Holding a lantern, guiding souls across, Lady Hou comes from the underworld.

"The first time Zhan Yi was secretly summoned by Jiang Ting was probably three years ago..."

"It was at that time that he learned about Jiang Ting's secret, and also about his own secret."

It was pouring rain when I was summoned that day.

Zhan Yi felt as if he had seen that scene in a dream. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether what he was seeing was reality or a dream...

In general, the imperial court and the martial arts world have never interfered with each other.

Zhan Yi had no idea where he had offended Lord Jiang, but he also knew that this emperor of the Northern Border was someone he could not afford to offend.

Upon arriving at the Marquis's residence, he was led by a soldier named Wan Tingjun to the entrance of a towering pavilion deep within the residence.

There was no one around, and Jiang Ting never showed up.

However, fragments from Zhan Yi's dreams began to surface frequently in his mind.

He suddenly remembered that this attic had indeed appeared in his dream.

Jiang Ting gave no instructions, and Zhan Yi dared not make any rash moves.

However, after an hour or two, his patience ran out.

So he pushed open the attic door and went inside.

At that moment, a gust of wind rushed towards him, and he instinctively turned to the side to shield his face with his hand. When he looked again, he was stunned.

The once dark attic suddenly transformed into a magnificent palace, with carved railings and jade steps, and even the ground was paved with gold bricks...

Zhan Yi confirmed that this was the scene from his dream.

At this moment, he saw a man sitting high on a platform, looking majestic, with a large number of disciples below him, numbering at least one or two hundred.

This scene made Zhan Yi's legs go weak.

But he soon realized that these people were just illusions and did not actually exist.

Feeling uneasy at the strange sight, he subconsciously took a few steps forward.

Suddenly, the face of the person on the seat began to become clear. He could see very clearly that the face was exactly the same as his own.

Zhan Yi was astonished. He saw the man wave his hand, and a thin boy was thrown out.

All around were mocking glances and stares...

Zhan Yi, however, only felt a chill run down his spine.

Because in the story, he was not the person who was high and mighty, but a humble boy like an ant.

He was born into poverty, suffered humiliation, and lived a life akin to purgatory.

He hated everyone around him, especially the one who sat high above and was revered by all…

Zhan Yi felt as if the truth was about to be revealed, and he turned to run away in fright, but the door behind him slammed shut with a loud bang.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open it...

Zhan Yi noticed someone behind him and quickly turned around, only to see a familiar figure.

He remembered that figure; it had appeared in his dreams many times, and a bad feeling welled up in his heart.

"Who...are you?"

The nightmares he had suffered for years had already put him under immense pressure, and sometimes even caused him to have delusions.

The figure before them was not an illusion…

He wasn't dreaming either.

Upon hearing his words, the man gave a cold laugh. "Is all of this familiar to you?"

Zhan Yi asked instinctively, "Are you... Marquis Zhenbei?"

The man slowly walked up to him. He had a face that made it impossible to tell his age. Although his temples were graying, his eyes were bright. He did indeed look very much like the legendary Marquis of Zhenbei, Jiang Ting.

But he didn't answer, only saying, "Don't you want to ask why you have those dreams?"

Zhan Yi trembled slightly. "You know me..."

"Of course I know, I'm the person who appeared in your dreams."

Zhan Yi still found it unbelievable, "This... how is this possible? How could you enter my dream?"

The man said coldly, "Because your dream was given to you by me..."

Zhan Yi was puzzled. He staggered backward, his back pressed against the door, the touch real.

At the same time, it also tells him that none of this is a dream, but something that really exists.

He has experienced many ups and downs in his life over the past thirty years, but now he is completely helpless.

Zhan Yi's mind was in complete disarray. He could only kneel down with a thud, pleading, "My lord, please have mercy and spare me!"

Faced with his show of weakness, Jiang Ting sighed instead, looking at him with an almost pitying gaze, and said, "Xuan Yi, how did you become so pathetic in this life? I almost don't recognize you."

"You were once so arrogant and overbearing, even thinking of using me to become the 'Number One Sect Under Heaven'..."

These words sounded familiar to Zhan Yi, because they had all appeared in his dreams.

He was terrified, nearly collapsing: "My lord, I'm not...the person you're talking about! Please spare me!"

Jiang Ting leaned down slightly, quite pleased with his fawning manner.

"I won't let you die so easily, and I won't let you go either, including those around you, those you care about..."

Zhan Yi's face turned pale, and he immediately thought of his brothers from Xuanjing Hall.

Jiang Ting continued, "I forgot to tell you, your parents' deaths weren't an accident..."

He looked at him smugly and said, almost word by word, "I killed them all."

Zhan Yi immediately clenched his fists, drew the knife from his waist, and slashed at the person in front of him.

However, when he slashed down, he missed.

The person in front of me vanished in an instant.

Zhan Yi looked over in surprise, only to see countless figures swirling around him, their voices like demonic whispers, each word spoken in his ear: "Not only your parents, but your entire Zhan clan, I killed them all. I want you to experience the pain of losing everything and being powerless to do anything about it..."

Hearing these words, Zhan Yi could only frantically swing his knife, but the figures suddenly transformed into his parents, relatives, and other people he cared about…

Their eyes, filled with resentment and fierce determination, glared at him as he wielded his blade.

Zhan Yi was so frightened that he dropped the knife and collapsed to his knees.

"What... exactly do you want to do?"

Jiang Ting then reappeared, with an arrogant attitude, as if he regarded him as an ant.

"From today onwards, you cannot refuse any task I ask you to do. If you fail to do it properly, I will kill everyone around you. Do you understand?"

After returning from the Zhenbei Marquis's residence, Zhan Yi was in a daze and his personality changed drastically.

He had thought about dying, but then realized that he didn't even have the right to die.

He obeyed Jiang Ting's orders like a puppet.

Under his arrangement, Zhan Yi secretly went to the underground tomb of the Wu King's Mansion, chiseled out the soul worm from the statue, and handed it over to the Lian Family Fortress Master.

That is the catalyst for the "Corpse Puppet Gu".

But he was the one who started it all.

Jiang Ting, feigning serious illness, went to Liangzhou City to find young men with similar destinies, from whom Zhan Yi would select a suitable candidate using a specific method.

This method was extremely cruel, so of the twelve people, only three survived.

Because of this incident, Zhan Yi was plagued by nightmares every night. He buried the remains of the dead in the cemetery in the east of the city in order to find some solace.

It was there, by sheer chance, that I stumbled into the barrier where Bai Jue was located…