Chapter 1816 912: Secret Realm Lost Trail

Upon hearing the words of the Five Dao General, Li Yan tightly grasped the Ink Jade Hook Paper in his hand and resolutely continued deeper.

The bluestone path beneath his feet gradually faded, replaced by scorched earth soaked with blood, sticky and slippery underfoot.

Gray mist swirled around, faintly echoing with the clash of metal and the cries of agony.

With his left hand, he formed a North Emperor Technique to protect his Yin God and hastened his pace forward.

After all, even though the opponent was merely a clone, he was still a Mortal God ruling over the human roadways, his Divine Thought far more perceptive than his own.

The space within the Nine Gates Yin Ruins was indeed more complex than common sense could comprehend.

When Li Yan first stepped into this area, he could barely recognize the broken projection of Yongding Gate's city wall.

Dark green moss grew between the blue bricks, half the battlement had collapsed, and the flagpole was snapped and dangling at the entrance of Weng City. But after walking less than a hundred steps, the surrounding scenery began to twist and overlap:

Sometimes the vermilion-painted door of a previous dynasty's government office flashed to the left, while a silhouette of a farm's earthen wall appeared on the right; one step on bluestone and the next sunk into ankle-deep yellow sand.

More eerily, these scenes weren't static but repeated actions like shadow puppetry: an old woman carrying a vegetable basket lingered at the alley three times, each time disappearing under the locust tree, then reappearing from the alley; two soldiers in uniform shoved each other at the base of the city wall, one would always be pushed down, get up and resume shoving.

"Don't stare at it."

The Five Dao General's voice came from up ahead, muffled as if through armor, "Residual thoughts played out long enough will draw living souls into acting alongside them."

Li Yan withdrew his gaze and quickened his pace forward.

After leaving that ghost market-like area, the fog ahead suddenly opened wide.

It wasn't dissipating naturally, but was forcefully parted by some domineering force.

Li Yan even heard the "tearing" sound of the mist splitting, like ripping thick silk.

The view opened up brilliantly.

A boundless sandy battlefield appeared before him.

The sand was dark red, as if soaked through by blood and dried thousands of times.

A dense cavalry was charging, their attire clearly marking them as elite troops of the Golden Tent Wolf Country: clad in leather armor with iron plates, wearing nose-guard helmets, with horns and quiver hung by their saddles.

They galloped with inhuman howls, not the war cries of living men in charge but some engrained cry of obsession from residual thoughts, sharp enough to pierce through eardrums.

A rain of arrows poured down.

Defenders dressed in previous dynasty-styled Zha Armor formed a long lance formation, firmly resisting the assault.

But those wolf country cavalry didn't evade at all, the war horses collided with the lances, exploding into black mist with riders, and instantly reformed behind to charge anew.

The curved blades cut into defenders' necks, not spraying blood from the wounds but thicker black mist. Residual thoughts dressed as civilians fled across the sandy ground, crushed by hooves, dispersed into mist, and moments later reassembled to flee anew.

The slaughter cycled on and on.

Li Yan paused to watch for three breaths.

This spectacle, he had encountered before.

Nothing more than the deep-rooted obsessions of the dead, soaked in Evil Qi, became a shadow puppetry engraved within this realm. Not truly terrifying yin souls, unable to harm cultivators who've formed a Yin God.

He raised his foot to bypass it.

"Eh?"

Beside him, the Five Dao General emitted a faint sound of surprise.

That sound carried with it an unexpected hint, even a trace of... excitement?

Li Yan frowned and turned his head, "Is this thing useful?"

To him, these were merely the lowest residual thoughts, at most capable of causing hallucinations to ordinary people who accidentally entered this place. For someone like him who cultivated the North Emperor Fengdu Technique and established a Four Layer Divine Tower, it wouldn't even fill a tooth gap.

"Hahaha——"

The Five Dao General laughed, his laughter resonating from within the armor, causing the surrounding mist to tremble.

He gradually revealed his form, "Young man, do you think residual thoughts are useless?"

He raised his left hand, swinging heads of humans, beasts, and ghosts tied with hemp ropes.

Among them, a single-horned ghost head suddenly emitted green flames from its eye sockets, firmly fixed on the battlefield direction.

"In this world, born of nothing but Yin Yang Qi."

The Five Dao General's voice lowered solemnly, "Mortals pray to gods, their beliefs converging, manifesting into divine forms in the Dharma Realm. Cultivators build Divine Towers also relying on their one strand of determination 'I must ascend.' Thoughts, seemingly illusory, are actually..."

He paused, pointing his long spear at the battlefield of slaughter, "Look at these residual thoughts, how many years dead?"

"The fall of the Golden Tent Wolf Country was eighty years ago. Eighty years of daily battling in this Evil Land, their grievances unresolved, killing intent undiminished, rather growing thicker over time. Eventually, they're no longer simple residual thoughts."

Li Yan's heart moved, "They'll become spirits?"

"Spirits?"

The Five Dao General shook his head, "That would underestimate the scope of these Nine Gates Yin Ruins. Let me ask you—if someone were to use these eighty-year tempered residual thoughts as material, combining Innate Gang Qi and Earth Vein Evil Qi, supported by Artifact Refining Secret Method, what could be refined from this in the Dharma Realm?"

Li Yan's mind flashed a thought, blurting out: "Daluo Magical Artifact?"

"Exactly."

The Five Dao General nodded, "Residual thoughts form the soul, Astral Bane the bones, then ensouled by Secret Techniques, what emerges can manifest physical form within the Daluo Law Realm."

He turned to look at the battlefield, his gaze sweeping over the cyclic charging cavalry residual shadows, his tone carrying a hint of regret: "Sadly, these merely are beginning to form a climate. To truly refine them into artifacts, they'd need to be nourished for at least another three to five hundred years."

"At that time, the consolidated grievances and killing intent would become palpable, likely breaking free of these Nine Gates Yin Ruins, bursting through the barrier, their first act would be to slaughter every living being in the Capital, washing grievances away in blood."

Li Yan frowned slightly.