In a daze, I came to my senses. My vision was blurry, and rows of skeletons stared at me through the bars. The light was dim. I shook my head, and immediately felt something wrong with my body. My eyes widened and I struggled a bit, only to be overwhelmed by a pain so intense it felt like my body was being torn apart. I nearly fainted again.
Black rods pierced my body, pinning me to the ground. These rods were strange, passing through my flesh and fixing me in place.
"Are you alright?"
A skeleton not far away asked, sounding worried. I looked over and realized this was an underground prison—each cell was enclosed by black iron bars, and many skeletons were locked inside.
"You must be pretty tough. They don’t treat ordinary folks like this. Stop struggling—you can’t break free from these restraints."
I stared at the skeleton in surprise, then asked:
"Are you generals of the rebel army?"
Just as I asked, a shout came from a distant cell.
"Ethan Zhang, did you die in battle too?"
I let out a sound of surprise—the voice was familiar. I quickly remembered: it was a general I’d met before at Crimson Plume Fortress. I replied, then realized I’d only just arrived, less than half an hour ago. This was a prison fifty meters underground, pitch dark and cut off from the world above.
No wonder there’s no sound from above. I started to worry—it should be noon on the second day, with just over a day left. More questions flooded my mind, but I could only briefly tell the generals about Yuna Ji’s current strategy.
During our conversation, I learned that General Frostbite had also been captured here and suffered the same treatment as me, but managed to escape. The Imperial Army locks generals who refuse to submit fifty meters underground—this is the punishment General Red Plume spoke of.
"How did General Frostbite escape?"
"We don’t know. He’s incredibly strong, but when he got out, he was on the verge of death. Escaping from here is almost impossible."
I tried to struggle again. The feeling was strange—though I was a ghost, these black iron bars pinned me down as if I had a physical body. My ghostly aura and the chilling energy within me seemed to fuse completely.
It was my first time experiencing this. Time was running out—if we couldn’t take the fortress, Yuna Ji would lose the bet for sure. I couldn’t let that happen. I closed my eyes, calling out to my instincts over and over, but after a long while, I realized I couldn’t reach them at all.
Just then, I heard a noise, followed by a loud creak—the door opening—and a shout.
"You won’t be smug for long. We’ll take this fortress soon!"
I saw two skeletons drag another, still struggling, skeleton into the cell and leave. It must have been a general who’d just died. I quickly asked about the situation outside. The generals in the cells all stood and looked at the newly arrived skeleton.
"No, the attack has stopped. The casualties are heavy—just in a few hours, we’ve lost fifty thousand, and less than two hundred thousand troops remain."
I clenched my fists, and every movement sent waves of pain through my body.
I had to move, or it would be over. There was at most a day left—if we couldn’t open the fortress gates, we’d lose for sure. Some generals who’d died on the central front spoke up: the situation there was already critical, and the Imperial Army had pushed to the northernmost line.
The atmosphere in the cell turned silent. None of the generals spoke—a few couldn’t hold back their sobs.
They had lost their freedom and couldn’t even end themselves. For these immortal skeletons, this was the cruelest punishment.
"Maybe we should surrender… Actually, it wouldn’t be so bad…"
"Coward. You’re a coward."
Someone immediately shouted. The general who’d suggested surrender fell silent. The situation was clear—this was the rebel army’s last chance.
"Don’t panic, everyone. I have a way. Give me some time and I’ll get us out of here."
Even as I said this, none of the generals showed the slightest hint of joy.
The only thing to be grateful for was that after I passed out, my Wraith Armament, Lady Cecilia, merged directly into my body and wasn’t confiscated.
"Lady Cecilia, can you hear me?"
I called out in my mind, and immediately saw a pink aura appear before me—only I could see it. Within the aura, a woman sat gracefully: Lady Cecilia.
"Your power has been sealed! That monster did something—I don’t know what’s inside you, but it might be from the things Yuna Ji made you drink over the years. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but you’re slowly becoming like these skeletons, losing all your ghostly strength."
"That doesn’t matter now, Lady Cecilia. Please, think of a way for me to reconnect with my instincts."
Lady Cecilia fell silent.
"Don’t rush me. Let me think."
Time ticked by, second after second. I grew impatient, struggling several times to no avail—the restraints held me fast in this cell.
But thinking carefully, these restraints were probably made from the same black sludge the rebels used to seal General Crimson Plume before.
The pink aura wrapped around the black rods piercing my body, as if analyzing something. After a while, Lady Cecilia finally spoke.
"This is Bone Blight."
My eyes widened as Lady Cecilia continued her explanation. When a person dies, body and soul separate. After burial, flesh decays, leaving only bones. The foul energy released is called Bone Blight. These currents regularly flow into the Netherhell, drawn by the aura of death, seeking to return to the dead. To solve this, Netherhell intercepts the Bone Blight and uses this place as a burial ground. The rods pinning me are condensed Bone Blight, just as Hao Hong said—bone and soul cannot be separated. The scattered bones here are the physical manifestation of Bone Blight. Bone Blight without soul for long periods, and souls without bodies, once joined, cannot be separated.
"Is there any way to separate me from it?"
Lady Cecilia shook her head.
"You’ve been in this world for a long time. The Bone Blight inside you is the real reason you can’t move."
I gritted my teeth and stared quietly at Lady Cecilia. She seemed ready to leave, the aura retracting into my body. Just as she was about to go, I called out to her.
"Wait a moment, Lady Cecilia!"
"There’s nothing I can do. Ethan Zhang, I’m affected too. If I stay exposed for long, things will get bad. Even the blade I use as a medium is having problems."
I nodded.
"Can you create some light?"
I asked, and Lady Cecilia looked at me in confusion, then nodded. It was my only option. I still had my shadow—maybe it could help. My shadow was the only link I had left to my instincts.
A ball of pink light appeared before my eyes, growing brighter and brighter. I swallowed, and all around, the generals gasped in surprise. Gradually, my shadow began to appear.
"Are you there?" I asked. Under the light, my shadow barely appeared beneath me. Suddenly, a pair of golden eyes opened, accompanied by laughter.
"Finally remembered me, did you? Ethan Zhang, heh. I do have a way to restore your connection with coexistence. But what’s the point of what you’re doing now?"
I stared intently at my shadow. His voice was full of reluctance.
"Yuna Ji is one of your greatest assets now. Do you really need that weak, fragile version of Yuna Ji? There’s nothing wrong with that monster—she’s helped you many times, and you know why? If she wanted to kill you, it would be easy, but she hasn’t. Instead, she told you about the Killing Stone’s effects. Why do you think that is? She’s on your side. But that giggling Yuna Ji—have you forgotten why Yin Choujian called her a wretch? You know a lot now, so the best choice is to do nothing. When this is over, that wretch Yuna Ji will disappear, and the monster who truly helped you—think about which is really to your advantage."
A flood of thoughts rushed through my mind. My shadow was right—Yuna Ji, with her great power, had always helped me, but it was the monster who truly aided me. The real Yuna Ji was always laughing, keeping her distance. From the start, Yin Choujian was wary of her.
"I hate the way you put it. This isn’t something that can be weighed by profit and loss."
My shadow burst out laughing.
"Let’s talk inside. Some things shouldn’t be revealed to outsiders."
Darkness appeared before my eyes, and the pink light grew weaker and weaker. Gradually, I lost consciousness.
When I opened my eyes again, I was already in the space of instinct.
"Hey, Ethan Zhang, could you at least say something nice about them? Isn’t this a little unfair to me?"
A deeply exasperated voice called out. I looked over as a cracking sound echoed.