I Got My Cheat Skill by Acting My Way into a Horror Protagonist Role Chapter 56

1999.

2000.

Only ten days remained until officially stepping into the groundbreaking new century.

As the old and new eras alternated, heaven and earth were in turmoil, and all manner of evil spirits rose during these final moments, competing for the pure and impure energies between heaven and earth. All changes had already begun, and the patterns established over thousands of years were about to change.

The true dragon led the way, suppressing all directions. The central plains were stable, the four regions peaceful. Demonic evils and ghostly monsters, following the great momentum of heaven and earth, had gradually faded from people's sight, most retreating into deep mountains and ancient forests.

But not seeing or hearing them didn't mean they didn't exist.

Originally, as the year-end approached, with auspicious signs providing protection and the fire of life energy continuously burning, it should have been safe and uneventful for most people.

But for those with special fate configurations, this wasn't the case.

There was an extremely special fate configuration that, instead, needed to undergo hardships and life-or-death trials during the year-end transition.

If they could safely pass through this, they would inevitably undergo complete transformation, their fate reversed, their life energy remolded. They were chosen by heaven and earth to command both the demonic and ghostly paths in this world.

Evil spirits and dark ghosts viewed them as rare treasures. If they could seize them before the fate reversal, it would be they who would walk the broad path forward.

Such fate configurations were extremely rare, appearing perhaps only once in thousands of years.

However, now—

This great year of cosmic transition had finally witnessed the birth of someone bearing this special fate configuration.

Deep within the hundred-thousand-mile mountain range in southwest China, that child had been born prematurely yesterday.

Zhang Family Village.

The last generation village guardian, Zhang He, known as Blind Zhang, had a faint haze over his eyes and could no longer see clearly beyond three meters.

This place was already uninhabited, deep in the mountains and ancient forests, with only him remaining.

Once he passed away after his hundred years, the village here would completely disappear.

Although he had already reached his seventies, his body remained robust, not inferior to younger people.

Moreover, as a descendant of one of the orthodox traditions, practicing spirit cultivation to prolong life, and living long at the foot of the spiritual mountain, he could easily live another twenty or thirty years.

But for some reason last month, he felt increasingly tired and fatigued every day. Examining himself, he sensed his end was approaching, fearing some external force was about to cut off his life energy.

It wasn't that he couldn't avoid it, but—

When he sensed that half-human, half-corpse pregnant mother coming to Zhang Family Village, Blind Zhang resolved to stay.

This woman still had some thin Zhang family bloodline in her veins, possibly sharing ancestry with him from a hundred years ago.

According to her facial features, her life-and-death trial should have occurred a year ago, yet she still survived in this world.

Her life energy hadn't been completely severed, retaining much of her consciousness, no different from ordinary people.

It wasn't that some master had intervened to conceal her destiny, but rather the immeasurable vitality and life energy of the child in her womb had instead extended the mother's life.

Having been pregnant for over eleven and a half months, the fetus still showed no intention of being born.

Blind Zhang couldn't divine the unborn child's fate configuration—his cultivation wasn't sufficient—but through bloodline connection, he could vaguely sense something.

That infant could understand human speech and respond while still in the womb. If born, who knew what storms it would stir up.

As the year-end approached, the pregnant mother's abdominal pains became more intense. As the mother, she naturally knew the fetus in her womb could no longer continue to protect her.

Having gained this extra year of life was already heaven-sent grace—how could she ask this unborn child to extend her life energy further?

In recent months, the death energy around her had grown increasingly dense, her body temperature continuously dropping, blood circulation gradually slowing, even her heartbeat had slowed down.

Although her branch of the family that migrated out of the mountains had mostly lost their inheritance,

she happened to be interested in supernatural arts since childhood, often reading ancient texts, and continued research as an adult, naturally understanding more than others.

Knowing she carried no ordinary child in her womb, and being someone who was technically already dead, she couldn't go to a hospital.

Tracing back to the old ancestral location, she eventually found her way to the southwest mountains, to Zhang Family Village.

Blind Zhang, as an elder uncle figure, treated both mother and child extremely well. Originally thinking she could endure a bit longer, since the unborn child wasn't willing to be born, there must be a reason.

