Chapter 673: The True Ghost Empire

Ke Lai En's gaze lingered on Luo Sai Er for two seconds, then he reached out and patted Ai Mu Lin's shoulder, saying, "You don't need to apologize."

Ai Mu Lin was a little puzzled, but instinct told him the other was right; he didn't linger on the topic and instead said, "To the east, I just felt an extremely strong pull, as if my body were spontaneously flying that way, and that aura of authority and oppression definitely doesn't belong to the blood clan."

"Seems correct; there shouldn't be angels of the Castia or Augustus families in these waters."

Luo Sai Er nodded with satisfaction, his tone very certain.

Ke Lai En asked in puzzlement, "Why wouldn't it be that 'Five Seas King'?"

"Naste's 'Black Emperor' is docked at the Port of Pas Valley; the previous battle left that ghost ship with some damage, and it's currently under repair."

Lei Ke Dun gave a brief explanation, then, with the others, transformed again into an information torrent and surged swiftly toward the east of this sea.

After marching east for about twenty minutes, the torrent-like information flow quickly converged, reconstituting Lei Ke Dun and his companions' silhouettes, which floated silently in midair.

A thin mist spread over the surrounding sea, the crimson moonlight grew hazy, leaving only the undulating water and fog, making direction hard to discern.

Scanning the surroundings, Ke Lai En spoke cautiously:

"When did this fog appear? I don't think I noticed it."

After a brief silence, Lei Ke Dun shook his head and said:

"Some of the knowledge I previously activated lost connection, and it's in this direction."

More than the sudden fog, he was curious about what force erased the portion of knowledge he had activated.

Luo Sai Er squinted, surveyed the surroundings for a while, then laughed, "Friends, be bold—perhaps we've already reached the Ghost Empire."

Lei Ke Dun thought of something and asked curiously, "Has it merged with this sea?"

Luo Sai Er nodded, then shook his head again, speaking calmly:

"Perhaps not this sea, but any sea; otherwise it's hard to explain why the Storm Church's people haven't found this place. Of course, it's possible they already discovered it but sealed off the information."

"The true Ghost Empire should be heavily polluted, and the higher the rank, the stronger the contamination."

"I can feel that the core driving this mechanical doll seems to have some issues; I probably can't enter the Ghost Empire."

Lei Ke Dun nodded, not surprised by the result, and turned his head toward Luo Sai Er, asking:

"Can you withdraw from this sea on your own?"

Luo Sai Er's eyes emitted a dark red glow; after glancing around briefly, he quickly retracted his aura, shook his head, and said, "I'm afraid not; the environment here suppresses me severely, especially when I use extraordinary abilities—the erosion that streams directly from the extraordinary trait is very severe."

At that point, he smiled briefly, unconcerned about his own issue, and said:

"I'll first usher you into the true Ghost Empire; as for my problem, nothing that dying once can't solve. Anyway, I'm not truly revived yet—just a mechanical doll, not really a loss."

Lei Ke Dun and Ke Lai En exchanged glances and both nodded, "Alright."

"You all didn't even try to keep me, say something sentimental—how utterly heartless."

Luo Sai Er, while ranting, clenched his fist, covering it with a layer of light mixed with red and black, instantly giving a sense of power and eerie strangeness.

Under Lei Ke Dun and the others' gaze, he punched the void before him.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Illusory shattering sounds layered around, the surrounding light and shadow stretched and warped, and the rules and order covering the area showed glitches.

After a bout of weightlessness, Lei Ke Dun and two others found themselves in a rather bustling city; the architecture belonged to the late Quaternary style, yet everything appeared unusually orderly, as if striving for perfect symmetry.

From the overall layout of streets and buildings to the clothing on pedestrians, the pruning of street trees, the ornamental patterns everywhere in the city, even the typography.

But upon closer inspection, one finds many flaws in this symmetry; it seems long out of balance, appearing extremely discordant.

Ai Mu Lin repeatedly surveyed the surroundings, hesitantly saying, "This place... resembles the capital of the Terunsost Empire from the late Quaternary." Ke Lai En glanced at Ai Mu Lin; before he could ask, Ai Mu Lin offered an explanation: "There are many records within the blood clan about the Terunsost Empire; it belongs to a once-glorious history. I've seen some surviving paintings—the cities look similar, yet there are differences; I'm not entirely sure."

