Inside the walls of the Ghost City, what Wu Xuan expected to see was not there. Instead of a town fair, there was a long river pulsing with a dark green. There was only a small ferry and one small ship. The sky was full of lanterns and there was no land. The ship, which was carved with a dragon's head, looked ancient, but almost everyone was anxious to board it.
"We need to get on it too." Meng Zhi said pushing the crowd forward. Hugging Yu Lingyu to his chest, Wu Xuan followed him as he pushed. But the people are not moved in the slightest. "Damn it! If this goes on, we won't get to go." Pushing away a demonic female spirit that had come to touch his body, Meng Zhi groaned not very happily.
But at the same time, everyone was pushed forward by a shock wave from behind, and those who touched the green water began to cry out in pain and get burned. Their bodies were smoking and slowly decaying as if eaten by a parasite.
"Why is there only one boat today!" One spirit shouted. "Really! Where are the other boats? Where are the other boatmen!?" It didn't take long for everyone's screams to create a big noise. Lingyu hugged Wu Xuan's neck even more with tears in his eyes. But he didn't even make a sound, as if he knew he shouldn't.
"Please calm down!" A sharp voice echoed, stopping all noise. Wu Xuan's eyes caught a person standing on the wood-carved dragon's head, on the front deck of the ship. He was dressed in a long, old black robe and wore a long hood covering his eyes. And there is a black face mask covering his full face. Apparently, he was the ship's navigator. "Don't worry. Due to unavoidable reasons, we can only carry twenty people at a time. The ship would travel several times, so please don't worry!"
The crowd seemed to calm down. Surprisingly, they no longer dared to shout or question. Before, the man's words seemed like a request, but as Wu Xuan realized, it was a command. But at the same time, he felt a gentle touch on his body. Meng Zhi was holding onto his sash and they were slowly moving forward without him even noticing. Be among the top twenty! That is his intention.
As the spirits slowly boarded the ship, Wu Xuan leg-marched someone in front of him, flattening him to the ground. Stepping over the helpless demonic spirit, he was chosen as the twentieth of the twenty. Of course, with Lingyu it was twenty-one, but no one seemed to care about the little boy.
"You black reed hat! How dare you push me down! Come here, come back again!"
Rolling his eyes, Wu Xuan ignored the person he had flattened to the ground before. And that spirit also did not dare to board the ship behind him. The little ship heaved and its sails unfurled as if ready to sail. Wu Xuan slowly walked towards the front deck as if to get a closer look at the dragon head carving.
"Don't go!" Meng Zhi's nervous voice rose. He was worried. On other days, there were at least a dozen or so ships in that small ferry. Therefore, there was never any commotion or noise at Ghost Ferry. Crossing his arms over his chest, he walked over to a nearby crew. "What's going on here?"
The servant, who was staring at the river at the ship's fence, gasped and raised his head. He had fair skin and seemed to be a human spirit. "Sorry?" He asked Meng Zhi in a low voice. His hands were clutching a corner of his robe, his eyes were wide with fear and nervousness. "Why is this the only ship?" Looking at the trembling soul, Meng Zhi lowered the aggressiveness in his voice as if he didn't need to frighten the helpless soul anymore.
"This is all that's left," said the spirit.
"Huh?"
"From day to day, the ships are disappearing one by one. Yesterday there were two ships left, but today only this one. If tod-today, we also disappear-" The spirit stopped talking and started pulling his hair as if he were unconscious. Even though he was already dead, he didn't need to disappear either. To Meng Zhi's surprise, another servant arrived and punched Spirit in the head, causing him to jump aside.
"Shut up! How can we disappear while the Commander is here?" He said angrily. He, who had a tall and strong body, was dressed in a plain white cloak like the other one, and instead of hair on his head, there were yellow feathers. Even though he was a demonic spirit, he was still anxious to comfort that timid human spirit.
"An evil spirit?" Meng Zhi asked curiously. They used to call as Commander to the person in black. The demon spirit folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes as if in anger. His brows were drawn together and the veins on his face were swollen.
"No, he must be a demon. Souls cannot play with this river. This scumbag! The human world is not enough and came here to torment us!" He blew his nose and snorted.
Meng Zhi suppressed the urge to tell that demon spirit that he was also a demon even though he cursed them.
"Even so, Bing Zhen, the Left Commander couldn't save the ship yesterday, right, so-"
"Shut up!" Demon Spirit, Bing Zhen shouted. "Can't you stop not crying your nose out?"
Meng Zhi left, letting them fight. What were the Ghost lord did until all the ships are gone? Shouldn't he intervene and sort it out?
Aggrieved, he walked towards Wu Xuan. He seemed intently looking at the river. In fact, Meng Zhi never understood Wu Xuan. No matter how you looked at it, Wu Xuan was a strange person. Whether as a person or in spiritual strength, Wu Xuan was by no means ordinary.
Meng Zhi had heard that Lightning Dragon Spiritual Spirits had eight different power forms. Surprisingly, Wu Xuan, the most dangerous member, the demon slayer in the Wen Sect, could only control two of the eight forms. That was the most extraordinary part of it. A rumor had spread throughout the Wen sect for some time that he could control its final form but could not control its first forms. Also, Meng Zhi had seen it with his own eyes. Even in the battle with Jun Jiu, Wu Xuan only used two forms.
Shaking his head from side to side, Meng Zhi also looked down at the river water, removing unnecessary thoughts. Something that Wu Xuan was looking at also caught his eye. The color of the water was changing. The water, which was pulsating green before, was turning darker and blacker. The green color of the river comes from the spiritual green crystals at the bottom of the river. If its color fades and darkens, it must be a, "It's a shadow!" Meng Zhi said as sweat dripped from his forehead. Something coiled beneath the ship, blocking the view of the emerald crystals.
"It's at least fifty ships long," Meng Zhi said, cursing under his breath. It really must be a demon. If he couldn't find food on the human plane, then the ghost city was the best place for him to find souls as food. An uneasy silence hung in the air.
But at the same time, Meng Zhi felt the changes around the ship. The shakes of the ship increased and the environment became colder than it was, increasing the speed of the wind. A hoarse and horrifying screech echoed across the water, terrifying all the passengers. Wu Xuan took a few steps back from the ship fence. "Everyone! Go to the storage Deck, now!" Bing Zhen, the demon spirit from before, shouted as he opened the door to the storage room. But he had no chance to say anything more. The ship quickly tilted to the side and Bing Zhen was thrown from where he was, hit the ship's fence and was thrown from the ship.
"Hey!" Meng Zhi tried to catch him, but he too lost his balance and slid across the deck. But then he saw a faint shadow pass him. It grabbed Bing Zhen as he was falling into the river and immediately landed back on the ship's mast, leaving Bing Zhen on board. He stayed on it without moving straight through the swings.
Dressed in an old black robe, he wore a black, full-face devil-style mask and a hood on his head. His robe fluttered in the wind and he looked like a tattered flag. "Commander Lang!" Bing Zhen shouted in thanks. Just like him, there was another person who was not moved by the shocks. Wearing a bamboo hat, he kept his eyes fixed on the mast. It was clear to Meng Zhi that the commander's eyes were also fixed on Wu Xuan. No, not at Wu Xuan, but at the sword covered with a long, unmatched wooden sheath hanging from Xuan's back.