Chapter 108: 129, 130. This Time, He Took Yun E Away (Long Chapter - Please Subscribe)

A dream, yet not a dream.

A sensation of drowning, as intense as if it were real yet illusory, surged in from all directions, as if to completely swallow Song Cheng in the pig cage.

Here, he had lost all his strength, painfully reaching out his hands and kicking his legs, wanting to grab onto something.

The villagers' curses still echoed in his ears; these curses made it impossible for him to suppress the resentment growing in his heart, a resentment intense to the extreme.

In the haze, that youth had approached like a fish, black hair dancing wildly in the water, and in the frantic, icy current, reached out a hand toward him in the cage once more.

The current was pitch black, an icy hell; the light was above his head.

That was the fragmented gold rippling on the river surface, dim and sparse, where distorted faces and vicious curses could vaguely be seen—so far away.

That hand was like a ray of light, emerging from the brightness.

Song Cheng gritted his teeth, struggling to lift his hand, reaching toward that hand.

The moment their fingertips touched, the youth's appearance faded away like a mirage, becoming a woman in green with long hair.

It was Yun E.

Yun E grabbed his hand, then took him and floated upward.

In this world, cause and effect always have their response.

Whatever seed you plant, that is the flower that will bloom.

The instant he grasped Yun E's icy palm, Song Cheng's clarity was restored in a flash; he remembered who he was and remembered where he was.

Thus, the resentment deep in his heart slowly dissipated.

He gripped that hand even harder.

He had realized he was undergoing a tribulation.

This inexplicable tribulation—he was completely unprepared.

Yet he, who should have died in the tribulation, had found a chance at life because of a tiny bit of kindness he had shown before.

But at the same time, he realized another point: here, any emotion, any subtle change in mindset, would be magnified countless times.

Here, if you feel a little anger, this anger will turn into a heart-demon that entangles you forever.

Here, if you have a little sadness, that sadness will expand infinitely until you are depressed, in pain, and suicidal—this is part of the Reappearance Tribulation.

Even if you survive the tribulation, if your heart has undergone even the slightest change during it, that will completely alter you, turning you into another person.

But wanting not to change? Is it possible? You are experiencing what the Ghost experienced, you are bearing the Ghost's extremely resentful thoughts; how could you not feel resentment?

Even if you successfully pass the tribulation, wouldn't you just become another Ghost? Fortunately, this is Yun E, and it is also his story.

At this moment, he was different because of this.

Song Cheng realized this point.

But he could not control his own heart.

Here, everything must be faced directly.

This is the Ghost's reappearance, and also the living person's Heart-Questioning.

You must not only pass the Ghost's tribulation, but also interrogate yourself.

You... what kind of person are you, really?

Are you... good, or evil?

Song Cheng struggled to lift his head, looking vaguely ahead.

Black hair like ink-colored, eerie skirt hems twisted, swayed, and danced in the dark current, the strands brushing lightly against his cheeks like withered willow branches still hanging from the bough... Yun E held him tightly.

Time, the world, everything seemed to have been pressed into slow motion; Song Cheng's whole body tensed as the icy current buffeted him.

He looked up at the light from within the darkness.

He had thought he could surface quickly, but he was wrong—the bright water surface was so far away, while behind him was the boundless, endless darkness.

Even though Yun E was pulling him, he could not get through this stretch of drowning river.

He felt his body's consciousness slipping away; the suffocating feeling of drowning was so painful, painful to the point that only a tiny bit of blurred consciousness remained.

He struggled to look toward the light, and he saw Yun E, who was facing the light, suddenly turn her head to look at him... the woman's originally cold face suddenly distorted, turning deathly pale in an instant, transforming into a hideous, bloated Ghost, full of pain.

Yun E's legs swayed like a fish's tail as she struggled to swim upward, dragging Song Cheng with her.

However, she could not swim to the surface no matter what.

And Song Cheng could not reach it either.

In this instant, Song Cheng and Yun E locked eyes.

The tranquil water made a gurgling sound; in the dark suffocation, all perception of the body was fading, leaving only the purest, most essential communication.

