Three days later, the night was like ink, and the waning moon was like a hook.
The Trap City Ruins, this Giant City that once stood tall in the Bei Jing, now only retained a chilling outline.
The broken city walls cast shadows like the skeletons of giant beasts under the moonlight, and the once prosperous streets were completely swallowed by gnarled, pitch-black vines and slippery moss.
In the air, the metallic stench of rust mixed with the sweet scent of rotting vegetation, forming a nauseating and bizarre aroma that drilled into the nostrils, as if even the soul was about to be eroded.
The most heart-stopping thing was the absolute silence here.
Absolute silence.
There was no sound of wind, no chirping of insects, not even the sound of dust settling seemed to be swallowed by this space.
This place was the forbidden zone known as the "Dead Domain," where any living creature that set foot here would have its sanity and vitality slowly stripped away by an invisible force until it turned into a walking corpse.
"Gulp." The Traveling Taoist swallowed hard, his teeth chattering. He tightly gripped the compass in his hand, but the needle spun wildly as if possessed, completely unable to point anywhere.
"Gu... Lord Gu... This place was completely sealed off ten years ago and listed as a 'Heavenly Punishment Zone.' Legend says that the great plague back then devoured hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in one night, causing Wrath Energy to surge to the heavens, driving away gods and Buddhas. No one has ever walked out of here alive."
Gu Xuan stood on a section of the broken wall, his gaze sweeping over every corner of this dead city like a hawk, his expression as cold as eternal, unmelting Xuan Ice.
Upon hearing this, he merely nodded slightly, his voice completely calm: "Precisely because of this, this place is the most suitable stage for a grand play."
Before his voice faded, he flipped his hand and took out five Copper Tokens identical to the Demon Suppression Hall Seal on his chest.
As soon as these Copper Tokens appeared, they greedily absorbed the dead, silent Yin Energy in the air.
Gu Xuan flicked his fingertips, and the pure Yin Energy accumulated in the Black Water Pool surged out like silk threads, pouring into the Copper Tokens one by one.
Buzz—
The five Copper Tokens emitted a low hum, and the profound patterns on their surfaces seemed to come alive, flowing with dark radiance.
He flicked his fingers, and the five Copper Tokens shot out with perfect accuracy, embedding themselves into the bodies of five pre-prepared Yin Gui.
These five Yin Gui were puppets refined by him using a secret method. Activated by the Yin Energy, their joints creaked with a crisp "kaka" sound, and they slowly straightened their bodies.
One Yin Gui was particularly conspicuous; its frame was a whole size larger than the other four, clad in tattered armor, and it tightly gripped a broken saber that was only half intact.
When its body was filled with Yin Energy, two points of eerie red flames suddenly ignited in its hollow eye sockets, and within those flames, a fierce courage and unwillingness born from countless battles could be discerned.
This was the "Zixian General," which had advanced by devouring countless Yin Souls, using the souls of the original Xu Zi Ying fallen soldiers as its core!
"Act according to the plan," Gu Xuan's voice was low and full of authority, as if directly sealed into their Soul Fire. "I want this city... to think a massive army is pressing in."
After speaking, he slowly closed his eyes.
In an instant, his divine sense connected completely with the five Yin Gui through the Demon Suppression Hall on his chest.
The world seen by the Zixian General was clearly presented in his mind.
This feeling was incredibly marvelous, as if he simultaneously possessed five external avatars.
Under his remote control, the "Yin Soldier Squad" led by the Zixian General marched with synchronized yet deathly steps, silently infiltrating an abandoned marketplace in the east of the city.
They did not rush deep inside but, under Gu Xuan's precise manipulation, began creating traces of chaos.
One Yin Gui deliberately stomped heavily into the slick black moss, leaving a deep footprint mixed with bloody mud; another violently snapped the broken spear in its hand and tossed it into the street corner; the Zixian General even pulled out a rusted military token prepared beforehand from its robes and scattered it casually among the ruins and rubble.
Every detail silently told a story: an army had been ambushed at the East Gate and retreated in disarray.
The night deepened, and midnight was approaching.
In the south of the city, atop a relatively intact watchtower, Gu Xuan sat cross-legged, like a statue merged with the darkness.
Not far below, the Traveling Taoist, following instructions, nervously lit a bonfire.
The leaping flames in this dead city were like a bright lamp in the dark night—so abrupt, so... tempting.
This was an open scheme, a naked bait.
As expected, just after midnight, a sudden gust of Yin wind rose, causing the bonfire to flicker erratically.
From the surrounding ruined houses came a grating sound of dragging and scraping.
Immediately after, hunched Black Shadows slowly crawled out from the shadows, from the cracks in the ground, and from beneath the collapsed buildings.
Dozens, hundreds of them!
They were all former defending soldiers, now completely reanimated corpses.
Their armor was already tattered beyond recognition, revealing the withered and decaying flesh beneath. In their hollow eye sockets burned two clusters of eerie blue ghost fires, filled with hatred and longing for the living.
"They're coming..." The Traveling Taoist's face was deathly pale, and he nearly collapsed.
The horde of corpses discovered the bonfire and the scent of the living, letting out guttural roars, instinctively about to pounce.
However, just as they were about to approach within a hundred yards of the camp, all the reanimated soldiers stopped their steps simultaneously in a bizarre manner!
They stiffly turned their heads, looking uniformly toward the east of the city. The blue ghost fires flickered violently, as if listening to something.
