The Man Who Vanished

Through the perspective of the yin corpse, Zhang Yuanqing looked around. Everywhere he looked was dense, billowing black smoke obscuring his vision, keeping visibility under five meters. Unlike Yaoguang Hall, where the black smoke engulfed the area once every ten minutes, this place was shrouded in smoke perpetually. What on earth had Mount Shu's sect master brought out of the ancient ruins? This was only the South Courtyard, yet the yin energy was so vast and surging it felt like stepping into the Underworld. To what exaggerated extent would the yin energy in the Main Hall reach? It had likely spawned many high-tier Dominator-rank yin creatures. Zhang Yuanqing remembered Jiang Ju once saying that when a peak Dominator stayed in a place for a long time, the aura they exuded would alter the local environment. For example, Elder Miao of Baihui lived in seclusion deep in the mountains, resulting in tens of miles of contiguous primeval forest where wild beasts had evolved into Transcendent beasts. Another example was Jiang Ju's demigod father, who had turned the mountain he secluded himself on directly into an active volcano churning with molten lava. The object the Mount Shu sect master had brought out from the ancient ruins had transformed this immortal sect into the Underworld. From this, one could infer that Mount Shu's Main Hall was most likely a Level 9 dungeon, or at least required a peak Level 8 to enter. *I hope the White Emperor Crown is in the South Courtyard. If it's in the Main Hall, I won't be able to get it anytime soon...* Zhang Yuanqing prayed inwardly. He advanced in the dark, heading toward the buildings based on his sense of direction for a routine search. Judging from their experience at Yaoguang Hall, the major crisis of the second tier should also lie within Golden Peak Hall, but as an expert player of the Spirit Realm, he wouldn't neglect other areas because of that. The higher the difficulty of a dungeon, the more cautious one had to be, gathering complete information so as not to overturn the boat over minor details. ... At the base of the stone steps in the Yaoguang Hall area, Zhang Yuanqing frowned and said in a grave voice, "I've lost connection with the yin corpse." Such a development had been within everyone's expectations. The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter asked, "Who attacked you?" Zhang Yuanqing shook his head, however. "No, there was no attack. That portion of my spirit hasn't returned, nor did I experience any soul tearing like at Yaoguang Hall. That means the yin corpse hasn't been damaged, nor has it been sealed. It's been isolated by some power, like... it went to another world." Heavenly King Demonic Eye pondered and said, "It probably isn't the black smoke. Before losing connection, what were you controlling the yin corpse to do? Or what did you see?" Zhang Yuanqing replied helplessly, "Groping forward in the dark. I didn't see anything, and I didn't encounter anything." Now that was strange! Fu Qingyang and the others looked at each other, without the slightest clue. Commandery Princess Yinyao patted the pouch at her waist. The Elvis speaker crackled with static, broadcasting an impassioned, resounding male voice: "Don't wimp out, just charge!" Commandery Princess Yinyao gave a slight nod, indicating that this was her advice. *Though the princess is afraid of death, her judgment is still spot on!* Zhang Yuanqing looked at his teammates and shrugged. "Seems that's all we can do. The second tier is both shrouded in black smoke and augmented by illusions—both fall within my domain. Once we go in, everyone must stay close to me." The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter frowned. "The black smoke obscures our vision, making it very easy for us to get separated. If there are monsters hiding within to attack us, bunching together will make us an easy target for focused fire." "I could activate Sunrise and Blazing Sun God of War to disperse the black smoke, but if I do, you'll all be rendered helpless..." Zhang Yuanqing stroked his chin, his eyes lighting up. "Let me try the Sky-Swallowing Beast." He had wanted to use it back at Yaoguang Hall, but since the female statue could perform escape arts in the black smoke, the Sky-Swallowing Beast wouldn't have been of much use, so he hadn't deployed it. Moreover, the smoke had only lasted for one minute and thirty seconds; if he couldn't feed the Sky-Swallowing Beast to satiety in that time, he would suffer its backlash. While powerful, the item's cost was equally troublesome. Under Zhang Yuanqing's lead, the group climbed the stone steps and passed through the invisible film. Their vision darkened rapidly. Black smoke permeated the entire area, nothing like the sunny, pleasant weather visible from the outside. "Can't see a thing; all five senses and six consciousnesses are blinded." Heavenly King Demonic Eye touched the sports headband on his forehead and chuckled. "If we get focused down, it really would be dangerous." "I'll try the Sky-Swallowing Beast." Zhang Yuanqing took out the black jade pixiu, placed it atop his head, and activated the item's devouring skill. The Sky-Swallowing Beast's belly contracted and its mouth opened, swallowing the surrounding yin energy like a black hole. Because yin energy pervaded the surroundings, the Sky-Swallowing Beast's devouring continued unabated, like a water pump. The black smoke around them quickly thinned, and visibility increased from five meters to ten meters, then twenty meters, before stopping. "Visibility is good enough. Let's move quickly. There's so much yin energy here that the Sky-Swallowing Beast probably won't last long," Zhang Yuanqing said. It wouldn't take long before it was completely stuffed! The group moved swiftly, hurrying toward the buildings. Beneath their feet were cracked stone pavers where not a blade of grass grew. Aside from