Ghost Realm: Condemning the Heavens, #10

By Tinalynge

Losing someone important left a deep scar in Lan's heart, prompting him to search for the key to enter the Ghost Realm for thousands of years. As the key, Xue Wei entered this unknown realm alongside the deity and encountered a world, unlike the one he knew.

In the living world, death was not horrible, as even a dead plant would enter the circle of life and become something else, however, the Ghost Realm was devoid of life, and only souls would roam about. Their way of living was different from everything he was used to, and soon this strange new world expanded his horizons.

They entered the Ghost Realm with the intention of locating and retrieving Lan's sweetheart, but what they found reversed their entire understanding of the past and the future. Many questions appeared, but the answers kept eluding them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tinalynge
• Release date: Mar 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215576830

Book preview

Chapter 1 - Saturated Essence

The desolate land stretched as far as the eye could see. A fierce wind was blowing, which caused the sand to dance in the air. 

On the hillside, Xue Wei and Lan were resting. They had been walking for three days without encountering any ghosts or souls. Xue Wei's clothes had become weather-bitten by the rough winds, and both of them had been covered by dust and sand. 

Lan's beautiful blue scales had become dusty grey, and Xue Wei's attractive features were hidden behind a mask of grime. 

The three days they had been walking had been both leisurely, but also nerve-wracking. 

There was nothing to interfere with their advance apart from the rough weather, but they did not dare to trust the surroundings since they were foreign to the Ghost Realm. 

They did not know how the ghosts looked, were they corporeal or intangible? 

The uncertainty caused both Xue Wei and Lan to be on pins and needles as they advanced. They were also curious as to how the ghosts lived in this world. Were there cities built by them, or did they just roam around the world on the constant hunt for other ghosts and souls to consume? 

There were many questions and no one to answer them. Both Lan and Xue Wei were aware that everything they knew was based on their own world, and thus they could not know for sure whether or not this place was similar. 

As they sat down, Xue Wei began looking around. The Ghost Realm was a heaven for cultivation. Due to the ghosts consuming other ghosts and souls to cultivate, no one tried to absorb the heaven and earth essence, causing it to become increasingly dense in the world. 

The air is saturated with essence, Lan said as he looked at Xue Wei. Heaven and Earth Essence will always be created no matter where, Lan Began explained. "This world has not had anyone consuming the essence for so many years that the atmosphere has become saturated. 

"When a world becomes saturated with essence, it is the ideal place for a cultivator to train. You can absorb energy with the slightest movement, and it will pour into your body to be refined. 

It is the same as if you consumed a pill that increased your absorption rate, but without any impurities, as you might get from the pill, or any downsides. In fact, it is the purest and most beneficial way to cultivate, so you should use the time we are here to cultivate. Maybe you might even be able to construct your spiritual body.

Xue Wei nodded his head. Although he was excited, his facial features did not display any happiness. He had long since learned that although there was a possibility for it to happen, he still had to fight for it. 

Especially when it came to a spiritual body, he was well aware that they were complicated to create. They required one to shed their mortal body and truly step onto the path of becoming an immortal. 

The King and Emperor ranks were where one shed their mortal bodies and became immortal. After the Emperor rank, one's own soul would have to break through into the God rank, and only then could one truly be considered immortal. 

Xue Wei was naturally looking forward to this qualitative leap in power, but he knew that it had to be done step by step. 

He knew very well that if he became complacent and just expected the King rank to drop on him, then he would never advance. They needed to find a suitable situation which could help him breakthrough.

After taking a short break, Xue Wei rose to his feet again. Lan had coiled his body around Xue Wei's neck, and the blue mingshe resembled a beautiful scarf. 

The two slowly and carefully advanced in the dangerous lands. They were unsure of what to expect, but they were both cautious people. Especially now that Lan had sealed the majority of his powers.

He was quite uncomfortable in his original shape. It was said that the wind was seen when the mingshe arrived, and that it had a voice as loud as a big bell. The mingshe was usually found in the mountains that were rich in jade and gold. It was also said that the mingshe guarded treasures, and the more Xue Wei heard about the mingshe, the more he felt that Lan truly deserved to be such a creature.

He loved treasure. Xue Wei knew from a long time ago that Lan had a very vast collection of treasures, and that he had gathered them throughout his life. 

Some of them had been robbed from his father, others had been scammed from other people, and some had been picked up by sheer luck. 

