Barricades

Without a doubt, the corpse of the ghostly figure before them was that of Old Ironhead.

He's supposedly one of the most senior delivery drivers on this Ghost Vein.

Then it died. According to the old woman Hu Mang, when a person dies, they become a ghost; when a ghost dies, it becomes a ghost; when a ghost dies, it becomes a ghost; and when a ghost dies, it becomes a ghost.

This guy is a "bad guy" now—if he's been lucky enough to survive.

Because not all ghosts can become a "𫆏" after they die.

Hu Mang pondered for a moment, then looked at Chen Xiaosan, who was breathing heavily, and offered him words of comfort.

"At least this guy died a really satisfying death, Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin, the kind even Boss Gu couldn't pull off."

The Old Third almost couldn't catch his breath.

"Second brother, stop using your values to judge others. Not everyone is as fearless as you."

Back then, when faced with Gu Yunshu's swordsmanship that was in Unity of Heaven and Man, any slight flaw in one's mind would be immediately captured and killed by his swordsmanship.

But Hu Mang endured it all, even though he was beaten half to death each time.

Others may not understand, but Chen Xiaosan, whose strength was roughly equal to Hu Mang's back then, was the one who understood the difficulties best.

So he called him "Second Brother" willingly.

But not everyone is as open-minded as Hu Mang.

"If I ever have the chance, I will avenge the old man!" Chen Xiaosan took a few deep breaths, then swallowed them and said.

"That's good. Revenge is a very satisfying thing," Hu Mang nodded in agreement.

"But boss, they know the 'Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin," Chen Xiaosan said with a wry smile. "I haven't even avenged them yet, and I've already delivered the food to their wounds."

"It's alright," Hu Mang said casually. "Even after you're gone, I'll avenge you. I even know where he works— the Dragon-Slaying Department Division."

"Thank you so much," Chen Xiaosan said speechlessly.

"Well, I just have a question I'd like to ask you, a local," Hu Mang said, glancing around at the crowd.

"Why hasn't the fog in this Underworld dissipated yet, and it's still so thick? Was the consequence of Old Ironhead's death that serious?"

Chen Xiaosan also realized what was happening, and suddenly a thought struck him, and he blurted out, "That's not right!"

What's wrong?

"Old Ironhead once told me that every ghost town has its own rules, and the rule of this Iron Gate Pass is that as long as the person lives, the flag lives; when the person dies, the flag dies. The little ghost we saw earlier carrying the 'Iron Character Flag' was a flag! But Old Ironhead is already dead, in other words, the flag should have been gone long ago."

Chen Xiaosan waved his hand, and a gust of yin wind swirled past, revealing the triangular command flag with the character "Iron" written on it that he had seen before. But now, the ghost flag was shimmering with yin light, and even had a trace of divinity that Old Ironhead did not possess.

As the command flag was summoned, it vaguely pointed in a direction.

"This Old Ironhead resurrected so quickly? And after becoming 'Hellfire,' he can still lead an army of ghosts?"

"There's another possibility," Chen Xiaosan said, a hint of anger creeping onto his usually carefree face.

"Someone used Old Ironhead's account to create a new account."

"Hmm, so this is what you told me before, the kind of merger between different sites, right?" Hu Mang said with a "hmm".

He pressed down on the heavy gun in his hand; the gun exerted considerable pressure on the web of his hand.

"Shall we go take a look?"

"That's natural."

Chen Xiaosan took a deep breath and, for the first time, took out his weapon, pulling out a very delicate red-handled knife from the red scarf around his neck.

"Skirt knife?" Hu Mang had actually recognized it long ago; the red scarf Chen Xiaosan wore was actually the red veil from the toilet earlier. However, out of concern that he might be involved in some melodramatic incident, such as a love story between a human and a ghost, he had not expressed his opinion.

But when it comes to weapons, that's his area of interest.

Skirt knife, an ancient women's knife, served two purposes: pressing down on clothing during the day and warding off nightmares at night.

"A decent Ghost Artifact, about the same level as your Devil Artifact, Second Brother."

That's close to the level of Law Treasure?

Hu Mang raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you've really hooked up with a pretty rich woman."

Guided by the ghost flag, the two charged almost non-stop toward the location of the "fake."

Without any setbacks, they soon arrived at the other side's location, or rather, their camp.

It was a large military formation with fluttering flags and imposing walls.

The camp covered an area that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was surrounded by a wall made of a mixture of giant logs and rammed earth. The wall was about two zhang high and covered with a dark blue light that gleamed coldly in the dim light of the day. Every few steps along the wall, a black military flag was planted, with different insignia embroidered on it, some symbols and some ancient seal script.

Inside the camp, tents were densely packed together, stretching from the edge of the ramparts all the way into the depths of the camp, as neat as if measured with a ruler.

In front of each tent was a Squad Commander, each a different color—some were crimson, some were dark black, and some were grayish-white—distributed according to a specific pattern, forming a huge array.

Between the tents, squads of ghost soldiers were patrolling—not the chaotic, disorganized ghost soldiers found in the Iron Gate Pass, but a real military formation with neat ranks and synchronized steps.

