Lamplight swayed gently inside the tent.
Outside, the mountain wind grew stronger, carrying red mist against the canvas with a ceaseless flapping.
Lu Chen sat on one side of the table, recalling the Organ-Nourishing Demon Wraiths he had slain, along with the Red-Robed Ghost General.
Behind them, there seemed to lurk an even vaster, stranger world.
Lu Chen looked up and asked Luo Yun, "Lord Luo, where exactly do these Demon Wraiths come from?"
Luo Yun fell silent for a moment.
He picked up the tea bowl on the table. The tea had long since gone cold, but he did not drink it. He merely stared at the wavering reflection of the lamplight on its surface, seemingly weighing where to begin.
"The Ghost Tide has a long history."
"Demon Wraiths were already appearing on Scarlet Cloud Mountain before Great Zhou was founded. As for their true origins, even the Martial Temple has no clear records. Only a few accounts have been passed down, and no one can tell whether they're true."
"What accounts?" Lu Chen asked.
Luo Yun set down the tea bowl and looked toward the mountain forest shrouded in red mist outside the tent.
"Legend has it that an abyss lies suppressed beneath Scarlet Cloud Mountain. It is called the Scarlet Abyss."
"The Scarlet Abyss is no ordinary underground rift. It is a passage connecting to another world. The Demon Wraiths we see are connected to the world at the other end."
Lu Chen frowned slightly.
"Another world?"
"Heaven and earth are vast, far vaster than what we can see," Luo Yun said slowly. "Some ancient texts in the Martial Temple mention that beyond our own world lie many foreign realms that defy ordinary reason."
"Some teem with spiritual energy and nurture countless heavenly treasures. Others are places