The forest lay silent under the night sky, the soldiers in the camp sound asleep. A gentle evening breeze brought a chill to the air. Li Mufan, shivering in his thin clothing, stood at the door and tightened his collar as he made his way to a corner of the camp.
"Huh~ Winter is coming soon. I need to bring back some cotton clothes and quilts next time," he muttered to himself, finding a tree to relieve himself.
Just as he finished his business and turned to head back to his quarters, a chilling sight froze him in place.
In the jungle not far from the camp, a procession of skeleton soldiers in rusted armor floated silently through the darkness.
The most disturbing part? These skeletal figures had no feet.
Their swords were old and corroded, their bloodstained armor tattered. The large flags they carried were blackened with grime, resembling a ghostly army gliding eastward, eerily quiet.
"Ghost soldiers are passing through!" Li Mufan gasped, trembling as he hurriedly covered his mouth with his hands.
Fighting to remain calm, he bit his tongue to ground himself and quickly scanned the area. There were at least four or five hundred ghost soldiers making their way past.
He slipped back into the warmth of his house, exhaling in relief. "Damn, that scared the life out of me."
But instead of seeking the comfort of Fan Qingyue's embrace, he donned his armor, grabbed the female general's long sword (having given his broadsword to Zhang Tie), and stepped back outside.
As he quietly approached the next room, he was met with an unexpected scene that left him momentarily speechless.
"Damn it! Aqiang, Cuihua! Don't you ever lock the door?" he exclaimed.
Caught in a passionate moment, Aqiang and Cuihua jumped at the sound of his voice. Cuihua sighed in relief upon realizing it was just Li Mufan.
Aqiang, regaining his composure, grinned. "Master, it's the middle of the night. What's going on?"
Li Mufan felt no remorse for interrupting their private moment. He gestured urgently outside. "There's something happening outside. Grab your weapons and come with me."
After a brief pause, the three of them hid behind a large tree not far from the camp, watching as the ghost soldiers slowly vanished into the night. Cuihua whispered, "Master, these ghosts don't seem to care about our camp."
"True, but I can't shake the feeling that we need to figure this out. Let's follow them," Li Mufan replied.
Aqiang and Cuihua nodded, agreeing to follow him as they carefully moved through the jungle.
Two hours passed as they navigated the darkened landscape, the night growing increasingly ominous.
Following the ghost soldiers, they reached the base of a mountain to the east of the camp. They watched the skeletons disappear one by one along a hidden path shrouded in thick fog.
There was no fog at the mountain's base, but the path ahead was engulfed. Something felt off.
Li Mufan, not wanting to be reckless, decided it was best to wait until morning to gather the troops. Just as he was about to retreat, his vision blurred, and when it cleared, he found himself enveloped in the thick fog!
Panic surged through him as he felt his hair stand on end.
"Master!" Aqiang's voice pierced through the fog.
Li Mufan quickly grabbed Aqiang's arm with one hand and held onto Cuihua's arm with the other. "Quick, hold each other's hands! We can't get separated in this fog!"
"What should we do now?" Cuihua asked, her voice trembling.
"Don't panic! Let's retreat!" he urged, but even as they turned back, the fog was so thick that their path was obscured.
Relying on memory, the trio hurriedly retraced their steps, but after what felt like an eternity, they found themselves still trapped in the fog.
Li Mufan's heart sank. Just when despair began to settle in, Aqiang exclaimed, "It's this stone tablet again! Master, we seem to be back where we started!"
"Stone tablet? What are you talking about?" Li Mufan asked, bewildered.
Cuihua chimed in, "Master, I think we've seen this stone tablet eight times now!"
Li Mufan was taken aback. His companions had better eyesight and memory than he did. "Show me!"
Standing beneath the three-meter-high stone tablet, Li Mufan's expression shifted from confusion to disbelief.
The square stone tablet had strange markings on all four sides, unlike any script he had seen in Tianheng Continent.
"Death!"
A deep red character etched on the stone sent a chill down his spine.
"What…" Li Mufan stammered. "Why are there Chinese characters here?"
A wave of shock and confusion washed over him. "Where is this? Why are there Chinese characters?"
"A Qiang! Have all the stone tablets we passed had this word?" he asked, urgency creeping into his voice.
Aqiang hesitated. "Master, the fog is too thick to see clearly, but I think the other stone tablets had different markings…"
"Quick, let's keep moving. We need to see the other stone tablets!" Li Mufan insisted.
After walking a short distance, Cuihua's voice rang out, "Master, look! There's another stone tablet to the right!"
"Injury!"
Another vivid red Chinese character greeted them, this one reading "Injury."
"Death? Injury? Are they telling us we'll either die or be injured?" Li Mufan felt his hair stand on end.
"Let's keep searching! We need to find the other stone tablets!" he urged.
The three continued through the dense fog, eventually spotting yet another stone tablet.
"Die!"
Another tablet bore the ominous word "Death."
"Are we back where we started?" Li Mufan felt a sense of unease creeping in.
But Aqiang shook his head. "Master, I can sense we just turned around!"
Stunned, Li Mufan recalled that Aqiang and Cuihua's directional sense was 40% sharper than average. Anger surged within him. "You idiots! Why didn't you tell me sooner? Lead the way and find another route!"