"Let's go. Why are we still waiting?" Yang Mon said to her senior sister beside her.
Yang Mon kept quiet."This place is strange," Yang Bing said quietly."What's strange here?" Yang Mon asked.
"See, till now we haven't seen any wandering souls or ghosts appear in this place."
"So what? Is there any problem with that?" Yang Bing placed her hand on her forehead and stayed silent.
Seeing Yang Bing quiet, Yang Mon also kept her mouth shut and looked at the door.
At that moment, two women didn't wait any longer and went toward the door.
"Hey, wait! What are you doing?" Yang Bing shouted, seeing the two moving forward.
"Someone's already gone inside. Humph! There's no reason for us to wait here," one woman sneered disdainfully.
Song Bing didn't say anything.
"Hey, Sister Bing, they're heading in. Let's go, or we'll fall behind."
"You just wait here. If they want to go, so be it, but we won't."
The two women came near the door and touched it. Immediately, the door buzzed and two blood-sucked corpses collapsed to the ground. Their blood and soul energy had been completely drained by the door.
"Hiss…" Yang Mon looked at the two bodies in fright and grabbed Yang Bing's hand tightly.
Yang Bing was equally shocked and tightly held Yang Mon's hand.
"So that's why there are no wandering souls here—any soul that touches this door is sucked dry," Song Bing said solemnly.
All the other cultivators were now alerted.
Behind the bushes, Lee Xiao frowned, her eyes wandering around the blue flames on the wall. There were twelve flames placed evenly.
Lee Xiao pondered the empty spot on the wall. After some thought, she deduced that the flames were a key to entering the door—since someone had already entered.
Inside the door,
Song Yan held the flame in one hand and Ye Kaishan's hand in the other as they walked over a bridge.
Beneath the bridge was a small pond emanating a deathly aura.
"This pond looks weird," Ye Kaishan said.
"This pond is made from a drop of water from Styx," Song Yan said seriously."If you don't enter carrying this fire, your soul will be sucked in by this pond."
"What?!" Ye Kaishan was surprised, recalling the flames outside, which he hadn't given much thought before.
"It's an ancient legend," Song Yan explained."A drop of water fell from the starry sky, and it's very sinister. It sucks the souls of living beings on the Soul Spirit Continent. Anyone within a hundred-mile radius will be drained dry by this drop. After great effort, the Ghost Empress subdued it."
"Since then, it has been locked behind this door, under this pond, by the Ghost Empress because it can suck souls from living beings. So there are formations suppressing this Styx Pond."
"Are we here for the drop of this Styx?" Ye Kaishan asked.
"No," Song Yan replied."The Styx drop is not something anyone can handle. Even a soul emperor risks their life handling it carelessly."
"It can only be handled by those who have awakened death laws, curse laws, or ghost laws."
"The Ghost Empress herself comprehended ghost laws, so she was able to subdue it."
"We are here for the 'Emperor Orb.'"
After crossing the bridge, Song Yan and Ye Kaishan stopped beneath a huge tree. The tree was leafless, but the trunk bore the weathered face of an old woman, worn by time, resembling someone who had died of hunger.
"Alright, we have arrived."Saying this, Song Yan touched the tree and wiped some dust off its trunk.
There were inscriptions on the trunk. She sat cross-legged and started to recite them, but suddenly looked at Ye Kaishan."Don't touch the tree, especially that face-like structure."
"Haiii… haiii…" Ye Kaishan nodded.
After instructing him, Song Yan turned back to the trunk and resumed reciting. The inscriptions glowed, and slowly a spherical orb with a cyan radiance appeared, expected to fully materialize within an hour.
"What should I do with this free time?" Ye Kaishan wondered. "She's reading the inscription, and I'm just waiting here."
Ye Kaishan looked at the face on the tree trunk."That old face gives me a creepy feeling. What is that thing really?" he thought.
Lee Xiao, after seeing the two blood-sucked bodies, needed to confirm her suspicions.
But she couldn't investigate directly—she didn't want to be sucked dry herself. She thought for a moment and gave a sinister smile.
She immediately used a technique called "Ghost Voice," a sound technique used to bewitch people.
She used the technique on Yang Mon:"That fire is very strange. Why don't you grasp it? Maybe it's the key to entering."
Yang Mon frowned, confused by the voice, but there was reason to consider the blue fire was strange. The voice made her forget to reason.
Immediately, she proposed the idea in front of everyone. After listening, everyone fell into deep thought. Nobody wanted to risk being sucked dry by a wrong decision.
Yang Bing frowned, amazed at the cleverness of the suggestion, though she didn't dwell on it long.
After hesitation, everyone agreed to let one person try, with others ready to stabilize the situation if anything went wrong.
Lee Xiao hid behind the bushes with a slight smile.
"Looks like your plan worked."
At this moment, Lee Mo, who was still in subspace, spoke to Lee Xiao."Yes, we can't take risks. They will clear a path for us."Lee Mo nodded.
The volunteer was Luo Xuan, a male cultivator of the Luo clan.
He stepped forward and touched the fire stick on the wall.
This time, there was no reaction.
Everyone sighed in relief and removed the fire sticks from the wall.
After some hesitation, Luo Xuan touched the door.
A creepy creaking sound echoed as the door opened.
Everyone was ecstatic and immediately headed inside.
After they left, Lee Xiao emerged from the bushes, took a fire stick from the wall, and headed inside as well.
Not far away, two figures observed the situation.
"Your Majesty, what should we do?" a petite girl asked a girl about her age. The girl wore a red dress, had black hair and purple eyes. In appearance, she was only slightly less impressive than Song Yan.
"Let's head inside," she said to the petite girl, who appeared to be her maid. Both took fire sticks and moved forward.
Near the huge tree, Song Yan was still reading the inscriptions while Ye Kaishan lay bored on a nearby stone. Ten minutes remained before the orb would fully appear.
Suddenly, Ye Kaishan sensed approaching figures. Manipulating space, he detected six figures moving closer.
"Song Yan still needs some time. What should I do?" Ye Kaishan frowned."I can't let them come here. They have to stay back until Song Yan finishes retrieving the orb."
Raising his hand, he closed his eyes.
"Time manipulation!"