Slaying Ghosts and Exterminating Demons

Not long after Li Hai entered the ancient residence, raging fires inexplicably erupted throughout the building.

Peering out through a small window, he discovered that the sky outside had inexplicably turned to night, and the faint, flickering outlines of village houses were now ablaze with roaring flames.

Amidst that blood-red firelight, shrill, harrowing screams echoed incessantly.

It was as if this village had, in the blink of an eye, returned to that night decades ago when it was ravaged by fire.

Is it the lingering obsession of Asu playing tricks, or is something else at work?

The damage caused by these minor flames was so negligible to Li Hai that it was practically non-existent.

Thus, braving the inferno, he began a search of the ancient residence that could only be described as scouring every inch of the ground.

Fortunately, the area of this house was not large; it was not even as big as any of the side chambers in the courtyard of Old Dog Guo.

Therefore, without much effort, Li Hai found the source of the anomaly—a cellar.

However, the cellar was neither deep nor large, and aside from some old debris and shattered vegetable jars, it contained nothing else.

An ordinary person finding this might have had no choice but to turn back in disappointment.

But once Li Hai descended, as if sensing something, his figure turned ethereal, passing through rock and soil until he reached three zhang beneath the cellar floor.

There, buried impressively, lay a stone coffin that had existed for who knows how many years.

And within that coffin, amidst a pile of withered bones that no longer resembled a human form, lay a piece of... ancient token that made Li Hai's heart tremble.

"Could it be..."

Stepping out of the Ghost Eye vision and standing upon the rocky slope, Li Hai stared at the ancient token engraved with the two characters "Naihe" in his palm, muttering, "Is this the source of the ghost path techniques that Asu cultivated?"

He could clearly feel that this token contained some kind of secret, or perhaps power, yet he had no idea how to begin.

Because apart from the two characters "Naihe," there were no other inscriptions or mechanisms, and he had no clue how to uncover its secrets.

"Don't tell me, do I have to drip blood to claim ownership?"

Li Hai frowned and grumbled, "That's way too cliché."

Complaining aside, with no other options, Li Hai had no choice but to try and use his sharp, long fingernails to laboriously cut his own overly tough skin, drawing a tiny drop of blood to drip onto the token.

However, it had no effect.

The token did not react at all.

Subsequently, Li Hai tried several other methods.

But whether it was pulling out hair, cursing, shouting "Open Sesame," or even immersing it in soul power, everything was completely ineffective.

"How do I do this? Does it need to be smashed open?"

Annoyed, Li Hai channeled his Wild Savage True Energy and slammed a claw down hard onto the token.

Bang!

The ground cracked and spiderwebbed with fissures, yet the token lying in the center of the mottled cracks remained completely undamaged.

Not only was it undamaged, it actually began to emit a faint glow... wait!

"It's glowing?! A red light with a hint of black."

Li Hai hurriedly picked the token up from the ground and held it before his eyes to observe it closely. "Strange, why did it do nothing before, but now that I've hit it hard, it reacts? Are you actually a cheap item that only responds to a beating?"

As he spoke to himself, the token dimmed and went quiet once more.

Seeing this, Li Hai threw it on the ground and stomped on it fiercely.

Bang!

Instantly, the spot where the token lay was crushed into a basin-sized crater by Li Hai's foot.

But this time, the token did not react.

"Damn it!" Li Hai cursed under his breath. "Why isn't it working again?"

He then calmed his mind and began to think carefully.

"Just now, after I channeled energy to strike the token, it began to glow, and then I struck it again... wait!"

Li Hai seemed to have realized something. "Channeling energy? True Energy?"

He immediately circulated his True Energy, not to strike, but to slowly permeate it into the token.

Hum—

Instantly, the token erupted with a black and red radiance.

"That's the way!"

Seeing the reaction, Li Hai, in his excitement, continued to channel his True Energy into it.

After continuing this for half a minute, an ethereal, cold, and detached voice, sounding neither male nor female, appeared in his mind:

Naihe Mansion Guo Clan lineage inheritance token has been successfully activated. Do you wish to enter the Inheritance Grotto-Heaven?

"Yes!"

Li Hai answered in his heart without the slightest hesitation.

"Entry request received. Initiating physical teleportation." The cold, detached voice rang out once more.

Hum—

In the blink of an eye, the ash-grey earth and the mist-shrouded sky in Li Hai's field of vision blurred and vanished.

Replacing them was a vast, ancient, and magnificent hall.

The grand hall was silent and deserted, permeated by the heavy scent of passing ages.

"Where on earth..."

Li Hai walked through the hall, lifting his head to scan the surrounding walls and gazing at the severely faded murals, asking with curiosity and confusion, "What kind of place is this?"

Running his hand over the thick stone pillars supporting the ceiling and studying the blurred reliefs carved into them, he felt that everything here was filled with an aura both sacred and bizarre.

The reason for this sensation was that, although the reliefs and murals were mottled and indistinct, Li Hai's eagle-like eyesight allowed him to discern exactly what they were trying to "say."

These reliefs and murals depicted a world where demons and ghosts ran rampant, causing the suffering of all living things, until the countless common folk, unable to endure it any longer, rose up in resistance under the leadership of various heroes and champions.

Day after day, night after night of slaughter, they paid with countless lives, eventually using blood and fire to subdue demons and monsters, and blades and swords to slay ghosts and spirits, restoring peace to the entire world.

Beyond this theme, Li Hai discovered that the various pillar reliefs and wall murals also depicted how, even after peace had returned to the human realm, demons and ghosts would still occasionally wreak havoc, causing innocent people to die tragic, violent deaths. Consequently, the heroes who had led the resistance in the past reappeared, gathering and recruiting talented individuals to form a team that traveled across the human realm to hunt down demons and eliminate monsters.

Li Hai further discovered that some of the broken reliefs and murals depicted this team of ghost-slayers and demon-hunters, despite possessing numerous formidable warriors and various secret artifacts and mystical treasures, never sought the highest power in the world. Instead, they retreated and hid away from the world, silently walking the four corners of the earth to protect the peace of humanity.

Finally, the last reliefs and murals Li Hai found depicted this team remaining hidden within the vast sea of humanity and the mortal world. Even as dynasties rose and fell and the world changed, they never altered their original intent, continuing to silently slay ghosts and eliminate demons, maintaining the peace of the human realm.

"What a righteous organization! Every single one of them is a hero!"

Li Hai threw his head back, hands on his hips, and laughed with surging excitement, "To leave after the deed is done, hiding one's merit and fame—damn, that is so incredibly cool! I, Li, want to do this too!"

He was prone to impulsive whims; seeing these murals and reliefs had stirred his blood, making him want to find this organization, join them, and then engage in the hearty, unrestrained slaughter of ghosts and monsters, and then...

"Wait, hold on~"

Li Hai suddenly scratched his head, "I suppose I count as a ghost too, this..."

Hum—

Just then, a dim red light suddenly flickered on the desk at the head of the hall, dozens of yards away from him.