Chapter 157: Mysterious Player
To be safe, Lin Huai had left her hearse parked outside the trial grounds, but she carried the blood jade coffin with her, stored safely inside her spatial jade bracelet.
The coffin was her ultimate trump card for survival.
The small wooden boat rocked and swayed, cutting across dark waters shrouded in thick black mist. Lin Huai could not tell where she was, and the riverbanks were completely hidden from view.
Many functions on her system interface were blocked and grayed out, leaving her only able to check the time.
Before she knew it, she had been drifting along the river for an hour and a half.
Lin Huai considered asking the ferryman how much further they had to go, but she was worried that opening her mouth might break her disguise.
Right then, a faint, flickering light emerged from the heavy gloom ahead.
Lin Huai’s eyes narrowed. As she looked closer, she realized that another boat was moving through the mist alongside them.
The short ferryman seemed just as startled. Standing up abruptly, the figure stared across the dark water at the parallel craft and muttered under their breath in a low, muffled voice, “What is going on? Another customer heading for the Blood Pool?”
It seemed both boats were traveling parallel to each other because they shared the exact same destination.
What surprised Lin Huai even more was the passenger seated on the other vessel. It was none other than the mysterious player who had stepped out of the Pavilion of All Knowledge right before her.
Through his dark mask, the stranger was also staring intently at Lin Huai.
Lin Huai kept her voice low. “Ferryman, can we shake them off? How much longer until we arrive?”
Hearing her speak, the ferryman’s voice shifted instantly, turning into the bright, cheerful voice of a young girl. “Big Sister, hold on tight! I’ll speed up for you right now!”
With a few vigorous strokes of the oar, the small boat kicked up a spray of water and surged forward like an arrow.
Once they had put some distance between themselves and the vessel behind them, the ferryman tossed back her straw rain cape. “Big Sister, do you still remember me?”
Lin Huai let out an astonished laugh. “It’s you! How did you end up ferrying a boat here after leaving the City of Wrongful Death?”
The girl standing before her was Wu Zhaodi, the five-year-old child Lin Huai had encountered back in the City of Wrongful Death. At the time, the little girl’s antics had caused Lin Huai to be placed on a citywide wanted list. Yet Lin Huai had answered her with warmth and a comforting hug, which had unexpectedly dissolved the child’s lingering obsession and allowed her soul to leave the city early.
Lin Huai had never imagined they would cross paths again in a place like this.
The little girl smiled brightly. “Big Sister, I recognized you the second you spoke! Back in the City of Wrongful Death, I caused you so much trouble. But look, I found a real job now! Don’t worry, Big Sister—you helped me back then, so this time, it’s my turn to help you.”
She pulled the straw cape back over her head. “Big Sister, do you have diving gear? The kind that lets you breathe underwater?”
Lin Huai nodded. “I do. Why? Do we need to dive? But… if I touch this water…”
Wouldn’t she die on the spot?
Before Lin Huai could voice her concern, the girl nodded firmly. “Yes, we’re taking the underwater route. It’s much faster to reach the Blood Pool that way. With me steering, you don’t have to worry about the water harming you. I won’t play tricks on you ever again!”
Lin Huai pulled a full set of deep-sea diving gear from her pack. The moment she strapped on the oxygen tank and adjusted her mask, the small boat tilted forward sharply, its bow plunging straight into the dark river.
Once submerged, a massive, glowing air bubble expanded around the craft. The little boat became astonishingly nimble, gliding through the depths like a fish returning to the sea.
Guided by the pale glow of the soul-guiding lamp at the bow, the boat cut through the deep current at blinding speed, easily slipping past sunken specters and lurking river monsters.
Lin Huai held onto the gunwale with both hands, keeping her balance to avoid being thrown overboard.
Along the riverbed, countless pairs of glowing green eyes peered through the silt—shadow worms lurking in the dark, watching her every move as if waiting for the moment she slipped into the abyss.
Traveling underwater cut down their travel time dramatically. In just over twenty minutes, the small boat broke back through the surface.