their footsteps, there was no sound at all. The compound was vast, making the search quite time-consuming. Fortunately, the Sky-Swallowing Beast lived up to its name and held out until they finished searching all the buildings. They found nothing! Neither corpses nor valuable items or information. "Nothing here. Total waste of time." Demonic Eye glanced at the black jade pixiu atop Yuanshi Tianzun's head. "At least this thing held out." "Finding nothing is the biggest finding," Fu Qingyang said flatly. "Everything here has disappeared, and we haven't found Yuanshi's yin corpse either. Everyone had better not split up, lest you vanish mysteriously as well." "It's a bit creepy," Xiahou Aotian muttered. At this point, Zhang Yuanqing felt the black jade pixiu nearing its limit. He immediately said, "Let's leave here first and head back to Yaoguang Hall. My item is approaching its limit; we'll come back after the skill cooldown finishes." Everyone nodded, stepped out of the buildings, and retraced their steps. Just as they stepped out of the residential quarters onto the square, ghastly green lights suddenly flared ahead, drifting toward them in large clusters. Zhang Yuanqing halted instantly and took up a defensive stance. His teammates behind him did the same. As the ghastly green lights drew nearer, they finally saw that it was a bridal procession. The ghastly green lights came from white lanterns, held by paper figures dressed in red. The paper figures were painted with vivid rouge cheeks, their eyes dotted with ink were hollow and dull, and their mouths curved into clown-like grins—eerie and sinister. In the middle of the procession was a red bridal sedan chair, floating midair with no bearers carrying it. A ghost wedding procession. Combined with the bleak yin energy pervading the surroundings, it appeared all the more chilling and horrifying. At this moment, an eerie singing arose: "Her eyes, her gaze, shines just like the starry lights... Seeing, seeing, seeing, my heart trembles more... The bright moon shines its light, a chilling wind blows through the willow lane, A female ghost seeks her lover. Who is willing to love a sorrowful ghost bride, Accompanying the ghost late at night to secretly worship the moonlight..." The ethereal, crisp voice of a child echoed through the eerie atmosphere, making it all the more sinister and terrifying. Even Zhang Yuanqing, who was a Night Walker by origin, jumped in fright, feeling his scalp tingle. Xiahou Aotian's nerves tightened even further, his adrenaline surging, because he saw the two paper figures at the front staring straight at him with their dull, hollow eyes. They were looking at him. Fu Qingyang and Heavenly King Demonic Eye didn't pay attention to the wedding procession. Instead, they turned to look at the Elvis speaker at Commandery Princess Yinyao's waist, both looking ready to hit someone. *Damn it! I should have smashed this piece of junk long ago...* Zhang Yuanqing also realized what was happening and stiffly turned his head, glaring at the Elvis speaker. Commandery Princess Yinyao slapped the Elvis speaker and raised her small horn: "If you don't shut up, I won't be able to protect you." The Elvis speaker sensibly paused the song. Seeing the wedding procession draw closer and closer, Zhang Yuanqing snorted coldly. Thick, pitch-black energy welled in his eye sockets. Whatever wraith or ghost it was, he would suppress it all. However, having activated Spirit Devouring, he didn't sense the presence of any wraiths nearby. Indeed, there were no wraiths. "They aren't wraiths!" Zhang Yuanqing said in a deep voice. By now, the wedding procession brushed past them, floating toward the distance as the ghastly green lanterns drifted farther away. Though puzzled, Zhang Yuanqing let out a sigh of relief since both sides had remained in peace. Watching the wedding procession depart, he turned back and said, "If they aren't wraiths, it might just be an illusion. A false alarm..." Upon turning back, his pupils contracted violently. Xiahou Aotian was gone! Fu Qingyang and the other three promptly discovered Xiahou Aotian's bizarre disappearance, and none of them had noticed a thing. For a Dominator to be taken away silently without putting up any resistance was truly horrifying. "Xiahou Aotian was taken by that ghost wedding procession just now," Zhang Yuanqing said in a heavy voice. "Stay here and don't move. I'll go save him." With that, he gave chase in the direction the wedding procession had left. Soon, he spotted the bleak green light ahead. The ghost wedding procession was floating along, the paper figures swaying from side to side in an eerily festive manner. Without hesitation, Zhang Yuanqing directly activated the combination of Sunrise and Blazing Sun God of War. Bright, clear sunlight dispersed the darkness and purified the yin energy. Under the blazing sun's illumination, the wedding procession ahead quickly melted away, being purified without offering any resistance. However, even after the wedding procession dissolved into nothingness, he saw no sign of Xiahou Aotian. It was as if the protagonist had been purified right along with the procession. *He wasn't taken by the wedding procession?* Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank. Realizing this was no simple matter, he immediately headed back, planning to regroup with his teammates and discuss a plan. Yet when he returned to the spot from earlier, he found that the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter, Fu Qingyang, Heavenly King Demonic Eye, and Commandery Princess Yinyao were all gone. Every single one of them had vanished. *This...* Zhang Yuanqing immediately soared into the air, activating the combo of Sunrise and Blazing Sun God of War once more to illuminate the area. Looking down from above, there was nothing except the cracked stone pavers. His teammates had evaporated into thin air.