Reverse flow of the Yellow Springs

This already tattered fragment of the ghostly realm finally exhausted its last bit of strength to sustain its existence, unable to withstand the aftershocks of the battle any longer. It began to disintegrate irreversibly.

The ghostly forest that enveloped Li Yelai, filled with an aura of decay and death, churned and twisted violently, like ink splashed in water.

The towering ghost trees, the gnarled vines, and even the damp, sticky ground beneath their feet all quickly lost their substance, transforming into thick, impenetrable wisps of gray-black mist.

When all the fog dissipated, Li Yelai returned from the ghost realm to the physical world, back to the dark wilderness.

After packing the body in the pottery jar into his storage space, Li Yelai looked around.

Previously, due to the repeated division of the Ghost Realm by Grand Duke Yu Huo, Li Yelai's inevitable encounters with powerful enemies were triggered time and time again, which caused the Ghost Realm where Li Yelai was located to be far away from his teammates.

So much so that now, he can no longer see the train or the traces it left behind, nor can he see his familiar teammates.

But in the distant night sky, fireworks were being lit by the assembled spies.

Clearly, there are teammates who escaped the Ghost Realm fragments earlier than him, or who successfully broke free from other fragments. They are using this method to send messages and summon their lost companions.

"No way, am I the slowest?"

Upon seeing this, Li Yelai immediately responded by sending a signal.

At the same time, gilded wings unfurled behind him.

It transformed into a golden shooting star in the night sky, rapidly flying towards the gathering point.

When he arrived at the assembly point.

I saw many teammates and a lot of supplies.

After all, it is the core ghost realm of a Grand Duke of the Returners, so it has quite a lot of resources, including Overlord Soldiers, several A-level psionic weapons, and some uncommon materials.

The returnees were actually caught off guard by a surprise attack, without any preparation for battle.

The number of ghostly soldiers guarding the area was not large, with only a few marquises and Grand Duke Yu Huo possessing formidable strength. However, they were all beheaded; the Little Mad King's abilities were ultimately too overwhelming.

The remaining players are simply no match for the current champion team.

With the help of the mimicry of the celestial army, the human side annihilated the Returnees almost without suffering any casualties. Perhaps not all Returnees were wiped out, but the number that escaped was not large.

This area should be able to settle down from now on.

To Li Yelai's surprise, he also saw teams from other major cities.

There were teams from Border City No. 1, teams from the Mo family, and even teams from the Hong family and the Ma family.

Ma Hongyi was prominently featured in the Ma family's group.

He was talking to the leader of the Mohist school.

"Old Ma, what brings you here?" Li Ye asked after landing.

Ma Hongyi was one of the few people who knew Li Yelai's identity.

While in the mountain city of Bashu, Li Yelai discussed the matter with Yang Chen and then revealed some information about the opportunity to him.

Therefore, the Ma family also found a pretext to go to Border City No. 1. As a psychic family within the giant city, their actions were not unexpected.

At the same time, Li Yelai also invited the Hong family to go to Border City No. 1 to trade some supplies.

As for opportunities, the more the better for humanity.

Upon hearing this title, Ma Hongyi and several members of the Ma family turned around.

Those few powerful members of the Ma family were somewhat confused.

Ma Hongyi retorted, "How many times have I told you? When you're interacting with family members, don't use their surnames. We're all surnamed Ma!"

"Indeed, Your Excellency the Champion. My teammates also like to call me Old Ma," a member of the Ma family remarked.

"It's become a habit, that's how it is," one of the team's strong members joked.

Then, Ma Hongyi pointed to the Mo family expert and the overlord of City No. 1 beside her and said, "It's because you suddenly lost contact for several hours. City No. 1 waited for you for a long time but couldn't find you, so it activated the signal and contacted various officials and family caravans in this wilderness to track your whereabouts."

The leader of the Hong family's caravan also laughed and said, "We also received the signal and came here following the track of the Yellow Springs Train."

"How is it, that Duke of Return?" Ma Hongyi asked.

“He escaped. In his attempt to save his life, he repeatedly fragmented his own demonic realm, causing his level to plummet until he couldn’t even maintain his five senses. Even the Qing Dynasty wouldn’t dare to cede territory like that,” Li Yelai replied, understanding the situation perfectly.

According to the original plan, the champion team was scheduled to arrive at Border City No. 1 around 7 or 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, the border city at number one was already prepared to welcome them.

As a result, one team was dragged into the Ghost Realm.

