Yan Qingzhou, Yi Chaohua and others worked hard to repair the underground altar, trying to reopen the light gate.
However, the damage caused by Su Yun's sword was too great, and all eight altars in the underground palace were destroyed. If Shi Zhenbei was there, they could have repaired them in a short time. But without Shi Zhenbei, they could only sigh helplessly in the face of the huge underground palace.
"It would take five or six years to repair the underground palace, even if there were enough craftsmen and scholars. In five or six years, I'm afraid they would have starved to death."
Yan Qingzhou and the others felt increasingly worried.
On the other side, Su Yun and Shi Zhenbei only waited for two days. Two days later, Su Yun and Shi Zhenbei set off and walked along the gray road.
The ashes covered the sky and earth like heavy snow.
"The ash is the sediment left after the corruption of the primordial energy of heaven and earth."
Su Yun cut off a piece of clothing to cover his mouth and nose, raised his palm, caught a piece of calamity ash, and asked in confusion: "Then where did this calamity ash come from?"
Not long after, they saw the source of the ashes. On both sides of the road, there appeared huge planets, also gray in color.
The ashes were blowing from those planets towards this side, onto this road.
The vital energy of the heaven and earth on these planets has become corrupted, and the planets have fallen into deathly silence, without any sign of life.
This is an extremely wide road, and no one knows who paved it. As they walk along it, the planets retreat behind them.
It is impossible to tell the sky here, so Su Yun uses his own Huang Zhong to tell time. There is food and water in his spiritual world. On this Firefly trip, food and water are essential items for everyone.
"Madudu, tu tu tu tu!"
Next to Shi Zhenbei were some energetic little construction men, who were building houses as they walked. They made bricks from the ash and built them as they walked.
Yingying flew out and built a house with them.
Su Yun looked back and saw that they had built a continuous and undulating city wall. He was stunned.
"Senior Brother, what is the Great Wall used for?" Su Yun asked.
The dumb senior brother's little pen monster was about to write the answer on the cardboard when he saw Yingying commanding the little builders to fight. One group of little builders were guarding the city wall, while another group was under the city, rushing towards the city.
"Since the Great Wall is used to defend against foreign enemies, then who are the enemies that the Northern Crown Great Wall is meant to defend against?" Su Yun asked again.
Shi Zhenbei's pen stopped moving, he couldn't answer Su Yun's question.
“Are we resisting the calamity?”
Su Yun was still puzzled: "Or are there ferocious and brutal invaders outside the Northern Crown Great Wall? Or is it that the Northern Crown Great Wall is resisting those who want to become immortals..."
No one could answer his question, only the gray wind blew from the planets on both sides.
In the Temple of Ashes in Boshan County, he also saw the scene of the Northern Crown Great Wall pouring down ashes and destroying the world, which was even more puzzling.
They walked for more than ten days, and the little architect was not as energetic as before.
They walked forward dejectedly and listlessly, some climbed into Shi Zhenbei's book basket, and some simply hid in the drawings, built themselves a house with four walls, and squatted inside in a daze.
Even if Yingying clenched her little fists and shouted "Ma Dudu" at them, they couldn't cheer up.
The ashes all over the sky are so depressing.
Su Yun tried to open the Tiandao Order and tried to send Yingying back to Tiandao Temple, but the Tiandao Order had no effect here.
They continued to move forward. One third of their food and water had been consumed, but the road still seemed endless.
Suddenly, a tall shadow appeared on the road, like a small hill.
Su Yun used his magical powers to push away the ashes outside and saw a skeleton underneath the ashes.
“It’s the skeleton of a black tiger!”
Yingying was startled and cried out, "Some monster ate him!"
"It should be Fei Lian who ate him."
Su Yun looked forward and said, "Fei Lian is just ahead. He should have heard of this road. It seems that we are on the right path."
He cheered up and continued to move forward, saying: "If I still can't find the Tianmen Ghost Market, then I will release my memories of the Tianmen Ghost Market."
