After leaving that crevasse, Fu Yi seemed frightened and did not ask anything more. And Huai Shi fell into silence too.

The depth here is starting to increase, Huai Shi thought. What was originally just a slightly abnormal border is now beginning to approach the Abyss. That relentless swarm of ghostly entities and those things protruding from the sunken city are the best proof... If I had reacted even a bit slower, or without Fu Yi's help, I might have already been eroded, deformed, and forever left in that torrential rain, or pulled into that sunken city. Even the most powerful Sublimators face dire consequences if they make a mistake; Hell is just that unreasonable. The deeper one goes, the more dangerous it becomes. Unreasonable things become more frequent, more bizarre... or rather, more miraculous. Aren't the so-called Stigmata precisely the miracles that have metamorphosed from Hell?

Even for the Astronomical Society's archaeological expeditions, it is not surprising for many experienced and cautious archaeologists to meet their end in some bizarre Hell Relic.

And many Border Relics are the incarnations of these calamities, bizarre occurrences, and ill omens.

If it weren't for the Chalatustra Grand Blockade, the Current Circumstances probably couldn't maintain a single day's peace under the erosion of Hell. This grand Mystic Ritual, passed down by many Creators to completion, not only inscribed various laws and rules into the Current Circumstances but also maintained an absolute power advantage with its torrent of steel. Additionally, it acts like a city wall, forming a barrier against the encroachment of the deep Abyss.

Among the Three Great Blockades of the Current Circumstances, aside from the Rainbow Bridge—which is only fully activated in emergencies and otherwise used as a means of transportation—it is the Chalatustra Grand Mystic Ritual itself that contributes the most during stable periods.

As for the last of the Three Great Blockades, it is a secret of secrets. Apart from the highest echelons of the Astronomical Society, not even a whisper of a rumor has ever leaked out.

However, Huai Shi once heard an unexpected sneer from Raven during a casual conversation; she seemed to mock it as a prime example of "claiming heavenly achievements as one's own."

But she did not elaborate. She never spoke to Huai Shi about these highly confidential matters.

At first, I thought she was just being coy or deliberately mysterious, Huai Shi recalled. It was only later, after gradually encountering the Astronomical Society's incredible methods of information control and operational cases, that I understood. Sometimes, merely possessing such knowledge meant one's name would appear on the Silent Ones Stone Stele at the Existence Institute. If spoken aloud, the Technical Department's Doomsday Clock would detect it. Decades ago, the entire process would even have been recorded in the Book of Fate, linked to the Heavenly Kingdom. It's not that one *can't* tell others, just as the Stone Pot Society never forbids people from skipping the textbook purchase to secretly learn Alchemy. Once known, someone must pay the price for the illicit spread of this 'knowledge.' During periods of heightened security, even a sentence of 'meme cleansing' wouldn't be surprising.

Therefore, even someone as reckless as Raven usually had to keep her lips sealed. She feared that one slip of her tongue could result in her Contractor being directly transported via the Rainbow Bridge to the Tower of London, sentenced to eternal imprisonment. This time, she didn't even come herself; she was only able to indirectly help bring my Soul Ability in.

As the Astronomical Society's biggest 'Second fifth,' I'm under immense pressure... Huai Shi mused. I'm even considering whether I should force Fu Yi to withdraw from this exploration.

After he voiced this, Fu Yi naturally objected. For some reason, Huai Shi always felt her objections made a lot of sense, and he could never make the final decision.

It's been a long time since I've been this indecisive, he thought, feeling a surge of irritation. This is incredibly frustrating.

"Something's coming!"

"The ground is shaking!"

"Can we eat now?"

"Wait a moment!"

As he was lost in thought, a cacophony of voices suddenly erupted around him.

He paused, startled, and looked around, but saw no one. The surroundings were merely a desolate forest.

If I were a Mountain Ghost, I could easily use the vitality network here to sense any lurking spirits, he thought. But now, I can only rely on smell and hearing to discern the enemy's location.

"What's wrong?" Fu Yi, seemingly jolted from a dream, opened her eyes and cautiously glanced at Huai Shi.

She appeared to have heard nothing.

But why... do I feel somewhat uneasy? Fu Yi wondered.

Huai Shi looked down at the White Weasel in the Bell and said sternly, "Don't joke around."

"Huh?" The White Weasel tensed instinctively, its tail shooting straight up. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't joke around," Huai Shi emphasized again, seriously, and continued walking forward.

Then, the same voices rose from around him again. Huai Shi's expression turned solemn as he spun around abruptly.

He saw nothing. Only the desolate forest, and the strange patterns on the mottled trees.

For some reason, those patterns converged, eerily resembling a series of bizarre faces—not human, but more like those of lizards or snakes.

Some kind of... fusion of cold-blooded animals and trees, Huai Shi thought, his heart tightening.

"Can trees talk?"

"Someone's coming!" a face on a tree suddenly shouted.