Song Cheng saw the pain in Yun E's eyes.

He suddenly realized one thing.

He had actually realized it long ago.

Yun E had consciousness; she was not a pure Ghost, she still retained a tiny bit of humanity.

But how could a mortal's thoughts withstand a massive Ghost? When the world was in chaos, Yun E was fighting on another battlefield; it was her own personal battlefield, where she alone faced the onslaught of the Ghost's thoughts.

She could not control herself, following the Ghost's instincts, yet she still had to struggle to maintain that tiny bit of humanity.

Pain, so painful... pain, so painful... the repetitive words no longer needed to be spoken; at this moment, Song Cheng saw a pain worse than death in Yun E's eyes.

He suddenly realized that this tribulation might not be one he was undergoing alone.

Besides him, there was also Yun E's humanity.

He was undergoing the tribulation to become stronger.

Yun E was undergoing the tribulation to escape.

Therefore, even though Yun E had come to save him because of cause and effect, Yun E herself could not reach the shore.

Because Yun E was not currently in a safe environment, but was being eyed covetously by another Ghost, attacked with all its might; it was precisely because of this chaotic and intense battle between the Double Ghost that Song Cheng had been dragged in, forcibly beginning the tribulation.

Yun E saved Song Cheng, and human nature stirred because of it; for a Ghost, this was a crack.

And this crack was like an ant hole in a ten-thousand-mile levee; the collapse had already begun.

She had to make a choice quickly: eradicate her human nature to become a perfect Ghost to deal with external attacks, or be devoured by external Ghosts.

Two drowning people, situated in a boundless hell.

In the boundless darkness, only their hands remained tightly clasped, as if each were grabbing that one straw of salvation, yet neither could reach the shore.

At this instant, countless thoughts flashed through Song Cheng's mind like a revolving lantern; it was like a final flash of clarity—he looked up at Yun E and the light.

Yun E turned around, looking at him and the darkness.

The two hung and drifted in the water, gazing at each other, unable to reach the bottom, unable to reach the end.

Suddenly, Song Cheng saw that on Yun E's Ghost face, the power in those eyes was growing dim—he read Yun E's thoughts.

"It's over."

"It's time to give up."

"Thank you."

"What kind of person are you, really?"

"Are you good, or are you evil?"

Song Cheng's inner self was being interrogated.

Suddenly, he recalled a point—he was evil.

In Tanghe Village, he had tried every possible way to escape, and because he lacked a travel permit, he needed to become a refugee to perfectly reach the county seat.

And what could give him a better excuse to become a refugee than bandits raiding the village? Therefore, even though he knew Ding Sigu was leaving, he did not expose it.

He thought that when the bandits arrived, they would kill those hateful villagers—but that was merely a gorgeous, exquisite wrapping, with his evil contained inside.

The Reappearance Tribulation would not end simply because Yun E had grabbed his hand.

In this, all evil was expanded.

The cracks in Song Cheng's heart grew larger and larger.

He had evil.

Yun E falling to this state today was also his doing.

He also had a share in the greatest evil of Tanghe Village.

And now it seemed to have come again.

He saved Yun E, so Yun E came to save him.

But the Yun E who came to save him still needed someone to save her.

He himself also needed to be saved.

"This time... this time..."

Song Cheng suddenly yanked Yun E's hand, and an unimaginable power erupted from his Soul; the tightening of his palm seemed to be telling the Soul hidden within the Ghost, as well as himself: Do not give up! The two hands reversed in an instant.

Yun E, who had been on top, became the one on the bottom.

The river also vanished in an instant.

The two drowning people had changed environments; the surroundings were no longer cold, no longer suffocating, but they were equally painful—it was a deep pit in the center of a village, the pit piled high with firewood, oil glistening on the firewood, and the pungent, choking smell of fuel oil drilling into their noses with the night wind.

Song Cheng stood at the top of the deep pit, while Yun E was falling into the deep pit, falling onto the piled-up firewood.

But just as she fell, Song Cheng's hand grabbed her tightly.

So much so that her body hung in mid-air, swaying gently.

