Chapter 175
Chapter 175: The Tomb of the Dragon God?
After learning that Arielia was a man who, when fully revealed, might be larger than anyone present…
Every single member of Blade Squad, without exception, went wide-eyed—collective composure utterly shattered.
Zhao Yan, a soldier of the old guard forged by tradition, had his brain crash on the spot.
His worldview took a catastrophic hit. He could not process the sheer absurdity of what was before him.
Shadow's chopsticks slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor.
She stared blankly at Arielia's face—a beauty that rivaled her own—and murmured to herself.
'Can a man… really be this beautiful?'
Beside her, Shadow first looked down at her own D-cup chest.
Then she raised her eyes and fixed them on Arielia's enviable silhouette.
"Not fair…"
"Why does a man have a bigger chest than me?"
Liu Ruyan's expression was filled with indignation and despair.
Only Xin An had, by now, recovered from the shock.
Trembling all over, he turned his head and fixed a ferocious glare on the Joker, who was still watching the scene with amusement.
"You knew this whole time, didn't you?! Why didn't you say something earlier!!!"
Xin An was screaming internally.
The Joker, wearing Tang Sirui's harmless-looking face, scratched his head with a sly grin.
"Ahh, I just wanted to give everyone a little surprise~"
"Captain Arielia is Emerald Moon Pavilion's top star!"
"He's gorgeous, isn't he—why stress about the rest?"
Xin An's face instantly turned the color of liver.
Why stress about the rest?!
If he'd been any less careful, that man would have had his way with him!
That's why he's stressing!
That roar rolled three times through Xin An's throat.
In the end, for the sake of Blade Squad's dignity, he swallowed it back down.
Watching Xin An's look of utter lifelessness, Arielia finally couldn't hold back a laugh.
He released Xin An and casually straightened his slipping red robe.
"Alright, it was just a joke."
"Look at how frightened you are—I'm a squad captain of Eagle Nation. I wouldn't resort to leveraging someone over a piece of intel."
He picked up his wine cup and took an elegant sip.
"Besides, the intel on those 2 spirit instruments isn't exactly a core secret."
"In a town like this, it's only a matter of time before anyone who wants to know finds out."
"Let's just eat—the selection tournament starts tomorrow at noon, so tonight everyone should stock up on energy."
Zhao Yan snapped back to his senses as if waking from a dream and quickly raised his cup. "Ahem…"
"Well said."
"We caused some offense just now—that was Blade Squad's failing. Allow me, Zhao, to offer you this cup as an apology."
With Zhao Yan smoothing things over, the atmosphere in the private room finally eased.
Although Xin An's hands trembled even when reaching for food during the second half of the meal, the dinner ultimately concluded under a surface veneer of cheer.
……
22:00
Everyone filed out of the private room.
Arielia mentioned that he had already arranged accommodation for Blade Squad—the Bright Moon Inn, on the back street behind Emerald Moon Pavilion.
"Xin An, go ahead and get some rest."
Zhao Yan wiped a hand down his face and declined the suggestion to go together.
"I just took on a big job before coming here. I need to go get the work ready now."
Liu Ruyan immediately raised her hand. "I'm not going either! I haven't hit my quota for today!"
"Tang Sirui, you promised just now to teach me how to pickpocket—let's go!"
The Joker sighed, resigned, and was dragged off by Liu Ruyan with his collar in her grip.
Xin An turned a pleading look toward Shadow, hoping to find one last source of safety.
Shadow showed an apologetic expression. "Deputy Captain Xin, I'm an odd-job worker too—I have to follow the captain and go earn our keep."
"You… take care."
He looked over at the White Eagle Squad side.
Allen Dick and Jamie were each propping up Roman from either side—the man was dead drunk—so they clearly had no attention to spare for him.
In the end, at the entrance of Bright Moon Inn, only the lifeless Xin An remained—and…
Arielia, draped in a red robe.
"Looks like we're quite the pair, Deputy Captain Xin."
Arielia looked at him with an amused expression.
Xin An instinctively stepped back half a pace, not daring to engage with that remark, and could only pivot the subject with blunt abruptness.
"Captain Arielia…"
"When did your team arrive in Soul-Return Town?"