The mingshe was one of the more auspicious creatures as they guarded wealth, and Xue Wei hoped that by being on this journey with Lan, some of his luck would rub up on him. 

The two did not speak while traveling through the vast desolate terrain. It was not that they did not want to talk with one another, but the moment they opened their mouths, they would be filled with the sand that blew through the wind, and the feeling was truly uncomfortable.

Their advance lasted a full eight days before they encountered another lifeform. Their eyes shone with excitement as they saw a large caravan traversing through the desolate area in front of them.

The caravan was not being pulled by any creatures, but moved on its own, causing both Lan and Xue Wei to frown. They could not help but wonder what kind of power was behind these carriages in order for them to move on their own.

Chapter 2 - Middle-Aged Ghost

The carriages were different from anything that Xue Wei had seen before, and even Lan was curious as he looked at this foreign vehicle.

As to what type of energy drove it, they did not know, but Xue Wei could sense an eerie atmosphere around the entire caravan. Was this due to them being ghosts and living in the Ghost Realm, or had something happened to this particular caravan causing it to have the gloomy aura? 

Why don't we try to talk with them? Lan asked, and Xue Wei nodded his head absentmindedly. He was on high alert. Both he and Lan were aware of how dangerous what they planned on doing was, but they also realized that they could not just continue moving forward with no knowledge about the realm they had entered. 

They did not know whether or not they looked different from the Ghosts, nor did they know if they would be able to fight their way out of the caravan, in case things went wrong.

Lan did not have his overwhelming power anymore; he was a mere King, while Xue Wei had not even reached this level yet. 

Slowly, but without hiding themselves, the two began moving towards the caravan. They had come fairly close when the carriages stopped in their tracks, and a middle-aged man came out from the first of the vehicles.

He looked like any other human, with the exception of his eyes. They were completely black, there was no pupil, and the sight caused Xue Wei to feel a shudder run down his spine.

He was not scared of the differences; he just feared about the fact that he did not look like this man might cause them some problems later.

The ghost looked at Xue Wei and Lan. His brows were furrowed, and he was gripping a sword handle tightly in his hands.

Foreigners, what are you doing here? he yelled, and Xue Wei, who was not too sure how to answer, looked at Lan.

Tell him the truth, Lan decided. They could not trick anyone and say that they were ghosts, but being honest was also risky.

The ox-headed man abandoned us on this desolate ground, Xue Wei said as he looked around. We have been walking for days, but you and your caravan is the first sight of... other beings that we have encountered.

Xue Wei was just about to say that they were the first sight of life, but he had managed to change the wording upon considering their situation. 

These ghosts were not alive, but they were not really dead either. They were souls who existed within the Ghost Realm, but as to whether or not they could exist upon leaving, Xue Wei did not know.

The middle-aged ghost narrowed his eyes when he heard that they were dropped there by the ox-headed man. 

Everyone knew the ox-headed man. His name was Niu Long, and he was one of the guardians of the Ghost Realm. He was not easy to get along with, and his arrogance made it so that everyone feared and revered him.

Why would he have brought two living beings to the Ghost Realm? 

The Middle-aged Ghost was not unintelligent. To have been able to become a ghost, he was naturally rather shrewd and powerful. He had instantly sensed the breath of life from the two creatures in front of him, and while he was jealous of the life force, it no longer held any attraction to him.

Ghosts could not use life-force for anything. They needed souls to increase their strength, and since they were dead, the souls of the dead were much more compatible with them. A living soul might even do more damage to them than it assisted. 

While this meant that they would not be treated as food in the Ghost Realm, it did not mean that they would not encounter danger. 

Ghosts were much more ruthless than the ones on the surface world. They lived off consuming each other, and thus the constant battle and scheming against one another made survival a hard thing.

Come with me, the middle-aged ghost finally said after considering his options.

I will explain the Ghost Realm to you.

The man had decided to help them, not because he pitied them, but because the ox-headed man had taken an interest in them.

The ordinary ghost had no way of knowing about a Rule Breaker, so when they looked at Xue Wei, they did not see anything special about him. 

The only thing different about him was that he had a strange but very beautiful blue snake with four wings by his side that seemed to have a weird temper.

Xue Wei and Lan threw a glance at one another, and without the need to say anything, they knew what the other thought. Joining this caravan would be beneficial to them.

