“You have no idea, little Daoist friend. When I picked up this bead by the roadside, the lingering Yin energy on it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. Luckily, I had a special treasure to counter it. Look at this—”
Zi Daoren rambled on, eager to show off his rare treasures to catch Wei Xicheng’s attention. Unfortunately for him, Wei Xicheng was entirely focused on one thing—the “Yin energy” he had just mentioned.
“What did you say about Yin energy?” Wei Xicheng interrupted, taking the red bead from Zi Daoren’s hand and examining it closely.
Zi Daoren smiled at him knowingly but didn’t expose his secret. He only said, “You have the same kind of energy on you. Perhaps you’ve met the original owner of this bead before?”
Wei Xicheng nodded and looked straight at Zi Daoren. “I know why you’re here, but I have a restriction inside my body.”
“Let me take a look.”
Before Wei Xicheng could react, Zi Daoren’s hand was already on his wrist.
Only now did Wei Xicheng take a proper look at the scruffy man before him. With his sharp perception, he could tell that Zi Daoren bore no ill intent, so he let him hold his wrist without resistance.
A tingling pain spread from his wrist. As the pain intensified, he saw Zi Daoren’s brows furrow deeper and deeper. Finally, Zi Daoren let go and muttered, “Have you met my junior brother before? No, that doesn’t make sense…”
Wei Xicheng rubbed his wrist, watching as Zi Daoren got lost in his own thoughts.
“Can you find the owner of this bead and the one who left this energy on me?”
“Of course I can…” Zi Daoren answered casually before snapping back to reality. His eyes widened as he stared at Wei Xicheng. “Why on earth would you want to go looking for a ghost? I don’t even need to meet him to know he’s ridiculously powerful. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“You just said that I’ve already met him, and I’m still alive.”
Wei Xicheng’s calm statement made Zi Daoren drop his usual carefree demeanor and take on a more serious expression.
“Kid, tell me—what’s your relationship with that ghost?”
“We’re friends,” Wei Xicheng answered after a brief hesitation.
“Then you should stop being friends with him. Humans and ghosts walk different paths. If you stay together too long, either you’ll die, or he will.”
Zi Daoren put his bag on the ground, opened it, and scattered an assortment of bottles, jars, and various strange objects. He rummaged through them, finally pulling out a bottle of murky gray water. With a flick of his fingers, two yellow talismans appeared out of nowhere and instantly burned to ash.
Zi Daoren pressed the talismans into the water. Strangely, the flames didn’t go out.
“Here, drink this.” He held the bottle up to Wei Xicheng.
Wei Xicheng stood there, silently watching him.
“Hey, kid, I’m trying to save your life here, you know?” Zi Daoren raised an eyebrow and set the bottle on the ground. He didn’t bother trying to persuade him further, simply gathering up his belongings.
“If you’re too stubborn to appreciate my help, fine, whatever, I’m leaving.”
Zi Daoren slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to leave, not looking back.
…
“Ugh, fine.” Zi Daoren retracted the foot he had just stepped out with. “It’s rare to find someone as talented as you. Tell me, what will it take for you to drink it? You do realize I could force you if I wanted to.”
Wei Xicheng, who had been about to speak, closed his mouth again. After a moment, he said, “Take me to find Yu— I mean, that ghost.”
“Drink first.”
“Find him first.” Wei Xicheng didn’t back down. He was certain that Zi Daoren needed something from him—something important enough that he wouldn’t use force unless absolutely necessary. And since finding a ghost was such a simple task for Zi Daoren, Wei Xicheng knew he wasn’t asking for much.
“Fine, fine, kids these days…”
Zi Daoren pulled out an old, worn-out compass. He directed a thread of energy from the bead into the center of the compass. A faint buzzing sound filled the air.
“Hmm?” Zi Daoren muttered.
“What?” Wei Xicheng stepped forward, only for Zi Daoren to stop him.
“The energy is too weak. I can only tell that he’s roughly 50 li (about 25 km) west of here.”
“Weak energy?” Wei Xicheng wanted to take a closer look at the compass. He had studied some Daoist techniques before, but every world had its own rules, so he wasn’t about to make any assumptions.
“Didn’t you say his energy was incredibly strong?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what’s strange.” Zi Daoren stared at the compass, trying to analyze the situation. “His energy fluctuates—sometimes strong, sometimes weak. It seems like he’s fighting someone over something that belongs to him…”
“What are you doing?!”
Before Zi Daoren could finish his sentence, Wei Xicheng had already grabbed the bottle off the ground and downed the liquid in one gulp. Then, he grabbed Zi Daoren by the sleeve and dragged him toward the window.
“Go down first. I’ll meet you there in a moment.”
