Having arranged all the matters, Chen Zhou looked once again at the land before him, a place filled with scars yet pregnant with new life.
The matters in the provincial capital had come to an end for now.
The judge had been executed, the Path of Hungry Ghosts was broken, ten million wandering souls had found their place of return, and a new city was set to rise.
However, the chess game of Gloomlight Province was not yet over.
The divine remains in the Western Region, the Vermilion Judge who had stolen the eye of the divine remains, and the Central Province's Sky-Monitoring Office hidden behind that Vermilion Judge...
The road ahead was still long.
Chen Zhou did not linger any longer and swept his large sleeve.
"Let's go."
The Ghost Domain swept up Jian Huaishuang, Cangming, and Cangche, instantly soaring into the sky and heading toward the east.
The Eastern Region was very close to the provincial capital, and with Chen Zhou's current cultivation, even bringing three people along, the distance was as short as a few steps.
In less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, a moist, salty sea breeze blew against their faces.
Below, Shanhe Pass stood majestically, bridging the land and the ocean.
Before the pass, crowds of people bustled, and demon qi surged to the sky.
Chen Zhou stood atop the clouds, looking down at the line that stretched for several li.
Various members of the sea folk were moving with their families: shrimp and crabs carrying large packs, starfish leading their young, octopuses curling their belongings with tentacles, and scallops carrying coral bonsai on their heads.
They stood in a long, crooked line, undergoing inspection at the checkpoint before flooding in groups through the gate leading to the Endless Sea.
A young merfolk child lay on his father's shoulder, clutching a plush dragon whose fur was nearly worn bald.
The little one looked back curiously at the land he was about to leave, his eyes filled with both reluctance and anticipation for returning home.
"Lord Dragon Ancestor."
Cangming stepped forward half a pace, his voice low. "These... are all low-level clanspeople who were ordered to evacuate earlier by my father."
He paused, his tone carrying a hint of shame.
"Because of the outbreak of black spots previously, military supplies were tight, and we were truly unable to support the elderly, weak, women, and children who could not fight."
"Sending them to the land was cruel, but it was also... to preserve our bloodline."
Chen Zhou did not respond.
His gaze passed over the long queue and landed on a gentle slope to the side of the pass.
There, hundreds of new graves had been dug.
The pits were empty, their walls still damp with sea sand that shimmered under the sunlight.
No steles were erected before the graves; instead, several notched halberds were thrust into the ground, their shafts buried deep, leaving only half a handle wrapped in hemp rope exposed.
As the sea breeze blew, it moved the tassels at the end of the ropes, causing them to sway gently.
In front of the halberds sat a pile of blood-stained merfolk scales.
Among them was a scale polished bright from being rubbed, dark red in color with shattered edges.
Chen Zhou recognized that red.
Chiwei's tail was exactly that color.
"That is the clothing tomb of General Chiwei." Cangming followed Chen Zhou's gaze, his voice growing even lower.
"His body... could not be recovered."
"When the Endless Sea defense line collapsed, he led three hundred personal guards here to block the black spots from spilling out of the Eastern Region, fighting fiercely for three days and three nights."
"By the time Cangche led people back to fight their way through, they only found his weapon."
Chen Zhou remained silent.
He thought of that gruff general who had knelt before him, so excited he could barely speak coherently.
He remembered that battle-scarred, dark red fish tail covered in black spots.
He remembered how Chiwei had trembled in pain when Chen Zhou used Hatred Fire to burn away the black spots, yet the general had bitten his lip and hadn't made a single sound.
He was a man of loyalty and courage.
"What about the other graves?" Chen Zhou asked.
Cangming lowered his eyelids and pointed to each of the new graves.
"That one belongs to General Black Shark. When Blackwater Trench fell, he led three thousand elites of his division to fight to the death and never retreated; the entire army was wiped out."
"That one belongs to the whale guard deputy commander. In front of the Dragon Palace, he took a sneak attack meant for Cangche, his chest pierced by a black-spot monster, and he was dragged into the monster swarm, leaving no remains."
"That one is..."
Cangming's voice grew lower and lower, eventually almost swallowed by the sea breeze.
Chen Zhou listened quietly until he finished.
After a long while, he let out a soft sigh.
"Chiwei..." he whispered to himself, "this deity has met him."
Cangming looked up.
Chen Zhou said, "When this deity dispelled the black spots for him, he patted his chest and promised that he would definitely cleanse the filth for me, recover the mountains and rivers, and would not hesitate even at the cost of ten thousand deaths."
"He was a good general."
"Chiwei..." Cangming's voice trembled, "he was a brute since he was a child."
"He wasn't very bright and only knew how to fight."
"Father said he was a good blade but had no scabbard, and would eventually hurt himself."
"I didn't expect... Father's words would actually come true."
Chen Zhou sighed softly.
"Souls of loyalty and courage should not be buried in the yellow earth."
He turned to look at Jian Huaishuang behind him.
Without needing a word, Jian Huaishuang immediately understood and gripped the giant sword on his back.
"Paper falls, souls return."
In the next moment, paper snow drifted down soundlessly.
Fine pieces of white paper were like the first snow of winter, light and silent, swirling in the sea breeze as they drifted toward the new graves.
Jian Huaishuang closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking along with the paper snow.
Passing through the moist soil, through the jagged rocks of the seabed, through the resting places of those newly dead souls still filled with attachment and reluctance.
Then he sensed something.
His brows furrowed.
Chen Zhou asked, "How is it?"
Jian Huaishuang slowly opened his eyes and shook his head at Chen Zhou.
"My Lord, I have found them, but they are unwilling to possess the paper bodies."
"Hmm?" Chen Zhou's brow wrinkled slightly. "Unwilling?"
That shouldn't be possible.
Given Chiwei's level of loyalty to him, if the general knew the Dragon Ancestor was summoning him, he would likely crawl out to kowtow even if it meant his soul would dissipate. How could he be unwilling to respond?
Jian Huaishuang thought for a moment and explained further.
"It is not exactly that they are unwilling. I can sense the souls of General Chiwei and the others are right here, but their spirits are protected and bound by a force of vegetation vitality, making them unable to move."
"It should be my Lord's Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm."
Jian Huaishuang had not encountered this situation for the first time.
Back at Broken Sword Peak in the Northern Region, it was the same; he could not find the souls of Bai Ling and Li Zhaoye.
It was only after returning to the City of the Wrongfully Dead that they discovered the two had long been drawn by the Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm and were reincarnated.
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhou immediately opened the system panel and quickly browsed through all the recent notifications he hadn't examined closely.
He swiped through them one by one.
【Your Ghost Attendant Su Xue is cultivating a new batch of spiritual plants in the Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm...】
【Your special building Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm's spiritual rhythm has increased, slightly increasing the recovery speed of vitality for living beings within its range...】
【Your special building Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm has harvested a new batch of spiritual herbs...】
【Your special building Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm has successfully attracted special souls for birth.】
The last message was a notification from the Heavenly Chef reincarnation system when he was in the Path of Hungry Ghosts. Other than that, there was nothing special.
Chen Zhou thought for a moment and then waved his hand.
"No matter."
"They have a better place to go. That is the destination belonging to heroes."
Since the Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm had set its sights on them, he didn't need to worry anymore.
Although there were no further system notifications for the moment, once that place targeted someone, they certainly wouldn't be able to escape.
Rate on N.U.
