Dense fog blanketed the area, and the cold pierced to the bone.
Mu Geshen tossed out a flower coin and kicked the fierce ghost in front of him away. He stood on the Yin-Yang Stairway, surrounded by a faint, eerie green glow.
The Yin-Yang Stairway connected the world of the living directly to Fengdu. It wound through nine turns and loops, and the journey was quite long. He had been rushing along the entire way, yet he had covered less than half the distance. Even so, he had already killed several fierce ghosts along the way.
These ghosts normally never left Fengdu. Mu Geshen had traveled back and forth along the Yin-Yang Stairway several times before, but he had never once seen anything appear on the steps.
Now, with hundreds of ghosts running rampant, it proved that Fengdu was already in complete chaos.
Mu Geshen was growing increasingly worried. He had indeed been reckless to barge in like this. With Song Wentong absent, he couldn’t even light the Little Heavenly Lantern. All he could do was fight off whatever came at him.
Moreover, the deeper he went, the more ghosts and monsters appeared. He couldn’t allow these things to escape to the world above, so he had no choice but to intercept and kill them right there. At the same time, he had to keep going down, all the way to the bottom, and shut off the Yin-Yang Stairway.
As for how he would get out after closing it, or what kind of situation awaited him inside Fengdu—
Mu Geshen pinned one ghost down with a flower coin, then kicked another one off the long flight of stairs.
He no longer had the time to worry about any of that.
The fog grew thicker and thicker. The moisture in the air seemed to condense into solid form, like countless slippery, sinister hands tugging at him, trying to keep him from moving. Gradually, Mu Geshen could no longer see what was around him. There was fog everywhere, and only the staircase stretched endlessly downward.
He suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.
At the same time, in Fengdu, at the West Pass of the City.
Viewed from above, the Ghost Soldiers had poured out of the Land of Avici. But unlike their usual solemn and orderly formations, they were now charging against the walls of the West Pass as though they were laying siege to a city.
The various Yin Marshals and Ghost Kings stood atop the city walls, leading their ghost soldiers and generals in resistance. The earth shook, and the heavens seemed to split apart. Fierce ghosts wailed, horses neighed, and gusts of sinister wind formed one vortex after another. The West Pass had been transformed into a battlefield straight out of the Asura realms.
“Hold your positions! All four sides, hold your positions!” Cui Ziyu stood atop the city wall, swaying under the force of the howling wind. “Secure the southeast! Don’t let the formation fall into disorder!”
High above them, several figures hung suspended in the air. They were the Ten Yamas, along with Wu Nie and Wu Zixu.
One of the Yamas spoke. “With this formation, Lord Tai Sui will save Fengdu from disaster.”
“We’re dead people. This old man doesn’t care about all that.” Wu Nie stood in midair, cracking sunflower seeds. He turned to look at the person beside him. “Once this formation is activated, all the ghosts will pour out. Fengdu’s crisis can be resolved, but you’ll be trapped in a predicament. Have you thought this through?”
“Fengdu must not fall.” Wu Zixu shook his head. “Please, open the formation.”
“Living in hell without knowing Avici.” Wu Nie spat out a sunflower seed shell. Her red lips and white teeth formed a carefree smile. “If you ask me, a fight would be just right. Fengdu is getting more and more crowded, and the Yama Palace can’t manage it all. This is the perfect opportunity to let the Ghost Soldiers clear the place out.”
The young woman’s words were like a resounding slap in the face. Yet the Yamas showed no anger. They merely said, “Lord Tai Sui, please think this through.”
“You’re the ones who should think it through. If the things inside this pass get out, they might not necessarily obey the Ten Yamas’ commands. By then, no one in Fengdu will be able to sit securely in their position.” Wu Nie gave Wu Zixu a faintly amused glance. “Including the Wu family, right?”
Wu Zixu remained silent, simply bowing deeply to Wu Nie.
Wu Nie looked at him and sighed. “How can there be a way to have the best of both worlds? Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been difficult to reconcile… Fine, fine. What an unfilial descendant.”
Before her words had even faded, Wu Nie suddenly leaped into the air, soaring above the battlefield. Her hands moved in intricate patterns, forming a series of complicated seals. In an instant, light flowed and shimmered, and a flower ball appeared out of thin air.
Wu Nie bowed and leaped again. The thick clouds above the West Pass of the City parted layer by layer. She stood alone at an incredible height, her slender waist bending and twisting as she dipped and raised her head. She was like a young girl performing all kinds of acrobatics at a ghost gathering beside the Wangchuan River, playing with a flower ball atop a twelve-tiered platform.
The sounds of killing and slaughter became the music of strings and bamboo flutes, as she danced to break the formation.
Cui Ziyu looked up at the figure in midair. Coarse golden light outlined flames, sketching the shape of a burning red figure.
