Junior Sister must ascend this time!

As soon as she finished speaking, Yun Qing subtly reached into her sleeve and tore off several ghost energy talismans hidden inside.

A dense ghostly aura emanated from her body; the aura was gloomy and turbid, like an old ghost that had climbed up from the twentieth floor.

There's no real ghostly aura, but it's for showing off, and you can have as much as you want.

Sure enough, the expressions of the two ghosts guarding the gate changed simultaneously.

The one on the left even sheathed its long sword, seemingly wanting to let them pass, but was stopped by the one on the right. "Wait."

"What's the use of a strong ghostly aura? No one can get past without handing over their soul energy."

The demon on the left advised, "But their ghostly aura is so strong. What if they really are adults who came up from below? How can we afford to offend them?"

The one on the right scoffed coldly, "Even a Ghost General can't break the rules. If the Ghost Emperor finds out, do you think we'll have a chance to survive?"

The ghost on the left choked and stopped talking, raising his long sword again.

Yun Qing clicked her tongue lightly, "If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences."

The demon on the right said, "Are you going to make a move?"

You guessed right.

Before the words were even finished, Pei Shubai and Shen Qingchen had already scattered the two ghosts with a single move each.

Yun Qing casually collected the soul energy they had gathered. Si Mingche asked, "Junior Sister, what are you going to do with this?"

Yun Qing raised her eyes and said, "Soul energy is separated from the soul body itself. The more soul energy there is, the more stable the soul body will be."

"From what these two guards just said, collecting souls was the Ghost Emperor's request, which means that these souls should still be useful in the later levels. Moreover, anything that the Ghost Emperor specifically requests is either a tonic or a bargaining chip."

Pei Shubai glanced at her. "Which one do you think it is?"

Yun Qing shrugged. "I don't know. But it can't hurt to save up a little more. In case someone wants it later, we'll have something to exchange for."

The five of them then went down the steps to the fourth floor.

What came into view of the five people was a huge river, spanned by a long wooden bridge, the bridge so narrow that only one person could pass at a time.

At the end of the bridge sat a tall figure, clad in black armor, with a faceless mask. He held a long sword, its tip stuck in the bridgehead, and his body was enveloped in a dark red, ghostly aura.

"The fourth floor is not a place for you. Either go back, or..."

It raised its long sword, the tip pointing at the five people on the other side of the bridge.

"Cross this bridge."

Lu Xingzhou swallowed hard. "Is it really just as simple as crossing a bridge?"

The ghost general didn't speak, but simply stepped aside to make way.

Shen Qingchen gave Lu Xingzhou a push, "Let's go, let's go up and take a look first."

The moment the five stepped onto the bridge, they instantly understood why the demons had chosen to stay on the third level.

The fierce wind blew the five people's souls around wildly. The wind was filled with a strong ghostly aura, and when it blew on their bodies, a layer of fine cracks appeared on the surface of their souls.

Si Mingche was blown back half a step by the wind, almost falling off the bridge. "What kind of wind is this! It's going to blow my soul away!"

Pei Shubai grabbed him, "Be careful, there's lava below!"

The five looked down and saw that the once calm water had somehow turned into churning lava. The dark red lava flowed slowly, and heat waves rushed up from under the bridge, mixed with the gale, making the entire bridge scorching hot.

Lu Xingzhou's face paled, and he shrank back against Shen Qingchen. "How can we get through this? If even a speck of this gets on us, we'll be instantly annihilated!"

Shen Qingchen frowned. "I do have quite a few fire-avoiding beads in my storage ring, but those beads are only useful to cultivators. In our current ghost state, they're probably not very useful."

Yun Qing murmured, "The Fire-Avoiding Pearl..."

She then looked at Si Mingche and asked, "Is there a big difference between the talismans of the Ghost Realm and those of us cultivators?"

Si Mingche thought for a while and said, "The biggest difference between these two types of talismans is that the talismans of the Ghost Realm use soul power as ink and ghost energy as a guide. We cultivators draw talismans using spiritual power, while the Ghost Clan draws talismans using soul power."

"As for how to draw talismans, I had some free time before, so I studied some talismans used by the ghost race, and they're pretty much the same as the talismans used by us cultivators..."

As he spoke, his eyes lit up. "That's right, Junior Sister! We're ghosts now, and the last thing we lack is soul power. Maybe I can try drawing talismans from a distance. As long as I can draw the Ghost Clan's fire-avoidance talisman, I won't be afraid of the lava under the bridge."

Yun Qing took out some of the soul power that had just been confiscated. "Use this. Don't waste your own soul power."

Si Mingche took the wisp of soul energy, then stretched out his finger and quickly drew runes in the void.

"Fire-repelling talisman, activate!"

The moment the rune took shape, a gray-black light shone along the lines, and a wisp of chilling energy spread out from the rune, covering the bridge surface.

The heat wave from the magma surged up and crashed into the layer of cold air, forcing it back half a foot.

"Let's go!" Pei Shubai decided immediately.

The five people rushed forward on the rune light, but the bridge was too long and the rune light could not reach the end.

Halfway through the rush, the runes hanging above their heads began to darken, and their edges crumbled inch by inch.

Si Mingche turned around, and with his fingertips he once again gathered a wisp of soul energy, drawing a second fire-avoiding talisman in the void.

The third... the fourth...

Si Mingche retreated while drawing talismans. By the time he reached the end of the bridge, he was completely exhausted and collapsed to the ground.

"Next time I definitely need to prepare more talismans... I need to prepare talismans for all kinds of races, including ghosts, demons, monsters, and even those used by evil cultivators! This is exhausting..."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the ghost general who had been on the other side of the bridge appeared before the five of them.

Si Mingche sat up in fright. "You...were you just on the other side of the bridge? How did you get here?"

Lu Xingzhou squatted down beside him. "He's a member of the Ghost Clan now, so it's normal for him to appear and disappear unpredictably."

The ghost general ignored them and simply said, "You have crossed the Bridge of Tribulation, which means you have passed the Ghost Emperor's test and can proceed to the next level."

He raised his hand, and five streams of pure soul power hovered in front of the five people. These soul powers were much denser than the ones they had collected on the third floor. "This is your reward. Go down."

After absorbing the soul power, the five people's soul bodies became much more solid, so they continued to descend.

The ghost general on the fifth floor sat at the crossroads, pointing to two paths: "One is real, the other is fake. Choose the wrong one and your soul will be scattered."

Without wasting words, Yun Qing beat him up and then forced him to tell her the correct path by pulling his mouth open.

The sixth level is the Bone Forest, where the ground is covered with white bones. The five of them have to defeat those skeletons.

Si Mingche and Lu Xingzhou dismantled the leg bone of the largest skeleton, and the other skeletons, upon seeing this, all lay down on the ground and pretended to be dead.

The seventh and eighth levels were passed even faster. Before the demon generals could speak, Yun Qing and the other four scattered them. As long as they didn't speak, there would be no test.

Until the ninth floor...