Walking by the Abyss on Thin Ice

Yan Qingzhou, Yi Chaohua, and others intensified their efforts to repair the underground altar, attempting to reopen the light gate.

However, the damage caused by Su Yun's sword was too great, and all eight altars in the underground palace were destroyed. If Shi Zhenbei were present, he could repair them in a short time. But without Shi Zhenbei, they could only sigh helplessly when faced with the vast underground palace.

"To repair the underground palace, even with enough craftsmen and scholars, it would still take five to six years. In that time, they would probably starve to death."

Yan Qingzhou and the others became increasingly disheartened.

On the other side, Su Yun and Shi Zhenbei only waited for two days before setting off along the desolate road.

The ash of calamity filled the sky, like snowflakes drifting.

"The ash of calamity is the sediment after the corruption of the world's vital energy."

Su Yun cut a piece of clothing to cover his nose and mouth, raised his palm, and caught a piece of ash, asking in confusion, "Then where does this ash of calamity come from?"

Not long after, they saw the source of the ash of calamity. On both sides of the road, there appeared giant planets, also covered in gray.

The ash of calamity was blown from those planets to this road.

The vital energy of the heavens and earth on these planets had already decayed, and the planets had fallen into silence, devoid of any vitality.

This was an extremely wide road, paved by unknown individuals. Walking here, one planet after another receded behind them.

There was no distinction of day and night here. Su Yun used his Huang Zhong to keep track of time. He had food and water in his spiritual realm, which was necessary for everyone on this journey of fireflies.

"Ma Du Du, Tu Ta Ta!"

Beside Shi Zhenbei, there were energetic little construction creatures, building houses as they walked. They molded the ash of calamity into bricks and built as they went. 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝒍．𝙘𝒐𝙢

Ying Ying flew out and joined them in building houses.

Su Yun turned his head and saw that they had built a continuous and undulating city wall, which left him stunned.

"Senior Brother, what is the purpose of the Great Wall?" Su Yun asked.

The dumb Senior Brother's little brush monster was about to write the answer on a cardboard when Ying Ying commanded the little construction creatures to start fighting. One group of little construction creatures guarded the city wall, while another group charged from below towards the top of the wall.

"Since the Great Wall is used to defend against external enemies, who is the enemy that the Beimian Great Wall is defending against?" Su Yun asked again.

Shi Zhenbei's brush monster stopped, unable to answer Su Yun's question.

"Is it defending against the ash of calamity?" Su Yun still didn't understand. "Or is there a fierce and brutal invader outside the Beimian Great Wall? Or perhaps, is the Beimian Great Wall resisting those who want to become immortals..."

No one could answer his question, only the ash of calamity blew from the planets on both sides.

In the Ash Temple in Boshan County, he had also seen the Beimian Great Wall pouring down the ash of calamity, destroying the world. It was even more unfathomable.

They had been walking for more than ten days, and the little construction creatures were no longer as energetic as before.

They hung their heads dejectedly, walking forward listlessly. Some crawled into Shi Zhenbei's book basket, while others simply hid in the blueprints, building a four-walled house for themselves and sitting inside, lost in thought.

Even when Ying Ying clenched her little fists and shouted "Ma Du Du" at them, they couldn't muster any spirit.

The ash filled the sky, too oppressive.

Su Yun tried to open the Heavenly Dao Token, attempting to send Ying Ying back to the Tian Dao Academy, but the Heavenly Dao Token had no response here.

They continued forward, and one-third of their food and water had already been consumed, yet this road seemed endless.

Suddenly, a tall shadow appeared on the road, like a small hill.

Su Yun activated his divine power to push away the outer ash, revealing a skeleton underneath.

"It's Black Tiger's skeleton!"

Ying Ying was shocked and exclaimed, "What kind of monster ate him?"

"It should be Fei Lian who ate him."

Su Yun looked ahead and said, "Fei Lian is up ahead. He should have also heard about this road. It seems we are on the right path."

