At the same time, bloodstains appeared on the ground beneath our feet, and I immediately felt my soles sinking about an inch.

"Run!" Without thinking, I was the first to rush towards the depths of the Guiguanmen ancestral land.

As soon as I moved, Ye Yang, Lin Zhao, and Nie Xiaochun followed me without hesitation.

Zhu Ziyan and the others hesitated for only two or three seconds before swarming after us.

When people encounter danger, they lose their ability to think. As long as one person runs, others will follow blindly, even if it's a dead end. They won't turn back.

When exploring secret realms, the most important thing to avoid is running blindly after others!

Because you never know if the one leading the way is a person or a ghost.

Logically speaking, Guiguanmen disciples wouldn't make such a low-level mistake, but their fear of the ancestral land had penetrated deep into their bones.

If they had taken that first step, they might have been able to advance towards the Guiguanmen ancestral land step by step, as Zhu Ziyan had expected.

But that first step went wrong, the sudden death of their disciples threw the Guiguanmen elders into disarray. Like headless flies, they only knew to follow behind me, running into the ancestral land.

Ye Yang and I exchanged a glance, and then he suddenly said, "Cross the water!"

Ye Yang and I leaped at the same time, and Lin Zhao shouted, "Watch your feet!"

Ye Yang and I were already in mid-air, and it was impossible to stop. We could only exert ourselves again and rush towards the opposite bank.

As soon as my feet landed, a scream suddenly came from behind me. When I turned around, a Guiguanmen disciple had been pinned into the water by a charred corpse.

The Guiguanmen disciple hadn't died yet, and he struggled desperately in the water, blood mixed with the water flowing everywhere. The corpse, however, was biting the other’s neck, its eyes turning as it stared sinisterly at the man's companions, as if waiting for someone to go into the water to rescue the prey it had already bitten.

Several Guiguanmen disciples subconsciously wanted to save him, but Zhu Ziyan stopped them sternly, "Don't save him! Everyone, retreat ten meters away from the water!"

The disciples hesitated, and Xu Hong shouted sternly, "Didn't you hear the Holy Maiden? Get back here!"

As the Guiguanmen disciples retreated, despair appeared in the eyes of the person who was still struggling. Soon after, his ghost stood up from the water, covered in blood, and looked at his companions on the shore with a strange laugh, "Do you regret it?"

"The next one to die will be one of you. No one will come to save you then. You will all experience my despair."

The faces of the Guiguanmen disciples turned extremely ugly, but Lin Zhao threw the coffin pendant in front of the ghost, "When a person dies, they need a place to entrust their soul. This is the last of our camaraderie."

The ghost looked at the coffin floating in the water and let out a wail, blood streaming from its eyes.

That was a sign of a ghost turning into a vengeful spirit.

The ghost laughed eerily, "I'll be waiting for you in the coffin. None of you can escape!"

"Impudent!" Xu Hong shouted angrily and shot out a spirit talisman. The fire on the talisman instantly blasted the ghost into pieces.

In the flowing river, there was only green fire floating on the surface and a demon feasting on the corpse.

Xu Hong knew that he couldn't let the ghost continue to speak. The result of speaking further would be to shake the morale of the troops, and the Guiguanmen disciples would soon fall apart.

But he didn't know that his spirit talisman was the last straw that broke the Guiguanmen's back.

Why were the Guiguanmen disciples willing to follow him in rebellion?

For justice, for fairness?

No, they were doing it for future wealth and glory!

When they saw their fantasies turn into bubbles, the resentment in their hearts was naturally difficult to control. They weren't speaking now, but waiting for an opportunity to strike back.

Ye Yang didn't even look back. "We've entered the formation!"

Ye Yang said, "It's the Nine Ghosts Blocking the Road Formation!"

"The nine coffins in front are blocking our way. Is there no way back?"

I turned back to look at the river behind me. The meandering river had disappeared, leaving only endless weeds and coffins hidden beneath them.

Ye Yang said, "Someone is controlling the feng shui here. We can only move forward, not backward."

Zhu Ziyan stepped forward and said, "How do we get through the formation?"

Ye Yang replied, "Fill it with people. Sacrifice nine people to the nine ghosts. Then we can pass."

Zhu Ziyan said without hesitation, "Xu Hong, go pick out nine people!"

"Holy Maiden…" Xu Hong knew that he couldn't sacrifice any more disciples at this time. "Since Li Po and the others have a way, let them do it! It's better than sacrificing the disciples we've carefully cultivated, right?"

The Guiguanmen people spoke up, "Elder is right!"

"Lin Zhao, we're all fellow disciples. If you have the ability, then do it! It's better than us filling the formation with people all the way!"

"Lin Zhao, we were wrong just now, I apologize to you. Please help us for the sake of being fellow disciples!"

"..."

Lin Zhao remained silent with a cold face.