Passerby: Secret Image of Ancient Scrolls

The white deer cried out in warning. The firewood in the stove flickered, and the chill hidden beneath the ice reached everyone's noses.

The relaxed atmosphere in the sky froze instantly, and everyone's nerves tightened again.

Everyone immediately stood up and prepared for battle.

Shen Xun stepped out of the sky first, his pale face expressionless.

The other four followed closely behind. As soon as they stepped out of the sky, a biting cold wind, carrying a chilling aura, rushed towards them. It was more oppressive and terrifying than the afternoon's battle, filling everyone's lungs like air.

The white deer burst out of the conical tent and stayed close to Ao Luya, letting out a low, aggressive growl.

The shamanic bell at Aoluya's waist rang again, this time with a dull hum, a sound that was hard to believe could come from a copper bell.

"This chilling aura is far stronger than the eerie and malevolent energy we experienced during the battle today." Ao Luya's face was pale, and she gripped the deer bone knife at her waist with her left hand. "It's rushing towards the shore, as if it's being driven by something."

Shen Xun didn't speak, and walked straight to the edge of the ice. The ice under his feet was as hard as steel, but he could clearly sense that beneath the ice, the chilling cold was surging like a tide, constantly crashing against the barrier of the boundary.

He closed his eyes, and the remaining golden light of reincarnation spread from his fingertips, silently penetrating the thick ice and probing into the depths of the riverbed.

The snowflakes landed on his eyelashes and melted instantly.

The dizziness caused by the depletion of his vital energy surged up in waves, but his brows furrowed more and more tightly.

The bedrock at the bottom of the river is riddled with holes, like cheese that has been forcibly torn apart. Black malevolent energy is seeping out from the cracks, and at the deepest part of the cracks, the primordial evil energy that controls all malevolent energy is slowly gnawing at the barrier that has been impacted for thirty years.

"The barrier at the bottom of the river has cracked even more." Shen Xun opened his eyes, his tone as cold as the ice beneath his feet. "There are almost twice as many cracks as when we joined forces to defeat the controlled evil creature at the bottom of the river this afternoon. While we were dealing with the assassins' ambush on the shore for the past few hours, they've been making moves at the bottom of the river."

"Is it the person who controls those assassins?" Ye Zhuo asked in a deep voice.

Shen Xun nodded slightly upon hearing this, his gaze fixed on the dark center of the river: "It's the same person. The other party used an ambush to hold us back, just so they could take advantage of our distraction and accelerate the destruction of the boundary barrier. I just discovered that the source of the evil energy in the crack at the bottom of the river is the same person who controls the primordial spirits and the assassins."

Before he finished speaking, a very slight tremor suddenly came from the ice beneath his feet.

The subtle vibrations traveled along the frozen soil and ice layer, reaching the soles of everyone's feet.

Everyone immediately became more vigilant, only to see that the ice in the middle of the river suddenly shimmered with a faint halo, a light that revealed weakness and corrosion.

The thick ice layer slowly softened in the area shrouded in the halo, and the river water silently flowed up along the ice cracks, gathering in one place and slowly lifting up a ball of light emitting black smoke.

It is the original spirit at the bottom of the river.

It has only been a few hours since the main characters shattered the outer shell of the evil creature at the bottom of the river this afternoon, but the Jiangling, which has been guarding the gate since it was born in the frozen soil, is now in extremely poor condition.

The once clear and gentle ball of light was now covered with dense black lines, the traces left by the erosion of evil energy. The ball of light flickered and swayed, as if it would completely dissipate with a gust of wind.

"Passerby, guardian of reincarnation."

The original spirit's voice was very soft, like the rustling sound of flowing river water, carried by the wind and snow to everyone's ears, carrying an undisguised weakness, "If I hadn't come, this evil energy would have broken through the ice layer."

"It attacked you again?"

Shen Xun frowned as he looked at the black lines spreading across the ball of light.

When they parted in the afternoon, he left behind a wisp of golden light of reincarnation to protect its spiritual core and help purify the remaining evil energy. But now, those black lines are almost completely wrapped around the entire ball of light.

The primordial spirit swayed slightly, the light spots around it dimmed a bit, and its tone was heavy: "Su Jin, who controls me, has never stopped. Back then, he corrupted my origin and used my body to tear open the first gap in the barrier between realms. Now he is still using that strange evil energy to further damage the remaining barrier while you are fighting with the assassins."

The ball of light rose slightly, and tiny specks of light streaked across the air. Instantly, the scene at the bottom of the river appeared before everyone's eyes: from the dense black holes, ink-like malevolent energy spread continuously. Wherever it passed, the barrier that was originally glowing turned gray and decayed rapidly. On the other side of the barrier was boundless darkness, and countless restless energy was frantically crashing against the barrier, as if trying to break through this only barrier.

"I can use the spiritual power of the barrier itself, as well as the residual shamanic spiritual power of Miss Xiulian, to repair these holes little by little."

The primordial spirit withdrew the illusion, and the ball of light swayed again. Clearly, just condensing a form and manifesting an illusion had consumed a large amount of its spiritual power. "But my repair speed is far from keeping up with the speed of the destruction. I can hold them off for a while, but not forever."

The light orb's gaze finally fell on Shen Xun, its tone pleading yet helpless: "I can only hold out for half a month. After half a month, once the barrier shatters, not only this river, but the entire human realm will be swallowed by the evil energy."

