Chapter 348: Wheel Hall

Chapter 348: Chapter 348: Wheel Hall

Ten days later, amidst the white mist shrouding the world, an unparalleled silence permeated the air, chilling and eerie atop a mountain peak.

Elder Tian, bent with age, leaned on his strange black wooden cane, gazing ahead. Behind him stood three figures: Zhongshan, Qianyou, and Yingning.

"Elder Tian, why haven't they returned yet? This time they've been gone the longest," frowned Yingning.

"Soon," Elder Tian rasped in his gravelly voice.

"Elder Tian, could the Fengshui masters from the other side have captured them?" Princess Qianyou furrowed her brow.

"No, I can still sense them. They are about to return," Elder Tian reassured.

As Elder Tian finished speaking, a gentle breeze suddenly swept before them, as if carried from a distance. This breeze was icy cold, a harbinger of ominous winds.

After the eerie gust, a red-robed boy appeared before them. His face was pale, devoid of hair, barefoot, kneeling reverently before Elder Tian. His form seemed ethereal, almost insubstantial.

"Master!" the red-robed boy bowed.

Just as the first boy knelt, four more identical figures materialized from the four corners, each clad in red robes.

"Master!" they all chorused in unison.

"Five Ghost Boys, have you found out?" Elder Tian asked calmly.

"We have found it, Master. There is a ghost city in the northwest, likely the one Master seeks," one of the red-robed boys replied.

"Oh? How large is this ghost city?" Elder Tian inquired.

"It's vast, filled with malevolent ghosts and countless zombies. Even the junior ghosts dare not trespass," the boy described.

"Very well, lead the way," Elder Tian ordered.

With a flick of Elder Tian's hand, the other four ghost boys leaped onto his palm, shrinking to miniature size. He closed his hand around them and tucked them into his sleeve.

Zhongshan watched silently, without interruption.

Guided by the ghost boys, they set off towards the distance.

As they flew, the ghost boys suddenly halted in their tracks, causing everyone else to stop too.

Elder Tian landed on a mountain peak. Before them appeared an obstruction: a gigantic black moth. No, it wasn't just a moth—it was Prince Hanjue, enveloped in a massive phantom of a black moth. Around the moth's body, from all directions, swarmed countless moths, endlessly flapping their wings, creating a cacophony of fluttering.

Upon seeing the moths, the ghost boys shuddered in fear.

"Princess Qianyou, Lord Dongfang, long time no see," Prince Hanjue remarked indifferently.

"Greetings, Prince Hanjue. We wonder how you knew we would come, and why you're blocking our path now," Zhongshan smiled.

"Elders spoke of little ghosts coming to attack. I was tasked to guard this place. Please turn back," Prince Hanjue replied calmly.

"The Heart of the Ghostly Empress? Little one, are you speaking to me?" Elder Tian spoke calmly.

Seeing Elder Tian speak, Prince Hanjue raised an eyebrow. He could discern that among the four, this hunched old man held the highest position, perhaps even higher than a princess of the Heavenly Court.

"I don't care who you are. Right now..." Prince Hanjue started to say.

However, before Prince Hanjue could finish his sentence, Elder Tian acted. He gripped his cane and lightly tapped in Prince Hanjue's direction.

An evil spirit lunged at him, but Zhongshan's strike seemed to pass through its illusionary form, hitting nothing.

Zhongshan's eyes narrowed, and he quickly retreated. Elder Tian pointed his cane, causing the evil spirit to dissipate instantly.

"On the blade, smear your essence blood," Tian Lao instructed.

"Mm!" Zhong Shan nodded immediately. He squeezed out a bit of essence blood and swiftly coated it onto the blade.

Facing another zombie charging at him, Zhong Shan struck with his blade.

"Swish~~~"

As the large blade made contact with the zombie's body, it seemed as if boiling oil erupted, emitting a vast amount of heat. The zombie was destroyed with this seemingly gentle strike. When the blade cut through an evil spirit, it dispersed as if scorched by the intense heat from the blood.

Tian Lao paid no attention to these evil spirits and zombies but instead stared at the vast architectural complex before him, his heart filled with uncertainty and awe. The peripheral threats of zombies and evil spirits were more than manageable for Zhong Shan alone.

The atmosphere was thick with tension. From a distance, a gigantic ghost, the Ghost King, approached—a hundred zhang tall. Just like the Zombie Emperor's tomb, this Ghost King was similarly aged, wearing only an upper garment and a giant wolf tooth club in hand, exuding a fierce aura as he charged forward.

No, not just similar—almost identical to the Ghost King from Zhong Shan's memories.

As the Ghost King charged ferociously, he suddenly locked eyes on Princess Qianyou.

"It's you again?" The Ghost King's words were shocking.

"It's you again?" Hearing the Ghost King's voice, Zhong Shan's hair stood on end. He had faced ghosts and zombies without much concern, but the key was the Ghost King's words: "It's you again?" Did he know Princess Qianyou?

Similarly, Princess Qianyou tensed, stepping back.

"Oh, you know him?" Tian Lao asked in confusion.

"That Grand Qin Zombie Emperor's tomb, it's him? How can this be? Wasn't that an illusion?" Princess Qianyou exclaimed in astonishment.

"Oh? That was the celestial cataclysm cave? Where was he then?" Tian Lao asked in a deep voice.

"At Fengdu," Princess Qianyou replied.

"Fengdu? Heh, it seems he was transferred to the Wheel Hall," Tian Lao chuckled lightly.

"Tian Lao, how is that possible? How could he possibly recognize me? Isn't this an illusion? Back then, when the Ghost King broke through the Feng Shui array with the Fengdu Ghost City, everything exploded," Princess Qianyou said with worry.

Jingling also frowned at Tian Lao.

"Illusion? Who said it's an illusion? This is called the 'Derivative Realm.' What you saw last time was him," Tian Lao explained.

As the Ghost King charged, Tian Lao turned to look at him.

Upon meeting Tian Lao's gaze, the Ghost King seemed to tremble in spirit, freezing in place with a panicked expression before turning and running back.

"But these are two different Feng Shui arrays," Princess Qianyou said, puzzled.

"They are indeed two different Feng Shui arrays, but both are 'Derivative Realms,' advanced formations in Feng Shui that use a single object as a basis to simulate the environment and inhabitants surrounding that object from another time, even linking to their dream states," Tian Lao calmly clarified.

"Tian Lao, are you saying that this Wheel Hall and the Fengdu Ghost City from back then are simulations, and the Ghost King is the actual one from the Wheel Hall, currently dreaming, appearing in this simulated Derivative Realm?" Princess Qianyou frowned in amazement.

"Exactly!" Tian Lao nodded. Princess Qianyou's quick understanding pleased him greatly.

"Elder, are you saying there truly exists a Fengdu Ghost City and this so-called Wheel Hall in the underworld?" Zhong Shan stared at Tian Lao in astonishment.

"They don't exist in this world, but they do in the underworld!" Tian Lao affirmed confidently.