The pain was naturally excruciating—days and nights reversed, unable to sleep, she had gradually emaciated, her form like dried bones.

But what mother in this world doesn't harbor deep love for her child? For that child's sake, no matter how difficult, she had to endure a little longer.

Yesterday, as usual, she went out for a walk, but suddenly an eerie wind arose from nowhere, instantly whipping up sand and stones, as if someone had pushed her hard from behind.

Indeed—

No matter how well concealed, evil spirits had still found them.

The infant should have been born a month earlier, but through the determination of both mother and child, had held on until now.

When the child was finally born, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged violently, continuously roaring and churning, stars shifted, strange phenomena proliferated, as if resonating with this fetus.

For a moment, it seemed countless beings sensed something, turning their gaze toward the hundred-thousand-mile mountains in the southwest.

But the next moment, more couldn't be calculated.

Heaven's secrets seemed to have been concealed.

Blind Zhang was deeply shocked. So it was actually this fetus, before its fetal energy dispersed, actively sealed its five senses, almost closing itself off again to hide its energy signature.

How terrifying—

No sight, no hearing, no smell, no feeling, no awareness.

"Huh? Can't calculate..."

"What is this feeling? Has a great evil descended?"

"Must be another unlucky thing..."

"..."

"Hahahaha, I've waited, finally waited, my good disciple..."

Life energy began flowing continuously from her body, large ugly corpse spots appearing on her skin, emitting a heavy stench of decay. The woman's entire body resembled rotting dead wood.

The woman's breath was faint as gossamer, gazing with extremely gentle eyes at the child in Blind Zhang's arms who neither cried nor fussed, eyes tightly closed. "He already told me in a dream, it's a good name..."

Having sealed the five senses meant being placed in endless darkness, yet the infant seemed to sense something, flailing its hands.

Blind Zhang moved closer, and the infant's hand finally grasped its mother's finger, holding tightly without letting go.

A light smile bloomed on the dry, sunken face. The mother carefully held the tiny hand in return, entrusting with utmost solemnity, "After this, I leave it to you, Uncle Zhang..."

Protect this child well...

I can only accompany him this far...

Life energy severed, beyond saving.

The infant neither cried nor fussed, like a stillborn, only its tender hand holding the mother's all night without letting go.

And in just one night, the entire mountain range was shrouded in dark, evil energy. A storm was brewing, countless dark ghosts and evil spirits already watching covetously, eyeing the newly born infant.

Although sealing the five senses allowed the child to avoid much, the calamities didn't end there.

In these final ten days, he still needed to experience the three death calamities among the three difficulties and nine disasters: plague, war, and famine.

Only by surviving until the transition between old and new years, cleansing himself with the first wisp of pure energy generated between heaven and earth, would he pass the three death calamities of infancy!

Late last night, Blind Zhang noticed something wrong—the livestock he raised had all sickened and died overnight, their conditions horrific, unbearable to behold.

Plague ghosts!!

He made protections three layers inside and three outside, plastering the house with talismans. Blind Zhang guarded the child all night without sleep.

The sun hung high, yang energy continuous in the human world.

But, he estimated he wouldn't survive tonight either.

Probably at dusk today, during the demon-meeting hour, those plague ghosts would break through the village's protective arrays, devouring both him and this child completely.

No way out.

At this moment, he didn't know how many beings in these mountains would be willing to help.

Probably none remained, all having withdrawn.

It was also his own fault—those beings had good reason to leave, his old bones wouldn't blame them.

Leaving was the correct choice—cultivation achievements were hard to come by, why wade into this muddy water?

From morning till night, the sky gradually darkened, and Blind Zhang's heart gradually sank, his voice hoarse and difficult to speak.

"Step—"

He heard it—Blind Zhang's hearing was extremely sensitive.

Far away, he couldn't see clearly.

But he could vaguely make out a striking crimson figure quietly approaching, silent and light, the only different color between heaven and earth.

The dark evil energy in the mountains churned incessantly, like black clouds pressing down on the city, yet unable to erase that figure's presence.

"Answering the summons..."

Ghost Bride's slender, pale hands rested quietly before her, red bridal veil covering her features, she softly replied.