Chapter 26 – The Twenty-Sixth Ray of Light

When a person’s wound heals at an unusually fast speed, doctors might think “you’ve cut and grafted your own flesh”; when two people’s wounds heal at the same speed, doctors might say “your body is abnormal”; when three people’s wounds heal rapidly, the doctor can only drop the phrase “this is truly a medical miracle”…

But what happens when four, five, or even an entire army of soldiers heal at a non-human speed?

Doctors, after the initial “What the hell,” would be left with no choice but to take up their scalpels and think, “Today, I’m going to cut myself just to see if I can do it! Who’s stopping me? Let me see if I can cut myself with precision! Why can they heal, but I can’t?”

The soldiers: …

In the ward, Jiang Ziying was removing the bandage from her face while Shen Yunting was showing off his unscathed arm. Meanwhile, seven other soldiers with superficial wounds were unwrapping their bandages, incredulously feeling the skin that had been restored.

“I’m a scar-prone person. Wounds heal slowly, and they always leave marks,” one soldier said. “But after just one day, my thigh is healed completely?”

“I heal really fast. After joining the army, they called me ‘Steel Soldier.’ But honestly, after my back was torn open, even if I was made of steel, it wouldn’t have healed in one day, right?”

“Could it be the hospital’s medication? It works that well?”

“If it’s the medicine, why was that young doctor ready to kill himself, trying to experiment by cutting himself? He should’ve known better, instead of freaking out like that.”

Shen Yunting swung his arm while listening to his comrades’ chatter. When it seemed they had said enough, he asked, “Tell me, what’s the greatest achievement you’ve had so far?”

A moment later, Jiang Ziying spoke up first: “In March 2218, to eradicate a human trafficking gang, I personally went in as bait, cooperating with the team to rescue seven women and arrest thirty-one criminals.”

She was only 24 at the time, facing violent criminals with great personal risk. But she went anyway, rejecting all opposition and never looking back.

She used her wits to outmaneuver the wolves, her skills to protect herself, and her abilities to save people from the jaws of death. The 72-hour covert operation became the most brilliant chapter in her life.

[I cannot dishonor the uniform I wear.] This phrase had always been her motto.

“In 2211, during the Great South anti-drug operation, I was the only one who survived in my team.” The steel soldier spoke heavily. “I lost my comrades and support, and thinking I was going to die anyway, I just went all in. In the end, I won. I killed the boss and wiped out 25 drug dealers.”

“The country never gave up looking for me. Rescue troops found me, dying, in the dense forests of the North and South.” The steel soldier smiled. “I survived. This life belongs to me, but it also belongs to my entire team’s parents.”

“In 2217, before I joined the army, I was a university student. Alone, I fought off three human traffickers and saved five kids. Now that I think about it, it’s a bit scary.”

“In 2209, during the International Joint Rescue Operation, I and foreign comrades rescued over a thousand people from an organ trafficking ring.”

“2215…”

Shen Yunting quietly listened, while Jiang Ziying stood upright. Outside the ward, the doctors didn’t barge in, but they all quietly red-eyed, giving space to these soldiers. Every single one of their stories was a life-risking achievement. Yet, most of the time, they quietly made sacrifices behind the scenes.

When the crowd dispersed, hearts remained connected.

Shen Yunting said, “In 2216, I went undercover in a drug trafficking organization and dismantled the largest drug cartel in the country.” He paused, almost understanding what “merit” truly meant.

“There’s something I have to tell you all, about Old Zhou.”

Shen Yunting wasn’t the type to keep things to himself. He had to say it clearly, no matter if people believed or acted on it. In any case, he wouldn’t hide the information.

“When Old Zhou first woke up, he told me…”

As Shen Yunting spoke, Jiang Ziying became more and more surprised. Especially when he mentioned the words “Go find him,” she felt a buzzing in her head, and everything else around her went silent.

What had that child seen? What had he drawn?

“Team Shen, I also have similar intel to share.”

…

Ji Si was unaware that the sharp-minded, spiritually clear child might become his greatest adversary in life. However, even if he knew, he probably wouldn’t care.

Even if humanity found him, what could they do? Apart from following necessary cause-and-effect rules, everything else depended on his willingness. There was nothing he had to do.

If it weren’t for a friend planting a seed of goodwill, he wouldn’t have chosen Earth to retire on… Was the cultivation world not fun enough? Was the martial magic world not exciting enough? Hmm?

From this perspective, he’d better avoid making friends and live alone in old age. More teammates meant more pits, and no matter how long it lasted, the pit-filling would never end.

For example, now, since Si Nuocheng had paid his “tuition,” Ji Si reluctantly agreed to guide him. Not expecting Si Nuocheng to reach the heavens, but hoping he could at least have some “common sense” and self-preservation skills, and not die too quickly.

