Even if its effect was only average, he still had the Kun Sha Seal as a trump card.
Fang Zhen instantly felt at ease.
"Alright, let's head down," Fang Zhen said, his voice full of confidence.
「A few minutes later.」
Fang Zhen searched the dead Night Shadow Family Assassin for anything of value.
The Night Shadow Family worked as Assassins and had very few personal belongings. In total, he found only four pieces of Crystal Bone.
Fang Zhen returned to the entrance of the Path of the Dead.
Avera was already prepared. She tossed out the Crystal Bone Bird Head. A streak of light flashed through the air, and the Crystal Bone Bird Head transford into a black-feathered crow with an intelligent glint in its eyes.
The crow circled twice in the air before flying down into the natural well below.
POOF!
With a soft noise, a cluster of black feathers burst from the Crystal Bone Crow, forming a dark, feathery cloud.
Avera jumped straight into the well, landing on the cloud of black feathers.
Her body began to descend at a slow, steady pace.
"Jump! There's enough ti for us to reach the Path of the Dead," Avera said.
Fang Zhen raised an eyebrow. 'Is this the Crystal Bone Realm's version of the Feather Fall Technique?'
He didn't jump imdiately. Instead, he observed the width of the natural well.
'If the Feather Fall Technique fails, I can turn my longspear sideways to brace it against the walls and slow my descent.'
'If I'm going to jump, I'll stick close to Avera. I can't let her pull a fast one on . If we're going down, we're going down together.'
Having made up his mind, Fang Zhen held his longspear vertically, took a step off the edge of the well, and dropped.
He landed on the cloud of black feathers.
He felt as if he were being bounced by soft cotton.
Fang Zhen felt himself being held aloft; he didn't plumt down as he'd feared in his worst-case scenario.
The cloud of black feathers clearly sped up its descent, but it was still far gentler than a freefall. At this speed, he wouldn't be injured upon landing.
The first thing Fang Zhen did after landing on the cloud was to wrap his arm tightly around Avera's waist.
He needed to bind himself to Avera to prevent any treachery. If one of them slipped and fell, they would both go down together.
Avera's body stiffened. She shot Fang Zhen a sideways glare, her voice laced with offended anger. "What are you doing?"
"I'm afraid of heights," Fang Zhen stated with brazen confidence.
Avera was speechless, completely at a loss for a reply.
Avera pursed her lips and said nothing more, simply allowing Fang Zhen to hold on to her.
The two of them descended slowly.
The Feather Fall Technique cast by the Crystal Bone Crow was the real deal. Fang Zhen and Avera descended for a good two hundred ters, and the spell held strong the entire ti.
A few monts later, Fang Zhen felt his feet touch solid ground.
He looked around.
The bottom of the deep well opened into a sizable cavern. After they landed, he saw a tunnel before them, three or four ters high and wide enough for seven or eight people to walk through abreast.
The tunnel walls weren't pure rock; they were mixed with a pale yellow mineral that ford irregular, crack-like veins extending deep into the darkness.
The yellow ore pulsed with a faint, rhythmic light, as if it were breathing. It made the tunnel look like a living creature with its great maw agape, waiting for soone to enter. It looked dangerous, yet held a mysterious allure.
"This is the Path of the Dead. They say only ghosts can pass through here," Avera explained. "The yellow stone in the walls is called Naihe Stone. According to legend, it's a mineral from the Netherworld. A very small number of artisans and Crystal Bone Masters can use Naihe Stone to craft curios that are effective against ghosts."
Fang Zhen nodded slightly.
Avera had used a different term, but his proficiency in mystic languages had directly translated it into a concept he recognized: Naihe.
"So once we pass through here, we'll reach the Forbidden Realm Netherworld?" he asked.
Avera gave him a look. "You've heard of the Forbidden Realm Netherworld?"
"That's right. By passing through the Path of the Dead, we'll enter the Forbidden Realm Netherworld. It's a place forbidden to the living, said to be the only place in existence that resides in both the mortal realm and the Netherworld at the sa ti."
"And in myths and legends, the true intersection between the mortal realm and the Netherworld is protected by a powerful Gatekeeper who stops both ghosts and the living from crossing over."
'So that's the one,' Fang Zhen confird to himself. 'The Gatekeeper is the boss of this instance—the Forbidden Realm Gatekeeper.'
However, he had a vague premonition that this instance wouldn't be so simple.
