Chapter 525 – A Blood-Red Night, Powers Unleashed, the Nine-Headed Ghost Gate Shattered! - Part 3

Li Yuan gently wiped Sheng’er’s cheeks. “Stay here. Guard the Ghost Prison. Don’t let anyone near.”

With that, he rose to leave.

Just then, new voices rose from the burning city, different this time. They were louder and more unified, the earlier noise was swept away entirely by the surge.

“It’s the Lotus Cult!”

“The remnants of the Lotus Cult remnants have infiltrated Silver Creek!”

“Close your doors and windows! Yan Yu and Lady Divine Crow will protect us!”

“The Lotus Cult is spreading lies! Everyone stay inside! The temple will cleanse the city of these intruders!”

“Beware the Lotus Cult scum, they’ve come for revenge!”

Li Yuan couldn’t help but laugh.

Sheng'er blinked, stunned. “Where’d the Lotus Cult come from?”

Li Yuan grinned. “The same place those lies about your mother killing people came from.”

“...” Sheng'er looked at her father, puzzled.

Li Yuan said, “People need an enemy. If they need the Lotus Cult to blame, then it

is

the Lotus Cult.”

“This...” Sheng'er’s gaze fell over the chaos. All of this was so dark, too dark.

Li Yuan chuckled. “Your Seventh Mother, she’s something else. With no warning, no signal, and no information, she still managed to work with us perfectly. And she stabilized the situation in record time.”

“The Empress Dowager...” Sheng'er murmured, thinking of that quiet woman making pancakes in the wooden cottage.

She appeared gentle and refined, and yet she was the one pulling strings now.

“That wasn’t your doing?” she asked.

“Me? I’m not omniscient. This was her call. Pure instinct and judgment.” Li Yuan shook his head. Then he stood up. “Hold this ground. I’m heading out.”

In a flash of vivid crimson, he soared into the sky, blazing like a comet, until he hovered high over the burning city.

His voice exploded across the night like thunder.

“LOTUS CULT SCUM, FACE YOUR DEATH!”

And as the words rang out, balls of flame ignited around him, floating in the air like small suns.

Li Yuan spread his senses wide, sweeping across all of Silver Creek like a storm, searching for those behind the chaos.

The fireballs shot down.

When they landed, they didn’t just explode. They became beasts, burning and roaring, surging down alleyways and across rooftops in a frenzy of judgment.

From the streets below, the people looked up.

What they saw was a young boy standing atop fire, wreathed in red silk, and holding a flaming spear, looking every bit the divine warrior from legend.

The way he fought was terrifying. It didn’t matter who the enemy was, or how strong. They didn’t just die when touched by the flames. They vanished. Not a trace left. No scream, no body...just ash, drifting quietly in the wind.

Across Silver Creek, groups of guards and innkeepers poured into the streets, dressed like civilians but clearly trying to maintain order.

They moved with caution at first, flinching at the flames. But then they realized the fire didn’t harm them.

And in that moment, their fear turned to awe. Shock and exhilaration lit up their faces.

Even a fool could tell that the flaming figure floating in the sky was no ordinary being. He was clearly a powerhouse on the side of Yan Yu.

And with someone that terrifying fighting for

them

, how could the people not be thrilled?

Xie Wei stood atop a tall, hidden building, cloaked in gray and wearing her signature mask.

Behind her stood a group of sixth rank martial artists.

These weren’t just any fighters. They were warriors from the Ginger Tavern. Each one had been forcibly bound with human-skin manacles back when they were seventh rank, which meant their loyalty was absolute. Not a single crack.

Xie Wei tilted her head back to gaze at the rosy-cheeked boy hovering in the sky. Her eyes flickered with meaning, thoughts turning silently behind the mask.

Others might not know Li Yuan could change forms like this. But she did.

Her lips curved into a smile as she looked down at the city.

With calm precision, she directed her fighters. One by one, they dispersed from her side, taking guards with them and heading toward any area that could become a source of unrest, stamping out potential sparks before they could catch flame.

Soon, Black and White Impermanence joined the fray as well.

The majority of the boar-masked enforcers hadn’t been compromised. They gripped their blades and moved fast through the streets.

Temple guards also deployed to their posts, locking down key locations.

Order was quickly restored.

It looked easy, but in truth, it was like tossing a burning coal into a pot of oil

without

causing an explosion. And not only that, but managing to eject the coal entirely.

In Little Ink Village, Tie Sha and Fang Jianlong stood in their winter robes, hands tucked into their sleeves, gazing up at the blazing sky.

They were far from alone.

Across the region, countless others stood rooted in place, staring upward in awe.

“That’s basically a god, isn’t it?” Fang Jianlong’s jaw dropped.

“If he’s fighting beside Yan Yu, he’d

have

to be.” Tie Sha replied. He clapped Fang Jianlong on the shoulder. “Quit gawking. Go get your girl Qiao’er and hide her in the cellar. Who knows if this chaos is even over yet.”

Tie Sha didn’t think this was the end.

And neither did Li Yuan.

