DLERB -Chapter 145 Xu Fu Invites Three Thousand Fierce Ghosts, Qin Shi Huang Calmly Hotpots Lamb

At the foot of the mountain.

“Crack… crack…”

That was the sound of steel crushing trees—and bones.

Mixed within it were inhuman screams.

The sounds were steadily closing in on the temple at the mountaintop.

Inside the Heavenly King Hall.

Xu Fu had just changed into clean silk robes, but they were already soaked again with cold sweat.

The coarse ceramic wine bowl in his hand slipped.

“Clack.”

It fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

At that moment—

“Great King! Great King!”

A figure rolled into the hall from outside.

It was the tribal leader sent to scout the situation below the mountain.

He was covered in blood, one arm twisted at a strange angle.

He collapsed—or rather, sprawled—on the ground.

His face was filled with nothing but fear.

“Mon… monsters!”

He pointed toward the mountain base, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

“Moving iron houses… they’re eating people!”

“Trees… trees can’t stop them!”

“Our warriors… they break on contact! They all shattered!”

The color drained from the faces of dozens of tribal nobles in the hall.

Even their “god,” their so-called Heavenly King, was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

The Qin army below the mountain was not human.

They were demons no mortal—or even gods—could resist.

“Lies!”

A tall tribal leader suddenly stood up.

He pointed at Xu Fu’s nose.

“You’re not a messenger of the gods!”

“You’re a fraud!”

He looked around and shouted at the others.

“He! He brought those eastern devils to this island!”

“We’re all going to die here!”

“Run! Everyone run!”

With that, he turned and rushed toward the back exit of the hall.

Once someone broke first, panic spread like a plague.

The remaining nobles stirred in chaos—several stood up and prepared to flee.

“Stop!”

Xu Fu let out a sharp, piercing scream.

His facial muscles twisted violently.

But the fleeing leader did not even look back.

“Swish!”

A flash of cold light.

Xu Fu had no one noticed when he drew a sharp dagger from his sleeve.

He stepped forward and stabbed the man hard in the back.

The blade pierced through his heart and protruded from his chest, stained with warm blood.

The leader lowered his head in disbelief, staring at the wound.

Then he collapsed weakly to the ground.

Blood spread across the wooden floor.

“Whoever dares run again!”

Xu Fu stepped on the corpse and scanned the terrified crowd.

His chest rose and fell violently, his eyes wild.

“This man has been possessed by an eastern demon!”

“I, the King, am purifying him on behalf of the Heavenly Sun Goddess!”

He threw the dagger aside and rushed toward the central altar.

His hair was disheveled—like a madman.

“You think this is over?”

He grabbed a handful of colored powder from the altar and flung it into the massive fire basin.

“BOOM!!”

A plume of eerie blue flame shot into the air.

The entire hall was bathed in a sinister blue glow.

All the tribesmen fell to their knees in terror, prostrating themselves.

“This is not punishment!”

Xu Fu spread his arms, bathed in the blue firelight.

“This is the trial of the Heavenly Sun Goddess!”

“She is testing us—to see who is her most faithful believer!”

He burst into frenzied laughter.

“The Qin iron weapons cannot be stopped by mortals!”

He paused, his voice turning cold and sinister.

“But what about ghosts?”

He suddenly pointed toward the back of the shrine—the pitch-black mountain cave that never saw sunlight.

“I have long prepared offerings for the goddess!”

“I have raised three thousand fierce ghosts for her!”

“Tonight… is the night of the hundred demons’ parade!”

With a command, several of his trusted men rushed to push open the massive stone door blocking the cave entrance.

“ROAR…”

A foul, bloody wind blew out from within.

Immediately after—

Over a hundred figures were forcibly driven out.

Their eyes were hollow, mouths drooling, like walking corpses.

Each of them had strange symbols painted across their bodies in white clay.

“Put on their ‘divine garments’!”

Xu Fu ordered.

More tribesmen rushed forward, forcibly dressing them in clothes stitched with beast skins and glowing powders.

Then they strapped grotesque wooden masks—fanged and terrifying—onto their faces.

“Go!”

Xu Fu pointed toward the forest below.

“Hide in the woods!”

“Use the voices granted by the goddess to welcome those eastern demons!”

Dozens of the best ventriloquists among the tribes were sent out under orders.

Soon, night fell.

Dense fog rose from the sea, enveloping the entire forest.

In the Qin army camp below the mountain:

“General, the fog is too heavy.”

The deputy general approached Meng Tian.

“And… listen.”

From deep within the forest—

Faint, eerie sounds could be heard.

Sometimes the piercing cry of a baby.

Sometimes the faint scream of a woman.

The voices drifted unpredictably, appearing and disappearing within the fog.

A young soldier on guard tightened his grip on his blade, terrified.

“General… is this… is this haunted?”

Meng Tian’s expression was also grim.

Though he did not believe in ghosts or gods, the atmosphere was genuinely chilling.

“Bang!”

He slashed a nearby tree with his blade, embedding it deep into the wood.

“Stop this nonsense!”

He roared at his soldiers.

“All units, form a triangular formation with the iron beasts! Everyone encamp inside!”

“Swords ready! Anyone who disobeys will be executed!”

The stern command suppressed the soldiers’ fear for the moment.

But the crying and screaming only grew clearer—and more piercing.

……

Scene shift.

Inside the brightly lit cabin of the “Ancestral Dragon.”

Warm as spring.

A bronze hotpot sat in the center of the table, bubbling loudly.

Red oil churned inside.

Qin Shi Huang and Ying Ziye sat around it.

The table was filled with fresh meat and vegetables.

Ying Ziye used a specially made small silver chopstick to pick up a slice of lamb.

He blew on it carefully, then put it in his mouth.

After chewing twice, his cute little face scrunched up.

He spat it back into the bowl.

“Father.”

Ying Ziye looked up unhappily.

“This slice of lamb was overcooked. It’s too tough.”

Qin Shi Huang didn’t even glance at the pitch-black forest outside, swallowed in thick fog.

He simply reached out, picked up a piece of tripe that had just been cooked and curled perfectly in the hotpot, and placed it into his son’s bowl.

“Then eat this one.”