The insides of the Endless Plains of Yin were vastly different from what they saw outside it. After passing over the divide between Immortal Forest and the Endless Plains, the Golden Serpent Sect disciples felt as if they stepped into an entirely new world. The infinite plain was nothing but an illusion as the place they walked into was nothing like what they saw before. It was an incredibly frightening and confusing experience for most of the disciples.
‘This place hasn’t changed at all...’ Jing thought to herself. Unlike in some of her previous lives, this time Jing was not as helpless and vulnerable.
“This is definitely not the same place we were looking at...” Bing muttered as he felt his body freezing up.
“I’ve heard rumors but I never knew anything about this.” Lei Zhi spoke in surprise. He too felt chills.
“This cold is annoying.” Ying frowned as she ignited her hair into a flowing wave of orange flames.
Unconsciously, everyone but Jing and Li Li got near her for warmth. Her flames were more than warm enough to offset the bone-chilling coldness. As they stood huddled up together, they began to inspect their surroundings more closely. Instead of walking into a grand plain filled with nothing but dead grass, they were now inside a forest that somewhat resembled the Immortal Forest.
Gigantic strangely-shaped trees reminded some of huge versions of wild animals or humans. Resembling anything but actual trees. There were very few plants from the little they could see in this place. As of now, nothing but blue grass could be seen. A lack of plants wasn’t the only thing that the group of disciples noticed. They also noticed no sounds of insects or any animals at all. Could this place be inhabited only by ghosts?
It was nearly pitch-black with a deep white fog covering most of the forest. Only the light radiating from the great blue moon in the sky allowed them to see anything at all. This moon was far bigger than the sun and moon from outside the Endless Plains. It made more than a few disciples uneasy like it was suddenly going to fall and crush them all.
“I won’t let you get away!” Qing shouted.
As she and Hu Tao suddenly passed through the divide between this place and the outside. Hu Tao had a grin on his face as he quickly analyzed his new surroundings while fleeing from Qing. His eyes took in as much as it could in seconds, leading Wan Qing deeper into the Endless Plains.
“Well, they’re dead.” A disciple commented.
“Good. I hated that Hu Tao guy anyway.”
“Wouldn’t it be bad if a ghost took over his body though and returned to the sect?”
“Let’s just hope he dies without getting possessed.”
More and more disciples began to curse Hu Tao behind his back. No one from Heaven’s Angels stood up in defense for him. It wasn’t as if they could anyway but a majority just didn’t want to. Ying disliked him greatly and was more than happy to curse him in his face and behind his back. Bing and Lei Zhi weren’t the types to talk badly about people in front of them or behind their backs, so they kept quiet. Runt hoped that Hu Tao didn’t run into trouble but didn’t share his thoughts with the others. Jie knew that he’d be fine.
“Should we go after them?” Runt asked.
“They’ll be fine. Let’s go capture some ghosts and get out of this place.” Ying decided. This place was giving her the creeps. It felt like she was being stared at by multiple people but she could only see the other disciples.
“Be safe everyone. Try not to lose your amulets and if something does happen to it, just message me.” Jing told the rest as she walked off into the fog with Li Li.
“Do you think we’re burdens for Jing?” Ying suddenly asked the group as they started walking too.
“Burdens?” Bing was confused about how she came to this question.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“It just seems like whenever we’re in a situation like this, Jing is always off by herself.” Ying shared.
“Oh, that is true...” Lei agreed with her.
“Just like in the Treasured Plains. Jing was doing her own thing while we were together. I want to know why she doesn’t just travel with us.” Ying brought up.
“Isn’t Jing really strong? Could it be that she has people targeting her and she doesn’t want you all to get involved?” Jie brought her thoughts forward.
“What people?” Bing asked.
“Just earlier I saw a group of people following behind Jing from a distance after she walked off.” Jie revealed to the rest.
“Jing is shy at times...” Ying had no trouble in agreeing with Jie with how human Jing has been acting recently.
