Chapter 106: Battle Begins, Racing Against Time

Inside the Soul Chamber.

Imperial Inspector Liu and Li Yan were both entangled by vengeful spirits, but their situations were different.

In the tomb chamber illuminated by eerie blue flames, Imperial Inspector Liu was pinned against the wall by a horde of ghosts strangling his neck. His eyes rolled back, his entire body convulsing.

His face twisted in pain, turning an increasingly ghastly shade of blue. From Tang Feng’s perspective, the ghosts all had their mouths slightly open, absorbing his life force.

However, Li Yan’s case was different. The ghosts seemed unable to drain his vitality, nor did he show signs of losing consciousness. Instead, his body was simply restrained, with bruises forming on his arms and neck.

“Song… Songstress, what the hell are you doing over there?” Li Yan shouted anxiously. “The Soul-Binding Rope! Use the Soul-Binding Rope!”

His repeated shouting snapped Tang Feng back to his senses. He hesitated for a moment before quickly raising the two-meter-long Soul-Binding Rope.

“Don’t try to bind them—it’s useless,” Li Yan gasped. “Just swing it! Focus on attacking—we need to get out first!”

Tang Feng was sharp. He had already noticed something unusual about himself, so he didn’t waste time responding. Instead, he simply nodded.

“Whoosh!”

Without warning, he swung the Soul-Binding Rope.

“Wuu! Wuu!”

The long chain cut through the air with a sharp whistle.

A series of crackling noises erupted as the ghosts attacking Li Yan let out shrill screams and scattered like waves retreating from the shore.

The seemingly unremarkable Soul-Binding Rope glowed with a faint, eerie black light.

But—

With Tang Feng’s sudden movement, the surrounding wandering ghosts, who had previously ignored him, turned their heads in unison as if they had just noticed a newcomer.

In that instant, Tang Feng’s scalp tingled with terror. A sharp, cold sensation crawled up his spine.

Two small ghosts clung onto his back, their weight pressing down with an indescribable heaviness, forcing his posture into a slight hunch.

“Let me show you what the wrath of an atheist looks like!”

Ignoring the ghosts piling onto him, Tang Feng swung the Soul-Binding Rope like a madman, lashing out around Li Yan. Taking advantage of the opening, Li Yan immediately retreated toward the doorway.

Meanwhile, Imperial Inspector Liu lay collapsed on the floor. A faint “pfft” sound came from his lower half, followed by an overpowering stench.

It wasn’t that Imperial Inspector Liu lacked courage, nor that he was particularly cowardly—he was simply at the brink of death, leading to complete loss of control over his bodily functions.

He had soiled himself.

“Wuu!”

Seeing that his spiritual mentor had quite literally scared the crap out of himself, Tang Feng immediately turned and lashed out with the Soul-Binding Rope toward Imperial Inspector Liu.

“Aaahhh!”

A chorus of ghostly shrieks rang out as the spirits scattered once more.

But Tang Feng wasn’t in great shape either. The ghosts clinging to his back had stacked on top of each other, weighing him down to the point that he was hunched over like an old man.

“You take it!”

Without hesitation, Tang Feng tossed the Soul-Binding Rope to Li Yan. Swinging it himself, he had trouble reaching his own back.

Li Yan caught the chain and immediately lashed it against Tang Feng’s back, driving the ghosts away. The two of them then dragged Imperial Inspector Liu off the ground and bolted out of the Soul Chamber, looking completely disheveled.

…

A few moments later.

In the central tomb chamber, Imperial Inspector Liu lay on the ground for a full six or seven minutes before his complexion finally regained some color.

Tears welled in his eyes as his body trembled. “I… I swear, I just saw my mother…”

Beside him, Tang Feng was still shaken, his head constantly shaking. “That was insane. Honestly, it doesn’t matter whether you’re enforcing the law among the living or the dead—it’s not an easy job.”

“I soiled myself,” Imperial Inspector Liu muttered, sitting up with his legs apart. Then, realizing something wasn’t right, he quickly squatted down again.

Li Yan shuffled a bit farther away in disgust, then turned to Tang Feng with a serious expression. “You’re different.”

“Yeah. As long as I stay still and quiet, the ghosts seem unable to see me,” Tang Feng said, blinking his sharp, intelligent eyes. Then, he added, “From the start until now, nothing special has really happened to me… except that I ate corpse flesh in the first trial. That’s probably related.”

“I soiled myself… It’s all sticky… I need to clean up,” Imperial Inspector Liu muttered, his posture awkward.

Li Yan paused for a moment, then refocused. “The Soul-Binding Rope can only bind one spirit at a time, and those wandering ghosts simply can’t see you. Bringing more people into the Soul Chamber is pointless—we only have one effective weapon.”

Tang Feng understood his meaning. He thought for a moment before saying, “Let’s go back. I’ll see if I can handle the Soul Chamber on my own.”

“Let’s move!” Li Yan nodded without hesitation, not wanting to waste any time.

“You two go ahead—I need to clean myself up…” Imperial Inspector Liu looked miserable. He quickly scampered behind the vendor’s cart, pulling his pants down to deal with the mess.

Meanwhile, Li Yan and Tang Feng, armed with the Soul-Binding Rope, returned to the Soul Chamber.

At the chamber entrance, Tang Feng carefully took small steps forward, moving as lightly as possible while keeping his eyes locked on the wandering spirits inside…

“Wuu!”

Suddenly, he swung the Soul-Binding Rope, chanting:

“In the cycle of life and death, before the gates of the underworld, who dares not enter?!”