Finally, Wu Nie tossed the flower ball into the air. It shot upward and exploded in midair, transforming into a crimson lotus. Wu Nie sat cross-legged in the heart of the flower, one hand pointing toward the heavens and the other toward the earth. Golden seal-script characters appeared all around her. The lotus slowly blossomed, from bud to stamen.
Everyone in the world believed that only the Jinwu Lantern could illuminate Fengdu’s endless night. Yet now, as the lotus blossomed in midair, its radiant colors and flowing light illuminated everything brilliantly, as bright as daylight.
At the same time, a great formation blazed to life beneath the West Pass of the City, shooting straight into the sky. The two formations reflected one another, enveloping countless Ghost Soldiers within them. Heaven and earth fell silent, while the light shone brilliantly like a flood.
The Ten Yamas stood atop the city walls, all bowing their heads in reverence.
Wu Zixu looked toward the sky and said softly, “Through the eternal night of the underworld, Tai Sui sits upon a lotus, her feet fallen.”
“Boundless is the merit.”
Cui Ziyu stood outside the city gate and bowed deeply toward the brilliant light above. Behind him, countless ghosts knelt in unison, stretching endlessly into the distance.
After a long time, the lotus withered, and the light descended. Fengdu was once again shrouded in darkness.
And inside the West Pass of the City, there was nothing left. All the Ghost Soldiers had disappeared.
Mu Geshen heard the sound of dripping water.
At first, he thought he had reached the banks of the Wangchuan River. But the thick fog still lingered all around him. There was no way the area beside the Wangchuan River would have such dense fog. Mu Geshen looked around and realized that, at some point, all the entangled wandering ghosts had disappeared.
Fierce ghosts were filled with deep resentment and would not easily fade away. With Fengdu in such chaos, this should have been the perfect opportunity for them to roam freely. Their sudden disappearance meant one of two things: either the chaos in Fengdu had been resolved, or they were avoiding something.
There was silence all around. Only the continuous sound of dripping water remained.
Drip, drip, drip.
Drip, drip,
Drip.
The sound of water seemed to come from ahead, yet also seemed to surround him from every direction. Mu Geshen descended a few steps and cautiously reached his hand forward. His palm touched something icy cold.
What he had touched was not a source of water, but some kind of hard material with the rough texture of leather. Mu Geshen’s expression changed. He quickly pulled back, and in the next instant, a blade came slashing straight toward him. It tore through the dense fog and swept down toward the spot where he had just been standing—
What he had just touched was a suit of armor!
Mu Geshen’s mind went blank with a sudden buzz. There were quite a few armored ghost officials in Fengdu, but when he connected all the recent events together, only one possibility came to mind—
The Ghost Soldiers!
He twisted his head around as far as he could. He saw the bluestone steps cracking apart, with a massive bronze saber cleaving through them. The hilt roared, yet there was no one holding the weapon.
The Yin-Yang Stairway had been built from Nine Nether bluestone, cold and incredibly hard. It was by no means something ordinary iron could break. Before Mu Geshen could even catch his breath, the steps beneath his feet shook violently. The thunderous sound of horse hooves came from deep underground, mixed with the faint, intermittent clacking of wooden clappers.
Mu Geshen’s expression changed instantly.
Armor, bronze sabers, horse hooves, the sound of clappers—even an idiot could have figured it out by now. Without a doubt, the Ghost Soldiers who should have been wreaking havoc inside the West Pass of the City had somehow ended up on the Yin-Yang Stairway!
The Yin-Yang Stairway was beside the Wangchuan River, far away from the Land of Avici. For the Ghost Soldiers to break in, they would have had to cross the entire city of Fengdu. What exactly had happened inside Fengdu?
The Ten Yamas, the Ten Great Yin Marshals, the Four Great Judges, and the Yin-Yang School were all guarding the place. Yet none of them had managed to stop them?
Mu Geshen didn’t dare underestimate the situation. He had absolutely no chance of winning a fight against the Ghost Soldiers. He was just about to turn and retreat at full speed when he suddenly froze—
If he retreated, who would protect the entire city of people above his head?
If he didn’t retreat, Mu Geshen knew very well that he would certainly be no match for them.
At this critical moment, Mu Geshen’s thoughts raced. The most urgent thing was to prevent the Ghost Soldiers from climbing the Yin-Yang Stairway and reaching the human world. He couldn’t turn back. He could only keep going downward, all the way to the bottom, and close the Yin-Yang Stairway. Only by trapping the Ghost Soldiers among the millions of stone steps could he secure a slim chance of survival.
There was no other choice.
The sound of horse hooves was already within bowshot. Mu Geshen turned around, adjusted his breathing, and pressed several acupoints. This was a method he had learned from Song Wentong. It could sharpen his five senses, increase his speed and agility, and accelerate the flow of blood from his heart throughout his body, putting him into a heightened state of excitement.
