Lin Yu blasts another enemy with a surge of emerald light, the spell tearing through the last half-human, half-ghost in the cavern.
The creature collapses into a swirl of silver dust that scatters across the stone floor.
Around him, Moran, Cedric, and the others finish off the remaining ghosts—Tier One and Two spirits that flicker weakly before vanishing under the group's combined attacks.
When the last echo of battle fades, silence returns, broken only by heavy breathing.
Cedric and his three teammates drop to one knee, exhausted.
Their faces are pale, drenched in sweat, their hands trembling from strain.
Lin Yu walks among them, raising his hand.
A wave of soft green light ripples out, sealing wounds and knitting torn muscles.
Their bodies recover—but the exhaustion remains.
The vitality in their cores is nearly drained, and inside this cave, the deathly air smothers recovery.
Cedric looks at his weary team, then glances toward Moran and Lin Yu. "Should we return?"
Lin Yu shrugs lightly. "You're the captain. I'm only here to assist."
Moran wipes blood from his blade, eyes narrowing toward the dark tunnel ahead. "We've come this far. Turning back now would be a waste."
One of Cedric's teammates grits his teeth, forcing himself to stand. "Captain, let's keep going. We'll capture this so-called professor."
The other two rise beside him, nodding despite their fatigue. "We can handle it. Let's move."
Cedric studies their faces, the determination in their eyes, and nods once. "Then we continue the journey."
The group reforms their line, and without another word, steps into the narrow passage ahead—the shadows closing around them as they descend deeper into the heart of the ghost cave.
The air grows heavier with every step, the ghostly energy thickening until it feels almost solid, pressing against their skin and lungs.
The walls glisten with grain-sized crystals, faintly luminous, while the ground beneath their boots softens into damp, mud-like flesh.
Each breath carries a chill that seeps into their bones.
Lin Yu senses it clearly—the balance between death and yin energy twisting further toward corruption.
The entire cave feels alive, pulsing faintly, as if something deep below is breathing.
Cedric's three teammates struggle to move, their steps faltering.
Without much extraordinary energy left to protect themselves, the ghostly miasma begins to seep into their bodies.
Their skin pales, veins darken, and their pupils turn grey-white.
A faint growl escapes the first man's throat.
Then the second twitch, fingers curling into claws.
The third lets out a low snarl, her voice no longer human.
"Captain Cedric…" Moran warns, stepping back just as the three lunge forward, eyes blank, movements feral.
Before Cedric can react, Lin Yu raises his hand.
A bright green rope materialises from his palm, glowing with life energy.
It whips forward like a serpent, wrapping around the three in one swift motion.
The moment the rope tightens, smoke hisses from their skin as the life energy clashes with the death aura inside them.
They thrash violently, growling like beasts, but the rope holds firm—shining brighter with each struggle.
Lin Yu narrows his eyes, watching their bodies writhe.
"The ghost energy's already merged into their extraordinary heart," he murmurs. "If it spreads any further, they'll turn completely."
Cedric clenches his fists, guilt flashing across his face as his teammates continue to snarl and strain against the bindings.
The group stands tense in the suffocating dark, surrounded by whispering walls and pulsing ghostly light. Cedril looks at Lin Yu," Doctor Yu Lin, you must be able to heal them."
Lin Yu kneels beside the bound trio, his eyes dimly glowing as his spirit sense flows into their bodies.
Within each of them, the extraordinary heart—the very core of their power—pulses erratically, half-shrouded in black mist.
The veins surrounding it twist unnaturally, threads of ghostly energy crawling through like parasites, consuming the life essence bit by bit.
He exhales, face hardening. "We must leave right now," he says. "They cannot hold on much longer. If their extraordinary hearts complete the transformation, it will be irreversible."
Cedric's jaw tightens, his hands curling into fists. "Damn it…"
Moran's expression darkens. "We came this far just to turn back?"
He slams a hand against the wall, frustration echoing through the tunnel. "We were close—"
Lin Yu cuts him off quietly, "Further in, the ghostly energy will only increase.
Even you two may not be able to withstand it for long." His tone leaves no room for argument.
Cedric closes his eyes, steadying himself, then nods. "Fine. We're retreating."
He channels his energy, and a pale glow forms beneath his feet.
The three corrupted teammates slump unconscious as Cedric manipulates his energy, lifting their limp bodies gently into the air.
The glowing strands of his power cradle them, keeping their movements restrained.
Lin Yu steps closer, about to lead the way out—then suddenly pauses—his expression changes.
From the depths of the cave, something stirs.
A pulse of energy rolls through the stone floor, deep and resonant like a heartbeat.
The ghostly air quivers. Lin Yu turns toward the darkness ahead, his senses sharpening.
He feels it clearly—a vast, concentrated force, old and cold, surging toward them with growing speed.
"Wait," he murmurs. "Something's coming… and it's strong."
Moran's head snaps toward him. "From where?"
Lin Yu's gaze fixes on the black corridor ahead, where the fog begins to churn like waves. "From below."
A moment later, a figure cloaked in tattered robes emerges from the mist, steps silently, presence suffocating. Its voice carries through the cave like wind over a grave. "You've come this far… and now you plan to leave without meeting me? How rude."