The powerful Mo family member named Mo En and the overlord of Tianhong in Border City No. 1 breathed a sigh of relief.

They waited for a long time in Border Town One, thinking that the champion team was late.

Upon discovering that they had lost contact, a team was immediately dispatched to investigate.

The champion team has lost contact in the wilderness near Border Town No. 1.

They were sweating bullets. With the current strength of the champion team, could there really be some blind robbers?
Could it be that even the Supreme Being has made a move?

If that were to happen, it would be a huge problem.

Fortunately, there was no harm.

The champion team did indeed encounter the Supreme, but the Supreme was driven out by the champions.

"It turns out to be a returnee. This area hasn't been properly cleared." The Rainbow Overlord, a woman whose age was difficult to discern, responded somewhat awkwardly with a fist and palm salute: "It's our responsibility."

“No need for that, comrade. The Returners are inherently mysterious and unpredictable; one really can't detect them without entering the Ghost Realm.” Li Yelai replied, “I've kept you waiting.”

"Alright, let's go after we've counted the number of people and supplies. Since we've run into each other, let's hitch a ride on the Yellow Springs Train." Ma Hongyi replied with a smile, "I heard that the train is especially smooth when you're around, so let us enjoy it too."

“Of course it’s possible.” Li Yelai nodded.

Later, teammates arrived one after another, and they also made quite a few gains. Cheese even used his abilities to interrogate people and successfully found a hiding place for the returnees, with the doll taking action itself.

It is said that several returnees were scared to death by the dolls.
The person returning home was scared to death. Probably a coward, right?
Little Mad King, on the other hand, appeared behind Li Yelai at some unknown time.

"I'm sorry, teammate. I couldn't be with you." Her apologetic voice rang in Li Yelai's ears.

If it weren't for the cool, refreshing fragrance, Li Yelai wouldn't have been able to detect her arrival.

“The shattering of the Ghost Realm is a special case, don’t worry about it.” Li Yelai replied in a low voice, “I’ve found the mastermind, I’ll share the information later.”

After the assembly was completed.

Several teams boarded the train to the underworld.

We set off again, heading towards Border City No. 1.

In one of the carriages, Yang Chen, Xiao Kuang Wang, Wan Ou, and several members of the team gathered together.

Li Yelai took out the corpse from the pottery jar: "He is the mastermind behind it all. He led the ghost realm to devour us. He calls himself Zishu. This is a fake body of his."

"The Rat. One of the twelve zodiac animals? Or one of the twelve earthly branches? So, there are eleven such enemies? This is the code name for the Heavenly Evolution Walkers, probably the highest level." Yang Chen pondered, "Is he trying to lead us into war against the Returners?"

“Yes, but the situation was beyond his expectations. The Duke of Guizhe was cowardly in battle, and he was captured by my inevitable formidable enemy, thus exposing himself,” Li Yelai said. “He was forced to fight me and even used some kind of causal attack method.”

“That would be suicide,” Cheese said.

Looking at the corpse shattered into a pile in front of him, Liu Yun was speechless for a moment: "It's shattered too badly. If the brain had been preserved, we could have extracted some memories."

“No, this is a fake body. It should be directly controlled by the original body. It’s more like a device than a brain.” After examining the body with his instruments, Dragon Hunter said, “This body appears to be flesh and blood, but it is actually made using a very advanced flesh and blood alchemy technique. It is crafted from certain rare materials.”

“Yes, a bead was embedded between his eyebrows. He used this bead to join forces with many powerful individuals to cast a curse on me. I managed to counter it,” Li Yelai said. “Most of them should have died from the counterattack. I hope to expand the scope of the investigation and find out who was involved in the incident during that time period.”

"That area is quite large, so don't get your hopes up too high. But it can effectively determine whether any Celestial Evolution Walkers are hiding within our Giant City Circle," Yang Chen said. "What intelligence did he gather? What methods did you expose?"

After a moment's thought, Li Yelai replied: "Two mythological mimicry techniques: Xiang Yu's mask and the mimicry of the Divine Dragon Soul. Also, there's my inevitable formidable foe and the causal countermeasure."

"It's good that the Chosen Ones of Chaos and Nightfall haven't been exposed. As for Mythical Mimicry, you used it quite a bit in the Disaster Mist, so it couldn't be hidden anyway," Yang Chen said. "The only trouble is that you're bound to encounter a powerful enemy. Once they know this information, they might devise tactics specifically targeting your curse."

