"Captain, the Thousand Silk Thread points here."
As Qin Mu brought the captain to the outskirts of Qingyang City, before they could make any move, a ghost with a green face, fangs, and a hunched posture, wearing only a greyish-black pair of pants, emerged.
It smiled and said, "Are you the captain of the Underworld's Eighteenth Team?"
Jiang Lin looked at it and replied calmly, "Yes."
The green-faced ghost bowed, "My lord, please come this way. My master has been waiting for a long time."
After speaking, it turned its face towards Qin Mu beside him:
"Don't worry, brother ghost messenger. Your friends are fine. They are with my master."
Qin Mu glared at it, "I'd believe you if pigs could fly!"
Being with its master is even more dangerous!
But what is going on?
Logically, Qingyang City should be heavily guarded, with a great battle unfolding.
Why are they being invited in?
Wait, could it be a feigned emptiness tactic?
Qin Mu looked at the captain, "What should we do?"
"You go attend to your business. I'll go check on Nie Jiu," Jiang Lin instructed, and then entered Qingyang City with the green-faced ghost.
"Understood, Captain."
Qin Mu glanced in the direction they left and turned away.
Although he was worried about his seniors, he wouldn't be of much help if he went in.
He could only leave it to the captain.
Moreover, since his seniors could no longer work, their tasks would have to be assigned to other teammates.
Therefore, Qin Mu's workload had also increased.
...
"My lord, please enter."
The green-faced ghost led Jiang Lin to the front of a house, bowing and gesturing for him to enter.
Jiang Lin looked at the nearly three-meter-long and four-meter-high door before him, his expression calm as he stepped forward.
His long hair swayed slightly, and the hem of his robes fluttered.
The moment his foot landed, a surging ghost energy pushed outwards from both sides.
The green-faced ghost felt a terrifying aura accompanied by a gust of wind. The next moment.
With a creak, the heavy door slowly opened.
Jiang Lin continued walking without stopping, directly inside.
The door slowly closed behind him,
sealing off the outside world and the outside light.
In the pitch darkness,
Jiang Lin, relying on his senses, estimated that this was a grand hall.
It was built magnificently, with intricate and exquisite carvings.
The surroundings were quiet; apart from him, there were no other ghost presences.
Jiang Lin stopped in the center of the hall, calmly observing his surroundings.
He was ready to deal with any potential emergencies.
Thump~ thump~ thump~
It sounded like glass marbles falling onto the ground, rolling around.
The next second, a faint light appeared around him.
In the light, a narrow alleyway was revealed.
In a corner of the alley, there was a white eyeball.
It seemed to have fallen out accidentally. A pair of hands reached out, picked up the eyeball, and reinserted it into the socket.
Instantly, the scene became clearer and wider.
...
Inside the hall, Jiang Lin frowned. An illusion?
It didn't seem like it.
The scene before him appeared to be from a first-person perspective.
It was more like someone's memory being played out.
Whose memory?
Could it be the owner of this ghost realm?
Why show him this?
...
"Thank goodness, thank goodness, I didn't lose it."
Judging by the voice, the first-person perspective belonged to a young boy.
In the scene—
The boy reinserted the eyeball and breathed a sigh of relief.
If it had been lost, he would have had to spend money to buy a new one.
Moreover, the ones in the ghost market might not be as good as the original.
As he was thinking, a noisy commotion suddenly came from outside the alley.
It seemed like new ghost residents had moved in.
The boy quickly ran out, disregarding their dazed expressions, and grabbed a ghost who looked about his age.
He asked urgently, "Did you just descend? How is the human world?"
"What about those immortal cultivation sects, and the demon race? Has anything happened?"
Are the demons dead? Extinct?
Have the immortal cultivation sects grown stronger? Have they taken action?
Unexpectedly, his words seemed to have flipped a switch.
The group of dazed new residents all looked over.
Their eyes were bloodshot, and their faces were filled with madness.
"You just mentioned the demon race? My entire family was wiped out by the demon race!"
A middle-aged uncle's mouth opened wide as if to laugh, but no laughter came out. His eyes were bloodshot with rage.
Despair, and filled with hatred.
"My child, my child was so young... Heh heh~ Heh heh~ I watched him die in my arms!"
"The demon race?"
Beside him, a young and beautiful girl, dressed in red, had tears of blood in her eyes.
"Why aren't they dead yet! Why aren't they dead! Hahaha..."
One by one, the ghosts cried out madly, their wails echoing, black mist swirling around them.
They hated, they hated!
They hated their own powerlessness, and even more, they hated the abominable demon race!
Tears of blood rolled down their eyes, floating in mid-air.
"Those sects, haven't they taken any action?"
The boy seemed startled by their reaction and took two steps back in a daze.
"Are they just letting the demon race trample on human lives?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a pair of hands suddenly grabbed the boy's wrist.
—It was the ghost in blue brocade, about his age.
A pale face leaned in, staring intently at the boy.
"You want to know news from the human world? You want to know the sects' reactions?"
It sneered, "Let me tell you, those cultivators won't care about ordinary people. They only care about their own survival!"
"You want to see cultivators kill all the demons? Impossible!"
"Those cultivators have become demons themselves, and you still expect something from them?"
It pressed closer, throwing the cruel reality nakedly before the boy.
"You were also killed by the demon race, weren't you? Stop dreaming!"
"Those cultivators will never avenge us ordinary people!"
"Because in their eyes, we are nothing but ants!"
"No, no..." the boy shook his head.
"What about the Tianshan Sect? What about the famous 'Number One Demon Exterminator,' Su Shenxue?"
"Isn't she specifically killing demons?"
"Su Shenxue?!"
The ghost in blue brocade suddenly grabbed the boy's shoulders, "You know Su Shenxue?!"
In an instant, the air around them fell silent.
The ghosts, who were previously angry and wailing, stopped and stared at him eerily.
It seemed as if the moment the boy nodded, they would pounce on him, tear him apart, and devour him!
The boy instinctively wanted to retreat but was unable to move due to being held. He stammered:
"You, you guys... Isn't she the Number One Demon Exterminator...?"
Why is everyone reacting like this?
"Number One Demon Exterminator?! I was killed by her!!"
The young and beautiful girl in red seemed to find something amusing.
In an instant, her entire face became terrifying, her skin cracked, and blood streamed down her face.
"I was about to get married, and she ruined me, she ruined me—!"
"She has become a demon, she has already become a demon! The Number One Demon Exterminator is a complete joke!"
...
The Number One Demon Exterminator, Su Shenxue?
Inside the hall,
Jiang Lin looked at the scene around him, his heart filled with doubt.
If it were before, he might not have paid attention to this name.
But now...
What is the relationship between the owner of this ghost realm and Su Shenxue?
Or perhaps, the owner of this ghost realm knows something?
And deliberately created this for him to see?
What is the purpose?
Jiang Lin frowned slightly.
Looking at the background of the scene, it seemed to be the Underworld Ghost Market...
However, it looked much older, not as grand as it is now, and the order was not as good.
"What do you want?" Jiang Lin asked.
His voice echoed in the hall, but there was no response.
...