Moran draws his blade, lightning crackling faintly along its edge. "Good—you've saved us the trouble of finding you. You're coming with us to the station for questioning."
The figure tilts its head, and the hood slides back, revealing a mask carved from bone.
Its hollow eye sockets glimmer faintly with pale fire. "Why don't you come to my place instead?" it says softly. "I insist."
A surge of ghostly aura bursts from the figure, flooding the cave like a tide. The pressure slams into them, bending the air, forcing their bodies down.
Moran stumbles back, sweat breaking across his forehead. "Tier Seven…" he breathes, voice shaking.
Lin Yu steps forward, eyes calm despite the crushing weight. "You two—leave with them."
Cedric, straining against the pressure, shouts, "Doctor Yu Lin, you aren't part of our team or our country. You don't need to sacrifice for us!"
Lin Yu doesn't look back. "Who said I'm sacrificing for you? I have my own way to escape. Now go!"
The robed figure raises a hand, whispering a ghostly incantation—*"Soul Weep."*
From its palm, a grey fog bursts forth, swirling and shaping into hundreds of distorted human heads.
They scream in unison, echoing with despair as they rush toward the group.
Lin Yu's eyes flash green. "*Life Barrier.*"
A circular emerald shield forms before him, covered in shifting runes that pulse like a living heart.
The spectral heads crash against it, their screams shaking the cave.
Behind him, Cedric and Moran stand frozen, staring at the clash of power.
Lin Yu's voice cuts through the noise. "Leave—now!"
They jolt from their daze, and without another word, Cedric lifts the unconscious three with his energy, and together with Moran, they retreat down the passage.
Cracks spider across Lin Yu's shield. He grits his teeth.
Without both his Shadow and Life extraordinary hearts, he can't kill this opponent—and he can't reveal his shadow energy here. That leaves only Life and Death energy to fight with.
But Life energy alone caps at Tier Six without the heart, and his Death energy is at Tier One.
And in the extraordinary realm, six plus one does not make seven.
The shield shatters, exploding into green shards.
The storm of screaming heads surges toward him.
Lin Yu jumps back, his hand sweeping through the air. "*Emerald Pyre.*"
A column of green fire roars to life before him, pure vitality condensed into burning essence. It meets the wave of ghosts head-on—
backwards
A thunderous explosion shakes the cavern.
The force flings Lin Yu backwards, slamming him against a wall. Dust and shards of stone rain down.
His Tier Six physique absorbs the shock; he rolls to his feet, uninjured.
He doesn't wait.
Spinning, he darts into the side passage, his boots splashing through shallow pools of ghostly sludge.
Behind him, the bone-masked figure raises a hand, and the rubble blocking its path detonates outward with a single pulse of power.
The chase begins.
Lin Yu sprints through the twisting tunnel, boots scraping against damp stone.
Behind him, the masked figure glides forward, robes fluttering, its ghostly aura filling the passage with shrieking echoes.
Spells fly—arcs of silver light, waves of death energy—but Lin Yu's Tier Six physique moves like a shadow through the chaos.
His reflexes and perception sharpen to the limit; he ducks, sidesteps, lets weaker attacks graze his coat and dissipate against his reinforced body.
The figure's power is immense, but Tier Seven spells take time to shape.
Each time it gathers energy for a stronger strike, Lin Yu's speed buys him distance.
The labyrinthine turns of the ghost cave become his ally—narrow passages swallow the larger attacks, and the bends break the figure's line of sight.
The cave roars and trembles behind him, each blast carving new scars into its walls.
He bursts out into a cavern vast and hollow, its ceiling glittering faintly with crystal dust.
Halfway across, his focus fixed on the next tunnel ahead, a flash of light streaks over his head.
The attack hits the tunnel entrance with a deafening crash.
The ceiling collapses, sealing his escape beneath tons of rock.
Lin Yu skids to a halt, gathering energy in his palm, ready to blast the rubble apart—
A gleam cuts through the air.
He drops low just in time.
A spinning disk of black metal slices past his head, embedding into the stone behind him before returning to the figure's hand like a living blade.
The masked figure steps into the cavern, floating a few inches above the ground, its voice low and echoing. "*Soul Maw.*"
Behind it, the fog condenses into a gigantic spectral head—human in shape but eyeless, hollow, and trembling with power.
Its mouth opens wide, revealing an abyss glowing with silver energy.
The beam fires.
Lin Yu thrusts his hands forward, summoning every drop of Life energy left within him. "*Vital Conflux!*"
A torrent of green radiance bursts from his palms, coiling into a concentrated beam that meets the oncoming wave.
The two forces collide midair—Life against Death, creation against decay.
The cavern erupts.
The explosion rips through the stone, light swallowing everything.
The shockwave tears apart the floor and ceiling, shattering entire slabs of the cave.
Outside, Cedric and Moran, carrying their barely conscious teammates, stumble out into the night.
The ground shakes violently beneath their feet as a thunderous roar bursts from the depths behind them.
They spin around, eyes wide, as a column of dust and light shoots from the mouth of the cave.
