Red Heart Patrols the Sky

Lurking in the depths of the Nine Serenities, to some extent representing the boundary between life and death, the Netherworld Pass actually appeared in the world of the living!

With that, the dense fog that could never be dispersed now had an explanation. The fog was not man-made but a natural condensation of the laws of heaven and earth.

For the Underworld and the Celestial Sky should never meet. If the Netherworld Pass appeared in the world of the living, there must be something to obscure it.

The gathered souls, far exceeding the number of living in Xiaolin Town, suddenly had a reason for their presence. The souls drifting towards the Netherworld Pass was a type of instinct unrelated to sentience. The wandering spirits throughout Maple Forest City Region were likely all gathered here. What's more, as long as the Netherworld Pass remained, the gathering spirits would only increase in number and grow stronger!

But how could the Netherworld Pass appear here?

Wei Yan almost didn't hesitate, upon comprehending the meaning of those three words, he pulled out a bright red, archaically styled signal flare from his bosom and handed it to Zhao Lang. "Quick!"

—He naturally carried a fire-starter with him, and he was not unfamiliar with fire-based Dao Techniques. But still, he wasn't as swift as Zhao Lang.

After years of partnership with Wei Yan, the tacit understanding went without saying. As the bright red signal flare was passed over, Zhao Lang had already rubbed his fingers together and sparked a flame, which leapt onto the signal flare and, in a very brief time, consumed the not so slender flare entirely.

Only then did he speak with a somewhat grim expression, "You only have this one red signal left on you."

In Zhuang Country's military, signal flares were divided into black, red, and yellow. Only those of certain ranks possessed them—they were precious strategic items. Upon burning a black signal, the whole nation would engage in a fight to the death; very few in Zhuang Country qualified to ignite a black signal.

Burning a yellow signal signified the signaler was in dire straits.

The red signal, between the two, denoted a crisis of city annihilation and territory loss!

Upon igniting a red signal, the whole of Fenglin City would be shaken, and it would certainly alarm Wei Quchibi.

Now, with the City Guard Army and the Procuratorate within Maple Forest City Region restrained, Wei Quchibi sitting at the City Lord's Mansion meant moving a single hair would affect the whole body. A Xiaolin Town, where until now no enemies other than wandering spirits appeared, was it worth Wei Quchibi making a personal trip there? Or to put it another way, should Wei Yan misjudge, causing issues in Fenglin City due to Wei Quchibi's mobilization, could he shoulder the responsibility?

But these questions were no longer necessary to ponder in the face of those three words.

Because... that was the Netherworld Pass.

It appeared in countless legends, faintly a microcosm of the mythological era.

In fact, when the red signal's phantom blaze suddenly ignited before him, Wei Quchibi, the revered lord of the city, rose without a moment's hesitation!

He shot into the sky, wrapped in a whirlwind, howling as he sped towards Xiaolin Town.

Almost at the same time, Dong Ah, who was in quiet meditation, also abruptly opened his eyes. There must always be a powerful figure of such caliber in Fenglin City, so since Wei Quchibi had left, he could not depart.

While he remained stationary, his authoritative voice had already carried outside, "Issue an order to all disciples who can be reached, regardless of whatever mission they are on or cultivation they are engaging in, to cease immediately and return to Fenglin City!"

Indeed, the Daoist Academy nurtured Zhuang Country's hope, but there is a long process of growth beforehand. When the land is in peril, however, everyone must be prepared to fight for it.

Meanwhile, in the Daoist Academy as well, the current deputy dean Song Qifang was sitting cross-legged in front of an Alchemy Furnace, gently shaking a fan in his hand, tending to the fire. A very low sigh was heard, "Getting old."

...

In Xiaolin Town, after igniting the red signal, Wei Yan didn't pause; instead, he immediately swung his long saber, the sharp blade almost tearing through the air, then dissipating on the archway.

Yes, vanishing without a sound, without a ripple.

The subsequent attacks followed suit, regardless of whether it was blazing fire or violent wind, any Dao Technique that was thrown seemed to sink without a trace. Ling He even tossed over his own sword, but it too disappeared without a trace.

It was as if it never existed, and not only it, but everything that came into contact with it, also didn't exist.

Huang Azhan stood hesitating for quite some time in front of the Netherworld Pass. He had unwavering confidence in his child's urine, but seeing Ling He's sword vanish too, he regrettably chose to give up.

