The wind howled through the mountain valley, the snowstorm raging. I stood on the snow, with no way left to retreat. Ahead, the Wraithlord's figure shrouded in black mist seemed to be waiting for me. Behind me stretched an endless expanse of white snowfield—the path had vanished.
"You may go now, Rachel Lan. If you obtain that Blood Jade, I will then take you to the path leading to the Illusory Realm."
I responded softly and followed the Wraithlord. His silhouette looked somewhat lonely.
"Who created this spell, anyway?"
I asked. The Wraithlord smiled faintly and shook his head.
"Who created it is no longer knowable. Here, one cannot see the past nor the future. If you insist on asking, then it was created by everyone who has entered here. Each time someone enters, the spell changes. You and I could both be considered its creators."
I swallowed. By now, I could no longer feel even the slightest chill. My body was beginning to change, or rather, my connection to the living world had been severed since my split with the newborn. I could no longer sense cold or heat, nor did I feel hunger.
The sensation was strange—my body no longer felt like my own. I followed the Wraithlord through the endless, borderless snowy valley. My footprints had already vanished from the ground, and from time to time, the Wraithlord would smile.
"Do you really think you've already won?"
I asked, and the Wraithlord shook his head.
"I've never thought I was destined to win. That's precisely why I failed. People are like this, and so are ghosts. If that day truly comes, maybe I'll die, but it won't matter anymore. The only ones you need to watch out for are those people from the Immortality Society."
I nodded.
"The Founding Emperors only agreed to teach me because you said something to them, didn't you?"
I stared calmly at the Wraithlord. Memories from that darkness surfaced one after another—I recalled how at first, the Founding Emperors weren't going to teach me, but suddenly they changed their minds. Thinking back on everything that happened, I suspected it had something to do with the Wraithlord.
"I did talk to those two about some things. They understood, but couldn't agree. You don't need to worry about the rest, Rachel Lan. Just remember, today was your choice."
I nodded again. It truly was my choice. If I enter the Illusory Realm, I may never return to the living world. My consciousness is now completely separated from my body—the sensations of cold and warmth, the feeling of my own flesh, are fading. Soon, I will be neither human nor ghost.
Gradually, the snowy valley we walked narrowed. I could already see the sheer walls at the valley's bottom.
"It's beneath the snow. Dig it out."
When we reached the bottom, the Wraithlord stopped and slowly dissolved into a stream of black mist, burrowing into the snow. I stared quietly at the white ground, crouched, and began to dig. Sure enough, soon I uncovered a flawless piece of Blood Jade. I held it in my hand, and the Wraithlord reappeared beside me.
"Are you truly not going to regret this, Rachel Lan?"
I made a sound of acknowledgment. The Wraithlord laughed, and just then, the snowy mountains around us began to fade, transforming into a vast, tranquil green forest. The two of us stood among the trees.
"As soon as you take this piece of Blood Jade, everything in this place will become chaotic. The Nether Syndicate only anchored me in the valley as a marker, because the spell here can't affect me. So, by keeping me in the valley's distorted time-space, they could use the mark to locate the time-space where their people once existed. Now that you've taken it, time and space are unraveling, and we'll keep traversing this disorder."
The Wraithlord said this and started walking again, taking me with him. I looked at him suspiciously.
"You still doubt me even now? Relax, Rachel Lan. Unless someone brings me into the Illusory Realm, my seven souls cannot be reunited."
I replied with a sound of acknowledgment. Though we were clearly climbing upward, my field of vision seemed to sink lower and lower. Suddenly, we were beside a river. The Wraithlord led me across.
"Let me tell you a little about this place."
I made a sound of acknowledgment.
The Wraithlord began to speak. When Xu Gou first brought him here, he sensed the uniqueness of the place and the spell that made it so. Even the Wraithlord couldn't decipher its nature. But after years in this realm, he discovered something.
Most who are drawn into this space created by the spell are those who can't face their true selves, those haunted by fear of their past. In other words, people with no future.
Those who come here are all different, grasping desperately for life at first. But their senses are distorted—they eat and feel full, drink and feel quenched, sleep and think they're refreshed.
But in truth, nothing here can sustain those who enter. In the end, it's suicide—most starve to death. It took years to realize this, because most people can never confront their true hearts.
This happens because of self-denial. Those who can't accept themselves trigger the spell, which creates a false world mirroring their innermost fears.
The reason my consciousness entered here is a subtle link to May Shaw's deep loneliness, and my power resonated with the lingering soul in her solitary world.
So I entered a reflection of May Shaw's inner world. Her childhood trauma bred a profound loneliness, trapping her in the faceless town and the deserted town.
Even after meeting countless people since birth, May Shaw never truly remembered anyone—her heart remained unbearably lonely.
Meeting Serena Chen was luck. The Wraithlord told me that Serena also had a period of loneliness, so she wandered this town, met May Shaw, and then me.
Eventually, I understood everything. Though I was lonely, my heart held hope. So both towns vanished before me.
"This spell is built on the human heart. Whoever created it was a genius. It's the greatest mystery in the spell world—countless practitioners have come, even the Immortality Society, but found nothing."
I looked at the Wraithlord in surprise. We were walking in a desert now. Everything here was strange—I hadn't even noticed we'd entered the sands.
The Wraithlord continued. The spell grows with the human heart. Human nature seems simple but is truly complex—so the spell, after absorbing so many hearts, has become monstrous, with more and more intersecting time-spaces. The Wraithlord knows of thousands, but there are even more.
"But you're an anomaly here, Rachel Lan. You shouldn't have entered, but your overwhelming desire to reach the Illusory Realm brought you. That's why you followed the guidance here. Do you remember that old couple?"
I stared at the Wraithlord in shock. He laughed.
"They briefly returned here, then left again as the dead. Most people here don't realize they've long since become bones, still living out their inner worlds. They'll go on forever, until they finally realize they're dead—and then they'll vanish like smoke."
I swallowed.
"Isn't this spell cruel?"
The Wraithlord asked. I made a sound of acknowledgment; he shook his head.
"Many think they're alive but are already dead. Some still living believe they're dead. You're the latter."
I wanted to argue, but a pain flared inside me. The Wraithlord burst out laughing.
"There's no need to avoid your true heart. Everyone has their own path. Ethan Zhang found his, and now it's your turn. You must walk your own, or you'll have no future."
I made a sound of acknowledgment and kept following the Wraithlord. I didn't know how much longer we'd walk. Then the Wraithlord stopped.
"Seems something doesn't want us reaching the Illusory Realm, hm."
The Wraithlord spoke. I glanced around, and in a blink, we were back in the town by the snowy river. I stared in surprise at the falling snowflakes. Suddenly, twelve figures appeared in midair before us, their eyes grim—they were the Nether Syndicate Zodiac Twelve.
End of chapter.