I'm caught in the cycle of endless competition, you're waiting for me in the apocalypse.

"Wow! How powerful... I never thought I'd see a real dragon in my lifetime!" Gu Shuohan exclaimed for a long time inside the light-elemental shield, but unfortunately, no one across the water could hear him and share his excitement.

The little white dragon leaped and disappeared into the enormous dragon's head. Its huge eyes opened instantly, emitting a golden light. Because the great white dragon's body was too large, it was barely able to move in the lake. It could only swim slowly, carefully circling, getting smaller and smaller... until it became a small white snake a little over 1 meter long.

After finishing their business, the two people and their two mythical beasts quickly returned to the shore. As soon as they got ashore, the small white snake coiled around An Xin's neck. An Xin was startled. Although she wasn't afraid of snakes, the sudden wet, cold, and slippery feeling on her neck gave her goosebumps.

Upon closer inspection, however, one notices a round black pupil within the snake's golden eye, suggesting a kind, innocent, and endearing nature. Two small bumps on its round head indicate its noble lineage, distinguishing it from other snakes. Its entire body is covered in jade-like, lustrous scales, making its name truly fitting.

"By the way, your name is Ao Jue? Two pieces of jade? Do you have a twin brother?" An Xin asked as soon as she thought of it.

"No, I was born with this dragon-carved warm jade. It is my birth jade, which is why it can hide me well and help me nurture my soul. If a mortal wears this warm jade close to his body, he can prolong his life and be free from all diseases. If there is a remnant soul, it can also be nurtured to prevent the soul from being scattered."

"Oh, then this piece of jade is more valuable than you now!"

"Hmph, if my true form hadn't been sealed away, how could I have ended up like this... Now, all I have left is the ability to change my form!"

"Oh~ Isn't that just like the famous White Dragon Horse Ao Lie from 'Journey to the West'? Transform into a white horse and carry your master!"

"Listen, is this little girl not quite right in the head? What is she saying?"

"Sigh, you two shouldn't even try to understand each other. You're completely talking nonsense. Ao Jue, come down quickly. I'll take you to the Qiankun World so I can explain the specifics to you."

"Alright, you know what, although this girl is sharp-tongued and fierce, and not very bright, the energy emanating from her is really comforting. It can offset the pain caused by the soul nails on my body." Ao Jue reluctantly slid down from An Xin's neck.

—Of course! Light energy is the best healing elixir!

An Xin and Di Ting both inwardly grumbled.

An Xin handed Gu Shuohan drinks and sandwiches, then led the way as if nothing had happened, except now she was carrying a Miao sword called A Guang.

........................

Qingshan Temple

After losing track of Quan Yuli, Master Zou returned to the Taoist temple, but An Xin and Gu Shuohan did not appear for a long time.

As dawn approached and still no sign of them, Zou Daoda sensed something was wrong and flew back to Yin Yang Spring.

Still no sign of anyone, and no clues in the cave, Master Zou had no choice but to return the way he came.

Upon arriving at the council hall, the eldest disciple, Qin Baiyu, was overjoyed: "Master, you've emerged from seclusion?"

"Now go and inform all the Taoist priests, as well as An Xin's companions, to come to the council hall immediately and stop whatever they are doing."

Seeing his master's solemn and serious demeanor, Qin Baiyu dared not delay and acted swiftly.

In less than fifteen minutes, almost everyone had arrived. Qin Baiyu spoke up weakly, saying, "Master, everyone except An Xin and Gu Shuohan has arrived..."

"That's exactly what I wanted to say!"

Then Master Zou recounted in detail how Anna and Quan Yuli interrupted his advancement, how Anxin shielded him from the lightning tribulation, how he encountered Quan Yuli's attack at the Yin-Yang Spring and escaped, and how he finally searched for her in vain.

Everyone present was sweating bullets for An Xin. After an emergency discussion, they asked Master Qiu to cast a divination to predict An Xin's fate.

