I hurried over, trying to separate the furious Deathcurse. Black Moon tilted his round head, constantly arguing in his defense.
“Hmph, you! I’ve suspected you were a Nether Syndicate spy for a long time. Tell me, where exactly did you send the recordings just now?”
Black Moon still explained innocently.
“I really was just recording. What I said earlier wasn’t random; it’s very likely we could all lose our memories. If those at the Dark Banquet can do it, so can the Ghost Ancestor. It’s just my personal habit to record important things and have the Celestial Hound safeguard that memory for me.”
Deathcurse still didn’t believe him. I walked over and sighed.
“Can you let him go for now, Deathcurse?”
As I spoke, Deathcurse finally let go, tossing Black Moon directly to the ground. Black Moon looked a bit helpless and waved his hand.
“I would never betray the BOSS. Please rest assured on that!”
At this moment, I noticed everyone was casting suspicious looks at Black Moon. After all, although he was from the Nether Syndicate, he was also a traitor to them. His reason for staying by Ethan Zhang’s side was unclear, but Ethan had said we could trust him, and that should be enough.
“In the past, Ethan told me we could trust him, so I’ll trust you, Black Moon.”
Black Moon immediately stood up and bowed to me, then smiled.
“Of course, I would never betray the BOSS.”
I began telling everyone about John Chou and Isabelle Frost, the siblings who were trapped in the mysterious underground palace in Sky Burial Valley. I explained everything bit by bit. At this moment, Ghost Painting Book Immortal became excited.
“If there’s nothing else, Ms. Rachel, we can go right away. I want to see that underground palace for myself—this kind of thing is my favorite.”
“If there’s anywhere in this world with a structure similar to Abyssal Hell, it means one thing.”
Deathcurse suddenly spoke. We all looked at him; his gaze was heavy. Zhou Fulai seemed ready to interrupt, but Deathcurse stopped him.
“There’s a traitor in the Underworld Court.”
I looked at Deathcurse in confusion. He sneered and continued.
“The structure and layout of Abyssal Hell—those who know it in this world, besides the Ten Judges, are likely only the Seven Ghost Sovereigns. If someone claims Ksitigarbha taught it through a dream, that’s far too careless. How could anyone remember so much from a dream?”
I immediately nodded. Deathcurse was right—the one who told us everything about the underground palace, we don’t even know what it is, neither human nor ghost. After the events at Snowridge Springs, I’ve spent the past few days with the top practitioners of the human world and learned a lot. Now I understand: Abyssal Hell is probably the superimposition of certain techniques and formations. It’s said that Ksitigarbha gave the king a dream, but that’s not credible.
“Indeed, the structure of Abyssal Hell—if you haven’t entered and experienced it yourself, there’s no way to know. And even if you have, without a foundation in techniques and formations, you’d still be lost. Among the Seven Ghost Sovereigns, only Basil Bertram truly masters ghost arrays and supernatural arts.”
Ghost Painting Book Immortal said this, and I was thinking about the underground palace, Abyssal Hell, Snowridge Springs, and the evil ritual on the surface of those four Charm Pouches I saw in Snowridge Springs. It all seemed connected—structures that techniques could endlessly extend.
“Is there anything else important, Ms. Rachel?”
Ghost Painting Book Immortal asked, and I shook my head.
“Let’s talk about it when the Ghost Sovereigns arrive. It’s important, and I want everyone here to hear it.”
At this moment, Cao Wanzhi seemed to sense something and gave a helpless smile.
“Roxie, judging by your expression, something major must have happened to Zhang Qingyuan!”
I nodded. Everyone looked at me in confusion, and then Black Moon suddenly laughed.
“I think no matter how things change, the BOSS will always be Zhang Qingyuan. That won’t change.”
I looked at him in surprise. For some reason, I felt he was truly sincere toward Zhang Qingyuan—maybe even loyal. Zhang Qingyuan had said before that, no matter how many times things had happened, Black Moon always believed in him, never doubted, and often encouraged him instead.
“It’s true. No matter what happens, he’s still himself.”
Victor Duan muttered. Deathcurse sat on the steps and gave a helpless smile.
“Everything happening in the Yin Aspect World really shocked me. Let’s talk about John Chou’s problem first.”
