Existing in the depths of the abyss, the Ghost Gate, which to some extent represents the boundary between life and death, has actually appeared in the world of the living! In this way, the persistent dense fog that could never dissipate also had an explanation. The fog was not man-made, but a natural condensation of the laws of heaven and earth.
Because the netherworld and the blue sky do not meet. The appearance of the Ghost Gate in the world of the living must be concealed.
Those wandering souls that gathered here, far more numerous than the living population that Xiaolin Town had ever had, suddenly had a reason for their presence. The wandering souls were drawn to the Ghost Gate, an instinct unrelated to consciousness. It was likely that all the wandering souls in the Fenglin City area had gathered here. And it could be foreseen that as long as the Ghost Gate still existed, the gathering wandering souls would only increase in number and strength!
But how could the Ghost Gate appear here?
Wei Yan almost without hesitation, after understanding the meaning of the three characters "Ghost Gate," pulled out a bright red, quaint-looking signal incense from his bosom and handed it to Zhao Lang, "Quick!"
—Of course, he always carried flint and steel with him, and he was not unfamiliar with fire-related Daoist techniques. But after all, Zhao Lang was faster.
Having partnered with Wei Yan for many years, their tacit understanding went without saying. At the moment the bright red signal incense was handed over, Zhao Lang had already rubbed his fingers together, and a flame leaped onto the incense, burning it up in an instant.
Only then did he say with a somewhat grim expression, "You only have this one red signal left on you."
In the Zhuang Kingdom's military, signal incense was divided into three colors: black, red, and yellow. Only those of a certain status could possess them, and they were rare strategic items. When a black signal was burned, the entire nation would fight to the death, and there were very few people in the entire Zhuang Kingdom qualified to burn a black signal.
When a yellow signal was completely burned, it meant that the person who burned it was in an extremely desperate situation.
The red signal, which lay between the two, represented the danger of a city's destruction or the loss of territory!
Once a red signal was burned, the entire Fenglin City would be shaken, and it would surely alert Wei Quji.
At present, with the city's garrison and the criminal investigation department both tied up, and Wei Quji stationed at the city lord's residence, the situation was precarious. Was a small town like Xiaolin, which so far had no enemies other than wandering souls, worth Wei Quji's personal visit? Or rather, if Wei Yan's judgment was wrong and problems arose in Fenglin City due to Wei Quji's mobilization, could he bear the responsibility?
But these questions were unnecessary in the face of those three characters.
Because... it was the Ghost Gate.
Appearing in countless legends, it was a faint reflection of the mythological age.
In fact, when the shadow of the red signal suddenly ignited in front of him, Wei Quji, the lord of the city, wasted no time in rising to his feet!
He rushed into the sky, wrapped in a whirlwind, howling as he headed towards Xiaolin Town.
Almost simultaneously, Dong A, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes. No matter when, there must be a strong person of this level stationed in Fenglin City. Since Wei Quji had gone, he could no longer leave.
Without moving himself, his dignified voice already spread outside the room, "Order all disciples who can be notified, no matter what task they are executing or what cultivation they are engaged in, to stop immediately and return to Fenglin City!"
Indeed, the Daoist Academy cultivated the hope of Zhuang Kingdom, and there was a long growth process before that. But when the country was in danger, everyone must fight for it.
And Song Qifang, the current vice-president of the Daoist Academy, was sitting cross-legged in front of a pill furnace, gently fanning with a leaf fan, taking care of the fire. A very low sigh, "I'm old."
...
In Xiaolin Town, after Wei Yan ignited the red signal, he did not stop. Instead, he immediately swung his long knife horizontally, the sharp blade almost tearing through the air, and then dissipated on the archway.
Yes, it just disappeared without a sound, without a ripple.
The following attacks were the same. Whether it was fierce fire or strong wind, any Daoist technique thrown at it would sink like a stone in the sea. Ling He even threw his own sword at it, but it also disappeared without a trace.
It was as if it did not exist. Not only did it not exist, but everything that touched it did not exist either.
Huang Azhan stood in front of the Ghost Gate, hesitating and wandering for a long time. He had a very persistent confidence in his own child's urine. But after seeing Ling He's sword disappear, he reluctantly chose to give up.
