The Ghost Gate Pass, which existed deep in the Nine Serenities and, in a sense, represented the boundary between life and death, had actually appeared in the world of the living!
That explained the dense fog that had refused to disperse. It wasn't man-made, but a natural condensation of the laws of heaven and earth.
Because the Netherworld and Azure Heaven never met. If the Ghost Gate Pass appeared in the world of the living, it had to be concealed.
The Wandering Souls gathered here, far more numerous than the living who had once dwelled in Small Forest Town, now had an explanation for their appearance as well. Wandering Souls were drawn toward the Ghost Gate Pass by an instinct that had nothing to do with consciousness. Perhaps all the Wandering Souls in Maple Forest Territory had gathered here. And it was easy to imagine that as long as the Ghost Gate Pass remained, more and more Wandering Souls would gather, growing ever stronger!
But how had the Ghost Gate Pass appeared here?
Almost without hesitation, the moment Wei Yan understood the meaning of those three words, he pulled a bright red incense stick of ancient, rustic design from his robes and thrust it toward Zhao Lang. "Quick!"
—Of course, he carried Fire Stones on him, and he was no stranger to Fire Element Dao Arts. But Zhao Lang was faster.
After years of working together, their understanding went without saying. As Wei Yan handed over the bright red incense stick, Zhao Lang had already rubbed two fingers together. A flame leapt onto the incense, burning the whole stick—which was no small thing—away in a very short time.
Only then did Zhao Lang speak, his expression turning grim. "That's the only Red Letter you have on you."
Incense in the Zhuang Kingdom's army came in three colors: black, red, and yellow. Only those of a certain rank could possess it, and it was a strategic resource not easily come by. Once a Black Signal Incense was lit, the entire kingdom fought to the death. Only a handful of people in all of the Zhuang Kingdom were authorized to light one.
When a Yellow Signal Incense burned away, it meant the person who lit it was trapped in a desperate predicament.
The Red Letter, between those two, signaled the danger of losing a city and its territory!
Once a Red Letter was lit, all of Maple Forest City would be shaken, and Wei Quji would certainly be alerted.
Now, with the City Guard and the Criminal Investigation Bureau tied down within Maple Forest City's borders, Wei Quji was stationed at the City Lord's Mansion. A single disturbance could set everything in motion. Was a Small Forest Town that, so far, had no enemies beyond the Wandering Souls worth a personal visit from Wei Quji? And if Wei Yan made the wrong call, and Wei Quji's departure caused trouble in Maple Forest City, could he shoulder the blame?
But there was no need to think about any of that now, not in the face of those three words.
Because... that was the Ghost Gate Pass.
It appeared in countless legends, a hazy reflection of the Mythic Era.
In truth, the instant the phantom of a Red Letter flared before him, Wei Quji, the lord of a city, sprang into the air without the slightest hesitation!
He shot skyward, wrapped in a raging gale, and hurtled toward Small Forest Town with a roar.
At almost the same time, Dong A, who had been meditating in stillness, abruptly opened his eyes. No matter what, a powerhouse of this level had to remain stationed in Maple Forest City. Since Wei Quji had left, he could not leave as well.
He remained where he was, but his solemn voice rang out beyond the room. "Send word to every disciple you can reach. Whatever task they're carrying out, whatever cultivation they're engaged in, they are to stop at once and return to Maple Forest City!"
It was true that the Dao Academy nurtured the hopes of the Zhuang Kingdom, and that those hopes needed a long time to mature. But when the kingdom's territory was in danger, everyone had to fight for it.
Meanwhile, Song Qifang, the current vice head of the Dao Academy, sat cross-legged before an alchemy furnace, gently waving a palm-leaf fan as he tended the flames. He let out a very quiet sigh. "I'm getting old."
In Small Forest Town, Wei Yan didn't pause after lighting the Red Letter. Instead, he immediately swept his long saber across. Its keen blade-light nearly split the air before vanishing against the archway.
Yes, it disappeared without a sound, without the slightest ripple.
The attacks that followed were no different. Whether raging fire or howling wind, every Daoist Art they hurled at it sank into the sea. Ling He even threw his sword at it, but it too vanished without a trace.
It was as though it didn't exist—and not only did it not exist, but neither did anything that touched it.
Huang Azhan hesitated and paced for a long while in front of the Ghost Gate Pass. He had an almost stubborn faith in the power of his virgin boy's urine, but after seeing Ling He's sword disappear too, he regretfully decided to give up.