Inside, Lin Yu crashes through a collapsing floor, swallowed by the darkness.
He hits the ground hard, landing on one knee amid a storm of debris.
Pain blooms across his body, blood trickling down his forehead—but his mind remains steady.
The air here is different—thick, heavy, alive.
Ghostly energy swirls like mist around him, pressing on his chest, sinking into his pores.
He tries to sense the world's laws—the pulse of vitality, the thread of death, the rhythm of balance—but they are gone, muted and unreachable.
He exhales slowly, eyes narrowing as the silence deepens.
"This…" he murmurs. "isn't part of the same world."
Before he can think further, the figure hurls the black disk again.
Lin Yu tilts sideways, twisting his torso mid-air as the weapon slices past his ribs, the air crackling from its speed.
He lands on one hand, flips, and channels bursts of life energy from his palm.
Dozens of green bullets streak across the darkness toward the masked figure.
The figure raises one arm. "Spectral Shield."
A silver barrier blooms, transparent yet solid, and Lin Yu's attacks strike it like stones on glass, scattering sparks of light.
Lin Yu rushes forward before the barrier fades, sliding low under another disk strike, and punches upward, his fist infused with life energy.
The impact sends the figure stumbling back, cloak fluttering.
"Persistent insect," the figure hisses, a trace of blood dripping beneath the mask.
Silver mist gathers behind him, shaping into ghostly chains that lash out.
Lin Yu twists through the barrage, every movement fluid, honed from hundreds of battles.
His body weaves through death itself, but a chain grazes his shoulder, tearing flesh.
Blood sprays, warm against the cold air.
He retaliates instantly, a kick charged with death energy slamming into the figure's chest.
The mask cracks, and the figure coughs blood.
They circle each other, both panting lightly, both smeared in red.
Then the ground trembles. A pulse—low, rhythmic—echoes through the cavern floor.
Lin Yu glances down.
Black fog seeps from a cracked stone beneath them, where something glows faintly inside.
A node.
Ghostly energy flows out in waves, twisting like liquid shadow.
Their blood, dripping steadily, touches the node. The ground drinks it in. The glow swells, pulsing faster, louder, until it beats like a heart.
The figure freezes. "A node… reacting?"
The node expands, cracks widening like veins.
With a deafening rumble, it bursts open into a gaping maw of darkness, and an enormous suction drags the air inward.
Lin Yu digs his heels into the stone, but the pull is overwhelming.
Both he and the figure are yanked off their feet.
The world twists.
They crash down into another cavern, their bodies plunging into a pool of thick, churning blood.
The liquid bubbles and steams as if alive. It crawls into their wounds, slithering under their skin.
Lin Yu grits his teeth as the blood seethes through his veins, burning like molten metal.
The ghostly aura here is crushing, heavy enough to warp space itself.
The figure screams—half rage, half agony—as their mask dissolves under the red mist.
And above them, the walls pulse, breathing in unison with the blood.
The walls continue to pulse, their rhythm syncing with the boiling blood.
Lin Yu feels the energy rushing into him faster than he can refine it.
Each pulse forces the law of death into his meridians, burning like molten lead.
His muscles tighten, veins bulge, and his skin flickers between green and black light.
The blood seeps deeper, threading into his bones.
He glances at the figure, now half-submerged.
The mask has dissolved completely, revealing a woman with silver skin that gleams faintly in the crimson light.
Her ears taper like an elf's, her eyes shut tight as she grits her teeth, trying to suppress the rampaging energy.
The pressure around her distorts the air.
"I have a way to refine the energy quickly," Lin Yu says, his voice hoarse from the strain.
Her silver eyes snap open, cold and sharp even in the dim light. "What way?"
He meets her gaze. "A double cultivation technique. It refines the death law through harmony of resonance."
She frowns, closing her eyes briefly. The blood ripples around her.
Inside Lin Yu's pocket watch, the death extraordinary heart suddenly whirs to life, spinning violently.
It drinks in the wild energy from his body, growing denser with every pulse.
The death law within it refines itself rapidly, new death concepts blooming—each one darker, deeper, colder.
His death, extraordinary heart ascends toward Tier Two, but the flow is too intense.
Cracks form across its surface, faint but spreading like fractures on ice.
The woman opens her eyes again, silver irises glinting faintly. "Come here."
Lin Yu doesn't hesitate.
He pushes through the thick blood, every movement dragging against the heavy liquid.
She moves as well, their auras clashing for an instant before resonating.
When they meet at the centre of the pool, their hands clasp, and energy floods between them.
Their life forces intertwine.
Death law from both sides merges, spinning into a vortex.
The blood pool churns violently, waves splashing against the cavern walls.
Inside Lin Yu's extraordinary heart, the runes of death form faster and faster, arranging into patterns of meaning he can barely comprehend.
His realm surges past Tier Two, pressing against Tier Three and continues to advance.
Across from him, the woman's aura expands like a rising storm.
Her body glows silver, threads of death energy weaving through her veins.
Her cultivation races upward, pushing toward Tier Eight.
For a moment, both their auras fuse—life and death, male and female, mortal and spectral—until the cavern trembles under their combined power.