He rallied his spirits and continued forward, saying, "If we still can't find the Ghost Market of the Heavenly Gate, then I will release my memories of the Ghost Market."

Ying Ying's heart trembled, understanding the meaning behind his words.

Su Yun's childhood memories of the Ghost Market were actually the experience of entering the market with Qu Bo and others to capture and seal gods and demons. Those memories were used by Qu Bo and others to suppress the gods and demons.

Releasing these memories would not only make Su Yun recall those tragic years, but it would also likely release several gods and demons.

After a few more days, they encountered a giant ash stone on the road, as huge as a mountain range. The ash stone emitted the aura of gods and demons.

Su Yun and the mute Shi Zhenbei walked past it, looking up to see that this ash stone had three heads facing different directions. Its robust body had six arms, covered in scales, with a huge scorpion body and a long tail hook behind it.

It looked like a statue carved from the ash of calamity, but the aura of gods and demons emanating from the ash stone was extremely real and powerful!

"The aura of a living being..."

After Su Yun and the others left, the giant statue slowly recovered, and its obscure spiritual consciousness trembled in the air. "It seems that the child who captured gods and demons has returned. Why has he come back..."Su Yun continued forward, their food and water becoming less and less. They encountered more and more stone statues of the gods and demons along the way, each with different poses and a variety of types.

Su Yun also stopped to look at these statues of gods and demons, realizing that they were different from the ones on the Chao Tian Que. The gods and demons on the Chao Tian Que had fixed types, such as the Winged Dragon and Kylin.

When the Ghost Market of the Heavenly Gate appeared, the patterns that appeared on the Heavenly Gate were exactly these ninety-six types.

"Qu Bo and the others brought us here to capture gods and demons, and they should have followed the pattern of the Heavenly Gate in the Ghost Market."

Su Yun was shocked in his heart, "So these stone statues of gods and demons are..."

The statues of gods and demons remained motionless, occasionally revealing an extremely powerful aura, as if warning him not to act rashly.

"They are guarding against me, even more so than I am guarding against them!"

Su Yun laughed bitterly, thinking to himself, "Most likely, Qu Bo and the others came here to capture the Winged Dragon and Glutton, and when they sealed them into my forehead, they were noticed by these statues."

His spirits lifted, since Qu Bo and the others had come here, it meant that they were not far from the entrance of the Ghost Market!

These gods and demons entered the Ghost Market, but they couldn't cross the Beimian Great Wall. They were getting closer to the Immortal Realm and could prolong their lives, so they had no choice but to choose to sleep here.

Su Yun looked at his own spiritual realm, which no longer had any food, only some water left.

Senior Brother Ya Ba, Shi Zhenbei, took out some food and handed it to him, revealing a simple smile. His book monster and pen monster hesitated for a moment and wrote on the paper, "I still have a lot in my spiritual realm."

They continued on, and whenever Su Yun was hungry, Shi Zhenbei would timely bring him food.

More than ten days passed, and Shi Zhenbei became so hungry that he fainted.

Shi Zhenbei's book monster and pen monster took out the last of the food from his spiritual realm. Su Yun looked at it and saw that it was only enough for them for four or five days.

With Su Yun's help, Shi Zhenbei slowly woke up. This simple and honest man looked at the food and his face turned gloomy.

Ying Ying also had no strength to speak, sitting on Su Yun's shoulder, buried by the stone dust, seemingly about to turn into a small stone statue.

Su Yun controlled his diet, relying on his strong physical body to forcefully continue forward.

After another two days, they passed by a stone statue. The stone statue was a huge head with two wings growing out of the back of the head, the wings embracing each other, protecting the face.

"It's the Flying Lin."

Su Yun withdrew his gaze, silently thinking to himself, "He walked here, unable to see the end, completely hopeless, so he turned into a stone statue."

He turned his head and looked behind him. Senior Brother Ya Ba, Shi Zhenbei, could no longer move forward. His blood was still flowing, but his skin had already assimilated with the stone dust.

