In the shadowy, silent depths of the forest, Quentin Kwan moved slowly, guiding Daniel Li and his daughter Nina Li. Having offended a faction of Blue Wraiths entrenched here, Quentin had no choice but to abandon their former dwelling. I followed quietly behind them; the father and daughter looked much better than they had a few days ago.
Both had received Quentin's blood, which slowed the rate at which their bodies were being invaded by Yin energy. But now, the only issue left was food. No matter how many times they tried, they simply couldn't get used to it—the taste was just too unbearable.
"Brother Quentin, may we rest for a while?"
Daniel Li supported his daughter as they walked slowly. Quentin stopped; he hadn't flown them directly, since using his ghost aura would draw the surrounding ghost energy and accelerate their Yin corrosion.
The forest ahead grew denser. Quentin had to forcibly tear away some plants and trees, making a small clearing for them to sit. Everything here was unfamiliar to the father and daughter—their constant fear never left them.
Especially Nina Li. The ordeal of recent days had left her utterly exhausted. Quentin crouched silently, sending out strands of Specter Web into the ground.
From Quentin Kwan, the ghost aura I sensed wasn't particularly strong. Compared to the Blue Wraiths I'd encountered before, he was below average—no wonder he had to leave his home.
I've noticed Quentin has been acting suspicious lately, often muttering to himself. He seems to doubt his decision to save this father and daughter. Several times, I've seen him turn away from them, his expression fierce. Whenever he interacts with them, he sometimes sniffs the air, intoxicated.
To Quentin, the human scent on the father and daughter was like fresh, juicy meat. But they didn't know this—they thought the Blue Wraith was just checking their health. Especially Nina Li, who always blushed shyly during these moments.
I suspect that ghosts like Quentin, having never seen humans since birth, have little resistance to the urge to eat human flesh. The desire is almost impossible to control.
Just as I was lost in thought, Quentin leaned in close to Nina Li again. Nina blushed, tilting her head, but Quentin pressed his nose right up to her cheek, inhaling deeply.
"Mr. Quentin, is the Yin energy increasing again?"
Daniel Li's words snapped Quentin out of his craving for flesh. Shaking his head, Quentin moved over to Daniel instead.
"There's a bit more Yin energy on you," Quentin said.
As he spoke, Quentin placed his hand on Daniel's shoulder, quickly drawing out some Yin energy and tossing it aside. After a while, the father and daughter had rested enough, and the three set out again. Quentin had said he planned to take them to live in a hollow deep within the forest—there were no ghosts there, and the ghost aura was weaker than outside.
All the plants here grew by absorbing Yin energy. As long as you didn't eat anything from this place, you'd be fine—which is why the vegetation was so lush.
The key was to let Daniel and Nina Li's bodies fully adapt to everything in the Ghostrealm, but it would be a difficult process. That's why a place with less Yin energy was ideal for them.
Gradually, the forest thickened even more, making it almost impossible to move forward.
"You two, keep your distance. I'll use a bit of my power to clear a path for us."
As Quentin spoke, Daniel and Nina Li quickly moved back. Strands of green Specter Web shot forward, slicing through the dense forest like knives. Soon, tree after tree toppled aside, and a temporary path appeared. Up ahead, the black face of a cliff came into view.
Ahead was a narrow gap, just wide enough for a person to pass through. The mountain stretched endlessly above. After Quentin cleared the way, Daniel and Nina Li stumbled inside. The moment they entered, both seemed to sense something, their faces suddenly filled with astonishment.
Inside, the world was different from the tangled forest outside. The ground was covered in black wild grass, much of it long dead. Even the air felt warmer. I could sense it—the Yin energy here was truly scarce.
Daniel and Nina Li felt as if a spring breeze had washed over them. Nina burst into tears—the climate here was much warmer than outside.
"It's because of this mountain—the flow of Yin energy is blocked, so many of the plants inside have withered. You two can live here for now. There's a spring over there, and very little Yin energy. I'll go find you something to eat."
