“So, uh, I have to ask... where's the sighing?”
Entering the Wall of Sighs for the first time, Theia looked around curiously.
The terrifying forbidden zone she had imagined was, at this moment... a bit too quiet.
As far as the eye could see, there was only churning, grayish-white fog.
The ground consisted of damp, dark soil, scattered with withered vegetation and bizarrely shaped rocks.
Visibility was very low; one could only see the surroundings within about ten paces clearly.
Further out, everything was swallowed by the hazy gray-white.
The air carried a stale, damp chill that felt crisp when inhaled into the lungs.
After the selection meeting bids had concluded, they had been following quietly.
The flying vessel, covered by the Shroud of the Gloomy Night, hung silently above the head of Ryan, the leader of the “Blade's Edge.”
When Ryan had asked Blackbeard if he had something more to say, Theia had been giggling off to the side, her hand over her mouth.
“I bet that little shorty must think we gave up and ran away.”
They followed Blade's Edge quickly to the Fifth Node.
Subsequently, Ryan and the others, accompanied by their guide, plunged straight into the mist.
After confirming that the guide could indeed repel those “unseen things,” they let loose their speed completely and followed the route marked on the drawings.
They dashed toward the depths of the wall with reckless abandon.
They didn't use any concealment magic.
They didn't even activate a defensive barrier.
Relying on sheer battle force, they lowered their heads and charged forward.
For the Wall of Sighs, this seemingly reckless behavior was actually the most efficient approach.
Against spectral demons that were invisible, untouchable, and highly aggressive, almost no conventional methods could offer protection except for simply tanking the hits.
However, the spectral demons' aversion to “the dying” allowed this forbidden zone to become much easier to cross than other demon-infested wilderness areas, provided one was accompanying a guide.
Thus, the speed of the Blade's Edge team never slackened.
Except for turning to bypass a few dangerous areas marked with red crosses on the map, they were basically running at full power the entire time.
No matter how fast they were, however, they couldn't outpace the flying vessel controlled by Lin Gui.
The vessel hovered silently a few meters above the team, moving in sync.
Lin Gui kept his Eyes of the Netherworld active.
His gray eyes calmly scanned everything around them.
Since they had followed Blade's Edge into the Wall of Sighs, they had only caught a glimpse of a few wandering, pale-blue spectral shadows at the very edge.
Those shadows were blurry in form, some looking like twisted humanoids and others like irregular light masses.
They drifted aimlessly, emitting faint, nearly sigh-like rustling sounds.
Other than that, Lin Gui hadn't seen a single demon approach the entire way.
He couldn't help but sigh softly, “It really is miraculous.”
“Not a single decent demon has actively approached.”
“Are they that afraid of ‘the dying’?”
“What on earth is the logic behind this...”
After speaking, Lin Gui lowered his gaze, curiously observing the elderly guide being carried by Ryan.
Within the vision of the Eyes of the Netherworld, the old man's soul presented a peculiar state.
It was a soul that was constantly “dissipating.”
Faint and thin, it was like a wisp of residual smoke that could go out at any moment.
But one characteristic was very obvious.
The old man's entire soul was like a weak flame.
The flame wasn't static; rather, it was flickering slightly and continuously toward a fixed direction.
It was as if it were being pulled by some invisible force in the distance.
Lin Gui speculated that that direction... should be the so-called “Netherworld Sea.”
In legend, the Netherworld Sea was the final destination for the souls of all living beings after death.
This wasn't some baseless fantasy.
Some people even claimed to have arrived there.
That was the master of the field of soul magic—
Augustine, the Tower Master of the Purple Tower in the City of a Thousand Towers.
A centenarian who had spent his life studying soul magic and was said to have “died” several times.
According to the scattered records he left behind:
The Netherworld Sea was an ocean constructed from endless soul energy.
It was a shore that existed on the “other side” of the world, unreachable except through death.
When a living being was between life and death, their soul would begin to be pulled by it.
Lin Gui stared at that flickering “soul flame.”
Perhaps this was the key to the guides being able to pass safely through the Wall of Sighs.
Their souls already had one foot in the realm of death.
And this was precisely what the spectral demons within the wall loathed—or perhaps even... feared.
While Lin Gui controlled the vessel to keep it synchronized, he kept his eyes glued to the old man below.
He wanted to observe carefully exactly how this repelling effect was produced.
He wanted to see if he could find the key, or perhaps... even attempt to replicate it.
He didn't notice that at some point, Theia had already leaned her head over from behind.
Her chin rested lightly on his shoulder, her warm breath near his ear.
Her emerald eyes narrowed slightly as she curiously observed Lin Gui’s eyes, which had turned gray.
