I’d heard Ethan Zhang mention before that these underground, labyrinthine tunnels were Scarlet Moon’s strongholds. Many Scarlet Moon members moved through these passages to evade the Emperor Gods’ surveillance. That’s why catching these Yinfolk—who aren’t affected by the Emperor Gods’ powers—is extremely difficult.
Luo Yu kept leading me onward, as if he knew the way. He guided me through these maze-like, twisting underground corridors—each passage identical in length and width, indistinguishable from the next. If someone got lost here, it’d be nearly impossible to find their way out.
“Back when we were still cooperating with the Emperor Gods, we organized teams to enter these underground tunnels, hoping to locate some of Scarlet Moon’s bases. But we came up empty-handed. Many Yinfolk who went down were ambushed and killed. James Grant’s power is formidable—even if he’s killed, he comes back to life. So the Emperor Gods can’t do anything about him; they’ve tried to hunt him down countless times, but he always uses special means to turn more and more Yinfolk into Scarlet Moon members.”
As he spoke, Luo Yu came to a stop.
"Why did you stop?"
"The thing I left on one of Scarlet Moon’s members was discovered right here. Now we just need to wait—wait for Scarlet Moon to ambush us. Be careful, Rachel."
I responded with a quiet hum, staying alert and watching the surroundings. But after a long while, nothing changed—no movement, no sign of anything.
"Do you still remember the way?"
I asked. Luo Yu turned and nodded.
"Let’s go back."
I nodded and followed Luo Yu as we started walking. Waiting any longer was pointless, and most importantly, if Luo Yu and I didn’t return by tomorrow morning, we’d become an anomaly. We had to get back, no matter what.
"Looks like they’ve already run off. They don’t plan to make contact with us."
Luo Yu spoke as we moved through another identical underground tunnel. We’d already turned down quite a few passageways. Just then, Luo Yu stopped, and I looked at him in confusion.
"We took a wrong turn."
I let out a surprised sound, staring at Luo Yu in disbelief. This wasn’t something a simple wrong turn could fix. If we made a mistake here, we might never make it back to the surface.
When we passed through the Corpse Barrier to enter the underground, I felt something strange. We’d all entered through the same passage, but outside these tunnels, I sensed an incredibly powerful force wrapping around us—likely part of the Shadow Realm’s power. I doubted we could pass through the Corpse Barrier again.
That’s why Scarlet Moon is so hard to catch. Luo Yu said they used the power of this world to overturn the fate of being ruled by the Emperor Gods.
Luo Yu quietly stared at everything around us.
"Didn’t you say you remembered the way?"
Luo Yu immediately shook his head.