I slowly turned my head, glancing toward Hou Dayong and Wang Jue. They had already reached the flat ground and were hopping around, shaking off the Ming insects that had clung to them. Behind them was a stretch of crimson that I couldn't quite make out clearly from my vantage point in the crevice of the wall.

Emerging slowly from the gap in the wall, I noticed the sky here was not the brilliant blue from the villa; it was tinged with red, carrying the hue of a dying sunset. Behind Hou Dayong and Wang Jue, that patch of deep red I had glimpsed resolved itself into a horrifying lake, a pool of blood so visceral it was unnerving. The metallic scent of gore I had detected from the wall crevice was emanating directly from this place.

I had never seen a lake like this before. There was the famous Red Sea on the Arabian Peninsula, but that was merely a name; in reality, it was as azure as any other sea. This body of water before me, however, was genuinely, intensely the color of spilled blood, sending a shudder down my spine.

Seeing me standing there, frozen in awe, Hou Dayong spoke. “This is the Sea of the Departed. Every time a spirit vanishes from the mortal world, the essence and blood it consumed in that realm flows here. It is the source sustaining this entire world; if it ever runs dry, this world will vanish with it. That is why spirits always appear in the human realm to draw essence and blood, and why they always disappear, returning what they took to this sea. Spirits have their mandate, their destiny, and this is their final resting place.”

Hou Dayong spoke with a lingering, melancholic tone, perhaps lamenting his own fate. All things possess their own inherent laws; the beginning and the end must be two endpoints echoing each other, and all we can choose is the path we take between them.

“What do we do now?” Seeing one of us lost in poetic sorrow and the other deep in silent contemplation, Wang Jue couldn't help but ask.

“Directly beneath us is a room. Inside is the Blood Kin Compass. We dive to the bottom of the lake and enter the room through the main doorway to retrieve it,” Hou Dayong directed.

“Dive down from here?” I asked, the question escaping my lips in unison with Wang Jue’s. It seemed neither of us believed we could swim in a lake brimming with human blood—let alone swim, we wouldn’t even dare wash our hands in it.

“Heh,” I called out to Hou Dayong. “Have you ever seen Stephen Chow’s Out of the Dark? There’s a terrifying scene where human blood flows from a faucet, and people wash their faces in it. Do you think we’re shooting a horror movie? Would having us dive into that lake really enhance the horror effect?”

Hou Dayong’s eyes rolled skyward, exasperated by my retort, while Wang Jue clutched his stomach, doubling over in silent laughter.

“Don’t let the fish in the lake snatch you; if that happens, you won’t even get a chance at reincarnation,” Hou Dayong snapped, clearly annoyed. With that warning, he jumped into the pool of crimson with a splash.

Wang Jue and I stood stranded on the shore, fidgeting, caught in a dreadful dilemma. Jump, or not jump? If not, we clearly wouldn't find any trace of my sister. Even if we wanted to leave, we couldn't find the door—the small entrance we used from the funeral parlor had vanished. Without Hou Dayong, escaping from here seemed nearly impossible. But if we jumped? Below us was a deep, bloody abyss; just standing at the edge made my head swim from the intense stench. What awaited us underwater was a complete mystery. Hou Dayong had clearly found our weak spot, deliberately leaving us here to fight a psychological war.

Just as Wang Jue and I were agonizing over the decision, a faint breeze brushed against our faces, carrying with it the touch of rain. I wiped a droplet that landed on my cheek; it felt thicker than ordinary water. I brought my hand up to my eyes to look: disaster. It was blood rain!