Descending from the heavens, the young boy landed once again on the mountain near the Ghost Prison.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Flames spun beneath his feet like wheels of fire. Crimson silk fluttered behind him like waves crashing against cliffs. His blazing spear pointed downward, exuding raw, unshakable authority.

But just as he touched down, he caught an unexpected sight.

There, within the cold, shadowy prison, the stern Yan Yu clad in her usual black dress suddenly lifted a hand to her lips, as if trying to hide a smile.

Their eyes met across the distance.

And Li Yuan saw it clearly.

She

was

smiling. A small, genuine smile. The kind she could only share with the person who truly knew her.

And just like that, Li Yuan felt a quiet breath escape his chest.

For now, at least, she was fine. Yan Yu still held onto her humanity.

But his guard didn’t lower.

In fact, the sense of unease growing in his chest only intensified.

This attack had been well-prepared. If destroying her humanity was only a secondary objective, then what was the real goal?

The true battlefield wasn’t here.

It was in the ancient ghost street. It was with the Dragon Vein.

The air was thick with gray mist, swirling and heavy. Corroded bronze groaned under massive pressure, flaking off in layers, like oxidized snow drifting gently to the ground.

Nine dragon heads. Nine ghost gates. And of those nine gates, only the ones connecting to Cloudpeak and Wildsouth Provinces, remained untouched by great ghost domains..

The other seven were all being actively attacked.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Happyland Zoo, Silkfloss Province.

One after another, cloaked figures stepped forward. In their hands, they wielded Mirrors of Sin, constantly reflecting their beams onto the grotesque ghosts rising from the heart of Happyland Zoo’s territory.

These figures looked human at a glance. But anyone who took a closer look would notice something off. Their bones, just barely visible beneath their skin, weren’t human bones at all.

They were made of soul iron, dark, cold, and inhumanly rigid.

Clearly, these weren’t people. They were puppets. But not the clunky, mechanical puppets of the past, these were something else entirely. Something far more refined.

And by their nature, puppets had an innate resistance to ghosts.

Now, hundreds, thousands, of these puppets stood in formation, each wielding a Mirror of Sin, driving back the ghosts of Happyland Zoo in an eerie and awe-inspiring spectacle.

The puppets held their ground as wave after wave of ghosts slammed into them.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Within the ancient ghost street, the spider ghost had spun a massive web, its strands stretching wide like a blackened portal into the abyss.

From within that dark opening, countless childlike spider-ghosts, their bodies cobbled together from the limbs of human children, clambered forward with eerie cries.

They crawled over one another in layers, rising like a tide of nightmares, an ocean of ghosts all hurling themselves against the gate.

The dragon head carved into the gate roared to life, jaw snapping open, devouring ghost after ghost. But it wasn’t enough.

A rotting-faced ghost doll skipped toward the gate on pale legs, pressed its corpse-white hands against the bronze surface, and began to push.

The ghost hound sat before the gate, eyes cold as frost. Meanwhile, the ghost rat had already begun digging.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The great ghost domain in Ocean Province was the Northern Wind Inn.

With a creaking groan, the inn’s door swung open, releasing a wave of indescribable rot and stench.

One by one, travelers emerged, dressed like wandering merchants, more and more of them pouring out of the inn.

Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of thousands.

Soon, the ancient ghost street was bursting with these spectral merchants, and they were still coming.

As for why there were so many, the attacks they’d endured had been relentless, far beyond the limit. The great ghost domain had been fully

activated

, dragged out of dormancy by sheer force.

Now this endless caravan of death surged toward the gate at the end of the ancient ghost street, slamming into it in wave after wave like a frenzied tide.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The great ghost domain in Harmony Province was the Ghost Peak.

At the moment, the ghastly mountain sat rooted in the ancient ghost street, strange bumps were erupting across its surface

On closer inspection, each bump was a coffin.

One by one, the coffins were pushed up through the soil, as if the mountain itself was vomiting them out, as if it were made entirely out of graves...

Clack! Clack! Clack!

Lid after lid creaked open, and from each one emerged an ancient corpse.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

In Stellar Sea Province, the great ghost domain was the Ghost Bazaar.

A bustling coastal town, half in this world and half out, flickered in and out of view like a mirage.

Interestingly, those who stumbled into it didn’t always die. If their luck was good, they might walk away with something priceless bought for a handful of coins.

But for the unlucky...the deaths were gruesome.

And the curse didn’t end there. It anchored itself in the bloodline, passed down generation after generation. Even the children had to pay the price.

Every heir, upon coming of age, would be drawn to the Ghost Bazaar. But not all would go.

The ones who did not would often prosper, building dynasties that lasted for decades... But only in youth. Their glory never lasted.

Now, within the Ghost Bazaar, vendors began packing up. One after another, they hoisted enormous bags onto their backs and headed toward the end of the ancient ghost street.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Swallowcloud Province, Ghost Lake.

Hidden Dragon Province, Apparel Atelier.

Hidden River Province, Ghost Prison..

Chaos reigned through the night, and then just before dawn, a sound shook the heavens.

It was deafening and primeval, like the world itself cracking open.

The nine gates started fracturing. Cracks spiderwebbed outward, growing wider and wider, until finally, in one irreversible moment, they shattered.