The two still looked at each other.

And while the area around Song Cheng had been empty, the next instant it suddenly became noisy.

"Burn her to death!"

"Burn her to death!"

"Burn her to death!"

Angry voices rose one after another, surging like a whirlpool.

"She is a person of ill omen, she is the source of disaster, she brought misfortune to the village, she saved that child, that child was supposed to be sacrificed to the River God!"

"Burning her to death is the only way to appease the River God's anger!"

"Burn her to death!!!"

Hysterical screaming and roaring mixed together.

Song Cheng suddenly understood: the entity entangled with Yun E, the one she was opposing, should be a Fire Ghost, and now... he and Yun E had been dragged into the Fire Ghost's Reappearance Tribulation.

In Tanghe Village, there was still someone who could come to save him.

But in this strange village, there was no one.

"Burn her to death!"

"Burn her to death!"

The hateful, twisted roars turned into a wave of sound that destroyed the heart; each angry curse made the person Song Cheng held seem so heinous.

No one would forgive her, no one would save her; she did not even know why she was being burned to death.

Had she done something wrong? She... had only saved a child, saved a child who was supposed to have been thrown into the water and drowned.

Yun E's eyes grew increasingly desperate.

She knew the current situation very clearly.

She and the Fire Ghost had originally been in balance.

But her intense battle with the Fire Ghost had dragged Song Cheng into it.

And Song Cheng, for some unknown reason, had entered Tanghe Village and begun to undergo the Tribulation.

During the Chongxian, a part of her humanity was awakened.

When humanity emerges within a Ghost, the Ghost weakens.

The balance between her and the Fire Ghost was broken.

She and Song Cheng were both drawn into the Fire Ghost's Chongxian.

She already understood the only way.

A trace of relief appeared in her eyes; in truth, these days as a Ghost, she had been truly miserable. She followed the rules of the Ghost while resisting the Ghost's encroachment, and the part of her that belonged to being human had become less and less.

Since that is the case, why hold onto lingering regrets? Rather than being manipulated like a puppet by the habits of a Ghost, it is better to give up, then become a Ghost, and from then on have no more humanity. In this way, the balance between her and the Fire Ghost would be achieved once again.

Song Cheng would also have a glimmer of survival.

"For Yun E, and also for myself."

"I will never let go."

Even though Song Cheng felt the villagers pushing and shoving.

That pushing was meant to shove him and Yun E together into that deep pit filled with lamp oil and firewood.

He struggled to grab an old tree root beside the pit, his palms already bleeding, yet he still had not given up.

Suddenly, he smelled something burning; he saw the world turn red, like blood red, like fire invading. That was the color of the sunset in the silent Tanghe Village, and also the color of burning.

Black smoke billowed, coming from all directions. Splattering sparks turned into a scorching torrent, blown by the wind toward the narrow village, while the villagers on the periphery were rapidly turning into charred remains. That was the eerie village of carbon corpses transformed by fire burning away everything of the body, the lamp oil deep pit, the terrifying carbon corpses, the man grabbing the woman's hand, the wind blowing, the air rolling like thick oil. Taking a breath, everything entering the mouth was the smell of lamp oil, the smell of smoke, the smell of burning. "Thank you."

Yun E suddenly spoke.

In her eyes, she had already given up, and she had also found relief.

But Song Cheng did not let go.

He gasped for air, and at this moment, it was as if a heartbeat was pulsing wildly in his Soul, like the heartbeats of ten thousand white whales sounding in unison.

Yun E loosened her hand.

Song Cheng lunged forward abruptly and grabbed her wrist tightly again.

"I am going to take the Yun E I know away from here."

The carbon corpses behind him surged over all at once, like a giant wave carrying the great power of heaven and earth, intending to knock them into the deep pit.

Song Cheng took a deep breath.

He opened his eyes in this world that was like a Dream and yet not a Dream.

The eyes of the Soul were originally extremely blurry, but at this moment, they appeared profound and gloomy.

"You are in pain, she is in pain, everyone is in pain; am I... not in pain?"