But it had one drawback: it doubled the sensation of pain.
The iron cavalry at the front was already very close. Mu Geshen bent low and kicked the horse in the belly. The startled warhorse threw its rider, sending the Ghost Soldier tumbling to the ground. Mu Geshen seized the reins, tossed out two flower coins, and used one to strike the Ghost Soldier’s head while stuffing the other into the horse’s mouth.
The Ghost Soldier was subdued by the Shanguí flower coin and became completely motionless. Mu Geshen snatched the spear from his hands, mounted the warhorse, and swung his saber to cut off the head of the Ghost Soldier behind him. Then, with a reverse swing, he drew a dazzling blue arc of light, severing the legs of the warhorse in front of him.
Mu Geshen knew he couldn’t engage the Ghost Soldiers in direct saber combat. He wasn’t skilled with cold weapons. All he could do was wield the weapon in his hands by following its momentum. If that strike just now had been performed by Song Wentong, it would have been enough to overturn every cavalryman within a ten-foot radius.
But all Mu Geshen could do was use a trick to cut off the horses’ legs. He took advantage of the Ghost Soldiers falling from their mounts to rush past them.
His goal wasn’t to fight them head-on. It was to create chaos—both to stop the Ghost Soldiers from advancing and to give himself an opportunity to slip through.
Seeing the Ghost Soldiers in disarray ahead of him, Mu Geshen spurred his horse and charged straight into their ranks. Under ordinary circumstances, this would have been no different from throwing his life away. However, these Ghost Soldiers seemed to have just emerged from a major battle, and their strength had been greatly diminished.
With a Shanguí flower coin clenched between his teeth, he did his best to dodge the attacks coming at him from all sides. But fighting on horseback was not his strong suit. Before long, his body was covered in wounds of varying sizes. The deepest was at his waist, where a blade had sliced him open, and blood was pouring out.
Run. Run for his life.
Mu Geshen used the Shanguí flower coin to urge his horse onward. Man and horse were nearly reduced to a blur.
The doubled pain lashed at his nerves, and Mu Geshen struggled to remain conscious. He kept estimating the distance as he went. There wasn’t much of the Yin-Yang Stairway left. As long as he reached the bottom, he could use the Shanguí flower coins to forcibly seal the stairway.
But in the next instant, Mu Geshen suddenly felt the light above him darken. A massive shadow was bearing down on him!
It was an exceptionally tall Ghost Soldier, riding a black warhorse that leaped into the air and came crashing down toward his head!
Mu Geshen had no time to direct his horse to dodge. He hurriedly pulled the flower coin from the horse’s mouth, threw himself off, and rolled away, barely avoiding the descending hoof. His entire body slammed against the bluestone steps and rolled a long way down before finally crashing headfirst into a bronze lampstand.
Mu Geshen’s face was covered in blood. He struggled with all his might to get back to his feet. He knew he had reached the bottom. This bronze lampstand marked the end of the Yin-Yang Stairway. Water could be heard flowing not far away. It was the Wangchuan River.
The Ghost Soldier that had been pursuing him reined in its horse not far away. A series of eerie, cackling sounds rang out, as though someone were laughing sinisterly in secret. Through his blurred vision, Mu Geshen saw someone in the distance raising a blade. It was a throwing motion, aimed directly at his head.
He spat out the flower coin in his mouth along with a large mouthful of blood. Then, dipping his index finger into the blood, he quickly drew a complicated talisman on the ground.
A sharp, piercing whistle cut through the air, shooting straight toward the space between his brows. Mu Geshen had no time to dodge. He let out a furious shout.
“Stop!”
In the next second, an excruciating pain erupted from the top of his head. Mu Geshen’s vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness.
He heard the sound of wooden clappers.
A heavy snowfall drifted down from the sky. Everywhere he looked was pure white.
Mu Geshen lay in the snow, hearing a song rise from the empty ground. It drifted on and on, sometimes near, sometimes far, at times as fine as threads, at others like rippling waves.
The vast heavens and earth, all entrusted to a single cup of wine.
The sun and moon drift on, filling the sleeve.
Mountains and rivers stretch vast, captured in a single painting.
All living beings stumble along, a lifetime passing in a single day.
Where am I?
Mu Geshen struggled to sit up and discovered that he was dressed in white robes with wide sleeves. There was nothing in the world around him, save for the white snow, the long song, and the faint sound of wooden clappers.
Am I dead? Mu Geshen wondered. After the death of a Tian Suanzi, the soul scattered and vanished, never entering the cycle of reincarnation. Could this be where he was destined to end up?
No. That wasn’t right.
He realized that he was not yet a Tian Suanzi. So what was this place?
Mu Geshen sat where he was for a while, then raised his head to gaze at the vast sky. He discovered that what was falling was not snow, but paper spirit money filling the heavens.