"This vortex... it must be connected to the Netherworld. With all these unjustly dead gathered here... our attacks are landing in the Netherworld, not the Present World." Wang Changxiang furrowed his brow as he analyzed the situation. "What's before us should be the reflection of the Ghost Gate Pass. It hasn't even fully taken shape."
Hadn't fully taken shape?
Jiang Wang had seen the characters on the plaque in the Great Void Illusion Realm. He knew they were Dao Script, words that expounded the laws of heaven and earth. He had been wondering what the appearance of the Ghost Gate Pass in Small Forest Town meant. Only when he heard Wang Changxiang's analysis did he jolt with alarm.
Then when would the true reflection of the Ghost Gate Pass take shape, and in what way? And in the end, what would it bring here?
The answer came soon.
It was the countless Wandering Souls filling Small Forest Town. They had been impossible to kill, impossible to eradicate, all along the way. Yet now they came surging in, gathering at the center.
The group had no time to think of anything else. They could only repeat their earlier tactic: retreat some distance, draw a circle with Fire Element Dao Arts, and defend the ground within it.
If someone could pierce the fog and look down from the sky, they would see countless Wandering Souls rushing in under the pull of some force. The mighty River of Wandering Souls surged forward, a hundred streams pouring into the sea!
The disciples from Maple Forest City Daoist Academy, along with Wei Yan and Zhao Lang, were like bitter reefs battered by the river.
Unable to move, unable to fight back, with no end in sight!
"All the Wandering Souls in Maple Forest Territory have been drawn here. Maybe we're going to die here," Wang Changxiang said with a bitter smile.
These Wandering Souls hadn't been very strong, and earlier, inside the formation, the group had moved about freely. But that was when the Wandering Souls merely roamed about mindlessly, attacking living people only when they came near. Now the Wandering Souls were all converging on one place, and the group just happened to be in their way.
There were too many—almost endless!
At least as far as Wang Changxiang could see through the view he had barely managed to clear, they couldn't see the end of the Wandering Souls.
What they didn't know was that until now, only the Wandering Souls of Small Forest Town's dead had gathered here, while souls from farther away had been drawn in sporadically. Now, the Wandering Souls that had not dispersed across all of Maple Forest Territory were converging here, moving far faster than they ever could on their own.
The densely packed streaks of Wandering Souls cut across the sky, forming a Spider Web visible to spiritual sight across all of Maple Forest Territory—a sight that left countless powerful figures shaken.
"No," Wei Yan said, his voice cold. His heart was just as cold. "The City Lord will be here soon."
No one knew how much he had hated lighting that Red Letter, how much he had hated letting that man see him helplessly ask for help. But he had no choice. Faced with a legendary presence like the Ghost Gate Pass, he couldn't gamble the safety of all Maple Forest City just to protect his pride.
Jiang Wang watched those Wandering Souls roar past the "reefs" and toward the Ghost Gate Pass, only to be absorbed and consumed in an instant. His feelings were too complicated to put into words.
The Wandering Souls were probably all mindless. So they didn't struggle or scream, and seemed to have neither regret nor pain.
But they had all once been living people. They were the souls of people who should have been laid to rest!
Among them might be someone who had once brushed past him, someone he had known, a neighbor, one of his grandparents—or perhaps his father.
He stared wide-eyed into the densely packed Wandering Souls, searching for his father, who had died of illness in bed. The man who wasn't tall, yet had always held up the sky above him.
The Wandering Souls flashed by in an instant, darting past like bolts of lightning from every direction. He could only stare toward the direction of Phoenix Creek Town. His eyes were bloodshot from staring, but there were far too many for him to keep track of.
He had lived alone for so long and didn't want to show his vulnerability. Later, when he raised An'an, he had to be strong as an older brother. He had almost never said it, but he really, truly missed him!
Jiang Wang wanted so badly to see him one more time, yet he was also terrified of seeing him.
Terrified of that helplessness before the Ghost Gate Pass.
Suddenly, as if some threshold had been reached, the mighty River of Wandering Souls emptied in an instant under the influence of some force. Above the vortex, the phantom of the Ghost Gate Pass became impossibly clear and tangible.
In the very next instant, Wei Quji, the City Lord of Maple Forest City, descended from the sky, wrapped in a raging gale. But the phantom of the Ghost Gate Pass vanished at the same time!
Jiang Wang vaguely felt a faint breeze brush his cheek, but after he blinked, everything before him had changed.
The enormous vortex was gone, and the fog gathered over Small Forest Town immediately dispersed.
Everything had vanished. The Netherworld and Azure Heaven were nowhere to be seen!
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