"Senior Sister, shouldn’t they be here by now?" Su Qi asked Jingyue.

Once the Yin Yang Fish arrived, they would have to get busy.

Many Four Symbols Fish and Eight Trigrams Fish would arrive then, more than enough to keep them occupied.

But they had been waiting for so long, and still, there was no sign of the Yin Yang Fish’s arrival.

Qing Lian asked, "Don’t tell me they’re really not coming?"

Jingyue didn’t say anything. She already had a bad feeling, but on second thought, it seemed par for the course. It felt like nothing about this year’s ritual had gone normally.

Problems had been cropping up one after another, right from the moment they’d determined the location.

At this point, she’d almost be surprised if something *didn’t* go wrong.

"We should start thinking about what to do if no fish show up," Jingyue said bluntly.

Jingyue’s words silenced everyone. What were they supposed to do? They had no answer. Who could have known the ritual would run into this kind of issue?

Su Qi asked, "Senior Sister, has something like this ever happened in the Holy Land before?"

Jingyue smiled. "Of course..."

But before her naive junior sisters could get excited, Jingyue’s expression turned stern. "It’s never happened."

Everyone was speechless.

The Holy Land’s ritual had been upheld for many years, dating back to ancient times. In all those countless ages, while the ritual had encountered some minor issues...

...it had never faced any major problems. The wrong location? The Immortal Spirit Spring erupting ahead of schedule?

Never. None of it.

If none of those things had ever happened, then the Yin Yang Fish failing to appear was completely unheard of. This would essentially sever the entire purpose of the ritual.

The Yin Yang Fish were, after all, one of the primary objectives of the ritual.

So, what could they do?

"Maybe we’re just overthinking things?" the youngest Candidacy Saintess asked.

In reality, she was still young. It wasn’t her place to come up with solutions; it would be good enough if she could just be of some help.

Jingyue remained silent. Right now, all they could do was wait.

Meanwhile, on the sixth layer, Jiang Zuo once again felt a fish "take the bait." With this one, he would have successfully completed his mission for this trip. Then he could go back to fishing on the second layer in peace.

He’d also have something to show for it to Su Qi.

Just as Jiang Zuo was about to reel in his line, he froze. He immediately gave up on the Yin Yang Fish and retracted his fishing rod.

As Jiang Zuo retracted his rod, the lake water began to boil, and wisps of Ghost Qi started appearing on the surface.

Amidst the Ghost Qi, Heart-piercing Snakes began to emerge one by one until the entire lake was quickly overrun with them.

Jiang Zuo looked toward the distance. ’If I’m not mistaken, a Ghost Cultivator must have snuck in and released these Heart-piercing Snakes here.’

However, that wasn’t why Jiang Zuo had retracted his rod. The real reason was that Ghost Cultivators had truly invaded the Array; he had sensed a Ghost Cultivation Mark within it.

’Or rather, the Ghost Cultivators didn’t invade the Array itself, but the lake water.’

In truth, Jiang Zuo wasn’t worried about the Ghost Cultivation Mark itself. The problem was that the mark would affect the weakened Duan Qiao, and he still needed his "signal tower" for now.

’But the Holy Land already knows about the mark. What’s their goal in doing this?’

Jiang Zuo didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. He’d just go and find out.

With that, Jiang Zuo packed his things and stood up. The Ghost Cultivators shouldn’t be too far away.

******

As for Shi Qi, who’d had a stroke of luck, it had thought it was about to be caught, but who would have guessed its captor had let it go again.

’Is this one of those situations where the more you struggle, the tighter the trap gets?’

But it didn’t dwell on it. First things first, it had to do as Shiba said and go back for reinforcements.

After this, the school of Yin Yang Fish faced the greatest change in their entire history.

They had permanently lost two of their brethren.

So they needed to discuss how to take turns going out from now on. This was going to be a war of attrition.

No one knew how long it would last.

Only the Saintess and the others were left to wait pitifully for the Yin Yang Fish to arrive. There was no one they could turn to for help in this matter.

