Henry Lang finally understood what was going on. He turned his head and asked Isaac Lowell beside him, “So the previous two camps were all dragged into the jade wall by the little ghosts and eaten?”

Isaac Lowell looked at the dense mass of ghosts not far away, feeling his scalp tingle, and replied with a bitter smile, “If not that, then what else could it be?”

The little ghost at the very front carried the corpse of a Xiangchan barbarian and approached the jade wall. The smooth surface of the jade wall seemed to turn into a soap bubble, rippling slightly. Without making a sound, it absorbed the corpse, but the little ghost remained outside and continued to wander.

Henry Lang sucked in a cold breath. “It’s not the little ghosts eating people, it’s the jade wall eating people… The jade wall sends out little ghosts to help it find—find flesh?” Charles Quinn nodded without saying a word. Instead, taking advantage of the cover from the spirit lamp, he quietly approached a small group of little ghosts. Henry Lang felt uneasy, not understanding what he intended to do.

After following for a moment, Charles Quinn suddenly stretched out his foot and kicked hard. With a clatter of breaking sounds, he flipped over all the planks two or three zhang ahead, then quickly pulled his two companions back.

With the planks overturned, the fierce stone vein was exposed. Several little ghosts, caught off guard, all fell onto the stone vein. Before they could even let out a scream, they were sucked dry into shriveled corpses.

The other little ghosts, however, seemed not to notice and continued to wander about.

Only then did Henry Lang understand Charles Quinn’s intention, and he whispered, “The jade wall and the stone vein really are two different things!” The little ghosts are the jade wall’s ‘minions’, but they can still die on the stone vein.

Charles Quinn nodded, then stealthily led his two companions to continue harming the little ghosts.

Henry Lang asked softly, “If the jade wall and the stone vein collided, which one would win?”

Charles Quinn glared at him. This matter was too mysterious; no one could say for sure.

Before long, the little ghosts could no longer find any ‘flesh’, so they all burrowed back into the stone walls. The lights in the mine rekindled, and everything returned to normal.

In total, Charles Quinn had killed seventy or eighty little ghosts, leaving the planks beneath their feet pitted and uneven. He sighed, still not quite satisfied, hung the spirit lamp back at his waist, and carefully walked toward the jade wall to explore.

Henry Lang and Isaac Lowell exchanged a glance and hurried to follow him.

Just as the green-robed commander who first discovered the jade wall had said, the jade wall and the stone vein were not connected to each other.

The jade wall was enormous. The jade surface before them, several hundred steps wide, was only a part of it. The top, left, and right sides were all embedded in the mountain, with only the bottom suspended in midair, about a foot above where the convicts had dug out the ground. It looked just like a mirror propped up.

The fierce stone vein slanted downward, hidden deep underground. The two peerless evil objects were separated by a gap the width of a palm.

Charles Quinn observed with extreme care, especially at the seams where the jade wall entered the mountain. It seemed he was pondering whether the jade wall could be made to fall and collide with the fierce stone vein. But in the end, he shook his head and gave up. To make the jade wall fall, he would have to smash all the surrounding rock.

As for Henry Lang, staring at the gap between the jade wall and the stone vein, he kept feeling as if something was drifting through his mind, but he just couldn’t grasp the key point. The more he thought, the more stifled he felt. But seeing that Charles Quinn and Isaac Lowell were no longer looking at the stone vein, he couldn’t be bothered to think further.

This giant evil jade object only ate things after the ‘lights went out’. Now, both its appearance and touch seemed perfectly normal, except for the mottled, tattered clothing embedded in the jade…

Now, Henry Lang had calmed down from the shock of the jade wall, the barbarians, and the ancestral past. He looked around, sighed gloomily, and said, “There’s no way out. We won’t last more than a few days.” He began to miss Feng Xixi terribly, and especially the delicious food Feng Xixi always carried.

Charles Quinn smiled. “It’s not certain we’ll be trapped to death. This ghostly jade wall is so bizarre—maybe there’s another world behind it.”

As he spoke, Charles Quinn suddenly drew his saber, gathered all his strength, and slashed fiercely at the jade wall!

Chapter Eight: Fend for Yourself

Clang! A sharp sound rang out, sparks flying.

The fine steel treasured saber in Charles Quinn’s hand had its edge chipped, but looking at the jade wall, there wasn’t even a trace of a blade mark.

Isaac Lowell stuck out his tongue and sighed, “So solid!” With Charles Quinn’s strength and the sharpness of his saber, even a bronze cauldron could probably be split open, but the jade wall was completely unscathed.

Charles Quinn also shook his head with a bitter smile. “Even the Yangshou Bow might not be able to blow it apart, but…” As he spoke, he glanced at Henry Lang, signaling him to continue, his face full of encouragement.

Henry Lang thought hard for a long time—about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea—before slowly raising his head to meet Charles Quinn’s gaze. “But what?”

Charles Quinn immediately deflated and replied grumpily, “But the jade wall does have times when it’s soft!”

Isaac Lowell had also thought of this and nodded from the side. “That’s right. When the little ghosts grab people, as long as they gently push them into the jade wall, the person goes right in. To deal with the jade wall, it’s best to strike when it’s acting up—when it’s soft…”

Charles Quinn grunted in agreement. “Next time the jade wall acts up, we’ll strike it with the Yangshou Bow. Hopefully, we can smash this monster!”