Chapter Twenty-Four: Fan Tianxing's Senior Brother and Senior Sister

At the border of the Great Xia Kingdom, the land was perpetually shrouded in snow and ice, resembling a forbidden zone for life itself. Yet amid this harsh landscape, an elderly man sat calmly in the midst of the biting cold, clad in nothing but a thin robe, undisturbed by the howling wind and swirling snow as he played a game of chess.

His opponent was none other than a skeleton clad in black robes.

Indeed, a skeleton—bereft of flesh and blood, only stark white bones remained. Empty sockets in the skull glowed occasionally with a faint, eerie red light as it focused on the chessboard.

“I simply cannot understand it,” the skeleton mused. “The conflict between strange beings and humans cannot possibly be resolved in just a few decades. Unlike this game, your kind only lives for a century. In the end, win or lose, you all die. What is the point of resisting?”

The old man laughed, his voice both aged and hearty. “Human lives may be brief, but civilization endures through generations. The game of Great Xia’s civilization has been played for thousands of years and has never lost!”

With that, he placed a black piece heavily onto the board.

The moment the piece landed, the chessboard vanished, dissolving into the endless whiteness. Clearly, the elder had won.

The skeleton rose abruptly, twisting its head away. “You will regret this. This was the last chance granted to you by Lord Demon.”

He made to leave, but a powerful aura barred his path.

He understood—the elder did not wish to let him go.

Turning back, he saw the elder’s robe whipped about by the wind and snow, but his frail figure stood resolute amidst the storm.

“What do you mean?” The skeleton’s words were colder than the blizzard, and as he spoke, the wind and snow seemed to freeze in midair, no longer falling.

“No ghosts or gods may pass within the borders of Great Xia,” the elder declared, his gaze sharp and unwavering as he locked eyes with the skeleton.

“You!” The skeleton roared, and the area within dozens of meters was engulfed in red.

Towering spires chained with iron rose from the ground; each tower’s peak was piled with corpses, blood streaming relentlessly downward, creating a scene of utter horror.

“Your forbidden zone can now be deployed at will? Not bad—the Demon Lord is fortunate to have a subordinate of your caliber,” the elder commented.

The skeleton wasted no words. He drew a bloodstained longsword from the ground, pointing it directly at the elder.

“So, you are the Grand Elder of ‘Soul Refiners’? Today, I shall see if your reputation is nothing but empty boasts!”

With those words, armor enveloped him entirely, and in an instant, he appeared beside the elder, slashing down with his blade without hesitation.

A faint smile appeared on the elder’s face; just as the blade was about to strike his skull, his figure vanished from its place.

“So slow, even within your own forbidden domain?”

Before the skeleton could retort, a brilliant golden thread of light flared behind him.

The radiance illuminated the heavens and earth; before its brilliance, the forbidden domain was as fragile as paper, utterly defenseless.

When the light faded, all traces disappeared. As for the skeleton, he no longer existed in this world.

“I wonder why, every time I act, the weather seems to change.”

The snowstorm had ceased, revealing the scene opposite the elder.

There, countless grotesque and bizarre creatures stared in shock toward him. When they saw his gaze, they scattered in panic, fleeing as fast as they could.

The elder paid no mind to their retreat; instead, he turned to look behind him.

“Ru Meng, Chen Yang.”

“Master, we are here!”

Behind him, a pair of disciples—a young woman and a young man—knelt on one knee, hands clasped in salute.

“Your junior Tian Xing went to the Kingdom of Mao, did he not? I observed the stars last night; something extraordinary is about to emerge there. I do not feel comfortable with Tian Xing alone. You both should go as well.”

The two looked puzzled, glancing up at the sky.

“Master, have you been drinking again? It snows here all year; there’s no night sky to observe, and even in broad daylight, there’s nothing to see.”

“The Kingdom of Mao is barely the size of one of our provinces. How could such a small place produce someone extraordinary? Are you joking, Master?”

The elder said nothing, merely gazing at them with a calm, indifferent eye.

That single look was enough to change the tone of Jiao Ru Meng and Zhang Chen Yang.

“Yes! We accept your command!”

They quickly ran off in the direction indicated.

There, a massive jeep awaited them. When Zhang Chen Yang started the vehicle, he waved toward their master. “Take care, Master!”

They sped off into the distance.

Since Wang Hui had been taken away, Xiao Zi had parted from him and entered the small town.

The reason Wang Hui was taken away was most likely due to that troublesome figure deliberately framing him. But there was another possibility—the fact that Xiao Zi had parasitized Wang Hui might have been noticed by the ghost tamers. Taking Wang Hui was to thoroughly examine his body and search for Xiao Zi.

Although this possibility was exceedingly slim, for Xiao Zi, who had finally arrived in this fascinating world and had no wish to become a filthy human, his life was precious and could not be risked.

During this time, each night he would frantically harvest terror within the town.

In just three days, a series of horrifying incidents occurred.

Now, his data panel looked like this:

[Host Personal Information:
Host: Xiao Zi
Strength: F
Skills: Soul Parasite LV2, Soul Wind Blade LV2, Shadow Ghost Movement LV2, Hell’s Dirge LV2
Terror Value: 12000
Forbidden Domain: None
Influence on Current Plane: 481]

His terror value had soared past ten thousand, and his strength had noticeably increased. Yet, even so, he remained at F rank.

If things continued at this pace, reaching D rank would take ages.

But he had discovered something even more important: someone was definitely interfering with his spread of fear.

Otherwise, given the contagious nature of terror, his influence on the current plane should not be only 481.

Moreover, he now occasionally received scattered terror points.

[Terror Value +1]
[Terror Value +2]
[…]

Thus, he deduced that as long as someone was frightened because of him, he would receive some terror value.

Furthermore, the higher his influence on the current plane, the more terror value he would gain by this method—hence why he hadn’t received much before.

In that case, he would need to accelerate the creation of a terrifying legend at Wang Hui’s school.

Every second delayed in growing stronger increased his own danger.

Realizing this, he quickly ceased his blatant actions and turned his attention toward a prison.

That was where Wang Hui was currently held. He wondered about the Kingdom of Mao’s judicial system; Wang Hui was clearly a minor yet had been sent to prison.

Still, several days had passed. Wang Hui should have learned something by now. All that remained was to gradually make him lose hope in human society.