But he remained on guard against Deng Ai's sudden aggression.

"Come closer, I won't bite you."

Deng Ai greeted Chen Yi from ten zhang away, raising his hand as though calling out to an old friend.

Chen Yi didn't dally, taking a few steps forward as Deng Ai patted the ground and gestured for him to sit.

Though his heart was filled with doubt, Chen Yi hesitated briefly but eventually sat down on the flat earth.

Deng Ai studied Chen Yi for a moment, then glanced toward Yin Weiyin not far away, pointing at her and asking, "Your wife?"

The female crown's face flushed slightly; she turned her head aside.

Chen Yi replied calmly, "My fiancée."

"She's quite the National Beauty, reminds me of Empress Zhen," Deng Ai remarked wistfully before shifting his gaze back to Chen Yi.

"You seem eager to ask something—whatever is on your mind, just ask."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi stared at the Ghost Lord for a long moment before speaking:

"Why are you here, and why did you massacre Ghost Gate Pass?"

By all logic, someone like Deng Ai—an infamous Ghost Lord recorded in the annals—should have been confined in the deepest depths of hell.

Deng Ai lifted his head slightly, turned away, and looked in the direction of Ghost City, saying:

"Chaos erupted in Ghost City; I don't know why. Someone rescued me, and I seized the opportunity to escape—simple as that. As for why I slaughtered the pass: those people tried to stop me, and the one who saved me demanded I kill them all as repayment. Naturally, I had to massacre the pass. Besides, when I was imprisoned in Ghost Gate Pass, I suffered endless humiliation from those guards."

Deng Ai casually explained the situation in a few words. From his demeanor, Chen Yi could tell that Deng Ai indeed knew little about the upheaval within Ghost City.

Expecting a prisoner who had been locked away in a celestial dungeon for years to understand the capital's current affairs would be a tall order—and Deng Ai's circumstances were no different.

Deng Ai turned back to look at Chen Yi and suddenly said:

"I should have killed you."

Chen Yi's hand was already resting on the hilt of his blade.

That pale face shook with a faint smile as Deng Ai continued:

"But I must thank you. That was the last statue of my avatar. If I had let it continue wreaking havoc in the mortal realm, my sins recorded in the Book of Life and Death would have grown ever deeper."

Hearing these words, Chen Yi caught onto something.

"You… You've let go?" Chen Yi asked slowly.

"Thousands of years have passed on earth; how could I not?" Deng Ai replied, his tone reflective. He sighed deeply and scanned the area, taking in the mound of severed heads surrounding him: "By slaughtering Ghost Gate Pass, I've resolved both old grudges and new. Everything's been let go—my last shred of obsession is gone."

Chen Yi's brows knitted slightly as puzzlement spread through his heart. The current situation was entirely beyond anything he had envisioned.

The death of Di Guan, the massacre at Ghost Gate Pass, Deng Ai's prison break, and the search warrant for Yin Weiyin—all these clues converged into an indecipherable future.

It felt as if the preordained plot of a storybook had been upended, leaving everything in upheaval.

But what exactly caused this shift?

The answer… must lie within Ghost City.

Chen Yi took a deep breath. Regardless of whether Deng Ai had truly let go, he wasn't interested in delving further. Instead, he said:

"Since that's the case, we'll leave through Ghost Gate Pass."

Unexpectedly, Deng Ai shook his head and replied:

"I can't let you pass."

Chen Yi was momentarily perplexed.

Deng Ai spoke slowly:

"The person who rescued me ordered me to guard Ghost Gate Pass and not let anyone pass through."

Chen Yi squinted slightly and asked:

"So… there's no room for negotiation?"

"Not necessarily."

"Oh?"

Deng Ai raised his head, his eyes reflecting a trace of melancholy. After a long pause, he said:

"I admire you for destroying one of my avatars. If you can go to Naihe Bridge and fetch me a bowl of Mengpo soup, I'll naturally let you pass through."

Go to Naihe Bridge to fetch a bowl of Mengpo soup?

For an ordinary person, this wouldn't be too strange—but for a mighty Ghost Lord like Deng Ai to request Mengpo soup?

Chen Yi was lightly puzzled.

Seeing his reaction, Deng Ai calmly explained:

"I want to reincarnate."

Chen Yi's confusion only deepened.

"You want to reincarnate?"

"Do you know Jiang Wei—Jiang Boyue?" Deng Ai began narrating calmly.

Of course, Chen Yi remembered the name. He had once invoked Jiang Wei's guardian spirit as a talisman for protection.

Deng Ai gazed into the distance, as if recalling the days he conquered Shu by traversing Yinping.

"To die and become a Ghost Lord—back then, I thought it was glorious, a fulfillment of my legacy. But the most terrifying thing for a person is comparison. My defeated rival became a revered guardian spirit, enjoying tributes and incense offerings, while I could only suffer countless torments in the underworld."

He sat there, desolate, and sighed deeply before murmuring:

"The sins are too heavy, the grievances too deep, and I remember far too much. Instead of clinging to all this, it's better to simply drink a bowl of Mengpo soup and reincarnate into a new life—perhaps as a meek scholar, leaving behind the burdens of war.

The resentments of the past, that bitter fight at the Three Encounters Pavilion in Mianzhu—all resentment, all hatred, none of it matters now. Ages have passed; even if I died unwillingly, the worms have eaten away, the body has decayed, and all that remains is a shovelful of yellow earth."

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