It wasn't just the ghosts in the city—even the Boarhead Soldiers were mobilized. The sky was swarming with ghosts, a dense black mass. The fortress was less than two kilometers from the town, so John Chou and I quickly arrived at its massive gates. The doors were wide open. We flew inside, and no one tried to stop us.
The moment I entered, my eyes widened. A long row of houses lined both sides of the main road, and from inside came the constant clang of metal—ghosts were forging weapons.
The air shimmered with heat, making the scene feel surreal. Everywhere were small smithies, each run by ghosts crafting weapons. But even these weapon-making ghosts had come out to join the harvest.
I followed John Chou as we flew into a cluster of domed grain warehouses. John gave me a look, then led me into a storage building at the back. We stopped in front of a warehouse with not a single ghost nearby. After we went inside, John shut the door behind us. With the chaos outside, no one would notice us here—we'd slipped in undetected.
As soon as the door closed, I felt a chill. I looked at the piles of food—raw, unprocessed, some already turning black and cracking, about to crumble into black dust.
"What the hell is going on?"
I asked, noticing green and red lines snaking across the floor.
"Every food storage here is protected by special ghost arrays. They keep the materialized food from vanishing. As long as it's wrapped in a certain way, it won't disappear and can be stored long-term. Half of the stock here hasn't been wrapped yet."
John pointed to a pile of greenish fruit. When I got closer, I realized they weren't really green—they were fruit wrapped in Blue Wraith ghost aura, very unusual. I picked one up. It was indeed Blue Wraith ghost aura, already materialized into a physical object. But if you break its materialized structure, the ghost aura will naturally dissipate.
"Did you know, brother? These crops are all the result of ghost realm power made manifest. It's a miracle they're edible for ordinary ghosts. But if the source is cut off, the manifestation quickly collapses. That's why I had those bugs eat the roots—without ghost aura, the fruit can't be sustained and will fall apart. Blue Wraith ghost aura, once materialized, works the same way. It can keep these fruits supplied with ghost aura, and it's much purer than the ordinary kind."
I nodded. The plants grown here were materialized from ghost aura, but mixed with other things, so they were dangerous for ordinary ghosts to eat. But these fruits were pure ghost aura, low in concentration—safe for ordinary ghosts to absorb.
"Enough, brother. We can talk about this in the Animal Realm. Right now, we need to find a way out."
"Why do you think the passage is here?"
John Chou smiled, then began to change. Slowly, his head turned into a pig's head. I stared in surprise. He grunted and said,
"Hurry up, brother."
I nodded and quickly released my ghost aura. My old man's appearance vanished, replaced by a Boarhead Soldier. John and I—one tall, one short—stood there, our large, floppy ears twitching.
"To complete a transformation, a ghost just has to observe. That's why I had you watch those pigs for so long—so you'd get used to their appearance. See how easy it was?"
I nodded. Just now, the moment I pictured a pig in my mind, the transformation happened. It was uncanny.
"The Blue Wraith's special trait is that it can naturally transform into whatever it touches—animals, plants, even rocks, flowers, and trees."
I swallowed hard.
"It's just that lifeless things have weaker auras. To transform into them takes extremely advanced ghost aura control. So far, only my idiot sister has managed to turn into stone—I've never seen another Blue Wraith do it. But turning into a person or animal is much easier: the ghost soul naturally reads the aura and records it."
John Chou opened the door as he spoke. Outside, chaos reigned. Food brought inside would hold its form for a while. Once the Blue Wraiths arrived, they'd use their ghost aura to materialize a wrapping and preserve it.
"What are you two doing?"
Just as John Chou and I rounded the corner of the warehouse, a Boarhead Soldier flew overhead and spotted us.
"Inspecting. What do you think we're doing? Orders say to check each warehouse and assess the spoilage, then get the Blue Wraiths to handle it."
John Chou pulled out a sheet of white paper with warehouse numbers written on it. The Boarhead Soldier nodded immediately.
"Hurry up. If there's not enough food, those Hungry Ghosts will start eating people."
I stared at the departing Boarhead Soldier in surprise. John Chou looked puzzled too, but we kept moving through the food storage area, heading north.
But I saw a look in John Chou's eyes—he seemed to have thought of something, a hint of a smile.
"What kind of evil ghost?"
I asked. John Chou glanced at me.
"Brother, Hungry Ghosts are just another name for Starving Ghosts, aren't they? Interesting. Now things are starting to make sense. Let's move."
The food warehouse complex was enormous. John Chou and I walked for a while, entering some warehouses and pretending to take notes—successfully fooling several Boarhead Soldiers.
Suddenly, we reached the end. We became alert and crept along the side of a warehouse. In an instant, my eyes widened in disbelief—before me was a massive, sunken pit, so deep I couldn't see the bottom. I even looked back in doubt.
"Looks like we've found it."
John Chou smiled. I sensed an incredible power—something uncanny—coming from the pitch-black pit that seemed bottomless.
"So the Animal Realm split off from here and was twisted by supernatural force."
"So what do we do now?"
John Chou glanced around, then dragged me quickly back into a food warehouse.
"Wait, brother. I haven't thought of a way yet. But knowing the Animal Realm split off here means we've found the passage. To enter, we need a method. I can already feel a third of my Bloodbane Power calling to me. I had Dean Ding come here to confirm the pit and..."
"You inside—get out here!"
A furious roar sounded. John Chou and I both tensed. John just smiled.
"Don't come out yet, brother."
John Chou grabbed his paper and pen and ran outside. I crouched by the door, watching. Outside stood a Boarhead Soldier, nearly two meters tall, armored and carrying a huge blade. He looked even more like a pig than the others—his lower half ended in two hooves, and his body was round and stocky.
"What are you doing here?"
"Nothing, just here to take notes."
John Chou held up his paper and pen. Suddenly, a flash of green light—John darted to the left, skidding back more than ten meters before stopping.
The Boarhead Soldier was incredibly fast. His blade struck just centimeters from the ground, cracking it. With a roar, a fierce green light split the warehouse in two, fading as it neared the pit.
Invisible ghost aura—felt but unseen. The Boarhead Soldier turned and glared at John Chou.
"Not bad, but... Die!"
With a roar, the Boarhead Soldier swung his blade at John Chou again. John smiled and gave me a look. I raised my hand and flew out, my body flashing with green light.
The Boarhead Soldier seemed to sense my movement. He twisted his head, and the hand attacking John Chou vanished. I felt a surge of intense energy from the side—just as I tried to dodge, a flash of red light streaked past.
With a slash, green blood splattered. My eyes widened. John Chou stood behind me, blade in hand. The Boarhead Soldier whimpered in pain, collapsing to the ground.
"Too bad. When you sensed the Blue Wraith behind you, you thought I was weak—no threat at all."
The Boarhead Soldier whimpered, its ghost soul instantly split in two by John Chou—killed outright.
With a crack, the Boarhead Soldier turned to ash and vanished. John Chou gave a cold smile, then looked at me.
"Sorry, brother. Used you as bait."
"Isn't that always the case?"
I quickly withdrew my ghost aura. Looking back, if I'd actually fought that Boarhead Soldier, I'd have been in trouble—I couldn't have beaten him quickly.
"That's what ghosts are, brother—illusory and elusive. That's the core of what it means to be a ghost."