I am grinding experience in another world

The blood-red sun slanted westward, the sky gradually darkening, as the auxiliary troops of the Flame Moving Division hurried to the Blood River under the urging of the various main flags.

A thick, pungent scent of blood and charred flesh assaulted their noses, and billowing smoke could be seen clearly from miles away.

Apart from the high-rise sized red-eyed Water Apes, there were now many giant corpses, three to five meters tall, scattered across the battlefield.

Some of these giants were clad in scales, some had many arms and a single eye, and some had horns atop their heads. While generally human-shaped, they each had bizarre and diverse appearances.

Chen Mu’s heart grew increasingly alarmed as he watched.

He suddenly realized that his state after using the Five Ghosts Possession was strikingly similar to these giants!

"So many ghosts have died, this must be a serious incident!" Shi Dechun’s face turned pale, his voice trembling.

These giants, are they ghosts that have trained the Ghost Pattern?!

Chen Mu’s mind couldn’t help but skip a beat.

The giant he transformed into through Five Ghosts Possession, could it be some kind of ghost?

He stared at the broken bodies of those giants, unblinking.

At that moment, thick black smoke was steadily drifting out from the bodies of the giants. As the smoke rose into the air, their bodies gradually became translucent and faded until they disappeared without a trace.

It took a while before Chen Mu took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart.

The Five Ghosts Possession was in fact the Five Ghosts Paper Man, the paper man was originally made from ghosts. Recalling the memories from the River of Oblivion, the Yin Spirits were variants of ghosts. Since both were derived from ghosts, it wasn’t impossible for there to be similarities in their existence.

Despite this realization, he was still filled with questions. @@novelbin@@

The heritage of the Five Ghosts Bag was recorded in the Thousand Mountains Sutra, an ancient and widely spread fringe Daoist scripture. This scripture was already incomplete, with only fragmented chapters passed down through the world, and most of the secret techniques recorded therein were bizarre and unorthodox. He hadn’t expected such an unconventional scripture to be connected with the Netherworld.

"If there is a chance to return to the Yang Realm, I must find it and see the truth."

...

The next day.

In the Hai Character Camp.

Chen Mu was seated against a wall, looking out of the wide-open window at the camp outside. Numerous auxiliary soldiers were gathering in small groups, each with a worried look and conversing in hushed tones.

Before long, Shi Dechun walked quickly into the barrack, making his way straight to Chen Mu’s side.

"I’ve found out, yesterday our Hai Character Camp’s commander, General Lan Zhang, he discovered the core Water Mansion of the red-eyed Water Apes."

"During the fierce assault, the Water Apes resisted tenaciously, leading to a large number of ghost soldiers’ deaths."

Chen Mu understood, "Did we break through the Water Mansion?"

"I’m afraid not," Shi Dechun shook his head.

"General Lan has ordered preparations for battle and rest, with plans to march out again in three days."

"With ample preparations this time, there is a high probability of success," Shi Dechun said spiritedly.

Chen Mu, however, was not so optimistic.

"The ghost soldiers are regrouping, and the red-eyed Water Apes are gathering as well—the final outcome is still uncertain."

"It would be good if we could win in one battle, but if it drags on, the ones to suffer will be us."

"Hai Character Camp has Secret Technique protections, as solid as gold; those red-furred monkeys wouldn’t dare to attack the main camp, would they?" Shi Dechun wondered.

"Even a rabbit will bite when cornered."

"Even if they don’t dare to attack the main camp, would they not presume to harry us auxiliary soldiers?"

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"Just a few of them jumping out while we’re transporting the Water Ape corpses would be enough to cause us severe casualties!"

Shi Dechun’s face also inevitably grew solemn.

...

In the afternoon.

On the western side of the Hai Character Camp, there were several rows of stone bungalows, which belonged to the Military Provision Department of the Hai Character Camp. Secret Technique Precious Medicines were all exchanged here.

In a certain stone house.

"One pot of River of Oblivion Water for five Military Merits," said a black-clothed youth in his twenties, without even raising his head from behind a half-person-tall wooden counter.

Weren’t it three Military Merits?

This was different from the price he had heard before.

Chen Mu frowned slightly but still took out his Ghost Face Copper Medal.

With the battlefield growing ever more dangerous, he wanted to improve his Netherworld Guide and transfer to the Netherworld Division as quickly as possible, so he had to take a risk using the Flight of Flame Scripture to aid him.

This required a vast amount of River of Oblivion Water, and he couldn’t keep up with the condensing speed on his own, so he had to use his Military Merits to exchange it at the Military Provision Department.

Thanks to the generosity of Brother Hong Xiu, he hadn’t spent any Military Merits on the Secret Technique Netherworld Guide, so the three thousand plus Military Merits he had saved were now put to great use.

The black-clothed youth took the copper medal, infused it with Yin Spirit Divine Power, casually traced a few gestures, and pushed it back to Chen Mu.

Along with it came a pebble. It was the size of a goose egg, blue-gray in color, slightly flat, and covered in silver lines.

Is this...

"Never seen a River of Oblivion Stone?" The black-clothed youth glanced at Chen Mu and said nonchalantly, "It contains a Curse Power sealed within. Take it back, activate it with your Yin Spirit Divine Power, and it will summon a pot full of River of Oblivion Water."

