"Demon or fiend?"
Chu Lingwei spoke coldly.
For a cultivator at the Hua Tian realm to serve them, they were unlikely to be human.
An Yue's body trembled slightly, and he did not answer.
"You have one breath's time," Chu Lingwei signaled to Feng Ming. Its Netherworld Fire directly burned An Yue's divine soul, instantly rendering An Yue incapable of thought.
"It's a ghost."
An Yue shouted.
Chu Lingwei froze for a moment. The ghost An Yue spoke of should be someone from the Ghost Realm.
"Die."
Chu Lingwei closed her eyes slightly, walked out of the illusion formation, and came before Yu Qinghong, her expression heavy.
"Grandpa Yu, you leave here with them."
"Weiwei, you can't go in at all," Yu Qinghong sighed. Chu Lingwei was indeed the most talented human cultivator he had ever seen, but she was still only at the Spirit Wheel realm and no match for those people.
"I'm just going to take a look," Chu Lingwei shook her head. Since she knew about this place, she had to go in and see.
Even if she did nothing, she could at least bring back some useful information for the academy.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, I can accompany you," Xia Shixun stepped forward, his attitude firm.
He was a rogue cultivator, constantly traveling to various training grounds. He had met many people, and some had always suspected why the casualties in Bo Hai Forest were so much higher than in other places.
Now, it all made sense.
"No need. Please help me take care of Grandpa Yu and quickly take him away from here," Chu Lingwei refused decisively. Bringing him would be sending him to his death.
"Weiwei, take this. If you encounter danger, you can leave immediately," Yu Qinghong sighed and took out a ring from his pocket.
This was a high-level escape artifact, capable of teleporting a thousand miles in an instant.
"Okay."
Chu Lingwei accepted Yu Qinghong's kindness and addressed the people within the barrier, "You must swear with your Dao heart now not to tell anyone about entering Bo Hai Forest this time."
Regardless of whether she succeeded or not, if this matter leaked out today, it would be very troublesome for her.
"I, Nan Jin, swear with my Dao heart that if I utter half a word about entering Bo Hai Forest this time, I shall halt on the path of spiritual cultivation," Nan Jin was the first to raise his hand and swear.
"I, Xia Shixun, swear with my Dao heart..."
"I, Baili Yan..."
Seeing that their oaths were without issue, Chu Lingwei nodded. "The barrier dissipates. You must leave immediately. Do not look back."
"Weiwei, what about you?" Nan Xiang's eyes were filled with worry. She could feel the danger just now.
"I won't let anything happen to me," Chu Lingwei nodded to Yu Qinghong, withdrew from the barrier, had the Illusion Cat remove the barrier around them, and then cast a concealment barrier to block their aura from the other side, allowing them to leave more easily.
As soon as the barrier dispersed, Xia Shixun led Nan Xiang and Nan Jin, and Yu Qinghong boarded a flying artifact, quickly fleeing.
Baili Yan and Song Qing quickly followed, without any lingering.
"Weiwei, do we really have to go?"
Even Grandpa Yu said it was a dangerous place, which meant it was truly dangerous.
"I've even been to the most dangerous place in the Hengtian Secret Realm, am I afraid of this place?" Chu Lingwei used spatial power to conceal her aura and summoned a divine-grade flying artifact, heading directly to where An Yue had led them.
Half an hour later, Chu Lingwei arrived at the mountain peak.
There was no aura.
Chu Lingwei's mind recalled the lore about the Ghost Dao.
The Ghost Dao was a special existence, forming its own world, much like the Demon and Fiend realms.
Some were born ghosts, while others, after death, refused to halt on the path of spiritual cultivation and could convert to the Ghost Dao.
Not everyone could convert to the Ghost Dao. They had to circulate Ghost Dao techniques within the moment of their death, solidifying their soul into ghostly energy.
Ghost Dao techniques were secrets of the Ghost Realm that could not be leaked externally. Without this fortune, there was no way.
"Weiwei, I heard that ghosts have Ghost Dao, Ghost Language, and Ghost Breath. In your current state, if you appear before them, you will be discovered immediately," Feng Ming searched its inherited memories and said to Chu Lingwei.
Chu Lingwei sighed. The problem now wasn't being discovered or not; it was that she couldn't find the ghosts hiding here at all.
This was...
Chu Lingwei utilized all her knowledge and all the artifacts in her spatial realm, finally sensing the presence of ghosts here, within this mountain, but she had no way to enter.
This stumped Chu Lingwei.
"Weiwei, how about we go back and capture someone like An Yue to lead us in?" the Illusion Cat thought of a solution.
"If only I had soul-searching techniques?" Chu Lingwei thought of how she had scared An Yue earlier. She only knew that soul-searching techniques existed in this world but didn't actually know how to use them.
Feng Ming blinked, its eyes filled with sadness. It didn't know either.
"Then what do we do now?" the Illusion Cat squatted on the artifact. They were here now, invisible to the ghosts in this mountain, yet unable to find a way in.
"Wait."
There was no other way now, so they could only wait for someone to enter.
Two days later.
Chu Lingwei felt a chill emanating from beneath her.
There was movement within. Chu Lingwei immediately became vigilant.
Just then, beneath where she was, a large formation appeared. Various characters flickered on the formation, all of which she didn't recognize.
"Illusion Cat, Feng Ming, memorize the characters on this formation." Chu Lingwei stared at the flashing characters on the formation, committing them to memory.
Within two breaths, a person appeared on the formation. To be precise, it was a man completely wrapped in black, so much so that his eyes were not visible.
The man stood within the formation. When the light on the formation faded, he floated down the mountain like a ghost.
So this was a ghost.
Chu Lingwei quickly followed.
The person did not go far, stopping at the foot of the mountain. Shortly after, a cultivator at the Hua Tian realm appeared before the ghost.
"What's going on?" The ghost's voice sounded like stones grinding on a floor, muffled yet sharp, making people uncomfortable.
"An Yue and the others have gone missing, in Bo Hai Forest," the Hua Tian realm cultivator replied.
"What about the people he took?"
"They vanished together, no news."
Chu Lingwei listened to their conversation. Xia Shixun and the others were indeed smart, knowing not to return to Bo Hai Town.
"Their soul lamps have been extinguished," the Hua Tian realm cultivator continued. "One day after he took people into Bo Hai Forest. According to this timeline, he should have already brought the people..."
The Hua Tian realm cultivator did not finish speaking, the implication being clear: he must have brought the people here.
"You mean, someone is here?"
The ghost's voice was devoid of any emotion. Hearing it, Chu Lingwei's heart skipped a beat.