Frightening Joke: Above the Mist

Ghosts.

The reason they cause fear is because they cannot be communicated with, anticipated, or understood.

In other words, they are sufficiently unknown.

Death itself, being killed by an inexplicable, beyond-comprehension being, is far more terrifying than being killed by a human criminal who can communicate but kills mercilessly.

Ultimately, the root of human fear lies in the unknown.

When something can be understood, or even just interpreted, it loses its mystery and thus the greatest source of fear.

There is once a saying — the ghost you fear might be someone else's long-lost loved one.

Regardless of its truth, it indeed greatly reduces human fear of ghosts.

It explains the incomprehensible into a concept that is universally understandable and acceptable.

Likewise, a seed was planted in Ye City at this moment.

The one you long for beside you is actually a transformed lifeform of another world, sharing memories with him, and when one entity holds all the memories of another, true or false, it no longer matters.

Humans are beings that live by memory.

"Please open your mind."

"Do not resist."

"We shall live with you..."

"And die with you..."

Bai Yanren's voice echoed in everyone's mind.

Xun Weimo, who witnessed it all, was also powerless to resist.

He always knew something was off with Bai Yanren, but he could have never imagined that Bai Yanren was the true mastermind behind Wuji and was linked to the fierce ghosts there.

"I want to know, of what you said, how much is true." Xun Weimo asked.

"Of course..."

Bai Yanren turned to look at him:

"Not a single word is true."

Bai Yanren's expression sent a chill through Xun Weimo.

"If humans resist, it becomes hard for us to be reborn through human consciousness."

"So, the first step, I must make everyone willingly relinquish resistance."

"My clan lacks self-awareness, existing only on instinct; they don't know how to use human consciousness to generate self-awareness."

"Accordingly, the second step is to let the fog in Wuji spread out, covering the entire city, and make all of Ye City a part of Wuji. My power in Wuji is enough to control all kin, to teach them how to be reborn."

Bai Yanren spoke of his plan calmly, the level of honesty revealing Xun Weimo's fate to him.

So, he ought to ask all his doubts at once.

"The third step is that once the fusion is complete, my clan is reborn within human shells, a new race arises, capable of existing in the material world, holding the power to shape reality with mental force."

"I see... You are mass-producing Gods." Xun Weimo sighed.

"No." Bai Yanren's expression was calm, "I'm just... very lonely. As the first ant to look up at the sky, I wish to share everything I know and intend to do with my kin; yet when I look back, they still crawl ignorantly."

"I am not creating Gods; I am simply transforming every former self into my current self."

"Then what do those ten years of confinement mean?" A strong sense of betrayal arose, leading Xun Weimo to ask loudly.

Bai Yanren stomped on the ground: "I spent ten years producing some narrow paths beneath this city, connecting to the Fog Realm."

"Any more questions?"

"What about Bai Yanliang? Your brother, what does he count for?" Xun Weimo asked again.

"A deal, I said, I am not alone," Bai Yanren spoke calmly, "Back then, Zhou Tian's wife was lost in the Fog Realm and gave birth to a child there, who is Bai Yanliang."

"Zhou Tian cooperated with me, his terms were to revive his wife and to return the child to the Mortal World."

"I took my deceased brother's body as a vessel and transferred Zhou Tian's son's soul into the Human World."

"Any more questions?"

Bai Yanren's mechanical response pained Xun Weimo deeply.

He clearly realized this person was no longer the kind, clever Bai Yanren he once knew.

"One last question..." Xun Weimo looked at him, eyes vacant, "Why are you... being so transparent with me?"

Bai Yanren went silent.

As a flicker of hope sparked in Xun Weimo's heart, Bai Yanren suddenly revealed a strange smile:

"Because, it's my gratitude."

"You've worked hard, Xun Weimo."

"No... you shouldn't be called Xun Weimo..."

"You've worked hard..."

"My second Wuji, cultivated over many years."

Xun Weimo's mind buzzed; what was he saying?

I... Wuji?

The second Wuji?

All thoughts about himself, family, and his backstory suddenly blurred.

Does Xun Weimo even exist?

Just who is Xun Weimo?

"Goodbye." Bai Yanren reached out to him, and in the next moment...

Xun Weimo's body shattered, turning into a living blood fog.

The blood mist tumbled in the air for a few moments before flying towards Bai Yanren.

"The fourth step, there will no longer be a Mortal World and a Fog Realm; I will create a new world with my own hands, a new Wuji suitable for our existence."

With a thought from Bai Yanren, Zhou Tian elsewhere received the message.

Zhou Tian responded in kind: "Alright, I'll have them release Wuji now."

"Dark Abyss, open the Wuji Gate, let Ye City... enter the new world."

In the space keys opened by Dark Abyss, the living members were about to act but suddenly noticed something strange around them.

They were already dead, and it was Zhou Tian who gave them a second life, though this life essentially came from Bai Yanren, a fact they were unaware of.

The only person they needed to obey was Zhou Tian.

But at this moment, as they were about to follow Zhou Tian's orders and act to release Wuji, their expressions changed.

They discovered that the air around them seemed to congeal, their movements slowed down...

A strong sense of pressure surged from all sides.

What's going on?

Isn't this the space opened up by the keys, could there be an intruder?

Questions filled their minds, yet they also felt a hint of fear, a long-forgotten sensation...

"Move..." A voice struggled to issue, like a person dragging something heavy.

However, in fact, everyone remained stuck like they were in quicksand.

Suddenly, there was a change above them, as if lit up by a dazzling light from a dagger, and a figure leaped in.

The figure was tall and thin, holding a key that emitted a red glow in one hand and a pistol in the other.

Bang!

The silence was shattered by a gunshot.

Blood splattered everywhere.

The dead fell to the ground, with half their skull blown apart.

The flash from the pistol illuminated his face.

"You're that... Yu Wenxuan?!"

Yu Wenxuan heard this, turned the gun towards the voice, and smiled:

"Sorry, I made a promise to a pair of brothers."

"This place... The door's location was given by Bai Yanliang."

"The key to open it was given by a man named Bai Yanren at the Moon Sea Floor."

"As for the gun, that's mine."

"So, please, all of you, just die."

"Bang, bang, bang, bang ————"

In clean succession, figures collapsed with the sound.

As for why Yu Wenxuan was here, time... would have to rewind to the night of Mountain Moon Hiding.