Chapter 1

At night, Linxian Manor.

A dilapidated building stood by the lake. It looked abandoned for a long time, its cement walls covered with spiderweb-like cracks. The door was ajar, light spilling out from the gap.

A figure completely shrouded in gray cloth walked along a small path, approaching from afar. In its left hand, it held a candlestick, the flame flickering in the wind, like an old man on his deathbed, giving the impression that it would be extinguished in the next second.

What was truly astonishing was that the flame wasn't the usual bright orange, but a ghostly, pale green, like a demon eye, exuding an eerie aura.

The candle-bearer stopped in front of the building's door. It reached out, but before it could knock, the door creaked open on its own. After a moment of hesitation, the candle-bearer stepped inside.

The visibility inside the building was poor, filled with a light cyan mist that swirled slowly, as if it were alive.

If Jiang Cheng were to see this scene, he would immediately recognize that this cyan mist was the same as on that bus. However, the candle-bearer seemed to be used to it, and continued to walk towards the unknown path ahead.

The moment the candlestick touched the cyan mist, the faint candlelight suddenly blazed brightly. As the light intensified, the surrounding scenery became clearer.

At least from the inside, this was definitely not a dilapidated cement building. The floor was covered with brand new boards. As the candle-bearer stepped forward, more and more scenes came into view.

There were people here, many, many people.

Sitting around tables, drinking, singing, and playing finger-guessing games, the space here was much larger than it appeared from the outside. There was even a large space in the middle, where scantily clad dancers performed to entertain the crowd. Nearby were gambling dens and theatrical troupes playing instruments. In short, this was a rare den of iniquity.

But what was truly eerie was that it was silent. That's right, everything here was frozen in time!

The raised wine cups were suspended in mid-air, the hands playing finger-guessing games remained in the same position, and the graceful figures of the dancing girls were also frozen. Even the expressions on people's faces were fixed.

Everyone was smiling, smiling with all their might. Those smiles were also frozen.

Smiling faces appeared and disappeared in the cyan mist, but without a single sound. The eeriness of the scene was beyond description.

The candle-bearer walked past these wax-like figures expressionlessly, as if it were a common sight. It knew these people, and even recognized many of them.

Without exception, they were all disciples, even some high-level disciples who had been famous for a long time.

But at this moment, these people were dead. To be precise, they had become puppets to be manipulated, while in the real world, most of these people were defined as dead or missing.

The candle-bearer continued to walk until it stopped in front of a table.

This table was not large, with only nine seats. Now, six people were seated, with three seats empty. At the head of the table was a handsome man.

The man was in his early thirties, his pupils were silver, a very light color, and he had a rare double pupil in each eye. Just staring at those eyes gave the feeling of being swallowed.

And most importantly, the silver-eyed man was different from everyone else here. He was alive, because… this was his world.

The candle-bearer looked at the other seats. Besides the leader, there were five puppets left. It knew the identities of the puppets very well. The sword-bearing man in the middle was Feng Jianxian (Mad Sword Immortal), and on either side were Xie Shusheng (Evil Scholar), Gu Po Niang (Gu Witch), Xia Pi Jiang (Blind Skinner), and Bo Pi Ke (Skin Peeler), all high-level disciples. Some of them had been notorious many years ago.

But now, they had all become honored guests in this building.

No.

They were ghost guests!

The candle-bearer looked at the silver-eyed man and said cautiously, "These guys are barely qualified. We lost many good men to encircle and suppress this Feng Jianxian (Mad Sword Immortal) back then. With their help, your injuries should be relieved a lot."

"Not enough. Their quality is too poor." There was no emotion in the silver-eyed man's tone. Even the candle-bearer, who was used to such conversations, couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine.

The silver-eyed man slowly shifted his gaze, staring intently at the other three empty seats. "Uncle Gui, you know, what I really want are these three people."

