There were far more Red Ghosts on the underground plain than they had seen in the passage.
Shen Fei stood in the middle of the group, his gaze sweeping over the dark red humanoid shapes ahead. Packed densely together, they stretched from his feet to the edge of his vision like a living swamp.
Every Red Ghost gave off Silver Rank fluctuations of spiritual power. Individually, they were nothing much, but with ten thousand gathered together, their mingled aura alone pressed against his chest until it felt tight.
Nie Li crouched at the front, pressed his fingers against the ground, then turned back and spoke in a low voice.
"Don't merge with your Demon Spirits. The spiritual power fluctuations during the merging process will draw more Red Ghosts."
Lu Piao and Xiao Xue had already gripped their sword hilts. Both halted at his words.
Crouching beside Nie Li, Du Ze took a thin iron needle from inside his robe and scratched the ground with it. He said quietly that the residual spiritual power in the ground was a tangled mixture, but the Red Ghosts' sensing range was limited.
Nie Li rose, and the Shadow Demon peeled away from the shadow beneath his feet.
The black phantom spread forward along his shadow like a layer of flowing ink, splitting into slender threads that hugged the ground and slipped through the gaps between the Red Ghosts.
The Shadow Demon's aura was completely restrained, as though it had melted into the shadows on the ground. Even Shen Fei could barely pinpoint its position with his spiritual perception.
"Follow my route," Nie Li said. "Stay at least ten zhang away from the Red Ghosts. If one blocks the way, deal with it as quickly as possible."
He stepped out first.
Shen Fei remained where he was. He waited for Nie Li to advance a few steps, making sure the route scouted by the Shadow Demon was indeed safe, before merging with his Shadow Mantis as he stepped forward.
The black phantom deep within his soul fused with him. Cold, dark spiritual power spread along his meridians into every limb and bone.
The Shadow Mantis specialized in concealment and assassination. Once they merged, his aura instantly sank, becoming so faint and thin that it seemed the surrounding shadows had swallowed part of it.
He followed the route marked by the Shadow Demon, his footsteps almost soundless. Each step landed precisely where Nie Li had stepped.
Up ahead, Nie Li had already advanced more than ten zhang. The Shadow Demon's threads kept extending ahead of him, adjusting their direction to skirt clusters of Red Ghosts.
Whenever a Red Ghost blocked the path directly ahead, a thread would gently coil around its feet. The creature would stumble as though something had tripped it, staggering a couple of steps to the side and leaving a gap.
Nie Li slipped through that gap with clean, efficient movements.
Shen Fei followed, keeping a distance of roughly five zhang.
The Shadow Mantis's perception covered more than ten zhang around him. Every Red Ghost's position, direction of movement, and focus of attention formed a constantly updating map in his mind.
He sensed a Red Ghost three zhang to his left lifting its head to sniff the air. Immediately, he shifted half a step to the right, just avoiding its sensing range.
After roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, two Red Ghosts appeared ahead, crouching side by side in the middle of the path. They were too close together to go around.
Nie Li did not stop. The Shadow Demon's threads rose simultaneously from the shadows beneath the two Red Ghosts, coiling around their ankles like two black snakes and gently tugging them apart.
Both Red Ghosts toppled sideways, leaving a gap just wide enough for one person between them. Nie Li turned sideways and slipped through, landing toes first without making a sound.
When Shen Fei caught up, the two Red Ghosts were struggling to stand, making indistinct gurgling noises in their throats. The Shadow Mantis's perception told him that the one on the left was turning its gaze toward him.
He did not hesitate. Driven by the Shadow Mantis's instincts, he lowered his body slightly and slid through the gap almost flush against the ground.
By the time the Red Ghost's gaze swept over the place where he had stood, he was already three zhang away.
Lu Piao followed behind Shen Fei. His footsteps were somewhat heavier than theirs, but the Shadow Demon's threads formed a layer beneath his feet, absorbing the sound of his steps. Xiao Xue followed close behind, her face taut and her knuckles white around her sword hilt.
