Ten days later, amidst the white mist shrouding the world, an unparalleled silence perated the air, chilling and eerie atop a mountain peak.
Elder Tian, bent with age, leaned on his strange black wooden cane, gazing ahead. Behind him stood three figures: Zhongshan, Qianyou, and Yingning.
"Elder Tian, why haven't they returned yet? This ti they've been gone the longest," frowned Yingning.
"Soon," Elder Tian rasped in his gravelly voice.
"Elder Tian, could the Fengshui masters from the other side have captured them?" Princess Qianyou furrowed her brow.
"No, I can still sense them. They are about to return," Elder Tian reassured.
As Elder Tian finished speaking, a gentle breeze suddenly swept before them, as if carried from a distance. This breeze was icy cold, a harbinger of ominous winds.
After the eerie gust, a red-robed boy appeared before them. His face was pale, devoid of hair, barefoot, kneeling reverently before Elder Tian. His form seed ethereal, almost insubstantial.
"Master!" the red-robed boy bowed.
Just as the first boy knelt, four more identical figures materialized from the four corners, each clad in red robes.
"Master!" they all chorused in unison.
"Five Ghost Boys, have you found out?" Elder Tian asked calmly.
"We have found it, Master. There is a ghost city in the northwest, likely the one Master seeks," one of the red-robed boys replied.
"Oh? How large is this ghost city?" Elder Tian inquired.
"It's vast, filled with malevolent ghosts and countless zombies. Even the junior ghosts dare not trespass," the boy described.
"Very well, lead the way," Elder Tian ordered.
With a flick of Elder Tian's hand, the other four ghost boys leaped onto his palm, shrinking to miniature size. He closed his hand around them and tucked them into his sleeve.
Zhongshan watched silently, without interruption.
Guided by the ghost boys, they set off towards the distance.
As they flew, the ghost boys suddenly halted in their tracks, causing everyone else to stop too.
Elder Tian landed on a mountain peak. Before them appeared an obstruction: a gigantic black moth. No, it wasn't just a moth—it was Prince Hanjue, enveloped in a massive phantom of a black moth. Around the moth's body, from all directions, sward countless moths, endlessly flapping their wings, creating a cacophony of fluttering.
Upon seeing the moths, the ghost boys shuddered in fear.
"Princess Qianyou, Lord Dongfang, long ti no see," Prince Hanjue remarked indifferently.
"Greetings, Prince Hanjue. We wonder how you knew we would co, and why you're blocking our path now," Zhongshan smiled.
"Elders spoke of little ghosts coming to attack. I was tasked to guard this place. Please turn back," Prince Hanjue replied calmly.
"The Heart of the Ghostly Empress? Little one, are you speaking to ?" Elder Tian spoke calmly.
Seeing Elder Tian speak, Prince Hanjue raised an eyebrow. He could discern that among the four, this hunched old man held the highest position, perhaps even higher than a princess of the Heavenly Court.
"I don't care who you are. Right now..." Prince Hanjue started to say.
However, before Prince Hanjue could finish his sentence, Elder Tian acted. He gripped his cane and lightly tapped in Prince Hanjue's direction.
A ripple passed through the air, and the tip of the cane glowed green.
Puff~~~~~~~~
Prince Hanjue spurted a mouthful of blood, clutching his chest as he stared incredulously at Elder Tian. The imnse phantom of the giant black moth behind him abruptly vanished, and the countless moths swarming around dispersed in all directions.
"You, you've ruined my Ghostly Empress?" Prince Hanjue's face contorted in terror.
"This was just a small warning. Go tell that Fengshui master that I'm about to break through his formation!" Elder Tian declared with unwavering confidence.
Clutching his chest, Prince Hanjue wasted no ti. He swiftly retreated in the opposite direction, and the previously endless swarm of moths also scattered.
"Elder Tian, why did you let him go?" Yingning asked.
"In so places, the paths of ghosts and humans diverge. These little ghosts led us here, but they might not be able to lead us to the Ghost City," Elder Tian replied calmly, his gaze fixed on the distance. Even amidst the endless white mist, Elder Tian seed to have limitless vision.
"Let's go!" Elder Tian commanded.
He then retrieved the ghost boys with a flick of his hand, and the four of them flew off into the distance together.
They landed on a vast plain. Elder Tian suddenly stopped and the others followed suit.
Elder Tian surveyed the expansive plain, his brows furrowed slightly, but his eyes betrayed a sense of anticipation.
"Follow in my footsteps!" Elder Tian instructed.
With Elder Tian in the lead, the three followed closely behind, stepping exactly where he had tread. Upon the 108th step, Zhongshan felt a sudden change in the surroundings. The previously eerie atmosphere within the white mist suddenly cleared up, dissipating entirely. Above them, a massive full moon hung in the sky.
"Hoo~~~ Hoo~~~ Hoo~~~ Hoo~~~"
Suddenly, countless zombies and evil spirits appeared on the ground, blindly wandering in all directions. It was a terrifying sight.
