Four Keys!

Mist drifted through the air, casting everything in a gray haze as it slowly flowed across the surface of Ghost Lake. The entire lake resembled a pool of dead water. The surroundings were eerily quiet—no wind, no sound of water—as though an eerie, mysterious aura permeated the place.

The water of Ghost Lake was black as ink and bottomless, as though it was not water at all, but solidified black jade. The surface was so still that not a ripple could be seen, its lifeless silence enough to make one's scalp tingle. Within those inky waters, enormous shadows could vaguely be seen floating silently—

They were skeletons.

There were the bones of gigantic whales stretching dozens of zhang long, their stark-white frames appearing and disappearing in the black water, their hollow eye sockets staring at the lake surface. There were demonic beast skeletons shaped like enormous dragons, winding and coiling, each vertebra clearly visible. There were even huge humanoid skeletons lying face-up, arms spread wide, like giants who had drowned and been frozen in the instant they sank.

No one knew how many years these skeletons had floated in the lake, yet not a trace of decay marked their bones. Instead, they gave off an eerie pearly whiteness, standing in stark contrast to the pitch-black water and making one's scalp crawl.

There was something strange about this lake water.

A group of figures had long since gathered on the shallow shore.

There were roughly twenty or thirty of them, all dressed in fitted dark-blue outfits embroidered with silver lightning patterns across the chest, the patterns gleaming coldly in the dim light. At their head stood a tall young man in a blue robe trimmed with purple. His features were striking, his sword-like brows reaching his temples, and lightning seemed to