Over there, the Zixian General was leading the four Yin Gui, arrayed in a small military formation, advancing slowly with heavy and uniform steps.
From their mouths came a low, unified roar:
"The South Gate has fallen! Form ranks to meet the enemy!"
Each roar, though only five voices, echoed and superimposed within the Dead Domain, actually forming a resonance field similar to collective Resolve, fiercely striking the residual souls of every reanimated soldier!
Instantly, the horde of corpses fell into unprecedented chaos.
A portion of the old troops were instinctively awakened by this command deeply rooted in their souls. They actually abandoned the living bait before them, turned around, and rushed wildly toward the east of the city, as if going to support their "allies."
The other portion, however, was still drawn by the scent of living flesh and blood, hesitating in place, letting out confused roars.
"Now is the time!"
Gu Xuan's eyes snapped open, a sharp light flashing!
His target was not the ordinary corpse soldiers, but a "Ghost Commandant" that was clearly stronger than the other corpses and whose armor was more intact!
The power of the Demon Suppression Hall was pushed to its extreme by him, and an invisible, absolute pressure descended from above, instantly locking onto that Ghost Commandant!
"Roar!" The Ghost Commandant sensed a fatal threat. It roared in resistance, its blue ghost fire surging, and it actually spoke human words, its voice hoarse and broken: "You... you... are you also comrades from the Xu Zi Ying? Why... why are you killing each other!"
However, under the absolute suppression of the Demon Suppression Hall, all resistance was futile.
The Ghost Commandant's Soul Fire was forcibly extracted from its decaying shell by an irresistible force, transforming into a streak of light that merged into Gu Xuan's brow.
In the Spirit Sea, the Black Water Pool churned violently, sending out ripples. A line of cold text appeared:
【 New Ability Unlocked: Residual Soul Resonance.
Can temporarily steal and simulate memory fragments and auras from same-source Resolve bodies, disrupting the enemy's mind or disguising oneself. 】
"Perfect timing!" A cold smirk curved Gu Xuan's lips.
He understood how to use this ability almost instantly and immediately used it in reverse, crudely injecting the Ghost Commandant's memory fragment concerning "obeying the Commander's order" into the Zixian General's Soul Body!
In the east of the city, the Zixian General's movements suddenly paused. Then, it leaped onto a ruined city tower, raised its broken saber high, and imitated the Ghost Commandant's tone and posture, issuing an even clearer and more authoritative roar:
"By the Commander's order, eliminate the traitors! All soldiers of the Xu Zi Ying, obey this order: those who refuse to rejoin the ranks to meet the enemy shall be deemed to have defected and shall be executed without mercy!"
This declaration struck like a heavy hammer, completely shattering the last hesitation of the corpse horde.
"Traitors!"
"Defected!"
The already chaotic reanimated soldiers had their remaining military Resolve completely activated and twisted.
They viewed their comrades lingering near the bonfire as "rebels defying orders," brandishing their broken weapons, and pounced upon them madly!
For a time, the clash of blades and the sound of shattering bones were incessant.
A civil war composed of the dead was tragically staged in the ruins of this dead city.
Beneath the watchtower, the Traveling Taoist watched this unbelievable scene, terrified out of his wits. He pointed at the corpses fighting each other below, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "You... you... you are actually commanding the dead to fight a civil war?"
"I never command the dead," Gu Xuan's voice drifted down from the top of the tower, cold and indifferent. "I merely utilized their Resolve."
The melee was in full swing, everything under control.
However, just then, Gu Xuan frowned sharply, sensing something amiss.
Through the shared vision, he noticed a very slight hesitation in the Zixian General's movements. The eerie red light in its eyes also began to flicker, as if the signal was being interfered with.
What was happening?
Gu Xuan quickly traced back the Zixian General's vision, freezing the image at the moment of its hesitation.
He saw what the Zixian General was stepping on—a Green Stone Slab half-buried in the mud.
And carved upon that slab was a complex and ancient Rune Seal.
The pattern of that Seal, the flowing dark light, was actually of the same origin as the pattern on the Demon Suppression Hall Copper Token on his chest!
Gu Xuan's heart shook violently!
This was not a random ruin! This was a Coordinate! One of the initial coordinate markers for the Demon Suppression Hall!
The moment he realized this, an Aberration suddenly occurred!
Rumble—
A dull vibration, like the heartbeat of a giant beast, resonated from beneath the entire Trap City Ruins.
Through countless cracked stone slab fissures, wisps of black mist scrambled to seep out.
This black mist was deeper than the night, carrying an ancient desolation and ominousness. They converged above the center of the city, slowly condensing into a blurry humanoid figure tens of feet tall.
The figure had no facial features, only an outline. It slowly raised its arm and pointed toward the direction of the watchtower where Gu Xuan was located in the south of the city.
A hoarse, dry whisper, sounding like the friction of countless wailing dead souls, echoed deep within Gu Xuan's soul:
"...Key... has... arrived..."
On the watchtower, a fierce wind whipped up, making Gu Xuan's robes snap loudly.
He slowly stood up, tightly gripping the slightly warm Copper Token on his chest. His pitch-black pupils reflected the Towering and Upright black mist giant, yet a cold whisper escaped his lips:
"I am not the Key..."
"I am the locksmith."
Simultaneously, at the very center of the Trap City Ruins, beneath the completely collapsed and bottomless Altar ruins, in the deepest part of the darkness, a mountain-sized, eye-shaped crystal, entwined with countless chains and runes, whose eyelids had been closed for ten thousand years, quietly... opened a sliver.