The eerie primeval forest was wreaked havoc by Hu Jiu, who treated the vengeful Fierce Ghosts emerging from the tree roots as surprise blind boxes.
The surging, boiling Supernatural power transformed into jet-black tentacles that poured out from Hu Jiu's body, entangling and permeating the Fierce Ghost.
After a few breaths, the surging Supernatural power withdrew, and the corpses inhabited by the Fierce Ghost, like mummies that had shed their skin, quickly weathered away until not even bone fragments remained.
Hu Jiu took away the core of the Fierce Ghost, shaped it into a leaf, and used it to enrich himself.
"Why do you seem to be at a free buffet?" Du Zhong complained from the side.
Hu Jiu simply said, "Since we're already here, we can't leave empty-handed."
The Supernatural atmosphere in this forest is terrifying, but unfortunately, human intervention has kept the internal environment in a relatively stable state, so it doesn't pose much of a danger.
Hu Jiu's violent demolition, accompanied by acts of thievery and taking bribes, quickly disrupted the balance of the entire forest environment.
Various Supernatural were raging, a faint red light leaked in from the sky, the sun high in the sky suddenly experienced a solar eclipse, and the forest was quickly shrouded in darkness, as if it had fallen into an abyss in an instant.
A crack appeared in the space at the heart of the forest, and the phantom of a strange door was projected out.
The cracks in space grew wider and wider, and the strange door gradually solidified, becoming fixed in the center of the forest.
Hu Jiu's gaze immediately locked onto the suddenly appearing door. The area around the door was not peaceful; the Supernatural aura in the forest seemed to condense into a tangible stream of water, relentlessly washing over the door as if trying to break it down and burst through.
"This looks familiar," Hu Jiu said in a low voice.
Du Zhong also said, "It does look familiar."
"Similar doors exist in our world. Due to disasters, gaps appeared in the spatial barrier between the real world and the Ghost World. These doors exist to plug these gaps; they should be called 'Endless Corridors.' Passing through these doors allows direct travel between the real world and the Ghost World, and they are guarded by a small organization..."
Hu Jiu nodded. He had been a member of that organization before, and he wondered how many of them would survive after the world was destroyed.
I hope they all meet a terrible end.
"Could this door in front of us also be a passage connecting to some other world?" Du Zhong continued.
"We'll find out if we go take a look," Hu Jiu said, walking towards the door.
This door was much smaller than the one in the Endless Corridor that Hu Jiu remembered. It was only about a meter tall and was entirely black. When he reached out to touch it, an extreme chill passed through the door, as if it were going to freeze him to death.
A Supernatural, ethereal mist emanated from Hu Jiu's fingertips and sprayed onto the door. Then, bizarre patterns quietly appeared on the door panel, interweaving and spreading across the entire door.
All the patterns eventually converged in the center of the door to form the shape of an eye. This eye gradually caved in, corroding a round hole in the door, like a peephole on a security door.
Hu Jiu said, "We can only make a hole this big; trying to do anything else will be extremely difficult."
The appearance of this small hole immediately caused terrifying ripples to surge in the space behind the door. The Supernatural energy in the Ghost World instinctively tried to break through that ethereal barrier and pursue what lay behind the ripples.
"It really feels like another world behind that door!" Du Zhong said wistfully.
"We're really 'lucky' enough. We've only been wandering in the Ghost World for a short time, and we've already found a new world!"
Hu Jiu frowned and pondered for a moment, then gave up on futile thinking, placed both hands on the door, and pushed it forward forcefully...
There was no progress.
The dark door showed no sign of being moved, so Hu Jiu, without hesitation, increased the pressure.
This seemingly thin and fragile door seemed to bear the weight of the entire world, and Hu Jiu was completely unable to budge it.
Moreover, there was a powerful repulsive force behind the door resisting his approach.
Hu Jiu peered through the small hole in the door. In the pitch black, he could vaguely see some indistinct shadows, but he couldn't make out what they were.
Du Zhong said, "Don't waste your energy. A healthy real world would absolutely reject outsiders. Besides, the spatial barrier behind this door isn't damaged or has any loopholes; it's just relatively weak. The door's existence might just be to reinforce this barrier. With our current strength, we can't force our way in."
Hearing this, a deep malice flashed in Hu Jiu's eyes. "I don't want to be rough either, but do you think the 'owner' behind the door will personally help me in? That's impossible."
Du Zhong: "So?"
Hu Jiu's lips curled up, and suddenly a terrifying Bronze Tree appeared behind him. Thousands of branches seemed to be black hands reaching out from the void, and countless Supernatural forces gathered into needles, which were fiercely stuck into the hole in the center of the Black Door.
"A tiny bit of power is enough. Judging from the health of this spatial barrier, there shouldn't be any Supernatural events happening in the world behind the door, or very few. In a scientific and materialistic world, how many people can resist the temptation of a sudden appearance of supernatural power?"
Du Zhong almost instantly grasped Hu Jiu's thoughts. "To use such a method to test humans from Otherworld, you are truly guilty of a heinous crime!"
"... Remember, it's best to find someone born bad, or cynical, or someone with an extreme personality. If you really can't find anyone, find someone mentally ill; they'll probably bring you a pleasant surprise."
Hu Jiu smiled without saying a word. Behind him, the Bronze Tree seemed to be filled with the wails of countless dead souls. The Supernatural power kept impacting a certain weak point on the spatial barrier. Finally, at a certain moment, a tiny crack appeared.
Just before the crack was about to heal itself, Hu Jiu increased his output once again...
"Click--"
Hu Jiu's smile deepened.
He finally exposed the vulnerability, even though it was small and constantly showed an extremely strong tendency to heal itself, but that was enough!
His power transformed into something resembling a straw, which stuck into the tiny hole, preventing it from healing.
"We've only managed to build a fragile passage, but it's almost impossible for us to get in completely; the resistance is too great," Hu Jiu said.
The surface of the Black Door had changed; the originally strange and irregular patterns gradually deformed and coalesced into the shape of a tree.
Majestic, towering, twisted, and eerie, the tree evokes a sense of dread at first glance. Its strangely shaped branches seem to be swaying, making it appear from afar like an indescribable monster.
Du Zhong, who was standing to the side, witnessed this scene and then looked at the Bronze Tree behind Hu Jiu, which resembled the Dharma of Heaven and Earth. He suddenly realized that he might have underestimated the strength of his temporary partner.