This person still had that indifferent expression, and with a gentle lift of his hand, an invisible force wave emanated. The next second, Yang Xiao’s eyes seed to be obstructed by so force, leaving only a persistent lead-gray mist in front of him.
Soon after, the figures of the few people wavered, and once their eyes could open again, they found themselves in a completely unfamiliar place. It felt like they were underground, cold and damp, stepping on moss-growing stone slabs in the cracks.
When the mist completely dispersed, Yang Xiao could clearly see the surroundings. It was a narrow, dilapidated corridor and at the end of it, there was a cell door with wooden bars, like so sort of abandoned underground prison, extrely old.
"Walk forward, don’t look back." A hoarse, aged voice ca from behind, and Yang Xiao imdiately recognized it as Houjisan Shuangjian’s voice.
Thus, under the lead of Jiu Shan Sha Yue, the four of them headed towards the end of the corridor. Simultaneously, Yang Xiao also roughly confird that this Houjisan Shuangjian was a master of Space-type Magical Artifacts, and he had used his ability to transfer everyone here, to this secret dungeon.
Arriving at the cell door at the end, before Jiu Shan Sha Yue could reach to open it, the door was suddenly pulled open, and a figure stood within the dim cell, "Co in." Jiushan Cangxuan stepped back to make way.
One by one, they entered. As Yang Xiao stepped in, he intentionally glanced behind with the corner of his eye but saw no trace of Houjisan Shuangjian. Even the path they just walked on had disappeared, leaving only darkness behind them.
Once the four of them entered the cell, Jiushan Cangxuan closed the door. It was at this mont that they vaguely discerned the scene inside.
The room was relatively large, with a peculiar stone, resembling a stalactite, in the center. It was half a person high, emitting a weird, ghostly glow under the dim light. Staring at it for too long, Yang Xiao felt an absurd urge to walk towards it.
He imdiately shifted his gaze and inadvertently noticed that Tong Han had also averted his eyes, gasping heavily, clearly affected too.
Not far from the stalactite were four simple beds padded with straw, placed in each of the cardinal directions. The beds were extrely coarse and shabby, the straw damp and cold, even sprouting disgusting mold.
"Ladies and gentlen, the Secret Realm will open today. This is an excellent opportunity for you. Every one of you has a compelling reason to enter. I hope you seize this opportunity," Jiushan Cangxuan’s eyes slowly swept over them, making eye contact with each one.
"You are trusted by the Jiu Mountain Family. This operation is an absolute secret of the Jiu Mountain Clan, codenad Yellow Springs Road."
Jiushan Cangxuan retrieved a wooden box from the wide sleeve of his robe. Upon opening it, Yang Xiao couldn’t help but widen his eyes, seeing several black stones inside, and recognizing the stone he once searched from a Kah Party female ninja, "Shadow Spider," among them.
There were four stones in total, and Jiushan Cangxuan distributed them to Yang Xiao and the three others. By coincidence, Yang Xiao received the very stone that belonged to him.
"These Black Nightmare Stones are your keys to opening the Secret Realm. Try to manipulate your spiritual power to resonate with the stones in your hands," Jiushan Cangxuan instructed.
The four of them complied. Yang Xiao had attempted this when he first obtained the stone, but received no feedback. This ti, he easily achieved a kind of resonance with the stone. He even heard heartbreaking screams echoing through the cell, both male and female, young and old, like a Human Purgatory.
Even more terrifying, Yang Xiao saw his reflection in the stone, recognizing it as himself, yet the sinister intent in its gaze sent chills down his spine.
Yang Xiao felt an indescribable sensation, as if a part of himself had been stripped away and sealed within this unremarkable stone.
Before Yang Xiao could make sense of it all, the stone in his hand was taken back, and Jiushan Cangxuan retrieved all four stones.
"Very good, it seems all of you have passed the initial selection and successfully resonated with the Black Nightmare Stone. Now all you need to do is lie on these four beds, head towards the center, and the Secret Realm can be opened."
"But before that, I have a few things to remind you of, which are very important."
"First, death is almost non-existent in this mission, so even if you are killed by a ghost, you won’t be in danger. You will wake here, as if experiencing a real nightmare."
"Second, although being killed by a ghost won’t amount to actual death, I still hope that each of you gives your best to survive, and ideally, conquer this Secret Realm. The longer you last, the greater the benefits."
"Third, this opportunity to enter the Secret Realm is provided by the Jiu Mountain Family, and is especially important for Shayue. I hope each of you can do everything possible to shield Shayue, even if it costs you your chance of survival." At this point, Jiushan Cangxuan paused, glancing at Yang Xiao and the others.
Being in debt of hospitality naturally requires repaynt, and Yang Xiao, Tong Han, and Beiyu Ye nodded without hesitation. They all understood that their core task was to protect Jiu Shan Sha Yue during this Secret Realm infiltration.
After securing Yang Xiao and the others’ promise, Jiushan Cangxuan continued, "Fourth, you must be very cautious as the difficulty of this mission is high, potentially capable of wiping out ordinary teams."
"My expectation for you is to clear out all teammates except for yourselves, by leveraging the rules of that world and the ways of the ghosts while conquering the nightmare," Jiushan Cangxuan’s tone was stern.
"Is it to prevent them from sharing the benefits with us?" Beiyu Ye asked with a frown, "The reward for conquering the Secret Realm is fixed, more survivors an sharing more, right?"
"No, it’s not about that; I simply don’t want those people to survive. If they do, it will put you in danger," Jiushan Cangxuan replied in a low voice.
"Why, would they dare to trouble the Jiu Mountain Family?" The Jiu Mountain Family is a top-level family in Japan, and far stronger than the Heimu Family, which previously attacked Ru Lin Academy. In Japan, apart from the Ghost Sect Leader and the Ghost Sect he leads, almost no one is a match for the Jiu Mountain Family.
Taking a deep breath, Jiushan Cangxuan revealed the truth, "Gentlen, the Nightmare World you will experience this ti is very special, and the teammates you will be facing... are all dead."
"What do you an?"
"Literally, they are already dead, they died in the Nightmare World. This ti, you’ll be partnering with them."
"You can consider this mission as the restart of a failed one, with your teammates being the previously wiped-out team. Because of your arrival, the nightmare mission awakened in an incomprehensible way, granting them another chance to ’live.’ But regardless of the result, their fate is sealed, as the saying goes, the dead cannot be revived."
"What if they survive until the end and conquer the nightmare?"
"Would they...return to this world with us?" whispered Beiyu Ye.
"No," Jiushan Cangxuan replied frankly, gazing at him, "But they will leave a part of themselves with you forever, whether it’s one of you or all of you."
"But you said this Secret Realm journey is not deadly." Yang Xiao found the conversation increasingly unsettling.
"Not deadly, but that doesn’t an there’s no danger. We once had soone whose teammate survived and returned successfully, but soon after, he beca paranoid, constantly feeling soone was following him, hiding in his room, watching him every mont, repeatedly summoning him back to that world."
"We tried many ways, but none worked. One night, over a year later, he vanished in his own room without a trace, just as he feared."
"Among those who returned, only he fell into such a terrifying predicant. The other two had no issues."
"We have no evidence to confirm a direct link between these events, but the fact remains, that world... that world is indeed affecting the real world in ways we do not understand. As long as any teammate survives, breaking certain boundaries between the nightmare and reality, the nightmare descends upon reality."
"To uncover the truth and conquer the nightmare, ensure total eradication of the dead teammate while at least one of our own survives; this is Yellow Springs Road," Jiushan Cangxuan’s voice was solemn and oppressive.
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