So, during the New Year’s Eve, as families sat glued to their TVs to grab red envelopes, Ji Si and Si Nuocheng climbed up to the rooftop of a restaurant.

It was New Year’s Eve, the moment when the old year and the new year truly connected, marking the beginning of chaos as the Rat of the Year unfolded its tail and head, stirring the world’s yin and yang.

In the unseen world, the universe flipped upside down, the pure and the turbid mixed. The once auspicious dragon’s den inexplicably filled with evil energy, while the barren mountains and waters suddenly came alive with yang energy.

This wasn’t a simple case of fortune and misfortune being linked; this was a cataclysmic change.

Fortune mountains with many undiscovered noble tombs, those corpses that had been preserved for thousands of years were now tainted with energy—mildly, the bodies would decay; severely, they could transform into a drought demon. Meanwhile, barren lands had their own reasons for formation—be it evil deeds or the exhaustion of fate—when they suddenly received a breath of life, it was easier for demons and evil to rise.

The chaos would trigger three resonances—demonic pits, the realm gates, and the abyss—releasing energy that would open the ghost realm’s doors wide.

Dark clouds were full of wandering souls, and in the polluted space, wraiths flew about. Everywhere you looked, there wasn’t a peaceful spot to be found.

“You took me to the rooftop just to let me freeze with you?” Si Nuocheng’s voice broke through the air. He exhaled a puff of white breath. “This rooftop…”

“Hmm?” Ji Si turned his head.

Si Nuocheng fell silent.

Back in middle school, going up to the rooftop meant getting caught in girls’ confessions or being handed love letters. In high school, it meant seeing through girls’ tricks, either rejecting them or cutting things off.

If there was no future, don’t give false hope. If you didn’t like someone, don’t drag things out. Dealing with teenage relationships, he had always been direct. Over time, he snuffed out all his “romantic prospects,” becoming what people called a “celestial herb”—also known as the “Immortal Lotus of Langyuan.”

“The rooftop, the place for confessions and breakups,” Si Nuocheng responded. “If you weren’t a man, I’d think you had other intentions.”

Ji Si: …

“A place for confessions and breakups?” Ji Si thought back to his own experiences and felt that this wasn’t the real “rooftop,” “Shouldn’t the rooftop be the place where you fight during the day and observe the stars at night?”

When their reincarnation team went up to the rooftop, it was either to blow up buildings or have a shootout. It was rare for them to sit down and share a meal. The divide between realms and the generation gap made Si Nuocheng fall silent after hearing this.

Si Nuocheng stared at Ji Si’s face, feeling at a loss for words. “You… never had a girl confess to you or give you a love letter on the rooftop?”

“No.” Ji Si replied. “The girls who dared to take me up to the rooftop were tough. They usually handed me challenge letters, and sometimes, the whole letter was full of blood-curdling curses.”

Si Nuocheng: …

“Where is this rooftop?” So brutal?

“The Hell’s Rebirth Platform.”

“…” His worldview, so painstakingly pieced together, cracked again!

The two of them stood in silence for a few seconds. Ji Si gently tapped the ground with his staff. In an instant, a star of white light rippled out, and the cold wind ceased. Their clothes no longer fluttered, their hair no longer whipped about, and the temperature warmed as if they were basking in sunlight.

Si Nuocheng realized that the invisible protective circle had opened.

“I understand your doubts, and I can explain it to you.” Ji Si spoke softly. “There is indeed heaven and hell in this world. There is reincarnation, and there are wandering souls.”

“I also know what you’re thinking… You’re wondering, with so many dead over time, if there were really ghosts, wouldn’t they crowd together? You’re thinking, the Earth’s outer layer is the atmosphere, so how could there be heaven; and the Earth’s core is full of magma, so what kind of hell could there be?”

Si Nuocheng: “… Yes, that’s what I was thinking,” if this were before.

“I understand,” Ji Si said softly, recalling his own belief in the flat Earth theory. “But in reality, it’s different.”

“The universe is a complex multidimensional world, and the world is a multidimensional overlapping universe.” Ji Si’s staff traced the ground. “This is a line, a two-dimensional object, and it can form a human shape. These ‘humans’ are two-dimensional beings, but they also exist in our three-dimensional Earth.”

“Point, line, plane—two-dimensional things exist in three dimensions, and you consider them ordinary. But can they see you?”

“They cannot see you, nor can they cross dimensions to understand. Just like you, heaven and hell exist, and there are ghosts everywhere in the human world, but you cannot see them, so you think they do not exist.”

Si Nuocheng listened quietly as Ji Si spoke slowly. The dark clouds above glowed a faint crimson, and a strange white light appeared on the distant horizon. The resonances from the three locations began.

Strange energy waves spread out, one layer after another, merging into a vast stretch.

