Chapter 6 - 4 Earth-bound Spirit

Chapter 6: Chapter 4 Earth-bound SpiritThe second basement level parking lot was vast. Li Yi walked alone on the muddy ground, his whole body tense and alert to his surroundings. "Knowing full well this place is haunted, and numerous people have died here, these folks still insist on acting alone. It seems they’ve made up their minds to risk their lives. That Crow is really ruthless, tempting them with such a grand prize. Who could resist that?" "Initially, they just wanted to try their luck and make a few tens of thousands of yuan, but now they don’t even care about their lives, and even I can’t help but search for the Mysterious Object under these circumstances." "After all, such an opportunity may only come once in a lifetime. Everyone is just too eager to progress." As Li Yi pondered wildly, he searched around with his flashlight. The flashlight’s reach was limited, and the presence of discarded constructions and load-bearing columns only added to the difficulty of the search. Most importantly, Li Yi didn’t know exactly what he was looking for. Because he didn’t recognize the Mysterious Object. "While there’s no danger yet, I’ll just wander around and then go back. Don’t roam too far and get lost. I’d be content just making some money this time. I can’t risk my life for a dubious Mysterious Object, what others do is their business. I can’t be blindly dragged along." At that moment, Li Yi calmed down considerably and consequently slowed his pace. He continued forward a short distance, feeling his search area should now be satisfactory, hence he decided not to delve any deeper. He shone his flashlight left and right, prepared to head back if nothing unusual appeared. However, soon, Wei Li’s voice emerged from the darkness nearby. "I seem to have found something over here. I don’t know what it is, but it feels very unusual. If you’re interested, you might want to come over." "Found something? Great, I’m coming." Wang Hu’s voice responded. Zhang Kaiwen also said, "Wait for me, I’ll be right there." Then, several beams of light in the darkness began to converge in one direction. "It’s not far from me, let’s go see. If I don’t gather some information, I probably won’t get paid at the end." Li Yi thought it over and, driven by curiosity, moved closer. Soon, several people met in one area. Even though they were quite far apart from each other, their flashlights all pointed in the same direction. It was a slightly raised grave mound, which seemed to have been dug up long before, with several pieces of tombstones scattered nearby along with some ceremonial offerings. But the damaged grave was peculiar; it didn’t seem to be of earthly origin, but rather like a very new ancient tomb. "Is that my imagination?" Li Yi shook his flashlight towards the grave mound and noticed a halo of light around it, but as the beam moved away, the halo faded back into the darkness and disappeared. "It’s not my imagination, there really is something different about it." His heart, which had calmed down, suddenly started pounding again. Could that be the Mysterious Object they were talking about? He wasn’t sure. But the spot wasn’t far, and a closer look would clarify things. However, he wasn’t the only one thinking this way. At that moment, everyone tacitly refrained from acting rashly, because Wei Li’s flashlight wasn’t shining on the grave mound but on the ground around it. The ground around the mound eerily sprouted rows of dead arms coated with mud, twisted and deformed, looking very eerie, and the further forward, the more there were. Even more horrifying, they vaguely saw something wriggling in the mud. "No wonder Wei Li dared not move forward." Li Yi felt chilled to the bone; he had a premonition that stepping into that area could subject them to unimaginable, terrifying attacks. If an accident occurred, their chances of survival as ordinary people were extremely low. So Wei Li wasn’t kindly informing them but rather unsure of his ability to cross that area and needed others to test the waters. "The path is right in front of us; there are risks, but the rewards are significant. It’s up to you now." At that moment, Wei Li, while wiping his glasses, spoke slowly: "You can turn around and leave now, and getting the remaining one hundred thousand yuan shouldn’t be a problem, but make sure to think carefully before making a choice." The group fell into a brief silence, uttering not a word. They were both hesitating and seemed to be waiting for someone to take the lead. Meanwhile, on the first floor of the building. The tall woman was standing in an abandoned room, her eyes closed, unmoving. She had maintained this pose for a while when suddenly a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth, "They