The first ray of morning sunlight pierced through the forest, but the air was already thick with the stench of decay. Flocks of birds circled overhead, and nearby animals crept closer, drawn by the scent.
In just a few days, everyone in this tribe had died. After death, their Dual Souls were devoured by ghosts. Now those ghosts had dispersed, their presence even colder and more sinister after consuming so many souls.
My situation was awkward—I had a human body, but not a shred of power. I had no idea what was happening or why.
The ghosts were all gone, nowhere to be seen. Yet the Corrupt Miasma in the Encampment began to gather, refusing to dissipate even under the sunlight. I watched quietly.
I noticed something different from before. Normally, after death, Corrupt Miasma would slowly disperse. Even with so many dead, it shouldn't have gathered like this or lingered so stubbornly. The sun was high, its yang energy strong, yet the miasma was thickening, a vast black mass covering the entire Encampment.
I tried climbing down from the tree—I'd spent days perched there, watching, never tiring or affected by the miasma. As I stepped into the Encampment, the stench intensified. The deeper I went, the thicker the Corrupt Miasma became, heavy as fog, a dark, looming shroud.
The fog grew denser as I moved forward. I raised my hand to push through it—it felt almost like water. It seemed that all the Corrupt Miasma nearby was being drawn here, constantly gathering. When I looked up, the sky was gray and sunless.
This surprised me. I kept moving inward, finding only broken corpses on the ground. At the center, I stared wide-eyed at a huge mass of black gas, slowly rotating, absorbing more Corrupt Miasma from around it. I was shocked by how it kept growing, and I just stood by, quietly watching.
Soon, the sky was nothing but black. The sun’s light couldn’t penetrate, and the black sphere before me grew larger and larger.
I had never seen Corrupt Miasma gather like this before. Thinking back over the past few days, everything seemed ordinary—nothing should have led to this.
Normally, places with mass death do gather a lot of this aura, but what I saw here was on a different scale. Such rapid, massive accumulation—I’d never seen anything like it. Even places inhabited by ghosts sometimes have Corrupt Miasma.
But despite not being human, ghosts also keep their dwellings clean. Too much Corrupt Miasma would affect them as well—even ghosts can't stand it. I couldn't help but recall when Ethan Zhang descended to the ghost realm and encountered the grotesque Green Wraith, Evan Zhao.
I’d seen that Green Wraith before—filthy and frightening, covered in thick Corrupt Miasma. Though this aura could generate yin energy and other powers, it was ultimately just waste, useless to ghosts and disastrous for humans.
Anywhere plagued by disease is full of Corrupt Miasma. No wonder this tribe died so quickly—such a massive concentration would overwhelm not just humans, but even ghosts.
Back then, Evan Zhao lived in the center of the stinking lake outside Midway Town. The place reeked day and night, so ghosts avoided it. Evan Zhao lived alone, carefree, but what puzzled me was that Ethan Zhang couldn’t smell the stench at all.
I still can’t figure that out. I’ve met Evan Zhao before, and his Corrupt Miasma was indeed thick. The stench was getting stronger now, and I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I left the center of the Encampment and retreated to the outskirts, finally able to catch my breath.
But what shocked me was the plants around me—they seemed to wither overnight. Large swaths of vegetation were dying. Even the tree I’d been on had shriveled branches and dead leaves.
The incomprehensible transformation continued. Soon I noticed the soil was drying out, moisture vanishing. I crouched down, grabbed a handful of earth—it was bone dry.
Within a kilometer, the entire forest had withered. The sun set, and as night fell, I was stunned to see the Corrupt Miasma gathering even faster. All the woods around me had died.
Cracks appeared in the parched ground. I couldn’t understand such a natural yet unnatural change. But I realized I had to find its source and understand it before I could turn the next page. The stench was unbearable, but I decided to return to the center and see what was really happening.
It was getting harder and harder to approach the center. The air felt like a vast ocean, and I was deep beneath its surface, inching forward, moving slowly.
Finally, after an entire night of struggling, I reached the center again. It must have been morning by then.
The center was shrouded in darkness, the ground sunken. To my shock, a massive pit had formed, and the black gas kept gathering—a huge sphere. After watching for a long time, I realized it had stopped growing.
Gradually, the sphere stopped expanding. I swallowed nervously, suddenly sensing a strange vibration—like the earth groaning. I looked down: the sunken pit was cracking open. I saw red, felt heat, and watched as the ground collapsed, revealing a vast chasm below.
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I stared intently, as if something was about to emerge. Soon, a fiery red glow appeared below. With a thunderous crash, the ground beneath me collapsed, and a massive Abyssal Tendril burst from the fire below. Its tip split open into a gaping maw, jagged white teeth exposed, and I plunged toward what looked like a lava pit.
I screamed, feeling my back instantly scorched, pain shooting through my whole body. Flames erupted across my skin. I stared at my hands—bones exposed, my body smoking and dissolving, and I kept crying out.
The sound of sizzling filled the air. I was nearly unconscious. Below, the lava pit could dissolve anything. The Abyssal Tendril, with its gaping maw, was devouring the huge sphere of Corrupt Miasma above, making loud, wet chewing noises.
"Hey, what are you screaming for?"
I glanced back. The Wraithlord stood behind me, looking furious. Suddenly, I snapped awake—sweat pouring down my body. I looked around—there was nothing: no black sphere, no collapsed ground, no Abyssal Tendril with a gaping mouth. Was it all a dream?
But then I watched my arm begin to heal. It was like a dream, but not a dream—everything that just happened was real. I looked at the first page, but now the words seemed strange, completely unreadable to me.
"You said you'd catch up to me soon, huh? Can't even understand the first page, can you?"
I shot a sidelong glance at The Wraithlord. He shoved me to the ground; I landed hard. The Wraithlord sat back at the table, reading the book.
"Wait, maybe soon I'll..."
"Wait my ass—I'm awake. I want to keep reading page seventy-eight. You stay quiet and don't bother me."
Panting, I got up and moved to the corner, replaying everything I'd just seen. This book possessed an incredible power. When I first saw the words, my consciousness must have been drawn inside. Then I experienced a series of unbelievable events. If The Wraithlord hadn't woken me, I'd be in real danger. Now I understood how hard it was to comprehend this book. I felt my strength fading—exhausted, as if I'd fought The Wraithlord, all from what seemed like a nightmare.
I wanted to look again, to see what that thing was—the one that emerged from underground and devoured the Corrupt Miasma. I’d only felt fear, not truly sensed it. If I could just grasp what happened, maybe I could decipher the first page.
"When will it be my turn to read?"
I asked, and The Wraithlord turned back, annoyed.
"I'll let you know when I'm tired of reading."
Now I understood why The Wraithlord often seemed so absorbed in the book, his eyes fixed as if he truly saw something—maybe his consciousness was being pulled into the world inside the book, a world of immense power.
But now I had to consider: what if I went in again and couldn’t use any power? If The Wraithlord hadn’t woken me, I’d be in trouble—my whole arm was burned away. Any slower, and I’d have been seriously hurt.
"Looks like things are getting complicated."