The sword’s radiance slashed through the nether fog, igniting it into a fiery, cracking trail. The sword’s edge cut straight toward the head of the humanlike ghost figure. With a piercing, miserable scream, the spectral figure—along with the camel and the ghost flag—plummeted toward the sea below.
Li Weiyi clutched the rope hanging in midair. Only then did he realize that he was already twenty to thirty meters away from the ship’s side wall, and a surge of fear rushed through him.
Plop!
The ghostly human figure hit the water. The evil camel-bell that had been carrying it plunged first, splashing a huge fountain of water. Moments later, the figure surged out of the water, astride the camel, its hooves stamping on the countless floating coffins as it sped off in the direction where the red-robed Qi Shanshan had vanished.
A hoarse voice came from afar: “There’s no way out on the ship—it’s a dead end. The Ghost Realm has arrived, and the path to life lies right ahead. If you’ve got the guts, why not come along and see for yourself?”
“This damned thing really is hard to destroy,” Li Weiyi thought.
He knew very well that the voice was trying to lure him off the ship, still coveting the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish. But the ghostly figure wasn’t wrong. Staying on board meant not only being trapped, but being doomed.
Even though they had been very careful in using up their food and water, what was left would only last a few more days. …
“The Bone Demon and the camel-bell ghost creature wouldn’t leave the ship without reason. There must be a cause. In life, they were very likely beings of this realm.”
“Since the bronze ship has temporarily stopped, I’ll go scout. If there is land and no immediate danger, then everyone can disembark together. Within five days, no matter the result, I will definitely return. If we’re meant to die, we die together; if we’re meant to live, we live together.”
Not entirely trusting those on board, Li Weiyi left his senior brother behind to keep order. He took Gao Huan with him and descended the rope onto the sea, landing on an island of closely clustered floating coffins. He brought Gao Huan for two reasons.
First, because Gao Huan had drunk the Golden Crow Blood and his physical strength was tremendous. Second, because Li Weiyi’s mission was not only to find land but also to rescue Cai Yutong. Though he knew the Bone Demon had deliberately left a trail, how could he not follow?
If they found land but had to pursue the Bone Demon, then someone needed to return to the bronze ship quickly to report. Li Weiyi tracked the residual aura of the Bone Demon and the camel-bell creature along the floating coffins on the water.
Although the path ahead was unpredictable, he finally felt as if his feet were on solid ground. The bronze ship faded in the fog behind him, and before long, it vanished completely. …
At the stern of the bronze ship That three-meter bronze door, carved with motifs of “ten thousand lights” and “River of the Underworld,” was suddenly blown open by a gust of wind. From within the door, where a giant sword lay embedded, countless streaks of light shot out, coalescing into two figures.
One of them gazed into the distance, as if seeing through the endless fog, and murmured, “Is it here?” …
“If the bronze ship sets sail again, we’ll be abandoned in this bizarre sea of blood, left to fester with the dead bodies inside the coffins.”
Stepping away from his comfort zone made Gao Huan’s heart tremble with dread. He quickly added, “Forget it, survival on board isn’t going to last many more days either. May the Tathagata, Guanyin, and the Jade Emperor—along with all the deities—bless us so we can find a way to survive.”
Li Weiyi spotted something and crouched down, his finger touching a drop of fresh blood on a coffin. Gao Huan asked, “Whose blood is that?”
“Senior Sister Cai’s.” Gao Huan said, “Did she kill Doctor Cai?”
“No! She deliberately left that drop of blood as a guide for me,” Li Weiyi explained.
Gao Huan replied, “Surely, there must be something on you that she desperately needs. If we keep following her trail, aren’t we walking into her trap?”
“Then we must catch up as quickly as possible, so she doesn’t have time to set up any trap.”
