Not long after Li Hai entered the old mansion, balls of raging fire inexplicably appeared all over the place.
At the same time, peering outside through a small window, he found that the sky had somehow turned to night, and the faintly visible village houses beyond had also burst into blazing flames.
Amid the blood-red firelight, shrill screams rang out without end.
It was as if, in the blink of an eye, this village had returned to the night decades ago when it had been devastated by a fire.
"Is this Asu's lingering will at work, or is something else behind this?"
The flames posed so little threat to Li Hai that their effect was all but negligible.
So he braved the fire and began a search of the old mansion that left no stone unturned.
Fortunately, the mansion wasn't very large. It was even smaller than any one of the side rooms in Old Dog Guo's courtyard.
Thus, without much effort, Li Hai found the suspicious spot: a cellar.
But the cellar was neither deep nor large. Aside from some old odds and ends and broken pickle jars, there was nothing else inside.
An ordinary person who found this might have no choice but to return disappointed.
But as soon as Li Hai went down, he seemed to sense something. His body turned illusory, and he passed through the rock and earth, reaching a point ten feet beneath the cellar floor.
There, buried in the earth, was a stone coffin whose age was impossible to guess.
And among the dry bones inside—bones so withered they no longer looked human—lay an ancient token that made Li Hai's heart tremble...
"Could it be..."
After leaving Ghost Eye Vision, Li Hai stood on the rocky slope and stared at the ancient token in his palm, engraved with the words "Naihe." He murmured, "Is this the source of the Ghost Path arts Asu cultivated?"
He could clearly sense that the token contained some kind of secret or power, but he had no idea how to access it.
Aside from the words "Naihe," there were no other inscriptions or mechanisms. He had no clue how to uncover its secret.
"Could I be supposed to drip blood on it to claim ownership?"
Li Hai frowned and grumbled, "That's way too old-fashioned."
Grumbling aside, Li Hai had no other ideas. He could only try to use his long, sharp nails to painstakingly cut through his excessively tough skin and squeeze out a tiny drop of blood to drip onto the token.
But nothing happened.
The token didn't react at all.
After that, Li Hai tried several more methods.
But whether he pulled out a hair, cursed, shouted "Open sesame," or infused it with soul power, none of it worked.
"What am I supposed to do? Do I have to smash it open?"
Furious, Li Hai gathered his Savage True Force and brought a heavy claw down on the token.
Bang!
The ground cracked, splitting into jagged fissures, but the token lying amid the shattered earth remained completely unharmed.
Not only was it unharmed, it even began to glimmer faintly... Wait!
"It's glowing?! The light's red, with a bit of black in it."
Li Hai hurriedly picked up the token and held it before his face to examine it closely. "That's strange. Why didn't anything work before, but now it reacts when I hit it hard? Could you really be some kind of masochistic piece of trash?"
As he muttered to himself, the token once again dimmed and went silent.
Seeing this, Li Hai tossed it onto the ground and stamped down hard.
Bang!
In an instant, Li Hai's stomp left a basin-sized crater where the token had been lying.
But this time, the token didn't react.
"Dammit!" Li Hai cursed under his breath. "Why isn't it working again?"
Then he calmed down and began to think carefully.
"Just now, after I hit the token with my force, it started to glow. Then I hit it again... Wait!"
Li Hai looked as if he'd realized something. "Force? True Force?"
He immediately circulated his True Force and slowly infused it into the token instead of striking it.
Buzz—
In an instant, the token blazed with black and red light.
"It worked!"
Thrilled by the response, Li Hai continued infusing the token with his True Force.
After half a minute, a voice that sounded neither quite male nor female, ethereal and cold, appeared in his mind:
"The Naihe Mansion Guo clan's hereditary token has been successfully activated. Would you like to enter the Inheritance Grotto-Heaven?"
"Yes!"
Li Hai answered without hesitation in his mind.
"Entry request received. Physical transmission will now begin," the cool voice replied.
Buzz—
In an instant, the black-gray land and mist-shrouded sky before Li Hai blurred and vanished.
In their place was a vast, ancient, and magnificent hall.
The hall was silent and empty, steeped in the weight of countless years.
"What exactly is this place..."
Li Hai walked through the hall, looking up at the surrounding walls and the severely faded murals. He asked, curiosity and confusion in his voice, "What is this place?"
He ran his hand over the massive stone pillars supporting the ceiling and studied the indistinct carvings on them. Everything here seemed to radiate a sacred yet uncanny aura.
He felt this way because, although the carvings and murals had grown mottled and indistinct, Li Hai's eyesight was sharp as an eagle's. He could still make out what they were trying to "say."
The carvings and murals depicted evil spirits and monsters running rampant through the mortal world, bringing misery and devastation to the living. Then, unable to endure it any longer, countless ordinary people rose up in revolt under the leadership of heroes from all walks of life.
They fought day after day and night after night, sacrificing countless lives. In the end, with blood and fire, they subdued demons and banished evil; with blade and sword, they slew ghosts and monsters, restoring peace to the world.
Apart from this central theme, Li Hai noticed that the carvings on the stone pillars and the murals on the hall walls also showed that, even after peace returned, evil spirits and monsters still occasionally caused havoc, leaving innocent people dead in their wake. So the heroes who had once led the people in revolt appeared again, gathering talented individuals from every walk of life and forming a group that traveled throughout the mortal world, slaying demons and banishing evil.
Li Hai also noticed that some of the broken carvings and murals depicted this group, which traveled everywhere to slay ghosts and destroy demons. Though it included many heroes of astonishing martial prowess and possessed all manner of secret treasures and mysterious artifacts, the group never sought the highest power in the world. Instead, its members withdrew from worldly affairs, quietly roaming the land to safeguard the peace.
And finally, the carvings and murals Li Hai found depicted the group remaining hidden among the vast sea of humanity in the mortal world. Even as dynasties rose and fell and times changed, they never abandoned their original purpose. They continued to quietly slay ghosts and banish evil, and to protect the peace of the mortal world.
"What a righteous organization! Nothing but heroes!"
Li Hai threw his head back, planted his hands on his hips, and laughed, his heart surging with excitement. "They do their deeds, then vanish without a trace, leaving only their legends behind. Holy crap, that's so damn cool! I, Old Li, want in!"
He was always quick to get carried away. After looking at the murals and carvings, he was already fired up and wanted to find this organization and join it, then go on a glorious rampage, slaying ghosts and monsters, and then...
"Hey, wait~"
Li Hai suddenly scratched his head. "I'm technically a ghost too, aren't I? So..."
Buzz—
Just then, a hazy red light suddenly flickered on the desk at the head of the hall, dozens of yards away from him.
Before you continue