“As long as we send in more enemies, they won’t have trouble finding me.” Li Yelai nodded: “If I don’t have enough teammates around me, it will turn into an encirclement and annihilation.”

“Therefore, you must keep the Imitation Tear with you,” Yang Chen reminded him. “Supreme-level combat power is enough to wipe out most enemies. Of course, try your best to avoid being surrounded. The Heavenly Evolution Walker may have methods targeting me and the Imitation Tear. In that case, we may not be able to help you.”

Li Yelai nodded.

It was already early morning when the train arrived at Border Town No. 1.

From one side of the train, the ocean is clearly visible. The sea breeze carries the salty smell of the sea, and the sun rises over the coastline.

As a major port city, Border City No. 1 is situated on the border between the mainland and the sea.

Its most distinctive feature is the giant metal gate that blocks the seawater, and the towering gantry crane inside, like a silent steel giant, with its majestic crane arm pointing diagonally to the sky, leaving a blurry yet extremely oppressive silhouette.

Further away, the breakwater, like a winding dragon, resists the relentless impact of the waves. The bright lighthouse on the breakwater pierces through the sea fog, like tireless eyes, sweeping across the sea again and again.

"That's our shipyard in our first border city. We specially expanded the city to enclose the entire bay within high walls," the Overlord of Tianhong explained. "It's also currently the largest shipyard on this continent. Unfortunately, we can't venture deep into the ocean right now. These ships can only move in shallow waters and are used for sea or river transport."

Between each great city lies a dangerous wilderness.

Land transport involves traversing treacherous wilderness teeming with monsters, with prohibitively high costs and uncertain success rates and cargo capacity.

Shipping should be the most economical and efficient artery connecting coastal megacities.

However, this precious lifeline is extremely limited due to the extreme danger of the ocean itself, and can only be maintained with great care, precariously connecting a few coastal megacities.

“Once we conquer the restricted area, we won’t have this worry anymore,” Yang Chen said. “We will eventually set foot on our land safely.”

Everyone nodded silently, looking forward to the future.

The train then stopped at a platform outside Border Town No. 1.

The group was welcomed by the First Border City, but due to time constraints, the planned welcome would be postponed.

Li Yelai also saw Mohe, who brought a convoy.

As the member of the Mo family who invited the champion team, she will arrange a place for everyone to rest.

However, Li Yelai and the others also noticed that many night scouts from the No. 1 border city had appeared.

As the elite of the great city, they appeared atop the high walls, guarding the wilderness.

Meanwhile, the field army of the giant city also appears to have been mobilized.
A welcome? It doesn't seem like it, nor is it necessary.

An exercise? The timing doesn't seem quite right.

Ma Hongyi asked in confusion, "Mohe, what's wrong with your Jucheng? Why are you having an exercise at this time?"

Mohe sat in the passenger seat of an SUV. After hesitating for a moment, he replied in a low voice, "There are rumors that our Giant City's Furnace Heart Supreme seems to be injured. I wonder which assassin was responsible."

In Border City No. 1, there are two supreme beings.

The leader of the Mohist school, Qingxu Supreme, and the Furnace Heart Supreme of the Lin family.

Last night, upon learning that the Champion Team had gone missing, the Supreme Master of the Heart of the Furnace wanted to personally investigate. After all, if something had happened to the Champion Team, only the Supreme Master could intervene. However, he was suddenly attacked by an unknown force and injured.

Currently, it is still unknown who was behind this.

"An assassin capable of harming a supreme being?"

Ma Hongyi subconsciously wanted to look at the Little Mad King behind Li Yelai. In his mind, only the Little Mad King could do that. But reason made him forcibly suppress the urge to turn his head.

Meanwhile, Li Yelai, Yang Chen, and the others were in turmoil!

At the point last night when the team was dragged into the Ghost Realm, were they injured?
It was also at that point in time that Li Yelai severely injured Zi Shu using the principle of causal reversal! The Furnace Heart Supreme was injured at this time.
Is it a coincidence, or is he a Rat, or a Celestial Traveler?
When Li Yelai thought of this possibility, his blood ran cold.

But he didn't show it, instead asking, "Haven't you found the person who made the move yet? You haven't even detected any battle fluctuations?"

Mo He slowly shook his head: "The situation hasn't been officially announced yet. I only learned about it through internal family channels, so the accuracy might not be high. Don't spread it around. However, the arrival of your champion team does relieve some pressure on us." (End of Chapter)