch his breath, and died.

The wealthy merchant was admiring flowers by the railing and feeding the koi in his pond when he suddenly heard someone calling his name from the water.

Looking down, he saw a fat, golden koi. It opened its mouth and said, "The time has come! The time has come! Considering you've fed me well all these years, come with me..."

"This position of prosperity was not meant to last. The Noble Zhang Family let you enjoy this wealth to ward off disaster and repay debts. Now that the Zhang family is in peril, it's time for you to repay your grand debts..."

"..."

The merchant, entranced, followed the golden koi away.

Before long, the garden erupted in chaos, and servants cried out, "The master fell into the pond and drowned!"

The great scholar was sitting beneath a parasol tree, reading and pondering deeply. Inexplicably, the words on the pages began to leap up, transforming into tiny human figures. Hand in hand, they fled from the book in groups.

They fled as if escaping a disaster, even climbing over the courtyard walls. The great scholar rose to chase them but stumbled and fell. When he awoke, his mind was empty; he could no longer recognize a single word.

The progenitor pig lay comfortably in its sty, awaiting a hearty meal before going to mate. Suddenly, it found itself in a blood-red scene. Countless of its offspring, all of whom had suffered the butcher's knife, appeared. They grumbled and squealed, resenting it for bringing them into a world where they would be slaughtered, and then they began to gnaw on it.

On that day, the piercing cries of pigs reverberated through the clouds, and everyone in the village had nightmares.

These changes were hardly noticeable across the vast world; such people never knew why they were wealthy, nor why disaster suddenly struck.

Only at the Noble Zhang Family did they finally breathe a slight sigh of relief when, after twelve of the seventeen white orchid pots had withered, the remaining five were preserved. The night outside the mansion remained pitch black, though the pounding and banging at the doors had lessened considerably.

But the invited Mr. Wutou was also shocked, shouting, "Old Master, the human flesh nails protected the Zhang family from disaster, but the calamity is not yet resolved! The worst is far from over..."

"The human flesh nails are ultimately limited. They are dying off in droves, and their numbers are finite. I'm afraid... I'm afraid..."

"..."

The Old Master hardly needed him to elaborate. Although he looked down on the Haishou Path's Skill, he understood its implications deeply. He gasped. It's something from the underworld! It must be that fiend...

The Noble Zhang Family not only occupied the auspicious feng shui locations of the ten earth veins but had also buried 'nails' at every Qi Eye and Life Gate that should have benefited the people of the world.

Should anything happen, these fortunate souls would shield the Noble Zhang Family from disaster.

Their numbers were as vast as a school of carp crossing a river; so many that no matter how powerful the curse, it should have been blocked and dissipated.

But now, human flesh nails were dying en masse, and this only delayed the nightmare's advance, rather than dispelling it. The enormity of this calamity was thus evident.

"Go and ask Old Third, that beast..."

Old Master Zhang slammed the table, his face twisted. "Just taking a useless person over there, and it led to such a disaster?"

"Quickly have someone go, give him ten lashes, and demand to know how he handles his assignments!"

"Yes... yes..."

In his raging anger, he hadn't lost his sanity. His voice suddenly trembled as he recalled more pressing matters. "The most crucial is the Dragon Cave! Quickly, the Four Great Hall Officials must go! Even at the cost of their lives, they must protect that Dragon Cave for our Noble Zhang Family!"

...

...

"He... he said who he was?"

Meanwhile, in the underworld, before the Divine Descent Platform, Third Master Zhang finally realized something was amiss.

When even the monster formed from his own closest kin's flesh and blood couldn't harm Mr. Longjing on the Divine Descent Platform, his heart had already begun to pound with dread. Now, sensing the endless entanglement of resentful power, his soul practically flew to outer heaven.

"He said his name was Longjing..."

Beside him, Eldest Master Meng also sensed something was wrong. He shouted sternly, "This name... it only appeared once, twenty years ago, during the Nightmare Killing of the Dou Clan's royal family..."

"Your Zhang family kept him for twenty years without knowing who he was?"

"..."

"But... but..."

Third Master Zhang, panicked and sweating coldly, said, "We specifically consulted the State Preceptor! We received confirmation that he was Tieguanyin..."