Chapter 116: The World Within the Painting

Creak.

The wooden door of the gallery was pushed open from the outside, and a faint beam of light spilled in. A figure slipped inside with extreme caution, raising a flashlight to illuminate the paintings stored within.

The majority of the paintings collected by the master of this castle were realistic oil paintings. Su Cheng did not know much about art and could not authenticate them. Among the collection were several pieces depicting horrific and grotesque scenes—scenes from centuries ago, when the Black Death ravaged Europe, showing mountains of rotting corpses.

Just then, a terrifying bell toll suddenly rang out in the silent air.

The moment the shrill, mournful knell struck, Su Cheng shivered, his heart rate spiking instantly. He felt an incredibly ominous presence permeating the room. The next moment, countless pitch-black arms stretched out from the oil paintings, clawing and reaching toward him.

"What the hell!"

Su Cheng’s pupils contracted to pinpricks, his blood pressure soaring. Despite his sheer terror, his reflexes remained sharp; he drew his blade, *Shadow of the Gale*, in a flash and slashed outward.

The shimmering blade cut through the ink-black night, severing several of the arms reaching out from the canvases. However, even more arms began to emerge from the horrific paintings.

"I don't want to die, save me!"
"Please, don't leave me behind..."

Blood-curdling, ghostly whispers echoed through the room. Su Cheng’s hair stood on end, and a bone-chilling cold seeped into his veins and marrow. Dense clusters of black palms grabbed at him, leaving clear, dark handprints all over his body.

Feeling the ghostly hands touching him all over, Su Cheng felt his scalp tingle. He dashed toward the door in a blur of movement. But at that moment, a black silhouette flickered across the doorway, and the door slammed shut with a thunderous bang.

"Damn it!" Su Cheng cursed. If he found out who was setting him up, he would tear them limb from limb and feed them to the dogs.

Just as he prepared to smash through a window to escape, an irresistible suction erupted from one of the paintings, and Su Cheng was dragged into the canvas like a shadow.

"Where is this?"

When he regained his senses, he found himself standing at a street intersection. Judging by the European-style architecture surrounding him, he was likely in some city in Europe. What was eerie was that this neighborhood was deathly silent. A cold wind howled, and stiff corpses lay scattered by the roadside. As he looked closer, he saw no obvious wounds on the bodies, yet their faces were frozen in expressions of extreme agony and terror, as if they had met a wretched fate before death.

"I remember being dragged into the painting by something... does that mean this is a world inside a painting?"

Su Cheng gripped *Shadow of the Gale*, exploring the dark district slowly and cautiously. His gaze fell upon a wall, where someone had scrawled a dark, chilling letter "P" in charcoal.

In medieval Europe, the term "pest" (derived from the Latin *pestis*) was used to describe the Black Death. A "P" marked on a wall served as a warning to passersby that the occupants of the house were infected.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

Suddenly, a melodious bell toll rang out from a nearby cathedral, quickly spreading across the silent city. An endless sense of dread descended, and the corpses lying by the road suddenly began to stir.

Before Su Cheng’s eyes, the hideous, contorted bodies struggled to their feet. Like zombies, they stared at him with glowing green eyes, saliva dripping from their mouths. Like starving beasts seeing a plump lamb, they surrounded him with stiff, jerky movements.

"Great, they're really trying to kill me!"

Despite his words, Su Cheng looked quite relaxed; the speed of the living dead was like that of a snail in his eyes. With his reflex speed, these creatures wouldn't be able to touch a single hair on his head.

As the living dead lunged at him, howling, Su Cheng’s eyes narrowed. He gripped his sword with both hands and unleashed a crescent-shaped arc of blade energy.

*Whirling Sword Dance: Perimeter Slash!*

This was not a skill from a game, but a technique Su Cheng had refined based on the "Whirling Sword Dance" of the Black Knights and moves from comics. While it lacked extra damage bonuses, it was highly effective against large groups of enemies.

A brilliant crescent of light expanded, instantly severing the living dead surrounding him at the waist. Blood sprayed everywhere as the creatures fell in two, collapsing into a pool of gore.

Crimson blood spread across the street. After dispatching the undead, Su Cheng paused for a moment before stepping through the blood toward the source of the bell tolls.

Suddenly, a deafening crash erupted in his ears.