"But turning the Ghost Empire into a city—wouldn't that be too extravagant? Weren't those nobles fleeing at the time?"

Lei Ke Dun's gaze calmly swept the surroundings, rapidly assimilating the city's information, and said, "Perhaps this city evolved later, or maybe an angel of the Terunsost Empire at that time lifted a city outright and transformed it into a floating island that can move on the sea."

"No one dictates that the Ghost Empire must be a ghost ship; people back then simply called anything that could carry people on the sea a ship."

"That possibility can't be ruled out," Ke Lai En nodded in agreement, then with a serious expression said, "The people here have no spiritual lines, and not a single spiritual line is visible in this city."

Lei Ke Dun pondered, guessing, "They aren't living beings but part of the Ghost Empire; they form a whole. The Ghost Empire hasn't fully come to life, so spiritual lines don't exist."

As his words faded, his appearance, visage, and aura changed swiftly; his eyes turned bright red, his bearing became quite noble, resembling a blood clan more than Ai Mu Lin.

His clothing style also turned ancient, blending perfectly with the surrounding pedestrians.

Seeing Lei Ke Dun's transformation, Ke Lai En seemed to recall something and altered his own appearance, rubbing his face; he instantly became a blood clan count, with lighter, almost silver hair, bright red eyes like hidden blood, a tall slender, very upright figure.

Ai Mu Lin, seeing Ke Lai En's changed visage, couldn't contain his astonishment, exclaiming, "Count Mistral! Have you seen Count Mistral?"

"Obviously," Ke Lai En replied in the count's usual haughty tone.

Ai Mu Lin awkwardly shifted his gaze; their disguises were too similar—he felt they looked more like blood clan than even his own genuine blood clan.

He cleared his throat lightly, gathered his thoughts, and asked, "Ahem—where are we heading next?"

"Let's move toward the city center; since this resembles the former capital of the Terunsost Empire, that area should be the palace, the core of the Ghost Empire."

Lei Ke Dun gave a brief explanation, then stepped forward, merging into the bustling street crowd.

Ai Mu Lin and Ke Lai En immediately followed, curiously and cautiously scanning the surroundings while staying close behind Lei Ke Dun.

While moving, Lei Ke Dun used his control over information to generate some data, activate it, and disperse it.

His forward stride suddenly halted as he sensed subtle environmental changes; after a moment, his motion resumed, and in a relaxed tone he said:

"Try to avoid interacting with the people and objects here; we exist in two dimensions that constantly overlap and separate from the street folk. Once interaction occurs, we will be eroded by the unseen and gradually become one of them."

"The city has extremely strict laws, but as long as we don't intersect with it, we won't be heavily affected."

"The underlying rules and order here differ from the outside; I haven't fully deciphered them yet."

Lei Ke Dun's voice faded; Ai Mu Lin and Ke Lai En exchanged glances, said nothing, and proceeded forward in tacit understanding, fearing their own communication might also interact with the surroundings.

After about five or six minutes, Ai Mu Lin frowned at the surroundings and said hesitantly:

"Have you noticed we clearly walked for a long time yet seem to stay in the same place?"

Ke Lai En froze briefly, halted his steps, and examined the surroundings; the houses, streets, lamp posts, moving silhouettes grew increasingly familiar, eventually overlapping exactly with the initial scene in his mind.

"This—" he exclaimed, looking at Lei Ke Dun, only to find the latter and Ai Mu Lin had already put some distance between them.

What's happening? Is there a problem with me?

As his thoughts drifted, Klein saw the moving shadows around him suddenly all stop, they turned in unison to face him, staring expressionlessly without blinking.

Klein stood frozen in place, his body and consciousness seeming to be severed; he only felt the shadows around him magnified several times, becoming extraordinarily tall, as if they could dominate his life, an inexplicable fear welled up from his heart, he couldn't help but want to lower his head, to crawl, to listen to their judgment against him.

This is wrong, this shouldn't be happening, one thought after another flashed through his mind as he wondered where the problem lay, his breathing grew rapid, Klein felt himself continually sinking into an intangible mire, the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.

Less than half a meter behind him, Emlyn stood equally dazed in place, his eyes revealing shock and panic.

(End of chapter)