Chapter 1495: Cause and Effect

Chu Muyun was silent for a long time:

"Is there... no way to find a specific soul?"

"If you insist, there is one," Sun Bumian replied slowly. "Behind the Temple of the Dead, which carries the Ghost Path Dao Foundation, there is an ancient well... The ancient well can make a specific soul appear through karmic entanglement, and you can converse through the well."

"...Only converse?"

“？”

Sun Bumian looked at Chu Muyun suspiciously, "What else do you want to do?? The ancient well only establishes a connection with the soul, just like making a phone call... Only those in the River of the Underworld are the actual souls themselves."

Chu Muyun shook his head, said no more, and fell into deep thought...

"Strange, why does it look like a city ahead?" Jian Changsheng suddenly said.

The group looked ahead and saw that around the magnificent and gorgeous River of the Underworld, continuous, pitch-black city silhouettes stood silently... With the help of the faint light scattered by the river, they could barely see the state of the city.

It wasn't "a" city, but more like a mixture of cities from different eras—from primitive tribes to ancient city towers, to dilapidated Western-style buildings of the modern era, to modern high-rise residential complexes. Buildings from different eras connected and stretched out. Rather than a city, it looked more like a "graveyard" for the ghosts in the River of the Underworld.

"That’s a Ghost City."

"Different regions of the River of the Underworld correspond to the dead of different eras. The further upstream, the more ancient the era. The memories of the ghosts in the river intertwine, manifesting the places they were most familiar with... These memories projected onto the banks of the river become this kind of Ghost City."

"Occasionally, ghosts that have fallen out of the River of the Underworld appear in the Ghost City, wandering in the places that left the deepest impression on them. Do not disturb them."

"What happens if we disturb them?" Jian Changsheng asked, not believing in evil.

"...Very bad things will happen."

Sun Bumian felt like a tour guide, carrying a little flag, having to explain the attractions and historical background to this group of "Twilight Tour Group" tourists at every stop.

If those leeches from the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury saw this, they’d probably have a mental breakdown again.

……

The moment Chen Ling and the others stepped into the Ghost City,

deep within the Ghost City, in a dead, dust-covered courtyard.

Numerous extinguished torches were scattered messily around the courtyard. A pile of snow lay quietly on the desolation before the door. Faint music, a woman’s coquettish laughter, and a man’s hearty laughter rang out from the empty void, as if the vengeful spirits that once existed here were reveling.

Suddenly,

a dust-covered silver coin, as if pushed by fate, was knocked off the small opera stage in the center of the courtyard and fell crisply to the ground.

*Ding-dang—*

It bounced, leaped lightly over the threshold, and continued to roll down the blood-stained steps...

A cold wind from nowhere brushed past the courtyard gate. A wooden sign full of cracks hung on the wall, with the words "Ma Family Residence" written in a dashing hand.

The dust-covered silver coin bounced out of the courtyard and rolled slowly along the twisted, eerie street toward a certain direction.

On the side of the street,

a road sign stood silently:

[Ice Spring Street].

……

"...Hmm?"

Chen Ling, who was traveling on the streets of the Ghost City, suddenly turned his head to look in a certain direction.

"What’s wrong?" Jian Changsheng asked, confused to see Chen Ling freeze.

"Nothing, just suddenly had a... inexplicable feeling," Chen Ling scanned the void beside him, "I just feel like something bad is about to happen."

[Audience Expectation +3]

[Current Expectation: 68%]

"???" Jian Changsheng’s face changed drastically.

Jian Changsheng trusted Chen Ling’s "intuition" implicitly. Every time Chen Ling said something like this before, something very bad happened.

"Everyone be careful," Sun Bumian was equally tense, "Living people walking in the world of the dead will attract the hostility of the 'Ghost Path'... It should have already set its sights on us."

"Ghost Path? What is that?"

"In the world of the living, there is the Heavenly Path of Fate; in the underworld, there are the Laws of the Ghost Path. You can understand the so-called 'Ghost Path' as the will of the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury. Although it doesn't possess true intelligence, it is here, and it is the master of fate, truly omnipotent," Sun Bumian paused for a moment,

"Although it won't attack us directly, it will trigger 'Cause and Effect.' The longer we stay in the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury, the stronger its hostility toward us will become."

"Cause and Effect?"

Jian Changsheng raised an eyebrow,

"What does that mean? Is it powerful?"

……

*Ding-dang—*

The coin rolled along the twisted, chaotic street.

Directly in front of it, a once magnificent and huge manor stood silently:

[Star Chamber of Commerce].

The silver coin passed through the gap in the manor’s iron gate and circled lightly around a remnant of a fountain... At the same time, a broom placed in the corner slid eerily, its end hitting a dustpan that had fallen to the ground.

As the dustpan was pressed and sprang up by this force, the silver coin, which happened to be rolling there, was tossed into the air...

Then it flew precisely into the gap of a second-floor window.

*Ding-dang— Ding-dang—*

The silver coin bounced on the floor twice, continued to roll forward, and finally hit a table leg, spinning to a stop on the floor.

In the silent office,

a wandering ghost looked down at the shiny silver coin.

Upon seeing the coin, the ghost’s hollow pupils became visibly excited, as if an instinct carved deep into the ghost had been triggered. His body trembled violently!!

"Money!"

"Money!!"

"Money!!!"

"It’s all mine!!!"

Yan Shang’s voice roared crazily in the empty office. Phantoms gathered around him, seemingly the ghosts that had once lived in this manor... They trembled under Yan Shang’s roar, and the entire manor in the Ghost City shook slightly!

Yan Shang, like an out-of-control beast, grabbed the silver coin with both hands and held it high above his head!

"I’ll give you the coal!!"

"Give me all your money!!!"

*Gulu-lu—*

The gate of the Star Chamber of Commerce opened with a creak,

pieces of coal spewed out from the warehouse of the Star Chamber of Commerce, rolling down the sloping street in a dark mass. There were so many of them that they looked like a surging black river, washing through every street!

……

"Cause and Effect... how should I explain this to you?"

Sun Bumian scratched his head, "Simply put, every thing we’ve done in the past, every person we’ve killed, leaves behind a 'Cause'... And such a 'Cause' in the Ghost Path Ancient Treasury is very likely to be utilized by the Ghost Path, becoming an 'Effect' used against us..."

"..." Jian Changsheng shook his head honestly, "Don't understand."

"What’s that sound?"

Chu Muyun’s ears twitched, and he immediately looked in a certain direction.

The others followed his gaze. When that massive river of coal rushed straight toward them, everyone present except Sun Bumian was stunned for a moment...

"What... the hell is that?"

Sun Bumian replied without hesitation:

"Your 'Cause and Effect'!"