What worried Li Weiyi even more was that the Bone Demon and the camel-bell creature might join forces. After all, these two fiends sought different things and could each take what they needed. Perhaps that was the reason the camel-bell creature was chasing after the Bone Demon. …
For an entire day they chased on, the floating coffins beneath their feet seeming endless. Finally, the two stopped to take a brief rest; their stomachs rumbled fiercely, but they could only hold back, as the food they carried was very limited. Li Weiyi’s eyes narrowed as he fixed his gaze on Gao Huan’s head.
“Don’t move.”
Gao Huan tensed up, not daring to budge, and in a trembling voice asked, “What’s wrong?” Li Weiyi reached out and carefully plucked a dried leaf that had just fallen from Gao Huan’s hair. Then, he looked up toward the fog.
“What do you have in your hand? A leaf!”
Gao Huan said. Suddenly, a strong, chilling wind swept over, and the coffins beneath them rocked with the motion of the waves. The dense fog was partially blown away.
The two, who had been seated on the ground, slowly stood up, eyes wide as they stared ahead. Their hearts leapt with hope. A massive, dark mountain mass appeared, stretching upward continuously until its peak was unseen, for they were almost at the foot of it.
Near the shore grew ancient, locust-sized locust trees, their branches thick and lush, completely dense. Their trunks were as thick as grinding stones, with their deep roots plunging into the water—a sign of hundreds or even a thousand years of life force. Huge vine tendrils, nearly as thick as a thigh, coiled around many of these ancient trees.
Hanging from the vines were fruits as large as watermelons. By the water, among clusters of shrubs and cattails, came a resounding clang clang! A corroded green copper bell flew out of the water behind them.
In an instant, its bell-like ring exploded through the air. Black nether fog surged out from the bell, carrying within it a camel, the humanlike ghost, and the ghost flag, all rushing directly to attack Li Weiyi.
“You dare ambush us?”
Li Weiyi, ever vigilant, had spun around at almost the very moment the copper bell flew above the water. As he struck the black iron seal on his sword’s hilt with a heavy blow, two streams of qi—one hot, one cold—rushed into the seal.
Boom!
Thunder roared across the bay. Blinding bolts of lightning blasted forth, striking the ghostly rider upon the camel in the midst of the black nether fog, piercing a transparent hole through its chest. The ghostly figure let out a wail of agony and tumbled off the camel’s back.
One injury after another left it weakened, its battle strength rapidly declining. Li Weiyi had thought that upon reaching land he could lower his guard and launch a surprise attack. But it seemed the foe had already anticipated such an ambush here and reacted too swiftly.
Gao Huan hastily made his way toward the shore, not wanting to become Li Weiyi’s burden. Meanwhile, Li Weiyi pressed the attack, leaving the ghostly figure no chance to retreat back to the camel-bell creature. After three sword strikes— Thwack!
The Yellow Dragon Sword cleaved through the ghost flag’s pole, diagonally slicing the humanlike specter in two. The soul mist on the figure’s body quickly dispersed. In a state of terror it screamed, “No… no…
I was already returning to the Ghost Realm… How can I die here? I refuse to… my lord refuses to…!”
Another slash later, and the ghost’s soul was completely dispersed. Li Weiyi scanned his surroundings, making sure the Bone Demon was not nearby, before picking up the fallen camel-bell from one of the coffins. He tried to gently shake it.
Suddenly, a violent gust of wind roared. Whoosh— The half-phantom, half-real camel mount, three to four meters tall, was drawn back into the bell.
“It’s retracted now?”
Li Weiyi shook it a couple more times. With each ring of the bell, his mind became filled with chaotic thoughts and overwhelming negative emotions. He immediately ceased his actions.
This cursed camel-bell was too aberrant—an utterly inauspicious object. Yet it seemed capable of drawing in actual objects as well, which was extraordinary indeed. The broken ghost flag pole was one such solid object.
Li Weiyi tugged down the ghost flag, tightly wrapping the cursed camel-bell so that it would not continue its haunting chime.
“Gao Huan… Gao Yutang…” he called twice, but received no answer.
Hastily, Li Weiyi scrambled ashore, wading through the cattails and entering the pitch-black forest. Before long, he came upon Gao Huan, slumped, exhausted, on the ground.
