10: Chapter 10 Ghost Manor, Strange Phenomena from the Sky!

Blue Star, suburbs of Qingzhou City.

Thirty li outside the city, what used to be a series of resort villas was now enveloped in a greyish-white fog, with three cordon lines set up at the entrance.

Before the barricade stood an iron sign bearing only four words: Ghost Domain Restricted Area.

Two black off-road vehicles were parked outside the cordon line, where three middle-aged men in uniforms stood smoking in silence.

The flickering sparks of their cigarette butts illuminated the badges on their chests: Demon Suppression Division, Field Operations Section.

The leader was a man in his early forties named Zheng, the head of the Field Operations Section for this area.

Right now, his expression was quite grim.

"Confirmed?" Captain Zheng extinguished his cigarette butt against the car body.

Beside him, a young woman with glasses held a tablet, dense data scrolling across the screen. "Confirmed. Mid-stage Wandering Souls, quantity... at least twenty or more. The core is a female Resentful Spirit with immense grudge before death. She has transformed three times since dying and is already on the verge of the late-stage Resentful Spirit."

"Twenty?"

Captain Zheng's eyebrows furrowed into a tight knot.

Specter levels were divided into: Wandering Soul, Resentful Spirit, Vengeful Ghost, Crimson-Robed Ghost, Ferocious Fiend, Ghost General, Ghost King, Ghost Immortal, Ghost Emperor...

Although Wandering Souls were the lowest tier of specters, when they went wild, they were still life-harvesting monsters!

"When it was reported three days ago, didn't they say there was only one?"

"Three days ago, there was indeed only one."

The bespectacled woman adjusted her lenses. "But this place is close to Qingzhou, a densely populated area. Three days was enough time for her to recruit over a dozen new spirits. Moreover..."

She hesitated briefly. "Captain Zheng, the nature of this zone has changed. She's begun dragging living people into illusions to toy with them, generating fear to feed other specters. This is a classic growth-type Ghost Domain."

Captain Zheng was silent for a few seconds before rubbing his temples.

"What's the situation inside?"

The bespectacled woman pulled up a video clip—the last footage transmitted back after a drone flew into the fog zone.

The footage shook violently. The outline of a detached villa was visible standing in the fog, with two red lanterns hanging at the entrance. Standing within the glow of the lanterns was a woman.

She had an alluring figure and wore a loose silk nightgown, beckoning toward the drone.

In the next frame, the screen went black.

"The drone is gone," the bespectacled woman said. "That female ghost was smiling."

Captain Zheng's mouth twitched, his face pale.

"Twenty Wandering Souls, plus a core entity about to break through to the late-stage... What tier is this Ghost Domain?"

"Comprehensive assessment shows it reached Tier 2 yesterday."

Captain Zheng gasped. "So fast?"

"Illusion strength, specter count, core entity strength—all quantitative results fall in the Tier 2 range. If this trend continues, it might break through to a Tier 3 Ghost Domain before long."

Ghost Domains were tiered from Tier 1 (weakest) up to Tier 10 (highest).

A Tier 2 Ghost Domain meant that clearing it safely required a team led by at least four or five mid-stage 2-Star Trialists.

Yet among current Trialists on Blue Star, 1-Star Trialists accounted for over 70%, 2-Star made up less than 20%, 3-Star were already a scarce resource, and anything higher was practically nonexistent.

"What about manpower?" Captain Zheng asked.

"We're stretched too thin."

The bespectacled woman smiled bitterly. "All available personnel have been deployed to guard the Gate of Planes. Scattered Ghost Domains in the suburbs like this one won't be scheduled until next week."

Captain Zheng's voice sank. "If the energy level rises further next week, dealing with it will be even more troublesome!"

The bespectacled woman remained silent.

Another colleague nearby suddenly spoke up: "Captain Zheng, according to the schedule, this year's batch of Trialists should be emerging from the Gate of Planes soon. Why don't we..."

Captain Zheng snapped his head around. "What are you trying to say?"