So far, he hadn't faced any overly powerful enemies; in fact, everything had felt rather easy.
It was a cakewalk compared to the Great Bloody Lord.
Of course, part of that ease was due to his own increase in strength.
But based on Fang Zhen's understanding of this ga of life-and-death instances, rewards were always proportional to the risks. If the boss was this easy to beat, he'd actually be more worried.
He figured there were two possibilities: either the Forbidden Realm Gatekeeper was unexpectedly powerful...
...or the instance would take a new turn later on.
But that was a problem for later.
'First things first, get through the Path of the Dead.'
Fang Zhen first set down his Holy Garnt case, opened it, and took out the Magic Grease.
'I don't know if this stuff will be effective against ghosts, but I should get it ready just in case.'
After placing the Magic Grease in a portable pouch on his belt, he turned to Avera and said, "Let's go."
Avera nodded.
The Crystal Bone Crow flew ahead, swiftly gliding through the tunnel.
Wherever the crow flew, the "breathing" of the Naihe Stone intensified, and the yellow light it emitted grew more mysterious and ethereal.
It felt a bit like walking the Yellow Springs Road.
Fang Zhen was very cautious, moving at a slow pace and letting the Crystal Bone Crow scout ahead.
After about thirty ters, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Up ahead, five bodies lay on the ground.
It was impossible to tell how long the five human corpses had been dead. Their clothes had rotted away, and their bodies had beco desiccated husks, completely devoid of moisture. They hadn't bloated and decayed, but had instead shriveled into sothing like mummies.
Judging from the remaining scraps of fabric, the five must have been from the sa group.
The bodies were strewn haphazardly on the tunnel floor, with no signs of a struggle.
Fang Zhen looked at the five corpses. Even for soone who had seen plenty of dead bodies, a chill still ran down his spine, and the hairs on his arms stood on end.
'No matter how many tis you see sothing like this, you only ever get more accustod to it. You never beco completely numb.'
"I don't know who they were. Their minds must have been entranced by ghosts." Avera seed frightened, reaching out to touch Fang Zhen's armor as if it could give her courage.
"I've read that the Path of the Dead is a place for ghosts to traverse. They can srize a person's mind, making them lose their sense of ti, and sotis even their grasp on the line between reality and illusion."
"Once completely captivated, a person's body might remain motionless, but their consciousness believes it has been walking for an eternity, endlessly searching for an exit it can never find."
"It's a terrifying state. Eventually, the physical body dies, and this is what becos of them."
Fang Zhen glanced at the five desiccated corpses on the ground.
'What Avera is describing sounds a lot like the phenonon of being led astray by a ghost, walking in circles.'
Fang Zhen had always suspected that this phenonon wasn't caused by actual ghosts. Instead, it was a person's own mind and consciousness betraying them, creating the illusion of movent. In reality, they'd likely entered a semi-comatose or hypnotic state. Their body never moved, so naturally, they could never escape their illusory prison.
But he had no way of knowing for sure.
Still, this Path of the Dead certainly seed to fit the description.
"How long is the Path of the Dead?" Fang Zhen asked.
"One thousand, one hundred and eleven steps," Avera replied. "It's said the undead are particularly fond of the number one, but I don't know if that's true."
'Less than a kiloter...' Fang Zhen made a quick calculation in his head and knew what to do.
He took the Magic Grease from his pouch, squeezed a single-use amount into his left hand, then drew his longspear and sared the grease along the front two-thirds of the weapon.
Instantly, a brilliant, multi-colored fla erupted along the spear.
A look of astonishnt appeared on Avera's face.
"What is that?" Avera asked.
"Ghost-Extinguishing Potion," Fang Zhen replied offhandedly.
He held the flaming spear and continued down the Path of the Dead.
Avera, filled with curiosity but not daring to stray too far from Fang Zhen, followed closely behind him.
After they had taken another hundred steps or so...
...a soft, knowing sigh suddenly echoed from within the Path of the Dead.
Fang Zhen stopped. Avera's expression grew tense, and she halted behind him.
The sigh was faint, almost imaginary, and it vanished as quickly as it ca.
Fang Zhen checked his thermal imaging device but found nothing.
Two or three breaths passed.
It seed the sigh had been a fignt of their imagination; nothing else happened.
Just as Avera breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say sothing to break the tension...
A piercing shriek suddenly ripped through the silence!
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