A new Yin Yang Fish had to enter the Array before the old one could leave. Without these fish, the Holy Land would no longer be whole.

After Ghost Qi appeared on the sixth layer, it began to surface on the first through fifth layers as well.

The Ghost Qi then began to rapidly assail everyone, attacking ordinary people and Cultivators alike, without discrimination.

Everyone was horrified. Many of the Cultivators were able to neutralize the Ghost Qi, but the ordinary people were a different story. Nearly all of them were afflicted.

The ordinary people afflicted by the Ghost Qi grew weak, and then vast amounts of Ghost Qi began to erupt from their bodies.

The first and second layers were instantly thrown into a panic.

Although the Holy Land People intervened immediately, they were unable to stop people from being afflicted.

The Tier Five Fairy from the Holy Land frowned continuously as she watched the crowd.

’This isn’t according to plan. The Ghost Cultivators didn’t come through the Array. They snuck in.’

She quickly contacted the "old fossils" within the Holy Land.

Yue Xi was stunned when she received the news.

’There’s trouble on the first and second layers?’

’Jiang Zuo is still in there! If something happens to him, Su Qi will cry herself to death!’

She immediately asked, "Ming Yu, are there any casualties?"

Ming Yu was the Daoist name of the Tier Five Fairy.

"Injuries, yes. Deaths, not yet," Ming Yu replied.

Upon hearing this, Yue Xi immediately called Jiang Zuo.

Jiang Zuo, still on the sixth layer, heard his phone ring almost instantly.

He saw it was Su Qi’s aunt and felt a little exasperated. He really didn’t want to be disturbed right now.

Still, he answered the call. "Where are you right now? Are you okay?

Even if something happened, you have to keep it to yourself! Don’t tell Su Qi, or she’ll never give me a moment’s peace. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Oh, right, do you want me to come and get you out of there?"

Jiang Zuo paused. ’From the sound of it, there’s trouble on the first and second layers too?’

Then Jiang Zuo said, "I’m fine."

Yue Xi was surprised. "Everyone was afflicted with Ghost Qi, but you weren’t? Um, the Ghost Qi is that black smoke. You didn’t see it?"

Jiang Zuo thought for a moment. "I was just wandering around on another layer. I was about to head down."

Yue Xi was speechless.

’Wandering?’

’Did he think he was here to go shopping?’

Still, it was a blessing in disguise. At least he hadn’t been harmed by the Ghost Qi.

"Go to the second layer immediately. Find Ming Yu, show her the Jade I gave you, and she’ll send you out first."

Hearing Yue Xi’s arrangements, Jiang Zuo sighed. ’Having connections in the Holy Land is such a hassle.’

He agreed, and they ended the call.

Then Jiang Zuo continued walking forward. ’I’m almost there. Why would I possibly go back down now?’

’Not unless Su Qi herself showed up.’

They had interrupted his fishing. He was determined to make them leave something behind, no matter what.

Soon, Jiang Zuo arrived at the shore of a lake. Two people were sitting by the water, fishing.

A man and a woman.

They naturally noticed his arrival.

But since they were supposedly there to fish, they didn’t say anything when someone else showed up.

Just then, Jiang Zuo asked, "So, what’s your objective this time?"

One of them, the man, looked at Jiang Zuo in surprise. "Fellow Daoist, are you speaking to us?"

Jiang Zuo said casually, "Do I need to pull out the video I have of you?"

The man was speechless.

Then the woman asked in astonishment, "How did you recognize us?"

That was right. These were the two Ghost Cultivators Jiang Zuo had encountered before.

The Ghost Cultivator Ying Liu, and the Ghost Cultivator Mei Wu.

Hearing the Ghost Cultivator Mei Wu speak, the Ghost Cultivator Ying Liu felt a headache coming on. ’It’s a miracle I’ve managed to stay alive this long.’

’She’s not just dead weight, she’s constantly sabotaging me. I swear, I’m going to end up dead because of this woman’s stupidity.’

’I must have been young and foolish, choosing a girlfriend based only on looks. Now I’m stuck with her.’