Yingying felt a chill in her heart and knew the meaning of his words.
Su Yun's childhood memory of the Tianmen Ghost Market was actually the experience of entering the Ghost Market with Qu Bo and others to capture gods and demons and seal them. That memory was used by Qu Bo and others to suppress the gods and demons.
Releasing this memory would not only make Su Yun recall those tragic years, but would probably also release several gods and demons.
After a few more days, they encountered a giant calamity stone that was as huge as a mountain. The breath of gods and demons emanated from the calamity stone.
Su Yun and the dumb Shi Zhenbei walked over and looked up, only to see that the Jiehui Stone had three heads facing different directions. Its sturdy body had six arms, covered with scales, a huge scorpion body, and a long tail hook behind it.
It looks like a statue carved from the ashes of disaster, but the aura of gods and demons coming from the disaster ash stone is extremely real and extremely powerful!
"The breath of a living person..."
After Su Yun and the others left, the huge statue slowly revived, and its obscure spiritual consciousness vibrated in the air: "It seems that the child who captured the gods and demons has returned. What is he doing back..."
Su Yun continued to move forward. Their food and water became less and less. On the way, they encountered more and more statues of gods and demons made of calamity stone. These statues of gods and demons had various postures and shapes.
Su Yun also stopped and looked at these sculptures of gods and demons, and found that they were different from the gods and demons on Chaotianque. The gods and demons on Chaotianque had fixed types, such as Yinglong and Qilin.
When the Tianmen Ghost Market emerged, the patterns and marks that appeared on the Tianmen were exactly these ninety-six.
"Qu Bo and the others brought us here to capture gods and demons. They should have captured them based on the Heavenly Gate in the Ghost Market."
Su Yun was shocked: "So these calamity stone statues are..."
The sculpture of gods and demons remained motionless, occasionally revealing an extremely powerful aura, as if warning him not to act rashly.
"They are wary of me, more than I am of them!"
Su Yun didn't know whether to laugh or cry, thinking, "It's probably because Qu Bo and the others were catching Yinglong and Taotie here, and when they stuffed them between my eyebrows, they noticed me."
He was greatly encouraged. Since Qu Bo and others had come here, it meant that they were not far from the entrance to the Ghost Market!
These gods and demons entered the Tianmen Ghost Market but were unable to cross the Northern Crown Great Wall. They wanted to be close to the fairyland and could prolong their lifespan, so they had no choice but to choose to sleep here.
Su Yun looked at his spiritual world. There was no food left in the spiritual world, only some drinking water.
Mute Senior Brother Shi Zhenbei took out some food and handed it to him with a simple smile. His book monster and pen monster hesitated for a moment and wrote on the card: "I still have a lot in the spirit world."
They continued to move forward, and whenever Su Yun was hungry, Shi Zhenbei would bring him food in time.
More than ten days later, Shi Zhenbei fainted from hunger.
Shi Zhenbei's pen monster and book monster took out the last of the food from his spiritual world. Su Yun took a look and found that it was only enough for them for four or five days.
With Su Yun's help, Shi Zhenbei slowly woke up. This honest man looked at the food and his face became gloomy.
Yingying no longer had the strength to speak. She sat on Su Yun's shoulder, buried in the ashes, and seemed to be turning into a small stone statue.
Su Yun controlled his diet and relied on his stronger body than others to force himself to move forward.
Two days later, they passed by a stone statue. The stone statue had a huge head with two wings behind it. The wings were held together to protect the head and face.
"It's Fei Lian."
Su Yun retracted his gaze and said silently in his heart: "He walked here, could not see the end, and was completely desperate, so he turned into a stone statue."
He looked back and saw that his mute senior brother Shi Zhenbei could no longer move forward. The blood in his body was still flowing, but his skin had been assimilated by the calamity stone.
In his book basket, the little architectural figures turned into gray stone sculptures, and even the little figures in the blueprints turned gray.
