Teng Hua couldn’t be reached either.
Ye Yang’s anxiety reached its peak. He kept poking the message-delivering little fish, unable to stop muttering, “What’s going on? Nothing’s happened to Teng Hua, right? Nothing’s happened to the Ghost Emperors, right? Nothing’s happened to the Underworld, right…”
“The connection between the outside world and the Underworld is delicate and unstable to begin with. It’s normal to lose contact.” Shen Ming tried to comfort him, but both he and Ye Yang knew in their hearts—was it really just a coincidence that so many anomalies were happening at once?
The more they couldn’t reach her, the more anxious Ye Yang became. Ghost Emperors weren’t so easy to harm, but Teng Hua was just a little ghost. To put it bluntly, she could be crushed like a bug…
Just as he was pacing in a frenzy, a wave of yin energy suddenly struck from behind.
There was no malice in this yin energy, and wrapped within it was a blurry figure.
A ghost cultivator.
Ye Yang and Shen Ming turned around at the same time. The ghost cultivator shrank back and said tremblingly, “A-Are they the ones?”
Only then did Ye Yang notice a faint glimmer of light in the middle of the ghost cultivator’s figure, as if they were holding something. They had been talking to that thing.
Then a familiar, crisp female voice rang out: “Yes, yes, you can go now!”
It sounded like Teng Hua’s voice!
Ye Yang had barely taken half a step forward when the ghost cultivator hurled something toward him as if getting rid of something unlucky, then immediately fled far into the distance, vanishing in an instant.
Ye Yang instinctively caught the object. It was a tiny, miniature lantern, with a faint, pale white light in the center. Not only was it not warm, but it was also a bit cold to the touch.
“…Teng Hua?”
“It’s me!”
Ye Yang: “!!” What was going on?!
“What happened to you? Are you okay?!” The last time he saw her, she was a lively little ghost with a job. How had she ended up like this?!
The lantern’s white light was weak and flickered from time to time. Ye Yang held the lantern, not daring to move, barely breathing, afraid that the slightest breeze would extinguish that fragile flame.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine for a while. It’s not like I can die again anyway.” The white light, which was Teng Hua’s soul light, flickered. She was still in the mood to joke, so the situation wasn’t too dire.
Ghosts could certainly die, but now wasn’t the time for that: “What the hell is going on?”
Teng Hua’s soul light flickered again. “Something happened at Baodu Mountain. The two Ghost Emperors, the Ghost Kings, the Judges, the Yin Marshals—they’ve all vanished without a trace. Then a huge influx of souls poured in, and everything descended into chaos.”
“A city god found me and said that only the power of a deity can help now.” The only one who could truly wield divine power was Shen Ming. To find Shen Ming, they needed to find Ye Yang. And Teng Hua was the only little ghost in the entire Underworld who had an extra connection to Ye Yang.
“I didn’t really trust him, to be honest. He couldn’t show any proof of his identity or power. I don’t know if he’s a real city god. But he knew about my relationship with you two. Under the circumstances, I had no choice but to try anything.”
The Underworld was sealed off by an unknown force, making it difficult for ghosts to enter or leave. The city god used a secret technique to place Teng Hua into an oil lamp. Once inside, Teng Hua was uncontrollably drawn into the lantern she was in now. The lantern was being held by that timid ghost cultivator from earlier. That ghost cultivator was stranded in the demon realm, unable to return to the Underworld, and so became her smuggler.
She had snuck out this way.
“Now I need to take you both back. That city god said you’d know what to do?” Teng Hua was still completely confused. Ye Yang was too after hearing the story. They knew what to do? What did he know?
Wait! Ye Yang suddenly remembered. In the memories inherited from the divine blood, there did seem to be a pair of divine artifacts—a lantern and a lampstand.
Before he could fully recall, Shen Ming had already pieced it together: “Soul Union. This pair of magical artifacts can resurrect the dead… If we pour divine power into them, they should be able to break through the Underworld’s seal.” He couldn’t help but ponder—who exactly was this city god, to possess such heaven-defying artifacts and think of such an unconventional way to use them?
Soul Union could break the seal, but there was one problem: it could only transport souls, not physical bodies.
The site of the underground floating city or Luoyang City were clearly not safe places to store their bodies. Ye Yang and Shen Ming returned to YCG first.
“Don’t worry. After Fu Ye died, we conducted several internal reviews and purges. I guarantee no one will bother you here!” Director Tu assured them, thumping his chest.
For safety’s sake, Ye Yang didn’t tell Director Tu what they were planning to do. He only said they needed a safe, undisturbed space.
Shen Ming added another layer of barrier, and then they began.
·
The feeling of their souls being compressed was awful, especially since Ye Yang and Shen Ming were living souls.
There was a period of dizziness and disorientation, and when they emerged from the lampstand, Ye Yang let out a long breath. It took a little more effort to barely control himself.
Though he looked the same, drifting lightly as a soul was a first for him. The slightest movement sent him floating far away.
Teng Hua came out too, looking no different than before. Ye Yang finally felt a bit relieved.
After Shen Ming emerged, the lampstand went out, plunging the surroundings into darkness.
Suddenly, Ye Yang noticed a figure standing silently beside him. The moment he made out the person’s face, his whole body jolted. He instinctively moved to shield both Shen Ming and Teng Hua behind him—he had seen this face before!
