I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 110 - 110 109. Netherworld Performance (Monthly Ticket

Chapter 110: 109. Netherworld Performance (Monthly Ticket Additional Update!)_1 Chapter 110: 109. Netherworld Performance (Monthly Ticket Additional Update!)_1 Lu Ban first saw a group of monsters.

Theoretically, these monsters should have been dressed up and dancing gracefully.

However, in Lu Ban’s eyes, there were only the bizarre scenes of monsters intertwining with one another.

Even the music sounded like a dirge.

Usually, Lu Ban was teased for liking to engage in “Netherworld” activities, but he felt that this ceremonial performance was truly the Netherworld.

Monsters with exposed bones, looking like insects, came and went as if rehearsing a grand drama.

“This is the performance representing the birth, destruction, and rebirth of Harmony Island. It’s rather impressive,” someone remarked.

“Yes, yes, this form of artistic expression is quite unique, stunningly so.”

“I see the future in these people’s performance, I see hope, I see the spirit of Harmony Island.”

“What has moved me so deeply, to have tears brimming in my eyes, this year’s Poetry Festival is just amazing!”

“It’s because of people like these that Harmony Island manages to survive the hardships!”

Everyone expressed their emotions, thanking the Great Shrine of Harmony Island and the people around them.

It seemed the performance had a considerable level of artistic quality.

“Young Master Lu Ban, what are you looking for? Such a performance is not commonly seen elsewhere,” Ginpei asked with a fan in hand, speaking to Lu Ban, who was looking around.

“Quite uncommon indeed.”

Lu Ban, watching the centipede-like monsters continue to twist, felt that he really couldn’t appreciate such art.

He was searching for people who hadn’t mutated.

Or at least monsters that seemed to behave relatively abnormally.

Unfortunately, Lu Ban didn’t find any.

The elders with children, the hand-in-hand couples, friends walking together, and artists attending alone had all turned into monsters.

These monsters cheered, celebrated, and applauded, dancing in the courtyard, singing, reciting poetry, resembling humans but not quite being human.

Lu Ban even saw that the eaves, corners, and the tall buildings were stained with deep purple, the color like that of dirtied coagulated blood, turning the entire courtyard into a frightful Hell.

“I once read a novel where a painter, to complete his painting, asked a lord to burn a woman alive in a cart for reference. Unexpectedly, the lord brought the painter’s own daughter. Initially shocked, the painter eventually revealed a frenzied look, completing a painting amidst his daughter’s painful cries.”

Lu Ban casually spoke as he watched the monsters’ exuberant performance transition into the next phase, with the music of the Netherworld echoing through the courtyard.

“What do you mean by that, Brother Lu Ban?” Tachibana Masamune asked, his eyes swarming with eyes, his body rotting and covered in pustules.

“Because the painting’s name was ‘Hell Change’, I think it’s quite fitting for the current scene.”

Lu Ban chuckled lightly, took Red Leaf by the hand, and walked towards the exit of the central courtyard.

“Are you leaving already, Young Master Lu Ban? The most exciting performance is about to begin,” Ginpei said regretfully, trying to persuade him.

“Hmm, I’ll be right back,” Lu Ban replied, giving one last look at the hellish scene.

The Island Stewards guarding the courtyard didn’t stop them, and Lu Ban easily reached Anxin Court’s prison with Red Leaf, where the person who had gone mad yesterday was detained.

The monster-like Island Stewards stood at the entrance, and for some reason, Lu Ban could read wariness in what might or might not have been their faces.

He felt if he stayed with them a bit longer, he would be able to fully understand these monsters’ every move.

“I am a Shrine Maiden of the He Island Shrine, and this is my proof. We suspect that the prisoner detained here has been polluted and needs to be investigated,” Red Leaf said, taking out a piece of sandalwood paper that looked like an identity proof from the He Island Shrine.

“How convenient!”

Lu Ban saw the Island Stewards step aside, making way for them.

Red Leaf and Lu Ban, one after the other, descended into the dark and damp cells. It was rather empty, with no other prisoners in sight.

Only a clump of dark green flesh curled up in the corner of the cell.

Lu Ban couldn’t tell if this person was the same one from yesterday, but Red Leaf leaned in closer.

“Are you Wan Ye?”

Specks of faint light radiated from her body, the warm luminosity akin to the clear shine of the moonlight, eliciting a reaction from the green mass.

“…Save me, save me, I’m not a monster, I’m a human, I’m not a monster, I’m a human…”

The flesh emitted a muffled voice, and Lu Ban could barely make out that it was the madman they saw yesterday.

“Are you Wan Ye?”

Lu Ban also asked to confirm.

“Wan Ye… yes, yes, yes, I am Wan Ye, I am Wan Ye, please save me, save me… Lady Priestess, Lady Priestess, save me, save me…”

The voice of the flesh was frantic as if pleading.

“His sanity is already in disarray…”

Lu Ban murmured to himself, the straw of the dungeon tangled in his view, forming the System’s text under the Netherworld accompaniment coming from outside.

[Participate in the Poem Festival: 1/1]

[Find the missing artist: 1/1]

[Survive until the end of the Poem Festival: 69:41:16]

It seemed that this indeed was Wan Ye.

Lu Ban relaxed.

If he hadn’t gone to the Shrine on Song Island, he probably wouldn’t have been able to discover the abnormal situation of the entire Island due to the acquisition of knowledge, and thereby deduce the true identity of Wan Ye.

Now, only the survival until after the Poem Festival remained.

“Can you cure him?”

Lu Ban asked Red Leaf.

“I can try…”

Red Leaf raised her hand.

A kind of golden light flowed from her fingertips, transforming into threads that wrapped around the clump of flesh.

In Lu Ban’s eyes, the flesh rapidly twisted, shrank, and formed into a human shape.

Even though the limbs were a bit thin and the skin darkened, it at least looked human.

“Perhaps this person has a special physique, that’s why he could maintain his sanity even in the face of Mutation?”

Lu Ban pondered the peculiarities of Wan Ye.

But the sounds from outside didn’t leave Lu Ban much time.

He heard that the originally gloomy music turned into some kind of melody, a tune he found somewhat familiar.

“…Pray to the gods, in this life, the sorrow of the flesh, the fleeting dreams are gone…”

This was the ballad Lu Ban heard when he got lost near the torii on the mountain!

He directly used the crowbar to pry open the dungeon door, had Red Leaf help the weakened painter up, and walked out of the dungeon himself.

Ascending to the top of the tower, Lu Ban gazed down at the courtyard and saw, the performance had escalated to a fever pitch, a horde of monsters gathered together, and standing amidst them, there was a Shrine Maiden.

The Shrine Maiden wore traditional white garb, red hakama, and held a rust-stained Kagura bell in her hand, enveloped in a misty aura, seemingly dancing gracefully.

All the monsters knelt before her, bowing their heads as if worshipping something.

“Is this, the Calamitous Shrine Maiden?”

Lu Ban felt he had grazed the deepest secret of the Island.

*

August, additional chapter 2/3 with a thousand monthly tickets.