Hearing the words "Uncle Gui," the candle-bearer's tense mouth relaxed slightly. Naturally, it knew who the leader was talking about. If nothing went wrong, Lin Wan'er, Luo He, and that man who had deceived them and was now disfigured should be sitting here.

Thinking of that man's betrayal, the candle-bearer's teeth itched with hatred, and… and Lin Wan'er, that damned woman. It had never fully trusted her, but there was no one more suitable.

If only it had listened to that old Judge and had him kill her and seize her door!

"It's a pity, indeed. Just a little bit… just a little bit more and we would have caught them all in one fell swoop." The candle-bearer's face was gloomy. "It was all ruined by that guy named Wu. The old Judge also died in his hands."

"His abilities are somewhat similar to yours, Leader. We should have nipped him in the bud before he grew up. It was my dereliction of duty." The candle-bearer lowered its voice. "According to reliable information, he has devoured at least ten strange doors. His growth rate is truly terrifying. With him around, if we want to..."

Before the candle-bearer could finish speaking, it was interrupted by a calm voice. "These doors are not enough to worry about. The truly troublesome one is that door." The silver-eyed man's eyes were cold.

The candle-bearer took a deep breath and nodded. "Xia Tan's door."

"I tried to restrict him in the dream, but his abilities exceeded my expectations. And the degree to which he and Xia Tan's door have merged is much better than I thought. Our previous information was wrong. Now, it's not entirely Xia Tan's door restricting him. They are using each other." The silver-eyed man recalled.

Things were also becoming tricky for the Night Watchers. In terms of overall strength, the Night Watchers were naturally no match for the state apparatus. Their strength lay in the disciples' abilities. But now, although Xia Tan was dead, Wu had emerged, and Gong Zhe, who was about to lose his mind and was at the peak of his strength, was constantly causing trouble for them.

"Any news recently?" The silver-eyed man rubbed his temples. His injuries were constantly backfiring, and he had recently relied on devouring a large number of doors to gradually improve.

Hearing this, the candle-bearer hesitated for a moment. Just as it was about to speak, it saw the silver-eyed man's gaze on it. "Uncle Gui, I trust you the most. You know, I want to hear the truth."

Immediately, the candle-bearer withdrew its prepared words, not daring to hide anything. "Our plans are progressing steadily. It's just Gong Zhe. He, like the Xia Tan of the past, is a reckless madman!"

"The previous Minister of the Executive Department was his friend. Gong Zhe doesn't know where he got the information, but almost everyone who participated in the hunt for the Minister of the Executive Department and participated in this matter has been killed by him."

"Yesterday, news came that the head of the Southern Region and the accompanying dozen disciples were intercepted during the transfer and all killed. Judging from the scene, it was also done by Gong Zhe. He doesn't care about being backlashed by the door at all now. He's gone mad. He's not only killing those related to the previous Minister of the Executive Department, but also killing all of our people."

"Because we are now prioritizing the plan, we didn't concentrate our forces to kill him. Otherwise, could he be so rampant with just him alone?!" The candle-bearer said angrily.

The silver-eyed man nodded and exhaled. "Execute everything according to the original plan. Don't divert your attention because of him alone. Don't ruin our big plans. Let him kill. We're just losing some insignificant people. Looking at his state, he doesn't have much time left."

"A dying man is not worth worrying about."

"That's right. As long as we don't panic, they should panic." The candle-bearer echoed.

"Is there any other news outside?" The silver-eyed man asked. "I mean around here. It's been too quiet here for too long."

Naturally, the candle-bearer knew what he meant, and gradually revealed a strange expression. It turned its head to look behind it, its gaze seeming to penetrate here and see the outside world. "Yes, it's too quiet. It's been some time since we came here, but the nearby outposts reported that there are indeed no signs of a large number of disciples gathering."

"According to Lin Wan'er's intelligence capabilities, they should be able to find out that we have orders to gather. Through the actions of those disciples, they should be able to track us down here soon."

"They know I'm injured. This is a great opportunity. I don't think they will easily miss it." Although the tone was calm, a undisguised murderous intent flashed in the silver-eyed man's eyes.