Su Jin. This name was etched into everyone's minds during the battle at the bottom of the river this afternoon.

At that time, the original spirit revealed that the other party was the mastermind behind everything, and Xiulian's remnant soul also explained that the tragedy thirty years ago was all a scheme set up by this person. However, unexpectedly, Su Jin's conspiracy was thwarted, but instead of stopping, he intensified his efforts. Even this carefully planned ambush was just a feint.

Lin Jian's heart was pounding.

From the deaths of people falling from buildings in Hangzhou to the underwater crisis in Mohe, this invisible hand has never let go.

"Is Su Jin's true form hidden at the bottom of the river?" Shen Xun pressed.

If the main body is here, we must cut off the source of this crisis now, even if it costs us everything.

The primordial spirit's ball of light swayed gently: "The opponent's true form is not here; only a wisp of divine thought is attached to the baleful aura, urging this sinister power through the boundary gate. I cannot find his exact location, but I can confirm that the evil power used to erode the barrier now is exactly the same as the power that tore open the first boundary gate thirty years ago, and the evil aura that controlled the assassin just now. They are identical."

Upon hearing this, Old Gu, who was standing to the side, trembled violently.

He had remained silent ever since the original spirit appeared. This afternoon, during the battle at the bottom of the river, he learned that Xiulian's tragedy was orchestrated by Su Jin, and that his lifelong guilt was all part of this person's meticulously designed deception.

But only now did he fully understand that Su Jin's evil had never stopped. Even though Xiu Lian had already returned to the cycle of reincarnation, Su Jin still wanted to destroy the boundary gate that Xiu Lian had protected with her life.

"That beast."

Old Gu's voice was squeezed out through clenched teeth, the veins on the back of his hands bulging, and his eyes filled with hatred.

Thirty years of torment, half a lifetime of atonement, all stemmed from this person's deliberate actions. How could one not hate him?

The primordial spirit's light turned to Old Gu, its tone tinged with melancholy: "The spiritual energy left behind by Miss Xiulian has been helping me resist the erosion, but in the past half day, Su Jin's malevolent aura has grown stronger and stronger, and this spiritual energy is almost exhausted. I can protect this aura from dissipating, but I can't stop the barrier from being corroded little by little."

"Thank you for holding onto this last bit of her memory." Old Gu spoke in a hoarse voice, his white hair disheveled by the wind and snow, but the determination in his tone was as heavy as a thousand pounds. "Don't worry, even if I have to give my life, I will stop Su Jin. I will never let her destroy what Xiulian protected with her life, and I will never let her harm this land again."

The primordial spirit's ball of light swayed gently in response, and the aura around it dimmed a little more.

"This is all I can do. My spiritual energy is exhausted, and I can no longer manifest myself. I can only do my best to stabilize the barrier. I must find Su Jin's true form as soon as possible and stop him. Once the barrier breaks, it will be too late."

As soon as he finished speaking, the clear light slowly receded, gradually merging into the river water through the ice crevice.

Where the ice melted, it refreezed, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion in the snowstorm.

A long silence fell over the riverbank, broken only by the howling wind and snow.

They thought that eliminating the ambush would give them a brief respite, but little did they know that it was all a feint from beginning to end.

The assassin was merely bait; Su Jin's true target was always the barrier at the bottom of the river.

This conspiracy was sown thirty years ago.

"I'll take another one and try."

Lin Jian broke the silence, raised his Polaroid camera, and pressed the shutter button on the dark river surface.

With a soft "click," the photographic paper was slowly ejected.

She carefully tossed the photographic paper against the wind and snow, drawing everyone's attention to the thin sheet of paper, and even their breath caught in their throats.

A few seconds felt like hours.

The photographic paper slowly developed, and this time, the image was no longer blurry.

In the pitch-black river, a dark shadow lurked in the center of the riverbed, its outline clearer than the last time it was photographed. Countless black threads extended from the shadow, like a giant net covering the entire riverbed. Just looking at it sent chills down one's spine.

"This dark shape... is bigger than the one before."

Lin Jian's voice trembled as he handed the photograph to Shen Xun.

Shen Xun took the photographic paper, and the moment his fingertips touched its surface, the peach wood cane in his palm suddenly became intensely hot.

It wasn't a warning triggered by ordinary evil energy; it was an extremely familiar tremor emanating from the depths of his soul.

His senses penetrated the thick, dark aura on the photographic paper, accurately capturing two intertwined auras that were impossible to mistake.

One of them is the strange origin that controls the soul, hidden within the marrow of evil energy.

The other is a divine soul formed from resentment and obsession that has spanned thousands of years.

Cold and obsessive, with an extreme desire for the power of reincarnation, his aura completely overlapped with that of the ancient robed figure hidden in the shadows and leaping into the neon lights.

Su Jin.

It's that ancient-robed figure from the illusion.

The person who glimpsed that void with Shen Xun hundreds of years ago has never disappeared.

They had been hiding in the shadows, setting up this deadly scheme that spanned thirty years, or even hundreds of years.

Shen Xun held the photograph paper without saying a word.

The ancient-robed figure appeared countless times in the flowing light.

But it has always remained hidden in the shadows.

This time his face became clear.

Su Jin.

Got you.