“The ghost realm relative to the Earth is like a higher-dimensional space. It will merge with the Earth when the vibrations happen, just like how two-dimensional worlds overlap with three-dimensional ones. The realm gates, magic pits, and abysses also work in the same way.”

“Paths are many, and people have many forms. The world is multi-dimensional. You all need to understand it well.”

The crimson clouds slowly expanded, resembling the vibrant colors of the spectrum, gradually transforming into an aurora visible only at the poles. It was so magnificent, beautiful like a dream, turning the night sky into a fairyland. Little did they know, under this fairyland’s skin, it was a grave where millions of bones cried out.

Ji Si heard the sound of chains dragging along the ground, the gate to the ghost realm opening…

The red envelopes on the TV screens failed to hold back the curiosity of humans, and soon, the city erupted in excitement. People, oblivious to the warning of “strange phenomena in the sky, please stay indoors,” held up their phones to film and live stream.

As the resonance frequency increased, waves rose from the center of the ocean, the cracks in the Ningyuan Mountain deepened, and the realm gates inside Lingdong expanded by three points… The nodes of the ghost realm appeared, forming a perfect rhombus across the three locations.

At the same moment, different geometric shapes appeared around the world, large and small. Unfortunately, few people could detect the anomaly.

Realms merged, surfaces overlapped. The Rat of the Year turned, and the day of destruction arrived.

“Si Nuocheng, close your eyes, and use your third eye to see the world.” Afraid he wouldn’t understand, Ji Si pointed to his forehead. “The Third Eye, the Brow Chakra, Pineal Gland. Here, understand?”

Si Nuocheng followed his instructions.

Unfortunately, when he closed his eyes, he couldn’t see anything.

“Focus your attention, believe in it, tell it you want to see,” Ji Si said. “Use your own power to open your third eye, and it will stay with you forever.”

“Everyone’s efforts and rewards must match, like ‘virtue’ and ‘position.’ If you rely on outside help to open your third eye, you’ll shorten your life—because ‘virtue doesn’t match position.’”

Humans are born with the gift of the third eye, and its existence is meant for humans to “seek the truth.” But while the gift has never abandoned humanity, humans have forgotten it.

Time passed, and Ji Si’s voice sounded: “What do you feel now?”

Si Nuocheng kept his eyes shut and mumbled, “I feel a bit sleepy.”

Ji Si: …

The High Priest, expressionless, removed the protective circle, and the cold wind instantly woke up the CEO. Si Nuocheng, somewhat helpless, realized that no matter how quickly he learned, he couldn’t make sense of this.

The cold wind pierced through, and the clouds swirled. The city was filled with wraiths, and whenever a living person ventured outside, the wraiths attached themselves, showing no fear of the yang energy. After all, tonight, the universe was inverted, and it was their carnival night.

A dark, ghastly face hovered over the rooftop, gently resting behind Si Nuocheng, its bony fingers brushing his cheek…

Ji Si furrowed his brow, slowly raising his hand—

But Si Nuocheng slapped his own face angrily. “Mosquitoes, in the middle of winter?”

Sss!

The enormous ghost face rapidly shrank, as though suppressed, turning black and small. It didn’t have time to resist or escape before Si Nuocheng swiftly turned his head and precisely locked on to it.

“There really are mosquitoes…”

Slap!

With a forceful clap, the “mosquito” was instantly killed without a single scream. It was a death so suffocating that it was almost ridiculous.

In a daze, Si Nuocheng thought he heard something breaking. He turned and saw Ji Si’s expression was one of words left unspoken.

“What’s wrong?” Si Nuocheng said, wiping off a small black spot from his hand. “I’m quick, precise, and ruthless when it comes to mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, and spiders. Don’t be jealous.”

Ji Si: …

He had never seen someone awaken with such a miraculous bone structure!

Si Nuocheng didn’t lack talent or spirituality; it was just that his manifestation ability was so strong that he could turn invisible things into tangible forms, then defeat them using his vast experience.

This power was especially frightening when he unconsciously activated it.

So, when he stayed on the 17th floor of a hotel, did he knock on Si Nuocheng’s door for a spirit… but actually saved the spirit, not Si Nuocheng?

Ji Si: … This debt cannot be repaid.

“Why are you quiet? Should I practice more?” Si Nuocheng asked teasingly.

“I think it’s just fine if you keep pretending to be clueless,” Ji Si answered sincerely.

Si Nuocheng: …

Meanwhile, the resonance frequency reached its peak. The magnificent clouds suddenly thickened to the hardness of iron. Slowly, they spun and then suddenly dropped hailstones the size of fists, crackling all around.

At that moment, the ghost realm arrived.

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PS:

Ji Si: Slaps a ghost to death, but then gets hit by hail and ends up dazed?

Si Nuocheng: If you’re so capable, remove the protective circle and stand under the hail with me.

Ji Si: …