All that Anthony could see was red, and his mind was filled with screams of agony coming from the victims. Anthony shook his head and bit his tongue tightly, struggling. He felt as if he was caught in a swamp, trying so desperately to wake up from an unpleasant dream. He knew he was trapped in an illusion, but waking up was a problem.

"Damn it! Anthony, open your eyes, stop listening, get out of my body." He screamed mentally, struggling to drag out his mind from the ghost's control.

Blood was dripping out of his mouth from biting his mouth too hard, but he still couldn't open his eyes. An idea occurred to him and he willed his body to move. At once, his body forcefully swirled around, making him fall to the floor in a heap. His hand knocked against a stone pillar and the pain had him groaning. He opened his eyes shortly and saw the spirits swirling around him. Normal people couldn't see them, but cultivators could. The dark shadows continued to float around him, creating whooshing sounds.

He sighed in relief and slowly forced himself to stand on his feet. The dark shadows continued to circle him, but they didn't seem to have the intention of attacking him. He smiled at them and stretched out his hands, as if trying to feel them.

"You all can rest assured. As long as my paths cross with the golden sun sect in this life, I will destroy them, alongside that bastard. As long as he's alive, which I guess he is because cultivators have an incredibly long life span, unless they die in battle, I will return to him a hundred fold the abomination he created here, and let him have a taste of despair. You all can relax now and let go of your resentments and leave your vengeance to me. As long as I meet the golden sun sect in this lifetime, they won't meet a good end."

The dark shadows continued to circle him for a while, as if trying to determine if he could be trusted or not.

"Believe me. I don't make promises that I can't keep. I have seen exactly how you guys suffered. As long as my paths cross with those bastards, I will annihilate them and return a hundred fold the grievances they subjected you all to. Trust me, I will definitely do that." He whispered solemnly. One of the black shadows dived into the golden ring on his left thumb. At once, strange markings appeared on it as if someone just engraved an incantation or curse mark on it.

He frowned, watching the ring carefully, trying to understand what just happened.

"Consider it a gift from us. With this curse mark on your ring, you will gain the ability to speak with the dead." He seemed to hear a tiny voice telling him.

"What?" He shouted wide eyed, wondering if his ears deceived him. Gift? What nonsense gift was this? Who needs the ability to speak with the dead? Doesn't that mean he will always see ghosts and hear their voices, thereby suffering what he just experienced forever? He will be haunted forever by ghosts—a living haunted house. No, it was way more than that.

Anthony sighed, gasped, and stomped his foot against the ground, too angry to articulate his words properly.

"No, I mean, what kind of gift is this? If you want to give me a gift, why can't you bestow some treasures to me? Besides, did I ask for a gift? I was going to do it anyway. Any ghost that has a grievance or unfulfilled wish will be rushing to me if they realize I can see and understand them. Any malicious spirit that wants someone to talk to will rush to me. What am I? A medium? Or do I look like some shaman? Aish! Really. I'm so pissed off, take back your gift, I don't want it. How will I be able to sleep knowing that there are ghosts around me? Do you want to scare me to death? Even if I'm not afraid of such things, it's still creepy. I'm not doing it, take it away. My ring is very expensive, remove it immediately. I don't want to discard the entire ring because of your curse mark."

"Young master, it's not like that. It's not some dark artefact that attracts the aura of darkness and creatures of darkness. It won't attract ghosts or haunted things to you. Other ghosts won't even know you can talk to them. However, it can help you control such creatures like corpses if you decide to walk down the path of demonic cultivation and create corpse soldiers. Even if you follow the normal righteous path, you will still find it handy. Whenever you're investigating a difficult case, you can touch the corpses to summon their spirits and ask them how they died. As long as their spirits have not dissipated, they will return and answer some questions, no matter how little before they flicker out. It is better than initiating empathy because you may get lost in the ghost's memories and get trapped. Also you won't see ghosts or hear their voices. The ring will remain dormant as normal till you activate it with your spiritual energy. How does that sound?" The entity in the ring said, its voice low and timid.

Anthony frowned as if he was weighing the options before him.

"Since you have agreed, I will be sealing the ring. Goodbye young master, you can wake me whenever you need my assistance." The voice said and a red light circled the ring.

"Ah? What do you mean by that? I have not said anything yet. How do you know I was going to let you stay? Hey! Hey!"

But no matter how much he shouted and stomped his feet, there was no reaction from the ring. The dark shadows circling him swirled around him once and disappeared, leaving him alone. It seems as if they have passed the message they wanted to.

Anthony sighed in relief and summoned his daggers, making his way deeper into the city. As he walked along the streets, the sound of banging against the door coming from inside the houses multiplied, and he could hear howling sounds from inside. He gritted his teeth and decided to ignore it, going deeper into the city. He came into a large square, the houses thinned down as he got to the square. There was only one huge building which seemed to be the town hall. Anthony stared at the huge plaque on top of the building.

"Ancient language, I should have seen it somewhere from a scroll." He whispered as he read the sign on the door.

"Imperial Hall of the great blood tribe, the city of legends." He whispered, reading the marking above the door.

"So the legendary blood tribe with an ancient bloodline truly exists, not just a hallucination. It was said to be the last ancient bloodline in existence, before the city suddenly went missing. They disappeared because people began to hunt them down due to the fact that their blood can cure all illnesses, extend lifespan, and help in cultivation if used with an evil technique. How did they manage to build a mighty city underground? Or is it that the city sank underground after getting attacked by powerful cultivators? So this is where the lost city that disappeared off the face of the earth came to. Despite the fact that they hid so well, they still couldn't escape their grim fate. Truly, having a treasure you can't protect, having a blessing you can't protect, and having a gift you can't defend are the worst and heaviest of curses ever." Anthony whispered, walking towards the huge building.

He suddenly heard an ear splitting shriek, followed by the sounds of a heavy gate falling. At once, the banging sounds on the door multiplied. He turned around to face the street he just came out from. The sounds of doors being broken filled the atmosphere, making Anthony's hands instinctively tighten on the daggers.

He heard weird sounds, followed by that of sluggish steps and growls.

"What the fuck is going on?"

However, he didn't need to guess for long because the culprits soon appeared. Hundreds of walking corpses were approaching him with sticks and weapons, their hair slimy and disgusting, clothes dirtier than a mud pond, and saliva dripping out of their blackened tongue. The smell was even worse, making his stomach turn in disgust.

Bleergh! Mmmph! Hmmmm!

The sounds coming from the troupe made up of the disgusting creatures were especially awful and grating to the ear. A lesser man would have fainted, but he stood there monitoring the creatures as they walked closer to him. Anthony heard the ear splitting shriek he heard at the initial point, this time even louder than before. As if the shrieks acted as a catalyst, the creatures hastened up, dragging their feet faster as they swayed towards Anthony, bringing a very thick yin energy filled with the aura of evil with them.

"What the fuck are this things? Walking corpses? The living dead. What triggered them? What the fuck is going on?"

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