“Are you suggesting that Jing might be taking on a heavier burden by herself to keep us safe because we aren’t strong enough?” Lei asked.
“Yeah. I don’t know why else she would always split away from you guys, if not.” Jie believed in her guess.
“What if she had a secret that she didn’t want to share with us?” Bing suddenly brought up with a wild look in his eyes.
“And what kind of secret is that?” Ying asked while rolling her eyes.
They already knew that Jing was capable of the various impossible and unbelievable things. While Jie and Runt were still relatively new to Heaven’s Angels, they still knew that Jing was a freak. There wasn’t much that those from Heaven’s Angels felt could surprise them regarding Jing. She’s just shown and done so much already.
She could tell them that she came from the stars, was born from the drop of an Immortal’s blood, was crafted by a divine figure to bring change to the world, and they still wouldn’t be too surprised. It was Jing after all! A woman that could reform from a pool of blood. A woman that could take on an Earthly Immortal and survive to tell the tale. A woman that held so much power but still was capable of treating others with kindness and respect.
“Now that I think about it, I don’t know...” Bing scratched the back of his head shyly.
Lei Zhi gave a small laugh as Bing quickly realized the same thing that the rest of them did. Any secret of Jing would not surprise them, no matter how outlandish or ridiculous it seemed.
“How are we supposed to find these ghosts that we’re supposed to catch?” Runt asked the group.
“That is a good question...” Lei Zhi commented. Runt looked over to him expecting an answer only to receive a kind smile and a helpless shrug from the blind man.
“Before this test, I didn’t even believe in ghosts. So, I don’t really know.” Bing said.
“Don’t ghosts prey on the weak and helpless?” Jie remembered some stories from her childhood.
“With us grouped up together around Ying’s flames, we are probably anything but weak and helpless.” Bing realized.
“Tch. Does this mean that all ghosts are cowards?” Ying clicked her tongue.
“Well, they can probably only possess one person. It doesn’t make much sense to chase after a group to try and take over one person because they’ll most likely be exposed even after taking over the body.” Bing tried to reason.
“Does this mean we have to split up?” Runt suggested again.
“Let’s keep looking around for now. We still have three days left.” Ying decided.
“I agree. It's too early to make any decisions. We still don’t have any proof of anything we’re saying at all. These ghosts could be different from the ghosts that we were told in stories.” Lei nodded.
----------------------------------------
‘So this is a ghost!’ Li Li exclaimed.
As soon as his mom walked off, it didn’t take long for a ghost to target him. Because he wasn’t wearing the amulet his mom was wearing, he guessed that was why the ghost came after him. Li Li had the spirit captured by the throat as he shook it around before trying to show it to his mom. Its upper half was human while its lower half was a long tail.
“So I can’t see ghosts even with my refinement...” Jing noticed. Coating her eyes in qi didn’t work either but there were other methods she could use to see them that she gained from other lives.
“Release me foul bird! I’ll eviscerate you and then cook you up into a fat chicken!” The spirit threatened. Its word even reaching Jing’s ears.
“Crush him into pieces and then blow his remains into my eyes.” Jing instructed.
‘Insulting my mom? You were asking for death.’ Li Li told him.
Li Li threw him into the air before tearing him to pieces with his talons. His talons seemingly disappeared briefly before ghostly pieces floating in the air. The cursing spirit wasn’t even able to scream as he was reduced to something even lower than a ghost. Using his qi, Li Li controlled the separated pieces into flowing into both of his mom’s eyes as she asked.
Jing frowned as her eyes were irritated by the intake of the ghost. She rubbed at them until all of its spiritual essence was absorbed by her eyes. Considering it was just a Wandering Spirit, she wasn’t expecting much out of it but it was a start to helping her accomplish a certain goal. After her eyes fully absorbed the spirit, Jing could now see a small part of the other world before she even reached Mortality Ascension realm.
‘Are you okay, Mom?’ Li Li asked, worried that he did something wrong.
“Yeah. I’m fine...?” Jing took a look at Li Li and was slightly startled by the sight of him.