really did safely reach that core area. I deduced their location from some noises, and so far, not one of the five of them has died. My previous assumption was true; ordinary people aren’t targeted by the fierce ghosts roaming the lower floors." "Because they haven’t activated the Spirit Medium, they can’t see the fierce ghosts, so they aren’t attacked. Those of us who have stepped into cultivation can see many things invisible to ordinary people. In fact, as soon as we enter the first basement level, we are attacked by numerous fierce ghosts, and the second basement level has even more, swarming everywhere. With our strength, if we charged in, we would die miserably," Crow said in a deep voice beside her. "Thinking about the countless fierce ghosts hovering around those five people gives me goosebumps, but sometimes I envy them. Not seeing is the same as not having, and not having means not fearing. Otherwise, how could they have easily reached the core area? They would have been scared stiff long ago." The tall woman continued, "Avoiding the attacks of the fierce ghosts they can’t see is just the first step. But the items there are not simple; they have formed an Earth-bound Spirit. Getting close would mean a miserable death." "These guys are highly skilled and very cunning. They won’t approach rashly. Most likely, they’ll just take a look from afar, snap a photo, and leave," Crow thought aloud. "That works too. Just one photo, and I can pinpoint the exact location. Then I’ll gather some friends and make another dash for it. As long as we’re quick, retrieving the object won’t be difficult," the woman said, then suddenly gasped. "What’s the matter?" She suddenly opened her eyes and immediately said, "Damn, that Wang Hu is trying to snatch the object from the Earth-bound Spirit. His actions have stirred up the lost souls of the entire area. We can’t stay in this building any longer; we need to get out or we’ll be affected too." "Then those five are definitely doomed," Crow’s expression changed slightly. The two quickly evacuated the dangerous area, while he ordered his other subordinates to stay clear of this place. At this moment, on the second basement level of the parking garage. Wang Hu charged forward, leaping with precision to land on a spot on the ground. Normally, he would have sunk into the mud at this point, but not this time, because beneath his feet lay a car covered in mud. The car became his stepping stone, allowing him to quickly approach a solitary grave. Even though he had thought of this method, his actions had already triggered a terrifying chain of reactions. "Ah! Ah!" Painful wails began to echo in the darkness, numerous twisted and weird bodies writhing in the soft mud. With mouths open and faces in agony, they continually moved toward Wang Hu. Even a mud-drenched arm began to sway like wild grass in the wind, attempting to capture anything it could touch. "What the hell are these things?" Such a scene would make anyone’s skin crawl. Wang Hu leaped forward again, avoiding a terrifying arm reaching out from the mud, but this time his luck seemed to have run out. The parking spot in front of him appeared to be empty, with no car beneath the mud. Suddenly, nearly half of his tall body sank into it. With his movements slowed, the bodies in the nearby mud writhed and surged toward him. In just a few seconds, Wang Hu was surrounded by those horrific things, seemingly about to drag him into the mud and swallow him completely. "Body, damn it, move faster!" He roared, his muscles tensed, and a tremendous surge of survival instinct erupted unimaginable strength. Wang Hu managed to break free from the mud’s grip, frantically climbing onto the roof of a nearby car. But the danger had not passed, as even more bodies surged toward him. However, at this moment, Wei Li moved. He stepped through the soft mud, moving as fast as he could toward the solitary grave. The terrifying bodies in the mud were all attracted by Wang Hu, which provided him with an opportunity. "With my life already a wreck, what am I waiting for if I don’t fight now?" Zhang Kaiwen immediately took off his shoes and also tried to cross the dangerous area before him. The three of them were now gambling with their lives. "To go or not to go?" At this moment, Li Yi was rapidly thinking. He was tempted, seeing that there were cars to step on and the bodies in the mud nearby were drawn away by others. He was confident he could safely cross this dangerous area and reach near the solitary grave. But that was as far as his plan went. Whether or not the grave held dangers, whether there were mysterious objects, and whether he could safely return, Li Yi did not know or consider. Because the next moment, he too charged forward. "I want to progress as well."