They wore uniform armor, carried uniform spears, and moved without making a sound, except for the rustling of armor plates and the dull thud of boots hitting the ground, like a precisely operating war machine.

In the very center of the camp stood a general's platform about three zhang high; the platform was made of bluestone, and a huge commander's flag was planted on the platform. The flag was as black as ink, and a huge "Iron" character was embroidered on it with silver thread.

Strangely, the imposing figure clad in heavy armor and wielding an iron halberd was nowhere to be seen on the platform.

Instead, there was a simple arrangement—a dark wooden table with a smooth surface, on which lay several scrolls of bamboo slips and a map. On the map were several winding lines drawn in vermilion, which gleamed with a dark red luster in the dim light of the day.

Behind the desk sat a slender figure, wearing a faded blue long robe, with no helmet on his head, only a simple bun secured with a wooden hairpin.

He was looking down, flipping through a scroll of bamboo slips in his hands, his posture calm and composed, as if he were not in a perilous enemy camp, but in his own study.

There was something lying on the table. Because it was too far away, it was Grand Pure One. You could only vaguely make out that it was a fluffy thing, curled up in the corner of the table, like a cat or a rabbit. It would move occasionally, its tail would gently sweep across the table, and then it would be quiet again.

As soon as Hu Mang and his companion arrived at the entrance of the ghost camp, Hu Mang grabbed the Old Third, who was about to use his "Exit Yin and Enter Yang" ability to investigate.

"Don't go in."

"Why?"

Chen Xiaosan looked at Hu Mang in surprise. It was the first time he had ever seen his second brother with such an expression—solemn, no, cautious.

There was even a slight sense of tension.

Nervous?

Will my second brother be nervous?

He wasn't nervous at all when Boss Gu's sword almost killed him.

"Second Brother, what's going on? Is this place a trap?" Chen Xiaosan also became serious.

"It's not a trap, there's no such thing as a trap that's so blatantly obvious."

The Hu Mang paused for a moment, then said:

"I used to read ancient military books when I was bored. The books described several kinds of desperate situations: 'Deep into enemy territory and the retreat route is cut off,' 'Surrounded by mountains on all sides and trapped in a valley,' 'With their backs to the river and no boats to cross,' 'Desolate and barren land, without food or water,' 'Surrounded by enemies on all sides, isolated and without support.' In general, even an elite army trapped in such a situation would have no chance of survival."

"This camp before us is a man-made death trap."

"Very dangerous?"

"It's extremely dangerous," Hu Mang paused, then said, "If I go in and can't break through to safety, you shouldn't go in."

Chen Xiaosan's expression finally changed.

Of the five brothers, the Old Fourth and Old Fifth were the most prone to rambling. Although he was rather fond of talking nonsense, he rarely told lies. However, if the second brother said something like that in this situation, he was almost certainly not lying.

Now it was Chen Xiaosan's turn to grab Hu Mang and say seriously, "How about we retreat first?"

Even if the other party wasn't necessarily the murderer of Old Ironhead, barging in under these circumstances would be an extremely foolish decision.

"No, I'll go in and take a look," Hu Mang pondered for a moment, then suddenly revealed a strange smile.

This may be a dangerous place for you, but not necessarily for me.

"Second Brother, do you have a way to break the formation?" Chen Xiaosan's spirits lifted.

"No, I know someone in my unit."

The reason Hu Mang could tell that this camp was a place of utter despair was not because he was an expert in ancient military strategy and formations—he only read military books when he was truly bored, and this was not an exaggeration.

The reason he could see the danger of this military formation was because his Heavenly Eye was forcibly shut down when he was observing it.

There are two possible reasons for this: either someone used a higher level of Heavenly Secrets Evolution to obscure the natural order of things, causing the Hu Mang to become "blinded" on the spot.

Alternatively, the fate of this place has run out, and there is no longer any living life left. Since there is no living life left, the "Heavenly Eye" naturally cannot see anything.

These are also known as the Ten Deadly Grounds.

Unless the Hu Mang awakens a higher level of "Tribulation Eye".

This feeling intensified when Hu Mang walked directly into the camp.

The reason is simple: the feeling I had in the Demon-Subduing City surged up from the depths of my body once again.

This time, it's not some Immortal's Palm owner twisting the truth, but someone who seems to be an acquaintance causing trouble.

Sure enough, as soon as they entered the formation, row after row of gray wooden walls came crashing into them. But under the shadow of the Yin Eye, these were not wooden walls at all, but rather living city walls formed by layers of the Ghost Wall effect.

The next moment, Hu Mang stepped on the Dragon-Suppressing Stake, and the energy around his body suddenly reversed. Then, his spear shot out and plunged into the wooden wall.

There was no explosion or loud noise.

The hundreds of ghostly mouths that had grown out of the wooden wall were biting the tip of the spear.

The Hu Mang remained expressionless. A flash of light appeared on its left hand, summoning Shattering Thunder. With a powerful strike, the gray wall instantly crumbled into pieces.