I Am Your Natural Enemy

”Do you need to prepare anything else? If you’re missing something, you should prepare it early.”

”En, I have everything with me.”

”Alright, let’s go then.”

Fan Zeyun carried the white lantern and entered the cellar. As the dim halo of the lantern illuminated a corner of the cellar, a narrow descending western passage appeared in that corner.

Entering it, Wen Yan bent over and walked for a while before the path gradually widened, eventually turning into a narrow road.

After walking for a few minutes, they finally stepped onto the Nether Path.

Wen Yan thought to herself, this Fan Zeyun really has some tricks up his sleeve. With his lantern and arrangement, he could create a temporary small intersection.

Although it was indeed hard to walk through, very uncomfortable, it was indeed a small intersection.

Entering the Nether Path, it wasn’t long before Wen Yan saw from a distance the interweaving of warm and eerie green lights, indicating they were near the Big Intersection.

At the Big Intersection, Wen Yan stomped her foot, and immediately a phantom of an altar rose from beneath her foot, and a banner flag stood upright, gently swaying.

As Wen Yan uttered a name, a Golden Light Avenue extended from the altar, rushing out of sight and disappearing.

Just like before, there was no response, the Golden Light Avenue quickly returned, still indicating presence, but unable to summon back.

Fan Zeyun, watching this, was dumbfounded, ”This...is soul summoning?”

No need for altar, nor talisman, curse, incantation, or steps?

And this soul summoning was unexpectedly strong; he looked at the phantom of the altar, at the banner flag on the altar, his eyes dazed. Just by looking at it, he felt if one could create a real one based on this phantom, how strong would it be?

Unfortunately, only looking at the phantom, there was no way to discern what materials were needed, or how to make it, which was really a shame.

”Like last time, still unable to summon back, but last time it was only the second time that it was visible.”

”That should be someone cooperating to trigger the Soul-Suppressing Lantern, not the lantern automatically triggered.”

”Can it be automatically triggered?”

Fan Zeyun hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

”It should be possible, last time I sensed it, it should still be worth trying.”

Wen Yan sensed something was off in Fan Zeyun’s tone.

”Is it very risky?”

”Not very risky, I have something to ask you.”

”Go ahead.”

”Can you take Brother Dao away? I have no other relatives anymore; he is my only kin. He’s not a particularly powerful demon, and I’m afraid no one will take care of him. If he accidentally offends someone, he might be killed to be made into stew; even before, some villagers had designs on him.”

”What do you want to do?”

”I want to ask you something.”

”Back then, were the events at the Ghost Market suppressed? Was there further investigation later?”

”I’m not very clear about the details at the time, but indeed, the investigation scope wasn’t expanded then. Many relatives of those who died have fallen over the years; some died, some were imprisoned.”

”I understand, I need to know more details about last time.”

Wen Yan roughly recounted, and after Wen Yan finished saying that several hundred ghosts rushed out last time, Fan Zeyun exhaled deeply.

”The Soul-Suppressing Lantern must be fixed in place, can’t be moved casually. Otherwise, they can’t hold so many ghosts; in the short term, it surely won’t be moved or destroyed. If destroyed, a large group of ghosts will appear immediately, can’t be hidden. You should summon souls again.”

Wen Yan nodded, and summoned souls again, this time using a different name. As the Golden Light Avenue reached out, Fan Zeyun had already bitten his right index finger, drawing a symbol on his left palm with his blood, and pressed it down onto the Golden Light Avenue.

The next moment, at the other end of the Golden Light Avenue, a dimly lit lantern floated from afar, hovering in the distance, resting on the Golden Light Avenue.

Behind the lantern, this time he could also see numerous ghosts standing behind, all blocked by the lantern’s halo.

Fan Zeyun’s blood-marked hand was pressed onto the Golden Light Avenue, under the halo, becoming clearer and clearer.

Fan Zeyun gazed at the other end of the Golden Light Avenue; the familiar sensation had never been so clear before, as if he could directly see where the Soul-Suppressing Lantern was, in what direction, approximately what location.

He saw a building resembling a shrine, saw the very center above the main hall of the shrine, hanging the very old-looking Soul-Suppressing Lantern.

And beneath the Soul-Suppressing Lantern, quite a number of ghosts were suppressed.

Seeing the proudest creation he made during his most spirited time, now turned like this, Fan Zeyun felt quite uncomfortable inside.

Gradually, the golden light dissipated, Fan Zeyun looked at the incense he was holding, which was almost burnt out.

”Hurry up, if we don’t leave now, it will be too late.”

They continued forward, and before reaching the place, Fan Zeyun’s incense completely extinguished, ushering in his immobility.

”My incense went out, I’ve lost my way.” He said calmly, ”Don’t move, I know you have your own way of walking the Nether Path. If you hear a chicken sound later, just follow the sound to exit.”

Wen Yan responded with an ”En”, though she could still see clearly.

She realized Fan Zeyun’s small intersection had very severe limitations, one could only come down from there, and return from there, all within the same loop.

In less than thirty seconds, as if from an extremely distant place, the sound of chicken crowing seemed to echo.

It was only then that Fan Zeyun started walking forward with closed eyes.