This was the very face that had pushed him into the abyss back at the underground floating city!
“Hey, hey, hey—friendly fire, friendly fire! Stop attacking!” The figure was sent flying by the force of the punch and immediately started yelping.
Teng Hua was startled. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Is it an enemy?!”
…
After a big commotion, fortunately, Shen Ming was the one who finally got the situation under control.
“So he’s the city god?”
“Yes, yes, it’s me! Let’s talk this through!!” In just a few seconds, he’d been beaten so badly he was squealing like a chicken. The guy looked cute and adorable—why was he so ruthless?!
…
“So yeah, that’s basically what happened. You get it now?” The city god wiped his face, still shaken.
“I see. I’m really sorry about hurting you just now. Are you okay?” Ye Yang could feel only goodwill emanating from this seemingly unremarkable city god. He trusted him now and immediately began healing his injuries. In his spiritual form, his abilities reached directly into the soul, making them even more effective.
The city god had just told the three of them that pushing Ye Yang into the abyss back then hadn’t been malicious.
He had discovered that someone was trying to open a passage between the human realm and the Underworld—the abyss passage. He wanted to get this information out, and that was precisely why he was being hunted.
Pushing Ye Yang had been a last resort. In fact, he himself had jumped down shortly after and had been hiding near Baodu Mountain ever since, until now.
It sounded reasonable enough, but in Shen Ming’s eyes, it was full of holes.
“Soul Union. How did you come to possess Soul Union?”
“Oh, that? I just happened to find it.”
“Is that so?” Shen Ming twirled the lampstand in his hand. “Then how did you know what it’s called? How did you know how to use it? And how did you know that I would know how to use it too?”
“Uh…” The city god scratched his cheek. “That’s not important. What’s important is—Hey, hey, hey, why are you attacking again? Okay, okay, I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
Before he could finish making excuses, Ye Yang’s expression had already changed. No matter how much he had trusted the city god a moment ago, the moment Shen Ming was suspicious, he was ready to follow up and attack.
“Really, the situation is urgent. I didn’t want to waste time—Fine, fine, I said I’d talk! Don’t come at me again…”
The city god grumbled. Though Ye Yang had stopped his physical assault, his eyes were locked on him. The city god had no doubt that if he said a single wrong word, this little sea bunny would snap him in two.
He glanced to the side. The curious little ghost still had no idea what was going on. And the real big boss, Shen Ming, stood calm, composed, and ready, waiting patiently for his explanation.
He gave up completely. It was clear that if he didn’t come clean today, nothing was getting done. “Sigh, here’s the truth…”
“I’ve never liked being in the spotlight. I just want to live my quiet, steady life.” Even as he said this, the city god’s form began to change.
A soft light suddenly appeared in the darkness. The city god’s body swelled, segment by segment, bigger and bigger, until he grew to over three meters tall. Backlit by the glow, Ye Yang saw nine tails sprout from behind him.
“Nine-tailed fox? No, you are…” A look of astonishment appeared on Shen Ming’s face. “You are Lu Wu.”
Lu Wu stepped forward a few paces, and Ye Yang finally saw him in full. It was a giant beast with the body of a tiger, pure white fur streaked with black stripes, nine tails held high behind it, but connected to the neck was a human head.
“It’s me.” Despite being this massive in his true form, Lu Wu’s voice sounded just the same as before.
“So it’s you.” Shen Ming now understood everything completely.
Lu Wu was a divine beast, the steward of the Heavenly Emperor. It wouldn’t be strange at all for him to possess not just Soul Union, but even the Heavenly Emperor’s sword itself.
Lu Wu was a friend of Shen Ming’s. Despite his fierce, beastly appearance, he had always been indifferent by nature, never wanting to meddle in others’ affairs. He only liked tending to flowers and plants.
But he was kind-hearted and could never bear to see others suffer, especially humans. That was why he had helped Yu the Great control the floods and done good deeds without leaving his name.
This time was probably the same. He wanted to help, but only from behind the scenes, not wanting anyone to pay attention to him.
“How did you become so small and become a city god?” He had recently encountered several old acquaintances, but this was the first time he had seen a true friend. Shen Ming couldn’t help but step forward and stroke the tiger’s paw.
Lu Wu had once been the warden of Kunlun, spending his days there. He hadn’t been in the upper realm during the Divine War, but after the upper realm was sealed off, he too had disappeared.
“Didn’t happen all at once. After the upper realm was sealed, maintaining Kunlun required too much divine power. I gradually ended up like this.” Lu Wu was a little embarrassed talking about it.
“As for the city god identity, I made that up… But aside from that, everything I said earlier was true.” He grew even more embarrassed. A dignified divine beast, reduced to being hunted by a bunch of little ghosts and forced to hide in the Underworld.
A big part of the reason he hadn’t wanted to reveal himself to Shen Ming was simply because it was too shameful.
Lu Wu had thought he’d wait until Shen Ming dealt with that Bai Hu fellow, until his divine power was restored, before revealing himself. Who knew Shen Ming would be so stubborn… Wait!
Lu Wu’s eyes widened. Right, Bai Hu! This was no time to be lost in thought. The most important thing hadn’t been said yet!
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