Chapter 1 The Truth

The Shifei Daoren pointed at me and said, "If you're not willing to abide by the competition rules, then get out!"

I looked at him with a half-smile. "Did I violate the agreement? But, old Taoist, if you chase me away like this, be careful you'll be struck by lightning."

The Shifei Daoren said, exasperated, "Don't forget, you're participating in the Jiu Zi Yi Tian (Nine Sons Play Heaven)."

"Am I one of the nine?" I retorted. "The matter of me splitting the blood chess piece with my blade has already spread throughout the martial world. Don't you know?"

The Shifei Daoren was momentarily at a loss for words.

My goal was to rush to Xianyang River and help Ye Yang recover his memories.

As for whether or not to compete, or who becomes the leader, it was meaningless to me.

Moreover, the reason I wasn't afraid to anger the Shifei Daoren was to break free from this battle.

Since the three parties were vying for Qi Luck, they would inevitably act cautiously and be wary of each other. But they wouldn't be wary of someone who had already dropped out of the game.

I dared to drop out because I didn't take the so-called Qi Luck or the Nine Sons seriously.

While I was talking to the Shifei Daoren, the person in charge of the inspection had already walked over. "Have you two decided?"

"Old Taoist, what do you say?" I said with a smile as I looked at the Shifei Daoren, my hand already on the hilt of my blade.

The Shifei Daoren suppressed his anger and put on a smiling face as he said to the man, "This old brother, that female prisoner is a relative of the escorting officer. Could you possibly do us a favor?"

As he spoke, the Shifei Daoren stuffed a package into the man's hand.

"You should have said so earlier!" The man grinned. "I'm letting this go for the sake of your face, old brother. If it were that kid, it wouldn't have been so easy. Teach the newcomers well in the future, so they know the rules."

After the Shifei Daoren cupped his fist in thanks, his face darkened. "Put your clothes on and get moving. Don't delay things."

My face didn't betray any emotion, but I sneered inwardly.

Prisons in ancient times had their own set of rules, and anything inside could be negotiated.

When verifying identity, as long as money was involved, a symbolic look would suffice. Those who didn't bribe the jailers and acted tough would suffer a blow to the anus, which could either leave them unable to move for days or cause them to die in agony.

The reason I was sneering wasn't because I had forced the Shifei Daoren to reveal the rules, but because I realized that the Shifei Daoren desperately wanted me to enter the Road of Exile.

It seemed that he was one of the people setting up this scheme.

As I followed the Shifei Daoren forward, I gently nudged Wang Xiaohuan, who understood and threw out an unopened white lantern.

After walking some distance, I quietly glanced back.

Wang Xiaohuan's white lantern had silently expanded into a sphere on the ground and was slowly rolling towards the corner where the jailer had appeared.

When I emerged from behind Ghost Gate Mountain, I could vaguely see a long road covered in weeds among the towering mountains.

The Road of Exile, which hadn't been traveled in who knew how many years, snaked forward from behind Ghost Gate Mountain.

The Shifei Daoren said, "Follow the map for the rest of the way. From now on, I'll only watch and not speak."

The four groups of us, though walking on the same road, kept our distance from each other.

Wang Xiaohuan quietly took out a mirror and handed it to me.

The mirror reflected the scene inside the gatehouse of Ghost Gate Mountain.

There was no one there at all, only five stone figures covered in spiderwebs.

The strange thing was that the right hands of all five stone figures were in a position of empty grasping, as if weapons that should have been in their hands had been removed.

I transmitted my voice. "Can you get a closer look?"

Wang Xiaohuan lightly touched the mirror a few times, and the light reflected in the mirror moved forward a few feet. It seemed that Wang Xiaohuan's white lantern had floated forward a distance.

It was only then that I noticed that the spiderwebs on the chests of the stone statues were relatively thicker.

Without me saying anything more, Wang Xiaohuan moved the white lantern again, focusing the beam of light on the spiderwebs on the chest of the statue. There was clearly a fist-sized hole there, and spiders had already spun their webs inside.

Wang Xiaohuan said in a low voice, "This is also a means of the Zhan Shen Wu (God-Slaying Witch). Someone once slayed a god here."

I couldn't help but look up at the Shifei Daoren, who was walking in the middle of us, before transmitting my voice to Ye Yang and the others. "Be careful of that Shifei Daoren."

"I felt something was strange when someone came out of the gatehouse just now."

"Xianyang River has been closed for many years, and the Six Doors have also been disbanded. Even if there are Six Doors constables stationed here, there wouldn't be an on-duty guardhouse."

"But the procedure just now was clearly the Shifei Daoren following the process of exiling sorcerers back then."

"Who is he showing this procedure to?"

"If he's showing it to us, then that means the four prisoners we're escorting have a reason to enter Xianyang River."

"Or, among our four groups, there is someone the Shifei Daoren is determined to get."

"If he's not showing it to us, then the problem is much bigger."

Feng Ruoxing responded, "Are you saying that the Shifei Daoren thinks the people guarding Ghost Gate Mountain back then are still alive, and he doesn't know that this procedure is no longer being followed?"