The smile on Arielia's face dimmed slightly. He raised his head and gazed at the ghastly pale moon in the night sky.
"The day before yesterday."
"But… if I could choose again, I would never lead my team into this godforsaken place."
Xin An paused, and asked with curiosity, "Why?"
In the moonlight, Arielia tilted his head slightly.
"In a place like Eerie Island, don't trust others easily."
"Especially so-called allies…"
"Or even… the teammates beside you."
Xin An's pupils contracted sharply.
"I've said what I have to say—figure out the rest yourself."
Arielia pointed ahead. "That's your room. See you tomorrow, partner."
With that, he turned and walked away, his long red robe brushing past Xin An as he went.
Xin An stood there alone, that sentence echoing ceaselessly in his mind.
‘Allies…’
‘Teammates…’
He spun around sharply, wanting to chase after him and ask what it meant.
But the street was empty. The other man had already vanished without a trace.
"Bang!"
A red firework exploded overhead, painting the entire street as though it had been washed in blood.
Xin An instinctively looked up, watching the crimson light spread across the sky, his heart uneasy.
It seemed…
Soul-Return Town was far from as peaceful as it appeared on the surface.
……
Soul-Return Town, West Square
At the same time, Zhao Yan and Shadow had already arrived at the agreed work site.
In the center of the square, 3 large red sedan chairs sat parked in stillness.
The curtains on each chair bore the name of a different destination.
【Deep Pool Fortress】
【Scholar's Dojo】
【Prayer Deep Pool】
Before the chairs stood a wedding procession of over 100 people—horn-blowers, gong-beaters, and drum-players—already arranged in formation, poised and ready.
On either side of the chairs stood 9 paper-figure sedan bearers, each wearing a rigid, frozen smile.
But what truly made Zhao Yan and Shadow's hearts seize with dread were the soldiers forming the outermost ring of the procession.
They were clad in black iron armor, their faces concealed behind cloth strips painted with talismans, and their hands gripped rust-spotted horse-cleaving blades.
Ghost Constables!
This was the first time since entering Soul-Return Town that Zhao Yan and Shadow had encountered this level of armed force up close.
Even simply standing there, the ferocious aura radiating from the Ghost Constables pressed down on the two of them until they could barely breathe.
The two exchanged a glance, then looked toward the 3 empty spots remaining at the back of the chairs.
Evidently, those were the hard-labor positions reserved for odd-job workers like them.
"Captain, which one do we take?"
Shadow asked in a low voice.
Zhao Yan swept his gaze across the 3 chairs and pointed decisively at the first.
"Deep Pool Fortress."
"That place isn't on the South Zone map. This is a good chance to explore a new area."
"With these Ghost Constables escorting us, there shouldn't be much danger on the road."
Shadow nodded in agreement, but she glanced at the one remaining empty spot beside them and felt a little curious.
"We're still one person short—who'll fill that last spot?"
Time did not seem inclined to answer her question.
The procession captain—a town resident—strode forward briskly and struck a battered gong.
"The auspicious hour has arrived! Wedding procession to Deep Pool Fortress—move out!"
"All accompanying personnel, heed the order! You must return to Soul-Return Town before 3:14 AM on the 14th day of the 3rd month, year 1314!"
"Lord Phoenix Sovereign will personally receive delivery at 【Forest of the Middle Grove】! Do not be late and face punishment!"
Zhao Yan and Shadow's eyes lit up!
The Phoenix Sovereign would be receiving at the Forest of the Middle Grove?!
This meant that by following this errand, they would have a chance to meet Soul-Return Town's ruler ahead of schedule!
In other words—the final boss of the selection tournament!
This was an unexpected windfall!
The two hastened forward and hoisted the wooden carrying poles at the rear of the chair, one on each side.
To the sound of the suona horn, Soul-Return Town's gate began to materialize. The wedding procession swept grandly out of the town.
Yet, just as the lead town resident at the front stepped through the gate and his feet touched the earth outside—
Something snapped!
Zhao Yan and Shadow's pupils contracted in an instant!
Because before their eyes, the town residents who had been dressed in festive clothes—who had appeared to be ordinary humans—shed their disguises the very instant they crossed out of the town!
Beneath those red celebration robes were either bare white bones or rotting flesh crawling with maggots!