Her gaze was filled with wonder, but she didn't speak to disturb him.
After watching for a while, she turned around toward Eve, who was sitting obediently.
Lean in closer, she asked in a whisper:
“Eve, Lin Gui's eyes turned gray.”
“That should be the magic you mentioned before, the one that can see through souls, right?”
“As a mage, do you know what spell this is?”
Upon hearing this, Eve gave a soft, wry smile.
Lowering her voice, she explained to Theia, “Soul magic is the most profound and difficult-to-learn branch in the field of magic.”
“Whether in the Golden Age or the current City-State Era, mages' exploration of it has been extremely limited.”
“Currently, the number of soul magic spells circulating openly can be counted on one hand.”
She recalled for a moment and then softly listed them: “The most common is ‘soul tracking,’ used for locking onto a target.”
“And the ‘Clarity’ spell we're using right now.”
“There's also ‘Mental Derangement,’ which is an offensive type.”
“Other than those, there are very few records.”
Theia blinked and followed up with, “Then Lin Gui's... what is that magic that even makes his eyes change color?”
Eve shook her head, her gaze falling on Lin Gui’s back.
“I'm not sure. Perhaps... it's a secret technique he developed himself.”
“Just like the ‘Shroud of the Gloomy Night.’”
“To my knowledge, among existing soul magic, there isn't one that can directly see through the specific form of a soul.”
Theia clicked her tongue, her expression somewhat exaggerated.
“In that case, isn't Lin Gui... way too impressive?”
Eve looked at that focused black-robed back ahead of her.
Her eyes became deep and complex.
She was silent for a long moment before replying in a very soft voice:
“Impressive... is likely insufficient to describe his attainments.”
If one were to talk only about Lin Gui's own mage rank and mana, he actually wasn't all that extraordinary—he couldn't even be called a genius.
A twenty-three-year-old High Rank mage would not even have the qualifications to apply for long-term residency in the City of a Thousand Towers.
Do not look at how Lin Gui and Eve seemed to only be one major rank apart. The mana gap between major ranks far exceeded the total mana between a Low-tier High Rank and a High-tier High Rank.
For Lin Gui to break through a sub-rank, he often only needed to accumulate a few thousand mana points.
But the leap to a major rank often had a threshold of over twenty thousand points.
Furthermore, the later it got, the difficulty of the required mana and insights for a breakthrough increased exponentially.
What’s more, Eve had just turned eighteen this year.
Unlike Theia, a ranger who claimed to be “forever eighteen,” Eve was a true eighteen-year-old girl.
As for Theia, she currently stalled at the Low-tier Transcendent rank.
It was largely due to her long years of wandering, which had eroded her ambition.
Before meeting Lin Gui, she had barely cultivated at all.
Because to her, becoming stronger didn't have much meaning.
Her family was long gone, and friends were a luxury. No one accepted her, and no one needed her, so why bother struggling?
This had led to a situation where, despite having been classmates with the Forest Elf Laisa, her strength had long since been left in the dust by the other.
Lin Gui was not a magic genius with exceptional innate talent in the conventional sense.
Eve was very certain that if he were to take the entrance examination for the City of a Thousand Towers, his results would likely not be very ideal.
However, his understanding and application of magic itself had long since subverted many common-sense rules in the field of magic.
At least, as Eve looked at Lin Gui's focused back, her eyes were filled with complex anticipation.
A top-tier concealment magic driven by High Rank mana that could deceive a Legendary perception... A basic Levitation spell honed to a superb state that seemed like an instinct... and these gray eyes that could peer into the essence of a soul...
Any one of these things, if placed on another person, would be enough for them to become a master in their own right—a target of genuine admiration in the City of a Thousand Towers.
Yet all of these were concentrated in a single person.
Recalling the secret prophecy passed down through the generations of Holy Saintesses, Eve took a light breath and murmured in a voice that was almost inaudible:
“I really hope... I can witness you truly soaring through the sky forever.”
“Unfortunately, I’ll have to get off the train halfway through this journey.”
She subconsciously raised her hand, lightly covering her chest.
A steady and slightly slow heartbeat came from beneath her fingertips.
But under that flesh, in the depths of her soul perception, the “heart” belonging to her was undergoing a subtle change.
The rhythm of its beat was gradually synchronizing with a certain “pulse” from a far-off place.
A heavy and ancient pull was slowly strengthening.
This meant that time was running out; they were coming for her.
The Dark Tide was near, and the “Hero's Expedition” was about to begin once more.
And she, too, had to set out on that established journey—the one destined to lead toward destruction.
Rate on N.U.