The paper money drifted down, turning into snow upon touching the ground. Heaven and earth were silent, nothing but white.
A moment later, he suddenly sprang to his feet and sprinted toward the sound of the wooden clappers. He ran barefoot through the snow, leaving a winding trail of footprints that was quickly buried beneath the snowfall.
The song stretched on without end. Mu Geshen had no idea how long he ran. He felt neither cold nor tired. At last, at the very edge of his vision, he saw a figure holding a wooden clapper, its wide sleeves billowing as it repeatedly chanted the same four lines.
When Mu Geshen finally reached the figure, before he could even speak, the other person asked, “Where have you come from? Where are you going?”
“I came from the Wangchuan River.” Mu Geshen paused before saying, “I wish to return to the human world.”
After an unknown length of time, the white-robed figure struck the wooden clapper in his hand and slowly sang a single line.
“Return, O soul—”
Mu Geshen suddenly jolted awake and sat bolt upright.
Water trickled nearby, and blue lanterns swayed.
“Awake?” The person rowing the boat turned around. “How do you feel?”
Mu Geshen had sat up too quickly, and his head spun with dizziness. It took him a long time to make out the person before him. It was Wu Nie. The other party was rowing a boat, surrounded by blooming blue lotuses. They seemed to be on the Wangchuan River.
“What happened to me…?”
Mu Geshen lowered his head and looked at himself. He had been wrapped up like half a zongzi, and there was hardly an uninjured spot left on his entire body. He tried moving his arm, only to be met with a wave of excruciating pain.
“You fought the Ghost Soldiers some days ago and barely managed to close the Yin-Yang Stairway. But the difference in strength between you and them was too great. You overestimated yourself and ended up dying from your severe injuries.” Wu Nie spoke casually. “Since we were acquainted, this old servant is seeing you across the Wangchuan River, into the Hall of the King of Hell, so you can be reborn into a good family in your next life.”
“Great Lord, please stop joking. What dead person gets buried without being properly prepared, wrapped in bandages from head to toe?” Mu Geshen said, his head aching. “How long was I unconscious? What exactly happened?”
“Such an uninteresting brat.” Wu Nie rolled her eyes. As she rowed, she said, “You’ve been asleep for seven days. Fortunately, you stuffed the Shanguí flower coin into your mouth and managed to keep yourself alive. That kid from the Medical School personally treated your injuries. You’ve only just started to recover. Otherwise, you might not have been able to get out of bed for a year or half a year.”
“Sanjiutian? Where is he?”
“He came to Fengdu in a hurry, treated your injuries, then hurried back. All the various schools have their hands full right now.”
“I encountered Ghost Soldiers on the Yin-Yang Stairway. What exactly happened?”
“That? This old servant was responsible.”
“What did you say?!”
“This old servant is Tai Sui. Several hundred years ago, I took up residence in Fengdu. As an elder of the Yin-Yang School, I also bear the duty of guarding Fengdu,” Wu Nie explained. “On the ninth month, twentieth day, when the Ghost Soldiers emerged from the pass, Fengdu was bound to be devastated. So this old servant intervened and used a great formation to transfer all the rampaging Ghost Soldiers into the Yin-Yang Stairway.”
“Do you have any idea what the consequences of that would be?!”
“Of course. It only cost me five hundred years of cultivation.”
Seeing Mu Geshen at a loss for words, Wu Nie raised an eyebrow. “All right, this old servant knows what you’re getting at. The Ghost Soldiers entering the Yin-Yang Stairway was equivalent to redirecting Fengdu’s calamity elsewhere. The human world would inevitably be devastated.”
Mu Geshen didn’t know what to say. Both sides understood the advantages and disadvantages of the choice perfectly well.
And he could more or less guess why Wu Nie had done it.
“Once the Yin-Yang Stairway is closed, the path from the human world to Fengdu is severed. But one can still return to the human world by traveling upstream along the Wangchuan River,” Wu Nie said. “You’ve exhausted too much of your strength. You can barely bring out even one ten-thousandth of the power of the Shanguí flower coins. Last time, you only just managed to seal the Yin-Yang Stairway, but that won’t hold for long.”
“…How much time do I have left?”
“You were unconscious for seven days. There are probably about fifteen days left before the Ghost Soldiers break through the seal.” Wu Nie said, “Whether you advance or retreat, whether you stay or leave, you should make your preparations now.”
“What do you mean?”
“You understand perfectly well.” Wu Nie glanced back at Mu Geshen. “The Ghost Soldiers are in revolt. Even the Ten Yamas are powerless against them. The Land of Avici has accumulated a thousand years of resentment. There is nothing that can suppress it. The only way to resolve it is through slaughter.”
“With the strength of a single city, there is simply no way you can hold them back.”