"This vortex... should connect to the netherworld. With so many wrongfully dead people here... our attacks all fall into the netherworld, not in the present world," Wang Changxiang frowned and analyzed, "What appears in front of us is the reflection of the Ghost Gate, and even the reflection has not been condensed."
Not condensed?
The characters on the plaque, Jiang Wang had seen in the Tai Xu fantasy, knew that it was Daoist text, the characters that expounded the laws of heaven and earth. He had been thinking about what the appearance of the Ghost Gate in Xiaolin Town meant, and it was not until he heard Wang Changxiang's analysis that he was shocked.
So, when will the true reflection of the Ghost Gate be condensed, and in what way? And what will it ultimately bring to this place?
People soon had the answer.
It was the countless wandering souls that filled Xiaolin Town, which could not be killed or removed. But at this moment, they swarmed and gathered in the center.
The group could no longer afford to care about anything else. They had to resort to the same trick again, stepping back a distance and using fire-related Daoist techniques to draw a circle, defending themselves within it.
If someone could see through the fog from the sky, they would see countless wandering souls rushing over under some kind of force, the vast river of wandering souls flowing like a hundred rivers into the sea!
And the disciples from the Fenglin City Daoist Academy, as well as Wei Yan and Zhao Lang, were like the bitter reefs being washed by the river.
Unable to move, unable to resist, and not knowing the end!
"All the wandering souls in the Fenglin City area are being drawn here. Perhaps, we are going to die here?" Wang Changxiang said with a bitter smile.
These wandering souls were not very powerful. They had been able to move freely in the formation before. But the premise was that those wandering souls were only wandering aimlessly, attacking instinctively when a living person approached. Now that these wandering souls were gathering in one place, they happened to be in the way.
There were too many, seemingly endless!
At least in the field of vision that Wang Changxiang reluctantly scattered, they did not see the end of the wandering souls.
What they did not know was that if before this place had only gathered the wandering souls of the deceased in Xiaolin Town over the years, and sporadically attracted more distant souls. Now it was all the wandering souls in the entire Fenglin City area that were gathering here, at a speed far beyond what they could achieve on their own.
The dense lines of wandering souls cutting through the sky. In the entire Fenglin City area, they formed a spider-web-like, awe-inspiring sight in the spiritual vision of countless strong people.
"No," Wei Yan's voice was somewhat cold, and so was his heart, "The city lord will come soon."
No one knew how reluctant he was to light that red signal, how much he did not want that person to see his weak and begging look. But he could not. Faced with the legendary existence of the Ghost Gate, he could not gamble on the safety of the entire Fenglin City for his own pride.
Jiang Wang was also watching those wandering souls that bypassed the "reefs" and rushed towards the Ghost Gate, only to be absorbed and digested in an instant. His feelings were complicated and indescribable.
These wandering souls were probably all without consciousness. So there was no struggle, no howling, no regrets, no pain.
But they were all once living people. They were the souls of the living who should have rested in peace!
Among them, perhaps someone had once brushed past him, or someone he had known, or his neighbor, his grandparents, or, his father.
He widened his eyes and searched among the dense wandering souls for his father who had died of illness in bed. That man who was not very tall but had always supported his sky.
The wandering souls all flashed by, like lightning, coming from all directions. He only stared at the direction from Fengxi Town. His eyes were red, but he could not see everything.
Living alone all along, he did not want to show his vulnerability. Later, living with An An, he had to be strong as an older brother. He almost never said it, but truly, he missed him so much!
Jiang Wang wanted to see him again, but he was also afraid to see him.
He was so afraid of the helplessness in front of the Ghost Gate.
Suddenly, it seemed to reach a critical point. The vast river of wandering souls was instantly cleared in some kind of force. And the shadow of the Ghost Gate above the vortex became extremely clear and concrete.
In the next moment, the lord of Fenglin City, Wei Quji, descended from the sky wrapped in a whirlwind. But the shadow of the Ghost Gate also disappeared in a flash!
Vaguely, Jiang Wang seemed to feel a slight breeze brush his cheek, but in a moment of distraction, everything in front of him changed.
The huge vortex was gone, and the fog that had gathered in Xiaolin Town immediately dispersed.
Everything dissipated, the netherworld and the blue sky were unseen!