CHAPTER 58: 58. TEN THOUSAND GHOSTS ROAM AT NIGHT, EACH GOING THEIR SEPARATE WAYS.

South Bamboo Peak, cliff top.

The old man sat solemnly in the wheelchair, and only when he saw the man slowly appear on the stone steps did he show a smile.

"Yan’er has come."

Song Yan was taken aback, because he always remembered that in front of outsiders, Stone Elder would never show intimacy towards him, at most only calling him "Little Song." Why did the address change today?

"Master."

He responded and was about to ask about the exotic beast when he saw the old man beckon and say, "Come here."

Song Yan approached, and the old man tightly grasped his hand, staring at him intently, and said in a deep voice, "This exotic beast is rare, and I have struggled hard to secure a spot for you. Do not disappoint me!"

Song Yan nodded and said, "Thank you, Master."

The Stone Seat Elder released his hand and then said, "Huayi, Yan’er is now going to the main peak of Paperman Peak. I’m worried he might not quite understand the rules, so accompany him."

"Stone... Lang..." Bi Huayi nervously clutched the wheelchair.

The Stone Seat Elder smiled and said, "Go ahead."

With that, he looked at Song Yan and said seriously, "Your master-mother was once soul searched by Gu Tianyang; her condition isn’t so well. On this journey... Yan’er, remember to look after her."

Seeing Song Yan hesitate, the Stone Seat Elder showed slight annoyance and said, "Seeing your master-mother is like seeing me!"

Only then did Song Yan nod. Since the soul search had been conducted, it seemed the Master already knew Bi Huayi intended to harm him. The Master truly took care of this woman with every means.

But he didn’t understand why the Master wanted Bi Huayi to accompany him.

"Go on."

The old man leaned back against the wheelchair, smiling and waving his hand.

Bi Huayi released her hand, bowing her head nervously as she followed behind Song Yan, and then boarded the Void Ship with him.

The solitary ship was a distant silhouette, disappearing into the blue sky.

The old man gazed afar, for a long time... before he got up, shook his long sleeves, and his hunched body seemed to regain vitality. With sparkling eyes, he looked west and murmured, "Come."

In the distance...

Song Yan stood on the deck, looking back at South Bamboo Peak. As the Void Ship flew over the peak of a green summit, his sleeve moved, and a small shadow puppet silently dropped down, hiding among the forest leaves.

This shadow puppet was his strongest, "the Deformed Soul One-Tailed Fox Demon with power already at the advanced Demon Beast level."

...

...

Night fell.

No rain...

Dark moon, high winds.

"Today’s bloody fog is so thick!"

In the servant tannery room of the Suspended House, a servant crouched by the crevice.

He had been here for more than a year, yet he had never seen such a dense bloody fog. The mist almost seemed to penetrate the house through the crystal.

...

...

Red lanterns flew and collided wildly in the fierce wind.

The disciple on duty at the Shadow Puppet Peak’s main peak had been dozing off, but suddenly woke up, startled because a silhouette appeared in the darkness not far away.

The bloody fog, never having submerged this area, was surging up step by step along with that silhouette.

"Who!!"

The duty disciple, clutching a shadow puppet, stood up warily, shouting from a distance.

Strange hybrid laughter came from the bloody fog, one laughed madly, the other mournfully.

Sad and joyful voices mingled, evoking an incredibly eerie and chilling feeling.

The duty disciple was stunned.

Suddenly, the laughter stopped, and a mighty voice came from the fog, "Dear disciple, it’s only been a while, and you can’t even recognize your master?"

The duty disciple stood there dumbfounded, only to see a two-faced strange man approaching from afar.

Wasn’t he the former Peak Master of Shadow Puppet Peak, who had already fled?

And behind the two-faced man, shadow puppets were swelling and brimming one after another.

Various demon beasts... were all present.

...

...

Rumbling...

On South Bamboo Peak, a stone door opened.

The disciple inside was frightened and hurriedly scrambled up from his cot, and when he looked outside, he saw an old man and a middle-aged man standing at the doorway.

"Stone... Stone Peak Master, why... why have you come at midnight?"

The middle-aged man beside him smiled and said, "Stone Elder, these new disciples don’t recognize me anymore."

The old man said indifferently, "Get up, the Demonic Fox is attacking, and the Ghost Cultivator has come to save us."

Demonic Fox attacking?

Ghost Cultivator saving?

That disciple’s mind went blank.

The Stone Elder didn’t explain and simply said, "You have twenty breaths of time; if you can’t follow, then die."

The disciple glanced outside the cave and saw ghostly energy everywhere. The bloody fog had somehow spread to South Bamboo Peak, and ghosts and strange shadow puppets were flying and running wildly in the fog, creating a malevolent scene of a night parade of thousands of ghosts.

He quickly dressed, and although the furnace on the side didn’t understand what was happening, it also hurriedly put on clothes and then followed behind the Stone Elder.

And that middle-aged man was naturally the former South Bamboo Peak Master Cheng Danqing.

...

On South Bamboo Peak, stone doors were being knocked open one by one, and the disciples followed closely behind.

