Master Zheng skillfully entered the Heart Prison.

Inside the Heart Prison, the scenery was as grimly pleasant as ever.

His physical body was imprisoned, and his consciousness was imprisoned too.

Master Zheng had eaten his fill of the ironclad prison meals.

Outside the mottled, rusty bars, the mist twisted in utter silence.

Seated on the Bone Chair, Zheng Xiu looked at the Game Table.

Compared to before, the once-empty table had become a little more lively.

[Evil Child] and [Zheng Shan] hovered in the center of the map with their eyes closed, like puppets.

Beneath the two Incarnations was, remarkably, the location of Zheng Xiu’s Main Body.

But now, a small figure had appeared there. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The figure looked like a miniature version of Feng Bei, dressed in black with her hair tied up, her right eye covered, and about four heads tall in proportion.

’Kind of cute.’

A faint ring of black mist swirled around the [Feng Bei Post Station].

[Post Station · Executioner · Ding Wei · Feng Bei].

As his gaze fell upon it, text floated up.

Zheng Xiu stood up and moved a little closer, purely because the words were too small and he wanted a better look. ’...She really is pretty cute.’

After a moment, Zheng Xiu frowned. He had a feeling that the faint black mist around the [Post Station] named Feng Bei vaguely resembled a miniature Ghostly Realm.

’Can a Ghostly Realm form around a person?’

’No, there are plenty of people in the world. Why is it that only Feng Bei could become a [Post Station]?’

Recalling the text that had appeared at the time, Zheng Xiu mulled it over for a moment and roughly guessed the conditions for triggering a [Post Station].

"It must be people like Feng Bei. They’re basically human weapons—innately ominous, with their own personal Ghostly Realms. Besides, when the ’Post Station’ was triggered, it was clearly because I made a request and Feng Bei agreed."

There were three key points: being innately ominous, making a request, and receiving consent to enter.

This raised the question: what exactly was this strange space known as a "Ghostly Realm"?

How did it come into being?

Darkness, Ghostly Realm, Filthy Land.

His experience in Baili Village surfaced once more in Master Zheng’s mind.

The magnificent thicket of flowers, the ink-wash painting art style—Zheng Xiu would never forget them as long as he lived.

’This world’s waters run a little deep.’

If he hadn’t accidentally stepped onto the [Prisoner] Path, Zheng Xiu would have found it hard to imagine that another space was hidden right beside him, just next door.

Zheng Xiu’s perspective was still grounded in the familiar, scientific worldview he knew.

For example, the planet was round, outer space lay beyond the sky, the stars above were other planets, aliens hadn’t found this world yet according to the dark forest theory, Taiwan Province belonged to China, and Newton was still resting peacefully in his grave. And so on.

Zheng Xiu suddenly looked up, gazing at the mist outside the Heart Prison.

’In that case, does this "Heart Prison" in my consciousness also count as a Ghostly Realm?’

After all, he and Feng Bei were essentially the same type of person—someone with extraordinary gifts.

"So that’s how it is! If that’s the case, it all makes sense!"

Zheng Xiu slapped his forehead in a moment of sudden realization. "I get it! I get it! I get it!"

People like him and Feng Bei were exceptionally gifted.

And Feng Bei’s [Executioner] Path was equivalent to a permanent supernatural ability, a Passive Skill: whoever she touched, died.

Could the cause and effect be reversed?

Was it because a humanoid Ghostly Realm constantly surrounded Feng Bei that her ability couldn’t be turned off, becoming a passive effect like some ominous curse?

And as for his Ghostly Realm, the "Heart Prison," was it because it existed in his consciousness, separate from his physical body, that he had to be inside a "prison cell" to activate it and use the abilities known as Miracle Techniques?

The more Zheng Xiu thought about it, the more plausible his theory seemed.

Besides, though he hadn’t asked tonight, he noticed that Qing Shisan, Zizi, Ji Hong’ou, Pei Gaoya, Bi Shui, and the others all had strange movements or lines before and after they performed their Miracle Techniques.

It was like... some kind of fixed "Ceremony."

There were many questions, but through his deductions, Zheng Xiu felt he was getting closer to the truth behind strange existences like Miracle Masters, Ghostly Realms, and the Darkness.

After some thought, he decided he would subtly probe for more information on the way to the Immortal Maiden Temple with Feng Bei tomorrow, hitting her with a couple hundred questions.

’As they say, children speak without reservation. I can be forgiven for asking anything.’

Zheng Xiu set his questions aside for the moment and continued to examine the [Post Station]. He carefully extended his index finger, poking toward the [Post Station · Executioner · Ding Wei · Feng Bei].

Just as Zheng Xiu’s finger was about to touch the [Post Station], its information appeared line by line.

[Post Station] Feng Bei

[Affinity] Friendly

[Path] Executioner (Ding Wei)

[Destiny] Celestial Killer Lone Star

[Physique] Taking Shape

The information was succinct.

Feng Bei’s Path was [Executioner], an innate one.

’Her Destiny... Celestial Killer Lone Star. For some reason, after hearing about Feng Bei’s experiences, he didn’t find it strange at all.’

What left Zheng Xiu rather speechless was the [Physique].

’What does "Taking Shape" even mean?’

While this description was fine when applied to a [Post Station], the thought that this [Post Station]’s destination was a living person...

...was just baffling.

*BOOP*~

Zheng Xiu’s finger poked the Feng Bei doll’s face.

It was soft and squishy, a bit like the feel of his own Incarnations.

Just then, the Feng Bei doll’s face turned toward Zheng Xiu. Though its eyes were vacant, the sudden movement still startled him, making him feel inexplicably guilty.