A River of Oblivion Stone? A Netherworld version of Talismans?

Chen Mu raised his eyebrows, curiously playing with the ash-gray stone.

He really knew too little about the Netherworld.

It wasn’t good to use the Five Ghosts Bag carelessly, and the bag for storing qi was too small. Before coming, he had been concerned that the volume of the River of Oblivion Water would be too great to transport discreetly, so he had intended to buy only one cauldron.

Now...

"Excuse me, I’ll take two hundred more of these River of Oblivion stones," Chen Mu said with a smile as he pushed the Ghost Face Copper Medal back.

"How much?"

"Two hundred!"

"Do you intend to use these things for a bath?" The usually calm and indifferent young man in black couldn’t help but raise his voice.

Hey!

You guess what?

I really am going to use these things for a bath!

A smile appeared on Chen Mu’s face.

...

In the center of Hai Character Camp, deep within a tall stone temple, Lan Zhang sat lazily on a grey-white stone chair.

Dressed in loose white clothes with her hair scattered, she rested her elbow on the armrest and casually propped her right fist against her cheek.

Her narrow, distinctively red and white eyes gazed at the divide between light and shadow at the doorway, lost in thought.

A tall and thin figure in black clothing stepped into the room, walking slowly through the dim light and shadows.

Approaching the stone table, the figure tucked hands into the wide sleeves and looked down at Lan Zhang with a lofty gaze.

"Breaking away from the Yin soldiers and attacking the Water Ape King alone in the Water Mansion. General Lan Zhang, you truly are brave," the person in black sneered sarcastically.

"Don’t you know that once the core of the Water Mansion is destroyed and the Water Ape King is killed, the Red-eyed Water Ape clan will immediately disintegrate and scatter in all directions?"

"We came here to capture enough Red-eyed Water Apes, not to highlight your personal bravery!" the person in black said coldly.

Lan Zhang’s eyes shifted slightly, and her blood-red pupils casually swept over the tall and thin person in black, her voice calm and cold: "Shen Yan."

"General Lan Zhang, what instructions do you have for me?" Shen Yan, the man in black, asked, unchanging in expression, directly meeting Lan Zhang’s gaze.

"You’re blocking my light."

"You..." The man in black’s face changed.

Just as he was about to speak out in rebuke, he met Lan Zhang’s calm, blood-red eyes and involuntarily stiffened, moving his feet to stand by the side of the stone table.

Lan Zhang’s blood-red eyes slowly returned to watching the doorway’s play of light and shadow.

Shen Yan’s chest suddenly heaved violently. After a long while, he took a deep breath, struggling to suppress his anger and continued to persuade.

"General Lan Zhang, you are cultivating the Water Ape Dharma Aspect," he said.

"Only by killing enough Red-eyed Water Apes and perfecting the Spirit Mechanism on the root source stele, will your Yin Divine Dharma Form have a chance to reach its peak."

"Most importantly, this matter is linked to the City Lord’s Avenue; if you disobey orders and ruin things, everyone in Hai Character Camp is doomed."

"At that time, both you and I are likely to be drained of our essence by the Soul Summoning Banner," Shen Yan said, with a cold expression.

"Prepare the Soul Summoning Altar within three days," Lan Zhang said in a flat voice.

"You want to draw upon Yin Spirit Divine Power? You… you’re still going to trouble that Water Ape King?!" Shen Yan suddenly became angry.

Lan Zhang’s pupils moved, glancing at him.

Shen Yan’s body stiffened immediately.

"Fine, fine! I will prepare the altar!" Grinding his teeth, he said, "But it is my duty to record and report everything that happens within Hai Character Camp accurately."

"How you proceed is up to you!" Shen Yan glared fiercely at Lan Zhang, then quickly left the stone temple.

Once again, the stone temple fell silent.

"Peak? A bigger red-haired monkey? Hah…" Lan Zhang leaned back in his chair, laughing mockingly as he flicked his index finger against the armrest.

"Are you sure you want to practice the Blood God Scripture? Not afraid of going mad?" A crisp, echoing childlike voice suddenly resounded within the spacious stone temple.

Hum!

From the shadows on the left side of the room, numerous eyes abruptly appeared.

On the floor, the walls, the ceiling, strange eyes nearly covered half the room. They varied in size, each blinking and rotating independently as if they possessed their own consciousness.

"Isn’t this exactly what you all hoped for?"

Lan Zhang continued to sit lazily in his chair, staring at the interplay of light and shadow at the doorway, without so much as glancing at the peculiar eyes within the room.

"We provide the Secret Technique, we provide the resources, we simply welcome all outsiders equally to become a part of us," the layered, crisp childlike voice said calmly.

"Yes, yes, yes, you help me grow stronger, you wait for me to lose my mind, and then you can swallow me whole in one gulp?" Lan Zhang laughed lightly.

"Exactly!" Numerous innocent voices cheered together, the myriad eyes blinking rapidly, filled with excitement.

"Heh!" Lan Zhang’s mouth curled into a slightly deranged smile.

"Then come on!"