Song Cheng muttered, his voice going from hesitation to firmness, and then to a roar.

"Great Dark... Black Heaven!"

"Where is this?"

Yun E's voice sounded in the darkness.

"Why is it all black?"

"And what is outside?"

"It is water, it is fire, it is darkness. Is this the hell of water and fire?"

Song Cheng did not answer. He pulled Yun E out of the deep pit in one motion, while the carbon corpses in the village acted as if they were blind, clutching their heads in pain on the ground and letting out strange roars, then being scattered by the impact of the water flow.

"This is my Chongxian," Song Cheng responded.

Yun E naturally knew what a Chongxian was, so she asked curiously, "Brother Cheng, then you have also become a Ghost?"

Song Cheng pulled her, walking through the darkness, walking past the carbon corpses that had been scattered into disarray by the impact.

This did not mean his power had completely surpassed that of the Fire Ghost, but rather that his power after breaking through had fused with the power of the Drowned Ghost of humanity, temporarily surpassing the Fire Ghost.

The path was dark, with no direction, no east, west, south, or north. The two held hands, yet they were getting further and further away from the burning village.

Suddenly, Song Cheng felt a dragging force transmitted through his palm; that force seemed to want to drag him back to the village.

He turned his head to look.

Yun E exclaimed in alarm, "Brother Cheng, I cannot control myself. The Fire Ghost is weak now, and I... the Ghost in my body wants to go and devour the Fire Ghost. It is pulling me back! I cannot leave!"

Song Cheng asked, "Do you like February Red?"

Yun E said, "I do."

Song Cheng said, "There are many flowers outside, white, red, pink, purple... they have every color."

Yun E smiled and said, "Is that so... I cannot remember anymore. They must be very beautiful, right?"

Song Cheng said, "Very beautiful... so, let's go see them together."

The two spoke in a light and breezy manner, like friends walking leisurely by a lake after a meal, chatting about idle things, yet their hands gripped each other tighter and tighter. Those two hands had become the rope of a tug-of-war.

On the other side of the rope was a terrifying giant beast.

The rope was pulled taut, almost to the point of snapping.

Yun E said, "Actually, I like white lilies. My home is in Chenyang Prefecture, and I planted quite a few in the courtyard of the Prefecture City. Later, I married into Tanghe Village. My family doesn't contact me anymore, but I missed home, so I planted a few."

Song Cheng recalled the blood-stained white flowers in Yun E's courtyard in Tanghe Village and thought to himself: 'So they were white lilies.'

"Then, I will take you to Chenyang Prefecture to see."

"Forget it, I don't want to go back," Yun E replied, then said, "You take me to walk around somewhere else."

Chirp... crack, crack, crack... The two hands had been pulled taut to the extreme.

"Alright," Song Cheng said, "Walk out of here. You are still Yun E. From now on, the Drowned Ghost will have nothing to do with you."

Crack... bang, bang, bang... Those two hands were on the verge of shattering.

Yun E smiled and said, "That would be truly wonderful."

The two fell silent, gritting their teeth, struggling desperately to walk forward, like travelers walking in a dark desert.

Slowly, after an unknown amount of time, that pulling force began to loosen.

At the end of the darkness, a glimmer of light finally appeared; that light was like the shimmering gold on the surface of a river.

Song Cheng quickened his pace.

Yun E suddenly said, "Brother Cheng, once you pass through this door, I will be leaving. Let me say goodbye to you first."

A drowned Ghost that has lost its humanity will become a complete Ghost; it will still not harm you, and it will still be connected to you.

But I am a Soul covered in scars.

When I go to be reincarnated and become a Ghost, I vaguely glimpsed the land of reincarnation on the moon in this sky.

I saw many dead Souls, lining up in an orderly fashion, waiting for reincarnation.

But the moon... it seems there is more than one... I cannot see it very clearly.

However, I must go now."

Song Cheng lowered his head slightly and asked, "In the next life, what do you want to do?"

Yun E said, "Plant flowers, let's plant many, many flowers, without chaos, without pain, without..."

The two walked through the light.