“What are you doing? I’m calling you—why aren’t you answering?”
Li Weiyi gripped his sword hilt firmly as he cautiously approached. Gao Huan finally seemed to come to his senses. Letting out a long, heavy sigh, he muttered, “Damn it!
You scared the hell out of me; all these bones—and they’re missing their heads.” Li Weiyi stepped beside him and surveyed the scene in the forest. It was chilling indeed—scattered densely across the ground were heaps of human bones, all headless.
Gao Huan clambered to his feet and forced a calm tone, “Don’t you think the land looks even more terrifying than the ship? Tell me, have we really come to the Underworld? Is this world filled only with Bone Demons and camel-bell ghost creatures—or rather, departed souls?”
“No, look over there,” Li Weiyi said.
Amid the mass of bones, he discovered three recently dead human corpses.
“Humans… Excellent, human bodies…”
Gao Huan, who had never been so excited by the sight of corpses, quickly set about searching. Li Weiyi carefully observed the area, ensuring there were no traces of wild beasts; it didn’t seem to be a predator’s lair. He then bent down to inspect the headless corpses.
Their severed necks were irregular, not as if sliced off by a sharp blade. Squatting, he rummaged through their clothing. From the first corpse’s embrace, he felt a palm-sized gray cloth bag.
As he unfastened it, a clatter ensued, and out tumbled a round coin resembling jade. At first glance, it was unmistakably a coin. The cloth bag and its design were so unique that Li Weiyi could not imagine them belonging to anywhere else.
“Damn it! Li Laoye, you always have the fastest mind,” Gao Huan exclaimed, quickly rummaging through the clothes of the other two headless corpses.
He then began to search the bodies of nearby clothed skeletons, his earlier fear fading into practicality. When he had pulled out items from more than a dozen skeletons, he turned around in surprise to see Li Weiyi having donned the clothes of one headless corpse and fastening its belt.
“Li Laoye, what are you doing?”
Gao Huan asked in astonishment. Li Weiyi replied, “I plan to explore this world further! I haven’t encountered much danger along the way.
You can head back to the bronze ship to report our findings.”
“I can’t shake the feeling—aren’t those monk’s robes? You’re wearing something that looks like a monk’s robe,” Gao Huan observed.
Li Weiyi said, “I thought so too! But it only resembles the monk’s robes from our world. Which proper monk would ever have prayer beads on him yet carry nothing but money?”
Gao Huan quickly changed into a similar brown robe resembling monk’s attire, thinking that if they were to meet the local humans, such garb might help them blend in. After all, if it truly were monk’s robes, any Buddhist practitioner could get along anywhere.
“I still feel something isn’t right—why are there so many headless corpses here? Who brought them here? We must leave quickly!”
Li Weiyi suddenly sensed a strong danger. That sensation grew stronger and stronger, as if something was right beside them. Glancing upward, Li Weiyi’s face turned ashen.
He grabbed Gao Huan, moving silently as if tiptoeing away.
“What’s wrong?”
Gao Huan whispered.
“Don’t speak...”
“Uh oh!”
Li Weiyi raised his head once more, his pupils contracting sharply. Then, he hoisted Gao Huan onto his shoulder, and with the soles of his feet surging like spring wells, he increased his speed to the maximum, fleeing in a panic without a clear escape route. Gao Huan finally saw what it was.
It was that thick, thigh-sized vine! It spread vast and wide, completely dominating the dense forest. Earlier, they had thought the vine bore fruits the size of watermelons—but now, as those fruits opened like green, glistening eyes, they revealed themselves to be human heads.
Hundreds, even thousands of these heads clung to the vine. Their mouths gaped like wide bowls, revealing sharp, pointed teeth, while they let out eerie shrieks and maniacal laughs. Men, women, young and old—all of them flew through the dense branches behind, relentlessly pursuing.
The scene was terrifying beyond words.
(End of Chapter)