As she pressed down with both hands, the depression instantly changed.
The cold moonlight was distorted and swallowed up, replaced by a bleak, grayish-white light, as if seen through frosted glass.
“The Yin Realm…or rather, the true Ghost Realm!” Master Zhang Qingxiao’s voice sounded particularly deep in the frozen air.
The purple light emanating from the lightning sword in his hand was suppressed to a thin layer around the blade, like a child's toy sword that glows.
"This is not a simple illusion or trick like being trapped in a maze; it's forcibly dragging a piece of real space into her domain!"
Upon hearing Master Zhang Qingxiao's words, I turned my head with difficulty and looked around.
The groves at the edge of the depression were gone, replaced by shadowy, constantly shifting black silhouettes.
The sky disappeared, and the moon naturally vanished as well. Overhead, churning, leaden-gray clouds created an oppressive atmosphere, devoid of any human warmth.
This space has been temporarily separated from the mortal realm and has become the territory of the ghost bride, where her will is the law.
Eight green-clad maids and four red-clad paper figures stood silently at the edge of the shadows. Their exaggerated blush and wide smiles, stretching to their ears, appeared even more eerie and jarring against the deathly gray backdrop.
At this moment, their eyes were no longer empty, but like those of living people, they were staring straight at us.
The ghost bride stood in the center of the underworld. Her red wedding dress was the only bright color in this gray and white landscape, yet it made people feel uneasy.
"This Yin Domain can last for seven days." Her voice echoed in the Yin Domain, no longer from a single source, but from all directions at the same time, with echoes, as if countless versions of her were speaking at the same time.
I couldn't help but frown; her voice now was completely different from when she spoke to me outside.
For example, she now speaks like a robot, and her voice is rather androgynous, making it impossible to tell if she's male or female.
But when we were outside, I could tell it was a cold, clear female voice.
"I can temporarily use this place to isolate myself from the outside world, and that skinner will not be able to sense your soul imprint for seven days!"
"Seven days?"
"What does 'feeling the soul imprint' mean?"
Luo Tianhe, Li Huai, and the others all looked puzzled. I quickly repeated to them what the ghost bride had told me outside.
"Soul imprints are something that ghosts shouldn't easily see. Remember this lesson!"
Master Zhang Qingxiao looked at me and said seriously. I nodded quickly, knowing that he meant well.
After I finished explaining, the ghost bride spoke again:
"The yin energy here is extremely heavy. If the living stay here for a long time, their yang energy will inevitably decline! The five of you can only last for three days at most. After three days, your yang energy will be exhausted, and yin energy will enter your bodies. At best, you will fall seriously ill, and at worst, you will become wandering souls in this realm!"
"So, if we can only hide for three days, what's the point of maintaining this Yin Realm for seven days?"
Li Huai stared wide-eyed and asked, puzzled.
"Three days later, you can use yin offerings to maintain the yang energy so that you can continue to stay here."
The ghost bride's voice remained calm, as still as a deep well.
"What kind of evil spirit?" Master Zhang Qingxiao asked in a deep voice.
"The more resentful spirits or the lingering aura of uncorrupted corpses, the better they are."
These conditions sent chills down our spines. The vengeful spirits and remnants of the soul are going undercover to train, which is clearly a way to make us actively provoke more evil spirits!
"What if we don't make offerings?" I asked tentatively.
The ghost bride gave me a deep look: "The Yin Realm will open in three days. You can leave, but the moment you leave, the Yin energy will leave your body and the Yang energy will dissipate. You will be extremely weak. At that time, the skinner's senses will no longer be obstructed, and he may immediately know your location."
Her words were clear: the Underworld is a temporary haven, but at the cost of constantly providing fuel for this sanctuary.
Once we run out of fuel, or if we leave, the hunt will begin immediately.
"You want us to find these suitable yin objects for you within these three days?"
I stared at the red veil; this was simply impossible.
If you go out to search for spirits, you'll still be hunted down by the Skinners. You can only stay in the Ghost Realm, but if you stay in the Ghost Realm, you can't search for spirits.
Unless I stay alone in the ghost realm and let them go outside to find spirits to sustain me.
Wouldn't that make me a parasite? I can't accept that!
"No!" I was about to refuse when the ghost bride gave an unexpected answer. "I will provide the yin items."
We were all stunned.
Their thoughts were pretty much the same as mine, but Luo Tianhe, Li Huai, Daoist Zhang Qingxiao, and others were quite willing to search for the Yin objects for me and help me evade the pursuit of the ghost Daoists.
After all, that ghostly Taoist priest only has my soul imprint; he can't find anyone else outside.
The ghost bride lightly flicked her red sleeves, and the gray-white mist at the edge of the gloom suddenly surged out, gradually revealing three blurry outlines.
The first one was an old man dressed in tattered funeral clothes. He bowed his head and held an oil lamp in his hands. The lamp was a ghastly green, which illuminated the crisscrossing lividity on his face.
He stood there motionless, like a statue.
The second was a woman who was soaking wet, with long black hair that completely covered her face.
Water dripped continuously from her body, pooling on the gray ground.
The water was black and smelled of the stench of river mud.
She seemed to be sobbing softly, but the sobbing was intermittent and sent chills down one's spine.
The third silhouette was the smallest, a child of about seven or eight years old, wearing a bright red bib, but the bib was covered with dark brown stains.
He squatted on the ground, his back to us, his shoulders shrugging as if he were playing some kind of game.
The three vengeful spirits each exuded intense resentment and obsession; if they were in the outside world, they would probably be fierce ghosts that harmed the surrounding area.
"They were once my offerings." The ghost bride's voice echoed in the underworld. "Now their soul power is almost exhausted, and their obsessions have not been extinguished. You must resolve their obsessions within three days and send them to the afterlife."
"Resolve their obsessions?" Li Huai's voice trembled slightly. "How do we resolve them? The three of them don't seem like people who can be reasoned with."
"That's your business," the ghost bride said calmly. "For each one you resolve, you can obtain a wisp of its original Yin energy. Using this energy as a guide, you can stay in this realm for one more day. If you resolve all three, you can stay for three more days. I can help you make up the seven-day period."
"What if we can't resolve this?" Luo Tianhe was a bit of a headache. These three vengeful ghosts didn't seem easy to deal with.
"Heh heh, their resentment will backfire on you. At best, it will damage your sanity; at worst, it will assimilate you with their obsession. You'll become a ghost in this underworld, never to be reincarnated."
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