I nodded.
Ghost Painting Book Immortal began to speak about the problem of stacking ghost arrays and supernatural arts. Normally, supernatural arts are cast by a practitioner, while arrays are arranged by manipulating the elements of heaven and earth and using certain objects as media. Arrays are fixed and hard to change. So, within an array, two effects can exist, and so-called variable arrays are quite remarkable. Of all the arrays Ghost Painting Book Immortal knows, only the Grand Zodiac Fourfold Array of Hades is powerful enough to have many variations.
So even though he’s never seen Abyssal Hell himself, he’s certain that Abyssal Hell contains an object that supplies power, providing a constant source of energy to stabilize the array. Stacking supernatural arts onto arrays is extremely difficult because practitioners vary in strength, and even the same supernatural art can differ greatly depending on who uses it.
Trying to stack supernatural arts onto an array requires rewriting the structure of both. There are similarities in the formulas for supernatural arts and arrays, but to fully master them requires exceptional knowledge and intelligence.
“This approach is called a critical formula. Only when the powers of supernatural arts and arrays reach a critical similarity can it be created. Throughout history, practitioners who’ve achieved this are rare. I’ve seen a few, but most had flaws. The underground palace you mentioned, similar to Abyssal Hell and able to devour ghost energy and generate itself, is probably the result of stacking supernatural arts and arrays. If supernatural arts have no practitioner, they can’t manifest. If you succeed in combining them and complete a critical formula, the power is immense. The array can substitute for the practitioner and cast the art itself. Your Grand Zodiac Fourfold Array in Hades is similar, but incomplete. If it were truly complete, anyone who entered would never come out—they’d die inside.”
I was intrigued. Ghost Painting Book Immortal smiled.
“In today’s Living World, I doubt any practitioner could achieve a critical formula. Ms. Rachel, didn’t a Taoist named Master Zachary Wu save Qingyuan before? I’ve seen Qingyuan’s memories of that battle—the god-descending technique the Taoist used was a kind of critical formula, but incomplete. That’s why Zhang Qingyuan only gained a little power. If it had been complete, those troublemakers and the Immortality Society would’ve been wiped out instantly. So, are you interested?”
I nodded. Ghost Painting Book Immortal smiled.
“Ms. Rachel, I think you should consider this. In the Living World, the only person I’ve seen who could achieve a critical formula was the first master of the Nether Syndicate. I think you could do it too.”
I looked at Ghost Painting Book Immortal in surprise. He smiled and continued.
“You possess a Yangfire body, which is crucial. For practitioners, having a Yangfire body is almost impossible. But your resurrected body was rebuilt by the Four Guardians, who removed all Yin power and used pure Yang to construct it. That’s why you can do it. And you’re smart—much smarter than Qingyuan.”
I gave an awkward smile.
At that moment, Black Moon started writing something in his palm again. We all stared at him, and he chuckled.
“Just taking notes, gotta keep good records. Roxie, I think you’d better not try it lightly. Critical formulas are dangerous—if you mess up, you could get hurt.”
Ghost Painting Book Immortal looked at Black Moon in surprise.
“I used to be part of the Nether Syndicate, so of course I know. Go ahead, everyone, I’ll keep recording.”
“So, Ms. Rachel, if you have time, you should keep studying supernatural arts and arrays. Only when you truly master them can you create a critical formula. The Nether Syndicate has a technique called the Three-Day Ghost Suppression Ritual, and the Daoist Order has the Nine-Dragon Ghost Suppression Ritual—both are critical formulas. But besides their creators, I’ve never seen anyone else perform them.”
Black Moon leaned in.
“Looks like you know a lot about the Nether Syndicate, old man Book.”
Ghost Painting Book Immortal laughed heartily.
“Of course! I love writing strange stories. I’ve witnessed countless battles between the Nether Syndicate and evil ghosts—fights to the death. In their final moments, I’d seize the chance to hear their stories and write them down.”
I stared at Ghost Painting Book Immortal in confusion. He added:
“Of course, I’m not the type to watch someone die without helping. But the people of the Nether Syndicate absolutely refuse help from ghosts—they’d rather die than accept it. Every one I’ve met was like that. What a strange sect!”