With a whoosh, Quentin was gone. The father and daughter lay on the black grass, finally basking in warmth after so long in the cold. It was as if they were under sunlight. At last, smiles broke out on their long-tense faces.
After resting for a while, Nina Li got up, her face once again troubled.
"Father, we've been gone so many days. Mother must be..."
Daniel comforted his daughter, sorrow in his eyes. They had no choice now—the father and daughter were trapped in dire straits.
"Everything is fate, my child."
Just then, I sensed a disturbance. Instantly, the space around me began to flow backward—time was rewinding. Horrified, I watched as thread-like strands drifted through the air. In a flash, Quentin appeared before me, reaching out, unraveling the Timeline that had ensnared me, stripping away every strand until the world was still once more.
I finally breathed a sigh of relief. This time, the Eye of Time's rewind had taken several days to appear. Ever since my last discussion with Quentin, he now stared gravely at Daniel and Nina Li.
"Do you think I was wrong, Rachel Lan?"
"You did nothing wrong."
I looked at Quentin seriously. He seemed lost in a nightmare, sitting weakly on the ground, exhaustion etched across his face, his gaze empty and fixed on the earth.
"I don't know how many more cycles like this I have to endure. I'm already tired."
I went over and crouched beside Quentin, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Just hold on a little longer. I promise I'll find the singularity and end this cycle."
Quentin raised his head, trembling, his eyes full of sorrow as he looked at me.
"No one can help us now—not you, not me. We have to stay strong. Only then will we find a chance. If we can't even hold on ourselves, hope will only drift further away."
Quentin nodded. He stood and checked my Timeline again, peeling away several more strands. Then he fell into deep thought, recalling every detail—he had lived through all of this countless times before.
I remembered what Zachary Justice once told me: whether human or ghost, all possess feelings, and with feelings comes longing. Maybe it's my own obsession that created all this.
I looked at Quentin.
"Can you tell me what really happened back then?"
Quentin nodded and began to speak, pain etched in every word.
"Long ago, I was forced to leave the mother and daughter. My presence was endangering the child's life, and the entire family. I extracted Nina Li's memories. When I followed her back to the world of the living, she remembered nothing of the Ghostrealm. I asked someone for help—to implant false memories of our meeting and love into Nina's mind."
I looked at Quentin in confusion. His actions were understandable, but then something occurred to me.
"Was it the Celestial Hound?"
I asked. Quentin nodded slightly, still lost in memory.
"But that wasn't the Celestial Hound you know. It was a powerful Green Wraith from the Animal Realm—everyone called him Lord Bark."
I grunted in response. Quentin suddenly stood before me, excitement flickering across his face.
Maybe it's because I took away Nina Li and my child's memories of the Ghostrealm that all of this happened.
"First, tell me exactly what happened."
Quentin began to speak immediately.
In the Ghostrealm, until the age of five, both Nina Li and Li Er lived here. Originally, Nina planned to stay in the Ghostrealm with her son and Quentin, living here until death.
But Nina often reminisced about the world of the living, sometimes telling her son stories about it. Over time, Quentin realized that keeping them in the Ghostrealm wasn't a solution, but he couldn't find a way back to the living world. He asked around nearby, but still found no way.
By then, mother and son were almost indistinguishable from ghosts—their bodies shrouded in thick ghost aura, a protection for them.
But things didn't go as hoped. Half-human, half-ghost Li Er often suffered extreme mental instability, as if two extremes clashed within him.
Unable to bear seeing his son suffer, Quentin decided to travel the Ghostrealm with mother and son, hoping to eventually find a way back to the world of the living.
"We were lucky. Just a few months after leaving, we heard about several ghost markets connected to the world of the living, so we headed straight for the Ghost Market that linked to it."
I nodded.
"Was it in Pure Province where you met Lord Bark?"