"This vortex... it should be a connection to the Underworld. Drawing on so many wrongful deaths here... our attacks all fall into the Underworld, not in the mortal realm," Wang Changxiang frowned, analyzing, "What appears before us, this should be a reflection of the Netherworld Pass, a reflection that has not even fully formed yet."

Not fully formed?

The characters on that plaque, Jiang Wang had seen them in the Taixu Illusion Realm and knew them to be Daoist script, a language that explicated the principles of heaven and earth. He had always been pondering what the appearance of the Netherworld Pass in Xiaolin Town represented, and it was not until he heard Wang Changxiang's analysis that he was suddenly startled.

So, when would the true reflection of the Netherworld Pass coalesce, and in what manner? And ultimately, what would it bring to this place?

People soon had an answer.

It was the innumerable lost souls drifting through Xiaolin Town, impossible to kill in their entirety or entirely rid of. Yet at this moment, they swarmed toward the center, gathering en masse.

A group of people could no longer care for anything else. They could only resort to the same old trick, withdrawing a certain distance before using fire-based Dao Technique to draw a circle, forming a defensive perimeter.

If someone could pierce the fog and look down from the sky, they would see countless lost souls being drawn by some force and rushing over. The vast river of souls flowed as if a hundred streams emptied into the sea!

The disciples from the Daoist institution of Maple Forest City, along with Wei Yan and Zhao Lang, were like the bitter rocks being washed over by the river.

They could not move, nor could they resist, and the end was unknown!

"All the lost souls from the Maple Forest City Region have been attracted here. Perhaps we are going to die here," Wang Changxiang said with a wry smile.

These souls were not particularly strong; they had moved freely within the formation before. But that was when the souls were merely wandering mindlessly, attacking living beings instinctively only when approached. Now that these souls were gathering in one place, they just happened to be in the way.

There were too many, seemingly endless!

At least within the limited visibility Wang Changxiang managed to clear, they saw no end to the lost souls.

What they did not know was that if previously this place had only gathered the lost souls of the deceased from Xiaolin Town over the years and attracted a few distant spirits sporadically, now, the unspent souls from the entire Maple Forest City Region were converging here at a speed far surpassing their own capability.

The dense, threading lines of souls cutting across the sky. In the entire Maple Forest City Region, they formed a web-like vision in the spectral sight, a scene that moved countless powerhouses.

"No," Wei Yan's voice was somewhat cold, his heart as well, "the City Lord will arrive soon."

No one knew how much he did not want to light that red signal flare, not wanting that person to see him in a vulnerable and helpless state. But he had no choice. Faced with the legendary existence of the Netherworld Pass, he could not bet the safety of the entire Maple Forest City on his pride.

Jiang Wang likewise watched those lost souls that whizzed past the "rocks" toward the Netherworld Pass and were absorbed and assimilated in an instant. His emotions were complex and indescribable.

Most of these lost souls likely had no consciousness. Thus, they did not struggle or wail. It seemed they had no regrets, no pain.

But they, they had once been alive. Each one was a soul that should have been at rest, the soul of a living being!

Among them, perhaps some had brushed past him, perhaps some were people he had known, perhaps his neighbors, his grandparents, or perhaps, his father.

He strained his eyes looking for his father, who died in his bed, among these densely packed souls. That man wasn't very tall, but he had always been the support that propped up his sky.

The lost souls flashed by in a blink, streaking past like lightning, coming from all directions. He was only focused on the direction from which the lost souls from Fengxi Town were coming, his eyes turning red, but he could not possibly take it all in.

All this time living alone, he never wanted to show vulnerability. Later, when living with An'an, he needed to be strong as an older brother. He rarely spoke of it but truly, he missed him!

Jiang Wang so wanted to see him one more time, yet he was so afraid of seeing him.

So afraid of that helplessness in the face of the Netherworld Pass.

Suddenly, as if reaching some critical point, the mighty river of lost souls cleared in an instant under a certain force, and the silhouette of the Netherworld Pass above the vortex became clear and tangible.

In the next moment, Maple Forest City Lord Wei Quchibi descended from the sky, wrapped in a whirlwind, but at the same time, the phantom of the Netherworld Pass also flashed and vanished!

In a vague sense, Jiang Wang felt a breeze brush across his cheek, but after a brief distraction, everything before him changed.

The colossal vortex was gone, and the fog gathering over Xiaolin Town dispersed immediately.

Everything disappeared, Underworld nor Celestial Sky was to be seen!