The walls marked with the letter "P" collapsed with a roar, and a swarm of infected living dead surged out. To Su Cheng’s immense annoyance, these creatures seemed to hold a grudge against him, chasing him down with the ferocity of wild beasts. A quick glance revealed thousands of them pursuing him.

"F*ck you!"

Su Cheng broke into a cold sweat, fleeing toward the cathedral ahead without looking back. As the church bells tolled louder, every corpse in the city that had died of the plague began to rise. Soon, the army of the living dead grew into a massive, surging black torrent.

Suddenly, another group of shambling undead appeared ahead, blocking his path.

"Get out of my way!"

Killing intent flashed in his eyes as *Shadow of the Gale* struck. With a fierce slash, a powerful gale swept forward, slamming into the undead blocking his way.

*Blade Storm!*

The next second, the creatures at the center of the storm were shredded into pieces, and chunks of diseased flesh rained down from the sky like a downpour. Sprinting at full speed, Su Cheng carved a bloody path through the blockade and arrived at the cathedral.

A hundred meters away, on the bell tower, a priest in black robes was striking the massive bell. The tolling echoed across the city, and Su Cheng felt as if someone were hammering on his skull.

Before the undead could catch up, he stowed his sword and pulled out a primitive, ancient-looking anti-demon longbow. He attached a flame-burst talisman to an arrow, drew the bow to its full length, aimed at the black bell in the tower, and released the string.

*Whoosh!*

The sound of the arrow tearing through the air rang out, followed by a loud "thud" as it pierced the black bell, the potent spiritual energy shattering the metal. A massive explosion erupted, shaking the sky, and flames illuminated the pitch-black city as if it were broad daylight.

A shrill, desperate shriek echoed from the tower, and the bell-ringer dissolved into ash within the inferno.

Fire surged into the sky, filling Su Cheng’s vision. The flames within the cathedral spread like a prairie fire, quickly consuming the entire city. Thousands of the living dead were incinerated into ash. Curiously, Su Cheng felt no heat from the fire. He felt like a bystander, watching from a unique perspective as this city of death was purified by the flames.

In a momentary lapse of consciousness, the scene of the fire-ravaged city vanished like a mirage. When he came to, he was back in the gallery.

"I'm out?"

Su Cheng let out a sigh of relief, the memories of the horrific world inside the painting still fresh. He looked back at the oil painting, and his expression shifted drastically, a look of utter disbelief crossing his face.

The flames within the painting had not gone out; instead, they were raging, consuming the city of death along with the canvas itself. A fire broke out on the surface of the painting, and because the room was filled with many other valuable works, the flames spread instantly, becoming uncontrollable.

Eerily, only the paintings collected by the castle master caught fire; the wooden room itself remained untouched. The fire was supernatural, and by the time Su Cheng tried to extinguish it, it was already too late.

"Don't burn me!"
"Ah! Fire! Someone save me!"

It was chilling to watch—the figures in the paintings seemed to come to life, their faces twisted in agony and terror as they emitted desperate, mournful wails. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of paintings were reduced to nothing but ash.

"Uh, these paintings looked quite expensive... I hope they don't expect me to pay for them." Su Cheng gave a bitter smile. These pieces were priceless; even if he sold himself, he couldn't afford the damages.

"Thank you."

Suddenly, a ghostly, ethereal voice echoed behind him. Su Cheng jolted, his hand flying to his hilt as he spun around. Behind him stood a girl in a white dress, her delicate feet bare. She appeared to be about twenty years old, pure and beautiful like a white lotus. She looked at Su Cheng with a grateful, relieved smile.

"Who are you?"

He noticed the girl was translucent—she was a ghost. But she didn't seem to be a malevolent spirit; she appeared harmless.

"I am the curator here. Thank you for destroying these cursed paintings and granting me my freedom."

From her words, Su Cheng deduced that she was one of the earthbound spirits of the castle. She had likely been controlled by some evil force, forced to serve as the curator of this gallery. His accidental destruction of the cursed paintings had broken her shackles.

"I am about to pass on. Before I go, is there anything I can do for you?"

Her voice was soft and gentle, her figure fading as her expression remained peaceful.

"What secret does this castle hide?" Su Cheng asked, looking into her eyes.

"I have been here for too long; I have forgotten many things. I only know that the name of this castle is... The Castle of Terror."