"The divination results are always changing and can't be accurately predicted, but recently there have been close calls with unexpected opportunities." Master Qiu had already cast three hexagrams and couldn't do any more, so he could only shake his head and continue, "Their location is in the northwest, which should be a place of ghosts and monsters!"

Upon hearing this, the room fell silent instantly!

"If their lives are not in immediate danger, then our top priority is to find Anna and that man and see if we can find any clues."

After a series of discussions, arrangements, and contacts, everyone present did their best. Now, the only thing to do was to quickly follow the plan to find the person.

At this moment, Qi Mingxuan, Wei Ran, and Li Qingchuan had ashen faces and dark, brooding eyes...

........................

We traveled along the way, stopping frequently, in this world without sun, moon, or stars, unaware of day or night, or the time of day.

Finally out of the forest, we could see the towering, majestic city walls built of large stones in the distance.

After walking for about an hour, they arrived at the city gate, where the three large characters "Linyou City" were prominently displayed. Below, a large number of ghosts were crowding into the city.

"So they've all come back after the Ghost Festival!" An Xin took out two black cloaks, handed one to Gu Shuohan, and wore the other herself. She had bought these cloaks from a scroll for 6 Luck Points; their purpose was to isolate one's aura and prevent others from knowing their true appearance and cultivation level.

With hoods on, the two squeezed into the horde of ghosts, trying to make their way in.

"Don't push, don't push!" A coquettish female voice rang out beside An Xin, "Oh dear~ you hanged devil, I'm talking to you, don't push, where are you sticking your tongue out!"

"Hey! What are you doing in the city, you drowned ghost? You're filthy..." another man's voice rang out.

"You...cough cough...don't you know anything about respecting the elderly and caring for the young?!...I'm being squeezed flat by you all! Ah...I'm going to die, I'm going to die!" As an aged voice rang out, a vacuum instantly formed around her, and a group of ghosts stared wide-eyed (some even popping their eyeballs out of their sockets), as if a pause button had been pressed. Until one ghost shouted, "Watch out for scammers!" The ghosts scattered and fled, clearing a long stretch of the city gate.

Taking advantage of the chaos, An Xin grabbed Gu Shuohan and rushed into the city, turning into a small alley.

“We know nothing right now, and we’ll be completely lost once we get into the city. We can only gather information from the busiest areas. So you must stay close to me. If anything goes wrong and you get lost, we’ll wait for you at the city gate!” An Xin solemnly instructed him, then pulled her hood up and walked out of the alley.

Upon entering the city and seeing its unique city walls, An Xin and Gu Shuohan couldn't help but sigh, "This is what a great era of integration and the development of multiple cultures should be like!"

The wide main street has both dedicated horse riding lanes and car lanes. So you can see not only horses, cars, and motorcycles on the road, but also the rail transit system that shuttles through the city.

The streets are lined with quaint wooden buildings, modern low-rise concrete buildings, and occasionally, European Gothic architecture. In short, none of these buildings or shops exceed five stories in height.

The various forms of spirits and ghosts walking and floating on the road are dazzling and overwhelming!

The two looked at each other, both seeing something new and exciting in each other's eyes!

They walked and stopped, and another half day passed. They saw many incense and candle shops, where incense and candles were made into various kinds of food, but all of them needed to be lit. The ghosts ate by inhaling the smoke of different flavors. Most of them were talking about what kind of offerings they had made to return home, and some ghosts were even boasting about how many scriptures they had received for salvation.

Strangely, in addition to using gold, silver, and jade as currency, the ghosts here also use a kind of spirit stone for buying and selling.

The grade of spirit stones is distinguished by color and size. A basic spirit stone is like a transparent bead, about one centimeter in diameter, similar to the concept of a one-yuan coin, while the larger the bead, the higher its value. Other colors are divided into cyan, red, yellow, white, and black. They also correspond to the five elements: metal (white), wood (cyan), water (black), fire (red), and earth (yellow).

