Chapter 277

Chapter 277: The Strange City

As if suddenly realizing something, Yuan Qi turned to check the oil lamp. Qiu Zhang had returned to the Divine Calling Order, so the dark energy should’ve vanished. Yet green flames still flickered in the lamp instead of warm yellow light.

Feng Rong stood and flung the window open. A bone-chilling fog poured in, dropping the room’s temperature instantly.

“Dark energy!” You You blurted out. The thick gray haze outside flooded the room relentlessly.

“Let’s investigate,” Yuan Qi urged.

You You and Feng Rong pushed open the door. The entire inn was choked with dark energy. Casting isolation spells, they stepped into the street.

The sight outside was worse. Dark energy smothered every inch of the city, draping it like a suffocating black curtain.

“This wasn’t here earlier!” You You stared. “Where’s all this dark energy coming from?”

“It’d take thousands of ghosts to produce this much!” Feng Rong muttered.

Yuan Qi glanced around. “Doesn’t it feel…too quiet?”

They froze. The city lay deathly silent—no insects, no frogs, nothing. Even during curfew, this stillness felt unnatural.

“The inn’s people!” You You rushed back, barging into the nearest room.

A semi-transparent figure floated two inches above the bed—the same Young Man (serving staff) from earlier. His vacant eyes stared at nothing.

“A soul?” Feng Rong examined him. “Disembodied? But where’s his body?”

“No.” Yuan Qi studied the shimmering form. “This is a ghost. He died long ago.”

“But I saw him alive today!” You You protested.

“Normally, ghosts form seven days after death,” Yuan Qi said. “But this…”

Feng Rong’s face paled. “The city’s dark energy—it’s from them!”

He stormed out, kicking down doors. You You and Yuan Qi followed, dread rising.

Every room held floating ghosts. Not just the inn—the whole city’s residents had turned into listless spirits overnight. Only the three of them remained flesh and blood.

“How?” You You whispered. “No cultivators here could’ve done this!”

“They weren’t transformed,” Yuan Qi said grimly. “They’ve always been ghosts.”

You You gasped. “Fengdu Ghost City! They’re human by day, ghosts by night!”

“Qiu Zhang said the Soul Beast sensed something wrong here,” You You recalled. “It must’ve discovered this!”

“Then where is it?” Feng Rong countered. “If Fengdu links to the Nether Realm, why hide?”

“The Nether Realm can’t connect to other worlds!” You You argued. “Otherwise, why would the Divine Clan need Messengers? Souls could just drift there!”

Yuan Qi cut in, “Instead of where it went, consider how it left.”

They froze.

“The inn!”

They raced back. Qiu Zhang had “slept” through the Soul Beast’s disappearance—impossible for someone of his Cultivation level. Unless…

Every ghost hovered above a bed. None elsewhere.

“The beds!” You You realized.

In their room, Feng Rong tore the bedding away. The bedframe seethed with concentrated dark energy, yet no spell traces remained.

You You clutched her chest—the same odd pull she’d felt at the city gate returned, stronger now.

“There’s something…connected below this bed.”

Feng Rong: “……”

Yuan Qi: “……”