Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

The online sensation "Gou Zai Fei Men Bian Shenhua" (苟在废门编神话), a heartfelt work by author Mayday, is now available.

"Different?" Su Xiao's figure emerged from the shadows, her cool eyes looking at A Yuan.

"Mmm." A-Yuan nodded vigorously, her little finger pointing into the depths of darkness. "Just now outside, those 'shadows' seemed chaotic, drifting everywhere. Now... it seems... it seems they're all drifting very, very slowly in one direction... right under that big black crevice."

"And...it doesn't seem to be all crying, some of it...it sounds like chanting? Very softly, very indistinctly, I can't understand it..."

Chanting scriptures? Shen Mo frowned slightly. Ghosts and vengeful spirits are formed after death due to the lingering negative emotions such as obsession, resentment, and fear. They wander aimlessly, instinctively devouring life force. How could they possibly "chant scriptures"?

"Is it a mantra for rebirth or a scripture for the deceased?" Zhao Qingyan guessed, then shook her head in denial. "No, if it were a scripture for a high-ranking monk to deliver the souls of the dead, this place would be filled with Buddhist light and Zen spirit, not so gloomy and desolate."

"Perhaps it's some kind of 'rule' or 'ritual' left over from the Reincarnation Palace itself?" Su Xiao pondered. "The secret scrolls of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion mention that this branch palace is responsible for 'soul cleansing' and 'spirit purification,' guiding remnant souls and vengeful spirits into reincarnation. Perhaps although the palace is destroyed, some of its functions are still operating autonomously, attracting and gathering these vengeful spirits?"

Shen Mo's heart skipped a beat. Su Xiao's guess was not without reason.

The Hall of Reincarnation governs reincarnation and rebirth; it must contain arrays or laws for guiding, purifying, and refining the soul.

Even though the palace is damaged and its core functions are ineffective, the remaining fragments of laws may still be operating on inertia, attracting the vengeful spirits accumulated in the Black Swamp over countless years, "gathering" them towards the depths of the crack, where the dilapidated palace is located.

This might explain why the ghosts here are so numerous, yet seem to follow some kind of "order".

"Ah Yuan, can you sense which direction those chanting sounds are coming from? Or rather, are they coming from those 'shadows' themselves, or... from deeper within?" Shen Mo pressed.

Ah Yuan's intuition might be a more effective "compass" than divine sense in this place.

A-Yuan closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, a look of pain on her small face, as if she were fighting against some invisible interference.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and pointed to the depths of the darkness, slightly to the left:

"There... the sound seems... coming from that direction, very faint, very ancient... it's not coming from the shadows, it's... it's coming from something there... calling them over..."

Shen Mo looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw that the ruins of the Samsara Palace were faintly visible below the spatial rift.

A-Yuan's senses seemed to point to a specific area of ​​the Reincarnation Palace ruins.

"It seems that the depths of this rift are not a chaotic and lifeless place, but there is still some kind of 'order' or 'residual' at work."

Shen Mo stood up, brushed off non-existent dust from his robes, and glanced at everyone. "We cannot stay here any longer. The Yin-Yang Dust Array cannot last long, and the Cycle of Death Qi will severely damage our cultivation."

"We must go deeper as soon as possible, find a relatively safe place to settle down, or... find clues to leave."

"Deeper?" Shi Tie's eyes widened. "Sect Leader, what's inside..."

"We have no way out." Shen Mo interrupted him, his voice calm yet carrying an undeniable force. "On the outer perimeter, we are simply waiting to die. The cyclical death energy will continuously erode the formation, consuming our spiritual power and soul."

"Those vengeful spirits and vengeful ghosts cannot be eradicated; they will only gather more and more."

"Only by going deeper can we find a glimmer of hope; only by going deeper can we discover the secrets of this place, find a possible way out, or... the key to controlling this place."

He paused, then looked at Zhao Qingyan: "Junior Sister Zhao, how long can the formation last?"