Xue Wei and Lan headed to the carriage that was occupied by the middle-aged ghost. They were quite surprised as to why no one else had exited the carriages to see them, but upon entering, they instantly knew why.

Inside the carriage was a big image of what was happening outside. It displayed everything, including sound, and everyone within the carriages would have known precisely what happened as if they had been there themselves.

The strange energy that the carriages were running on and the technology were utterly foreign to Lan and Xue Wei, causing both of them to be perplexed.

The middle-aged ghost smiled when he saw their reactions. He had previously been quite curious about these two living beings that had suddenly appeared in the Ghost Realm, and their reactions made him even more interested.

The Ghost Realm did not only take the dead from Xue Wei's native world, but they also accepted the dead from many other worlds that had no contact with the Ten Courts of Hell, and thus it was incredibly vast, with many different districts. 

Seeing that Xue Wei and Lan were new to the whole realm, the middle-aged man began explaining in detail about its layout and rules.

Chapter 3 - Soul Imprint

"T he Ghost Realm is vast. It is so big that you will have to rely on teleportation arrays if you wish to travel from one end to the other. The realm is split into four regions, and these regions are always fighting one another.

Each region is further split into counties. The Full Moon Region has ninety-six counties; the Twilight Sun Region has seventy-three counties. The Blood Star Region has eighty-nine counties, and last but not least, the Endless Abyss Region has ninety-nine counties.

Although there were only four regions, the number of counties showed just how big the Ghost Realm was. These counties were also fighting against each other to become higher ranked on the county list of the respective region.

Some of the counties were even bigger than the continents back in Xue Wei's old world. The Ghost World was truly vast to house so many ghosts and souls. Even so, if not for the natural selection of only allowing the strongest to survive, the land would have been full to the brim with souls and ghosts. 

Xue Wei listened intently to what the middle-aged ghost was telling him. He understood that searching for one specific soul would be much more challenging than he had ever thought, especially since the ghosts and souls had no memories of the time when they were alive. 

The only way they would be able to recognize her would be if Lan saw her face, and could remember her appearance.

Xue Wei did not doubt that Lan could recognize her appearance; it was just that there were so many ghosts. How many lifetimes would it take them to walk from one end of the Ghost Realm to the other, and even if they did not do this, how could they be certain that they would not miss each other?

Arriving at the Ghost Realm, looking for one soul that might have been consumed was even more challenging than looking for a needle in a haystack, but they were not going to give up. 

Lan looked thoughtful. He knew how difficult it was, so he began considering what options they had. 

He had spent years alongside Li Zhiqing, and the two of them had shared the most intimate of relationships. They were lovers, confidants, and best of friends. 

He had been an Overlord, so he knew what her soul imprint was like, and while he had never forgotten her, he also held a memory of how her soul imprint felt. 

Could he use this as a means to find her? Much like how a metal detector would sense the metal under the ground, could he then use the soul imprint as a way to determine her location? 

He was not sure how to do it. The soul imprint was locked inside his own soul. Taking it out would be much easier if he was an Overlord, but right now, he was merely a King ranked expert. 

He narrowed his eyes, hiding half of the cat-like pupils behind his eyelids, and coiled up around Xue Wei's neck as he was deep in thought.

Xue Wei and Lan had a good rapport, and he knew that the snake on his neck was thinking about an easier way to locate the lost soul.

Xue Wei left Lan to think about how they might be able to solve it, and he continued to keep the conversation going with the ghost that had taken them in.

He had called himself Gui Mo. Ghosts gave themselves names when they reached a certain rank; before then, they just remained unnamed. 

Xue Wei was curious as to why he chose precisely this name, but he did not ask. Instead, he tried to understand the ghost realm better.

When a person died in a world that was not connected to the Ten Courts of Hell, their soul would then end up in the Ghost Realm. 

When a new soul appeared in the ghost realm, all their memories would have been wiped clean, and they would be like a newborn baby in the world of the living. 

However, while they had to relearn everything that they had to know, they did not die instantly, but instead, they had certain instincts that told them to hide and bide their time.

The atmosphere was not only full of heaven and earth essence; it was also full of death energy and soul power. 

Even the weakest soul would be nurtured by these energies and slowly advance. While they could not be considered genuine ghosts, some souls who had enough strength could even consume a ghost. 

The world was very different from the one Xue Wei came from. He understood that ghosts were a completely different entity from that of the souls. 

