The group rushed inside and found things to barricade the door.
Temporarily safe, the dozen or so people stood in the courtyard, listening to one another's heavy breathing, their still-youthful faces filled with bewilderment and unease.
None of them had expected their first real battle after leaving the training grounds to be this brutal.
The Grandmaster leading them was missing, his fate unknown.
Almost every ghost they encountered presented a certain-death situation. Several companions had already died, and the blood splashed across their faces warned every Netherworld Messenger that this was no longer a drill!
Vengeful Ghosts blocked the door, and a Half-Body Blood Garment cut off the road.
Trapped in an eerie old village that even a Grandmaster could enter but not leave, their despair grew with every passing second.
"Don't just stand there. Follow me," Zhao Xiaodong called.
His voice remained firm, without the slightest tremor, because he had always believed there was no certain-death situation in this world, only people who could not find a way out.
The group passed the sealed well and entered the main room.
When they pushed open the door, everyone was surprised to find a grave built in the middle of the room. Piled from rubble and earth, it looked very old.
"Look over here," someone called.
Only after circling to the other side did they see a hole beneath the grave. Scrape marks on the ground suggested something had crawled out of it.
"It was that old man. I noticed a lot of dirt on him earlier. He must have crawled out of here!" Sister Qin spoke up.
Zhao Xiaodong nodded.
He had noticed it too.
"Why build a grave inside your own home?" someone asked in confusion.
"Was he afraid there wouldn't be time to bury him after he died,