Chapter 1 Someone is Talking

I couldn't help but pause, hearing someone speak.

If nothing appeared on the Scroll of Finality, then what was the point of Wu Xianzhen’s (Town of No Immortals) ghosts and gods releasing a blank sheet of paper?

Zhu Xiaoyu said, "Search the vicinity for any markings left by the ghosts and gods."

Before long, someone shouted, "Here!"

Someone dug up a stone slab from where the sorcerer had fallen into the moat. It was inscribed with: "Someone will die here."

Zhu Xiaoyu said, "This stone was buried here long ago."

"The ghosts and gods have designated a place of death for people."

Zhu Xiaoyu meant that wherever the ghosts and gods marked, someone would inevitably die.

Now it seemed that someone would definitely die in the place designated by the ghosts and gods.

Shi Feidao Ren (Taoist of Right and Wrong) whispered, "This method of designating a place of death doesn't seem so magical."

"The deceased only lost control and jumped from the place where the stone slab was buried after seeing himself standing opposite."

"If there hadn't been the cause of 'a person opposite,' there wouldn't have been the consequence of the other person's death."

"Rather than saying that the other party is killing people with fate, it would be better to say that they are killing people with schemes."

"This doesn't seem like a master of fate's technique!"

Zhu Xiaoyu said, "This is the most terrifying technique of a master of fate. It's even more terrifying than the Life Severing Art of the Half-Life Dao."

"At least, the Life Severing Art requires seeing the opponent to sever their life."

"Designating a place of death only requires leaving a marked prophecy to kill people. Designating a place of death has no specific target, and the caster doesn't need to stay here all the time."

"In Wu Xianzhen, we may face difficulties at every step."

I said in a deep voice, "No matter how difficult it is, we have to go in. Be careful on the way."

Zhu Xiaoyu said, "Prepare to enter the town. Don't panic when encountering things, stay calm. If you really can't handle it, call for your companions."

"In groups of three, cover each other and enter the town!"

Zhu Xiaoyu's subordinates reorganized their formation and tentatively advanced towards Wu Xianzhen.

The terrain of Wu Xianzhen in front of me was not complicated. There were only two areas, east and west, with a long street in the middle wide enough for four carriages to drive side by side.

From the moment we entered Wu Xianzhen, we could see the end of the street behind Wu Xianzhen.

As long as we could walk through this street, we could directly reach the Lao Chengying (Prison Camp) behind Wu Xianzhen.

When I stepped on the bluestone bricks on the street, I heard a shrill wail of ghosts in my ears. It was as if what I was stepping on were not bricks, but the skulls of wronged souls.

I subconsciously looked down and saw bloody ruts.

Back then, there should have been Wu Xianzhen first, and then Lao Chengying.

Only a large number of stones, wood, and even prisoners, were transported through Wu Xianzhen to build the Lao Chengying in the distance.

Wu Xianzhen was very likely the place where the laborers who built the Lao Chengying initially resided.

However, it was too far from the Lao Chengying. Could it be that the laborers had to walk five or six *li* every day to build the city, and then walk back to Wu Xianzhen to rest?

While I was pondering, I heard someone say, "It seems we can't go back."

When I turned to look behind me, the street we had entered from was completely blocked by two houses.

The doors of the two houses faced the entrance of the town. All we could see was a back wall without doors or windows.

Ye Yang and I looked at each other, and the latter whispered, "There are mechanical formations here."

Zhu Xiaoyu said in a deep voice, "Have someone go take a look."

A sorcerer responded and walked to the back wall, then suddenly turned to look at his companions, "Why are you on the roof?"

Out of body?

There is a saying among the common folk that when a person is not yet dead, their soul has already left, waiting near their home. As soon as the ghost messengers come to take the soul away, the person dies with it.

Before I studied the arts, I heard a friend tell a personal experience.

He said that when he was a child, his grandmother was seriously ill, and his family was in the house with her at night. He ran outside to pee and saw his grandmother sitting on the chicken coop in the yard.

He went back to the house and shouted to his father: Why is my grandmother sitting on the chicken coop? Tell her to come back!

As a result, his father dragged him into the house and told him not to talk nonsense.

His father went into the house to prepare for his grandmother's funeral. That night, his grandmother passed away.

When he grew up, he heard people say that at that time, his grandmother's soul had already left, waiting on the chicken coop for the ghost messengers to take her away.

This kind of saying also exists in the art of Dao.

Sorcerers believe that there must be a reason for leaving the body. Either the person can't speak and wants to tell their family something, or the person has some inspiration while alive and leaves the body to check the road ahead.

This kind of out-of-body experience is more common among sorcerers who die of old age.

But I have never seen a living sorcerer leave their body!

When I looked up, the person who had been called out was already flustered: "Don't talk nonsense, I'm standing here properly, how could my soul leave my body! Above your head..."

As everyone looked up at the same time, they saw a tile on the eaves, hanging sideways in the air.

It was just a tile swaying in the air, but it felt like a knife hanging in the air, ready to fall down at any time and send the sorcerer below the eaves away.