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So, were they suddenly and inexplicably transported to another dimension?

Thinking this, Wen Qiao turned to look at Ning Yuzhou.

Ning Yuzhou looked completely unruffled. When he noticed her gaze, he smiled slightly at her, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze as if to ease her worries.

Of course, Wen Qiao wasn't worried about anything. As long as they were all together, even if it was the actual Netherworld, they would charge right through and find a way out.

Once she felt her body had mostly recovered, all three got to their feet.

Looking around and seeing no sign of the others, Ning Jichen grew worried. "Where are Wen Tutu and the others?"

When the Fallen Dragon had come back, Wen Tutu, Shi Wuming, and Wen Guangun had been charging toward the Yuanchuang-stage cultivator who'd tried to attack Wen Qiao's group, seeking revenge. They'd been some distance away when the anomaly occurred and hadn't had time to regroup.

Recalling the situation in the spatial tunnel, Ning Yuzhou said, "They probably got separated. Let's search nearby."

They hadn't walked far when Wen Qiao noticed someone nearby and hurried over, only to be disappointed that it wasn't Wen Tutu.

She rolled over the female cultivator who was lying face-down on the ground, revealing a face white as death and barely-there breathing, looking like she might draw her last breath any second. Wen Qiao recognized her—she seemed to be part of Yan Chuyao's group. Back at the inn, she'd heard Yan Chuyao call her "Sister Wen."

"Hey, wake up!"

After shaking her for a while with no response, Wen Qiao checked her condition.

The examination revealed just how dire the woman's state was—her spiritual apertures were failing, her meridians shattered, and her body was like a sieve, worse than Wen Qiao had been when afflicted with fire poison.

"Husband, take a look at her," Wen Qiao said, making room for her husband's expert examination.

After checking, Ning Yuzhou pondered for a moment before giving her a Chiyang Pill. "She needs treatment in a safe place."

Since they'd encountered her, they weren't about to abandon her. Besides, this place gave them the creeps, and Wen Qiao's group wanted to gather more cultivators for safety in numbers, so they could better handle any unforeseen dangers.

Wen Qiao hoisted the female cultivator over her shoulder like she weighed nothing.

Ning Jichen said, "Chui, let me carry her." He wasn't as strong as his son or daughter-in-law, but he could manage carrying someone.

After a moment's thought, Wen Qiao handed her over.

They didn't know what dangers lurked here, so they had to keep their guard up at all times. She had to protect them and couldn't afford to be distracted.

Toting the unconscious woman along, they continued forward.

As they walked into the gray mist, the ominous shadows in the mist finally came into focus—they were trees. These trees had a bizarre appearance, dead-looking but weirdly alive, absorbing the yin energy in the air to grow.

"This place looks straight out of the Netherworld," Wen Qiao remarked as they walked. "Could it be a secret realm?"

Some secret realm that got turned into a Netherworld—that was certainly possible.

Ning Yuzhou replied gently, "That's indeed possible. Let's assess the situation first."

The surrounding withered trees were numerous and twisted into nightmare shapes. From a distance, shrouded in the gray mist, they might as well have been actual monsters.

This was clearly a forest.

Though the vegetation consisted mainly of withered trees, it was still dense.

The earth squelched underfoot, and stepping on the grass felt like treading on cold, yin-infused water.

This was liquid condensed from yin energy—extremely cold, as if seeping through the soles of their shoes and oozing up into their bones with an unnatural cold.

This place really wasn't cultivator-friendly. Soon enough, Ning Jichen had to swallow a Blazing Sun Pill to drive away the Yin energy seeping into his body. What's worse, the spiritual energy here was pitifully sparse—even more so than in the remote Dongling region. A year of meditation here wouldn't equal a single day of cultivation outside.

Ning Jichen felt the weight of the situation.

With spiritual energy this thin, cultivators couldn't replenish their power from the air. The more they drew on their internal reserves, the faster they drained. Once their dantians ran dry, they'd be completely defenseless—sitting ducks at the mercy of others.

This place was downright dangerous for cultivators.

As they walked, a weird shriek suddenly cut through the air up ahead.

In the silent expanse, the sound jarred like broken glass. Wen Qiao's Blazing Sun Bow materialized in her hands on instinct, already drawing back a glowing energy arrow.

Something came barreling out of the trees, moving through the skeletal forest like it belonged there—leaping between gnarled trunks as it charged straight for them.

When the creature got close enough, Wen Qiao's group finally saw it clearly.

A Netherworld Ghost.

Humanoid, but wrong. Its limbs were twig-thin, skin stretched taut over bones like some rickets-ridden corpse. Leathery skin the sick gray-black of week-old bruises. A bald head sprouting patchy white hairs. Eyes bulging grotesquely across a third of its face. A mouth split wide to its cheeks, lips forever parted around shark-like fangs with green drool leaking down its chin.

The abomination dragged a whip-thin tail behind its hunched frame, scuttling spider-quick on all fours before rising to sprint like a man.

It moved through the trees like some creepy acrobat, fangs bared and dripping as it lunged.

Wen Qiao's arrow flew true—only for the thing to twist aside. The glowing projectile hit a dead tree that exploded into splinters, the stump hissing like frying meat.

The ghost stared with naked hunger. Cultivator flesh—rich with spiritual energy—called to it. But Wen Qiao's arrows kept it at bay, making it totally lose its shit. It scrambled up surrounding trees with clawed hands, those curved black talons clearly meant for rending flesh.

Ning Jichen was freaking out—this monstrosity defied everything he knew.

Wen Qiao and the others didn't even blink. After surviving the Abyss of Malevolent Spirits in the Thirteen Palaces of Dry Bones, where real nightmares prowled, this bottom-feeder was just ugly and weak.