However, there were also some disciples who didn’t know better, angrily shouting accusations like "Master Shi, have you been possessed by an evil spirit?" or "Master Shi, you betrayed South Bamboo Peak."

But these disciples were all knocked out by Cheng Danqing and thrown onto the giant shadow puppet behind them.

As for throwing them to the shadow puppets in the eerie mist, that wouldn’t work.

Skin Masters and the Evil Land are a perfect match because the Skin Master creates the skin, and the Evil Soul directly charges in to possess the body.

But these shadow puppets are chaotic, uncontrollable puppets that are filled with disorder like ghostly creatures.

If you throw living people to them, the next moment...they would be torn apart, devoured, becoming a feast as if a starving mad dog had found a meat bone after three days and nights.

...

Rumble...

Another stone door opened.

A strong seductive atmosphere burst out from within, followed by a man’s "scream."

And then, a long-haired beauty with porcelain white skin stepped out in the candlelight, boldly and fearlessly, showcasing her alluring curves.

She immediately saw the Stone Seat Elder and the group of disciples behind him, then slightly tilted her head to meet the eyes of a middle-aged man.

Cheng Danqing looked at her with a faint smile.

Wang Susu suddenly bowed and said, "Susu still remembers the Peak Master’s care in the past, privately wishing to repay you, but had no opportunity. I am very happy to meet again now."

Cheng Danqing grinned and laughed heartily, pointing distantly at Wang Susu and said, "Master Shi, I told you, the most sensible here is Susu, didn’t I? Haha!"

Wang Susu quickly put on her dress, asked no questions, and followed behind Cheng Danqing and Master Shi.

The Furnace behind was still nervously yelling, "Sister Wang, my...my legs are sore, don’t leave me. I’ll...I’m almost ready, almost!"

Wang Susu giggled and said, "The road ahead is long, sister, worried you might not adapt to different climates and die on the way, becoming a burden. You...don’t want to drag sister down, right? So...don’t go. Be good."

She tiptoed, waved her hand, and then followed the group without hesitation.

She had just left when a swarm of ghostly creatures flooded into the cave mansion, engulfing the handsome young man who was nearly drained dry.

...

A group continued walking, and then slowly stopped in front of a cave mansion.

Cheng Danqing looked at this cave mansion and said, "If I remember correctly, doesn’t this belong to the disciple named Song Yan?"

Master Shi said, "Unluckily, he was summoned away by the Sect Leader this morning."

Cheng Danqing sneered, "That is very unfortunate indeed."

Master Shi said, "Let’s go, we don’t need him."

Wang Susu glanced with surprise at the stone door of the cave mansion, then went far with the group.

...

...

High above...

In the ominous mist, a deformed eerie figure was overlooking it all.

He saw Cheng Danqing at the forefront, saw Master Shi’s calm demeanor, saw Wang Susu’s elation, saw all the South Bamboo Peak disciples heading towards the Evil Land.

’I see...’

Song Yan sighed lightly.

He was sharp-minded, and although not well-informed, he pieced things together with clever deduction.

A demonic fox infiltrated but was not dealt with, meant to foster anger in the disciples’ hearts, so they could blame everything on the demonic fox.

In secret, a treasonous exchange was made to sell out Shadow Puppet Peak.

Because the original Peak Master of Shadow Puppet Peak was a Ghost Cultivator, and the Skin Masters accumulated for years inside had already been rounded up, it made sense to trade the now-useless branch entirely to the Ghost Cultivators, in exchange for an alliance against that Fox Matriarch.

As for why Master Shi was willing to go to the Evil Land voluntarily, he could vaguely guess: perhaps the teacher had found a new opportunity.

And why Wang Susu was so elated was because: besides the Paperman Peak being above the Profound Vein Main Vein, the center of the Evil Land is also above the Profound Vein Main Vein; wouldn’t this be entering an even better place for cultivation?

’This doesn’t seem like something the teacher would orchestrate, but rather that Sect Leader...’

Song Yan closed his eyes, watched everyone go far away, and silently wished: Have a safe journey.

After saying this, suddenly, he sensed something and used the technique of "Hundred Forms Divine Control" to manipulate the deformed fox demon, leaping towards his own cave mansion.

...

...

Song Yan’s Cave Mansion.

Inside the cave, two women were pressed against the stone gate, listening to the commotion outside, so tense that they didn’t even dare to breathe.

After Cheng Danqing, Master Shi, and the others went far away, the shadow puppets in the eerie mist outside seemed to receive some command and suddenly started "booming" against the stone door.

Inside the cave, it was like the ground and mountains were shaking.

The Empress and Fu Hongmian were panicking.

And just at this moment...

Bam!

The stone door exploded, and a group of ghostly creatures surged inside.

The two women knew they couldn’t escape their fate and tightly shut their eyes.

But the expected pain and death didn’t come. An eerie giant "Guan" fox was standing outside the door, the ghostly creatures avoiding it because the fox also emitted their aura.

But, in the eyes of the two women, this fox had already used an Illusion Technique, appearing as a faceless person.

"Let’s go." Song Yan rasped.

Fu Hongmian was so frightened that she didn’t dare to speak, but the Empress asked, "Where to?"

Song Yan replied, "I’ll take you away from here."