The moment the broadcast stopped, a wave of ghostly energy surged into the sky!
The campus, which was about 80% occupied by wandering spirits, continued to operate as it had during the spirits' lifetimes. However, when they suddenly realized they were dead, a wave of despair and rage swept through them, forcing the ghost hunters to temporarily retreat.
"Lin Feng, my oil lamp seems to have stopped working!" Nie Chuxia exclaimed.
"My talismans too! The low-level ones are spontaneously combusting!" Wang Qian added.
Lin Feng noticed that Niu Meng's eyes had become unfocused. He called out twice, but Niu Meng suddenly lunged at his throat. Lin Feng hurriedly pressed the Xiu Gai Seal onto Niu Meng's forehead, sealing him away temporarily.
"The yin energy is too intense, causing interference! We can't go down anymore—let's head to the rooftop for now!"
Activating his Heaven's Eye, Lin Feng saw countless ghostly students wandering downstairs. No longer the obedient pupils sitting in classrooms, they had begun to attack each other.
On the fifth floor, dozens of ghosts emerged from the classrooms. Upon seeing Lin Feng and his group, they charged forward like predators spotting fresh prey.
With Nie Chuxia and Wang Qian's protective talismans rendered useless, Lin Feng had to face the onslaught alone.
Since these ghosts couldn't be captured using spirit urns, Lin Feng had no choice but to physically extract their souls and destroy them.
One by one, the ghosts' bodies collapsed to the ground, leaving the fifth floor looking like a disaster zone—corpses strewn everywhere, with more ghosts still fighting among themselves inside the classrooms.
This was the junior high section, where 13- and 14-year-old spirits fought fiercely but calmed down quickly. In each classroom, only seven or eight remained after the chaos, all of them wild spirits around level 10. However, their numbers were overwhelming—more than 30 in total, with many more wandering spirits trailing behind them.
Before they could reach the rooftop, Lin Feng found the hallway blocked by an overwhelming number of ghosts. He cursed inwardly.
Damn it... Is this what they meant by 'junior high brothers, countless in numbers'?
The sheer number was overwhelming!
More than 30 wild ghosts, each with a horde of minions, surged toward Lin Feng in a frenzy.
"Floating Cloud Wave!"
Lin Feng activated the Floating Cloud Robe's skill. A wave of energy rippled outward from him, blasting the oncoming ghosts apart like a nuclear explosion. The fierce spiritual force reduced them to fragments.
The Floating Cloud Wave drained half of Lin Feng's spiritual energy. With the surrounding ghosts momentarily deterred, Lin Feng leaned against the wall, gasping for air as dizziness from oxygen deprivation set in.
"Lin Feng! You can... actually use an artifact?" Nie Chuxia's eyes widened in disbelief. She also had a Floating Cloud Robe but had never managed to unlock its powers.
Before Lin Feng could respond, Wang Qian's voice rang out in panic:
"Lin Hei Gou! Save me!"
The spontaneous combustion of his low-level talismans had caught Wang Qian off guard. Reluctant to use his expensive Silken Talisman on mere wild ghosts, his only defense left was a Vajra Talisman.
But it wasn't enough. A group of little ghosts lifted Wang Qian and carried him toward a classroom. The scene resembled a tribal celebration, with Wang Qian screaming like a pig being slaughtered.
"Nie Chuxia, stick close to me!"
Lin Feng smashed two ghosts with his fists, splattering blood across his face, and rushed toward Wang Qian.
The little ghosts moved swiftly, entering the classroom through the front door and exiting through the back without stopping, heading toward the other side of the hallway.
With a horde of ghosts blocking his way, Lin Feng found it impossible to break through.
He could only watch as Wang Qian was carried downstairs, disappearing at the end of the corridor. Despite unleashing several Great Blazing Spirit-Binding Hands to blast apart a few wild ghosts, Lin Feng was powerless to help.
Ding! Alert: Insufficient spiritual energy! Skill usage unavailable! Heaven's Eye has been automatically deactivated!
"Damn it!"
As the system alert faded, Lin Feng's vision blurred. Without Heaven's Eye, the ghosts possessing corpses disappeared, leaving only the lifeless bodies wandering the hallway.
The corpses swarmed toward him, and the dizziness from oxygen deprivation worsened. Lin Feng stumbled backward, caught by Nie Chuxia.
"Are you okay?" she asked, supporting him as they retreated.
Lin Feng managed a bitter smile. "I can't use Heaven's Eye anymore. Things are going to get dangerous."
Nie Chuxia reassured him, "It's fine. Ghosts will still reveal themselves if they touch blood. You're not anemic, are you?"
Hearing her calm words and noticing how she had positioned herself as a shield in front of him, Lin Feng snapped, "Nie Chuxia! Have you no humanity?"
Nie Chuxia retorted arrogantly, "Missy here is anemic lately. You expect me to protect you? Besides, my Heaven's Eye stopped working ages ago! All I have left is one candle keeping you alive—be grateful!"
