"Alright, the task is complete, and we can set sail again."
Wan Lei clapped his hands, but his expression showed little pride. He had a premonition that the upcoming fourth task would not be easy.
"Wow, Brother Wan Lei is so amazing, he actually blew up this ancient castle in one go! Great job, the people here always bullied Mengmeng before, and Mengmeng could never do anything about them. Let's see who dares to bully me again!"
Mengmeng waved her little fists, her eyes shining like stars as she looked at Wan Lei.
Seeing this, Fang Xiaoyu narrowed her eyes slightly and quietly shifted her position, blocking Wan Lei.
As for the Ghost Emperor, he was contemplating whether to write Wan Lei's name in his little book.
Wan Lei walked north in silence. He didn't speak, but was silently contemplating the strand of Dao law seed he had obtained earlier.
He knew it was order, but he didn't know where it came from or how to use it correctly.
What is order...
The more Wan Lei thought, the more his head ached, and the more agitated he became. He felt as if he had forgotten something important.
He tried to use the strand of order silk in his hand to reform the rules of the entire secret realm, only to find that he could not do it at all.
This secret realm might have been constructed by a ghost immortal using his own dark Dao. Wan Lei was not arrogant enough to believe that an ordinary mortal realm cultivator, with a little Dao law, could contend against an immortal's dark Dao.
At this thought, Wan Lei stopped being agitated. After all, only the last task remained. Once it was completed, they could reach the Bridge of Helplessness.
After crossing the Bridge of Helplessness, they could obtain the final token.
Wan Lei thought the Bridge of Helplessness was just a bridge. After completing the task, they would just need to walk across it to get the token, never considering that there might be danger on this bridge.
Mengmeng was still riding her bicycle, with the four dolls following behind her.
It was truly strange, how could these four dolls have such tough lives? They weren't killed by the ancient castle's violent explosion.
But Wan Lei really didn't know what use these four dolls had. Were they really just for playing shuttlecock and ball, and for entertaining everyone?
However, no one had the mood to appreciate these dolls, considering that these four dolls were once living people, just like them.
Mengmeng rode her bike at the front, humming an unknown nursery rhyme, while the dolls behind her made strange laughter. This scene was enough to scare away most cultivators who explored here.
After all, in this bizarre and absurd world, the more abnormal something was, the more terrifying it was.
There was no distinction between day and night. A scarlet crescent moon stubbornly hung in the sky, refusing to yield to the sun, so everyone had no concept of time.
Walking along this path, no one knew how many hours or days had passed.
As if everyone had something on their mind, people spoke very little.
After an unknown period, a park appeared ahead.
The park also looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. The roads were pitted, the ground was covered with fallen leaves, and weeds grew wildly along the roadside. The fountain square in the middle of the park had long been dry, and the statues were covered in rust. The entire park gave a feeling of dusk.
"Oh dear, I've been riding for so long, I'm so tired. Let's sit down and rest for a while."
Mengmeng stopped her bicycle by the roadside, hopped off, and went to a bench, sitting down and gently rubbing her slender waist.
Along the way, they hadn't encountered any danger, so everyone sat down to rest with her.
"Mengmeng, how far are we from the Bridge of Helplessness?"
Wan Lei asked.
"We're almost there, almost there. This Yellow Springs Road is not easy to walk. In the past, only dead people could walk it. It's good that you living people can experience it once."
"Yellow Springs Road? Shouldn't there be a Yellow Springs River flowing beside the Yellow Springs Road? Shouldn't there be many wandering souls queuing up to walk?"
"Who told you that? The Yellow Springs Road is a vast and boundless wilderness, and you're unlikely to encounter anyone."
"That's not right. I remember that after people die, don't their souls enter the Sea of Suffering? They are ferried to the ghost realm by a ferryman, and whether they reincarnate or not is up to them."
Wan Lei carefully recalled the knowledge that Gouzi had imparted to him. He really hadn't misremembered.
Mengmeng gasped in shock.
Hiss, how should I explain this? How does this kid know so much?
"Uh... you don't understand. How can you living people go to the real ghost realm? This is a frontier of the ghost realm, a world that is not quite the same as the ghost realm.
However, there is still the Six Paths of Reincarnation. When you cross the Bridge of Helplessness, you can go and reincarnate."
"...Why should we reincarnate? We just need to find that token."
"Isn't it to find my beloved?"
"Uh... I can't guarantee that your beloved will definitely be there."
"Forget it, you people only know how to lie. After you complete the fourth task, you will be able to see the Bridge of Helplessness."
"By the way, speaking of tasks, we've been walking for so long, and the third task was completed a long time ago. Why hasn't the last task been assigned yet?"
Wan Lei sighed and leaned back against the chair.
Mengmeng thought for a moment, then had an inspiration and said,
"Your task is to catch that little rabbit."
Everyone looked, and indeed, a little rabbit was running towards them.
But no one moved.
What does Mengmeng's assigned task count for? It has to be assigned by the system.
Besides, what kind of task is catching a rabbit? Are you hungry? Do you want to eat roasted rabbit?
No one went to catch the rabbit. The rabbit ran very fast. It seemed annoyed that no one was trying to catch it, so it decided to deliver itself.
Thump!
With a dull thud, the rabbit hit a large tree opposite them and died.
"So, it's educating us with practical action, telling us not to wait idly for results?"
That sense of absurdity resurfaced in Wan Lei's mind.
"Alas, what a pity."
Mengmeng sighed.
Not far away, a black crow flew over, landed beside the rabbit, and with its back to everyone, placed a moon-seeing grass it held in its beak next to the rabbit. From its posture, it seemed somewhat dejected.
"A crow is crying for a rabbit?"
Everyone found it incredible.
Suddenly, the crow's head turned a hundred and eighty degrees, looking at them.
They also saw clearly that the crow's face had six eyes.
Bang!
Its first eye suddenly burst, followed by a shrill cry, and it flew away.
"The crow of death, at the cost of one eye collapsing, curses the target to die within two hours."
Mengmeng explained expressionlessly.
At this moment, the system's voice sounded in the minds of Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu.
"Fourth stage mission: Capture the rabbit, failed. Mission changed.
Mission Name: The faithless bird carries sorrow.
Mission Objective: Survive for two hours.
Hint: After two hours, the Bridge of Helplessness will appear!"