The paper-figure bearers ahead had their features twist and bleed all at once, transforming into the visages of fierce ghosts!
Only the festive music—the gongs and drums and horns—remained unchanged.
But played by this horde of demons and monsters, it felt indescribably hellish and horrifying.
The two, seasoned veterans that they were, had long since guessed that the town was full of the eerie and the strange.
Yet when this collective shedding of disguise truly unfolded before their eyes, it still made their scalps crawl.
"Shadow, don't slip up!"
Zhao Yan gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressed the dread surging in his chest, and murmured a low warning.
"Keep your eyes on the chair at our backs—we're about to enter the mass burial ground. Watch the tombstones on all sides!"
"Understood!"
Shadow gripped the carrying pole hard.
The wedding procession moved at an unhurried pace into the graveyard.
Yin winds moaned. Ghost-fire flickered pale.
Just as they reached the midpoint of the burial ground, the lonely graves at the outer edges suddenly trembled!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Over a dozen chains bearing coffin nails burst up through the earth.
They shot toward the eerie town residents blowing the suona!
"Roar!"
The Ghost Constables flanking either side released a low, inhuman snarl.
They drew their horse-cleaving blades—clang! clang!
The chains were severed in an instant!
Immediately after, the Ghost Constables leaped into the air and drove their horse-cleaving blades into the few graves that had revolted.
Accompanied by several wailing screams, the outer ring fell back into dead silence.
Zhao Yan watched with private alarm: "These creatures are the Phoenix Sovereign's guard dogs, aren't they? Why are they killing their own kind!"
"No idea."
Shadow observed the surroundings. "But it seems like only the outer graves make a move—the ones deeper in are all quiet."
"Wait…"
Shadow's gaze suddenly locked onto a tombstone by the roadside.
It was Tang Sirui's grave.
Exactly as Liu Ruyan had described it during the day!
'The person is still alive—so why is there a tombstone?'
'What is the point of its existence?'
Shadow couldn't work it out no matter how long she thought.
"Shadow, forget that for now—look over there!"
Zhao Yan stared ahead with stunned eyes at a mound atop a nearby rise.
It was a solitary tomb.
Unlike the scattered graves around it, there was not a single other burial within a hundred meters of it.
Like a sovereign gazing down upon their court.
And the direction the tombstone faced was deeply strange.
Its back was turned to the wilderness—only someone approaching from the direction of Soul-Return Town could clearly read the characters carved upon it.
By the pale-green glow of ghost-fire, Zhao Yan and Shadow made out the inscription on that tombstone.
【Tomb of the Dragon God】
Below it, a column of delicate characters carved in blood-red.
【On the Day of Soul-Return, a hundred ghosts walk the night.】
【Two hearts in accord—the hour has come.】
【Love stronger than gold can exchange sun and moon.】
【The moment of resurrection waits only for today!】
Phoenix Sovereign
A gust of wind cut through, cold and hollow.
Zhao Yan and Shadow stood rooted to the spot.
"The Tomb of the Dragon God?!"
Zhao Yan repeated the lines under his breath.
"The meaning of the other lines isn't entirely clear yet…"
"But these 3 lines—love stronger than gold can exchange sun and moon…"
"What does sun and moon represent?"
"Does it mean time—or does it mean… lifespan?"
His brows knit tightly. He could sense that the truth of Soul-Return Town was buried within those 16 characters.
But without the core clues, he still could not see through the rules that governed it.
Shadow tugged at his sleeve and gave a quiet reminder.
"Captain, save the thinking for when we're safely back."
"This errand has a time limit—if we miss the hour, heaven knows what will happen."
"Mm, you're right."
Zhao Yan nodded, committed the tombstone's inscription to memory, and focused on following the procession forward.
Before long, the suona of the first wedding procession faded into the distance.
They left the burial ground surrounding Soul-Return Town behind.
Meanwhile, the second procession—bound for【Prayer Deep Pool】—set out quietly not long after.
This procession had nothing particularly unusual about it. From the musicians to the bearers, it was made up entirely of town residents and paper figures.
Until the hour struck midnight, 00:00.
The third wedding procession finally rolled slowly out of Soul-Return Town's gate under the cover of night.
Their destination was the nearest location of all:【Scholar's Dojo】...