Although they were not considered living beings, they were not dead either. They were a mixture right in between the two.

They couldn't give birth to other ghosts. The only way to become one was to die and evolve from a soul.

Xue Wei was deep in thought. It turned out that although they could not reproduce, ghosts still had feelings, and that emotions such as love existed in this world of the dead.

However, most ghosts never dared to become lovers unless they unconditionally trusted their partners, as it was seen that beautiful female and male ghosts would end up consuming their partners.

Since the world was cannibalistic, it was hard to trust another person, but even so, the strongest ghosts all had partners.

Another thing about being in the ghost realm was that monogamy was the way to go. You could hardly trust anyone, so finding casual flings was not very common.

Xue Wei could not help but worry. In case this Li Zhiqing had managed to become a ghost, she would be so old that she would likely be an ancient and powerful ghost by now. What if she had found a new partner? 

Chapter 4 - Blood Star Region

Xue Wei and Lan were both somewhat nervous, but they knew that they could not rush anything.

The middle-aged ghost invited them to follow their caravan all the way to the next city, and then begin their search from there on. 

It was the capital of a region. They were in the Blood Star Region, and the county was called the Ice Flower County. This county was one among the eighty-nine counties within the Blood Star Region, and it was also the biggest.

Although there was a constant battle within the regions to advance the ranking on the county rank, the Ice Flower County had been on the top for the last thousands of years. No one had been able to shake the glory and foundations that had been built.

The caravan was coming from three counties away; they were moving from the Sunset County, towards the Blood Star Capital, which was the name of the capital city of the Blood Star Region.

The Sunset County was famous for its Ghost Vehicles. The carriage they were in right now was one of those mechanic vehicles that ran solely on the heaven and earth essence.

The Ghosts could not use this energy in order to advance, so there was an abundant amount of it in the air, and Sunset County had invented a way to let carriages run on it. Other items absorbed the essence and transformed it into energy that could fuel their machines.

Xue Wei was curious about how it worked, but the middle-aged ghost was guarding the mechanism with his life, and Xue Wei quickly gave up his idea of understanding its intricacies.

He was not willing to insult their guide, who was so kind and offered them a lift.

The carriage did not have any windows; however, inside there was a large screen that was made from energy. It showed everything that went on outside the carriage on an incredibly life-like display. 

However, there was nothing to see. The land was desolate. The carriages kicked up the sand, and the only shrubs that were visible were all dead.

There were no signs of animals, not even insects. The Ghost Realm seemed too empty. 

Xue Wei and Lan had both reached a rank where they had transcended the human body's physical needs. They did not need to sleep, nor did they need to eat or answer nature's call. 

This was not something they usually thought about. However, while being in the Ghost Realm, they realized just how important this was.

There was nothing to eat since the ghosts only consumed other ghosts and souls. While there were some water sources, according to the middle-aged ghost, they were scarce, and they should not be used for drinking.

The water in the Ghost Realm could poison a living cultivator due to the overwhelming yin energy within.

Xue Wei and Lan listened to every word that the middle-aged ghost told them. They understood that their lives would not be comfortable while they were in this place, but they would not be uncomfortable either.

The middle-aged ghost also went on to tell them that they were not in danger when staying in the ghost realm.

While they too had souls, these souls were within their bodies, and could not be consumed by a Ghost. 

While the ghosts were somewhat envious of their life force, and the fact that they were alive, they would not feel any greed towards them. They knew their position well and understood that they were already another being than living humans.

Xue Wei found it extremely comfortable to speak with the middle-aged ghost, and even Lan was finding it fortunate that they had encountered this caravan on the way.

While they were very grateful, they never lowered their vigilance. They understood that although this ghost was telling them many things, they had no way of knowing if he was telling them the truth or not.

However, as their journey advanced, their connection grew closer. 

The caravan would not stop, apart from when it reached villages. They did not need to pause at night as there was no need to eat. They did also not need to be careful of beasts attacking their caravan after twilight.

The only thing they had to watch out for was bandits. Bandits existed everywhere, especially in the Ghost Realm, where cannibalism was the only way to advance.

The middle-aged man was always keeping an eye on the display that showed the outside, even when speaking with Xue Wei and Lan. He was never tired, nor was he unhappy. 

They had traveled for a few days, and up until now, Lan and Xue Wei had still not met anyone else in the caravan apart from the middle-aged ghost. However, a village was appearing in front of them.