Yun E's voice came to an abrupt end, and her Soul dissipated into thin air. Song Cheng slowly opened his eyes; the blurry scene before his vision wavered and shifted, finally settling.

Bedside cabinet, wardrobe, dressing table, bronze mirror, oil-paper windows; white gauze hung quietly, the quilt covered him, and he was drenched in sweat, as if "a person with a fever and cold had suddenly sweated out the illness and recovered."

Outside the window, fallen leaves lingered.

It is now late autumn.

Song Cheng straightened his body from the couch and scanned the panel.

There were two changes to the panel.

One: 【Ghost Tower Meditation Technique】

Eighth Layer Trickery: Great Dark Heaven (0/0)

There was another: 【Cultivation Method】

Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit Scripture (Mysterious Grade Grade C) (Third Tail) (Not Yet Initiated (0/64))

'The Reappearance Tribulation was successful, and I even gained unexpected power.'

Song Cheng lifted the quilt, walked to the bronze mirror, and facing the mirror, he opened his eyes.

'Great Dark Heaven...'

As the thought settled, the pupils in the mirror became pitch-black without any white, and an eerie atmosphere suddenly radiated from his entire body, spreading like mercury ink throughout the room, yet it was held back by a force and did not disperse.

Song Cheng put down the bronze mirror and looked into the distance, feeling that everything in the Reappearance Tribulation was so real.

"Chenyang Prefecture?"

He knew this Prefecture City; it was a Prefecture City that, like Hanping Prefecture, belonged to Beixue Zhou.

"In a while, I will go take a look."

"Now..."

"Add Points."

In an unknown land, in a village burning with flames, the face of the woman in green suddenly bloated, and the figure that had been standing and walking eerily suddenly dropped down, turning into a strange crawl.

A broken red flower was tucked into her messy hair, and her limbs were twisted at strange angles as she crawled toward a deep pit in the sea of fire.

That deep pit seemed to be resisting her.

But the balance seemed to have been broken; the green-clothed Ghost crawled step by step, step by step, to the edge of the pit, lowered her head, looked at a carbonized corpse in the deep pit, and then slowly crawled down.

She crawled extremely slowly, but she was moving forward nonetheless.

And perhaps in a few months, or even years, she would be able to crawl completely into the pit and merge with that carbonized corpse.

Early winter.

A black shadow left Hanping Prefecture.

This was the first time Song Cheng had left in a long while.

Now that the Ghost Tide had not yet arrived, and Xiao Yu'er was guarding the Prefecture, he felt at ease.

He was going to Chenyang Prefecture.

His current physique no longer feared exhaustion, so naturally, he did not need to ride a horse.

A few days later... in front of a city.

Song Cheng did not walk through the main gate; instead, his figure flickered, and he entered the city gate. The guards at the gate only felt a breeze sweep past, and nothing else.

Song Cheng entered the city and inquired everywhere about the whereabouts of "Yun E's family."

Facts proved that as long as money paved the way, the difficulty of anything would be greatly reduced.

Not long after, someone came before Song Cheng.

It was an idle man who leaned in and said, "I know Yun E's family; I'll take you there."

Song Cheng tossed out a small silver ingot.

The man looked at it greedily and was just thinking about being a bit greedier, but he suddenly discovered that this thought could not be carried through at all. The man in the black cloak before him was emitting a terrifying aura; although he wore a hood and his appearance could not be seen, it made one feel that "if one defied him, one would die."

This was something Song Cheng had deliberately released.

The man did not dare to be presumptuous and hurriedly led him to a dilapidated and desolate mansion, then pointed inside and said, "Sir, this is it."

"Here?"

Song Cheng scanned it and then said, "Tell me the story of this family."

The man hurriedly recounted it.

As Song Cheng listened, he also roughly understood the reason for Yun E's marriage away.

This was just the story of a "Cinderella" who married away.

This family originally ran a martial arts hall; Yun E's mother died of illness in her early years, and her father, as the master of the martial arts hall, remarried. But one day, Yun E's father went missing while away, and the stepmother began to abuse Yun E in every possible way.