In his book basket, the little building people had turned into stone statues, and even the little people in the drawings had turned into a grayish color.

"Don't lose all hope, I can take you out. Ying Ying, I think we're almost at the Ghost Market..."

Su Yun looked at his shoulder, Ying Ying had her hands supporting her cheeks, turning into a stone statue.

Su Yun stopped speaking and used the Immortal Binding Rope to tie Shi Zhenbei, dragging him forward.

Gradually, they saw many shadows of buildings and palaces on both sides of the road, hazy and seemingly nonexistent.

There were vague figures in those buildings and palaces, standing there like ghosts, appearing and disappearing.

The figures in those buildings and palaces had no faces, some had broken limbs, and some seemed to disappear at any moment.

"Ying Ying, wake up, look, those are the forgotten spirits."

Su Yun muttered to himself, "They should have been remarkable powerhouses during their lifetime, having done earth-shattering deeds. After their death, there were still people who remembered and mourned them for a certain period of time. But as time passed, they were gradually forgotten by the world."

Ying Ying didn't speak, her eyes empty.

The forgotten spirits would be sent to the deepest part of the Ghost Market and become lonely souls and wild ghosts.

If someone read their stories in ancient books or on collapsed tombstones, their figures would appear faintly, and their spirits would become more active.

If someone read the works they left behind, they would gradually become more real.

However, their spirits had been lost in the five thousand years of time. Even if they left behind works and tombstones, no one truly understood who they really were, so their bodies became fragmented.

"We've arrived at the Ghost Market, look, there aren't many stone dust in the sky."

Su Yun looked up, the floating stone dust gradually decreased, but their food and water had been cut off two days ago.

Su Yun was so hungry that his mind was dizzy. Although his physical body was strong, in a place where the world's qi turned into stone dust, his strong physical body couldn't be replenished. He could only rely on consuming the energy of his physical body to sustain himself.

He looked ahead, the endless shadows of buildings in the Ghost Market, unable to see the end, unable to see the source.

The reason why the Ghost Market was mysterious was not because of these disappearing ghosts and gods, but because the paths in the Ghost Market were more complex than a maze!

For five thousand years, there were too many spirits living here. If one didn't know the way, they would never be able to leave the Ghost Market even if they walked to their death!

Su Yun stopped, and the spirits entered the rune wall.Two days later, Su Yun, with his spirit returned, blindfolded himself and staggered through the Ghost Market, dragging the stone statue from the north of the town.

His memory kept rewinding, gradually recalling the path he had taken through the Ghost Market with people like Qu Bo and Aunt Luo.

A complete route appeared in his mind, and the geographical map of the Ghost Market at the Heavenly Gate gradually became clear.

His body was getting weaker and weaker, but he still mechanically took steps, moving forward methodically.

Above his head, the yellow bell was spinning methodically, as if it was no longer him controlling his body, but this yellow bell.

After an unknown period of time, Su Yun, skinny as a skeleton, finally arrived on the street of the Ghost Market at the Heavenly Gate in his mind.

He put down the stone from the north, and a voice came into his mind: "Little ghost, don't forget your promise to us. We give you this memory, and you must release us..."

It was the voice of the gods and demons. He had reached an agreement with the gods and demons suppressed in the memory of the Ghost Market: they would give him this memory in exchange for their release!

"Don't worry, I will definitely keep my promise and will not go back on my word..."

Su Yun's palm trembled as he slowly removed the ragged cloth that covered his face, and the street of the Ghost Market at the Heavenly Gate came into view.

Su Yun wanted to cry, but his eyes were too dry for tears.

"Ying Ying, mute senior brother, wake up quickly, we're back, I've found the Heavenly Gate!"

One by one, the ghost gods slowly appeared on both sides of the street. It was the seventh day of the tenth month, a month and a half since Su Yun and the others had entered the light gate.

"Little Yun!"

One of the ghost gods recognized Su Yun, both shocked and delighted: "It's really Little Yun! He's back!"

The Ghost Market at the Heavenly Gate suddenly became lively.