Chen Zhou grabbed a paper person left behind on guard and asked, “How many skeletons have been moved?”
The paper person replied respectfully, “Replying to My Lord, sixty percent of the ancient beast skeletons have been sorted and piled at the Celestial Maiden Spring.”
“The rest are still being screened. Some of the bones are too old and crumble at a touch, so they don't quite meet your requirements.”
Chen Zhou nodded. “Understood, keep moving them. Don't throw away the crushed bones that were screened out either. Pile them together; they'll be useful.”
The paper person acknowledged, then dragged its companion back down to continue counting.
Chen Zhou did not linger, turning to stride toward the Celestial Maiden Spring.
Wu Gou followed behind him. Diting had already spat out Shen Liang and Taotie, who flanked Wu Gou on either side, keeping a brisk pace.
Passing through several large trees enveloped in moonlight and skirting around several moss-covered skeletons taller than mountains, the Celestial Maiden Spring lay just ahead.
Standing by the spring, Chen Zhou took out the Spirit of the Girl Constellation, operated his system panel, and chose to fuse it directly.
【You have consumed one Spirit of the Girl Constellation】
【You can now summon the special Ghost Servant unit — Nü Tu Fu】
Stained with Chen Zhou's death qi, the scale began to deform. The hard shell grew soft, gathering toward the center like melting wax, contracting, twisting, and reshaping.
Within just a few breaths, the palm-sized scale transformed into a palm-sized bone carving.
The bone carving was shaped like a bat, with long, narrow wings fringed with fine bone spurs, a tiny, pointed head, and two slender fangs protruding obliquely from the corners of its mouth.
Then, a translucent white luster surged from within the bone carving. The light spread from its chest to its limbs, flowing through its wings, tail, and skull, until the entire bone carving became a glowing entity.
Chen Zhou released his grip.
The bone carving floated up on its own, hovering three inches above his palm. Its wings spread slightly, and a piercing sound wave rippled outward, causing the scattered skeletons near the Celestial Maiden Spring to tremble slightly.
As if drawn by the sound wave, tens of thousands of skeletons converged toward the bone carving.
The moment the countless bone materials drew near the bone carving, they melted, turning into streams of white light that merged into its body.
The bone carving expanded at a visible rate. A silver-white bat skeleton slowly emerged from within as dust and dry leaves were swept up by the airflow, swirling around it.
【You have summoned a special Ghost Servant unit — Nü Tu Fu】
Just as expected, the system notification rang out.
Chen Zhou withdrew his hand and looked up at the sky.
The moonlight had dimmed further, and the tree shadows were denser than before. Even the silhouettes of the giant skeletons in the distance were beginning to blur.
The sensation of being watched drew even closer. Chen Zhou immediately sank into his sea of consciousness, contacting Su Xue in the Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm through their faith link.
The moment his consciousness touched the realm, Su Xue's voice came through.
“My Lord, I am ready on my end.”
Chen Zhou did not waste words. “Convert death qi. The more and the faster, the better.”
Su Xue acknowledged.
Even across such a vast distance, Chen Zhou could feel the aura inside.
The death qi, so dense it was nearly liquid, surged like a tide. The plant demonlings had long been on standby, rushing around frantically upon hearing the command, carrying baskets of spirit plants.
All kinds of spirit plants grown and stored during this period were transported to Su Xue's side by the demonlings. A few thoughtful ones were helping her grind the herbs into pills, so she could access them at any time to replenish her vitality whenever it ran low.
The Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm began to operate.
Death qi poured in from the void. The grayish-white mist around Chen Zhou's body thickened once more from its previous thinness, its edges beginning to roll and surge again.
The Ghost Domain, which had been eroded by the white beast to a mere few inches, was recovering bit by bit.
Having recovered slightly himself, Chen Zhou immediately directed most of the death qi pouring into the Ghost Domain toward Dou Mu Xie.
It would be the primary force in countering the pollution in the future, so it needed to recover as soon as possible.
The silver-white light-orb that Dou Mu Xie had transformed into devoured the death qi frantically in the depths of the Ghost Domain. Its light brightened from dim to brilliant, completely halting the spread of the white pollution and causing it to recede inch by inch.
Dou Mu Xie's torso became clear once more, its silver-white skeleton solidifying bone by bone within the light-orb.
Its single horn lit up again. Though the moonlight was still faint, it was no longer like a dying ember that could be extinguished at any moment.
Chen Zhou could feel that it had recovered significantly, at least pulling back from the brink of death.
He withdrew his consciousness and stood up from the edge of the spring.
“Let's go.”
Wu Gou tilted his head, carrying his monk staff. “Where to?”
“To the outskirts of the Graveyard of Ten Thousand Beasts. Plague Rat and Jian Huaishuang are still stationed there,” Chen Zhou said.
With that, he strode toward the edge of the Graveyard of Ten Thousand Beasts.
Wu Gou hastily grabbed his staff and followed. Diting shrank to the size of a water vat and quietly burrowed underground, tailing them closely.