"I can't figure this out either. Could it be that they are also willing but unable? After all, your dream, Leader, is not so easy to escape from. Lin Wan'er and Luo He, that damned Number One, they all suffered serious injuries. Not to mention Lin Wan'er, Luo He was directly crippled. And that traitor Number One, although he noticed something was wrong at the last moment, opened the space channel, and sent away those ice-sealed disciples to deal with us, he couldn't exert 100% of his power because of his strength and the scene. It was all too difficult."

"Our news said that they found some corpses in Xixieming Mountain, all belonging to those ice-sealed disciples. Judging from the signs at the scene, they encountered a space-time turbulence. You personally tested Number One's physical condition at the time. At least in terms of physical condition, Number One had no chance to lie. He was already at the end of his rope. I think this space-time turbulence is enough to take his life. He should never appear again."

Hearing the candle-bearer say this, the silver-eyed man frowned. "Not necessarily. After all, his body hasn't been found yet. It's too early to say that now."

"Leader, what should we do next?" The candle-bearer asked.

After a few seconds, the silver-eyed man's voice sounded. "Wait. If they don't move, we don't move either. They are the ones who are anxious now. Have you had any results with the things I told you to arrange?"

Being stared at by the silver-eyed man's eyes, the candle-bearer felt uncomfortable all over, but it still answered with a stiff head: "Please rest assured, everything is arranged. I went there myself. This time, we deliberately exposed some people to them and revealed some true and false news. From the current situation, they have believed it."

"The exposed disciples are all being monitored. Most of the people used to monitor them are ordinary disciples. It should be the ghost of that guy Luo Yunshan. He formed the Dark Army. This unyielding thing, I will personally bring people to clean them up after the success, as well as those idiots in charge of the Luo family." The candle-bearer's eyes were fierce.

"Luo Yunshan is not worth worrying about. What about the others?"

"The situation of the others is not yet fully clear. It can be confirmed that Luo He has been crippled. Using his body to exert your strength, his door has never been squandered like this before. But Lin Wan'er's whereabouts are unknown. Now we only know that she is still alive, but we still need to investigate whether she is still in town."

"Huff——" The silver-eyed man leaned back in his chair. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked, "That guy named Wu, do you have any news about him?"

The candle-bearer's face was embarrassed. "No, not yet. Our people don't dare to get too close. You know, he..."

Naturally, the silver-eyed man knew that although he had not completely confused Wu in the dream he created, the other party had paid a huge price for repeatedly breaking through the barriers he set. He must be recuperating now.

The candle-bearer waited for a while, but didn't hear the silver-eyed man continue to speak, so it carefully asked, "Then will you still stay here to heal your injuries, or change places? I think it's better to leave a fake appearance here, otherwise if something happens..."

Unexpectedly, just as it said this, the other party suddenly smiled. The candle-bearer couldn't help but take a breath. It was true that the silver-eyed man would smile, but this smile made him look very strange. "Don't worry, nothing will happen. I've made preparations. I'll stay here and go nowhere. And... even if they don't appear, it doesn't matter. Anyway, I will meet them again soon." The silver-eyed man smiled and said, "Really... I'm really looking forward to that day coming soon."

Suddenly, the candle-bearer felt the aura around it change. This feeling might be very unfamiliar to others, but for the candle-bearer, it was a familiarity engraved in its bones.

Because... because this was the aura of the old leader!

Perhaps to match something, or to explain it, slowly, the silver-eyed man turned his head and looked in another direction, where the mist was filled, with a viscous texture, as if something was slowly surging.

Gradually, the candle-bearer's eyes widened, and it saw the mist slowly dissipating, revealing the huge body hidden in the mist, an old bus, with mottled rust, as if it had been driven from the previous history.

"It doesn't matter if they don't come. I will wait for them, wait for them on this bus." The silver-eyed man looked at the bus, his eyes gradually turning into a void.