Under the night sky, Grant City still glimmered with lights. Soldiers patrolled the streets, moving back and forth, ready to arrest anyone suspicious on sight.
At the palace gates, soldiers stood guard on either side. Meanwhile, in the Training Grounds, two figures moved busily, crouched on the ground, drawing something.
"Let’s leave it at this for tonight. After all, this ritual is far too complex, and the techniques required are numerous."
Wraithshade spoke as Old One-Eye stood up, looking at him with exhaustion. Black mist rose from the ground, and a massive, eerie black array sprawled across the Training Grounds.
"Is it really necessary to use such a complicated array?"
Old One-Eye asked, and Wraithshade nodded.
"Anything of value naturally deserves a worthy array. The main purpose of this array, once completed, is to fully strip away Human Passions and Desires."
Old One-Eye looked at Wraithshade, deeply puzzled.
"Can that thing really be obtained?"
"After all, this is what Tan Tian wants. Do you know, when a person dies and enters the cycle of reincarnation, their Human Passions and Desires are stripped away, but they flow to a certain place. I haven’t found a way into that place yet, but over these centuries, I’ve seen it—Human Passions and Desires do flow there. When someone completes their reincarnation, those Passions and Desires are infused back into them. This cycle repeats, like a vast spiral."
"The world after death, you ask? I died a long time ago, but I was ahead of the other ghosts—I learned that if you want to survive, you have to devour your own kind, gather their strength, and become powerful. I once saw people who specialized in capturing ghosts; they would drag ghosts from the world of the living down below."
Wraithshade nodded.
"There must be some kind of administrator in Hell, maybe an organization even larger than the world of the living. I've heard from ghosts who came up from Hell that unprecedented changes are happening there. But none of that matters. Do you know what Instinct is?"
Old One-Eye shook his head.
"The power born from The Unreal—Yuna Ji possesses this power now. That’s why we can see the vast energy hidden within her, the aura she radiates, those black-green lights."
"Someone from The Dark Banquet told you, right? What kind of organization is that? What sort of people are they?"
Wraithshade shook his head.
"I've never met them, nor do I know what they are or what their purpose is. But one thing is certain—they're searching for Instinct. The reason I know that anything with consciousness can possess Instinct is because they told me. This ritual array and some of the preparations were all instructed by them."
Old One-Eye stood up, looking at Wraithshade with deep confusion.
"Then what are the requirements? The conditions for joining The Dark Banquet."