The tree shadows on both sides of the path grew denser and darker. Under the faint moonlight, the tall, ancient trees cast bizarre, distorted shadows.
Chen Zhou remained silent, his steps swift as ripples of death qi burst beneath his feet, kicking up rings of dust.
A series of footsteps echoed behind him, neither hurried nor slow, as if someone were taking a leisurely stroll.
After a moment, Wu Gou's voice drifted over from behind.
“Why are you in such a rush?”
Chen Zhou did not look back. “Lou-Metal Dog is about to lock onto my position. We can't slow down.”
“You don't understand the situation in Qingzhou. It's highly problematic.”
“As soon as we arrived in Qingzhou, we ran into the Myriad Ghost Array. After breaking free, we were surrounded by the six Mansions.”
“Kui Mu Lang engaged in close combat, Bi Yue Wu launched shadow sneak attacks, Wei Tu Zhi provided long-range support, and Mao Ri Ji locked down the battlefield. They coordinated seamlessly, their abilities complementing one another.”
“Fighting just those four Mansions was already exhausting, and then Zui Huo Hou and Shen Shui Yuan appeared later.”
“There's also Lou-Metal Dog, who is extremely troublesome. Not only can he track, but he also possesses the ability to pollute.”
“It's that white pollution you just saw at the bronze gate. That ability counters me perfectly.”
“I'm worried that if Lou-Metal Dog finds us again, the seven Mansions will join forces. It will definitely be a bitter struggle. Even if we manage to win by luck, Bai Xing is still lurking behind them.”
“Bai Xing hasn't shown his face yet, but I have a bad premonition.”
Wu Gou did not reply immediately. After walking a few more paces, he suddenly chuckled.
Chen Zhou frowned. “What are you laughing at?”
“This poor monk didn't mean that.” Wu Gou kept walking, a smile playing on his face.
“This poor monk is asking: from Gloomlight to Qingzhou, have you rested at all?”
Chen Zhou's steps faltered slightly.
Wu Gou continued.
“This poor monk was transported here through Jianmu, which didn't take much effort.”
“But your first pioneering group traveled via Diting. Crossing the realm boundary must have taken a toll, didn't it?”
“Have you recovered?”
Chen Zhou fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. “No.”
Wu Gou cast a sideways glance. “I thought as much.”
Chen Zhou's brow furrowed deeper. “But urgency demanded it. As soon as we reached the realm, we ran into the Myriad Ghost Array. Right after escaping, we faced Kui Mu Lang and Mao Ri Ji. We haven't stopped since...”
“So that means you don't need to rest?” Wu Gou interrupted him.
He took a step forward, reaching out to give Chen Zhou's sleeve a firm but gentle tug.
Towed to a halt, Chen Zhou stumbled slightly and stopped.
Wu Gou looked at Chen Zhou disapprovingly and teased, “If you trust us, take a rest for half a cup of tea.”
Chen Zhou opened his mouth to speak.
Wu Gou cut him off in time, adding, “Rushing in with your current state won't necessarily give you an advantage.”
With that, Wu Gou let go of his sleeve, took a step back, and grinned, showing a mouth of pearly white teeth.
“Besides, you don't need to worry about every little thing.”
Wu Gou quickly stepped in front of Chen Zhou. Without turning back, he jerked his chin forward. “Shen Liang.”
Shen Liang caught on instantly and gave a fawning reply. “Right away!”
Before his voice even faded, his swollen, pale arms suddenly elongated. At blinding speed, they reached Nü Tu Fu in the blink of an eye.
His slender hands wrapped around the base of Nü Tu Fu's wings, binding them tightly. With a flick of his wrists, his arms wound around the bone carving's chest and back, wrapping it securely like a dumpling.
Finally, his fingers gathered behind its neck, interlocking and tightening into a dead knot.
Caught completely off guard, Nü Tu Fu was bound tight. Its body stiffened for a moment, and it struggled to flap its wings, but it couldn't break free.
Shen Liang's limbs looked limp and weak, but in reality, they bound incredibly tight. Like water weeds wrapping around a drowning person's ankle, the more the target struggled, the tighter and firmer the grip became.
“Master, I have it secured,” Shen Liang said. “It's very well-behaved, not making a fuss at all.”
Wu Gou nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Chen Zhou.
“During my time in the Ghost Mansion, Xuandu also took this poor monk to see the Death Gate Ghost Emperor of the Zongshe Ghost Mansion once.”
“He was sitting on a rattan chair that was about to fall apart. He was as thin as a bundle of dry firewood, with deeply sunken eyes and high cheekbones.”
“Xuandu told me not to disturb him. This poor monk had transcended quite a few evil ghosts in the Eighteen Levels of Hell, so the Wujian Hell was finally quiet for a few hours.”
“That was the only time he could get some rest.”
“When this poor monk left, I looked back. He was still sitting in that rattan chair, completely motionless, as if asleep, or perhaps already dead.”
Wu Gou's voice lowered slightly. “You see, even those as high as Ghost Emperors have moments of exhaustion and weariness, let alone you.”