The young girl pointed toward a rocky landing ahead, her tone growing solemn. “Big Sister, that’s the Blood Pool ferry.”
“Once you step ashore, follow the dirt trail straight ahead. Cross through that dark mountain pass, and you will reach the Blood Pool. Because the path is so treacherous, there are no underworld guards stationed along it. Big Sister… it’s still not too late to change your mind. I can turn the boat around and take you back.”
The boat drifted closer, bumping gently against the stone dock. Lin Huai shook her head, stepped off the deck, and landed firmly onto the cold rocks along the shore.
“Thank you for your kindness, little sister, but this is a trip I have to make.”
The girl tied the mooring rope around a stone pillar and looked up at her. “Then I’ll wait for you right here. When you finish, I’ll take you back across.”
Standing on the frozen stone of the landing, Lin Huai turned and offered Wu Zhaodi a reassuring nod, her eyes filled with quiet determination. “Wait for me. I’ll be back.”
With that, she spun around and walked toward the winding trail that vanished into the dark mountain range.
The path beneath her boots was jagged and uneven. The black mist clinging to the rocks was noticeably thicker than the haze over the river, carrying a heavy, sweet scent of rust and copper that grew stronger and more nauseating with every step.
A deathly silence hung over the canyon, broken only by the soft crunch of her boots and the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.
With visibility dropping fast, Lin Huai relied on her instincts and the rising scent of blood to guide her path.
She sharpened all her senses, moving carefully through the fog. Her right hand kept a firm grip on her war scythe, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
Just as she reached the mouth of the mountain pass, a faint splash of water and the rushing sound of wind came from the landing far behind her.
Lin Huai’s heart jumped. She darted behind a massive boulder, holding her breath.
Through the mist, a dark silhouette slipped ashore like a phantom, landing lightly onto the ferry rocks. It was the masked player.
He noticed Lin Huai’s moored skiff almost immediately. After a cautious glance around the landing, he picked up the trail without hesitation, sprinting up the path with incredible speed.
Sticking to me like a shadow, Lin Huai muttered under her breath. Before he could close the distance, she pushed forward, vanishing into the pitch-black shadows of the mountain pass.
The rocky pass was brutal, filled with jagged outcroppings that made it feel as though she were walking through the ribcage of an ancient beast.
The scent of blood was coming from the other side of the ridge, accompanied by a suffocating spiritual pressure. Ignoring the rapid drain on her stamina, Lin Huai quickened her pace to widen the gap. Yet the presence behind her clung to her trail like a ghost, drawing closer by the second.
Finally, squeezing through a narrow rock crevice, the view opened up before her. But the sight that met her eyes was enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.
Stretching out into the distance was a boundless lake of thick, bubbling blood, churning like boiling soup. Every time a bubble burst on the surface, a wisp of pure, chilling Yin energy hissed into the air.
Above the crimson waters, a dense red vapor hung like a solid ceiling. Right in the center of the lake, a vast carpet of brilliant crimson lotus flowers bloomed without a single leaf, their petals glowing against the sea of blood.
“The Karma Fire Red Lotus…” Lin Huai murmured under her breath.
While the red lotus was not her primary target today, she remembered the fragmented recipe for the Nine Revolutions Soul Returning Pill she had passed to Milk Tea—the crimson petals were a core ingredient for brewing that miracle medicine.
The recipe was still missing several fragments, so harvesting the red lotus was not urgent. Even so, since she had made it all the way here, she certainly wasn’t going to leave empty-handed.
At that exact second, another figure burst through a rock fissure on the opposite side of the ridge. It was the masked player.
His eyes locked onto the glowing blossoms in the heart of the pool, burning with open, unchecked greed.
Standing dozens of meters apart, the two faced each other across the rocky shore, the tension between them snapping taut like a drawn bowstring.
“The Karma Fire Red Lotuses are mine!” the masked player rasped, his voice muffled and icy behind the dark cloth.
Lin Huai arched an eyebrow. This man certainly had nerve, expecting to hoard every single blossom for himself without leaving scraps.
A cold smirk played across her lips. “Then let’s see if you have the skill to back up that mouth!”