Seeing these evil spirits and zombies, Zhongshan couldn't help but recall the scene from their encounter with the Zombie Emperor's Fengshui formation last ti—countless zombies and evil spirits endlessly marching.
The original plain had already transford beyond recognition. Sinister buildings gathered in the distance, even on so tall mountains, massive structures lood. There was no mist here, only a dark aura—ominous and ghostly.
Zhongshan knew—they had entered a grand formation.
Countless ghostly auras obscured the nurous colossal structures in the distance, making their interiors indiscernible, though the general layout was still vaguely visible.
"Wheel Hall? Wheel King?" Elder Tian suddenly exclaid.
Elder Tian recognized this grand formation?
As if sensing the vitality emanating from the group, so evil spirits and zombies in the distance slowly advanced towards them. With bared teeth and clawing hands, they seed intent on devouring the four.
Zhongshan swiftly drew his large sword, his eyes coldly fixed on the approaching evil spirits and zombies.
A zombie ca close.
He swung his sword.
"Dang~~~~~~~~"
Under the imnse force of his strike, the zombie rely staggered.
"Boom~~~~~~~~"
Zhongshan swung his sword again with all his might, finally annihilating the zombie.
An evil spirit lunged at him, but Zhongshan's strike seed to pass through its illusionary form, hitting nothing.
Zhongshan's eyes narrowed, and he quickly retreated. Elder Tian pointed his cane, causing the evil spirit to dissipate instantly.
"On the blade, sar your essence blood," Tian Lao instructed.
"Mm!" Zhong Shan nodded imdiately. He squeezed out a bit of essence blood and swiftly coated it onto the blade.
Facing another zombie charging at him, Zhong Shan struck with his blade.
"Swish~~~"
As the large blade made contact with the zombie's body, it seed as if boiling oil erupted, emitting a vast amount of heat. The zombie was destroyed with this seemingly gentle strike. When the blade cut through an evil spirit, it dispersed as if scorched by the intense heat from the blood.
Tian Lao paid no attention to these evil spirits and zombies but instead stared at the vast architectural complex before him, his heart filled with uncertainty and awe. The peripheral threats of zombies and evil spirits were more than manageable for Zhong Shan alone.
The atmosphere was thick with tension. From a distance, a gigantic ghost, the Ghost King, approached—a hundred zhang tall. Just like the Zombie Emperor's tomb, this Ghost King was similarly aged, wearing only an upper garnt and a giant wolf tooth club in hand, exuding a fierce aura as he charged forward.
No, not just similar—almost identical to the Ghost King from Zhong Shan's mories.
As the Ghost King charged ferociously, he suddenly locked eyes on Princess Qianyou.
"It's you again?" The Ghost King's words were shocking.
"It's you again?" Hearing the Ghost King's voice, Zhong Shan's hair stood on end. He had faced ghosts and zombies without much concern, but the key was the Ghost King's words: "It's you again?" Did he know Princess Qianyou?
Similarly, Princess Qianyou tensed, stepping back.
"Oh, you know him?" Tian Lao asked in confusion.
"That Grand Qin Zombie Emperor's tomb, it's him? How can this be? Wasn't that an illusion?" Princess Qianyou exclaid in astonishnt.
"Oh? That was the celestial cataclysm cave? Where was he then?" Tian Lao asked in a deep voice.
"At Fengdu," Princess Qianyou replied.
"Fengdu? Heh, it seems he was transferred to the Wheel Hall," Tian Lao chuckled lightly.
"Tian Lao, how is that possible? How could he possibly recognize ? Isn't this an illusion? Back then, when the Ghost King broke through the Feng Shui array with the Fengdu Ghost City, everything exploded," Princess Qianyou said with worry.
Jingling also frowned at Tian Lao.
"Illusion? Who said it's an illusion? This is called the 'Derivative Realm.' What you saw last ti was him," Tian Lao explained.
As the Ghost King charged, Tian Lao turned to look at him.
Upon eting Tian Lao's gaze, the Ghost King seed to tremble in spirit, freezing in place with a panicked expression before turning and running back.
"But these are two different Feng Shui arrays," Princess Qianyou said, puzzled.
"They are indeed two different Feng Shui arrays, but both are 'Derivative Realms,' advanced formations in Feng Shui that use a single object as a basis to simulate the environnt and inhabitants surrounding that object from another ti, even linking to their dream states," Tian Lao calmly clarified.
"Tian Lao, are you saying that this Wheel Hall and the Fengdu Ghost City from back then are simulations, and the Ghost King is the actual one from the Wheel Hall, currently dreaming, appearing in this simulated Derivative Realm?" Princess Qianyou frowned in amazent.
"Exactly!" Tian Lao nodded. Princess Qianyou's quick understanding pleased him greatly.
"Elder, are you saying there truly exists a Fengdu Ghost City and this so-called Wheel Hall in the underworld?" Zhong Shan stared at Tian Lao in astonishnt.
"They don't exist in this world, but they do in the underworld!" Tian Lao affird confidently.
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