Zi Daoren let Wei Xicheng push him out of the window, watching as he quickly shut it behind him. A second later, the door burst open, and Wei Xicheng rushed outside.
Zi Daoren sighed, then leaped down several times along the path they had come from, landing smoothly on the ground.
Less than a minute later, Wei Xicheng came running down the stairs, panting. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“To find the ghost!” Wei Xicheng didn’t explain further. He grabbed Zi Daoren, hailed a taxi, and shoved him inside. “Tell the driver the location.”
“Oh, oh, just head west,” Zi Daoren said casually.
As he spoke, he glanced at Wei Xicheng’s anxious expression, a faint smile flickering in his eyes. Interesting.
By the time they arrived at the final location indicated by the compass, all they saw was a desolate wasteland.
The area was filled with scattered stones and piles of multicolored garbage. Just as Wei Xicheng was about to step into the barren land, Zi Daoren yanked him back.
“Wait a moment. Something’s off here.” Zi Daoren’s relaxed demeanor from before was gone.
Being abruptly stopped, Wei Xicheng finally snapped out of his urgency to find Yu Beiyan and noticed the strangeness of this place.
It was far too quiet. Even the wind carried an eerie chill, which was unnatural for June. In this city, the temperature shouldn’t have dropped like this.
When they had left Wei Xicheng’s home, the oppressive summer heat was still unbearable. There was no way the temperature could have changed so drastically in such a short distance.
“This place…” Wei Xicheng scanned his surroundings and noticed something even more alarming.
In the farthest area his vision could reach, there was a vast patch of blackish-red. The color resembled rusted blood, staining a large portion of the ground.
Now that the restriction inside his body had been lifted, Wei Xicheng could perceive things he couldn’t before—such as strange air currents.
He was certain those weren’t the natural trails of wind. That left only one explanation: it was a form of energy.
From what he understood, the Yin energy of vengeful spirits could cause harm to living beings, which meant it was a type of energy. And for both him and Yu Beiyan, any intangible energy could, in theory, be linked to the system through certain mediums and converted into usable power.
After experiencing the “online game world” where he first met Yu Beiyan, Wei Xicheng’s perspective on the system had changed significantly. He no longer saw it as something uncontrollable. Now, both he and Yu Beiyan were figuring out ways to make the system fully work for them.
“You can see it, can’t you?” Zi Daoren’s sharp eyes didn’t miss the change in Wei Xicheng’s expression. Though phrased as a question, his tone made it clear that he already knew the answer.
“Yeah.” Wei Xicheng nodded. His original body had never encountered anything like this, nor was it mentioned in the script of this world. Since he couldn’t make random guesses about this world’s rules, he decided to follow Zi Daoren’s lead for now.
“Let’s follow the source of these currents.” Zi Daoren’s expression turned serious, finally making him seem somewhat trustworthy.
Wei Xicheng nodded and stepped into the odd formation of scattered rocks. Zi Daoren was likely correct—the chaotic air currents were swirling all over, but their origin was clear. They were all flowing out from that black-red patch of land.
That was undoubtedly the source of everything.
At first, Wei Xicheng walked cautiously. Zi Daoren followed closely, staying half a step ahead, clearly trying to shield him from harm.
Wei Xicheng glanced at him but said nothing. He kept moving forward. Seeing no immediate danger, they quickened their pace and soon arrived at the eerie patch of land.
“This is the place?” Zi Daoren retracted his foot mid-step, looking at Wei Xicheng, who had suddenly stopped beside him.
“Yes.” Wei Xicheng stared at the red-stained soil near his feet. He hadn’t stepped on it, but Zi Daoren had accidentally trodden on it just now.
Now, Wei Xicheng could clearly see something unusual—the moment Zi Daoren stepped on the ground, those strange air currents started pouring out from beneath his shoe.
Wei Xicheng pressed his lips together, suppressing the warning that almost escaped him.
He still couldn’t fully trust Zi Daoren.
Even though Zi Daoren had shown nothing but goodwill since they met, Wei Xicheng’s experiences in too many dangerous and disgusting worlds had made him wary of unwarranted kindness.
Zi Daoren pulled out his compass. This time, the needle no longer pointed steadily in one direction. Instead, it began spinning faster and faster.
“This isn’t good,” Zi Daoren exclaimed. He quickly stilled the compass and stuffed it into his robe. If he had reacted even a second later, the compass might have been destroyed.
Something in this place was exerting an incredibly powerful force.
To Zi Daoren, the vast red soil looked no different from ordinary ground. But to Wei Xicheng, it was overwhelming.
He gazed ahead—
The dark red expanse seemed to stretch endlessly, without a boundary in sight.