"Fu Yi, did you hear that?" Huai Shi asked, looking down.

Fu Yi looked bewildered. But then, another tree screamed, "The ground is shaking!"

An impatient-looking face yelled, "Can we eat now?"

"Wait a moment!" a voice replied from afar.

Huai Shi furrowed his brows.

"Someone's coming!"

"The ground is shaking!"

"Can we eat now?"

"Wait a moment!"

...

It seemed the trees could only utter these phrases. The lips on their faces opened and closed, but apart from shouting, they made no other movements, as if they simply enjoyed chanting or rapping.

The more intently Huai Shi focused his senses, the dizzier he felt.

For some reason, amidst the patterns on the trees, he began to see them shift. Eventually, on the bark of a withered tree, a face emerged that strikingly resembled a Wolf Beast, exclaiming in terror, "Trees can talk?"

Huai Shi was stunned.

On the tree, his own beast-like face became clearer, shouting again, "Trees can talk?"

A wave of dizziness struck Huai Shi, and his face felt numb. A crushing fatigue washed over him, as if his consciousness had split in two: one part remained in his body, while the other had entered the tree!

"Trees can talk!"

The face on the withered tree widened its eyes, its tone now an almost perfect imitation of Huai Shi's. "Fu Yi, did you hear that? Trees can talk!"

"What the hell!" Huai Shi's claws shot out, swiping horizontally.

But the tree, like a phantom, dissipated instantly as his claws swept through it, only to reform. Its face, however, now bore an even closer resemblance to Huai Shi's, screaming in terror, "What the hell!"

It was mimicking him.

No, I'm already regretting making any sound at all, Huai Shi thought. The more I say, the more this eerie withered tree resembles me.

I know instinctively, Huai Shi realized, if this thing becomes exactly like me, it absolutely won't end well for me.

Yet, this situation inexplicably reminded Huai Shi of the ritual for his advancement to Mountain Ghost: the Jug of Tree Blood!

Isn't the uncanny power of the Jug of Tree Blood incredibly similar? he mused. Except it needed my blood, while this living monstrosity only needs to hear my voice.

"Huai Shi, what's wrong?" Fu Yi asked, watching Huai Shi's seemingly crazed actions with complete puzzlement.

"Fu Yi, did you hear that?! Trees can talk!" The eerie withered tree's screech grew increasingly shrill. "Stop joking around!"

As the patterned face stared intently at Huai Shi, the visage that so closely resembled his own began to ooze foul-smelling blood. It grinned wickedly, mimicking his tone, relentlessly tugging at his consciousness and Soul.

Until Huai Shi faced it with a ferocious smile.

"So, you like mimicking people, do you?" Huai Shi said, meeting its gaze indifferently. He suddenly opened his mouth and declared, "I swear to uphold the principles of the Astronomical Society, to defend the peace of the Current Circumstances, never to betray the honor and responsibility this duty entails! From this day forth, I uphold—"

The smile on the withered tree's face grew even more savage as it began to repeat his words. But halfway through, its face suddenly stiffened as if frozen, its speech ceasing abruptly.

SNAP!

A ghastly crack appeared on the tree's surface, eliciting a shrill whinny from it.

"You dare to mimic even an oath? You must have a death wish," Huai Shi sneered, raising a claw. The cold gleam of the Axe of Anger flared upon it as the Hand of Confinement activated, sweeping across!

The dual assault, striking on both material and Source Substance levels, erupted instantaneously, shredding the ghostly face and the entire tree to pieces.

Horrific, blood-like sap spurted from the fractured stump.

Settled!

Reciting the Astronomical Society's oath during the Witches' Night, which they oversee? You rural demons and monsters must have a death wish! Huai Shi scoffed internally. If an ordinary person shouted it, that would be one thing. But for any entity with activated Source Substance to dare such a thing under the Astronomical Society's order, it's practically turning themselves in. Back in the Current Circumstances, if HR at the Jurisdiction Bureau received such a report, they'd sneer while passing a memo to the processing department, sending you a Black Envelope. In under three minutes, lightning would strike, teaching any ghost brazen enough to try it what a twenty-four-shot headshot kill via an 8x scope feels like. If you can't be one of the Astronomical Society's people, then be one of its ghosts!

If I wasn't worried Paradise had gotten too far away, beyond my reach, I'd have spouted a couple of lines from *them* to let it experience the true might of the good ol' boys from the Department of Justice!

Once it lost that bizarre evasion ability, and its mental attack was nullified, this thing was a complete pushover—not even enough for a decent appetizer!

Huai Shi made short work of them, sending them all to their doom.

Throughout the ordeal, Fu Yi had watched Huai Shi's destructive rampage with a bewildered expression. Only at the very end did she seem to grasp what had happened, exclaiming with sudden realization, "Oh, were we attacked?"

"..."

Huai Shi was speechless.

So you didn't notice anything at all?