Five minutes later…

“I… I’m dead?” The ghost finally had enough of his own panicking and stopped to compose himself. He sat on the floor, helplessly trying to grasp the fact that he was dead.

“Speak – who exactly are you?” Lonemoon asked as he stepped forward, scanning the ghost from head to toe. “Why are you in the immortal realm? And where are Little Black and Yu Hong?”

“What?” The man’s eyes widened. He looked even more shocked than before. “This… this is the immortal realm! Your immortals?” He looked around and only just then seemed to realise the thick and rich immortal Qi surrounding him. His eyes were bulging out of his skull. In disbelief, he asked, “Could it be… I rose to heaven after I died?”

His eyes brightened. He became very excited and joyful. Lonemoon did not think he was acting.

Lonemoon frowned even more deeply as he exchanged a meaningful glance with Yi Qing. What’s happening? This doesn’t look right.

“You don’t know how you got to the immortal realm?”

The man paused. He looked at them, no longer fearful. Instead, he looked… respectful. “Didn’t immortals bring me up here? I… Am I going to become a god?”

Lonemoon pursed his lips. This ghost indeed had a wild imagination.

“Then how did you generate so much grievous energy in your body?”

“Grievous energy?” He looked confused, as if he had never heard that term before. Awhile later, he cupped his fists and said, “Immortals… your lowly subordinate really has no idea what you are talking about… What’s… What’s wrong with me?”

He lost his memory? That can’t be!

Lonemoon’s expression darkened. Yi Qing, on the other hand, stepped forward and asked, “Do you still remember how you died?”

The man paused,. He scrunched up his face, like he was using all the willpower in his body to will his memories back. The remnant grievous energy in his body seemed to stir. But a moment later, he said, “I… I really don’t know. Am I really dead?”

What was going on? He really was a ghost that lost his memory? But why is his body still producing grievous energy?

“What do you remember?”

The man shook his head and said in a low voice, “I only remember… I’m Song Ren, a citizen of Qing He province. I’ve studied extremely hard for the last ten years and was planning to go to the palace next year to take the major exams.”

“You’re not a cultivator!”

“What’s a cultivator?” He looked confused once again.

“…” He really was a nerd.

Alright, it looked like they were not going to get anything out of him. He was clearly just a mortal who had never trained before. Yet, why was he generating so much grievous energy? And how did he break through the gates of the immortal realm?

The most important thing was, how did a ghost not even remember how he died? How were they going to find out where Yu Hong and Little Black were now?

“Sect Master, Elders…” Just a Lonemoon was thinking, Si Yu walked in and called out anxiously.

“What’s the matter?” He asked.

“Elder, you told me to watch the Deed-Signing Stage yesterday. There seems to be something happening over there now.” She frowned, as if not knowing how to explain herself. “It’s…. Elder, just come along with me and you’ll understand.”

Lonemoon exchanged a meaningful glance with Yi Qing. He pointed to the ghost and said, “Shortie, watch this ghost. We’ll be back soon.” They turned to leave, but paused and added, “And watch Shen Ying!” He had already lost two people from his sect. He was not about to lose a third.

“…”

“Yes, Elder!” Shortie’s eyes brightened. She nodded excitedly and looked like she had just won a prize.

It was only then that Lonemoon walked out of the hall with Yi QIng.

Meng Po immediately walked to Shen Ying, both of her eyes twinkling. With an almost child-like expression, she said, “Sect Master, I’ve planted some especially good crops these days. Since Elder Chef isn’t around, would you like to try them now? She turned around and reached for her storage bag. Then, she retrieved a potato as big as a watermelon.

Shen Ying, “…”

Was Shen Ying allowed to fire her just this once?

————

The Deed-Signing Stage was not far from the rear hall. Lonemoon and Yi Qing arrived there after a few seconds. The grievous energy from before had all dissipated by now. All that was left in the sky was a broken-down stage.

But something looked different. Where the original Deed-Signing Stage stood, immortal Qi was surging. Large amounts of immortal Qi was gathering over there, stirring toward the center. Faintly, they could see the silhouette of something forming.

“The Immortal Ascension Stage?” Lonemoon paused. Immediately, he took back his guess. “No, that’s not right!” The Immortal Ascension Stage only appeared when cultivators from lower realms were ascending to the immortal realm. It would appear first by light underneath their feet. What’s more, the Immortal Ascension Stage was not restricted by space and could appear almost anywhere, but it most likely would not appear in the Heavenly Palace. The immortal Qi here was far too rich – it would affect the way the Immortal Ascension Stage formed.

He looked even more closely and said to Yi Qing, “Chef, don’t you feel like the immortal Qi is travelling in-”

“The opposite direction from in Immortal Ascension Stages,” Yi Qing finished Lonemoon’s sentence.

The two of them started. Lonemoon turned to the person behind him. “Si Yu, get the other disciples and tell them not to come anywhere near this place.” He faced Yi Qing and said, “Seal off this entire area! I’ll take the right side!”

Yi Qing nodded and flew over.

Together, the two of them set up arrays. A moment later, walls of light was formed by each of them travelled toward the center. Soon, a translucent globe was formed, trapping the spot where immortal Qi was in the middle.

The strange immortal Qi that had gathered suddenly stopped moving.

Lonemoon frowned. Indeed that was it.

The Immortal Ascension Stage was formed by the condensation of immortal Qi, but a huge portion of that immortal Qi came from the tribulation that cultivators in the lower realm went through. So the immortal Qi actually burst through the immortal gates from the lower realm. This immortal Qi was completely different. It was the immortal Qi from the heavenly palace that was rushing toward the center.

He and Yi Qing sealed the place up completely, so that the immortal Qi was finally forced to stop surging. They exchanged a meaningful glance and entered the globe they created. The strange thing was the immortal i inside had become much thinner. It was getting weaker and weaker by the second.

They followed in the direction that the Immortal Qi seemed to be travelling. That was when they realised that in the middle, a crack the width of one finger had appeared. It was not big. People would easily have missed it if they did not look closely. All around, however, the immortal Qi continued to flow toward that crack.

“A realm gate!” Lonemoon exclaimed. The crack obviously led to the lower realm. That coward had depended on his grievous energy to burst through the realm gates, but the realm gate should have sealed off after leading him here. Why was it still open? From the way the immortal Qi was gathering over here, it looked like it was all escaping to the lower realm.

He used his divine perception to scan the crack. Indeed, there were remnants of the warm grievous energy that Lonemoon witnessed earlier. It was no wonder that the realm gates were still open. It was good that he had reacted quickly and told Yi Qing to seal this area off. Otherwise, all of the immortal Qi from the Heavenly Palace would have been sucked in by the crack.

It looked like Little Black and Yu Hong fell into the lower realm!

“Chef, can you sense which little realm this crack will lead to?”

Yi Qing pondered for a moment then shook his head. “No, too much immortal Qi had entered. The realm gate is no longer stable. I have no way of ascertaining.”

Lonemoon’s expression fell. He waved his hand and conjured a seal, gathering the grievous energy at the crack. The next moment, the crack sealed itself up.

“Let’s go back to look for Shen Ying!” They could not tell what this crack was about, but the cheat surely would be able to.