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

Xia Ximo's horse ran fast and steadily.

Ren Fengjue could barely catch up, and Yu Lang was left far behind.

He stared at Xia's retreating figure, feeling a sense of bewilderment.

Even though she was riding the same breed of horse, she ran much faster than others. Even on bumpy roads, her movements remained graceful and unrestrained, without a trace of dishevelment.

Because she ran fast, she was the first to discover that the east gate had been breached and that corpses had already flooded into the city.

Seeing this, Xia Ximo frowned, spurred his horse, and galloped over the barricades into the city.

Ren Fengjue and Yu Lang dared not slack off and followed closely behind.

After entering the city gate, there were corpses everywhere, indicating that many soldiers and civilians had perished.

Seeing such a horrific scene, the three of them turned somber.

Yu Lang pointed in a direction, "The corpses seem to be chasing that direction..."

Ren Fengjue looked up and saw the "Nine Heavens" archway.

It's not hard to imagine that the people instinctively moved towards the Ninth Heaven the moment the city fell.

It's just unknown whether their "true god" will protect them in a critical moment.

Without saying a word, Xia Ximo headed towards the "Nine Heavens".

The streets were littered with the bodies of the murdered. When they arrived at the entrance of the Xuanjing Hall, they saw a large number of corpses gathered outside the door, roaring incessantly.

Although the doors and windows have been firmly blocked, they obviously won't last much longer.

While the corpses were distracted by the commotion inside the Suspended Mirror Hall, Ren Fengjue saw a few surviving women and children on the street, so he led them into the secret passage that Yuwen Ji had led them through earlier.

These people were already terrified and didn't care whether they could really save them or not, so they immediately followed them inside.

However, the secret passage was dark and had no light source. When the young children went in, they couldn't help but burst into tears.

Hearing the commotion, the corpses immediately surrounded them.

Yu Lang, who was walking at the back, glanced back and felt a chill run down his spine. At the crucial moment, Xia Ximo pulled him back and then closed the hidden door.

The hidden door was made of some kind of stone; it was heavy and could block out all outside sounds.

The corpses outside the door, having lost their target, slowly walked away.

Yu Lang patted his chest and said, "How did you know about this place?"

Faced with this question, Ren Fengjue's eyes visibly dimmed, but he remained silent.

Suddenly, a woman knelt down and cried to them, "Sirs, I have a child who is trapped in the Suspended Mirror Hall with his father. Can you please save them too?"

Upon hearing this, the others also knelt down, begging them to save their families.

Ren Fengjue remained silent, but Xia Ximo coldly asked, "Why aren't the three holy sons you worship coming out to save people?"

The women were speechless, unable to utter a word.

Because they all knew in their hearts that things had developed to this point, and the three holy sons had not made a move, which meant they must have given up on them.

Thinking of this, they felt a wave of despair and burst into tears along with their child.

Xia Ximo had little patience and coldly retorted, "If you want to live, shut up."

The crowd was somewhat afraid of her, so they immediately stopped crying and only dared to sob quietly.

Xia Ximo didn't waste any more words with them, and only said to Ren Fengjue, "Take them to the dungeon first, at least it's safe there."

Ren Fengjue had the same idea as her, so he nodded and led the way, taking the group of six or seven people into the dungeon of Xuanjing Hall.

Inside the dungeon, the Azure Dragon Stone blocking the exit was still there, but the people inside had already been released.

It's likely that Li Feng knew another way out and rescued Zhai Hui.

After settling the women and children in, the three of them followed the secret passage into the Suspended Mirror Hall.

……

Inside the Suspended Mirror Hall, people were packed together in fear.

As the corpses outside continued to scream, some people who wanted to live rushed upstairs.

One person leads the way, and the others surge forward in unison.

The people from Xuanjing Hall couldn't stop them, so they could only retreat again and again, and finally gave up blocking their way and let them rush upstairs.

Even at this point, some people still held onto hope for the Three Holy Sons.

They also believed that the closer they were to "God," the more hope they had of surviving.

They rushed from the first floor to the third floor in one go, and in an instant, the stairs and corridors were packed with people.

"Holy Child! Please save us!"

"Holy Son! We don't want to die, please show your power!"

"If you can save us, from this day forward we will remain devout every day, devoted to you!"

Someone said, taking out the gold leaf they had received earlier and holding it protectively in their hand, thinking that this would allow "God" to hear their prayers...

Just then, footsteps were heard in the corridor on the third floor.

Everyone thought it was a true god descending and turned their gazes toward it.

The person who approached was not one of the Three Holy Sons, and his walking posture was stiff and strange, which made people's hearts tighten.

Someone quickly recognized him, "That...that's Deputy Hall Master Zhai, the True God's Servant!"

"The attendant has come out! He must have brought the Son's decree!"

Upon hearing this, people rushed forward to greet him, some even kneeling down and kowtowing in front of him.

The people behind them, unaware of what was happening, also knelt down in unison.

Zhai Hui didn't speak, as if being dragged by some force, and walked step by step toward the crowd.

The person kneeling at the front heard a strange "squeaking" sound and couldn't help but look up, only to be met with a pair of eerie green eyes.

At this moment, Zhai Hui seemed to be possessed by something; his eyes turned dark green, and transparent viscous fluid was oozing from his mouth and nose, which was extremely eerie.

The person who met his gaze screamed in fright, turned to run, and was caught in the next second...

Under the horrified gazes of the crowd, Zhai Hui suddenly opened his mouth wide, and a beetle poked its head out, letting out a defiant hiss at them.

Then, he bit down on the man's neck.

"ah--"

A scream erupted from the crowd, and those who had managed to squeeze to the front were instantly turned into "meal on a plate".

By then, it was too late to escape.

In the chaos, people began trampling on the bodies of others as they ran away.

But what's even more frightening is that the wooden staircase couldn't withstand the weight and seemed on the verge of collapsing.

The next second, there was a loud crash, and the stairs on the third floor broke off from the second floor.

Those who couldn't escape could only cry out and wait to die, their faces pale and their eyes filled with despair.

However, at that moment, three figures walked out of the room.

Zhai Hui, who was frantically tearing at living people, suddenly stopped and froze in place.

Everyone looked at the three figures, still assuming they were the three Holy Sons, until they saw Xia Ximo.