It was not a big village, but it still housed around five hundred ghosts. 

Xue Wei was shocked to see that although it was a small village, a giant wall had been erected around it, and one needed to enter through a small gate to visit the village.

The middle-aged ghost looked at the puzzled expression of Xue Wei and chuckled.

This is literally a man eat man world, he began to explain. "Merchants such as myself are very suspicious. We need to accept a seal when we enter the city, making it so that we cannot attack their villagers, apart from self-defense.

The seal only lasts for a week, and after that week, we will have left the village again. Each village and city has its own seal, and the seal they draw on your hand will only work for you, and only within the confines of that city.

Xue Wei frowned. They had a lot of technology he had never seen or heard of before.

Chapter 5 - A Living Being

Xue Wei was puzzled when he found out that the Ghost Realm had so much technology, and the seals that they accepted were quite harsh. 

However, at least they allowed attacking for self-defense. If even self-defense was banned, then it was obvious that no one would enter another city than the one they had settled in, and then they would truly become a backward world. 

Each city would become an independent country that would not interact with others, and as a result, their advance, both technological and cultivation wise would slow drastically. 

Xue Wei was somewhat puzzled. Was he also going to get a seal, and would these seals even work on him, since he was not a ghost? 

If they did not work on him, then he was not likely to be allowed entry into the city. 

If he did enter, and something went wrong, everyone would suspect that he was the culprit. 

There were many things that he needed to take into account, but after considering for some time, he knew it was not possible to stay out of the village.

He had to enter the village and learn about how the Ghost Realm worked. He had only been in the desolate areas and the carriage so far. Visiting a village would be good to slowly adjust to the more populated places within the ghost realm.

When they arrived at the entrance, a group of guards appeared from behind the gate, opening it laboriously, and then went to inspect the inside of every single carriage in order to put the seal on each of the ghosts.

However, these guards were deep in shock when they saw Xue Wei and Lan in the middle-aged ghost's carriage. 

At first, they thought that something was amiss, but their eyes widened in shock after observing them closely. Were these not living beings? 

Although all ghosts knew that some living beings could enter the Ghost Realm, it was not something that had happened before according to their knowledge.

At least, no one had experienced it before. 

Stretch out your hand, the guard said after hesitating for a moment and furrowing his brows.

Xue Wei nodded his head. He understood the seriousness of this matter and obediently stretched out his hand.

A white gleam of light shone from the guard's hand, and a strange rune appeared on the back of Xue Wei's hand. The rune seemed to be embedded into his hand, no one could feel it when putting their hands on top of it, but when looking at it, then everyone could see it.

The guard was looking somewhat hesitant. He had not thought that the rune would actually appear on the hand, he had thought that it would be impossible for Xue Wei, who was alive, to be affected by the death energy of the Ghost Realm, but it proved that he had been mistaken.

Frowning, he did not know what to do. Looking at the rune, it seemed that it had been successful, but how could he test it? 

If he made Xue Wei attack someone without it being self-defense, then his soul would shatter. No one would be willing to take such risks. 

And if it were truly a case of self-defense, then no one would be able to say anything anyway. 

As such, he could only hope for the best.

What is happening? the captain appeared next to the guard, and looked at him with a questioning expression on his face. 

The guard looked as if he had found his savior, and he instantly explained what had happened, Captain, there is a bit of a problem here. The carriage has a living human inside, he said. His voice was so low that no one else heard it. 

He understood that Xue Wei was a living being, but a living being appearing would cause chaos. 

Many of the Ghosts would be jealous. They were dead, and life as a ghost was not easy. Many dreamt of returning to the real world, returning to be alive, returning to a life where they did not have to fear getting consumed.

The life of the living was only a rumor to them, but the dreams were still vivid in the mind of most ghosts. 

If a living being appeared, then chaos would ensue. Every strong ghost would look for him in an attempt at finding a way to return to the real world. 

They wanted to live again. 

They were not planning on stealing his life force. Everyone knew that it was impossible for a ghost to suddenly take over a living body, but they hoped to find a path back to the outside world.

Xue Wei could not blame them. The Ghost Realm was extremely dark, gloomy, and desolate.

It was a hell, a place where you only had to fight for strength, and the strength only mattered for the sake of survival. 

There was no purpose in life, no actual enjoyment. While some tried