Bizarre Cultivation: Starting from Being Beaten Up by Reality

Chapter 72 Imperial Red Robe

"At noon, all is well."

Lin Fan reached out and grasped Jia Zhubu's hand. When the sickle appeared out of thin air, the corner of his mouth slightly turned up.

Then, his head tilted to the side, and his consciousness was sucked into the red-clothed ghost realm.

Lin Fan felt his body slowly float up, and he was surrounded by what looked like a train, with pitch black outside the futuristic windows.

Lin Fan had no time to think about where he was; he had a much bigger problem at the moment.

Because Clerk Jia didn't remove his pants during the body search, he naturally didn't take the Soul-Suppressing Pearl. However, in reality, Lin Fan's one hand was still tied up and his other hand was holding a sickle, making it impossible for him to touch the Soul-Suppressing Pearl. Moving around here would be unwise.

Fortunately, Lin Fan had already prepared for the current situation. This was his trump card, a trump card he hadn't used even when facing Ma Liangcai last night when the situation was extremely dangerous.

Lin Fan relaxed and floated in the air, calling out a name into the sky: "Fei Xueyi".

Previously, the dog-skinned Taoist had told him about the method to subdue the Red-Clothed Curse. This method consists of three steps. The first step is to call out the Red-Clothed Curse's real name in the Ghost Realm.

Fortunately, she ran into her mother at the yamen gate the day before and learned Hongyi's real name from her.

Shouting out his true name would disintegrate the ghost realm. This was, of course, only a one-time effect. Moreover, if he didn't complete the second step within a certain time, he would have no further chance to subdue the red-clad figure. However, Lin Fan wasn't considering any of that right now; he only needed one chance to quickly escape the red-clad ghost realm.

Just as he feared, Clerk Jia might have a way to save his life, and he had to wake up as soon as possible to finish him off.

The surrounding ghostly aura receded like water, and Lin Fan's sense of weightlessness gradually became chaotic until he felt himself sitting back comfortably in the chair.

As soon as Lin Fan returned to reality, he saw the black knife fly up on its own and slit the throats of two constables.

Startled, Lin Fan momentarily thought he hadn't returned to reality. Then, the figure of a young man in black behind the black knife gradually became clear—it was another "Lin Fan."

Lin Fan was completely confused and looked at the black-clad "Lin Fan" turning around with a puzzled expression.

"Lin Fan" sneered at Clerk Jia, "Lord Jia, it's true that I'm an imposter, but I am still Lin Fan. You know Lin Fan. Even if I die, I will kill you, you old ghost."

As he spoke, he approached Clerk Jia step by step with the blood-dripping black knife in his hand.

Lin Fan suddenly understood. To save himself, Registrar Jia had somehow created a fake version of himself—or rather, a "Jia Fan." He probably wanted him to take his place.

However, it's clear that Jia Fan has his own way of thinking and wouldn't do that.

With that thought, Lin Fan relaxed and felt a bit more friendly towards the tall and handsome "Lin Fan" in front of him. He casually said, "If it were me, I would probably call him Lao Deng."

Lin Fan smiled and said, "I am indeed not you. I am just the you that Old Deng knows."

Lin Fan stopped "Lin Fan" from killing Chief Clerk Jia, because he happened to have a problem that Chief Clerk Jia needed to solve for him.

"Lin Fan" took the knife and first helped Lin Fan untie the ropes binding him. "Brother, bear with it, cutting your face hurts a lot."

Lin Fan reached into his skin and pressed the Soul-Suppressing Pearl against it. "It's alright, you know I have ways to... hiss... stop the pain..."

Before Lin Fan could finish speaking, "Lin Fan's" knife had already slashed a gash across his face. Was he really that impatient? He hadn't even waited for the other person to finish speaking before striking?

The Soul-Suppressing Pearl can only absorb pain, not truly grant immunity, so when "Lin Fan" made his cut, Lin Fan hissed and grimaced incessantly.

"You're not just toughing it out, are you? The pain of having your face peeled off is unbearable."

"Hurry up, you have to do it whether it hurts or not, or this thing can kill you. Better to get it over with quickly than suffer for a long time, cut it off now."

"Lin Fan" nodded, and calmly peeled off the face of Lin Fan, who looked exactly like him, with a black knife. There was a clear image of a Taoist priest on the face.

Lin Fan himself was a little surprised. From an outsider's perspective, he was frighteningly calm. His hand didn't tremble at all as he peeled off his own face. If it were his pre-transmigration self, he definitely wouldn't have been able to do it. How long had it been, and he was already able to peel off his own face so calmly?

My thoughts returned to the present; the entire face tattooed with the image of the Celestial Venerable had been completely peeled off.

Lin Fan opened Jia Zhubu's mouth, and blood was gushing out. It seemed that he would die if they didn't hurry.

Lin Fan decisively stuffed his own face into it, and with the two of them working together, they managed to stuff the face in after a few quick movements.

As the Heavenly Venerable's markings appeared on Clerk Jia's face, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"Brother, I have to go too," Lin Fan said with a smile.

Lin Fan felt a little reluctant to part. Although they had only spent a few minutes together, the two had developed a tacit understanding, as if they had known each other for over a decade. In this world, having such a trustworthy companion was such a comforting thing.

Unfortunately, Lin Fan knew that "Lin Fan" was created through the methods of Chief Clerk Jia, and that he would disappear when Chief Clerk Jia died.

"One last question: how did you get here?"

Lin Fan chuckled and brandished the knife in his hand. "I don't know the exact mechanism either, but it's probably because of this knife. Anyway, hurry up and take good care of Mom."

As Lin Fan spoke, he plunged a knife into the heart of Clerk Jia. Still feeling unsure, he grabbed Jia's head and beheaded him.

The blood gushed from his neck like a fountain, but not a single drop splashed onto "Lin Fan," only staining the black knife red.

Lin Fan shook his head, "It doesn't seem very convenient to take this whole thing back."

As she spoke, she grabbed an ear, cut it off, and tossed it to Lin Fan, saying, "This is fine, consider it a souvenir I brought for Mom."

Afraid of being splattered with blood, Lin Fan stepped back a long distance and reached out to take the ear, watching as "Lin Fan's" body began to slowly fade and disappear.

Lin Fan checked again to confirm that Clerk Jia was indeed dead, then picked up the black knife and the red sickle.

He was wearing clothes sewn by Lin Shuixiu, which were now tattered and stained with blood, some of it his own and some of others'. The clothes were also a bit too small and didn't fit him properly.

Lin Fan didn't rush to leave; he searched the room first. The most important thing he retrieved were the two porcelain bottles containing his pills.

In addition, they picked out some odds and ends that looked valuable or useful.

“This food box is exactly the same as the one Grandma Pan used to store mooncakes.”

Lin Fan opened it; inside were only silver coins, no mooncakes. Without hesitation, Lin Fan stuffed them all into his pocket.

He doesn't love money, but he has experienced the hardship of being penniless.

Lin Fan packed the odds and ends into a bag, took one last look at the headless corpse on the ground, and spat out his saliva.

Lin Fan pushed open the door and went out. Miao Zhuzi, dressed in a Taoist robe, stood quietly at the door, with two lifeless yamen runners lying at her feet.

"Senior brother, I warned them not to meddle in other people's business, but they still insisted on attacking me."

Lin Fan waved his hand, "It's okay, no need to explain these things to me. I'm planning to run away now, will you still help me?"

Miao Zhuzi smiled brightly, "Of course, I'm here to help my senior brother escape."