Everything was ready.
Lin Gui took a deep breath and gripped the flying vessel's control lever.
Instead of accelerating immediately, he kept their speed to an absolute minimum.
Like a floating leaf, the flying vessel glided silently into the Wailing Corridor, hugging the ground.
Their progress was agonizingly slow.
They crawled toward the center of the basin inch by inch, barely moving faster than a walking pace.
To narrow the field of vision of his Eyes of the Netherworld and prevent too many spectral demons from fleeing in panic—which would draw unwanted attention—
Lin Gui deliberately lowered his head, keeping his eyes on the ground and relying entirely on his memory to guide the flying vessel along the route.
Theia was full of confusion.
She had expected Lin Gui to just charge straight through with a whoosh like he usually did.
Instead, they were moving as slow as a snail.
She pursed her lips, not daring to make a sound and disturb him.
But she couldn't help looking down.
The environment of the Wailing Corridor was completely different from the areas they had previously crossed.
The thick fog seemed more viscous, and the air was filled with a stale, stagnant scent of death.
It wasn't the stench of rotting flesh, but rather a deeper aura of a silent, stagnant soul.
Barely any soil or vegetation could be seen on the ground.
Only grayish-white rock formations, looking as if they had been repeatedly crushed, lay exposed.
Occasionally, massive, bottomless fissures could be seen.
They stretched across the land like scars torn open by invisible claws.
What made Theia's heart race the most was the omnipresent sensation of being watched.
Even though she couldn't see anything, she could clearly feel it.
And this invisible gaze grew stronger and stronger the deeper they went.
Just as Theia's nerves were stretched to their absolute limit—
An extremely faint, drawn-out wail echoed.
“Woo... nngh...”
The sound was ethereal and faint, like a sigh seeping from the depths of the earth far below.
Theia shuddered, her hand instantly reaching for the dagger at her waist.
Just as she was about to draw her blade—
Lin Gui, who had been looking down at the ground ahead, slightly tilted his head.
His gray eyes cast a subtle glance in a certain direction.
His gaze was icy, carrying a silent warning.
In the next second...
The faint wailing...
Abruptly stopped.
Theia focused her gaze in the direction Lin Gui was looking.
There was nothing there.
But in Lin Gui's vision, a spectral demon materialized where there had seemingly been nothing.
The Hero Rank specter retreated in utter panic.
It dissolved into several wisps of pale blue smoke, squirming into the depths of a rock fissure.
Keeping his head down, Lin Gui swept his gray eyes subtly across the surrounding ground.
On the left cliff face, a multi-legged, centipede-like specter suddenly curled its joints.
On the right, a monster formed from a cluster of countless pale arms reaching out of a crevice violently withdrew into the darkness.
On the ground ahead, a pitch-black shadow flowing slowly like tar instantly froze before seeping into the earth.
Every hideous entity touched by his gaze recoiled and vanished as if they had been burned.
The harsh wails in their ears vanished completely.
There was only dead silence.
Only in the far distance did intermittent groans still faintly echo.
The sound was as ethereal as an illusion, yet it made the atmosphere even more oppressive.
Having driven away the spectral demons that had trailed them, Lin Gui lowered his head again, guiding the flying vessel deeper and deeper at a slow pace.
As the flying vessel penetrated deeper into the heart of the corridor...
The oppressive feeling around them intensified at a visible rate.
The temperature plummeted.
It wasn't an ordinary cold, but a bone-chilling, blood-freezing dampness.
At the same time, an invisible pressure that seemed to originate from the soul itself...
Assaulted the consciousness of the three of them in wave after wave, like a rising tide.
Lin Gui knew they had entered the territory of an Epic spectral demon.
The real danger was about to arrive.
The thin moonlight overhead pierced through the eerily shifting thick fog.
The faint light dyed the mist in layers of ominous colors.
A dark, dull crimson, a viscous black-purple, and a pale, ghostly green.
The colors intertwined and writhed, as if the fog itself had come alive.
Theia's face grew slightly pale, her emerald eyes reflecting her tension.
She could feel her heartbeat quickening, her breathing unconsciously becoming shallow.
The colors and whisper-like groans constantly frayed her nerves.
Eve was behind her.
Fine beads of cold sweat broke out on her fair forehead, her lips tightly pursed.
Her hands, crossed over her chest, had knuckles that turned slightly white from gripping so hard.
Clearly, this mental pressure had a deeper effect on her.
Lin Gui noticed the condition of the two behind him.
He maintained his head-down posture, focusing on observing the path below.
But his right hand quietly reached backward, feeling around until he gently clasped Theia's hand, which was resting against his waist.
Then, he pulled her hand forward and gently pressed it against his abdomen.
Theia was slightly startled at first, but she understood immediately.
No longer hesitating, she wrapped her arms tightly around Lin Gui's waist.
She pressed her entire upper body firmly against his back.
Right after, she also reached her hand backward, feeling around.
Soon, a slightly cool and soft hand held hers.
It was Eve.
Theia gently squeezed Eve's hand, silently conveying the message to "hold on tight."
Eve didn't make a sound, merely shifting forward obediently.
Then, a pair of slender yet steady arms reached out, gently wrapping around Theia's waist from behind.
The hold was steady and light, yet carried an undeniable sense of support.
Through their clothes, the body heat and heartbeats of the three of them...
Weakly yet stubbornly connected in this freezing, deathly quiet wasteland.
Lin Gui took a deep breath.
Then, refocusing his mind, he controlled the flying vessel.
He continued to slowly approach that unknown "blank space" surrounded by powerful demons.
According to Blackbeard, the only person who had successfully crossed the Wailing Corridor was Shadow Blade Lynn.
In this wasteland, she had been besieged by at least ten Epic spectral demons.
She had charged into the corridor almost recklessly, relying on the extreme speed of a peak assassin.
She had threaded her way through the gaps between countless invisible, lethal attacks in a thrilling display of agility.
Even so...
By the time she finally crossed this forbidden zone, not a single patch of skin on her body was left unharmed.
She hadn't been able to see those terrifying attacks.
Just as Gorn couldn't see Theia's arrows under the protection of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night in the Withered Rift.
And the number and strength of the spectral demons here far exceeded what Shadow Blade Lynn could contend with.
Relying on her High-tier Epic speed and robust physique, she had managed to cross it once.
But it was absolutely impossible for her to do it a second time.
Lin Gui was completely different from Shadow Blade Lynn.
He could clearly see those entities that ordinary people could not perceive.
After a whole night of scouting, he had mapped out every powerful demon's gathering point within a thirty-kilometer radius of the corridor.
He knew them like the back of his hand.
But his own strength was far too weak.
So weak that he couldn't even withstand the aftershock of any casual attack.
For the High-tier Epic Shadow Blade Lynn, her powerful physical constitution was her ultimate insurance.
But Lin Gui had no such protection.
Therefore, he had to be even more cautious than her.
He had to disguise himself as...
A slow, dull "mouse" that had accidentally wandered into the forbidden zone.
He had to completely show his harmless, useless side to those...
Terrifying entities that had already cast their gazes upon him the moment he entered.
Lin Gui's slow infiltration right now was a performance, not only for the demons that paid him no heed...
But even more so for the one...
Whose gaze had subtly followed his own line of sight ever since he began his scouting...
The Low-tier Epic crimson spectral demon.
The one who had cordoned off a blank area for Avalon...
The "gatekeeper."
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