Du Ze brought up the rear, his pace steady, each step landing where the person ahead had stepped.
The farther they went, the more densely packed the Red Ghosts became. The Shadow Demon's route grew increasingly winding. Sometimes they had to make three consecutive turns between several Red Ghosts to find a gap.
Nie Li's speed never changed. Every step landed precisely, as though he had calculated all the Red Ghosts' movements in advance.
Shen Fei noticed something. As Nie Li passed through the crowd of Red Ghosts, he would occasionally slow deliberately for half a step, letting the Shadow Demon's threads linger for an extra breath.
Each time he did this, several nearby Red Ghosts would glance in that direction. Their attention would then be drawn away, opening a gap on the other side.
Nie Li was using the Shadow Demon to create distractions, drawing the Red Ghosts' attention away from the group.
Such intricate manipulation required an exceptionally high degree of control over soul force.
Every thread of the Shadow Demon was linked to Nie Li's perception. He had to control more than a dozen threads simultaneously, creating different distractions in different places, while also making sure he never strayed from his own route.
Shen Fei knew he could not achieve that level of control. His Shadow Mantis excelled at single-target assassination and stealth. Wide-area distractions affecting an entire crowd were not its strength.
After another half hour or so, the density of Red Ghosts ahead suddenly thinned.
The ground also changed from dark red granules to deep gray sandy soil, softer underfoot and quieter to walk on. An open area lay in the distance. Almost none of the Red Ghosts approached it, as though something there frightened them.
Nie Li stopped and tilted his head, listening for a moment. "There's something over there. The Red Ghosts don't dare go near it."
Lu Piao wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked quietly whether they should go over. Nie Li said they should; if they stayed here, they would be discovered sooner or later. He changed direction and headed toward the open area.
Shen Fei followed, extending the Shadow Mantis's perception ahead.
He could sense an enormous living creature in the darkness before them. Its body was immense, its aura restrained but heavy, like a mountain buried underground.
The Red Ghosts' auras grew noticeably disturbed as they approached that area, carrying an instinctive fear.
After they had walked roughly half a li, a point of light appeared in the darkness ahead. Pale yellow and as soft as a lantern hanging in the distance, it stood out sharply in the dim underground space.
Lu Piao's eyes lit up. He was about to speak when Nie Li raised a hand to stop him. "Don't go over. That's a Netherlight Behemoth's feeler. It uses glowing feelers as bait to lure prey close."
Shen Fei stopped, locking the Shadow Mantis's perception onto the light. The glow was moving slowly. It was not a lantern swaying; the entire light source was shifting sideways.
As the light moved, more outlines emerged from the surrounding darkness: an enormous, bloated body like a small mountain, half buried in the sandy soil and covered in rough, grayish-brown skin.
The glowing feelers extended from the top of its body, swaying gently in the air like aquatic weeds.
The Netherlight Behemoth was far larger than Shen Fei had imagined. The portion exposed above the sandy soil alone stood three or four zhang tall. Its body resembled a rising mound of earth, its surface covered in folds and cracks.
The feelers sprouted from the top of its body, the longest reaching two or three zhang, their tips emitting a pale yellow glow.
Nie Li said the creature moved very slowly, but once prey entered its attack range, those tentacles could seize it in an instant.
He glanced behind him. The Red Ghosts milled about a hundred zhang away without coming any closer. The Netherlight Behemoth's presence kept them from pursuing, but it also meant the group had to pass through the behemoth's territory.
"Go around. Keep to the edge, and stay out of reach of its tentacles."
The group changed direction, skirting the edge of the Netherlight Behemoth's territory. Nie Li led the way, the Shadow Demon's threads spreading across the ground to test whether the sandy soil was firm.
Shen Fei walked beside Xiao Ning'er, keeping the Shadow Mantis's perception locked on the Netherlight Behemoth and tracking the movements of every one of its feelers.
After roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they reached the area behind the Netherlight Behemoth's flank. The glowing feelers receded farther and farther behind them, while the entrance to a passage became faintly visible in the darkness ahead.
Everything changed in an instant.
Before you continue