The old man on the left was hunched, his black robe revealing skeletal fingers with bluish-black nails, a string of spinning soul beads hanging at his waist.
The old man on the right had a swollen face, his eyes rolled back, drool dripping from his mouth, clutching a chain scythe wreathed in ghostly flames.
These were the Nether Elders, urgently summoned by the Grand Elder: Ghost Claw Hag and Drowned Soul Duke.
“Grand Elder, what’s the rush?” Ghost Claw Hag’s voice scraped like nails on a slate, sharp and piercing.
She glanced at the child’s ashes on the floor, a flicker of impatience in her eyes. “If not for your summons, we were refining a new vessel with the ‘Hundred Ghosts Soul Refining’ technique.”
The Grand Elder shot to his feet, his sleeves trembling, pointing at the soul lamp platform in the hall’s centre. “Ghost Mask… all five ghosts’ soul lamps are extinguished!”
Drowned Soul Duke’s white eyes twitched, his chain scythe clattering to the ground. “Impossible! The five ghosts together, with the Gluttonous Ghost Beast, could overpower even a peak Loose Immortal. Who in the Triple Heaven has such power?”
“Soul lamps don’t lie!” The Grand Elder’s fists clenched, his fingertips white from the force. “Worse, the token Ghost Mask carried is missing! If it falls into outsider hands, the organisation’s secrets, and the ‘shackles’ over us, will be exposed!”
The Nether Elders exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in the other’s eyes.
Ghost Claw Hag’s bony fingers calculated something, her brow furrowing tighter. “Before the soul lamps went out, energy fluctuations showed they clashed with an… eerily strange force near Blood Shadow Palace, then vanished completely.”
“Blood Shadow Palace?” The Grand Elder’s pupils shrank. “I know their strength, how could they have someone capable of killing the five ghosts?”
Drowned Soul Duke licked his cracked lips, his voice hoarse. “Whoever it is, we must retrieve the token! Grand Elder, do you know anything about them?”
“Nothing!” The Grand Elder smashed his fist on the stone table, cracks spreading to its edge. “Ghost Mask didn’t even send a soul distress signal, showing how sudden their deaths were.”
“Now, it’s up to you two. Take the ‘Nether Shadow Guards’ and scour the Triple Heaven. Dig three feet deep if you must, but find that token!”
Ghost Claw Hag gave a sinister laugh, the soul bead at her fingertip suddenly flashing red. “Rest assured, nothing tainted with Ghost Mask’s aura can escape my ‘Ten Thousand Soul Lock’ tracking, but…” She paused, her gaze sweeping the Grand Elder. “If the token’s hidden, its aura erased, even we…”
“Enough nonsense!” The Grand Elder cut her off sharply. “If we don’t find the token, all three of us are dead! Remember, bring it back intact, whether its owner is alive or dead!”
The Nether Elders led a hundred Nether Shadow Guards, surging into Blood Shadow like a black tide.
The place was already a ruin, littered with corpses, some naked female bodies exposed, making Drowned Soul Duke lick his lips.
Ghost Claw Hag shot him a cold glare, and he quickly averted his gaze.
Standing before a patch of scorched earth, Ghost Claw Hag pointed her withered hand at claw marks three feet deep. “Look at the claw spacing, it’s the Gluttonous Ghost Beast’s ‘Nether Earth-Splitting Claw’, but the counterforce…”
She bent down, grabbing a handful of charred soil. The soul bead in her palm spun wildly, emitting a cracking sound.
“What’s wrong?” Drowned Soul Duke leaned closer, thrusting his chain scythe into the ground, instantly summoning countless souls that wailed and pointed in all directions.
“The aura… it’s been erased!” Ghost Claw Hag crushed the soul bead, her face ashen. “Not just souls destroyed, but all spiritual traces and energy fluctuations completely devoured! It’s as if… something swallowed them whole, leaving not even bone scraps!”
“What could be so powerful? Could the five ghosts have been devoured by their own Gluttonous Ghost Beast?” Drowned Soul Duke frowned, puzzled.