"Don't lose all hope. I can take you out. Yingying, I think we're almost at the ghost market..."
Su Yun looked at his shoulder, and Yingying held his chin with both hands, turning into a gray stone sculpture.
Su Yun stopped talking, tied up Shi Zhenbei with a magic rope, and dragged him forward.
Gradually, I saw the shadows of many buildings and palaces appearing on both sides of the road. They were hazy and seemed as if they did not exist.
There were hazy figures in those buildings and palaces, standing there like ghosts, appearing and disappearing.
I saw some figures in the buildings and palaces without faces, some with mutilated limbs, and some looking like they could disappear at any time.
"Yingying, wake up and look, that is the forgotten spirit."
Su Yun said to himself, "They must have been great warriors during their lifetime, and had done earth-shaking deeds. After they passed away, there were still people who remembered them and paid tribute to them for a period of time. But time has passed so long that they have been slowly forgotten by the world."
Yingying didn't say anything, her eyes were empty.
Forgotten souls will be sent to the deepest part of Tianmen Ghost Market and become wandering ghosts.
If someone read their stories in a rare ancient book or a collapsed tombstone in an ancient tomb, their figures would appear vaguely and their spirits would become more active.
If anyone reads the writings they left behind, they will gradually seem real.
However, their spirits have been lost over the past five thousand years. Even though they left behind works and tombstones, no one knows who they really were, and so their limbs have become mutilated.
"We have arrived at the ghost market. Look, there is not much ash in the sky."
Su Yun looked up and saw that the floating ashes were gradually becoming less, but their food and water had been cut off two days ago.
Su Yun was so hungry that he felt dizzy. Although his body was strong, in a place where the vitality of heaven and earth turned to ashes, his strong body had no way to replenish itself and could only be maintained by consuming the energy of his body.
He looked forward and saw the endless ghost market buildings looming in the distance. He could not see the end or the source.
The reason why the Ghost Market is mysterious is not because of the ghosts that are about to disappear, but because the roads in the Ghost Market are more complicated than a maze!
Over the past five thousand years, there have been so many spirits living here that if you don’t know the way, you will never be able to get out of the Ghost Market even if you die!
Su Yun stopped and his soul entered the rune wall.
Two days later, Su Yun's spirit returned. He blindfolded himself, and walked tremblingly in the ghost market, dragging the stone statue of Shi Zhenbei.
His memory kept going back, and he gradually remembered the path that Qu Bo, Aunt Luo and others had taken him through the ghost market.
A complete road appeared in his mind, and the geographical map of Tianmen Ghost Market gradually became clear.
His body was getting weaker and weaker, but he still took mechanical steps and moved forward in an orderly manner.
Above his head, the Yellow Bell was spinning in an orderly manner, as if it was no longer himself who was controlling Su Yun's body, but this Yellow Bell.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Yun, now emaciated, finally arrived at the streets of the Tianmen Ghost Market in his mind.
He put Shi Zhenbei down, and a voice came from his mind: "Little ghost, don't forget your promise to us. We will give you this memory, and you must release us..."
That was the voice of gods and demons. He reached an agreement with the gods and demons who were suppressed in the memories of the Ghost Market. If he released them, they would give him back this memory!
"Don't worry, I will keep my promise and never go back on my word..."
Su Yun's hands trembled as he slowly took off the tattered clothes that covered his face, and the streets of Tianmen Ghost Market in front of him came into view.
Su Yun wanted to cry, but his eyes were too dry for tears.
"Yingying, Mute Brother, please wake up! We are back! I found the Heavenly Gate!"
Ghosts and gods slowly appeared on both sides of the street. Tonight was the seventh day of the first lunar month, the seventh day of October. It had been a month and a half since Su Yun and his companions entered the light gate.
"Xiaoyun!"
A ghost god recognized Su Yun and was surprised and happy: "It's really Xiao Yun! He's back!"
Tianmen Ghost Market suddenly became lively.