Yun E managed to seize an opportunity to marry far away into Tanghe Village, and at the same time, she brought the martial arts hall's White Snake Blade with her.

She thought she had jumped out of a pit of fire, but she did not expect that she had only crawled into another.

As for this family, after Yun E left, because the stepmother's son was a gambler, he squandered all the family property, and then after a dispute between mother and son, the mother also hanged herself. That son was pursued for debts and fled to who knows where.

And this mansion was naturally repossessed by the creditors.

But because it was a haunted house, no one would buy it, so it became derelict; today, weeds grow rampantly in the mansion, and stepping into it, the tall grass can even reach one's knees.

Song Cheng inquired that the current owner of this mansion was a gambling den, so he threw down a fortune to buy the place directly, and then slightly revealed his power, frightening the gambling den master into kowtowing and bowing.

The North Land was originally the Su Family's territory, so Song Cheng directly left behind his own Youhu visualization portrait and generally spoke about this "legend of the Fox Immortal," thereby constructing a complete image so that he could be visualized.

That gambling den master tactfully followed his instructions, arranging manpower to clear away the tall grass in the dilapidated mansion's courtyard, and then, according to the mysterious man's orders, sprinkled the courtyard with seeds of white lilies.

As for Yun E's original flowers, they were long gone.

Perhaps they withered, or perhaps they were pulled out by her stepmother or someone else.

Yun E might have been an ordinary woman, but from the moment she became a drowned ghost and formed a bond with Song Cheng, she was no longer ordinary. Song Cheng entered Chenyang Prefecture during the Daytime and it was already dark when he left.

Stars and frost filled the sky, and the bright moon within his Heart Eye was still a large ink blot emitting twisted black lines.

And the last piece of information Yun E left for him was: the Reincarnation Platform is on the moon.

"General, it has been clearly inquired; Xiping, Huachi, and Xiaowan counties are all in a state of chaos.

Now, the Six Towns have risen in rebellion again, and many local experts have been mobilized to suppress them, so the cities and counties are empty.

Many lurking forces have taken advantage of the situation to rise up, occupying many places with lax city defenses like bandits."

In the military tent, the cold wind blew fiercely, causing the thick canvas to cave in and out.

Inside the tent, the refined yet murderous-looking man put down the notebook in his hand, looked at the messenger soldier, and smiled: "Pass it down, we will spend the New Year in Jiuqu Prefecture this year!"

Xiping, Huachi, and Xiaowan counties are precisely the counties subordinate to Nine Bends Prefecture.

Jiuqu Prefecture is a Prefecture City in Donghai Zhou that is close to the Zhoucheng of Beixue Zhou.

This place had previously suffered the looting of the Six Towns, and now its city defenses are already empty.

Any Tom, Dick, or Harry has taken advantage of the void, wanting to occupy the mountains and become kings. It is just a pity that a larger and greedier beast has already come from afar and has already set its sights on this piece of fat meat.

Zhao Hua said: "There are remnants of the Six Towns in the city; I am merely responding to the imperial court's call to wipe them out. This is called acting with due authority."

"Yes, General."

That soldier retreated in a hurry.

The end of the year.

For some reason, people who entered the Prefecture City felt exceptionally at ease.

Even in the An Mansion, there was an atmosphere of peace.

The multi-talented Ling'er was leading the maidservants to wrap dumplings, while the Fox Immortal who had once enjoyed himself using Ling'er's body was watching the dumplings from the side.

Recently, the refugees from the various counties outside have almost all arrived; those remaining, scattered as they are, even if they enter the city, are first gathered in one place, and then only after she confirms there are no Ghosts among them are they let in. Or, if the number is smaller, she uses Manifestation Water directly.

In the rising steam, the freshly wrapped chicken-filled dumplings were put into the pot, and before long, the dumplings were served on the table and reached the hands of the Fox Immortal.

"Little... Mom, I want to eat."

The Fox Immortal felt movement beside her thigh, looked down, and saw A Ting.

She was quite fond of this child who was very attached to her.

