Mountain Range of Dead Souls

The night was deep.

In an inn at Lost Soul City, Little Fairy Doctor and I sat cross-legged, quietly regulating our conditions. No one spoke, and the room was utterly silent.

Suddenly, I opened my eyes and glanced out the window. The sky was dim and lightless, the moon obscured by thick black clouds, with only two or three stars weakly holding on in the night sky.

"A dark and windy night, perfect for murder and arson... cough, cough, saving people!"

I grinned, rose to wake Little Fairy Doctor, and she opened her eyes to look at me, her gaze gentle as water. "Are we setting out?"

I nodded and said seriously, "Do you think it's dangerous? If you do, stay in the city and support me from there."

Little Fairy Doctor quickly shook her head and tightly grabbed my hand. "I want to be with you."

"Good. Husband and wife, united as one—we go together and return together!"

I led Little Fairy Doctor out of the room. Outside was pitch-black, with only a few windproof oil lamps quietly burning at the corners. Fortunately, darkness did not affect us much. I found Wind Venerable and Tang Zhen and told them we were leaving now.

Tang Zhen looked up at the pitch-black night sky, utterly bewildered. "Didn't you say we were leaving tomorrow?"

I looked puzzled. "That's right. It's already past the hour of the Pig—it's now the hour of the Rat of the next day."

Tang Zhen was speechless. Thinking about it that way, it really was "tomorrow." He had simply assumed we would leave tomorrow morning or evening. Who would have thought we were setting out at dawn?

Wind Venerable and Tang Zhen swiftly gathered the elders of their respective sects. I also woke Xiao Yan, Zi Yan, Qiu