After learning some basic information, An Xin became quite unsettled! Since this world lacked spiritual energy, where did these spiritual stones, imbued with it, come from? Besides serving as currency, did they have any other function? What was particularly strange was that, in addition to the spiritual stones in cultivation novels, they also reminded her of the dreaded zombie crystal cores… It seemed these blinbly stones existed as currency and energy storage; could these spiritual stones also be used for absorption?

An idea suddenly flashed through her mind—an idea to make money.

Pulling Gu Shuohan into a small alley again, An Xin shared her thoughts on spirit stones. She explained that she knew some high-ranking ghosts used spiritual energy to enhance their abilities, and speculated that spiritual energy might be a scarce yet important resource here. Along their journey, they had seen an auction house where she could auction off a bottle of energy water (a spiritual liquid with a high water content). With the money, they could find a place to stay and rest.

"I'm afraid that if I bring out such a valuable treasure, it will attract the covetous eyes of ghosts. So, just pretend you're a high-ranking ghost and don't say anything. I'll just be your subordinate. In short, I'll do all the talking. You just play the role of the domineering CEO."

"I never knew you had so many clever ideas, Xinxin!"

"There's no other way, life is tough, you have to use your brain." If she weren't quick-witted, she wouldn't have been able to earn enough money for college even if she had worked before! An Xin learned the harsh lessons of society far too early!

Netherworld Auction House

The building is a simple, five-story structure, but the interior is decorated in a postmodern minimalist style.

—What kind of disjointed design is this?

A receptionist dressed in a white shirt, black vest, and black trousers drifted over from the front desk.

"Esteemed guests, the auction has not yet begun. Please come back later!"

—Well, what a waiter from ancient times dressed in Western-style clothing!

An Xin stepped forward and bowed slightly, saying, "No, we are not here to buy anything, but to discuss cooperation with your Netherworld Auction House. Quickly invite the person who has influence here. Also, arrange a room for us; our CEO, Mr. Gu, doesn't like to show his face in public."

Upon hearing An Xin's slightly imposing words and noticing the cloaks on the two ghosts, the receptionist nodded and respectfully said, "Then please follow me, esteemed guests!"

Upon arriving at a private room on the second floor, the receptionist and the waiter inside gave each other some instructions, and then said, "Please wait a moment, esteemed guests. I will go and fetch the manager here right away."

Before long, the waiter brought the two a pair of beautiful incense candles... This amused the two of them. Suppressing the urge to burst out laughing, An Xin waved her hand and said calmly, "Alright, let's go out!"

"Manager, manager! Two ghosts just came by, saying they want to cooperate with our auction house." The receptionist caught her breath, sniffed the expensive incense in the manager's office, and continued, "They look like they're from a powerful background. The cloaks they're wearing are probably treasures that can block prying eyes. The little ghost called the other one 'Manager Gu,' manager, do you remember him?"

“President Gu? There doesn’t seem to be a family with the surname Gu in our Linyou City, nor are there any big companies or trading companies owned by people with the surname Gu… Could it be the Gu family from the capital?” The shopkeeper rubbed his goatee. “Let’s go take a look. If it’s a powerful ghost, we can’t afford to offend it, but if it’s just causing trouble, our Youming Auction House isn’t afraid of it either.”

"Knock knock knock..."

"Distinguished guests, I am the head manager here!"

"Please come in!" a cold female voice rang out.

"Squeak—" Pushing open the door, a tall figure appeared inside, draped in a dark cloak, one hand propping up his chin on his crossed legs, his posture languid yet exuding domineering presence. Another ghost, also cloaked, stood ramrod straight beside 'President Gu,' seemingly ready to act at any moment's command.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper bowed and smiled, saying with great respect, "My two honored guests, my surname is Qian, and my given name is Lai. May I ask how I address you?"