The Stele Forest was dim, but not pitch-black.
It was somewhat like dusk before a storm. The gloomy light was dark, but there was still enough visibility to make out the surroundings.
Jiang Qiao noticed.
The farther in he went, the more stone steles with photographs there were.
Some steles had no names.
Only the years of birth and death.
Yet they had a photograph.
Some steles did not look like tombstones. Their shapes resembled Merit Steles, but they had photographs on them as well.
The people in the photographs were all different.
Men.
Women.
Children.
Monks.
Missionaries.
Some wore ancient clothing, while others were dressed in modern-era styles... There was a bewildering variety, but no contemporary fashions.
"Friend, please wait..."
Suddenly.
A low, hoarse, gender-ambiguous voice rang out from behind him.
It seemed to be calling for him.
Jiang Qiao turned around and saw a semitransparent figure standing atop a distant stele, waving at him.
"Hmm?"
The figure could not be seen under normal vision.
Even under the vision of Dual Pupils, its colors were extremely faint.
This meant that ordinary Awakened could not see it and could only hear its voice. But it was not a normal evil spirit either, because evil spirits had extremely vivid colors.
This was merely a supernatural phenomenon, not a Supernatural Source.
"Heh."
Jiang Qiao ignored it.
He continued forward.
That voice kept calling out to him from behind, again and again, mechanically repeating itself. Later, overlapping voices even began to appear.
The voice also grew increasingly ethereal.
Soon.
Jiang Qiao saw another semitransparent shadow appear atop a distant stele on the left.
It was waving at him too.
And calling out to him as well.
"Friend, wait a moment..."
"Friend, please wait..."
One figure after another appeared, and one call after another