Thinking that this child was the older sister of the child in her future womb, she felt even more closeness.

Closeness is mutual.

The Fox Immortal kissed A Ting.

A Ting also kissed the Fox Immortal.

Even compared to Song Cheng, A Ting was already more inclined toward Su Huxian.

The reason is simple: Song Cheng has recently started his "disappearance mode" and "seclusion mode" again.

And for this entire year, Song Cheng has been busy.

First, he was busy "solidifying his relationship with Su Ningyu and joining the Su Family," then it was "searching for Yun E," then "high fevers and comas, constant nightmares," followed by "undergoing the tribulation," and "going to the Prefecture City." Now, he is in long-term seclusion.

A child's memory is very blurry.

At the beginning of the year, A Ting was still quite attached to Song Cheng, but this year Song Cheng almost disappeared from her world; her memories of Daddy are blurry, and she can't even remember his face clearly.

However, Song Cheng is also helpless.

He must go into seclusion.

Because he discovered that after passing the Reappearance Tribulation, the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit Scripture seemed to have opened up a new world for him; the subsequent parts could be cultivated, and it was not just the Third Tail.

In this chaotic world, especially in the North Land where the Ghost Tide is surging, Huazi, the senior brother, and the others have led the main force away, so the responsibility falling on his shoulders is even heavier.

In order to protect his family, he must race against time to cultivate and become stronger.

Therefore, he would rather not spend much time accompanying his daughter and relatives for a while, so that he can digest all the techniques he can currently digest.

His daily tasks are: comprehend, comprehend, breakthrough, breakthrough!!

Once winter arrived this year, the weather became freezing cold, and light snow fell quietly.

Those deep pits seemed to have become forbidden zones for life; let alone animals, there were not even insects around them.

In the soil, those tiny lives had all died out completely.

The earth was covered in snow, and the thousands of households in every Prefecture City were also covered in snow.

This night.

The wind was strong and the snow was wild.

Chenyang Prefecture seemed like a city submerged in a sea of snow.

However, the guards in front of the city gate did not dare to rest at all, and in the fortress tower on the city wall, they watched the distance by the light of the fire below the city.

"With this weather this year, those ghost things might be coming again." A soldier rubbed his hands for warmth beside a fire basin.

"It really gives people no way to live," another soldier said. "I heard the garrison of Hanping Prefecture has all gone south. Hanping Prefecture must be having an even harder time than us."

Others joined the conversation, one word after another.

"I heard the North Land Blade King is still in Hanping Prefecture; he didn't go south."

"What use is one person? That massive Ghost Tide requires thousands of troops and horses to barely hold back. Even if that North Land Blade King is powerful, encountering the Ghost Tide would be like a pebble falling into the sea—gone in an instant."

"Sigh, I wonder when this Ghost Tide can be wiped out."

"I also want to go south. This North Land... it's the world of the ghosts. I heard people say they've come to take back the territory that belongs to them. We all snatched their land."

In the fire basin, the charcoal "crackled" and popped, the red flames flickering in the wind blowing in from the fortress tower's embrasures, making the figures of everyone inside the fortress appear bright and dim, long and short.

The soldiers were only focused on whether anyone was approaching outside the city, but no one noticed that the snow falling from the sky at this very moment was somewhat strange; mixed into the white snow were quite a few spirit papers.

The spirit papers were also mixed with scraps, looking like bits of rotting flesh.

The bits of flesh followed the spirit papers, blown into the city by the gale. Once they landed, they attracted each other like magnets, then slowly formed human shapes, and then with a shake of their bodies, transformed into one white-clad person after another—rotting flesh turned into beauties, into young masters, into all sorts of people. Among them, one beauty twisted her waist and walked toward the fortress tower.

Deep inside a gambling den in Chenyang Prefecture, over a dozen people were gathered.

These people were the big shots of the Prefecture City.

Now, they were gathered together, but they were looking at a painting.

A painting of a Youhu.

The owner of the gambling den was staring at the painting in astonishment, muttering, "I remember it was a Third Tail before, how did it suddenly become a Fourth Tail?"

(End of this chapter)