This was the first time Lin Feng had exhausted all his spiritual energy. With Niu Meng incapacitated, he realized the critical importance of forming a spirit containment force. Once they escaped, he was determined to gather a few powerful ghosts and organize them under the City God's Command.
This trial against the ghosts had revealed his shortcomings.
On the fourth and third floors, more ghosts surged. The school broadcast had announced the presence of human skin in the building, attracting many challengers. However, after the ghosts went berserk, eliminations followed one after another.
Lin Feng calculated that, besides their team, only three other teams remained.
One was led by a bearded man, another by a man with peach-blossom eyes, and the third team remained unidentified.
Meanwhile, the school dean had set off to ambush the two known teams.
At the water room on the first floor, Nie Chuxia's last candle burned out. After a heroic effort to help them escape the building, Huang Ji had turned to ash. Now, Nie Chuxia and Lin Feng were like lambs waiting for the slaughter.
"Damn it… These ghosts really hurt when they grab you…" Nie Chuxia muttered, sitting in the water room. Her back was clawed deeply, the wounds turning black from corpse poison. Lin Feng's body was already covered in bloodied, torn flesh.
"Missy, I can use Heaven's Eye again. What about you?"
"Barely."
"Follow me. I think I know how to get out!"
The two made their way from the water room to the bike shed. Near the school's back gate, by the fountain, they saw the bearded man and the man with peach-blossom eyes furiously fighting the school dean.
But they, too, were surrounded by ghosts.
"You two… Dare to intrude into our school? Are you courting death?"
Ma Chuan's belly swelled like a drum, continuously devouring the little ghosts to replenish his strength.
Meanwhile, the duo of Peach Blossom Eyes and Bearded Man were reaching their limits, their strength almost entirely spent.
"Nie Drunkard, can you still fight?" Peach Blossom Eyes asked, his face pale and weary.
Just moments ago, he and Bearded Man had encountered a powerful malevolent spirit, which had drained a significant portion of their spiritual energy.
He hadn't anticipated that such a formidable ghost could exist within the Mirage Realm. Although they had managed to kill it together, both were now severely injured.
Bearded Man took a swig from his wine flask and laughed heartily. "Why not?! My only concern is how we're supposed to get out of here once we're done! Damn it, puzzles really aren't my thing!"
He had been knocked into the fountain earlier. The abandoned fountain was filled with algae-green rainwater. Bearded Man wiped his face and noticed three coffins lying in a large pit next to the fountain, making his head ache.
This was the third trial. The first two trials had relied on strength, but this one clearly required intellect, a skill Bearded Man was notoriously bad at.
Since the broadcast announcement, he had been fighting non-stop for two hours.
The school was swarming with ghosts. There were hundreds of wild ghosts, over a dozen fierce spirits, and one malevolent spirit—all of whom seemed to target him and Peach Blossom Eyes specifically.
It seemed the saying "a tall tree catches the wind" wasn't just a myth. In hindsight, they probably shouldn't have killed so many student ghosts earlier.
Most frustrating of all, after two hours of relentless combat, they still hadn't found the key to pass the trial. Bearded Man had searched nearly every corner of the school without finding the fabled human skin.
Even after crudely peeling several corpses, using the skins yielded no results.
This trial… was impossibly hard!
Peach Blossom Eyes, now covered in dust and dirt, had long since lost his usual dashing appearance. This time, teaming up with Nie Yuxuan had already gone against their master's orders. But without joining forces, they would have been eliminated much earlier.
Their Fight Sect had sent three members, and two were already out. Losing face like this was unbearable.
Hearing Nie Yuxuan's question, Peach Blossom Eyes hesitated before responding, "Nie Drunkard… I actually know how to use those three coffins. And I know where the human skin is."
Bearded Man's eyes widened in disbelief. In his mind, Peach Blossom Eyes, while handsome, was nothing but a brainless playboy who only cared about women. How could he possibly know how to solve this trial?
Peach Blossom Eyes gave a bitter smile. "But… it might be too late."
At the school's back gate, a sea of ghosts had formed an impenetrable barrier. Yet from the direction of the bike shed, a young man was approaching.
The boy was supported by a beautiful woman as they walked slowly forward, scattering joss paper along the way.
"The living borrow the path; the dead must step aside!"
The voice was ancient and solemn, rising and falling in cadence. Any ghost touched by the falling joss paper instinctively retreated, clearing a path.
A single road stretched ahead, and two figures walked along it.
When Lin Feng scattered some joss paper over Bearded Man and Peach Blossom Eyes, they felt an invisible force preventing them from approaching him.
Lin Feng then hurled an entire stack of joss paper at the school dean, fulfilling his promise. Afterward, he and Nie Chuxia each selected a coffin and lay down inside.
"Gentlemen, see you back at the villa."