Start with everyday skills and grind your way to immortality.

"dead……"

Chen Qian's pupils contracted slightly.

The number of residents in this underwater dead city is far more than just dozens or hundreds.

They swim in the water, retaining their original form and primal aggression.

It was neither a vengeful ghost nor an ordinary departed soul.

Furthermore, the probability of each one being a vengeful ghost is so low as to be almost impossible.

But if they were just ordinary, newly dead ghosts, how could they have existed in this underwater world for so long?

This is not reasonable.

Unless... the environment itself is problematic!

His gaze suddenly turned in two directions.

One is icy, viscous, stagnant water.

The water was icy cold, far exceeding that of ordinary underground rivers.

Is it this water... that is nourishing or imprisoning these souls, delaying or even preventing their natural dissipation?

Let them remain trapped here forever in a state of stagnation, neither alive nor dead.

Secondly, in the center of the dead city, there was a dark red glow that beat continuously like a heart.

With each flicker of light, ripples spread across the water's surface, and the water ghosts' movements seemed to pause or jerk accordingly.

That red light... is it driving them?

Or is it absorbing something to maintain the abnormal stability of this deathly realm?

Is it the water, or the light? Or... both?

An even more terrifying thought flashed into Chen Qian's mind.

If this water and red light together form a bizarre system to maintain a "dead state".

Then the rule of "the dead cross the line, the living must stop" might have another interpretation.

It doesn't mean the intruder has to actually become a corpse, but rather that the intruder needs to be able to simulate or integrate into a "state" recognized by this death system!

Like a lock, it only accepts keys of a specific shape.

An angry person is in the wrong shape and will trigger an alarm.

The correct key is the state of being "dead" or some medium that can shield or fake life!

Could what those Miao people were searching for on the outskirts be what they needed to create this "disguise" or find the "backdoor"?

For example, some kind of ancient artifact that can temporarily deceive the senses?

Zhao Feng, Wang Tong, and others, by forcing their way in, were essentially using brute force to break the lock, which naturally provoked the fiercest counterattack from the entire defense system.

They may be able to break through temporarily, but the closer they get to the core, the greater the resistance they will encounter, until they are completely submerged.

Chen Qian felt a chill rise up his spine.

He realized that his previous line of thinking was correct.

We cannot force our way in.

We must find a way to become the key, or find a loophole in the lock.

His gaze sharpened again, scanning every detail of the waters, especially the behavior patterns of the water ghosts and the rhythm of the red light flashing.

At the same time, his hand, through his clothes, gently pressed against the cold, damp yellow paper figure in his arms.

"The dead have crossed the border..."

He silently recited to himself, and a bold plan began to take shape.

Chen Qian took a deep breath, leaned forward, and fell straight down from the height.

"Thump!"

The dull thud of the fall into the water was drowned out by the surrounding shouts of battle and went unnoticed by anyone.

The cold, foul-smelling, viscous black water instantly poured into my ears and nose.

The immense weight caused him to sink rapidly.

The feeling of suffocation came like a tidal wave, and my lungs felt like they were about to explode.

All around, countless pale, water ghost claws sensed the presence of a living person and excitedly swam over, grabbing his ankles and tugging at his clothes, wanting to devour him.

Chen Qian did not resist.

He closed his eyes tightly and let his body fall.

Just as Chen Qian's consciousness was about to completely sink into darkness, and he was about to become a floating corpse underwater.

The suffocating feeling of my lungs bursting disappeared abruptly in an instant.

Instead, there is an unprecedented sense of lightness.

Chen Qian suddenly opened his eyes.

I instinctively tried to paddle to the surface, but found that my feet were actually on solid ground.

There is no water.

It vanished into thin air.

Chen Qian looked around blankly, his pupils trembling violently in an instant.

"What... what is this?"

The once dilapidated, flooded ruins of the city have now come back to life!

On both sides of the street, the houses that had collapsed were now intact, with their eaves high and hung with pale white lanterns.

The lights were on full display, as bright as day.

On the wide bluestone road, people came and went, shoulder to shoulder.

There were peddlers carrying their wares on shoulder poles, wealthy people riding in sedan chairs, children laughing and playing, and even night watchmen maintaining order.

However, there was not a sound here.

All the noise is like a silent play.

Everyone's face was ashen white, with two glaring patches of blush on their cheeks.

They floated along, their feet barely touching the ground.

"Steamed buns... meat-filled steamed buns..."

"A shroud... a shroud made from freshly skinned animals..."

Although there was no sound, the eerie hawking cries automatically surfaced in Chen Qian's mind.

Where is this underwater?

This is clearly a bustling ghost market!

"This is the third level..."

Chen Qian looked down at his hands.

It is translucent and has a faint glow.

Only the paper figure on his chest emitted a faint light, as if protecting him with a sliver of hope.

He got it.

The third layer is not deeper underground; it overlaps with the second layer!

This is what is known as the "world inside and out".

The living struggle in the stagnant waters of the surface world, while the dead revel in the world of the underworld.

Only someone like him, whose physical body is in a state of suspended animation and whose soul leaves his body, can cross this boundary and see this hidden truth!

Chen Qian dared not linger; he knew his time was running out.

The physical body is still submerged at the bottom of the water, and it is only the paper figure that keeps it alive. If this continues for too long, the apparent death will turn into a real death.

He raised his head and looked towards the center of the city.

There, the scenes of reality and the spirit world overlapped in a strange way.

He could see the physical bodies of Zhao Feng and Wang Tong, who were still wildly slashing in the void, like two madmen going crazy at thin air.

But in Chen Qian's view at that moment, the scene made him feel horrified.

On Zhao Feng's back lay a huge female ghost with long hair covering her face.

The female ghost was soaking wet, her hair deeply embedded in Zhao Feng's skull, controlling his limbs and joints like a puppet on strings.

Let him swing his knife, let him roar, and let out a gleeful "giggle" of laughter.

Wang Tong fared even worse.

His belly was stretched so wide it was transparent, and inside curled up a giant baby with a blue face and fangs.

The ghost infant didn't crawl inside; instead, it tightly strangled Wang Tong's neck with both hands, opened its mouth wide, and greedily sucked the vital energy emanating from Wang Tong's skull.

In the eyes of these evil spirits, they were nothing more than two unfinished snacks.

Once they obtain it, these evil spirits will instantly possess them and devour them completely!

The treasures that these scions of noble families and powerful figures in the martial arts world fought so hard for were nothing more than bait in the eyes of evil spirits to lure them!

How could we not see it from the time of the white jade coffin until now?

There was a pair of hands deliberately luring them to this Niushou Village.