"The suburban Ghost Domain is perfect to use as an assessment ground. Although a Tier 2 Ghost Domain is a bit dangerous, the situation is dire... It can count as a major test for them."

Captain Zheng stared at him for a long moment before squeezing out two words from his throat: "Bullshit!"

"Throwing a Tier 2 Ghost Domain at a group of students who just bound their planes? Do you think they aren't dying fast enough?"

"There's no other way, Captain Zheng..."

Captain Zheng slammed his palm onto the car roof, causing the entire vehicle to shake. "Do you know what a mid-stage Resentful Spirit means to novice Trialists? It means sending them to their deaths!"

He panted heavily, pulled out his phone, scrolled through it twice, and pressed the power button to turn it off.

"...Forget it. Report it and let the higher-ups coordinate manpower. Keep the blockade in place; nobody enters before dawn."

Saying that, he turned, opened the car door, and looked back at the greyish-white fog.

Deep in the fog, the glow of the two red lanterns was still swaying, like a pair of eyes suspended in the air, staring at them unblinkingly.

Inside the vehicle, there was a moment of silence.

The bespectacled woman was typing on her tablet with her head down when she suddenly froze.

"Captain Zheng."

"Hmm?"

"I just checked the allocation plan for this batch of students."

Captain Zheng didn't turn around, holding the car door as he waited for her to finish.

"Qingzhou East University, Class 2... their trial assessment location has been tentatively set."

Captain Zheng turned around. "Class 2? What's the name of their lead instructor?"

"Qu Xianghong."

The bespectacled woman flipped the tablet around. A red circle was marked on the map screen—right over the fog zone behind them.

"...Dammit."

Captain Zheng cursed, his voice soft and exhausted.

Another colleague remarked, "Class 2 is really unlucky. Out of these Trialists, will even a single one come out alive..."

Captain Zheng glared at him, and the man bowed his head, falling silent.

The female ghost's laughter drifted out from the fog again, soft and gentle, as if whispering right against someone's ear.

"Come play..."

"Big Sister prepared... so, so many... fun things for you..."

The laughter drifted with the wind past the cordon line, past the iron sign, past the three off-road vehicles, and into the depths of the night.

In the distance, the lights of Qingzhou City glowed dimly through the haze, where hundreds of thousands of ordinary people slept peacefully.

...

Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Lin Ye took a sleep. Traveling all day and battling the Tuli had been quite physically exhausting.

He slept soundly and deeply, without even a single dream.

When he woke up, there was a racket outside the wooden cabin, the footsteps of the giants causing the ground to tremble slightly.

He pushed the door open and stepped out, finding almost all the giants in the tribe standing in the clearing, looking up toward the south.

Kuayan was there too, arms crossed over his chest, his eyebrows knit tightly.

"Senior, what happened?"

Kuayan didn't speak; he merely jerked his chin toward the south.

Lin Ye looked in that direction.

On the southern horizon, a pillar of cyan-gold light shot straight into the clouds from the ground, illuminating the night sky like daylight.

Clouds churned and rotated around the pillar of light, forming a massive vortex where faint flashes of lightning flickered at its center.

The color of the light was highly unusual, revealing an exceedingly pure cyan-gold that carried an indefinable, weighty majesty.

"A heavenly anomaly."

A-Yao's voice came from beside him, the pillar of light reflected in her amber eyes.

"A heavenly anomaly?"

Lin Ye repeated.

A-Yao explained, "Mhm! It's not uncommon around here. Every few decades or centuries, an ancient secret realm or a fallen blessed land will re-emerge into the world. Judging by this commotion, it's quite a large scale."

Lin Ye stared at the pillar of light for a long time, his heartbeat gradually accelerating.

In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, he had already found huai tree fruit, Daying flesh and blood, Denglin Peach Wood, and kun tu jade essence.

Every single item had multiplied his strength exponentially.

But there were less than three days left until the trial ended.

Three days...

He had to seize every single opportunity!