[You will select an Incarnation to enter ’Post Station · Executioner · Ding Wei · Feng Bei’.]

The Incarnations Zheng Shan and Zheng Er simultaneously opened their eyes a crack, seeming to await Zheng Xiu’s choice.

At the same time, the faint black mist around [Post Station Feng Bei] suddenly thickened, turning into a swirling vortex. Within the vortex, a faint, flickering door appeared.

"Is this... a Teleport Point?"

The doorway, which looked remarkably like an "Arbitrary Gate," made Zheng Xiu understand the function of a [Post Station]—it was similar to a Teleport Point.

Startled, Zheng Xiu pulled his finger back. The vortex returned to normal, and the teleportation door disappeared into the black mist.

Master Zheng’s mind worked quickly, and his first thought was how to exploit this.

In other words, if a small Ghostly Realm was permanently stationed around Feng Bei, couldn’t he use her as an anchor point? As long as he was in the Ghostly Realm near Feng Bei, wouldn’t his [Divine Travel] no longer have distance restrictions?

He could leave the Imperial City?

Zheng Xiu had been worried about whether his [Divine Travel] level was high enough to reach the [Immortal Maiden Temple], but now, it seemed sorted.

’Good news, great news!’

It was the middle of the night, so he certainly wasn’t going to experiment with [Post Station Feng Bei] now.

He was afraid someone might die.

In the outskirts of the Imperial City, within the same province, lay a stretch of continuous mountains with a town at their base.

Several rivers converged, flowing east into the East Sea.

Between the mountains, where there had once been an empty space, a gray-black, century-egg-like dome had appeared out of thin air.

It was a Ghostly Realm.

[Ghostly Realm]: [Immortal Maiden Temple]

[Difficulty]: [Sunset]

Regarding the difficulty of Ghostly Realms, the Rulebook in his memory provided a corresponding classification.

The difficulties for Ghostly Realms, from lowest to highest, were: Sunrise, Midday, Sunset, Dusk, Twilight, Midnight, and Benighted.

The difficulty of Baili Village was only [Sunrise], while the Immortal Maiden Temple’s difficulty skipped a level, going straight to [Sunset].

Above the [Ghostly Realm - Immortal Maiden Temple], a translucent "hourglass" floated.

The frame of the small hourglass seemed to be made of writhing, fleshy tendrils, and its contents were not sand, but a "fluid" that dripped downward like asphalt.

[Time Limit: Seven days.]

[Baili Village] was a Ghostly Realm from twenty years ago.

The [Immortal Maiden Temple], however, was a Ghostly Realm that existed in the present.

For Zheng Xiu, there were two differences between them.

[Baili Village] existed in the past, so Zheng Xiu could enter it directly from the Game Table.

As for the [Immortal Maiden Temple], when Zheng Xiu, thinking ’it couldn’t hurt to try,’ wanted to get a sneak peek...

He selected [Evil Child].

[You have never reached the ’Immortal Maiden Temple’.]

[You can only travel there on foot.]

Master Zheng, who had expected to enter instantly, was slightly dumbfounded when he saw these two lines.

[You are about to travel over mountains and rivers, by boat and by carriage.]

[Estimated arrival at the Immortal Maiden Temple in two days.]

A faint, dotted line extended from the feet of the [Evil Child] on the Game Table, and the Evil Child began to move slowly toward the Immortal Maiden Temple.

[In transit.]

Zheng Xiu’s eyes widened. ’This isn’t even as useful as a [Post Station],’ he grumbled internally. With a little tap, he canceled the trip.

The Evil Child Incarnation scurried back sheepishly.

FLIP FLIP FLIP—

Zheng Xiu tried hard to recall the rules that had been crammed into his head. There should be something related to Ghostly Realms.

It was as if a book were being speed-read inside Zheng Xiu’s mind.

Soon, Master Zheng understood.

It was the same principle as unlocking points in a video game.

He had only unlocked the "fast travel point" for the [Feng Bei Post Station]. He needed to reach the [Immortal Maiden Temple] once to unlock its point and set an anchor before he could travel there instantly.

To put it simply, he needed to uncover the map.

Only after uncovering the map could he fast travel.

"Ghostly Realms exist in the past and present... is it possible that a Ghostly Realm from the ’future’ might appear someday?"

The abilities the [Prisoner] Path had shown so far—whether it was Incarnations, Divine Travel, Projections, or its many other Superpowers—all seemed rather ordinary in Zheng Xiu’s eyes.

What he found truly bizarre was the ability to freely travel through the past and present, and even to project the "results" of a Ghostly Realm into reality.

It was simply extraordinary.

But when Zheng Xiu thought about Feng Bei’s "Thanos Hand," which could annihilate anyone she touched, he secretly thought that his own [Prisoner] Path didn’t seem so outrageous anymore.

The experience of this [Prisoner] Path so far was really starting to live up to the name "Observing the Sky from Prison."

Squatting in a cell, with one table and one chair, observing the world.

Since it would take two days to reach the Ghostly Realm from here, Zheng Xiu figured he might as well wait until morning and set off with the [Feng Bei Post Station].

The night passed without incident.

The sky was clear that night, and Ravens still circled overhead.

Scarface Liu, ever considerate, brought Master Zheng a brazier before bed so he could warm himself by the fire.

Master Zheng silently gave Sixth Brother a thumbs-up.

He wrapped himself tightly in the golden-thread goose-down "Double Happiness" quilt and slept through the night.

The rooster crowed before the sky was light.

Zheng Xiu, still groggy, was woken up.

The person who had come to visit him in prison was somewhat of a surprise to Zheng Xiu.

It was actually his former cellmate, Jiang Gaoyi—now promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Justice—Lord Jiang.