At his furious declaration, a middle-aged ghost instantly froze in place.

The Soul-Binding Rope coiled around its spectral body in a flash. Without hesitation, Tang Feng yanked it outward.

Shrill ghostly wails echoed throughout the chamber as the soul, bound like a helpless chick, darted out of the Soul Chamber.

“Whoosh—!”

The other ghosts drifted and surged forward, but Tang Feng and Li Yan had long since fled.

…

After a short while, Imperial Inspector Liu, stark naked from the waist down, stepped over to the Path of Rebirth and personally witnessed the two men tossing the ghost through the entry hatch into the iron-barred gate.

Inside the Path of Rebirth, the three of them watched as the ghost wandered aimlessly, unable to escape from behind the iron bars.

“Did it work?” Imperial Inspector Liu asked excitedly.

The two turned to look at him. Tang Feng, his face flushed red, snapped, “Have some shame! There are women here…!”

“What the hell was I supposed to do? There was no water, no paper,” Imperial Inspector Liu grumbled. “I had no choice but to take it off!”

“Songstress can handle the Soul Chamber solo. You and I will take on the Poison Chamber,” Li Yan said, eyeing Old Liu. “We need to be quick—this stage is time-sensitive.”

“Fine,” Imperial Inspector Liu replied, swinging his “python” around. “As long as I don’t have to go into the Soul Chamber, I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Split up and move fast.”

For some reason, after entering this stage, Li Yan’s previous attitude of giving up seemed to have improved significantly.

With the plan set, Tang Feng immediately charged toward the Soul Chamber to continue his underworld enforcement.

The remaining two walked over to the vendor’s cart. Li Yan eyed the suona hesitantly. “I… I don’t know how to play this.”

“Smack!”

Before he could finish, Imperial Inspector Liu—his lower half as clean as could be—snatched up the suona. “I do.”

“You do?!” Li Yan stared at him in disbelief.

Imperial Inspector Liu shot him a smug look. “You know, life teaches the poor many things. Delivery drivers are forced to learn how to ride e-bikes. Salesmen have to call everyone ‘bro’ the moment they meet them. Sometimes, having an extra skill means an extra meal to eat. The first time I was on the run, I stayed in a northern rural village for four months… No money in my pocket, so I had to work funeral services. Whatever job was understaffed, I took it. Started at thirty yuan a day, worked my way up to a hundred and fifty.”

Li Yan paused, his gaze toward Liu changing slightly. “So your experiences really can be convincing… even to me.”

“Don’t get all philosophical on me.” Imperial Inspector Liu spoke as if he were reciting an essay. “I’m me, you’re you. We shine in our own ways and learn from each other.”

“…!” Li Yan was speechless.

Imperial Inspector Liu flashed a knowing smile and focused his awareness on the suona.

[A mystical suona. When a full song is played, all venomous creatures within a certain range will fall asleep. They must be fully asleep before they can be captured and thrown into the Path of Rebirth.]

As the voice faded from his mind, Imperial Inspector Liu turned to Li Yan and asked, “It says ‘within a certain range,’ so… this is an area-of-effect attack? But how do we capture them? Carrying them one by one will be too slow. We need to deal with 3,600 of these sinister creatures.”

Li Yan reacted instantly, pointing at the vendor’s cart. “Use that.”

“Holy crap, that’s genius!” Imperial Inspector Liu grinned.

As they spoke, Tang Feng sprinted out of the Soul Chamber, dragging another ghost behind him. “Are you two flirting over there? Get moving!”

In just that short time, he had already successfully delivered another ghost.

“Let’s go!”

Imperial Inspector Liu called out and strode into the Poison Chamber alongside Li Yan.

As the torchlight gradually illuminated the chamber—

Imperial Inspector Liu, still naked from the waist down, his upper clothes in disarray and a faint stench clinging to him, raised the suona high and scanned the room.

“Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present a suona rendition of ‘Thunder’!”¹

The moment he spoke, he and Li Yan looked up at the Poison Chamber.

The walls and floor were teeming with bedbugs, cockroaches, centipedes, rats, and venomous snakes…

If you had trypophobia, you might’ve died on the spot just from looking at this scene.

As the sound resonated through the chamber, countless repulsive creatures surged toward the entrance like a tidal wave.

Li Yan’s scalp tingled, and he instinctively took two steps back. “Quick! Play ‘Thunder’ now!”

The suona blared—Thunder commenced!

In an ancient, dimly lit chamber, a melody rang out—one that neither Princess Anping nor the extraterrestrial visitors could possibly understand.

Imperial Inspector Liu was an absolute madman. His eyes locked onto the swarm of creatures, and instead of retreating, he took a determined step forward.

…

Meanwhile, inside the mirror space.

Ren Ye had been watching the trio’s actions the entire time. Initially, he was bewildered and confused, trying to guess what kind of task this stage—designed by his teammate—actually required.

However, as he watched Tang Feng capturing ghosts, and Imperial Inspector Liu and Li Yan luring venomous creatures, the pieces in his mind gradually came together.

Ren Ye stared intently at the Path of Rebirth, and suddenly, a memory surfaced—Li Mu’s final moments in life…

A lone figure traveling north, standing before Shangyu County, facing an army of 50,000 soldiers from the Southern Frontier—all alone.

That Path of Rebirth, those ghosts and venomous creatures continuously being thrown into it… How similar they were to that overwhelming army of 50,000.

But Li Mu had died.

Who would stand against them now?

As the realization hit him, a chill ran down Ren Ye’s spine, his scalp tingled, and for a moment, he felt on the verge of losing control over his bodily functions…