As he spoke, his gaze swept toward the distant forest edge. “The little rat and Jian Huaishuang are still holding the line over there. You don't need to worry so much.”
“You probably don't know this.”
“A while ago, Plague Rat followed Purity and Filth to cultivate the Heart of Myriad Filths. He spent all day festering, his flesh split open, covered in pus and blood, looking like neither man nor ghost.”
“You know his personality; he's incredibly stubborn. How could he ever tell you about something so humiliating?”
“Every time he finished cultivating, he would hide in a corner to lick his wounds, refusing to let anyone see. Only that old fellow Purity and Filth kept an eye on him and specially asked Duke Wu to prepare medicine for him, which spared him some suffering.”
The corner of Chen Zhou's eye twitched slightly.
Wu Gou continued, “After Jian Huaishuang received the blank godhead you gave him, he carried it in his bosom day and night. The fusion was excruciatingly painful, but even though he was trembling all over from the pain, he never stopped practicing his sword for a single day.”
“On the path of the sword, he has walked further than anyone else.”
Chen Zhou remained silent, saying nothing.
Wu Gou rolled up his sleeves again, revealing his two arms, which consisted of nothing but stark white bone and a few shreds of clinging flesh.
He waved them in front of Chen Zhou's eyes and said with a chuckle, “Since you already know anyway, this poor monk won't hide it anymore.”
“Look at this, look at this.”
“This poor monk is about to match your look.”
“Who do you think everyone is working so hard for, you heartless fellow?”
Chen Zhou was temporarily left speechless by his words.
Looking at Wu Gou's grinning face, he found himself at a loss for words.
It was true.
For those of them struggling so hard to defy heaven, how could there ever be an easy moment? No one had it any easier than the next.
Wu Gou pulled his sleeves back down and patted the back of Chen Zhou's hand. “Everyone is working harder than you think. Many things are not for you to carry alone.”
“You should take a break. It's not like the rest of us are dead.”
“Alright, it's settled then. I'll confiscate Nü Tu Fu for now.”
“This thing can counter the white pollution, right? Let me study it.”
“You just rest here and slack off for a bit. This poor monk will head up front and check things out for you.”
“I'll come find you in half a cup of tea's time. If you haven't rested enough, take a bit longer. I'll be holding down the fort over there anyway.”
Having said his piece, he didn't give Chen Zhou a chance to respond, turning to leave while leaning on his staff.
His snow-white robe swayed in the moonlight, and within a few breaths, he vanished into the shadows of the withered trees.
Shen Liang followed, leading Nü Tu Fu, while Taotie trundled along in the rear with heavy strides.
Chen Zhou stood where he was, watching the three of them disappear into the darkness.
The night wind blew over, carrying the scent of rotting wood and a faint, fleeting stench of blood.
He looked down at his own hands.
The severed arm had already regrown, but his knuckles were still somewhat stiff, and the flow of death qi was not as smooth as usual.
Within the Ghost Domain, Dou Mu Xie was still absorbing death qi. That silver-white light-orb was a fraction brighter than before, but it was still a long way from a full recovery.
He surveyed his surroundings, found a relatively flat boulder, and sat down cross-legged on it.
Chen Zhou closed his eyes, sinking his awareness into his Ghost Domain.
Death qi poured in endlessly from the Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm. He kept a portion for himself to replenish his energy and heal minor injuries, while channeling the rest into the silver-white light-orb of Dou Mu Xie.
Dou Mu Xie absorbed it greedily, the silver light brightening bit by bit.
As Chen Zhou recovered, he reflected that Wu Gou was right—he had indeed been too impatient.
He didn't even know when it had started, but his pace had been growing faster and faster, and the string in his heart had been winding tighter and tighter.
Back in Gloomlight Province, he already had plenty of weight on his shoulders.
In the beginning, he had to support over ten thousand believers in the Dead Man’s Forest. Later, he had to push forward the construction of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, and after that, integrate the four regions of Gloomlight.
His cultivation grew higher and his faction grew stronger, yet he constantly felt smaller and more insignificant.
He had already been marked by the Heavenly Tribulation, yet he didn't even know what kind of entity his opponent was.
He had a covenant of "one point" with the Great Emperor's Palace, and the four Ghost Emperors of the Zongshe Ghost Mansion were already on the verge of collapsing.
The boundaries between the outer provinces would shatter within a hundred years, and what lay in the Central Province remained entirely unknown to him.
Matter after matter, without him realizing it, the burdens piled upon him grew heavier and heavier. Chen Zhou had to admit that he did occasionally feel the pressure.
Since arriving in Qingzhou, that gaze from Lou-Metal Dog had been hovering closely behind him, like an inescapable serpent's tongue constantly licking the back of his neck.
This feeling made him unconsciously quicken his pace, wanting to stay ahead of his enemies with every step, fearing that even a single breath's delay would cost him time.
Yet the more rushed he was, the easier it was to be led by the nose.
Chen Zhou took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and cleared those chaotic thoughts from his mind.
Rate on N.U.