Zhao Qingyan sensed the array plate and said in a deep voice, "If we maintain the status quo, it will last at most three hours. If we move, the protection will weaken, the time will be shorter, and the energy consumption will increase dramatically."

"Three hours...that's enough." A decisive glint flashed in Shen Mo's eyes. "Su Xiao, scout ahead and be careful to avoid areas densely populated with ghosts, especially the direction from which the 'sound' that A Yuan pointed out came. Take a detour for now."

"Shi Tie, you cover the rear and protect Junior Sister Zhao and A Yuan. I'll provide support from the center."

"We move towards the rift along the path that Ah Yuan sensed, where the flow of spirits is relatively 'sparse.' Remember, our goal is not those spirits, nor is it to enter the rift immediately, but rather to find a relatively safe 'node' where we can temporarily avoid the corrosive influence of death energy."

"Yes!" the three answered in unison. Shi Tie tightened his grip on the giant axe, Zhao Qingyan did her best to maintain the formation, and Su Xiao's figure flickered and silently merged into the darkness ahead, like a wisp of green smoke.

The group left the protection of the "Two Elements Dust Array" and truly stepped into this desolate land shrouded in gray-white death energy. A bone-chilling cold instantly enveloped them, as if it would freeze their very marrow.

The ubiquitous fragments of thought, imbued with despair, pain, and resentment, crashed against everyone's mental shield like a tidal wave.

Countless faint, distorted cries, wails, and curses seemed to echo in my ears, disturbing my peace of mind.

A-Yuan was protected by a gentle spiritual light from Shen Mo, but her face was still pale, and she clung tightly to Shen Mo's clothes, her body trembling slightly.

"This side... the deathly aura is less... there are more shadows over there, let's go around it... there's a 'cavity' ahead, it seems like I can catch my breath..."

Under her guidance, the group sailed slowly and laboriously into the darkness, as if navigating a deadly sea filled with reefs and whirlpools.

The wandering spirits and vengeful souls seemed extremely sensitive to the presence of living beings, constantly converging on the area. However, they were slow-moving and lacked intelligence, and were temporarily unable to form a complete encirclement under Su Xiao's ghostly attacks and Shi Tie's violent axe winds.

However, with each shattered spirit, the dissipating deathly aura intensifies, making people even more uneasy.

After traveling for about half an hour, Su Xiao, who was scouting ahead, suddenly sent back a message: "Sect Leader, a hundred feet ahead, the death energy is unusually thin, and there seems to be a naturally formed 'safe haven,' but... there are traces of battle left behind, very recent, no more than a day ago."

Signs of battle? Shen Mo's eyes narrowed. Besides them, someone else had managed to penetrate this place? Was it the Blazing Sun Sect? The Heavenly Sword Sect? Or… the Profound Yin Sect?

"Approach cautiously and conceal your presence." Shen Mo transmitted his voice, signaling everyone to slow down, suppress all spiritual energy fluctuations, and move forward like ghosts.

Soon, a strange scene appeared before everyone's eyes. It was a sunken basin, as if formed by a meteorite impact, with a radius of only a few dozen feet.

Above the basin, the grayish-white death aura was noticeably thinner, and one could even vaguely see the swirling poisonous miasma above. The rocks in the basin had an eerie dark red color, as if they had been soaked in blood and weathered over countless years.

Most strikingly, in the center of the basin, lay more than a dozen corpses lying haphazardly, along with... many more scattered remains of waning spirits, slowly dissipating.

The corpses were dressed in different styles of clothing, including the crimson fire-patterned robes of the Blazing Sun Sect, the silver-white sword robes of the Heavenly Sword Sect, and several rogue cultivators whose clothing was a jumbled mess and whose sects were impossible to discern.

Their deaths were extremely gruesome; some looked as if they had been cut to pieces by invisible blades; some were shriveled up as if all their life force had been drained; and some had distorted faces and blood flowing from their seven orifices, as if their souls had collapsed and they had died.

Beside the corpse lay broken magical artifacts, dim talismans, and lingering, mixed spiritual energy fluctuations.