The Bird-Man looked up, pointing at the massive lotus leaf on the surface of the lake. "This wine pool should be ordinary, but the lotus flower growing above the wine pool is not. Something that can survive year after year nourished only by wine cannot be simple. If I haven't guessed wrong, this must be the legendary Ghost Lotus." "Ghost Lotus?" Ye Xiu glanced at the enormous leaf.

It seemed to occupy nearly every corner of the wine pool. Thinking back, even though what he saw earlier was an illusion, the way the leaf curled and contracted was eerily like a mouth, with the upturned edges serving as its teeth. He frowned in confusion. "What exactly is a Ghost Lotus, and how does it form?" The Bird-Man explained, "The gestation of a Ghost Lotus requires the infusion of innate spiritual power.

Lotus flowers are inherently sacred objects, but even sacred things can be corrupted. If hatred permeates its cultivation process over time, I surmise that many unjustly deceased souls must be buried beneath this wine pool." "Mei Shu was born from a Black Lotus and also endured the hatred and warfare of the mortal world. Could it be that she specially constructed this wine pool as well?" Old Liu soothed Hong Ling, nodding slightly as he had some knowledge of the Ghost Lotus. "This place looks like a lavish palatial lake surface; perhaps it was also a site of mass slaughter back then." Ye Xiu waved his hand.

"Historically, Xia Jie built the Yao Terrace for Xi Shi, and this terrace is said to have housed the Pool of Wine and Forest of Meat. The Cruel Punishment of Burning (Pao Luo) was the source of all evil. I imagine that while these royalty and nobles indulged in wine and pleasure, they simultaneously watched lives wither away on the execution platform—truly brutal." "When the lotus absorbs too much resentment, it transforms into the Ghost Lotus, and the Ghost Lotus must use the suffering endured by those vengeful spirits to bewilder living people. It's a strategy that achieves its goal without spilling a drop of blood." As he spoke, the Bird-Man flexed his wings, flicking out several sharp feathers that struck toward the Ghost Lotus.

The leaf could not withstand the impact of the sharp objects; several holes were instantly punched through it. Strangely, the fibers at the edges of the holes began to crawl and intertwine rapidly, as if imbued with life. Before long, the lotus leaf was completely restored to its original state. "Hah!" Ye Xiu exhaled sharply.

He hadn't expected a mere flower to possess such potent self-repair capabilities. He looked at the Bird-Man and asked, "If this thing can self-repair, does that mean it can achieve eternal life?" "Lotus vitality is inherently strong, but I honestly don't know why it can self-repair," the Bird-Man admitted, seeming equally perplexed. "However, one thing is certain: there must be something at the bottom of this wine pool, and this might be the passage to the next location." "Hey, Hong Ling! Hey..." At this moment, Old Liu's voice suddenly grew frantic.

He lunged forward and grabbed Ye Xiu, shouting, "Look at Hong Ling! Look at Hong Ling!" Ye Xiu followed the sound of the voice to where Hong Ling lay. In that instant, Hong Ling's delicate body had completely vanished. What remained before Ye Xiu were only a pile of clothes and a slightly charred skeletal frame.

He found it impossible to believe what he was seeing. Was Hong Ling dead? "This..." The Bird-Man's face darkened with gravity. "This girl indeed possesses the eternal life ability of the Bone Gatherers.

If I'm not mistaken, her spirit has perished, but her body continues to self-repair." "A skeleton, how can it repair itself!" Old Liu could barely bear to look at Hong Ling's remains. The skeleton looked as if it had been dead for ages; besides being terrifying and repulsive, it was difficult to reconcile it with the image of a lovely girl. Old Liu looked around in bewilderment. "What do we do now?

Is Hong Ling dead or not?" "Wait!" The Bird-Man held his breath, speaking carefully. "I have only heard tales of the eternal life of Bone Gatherers; I have never personally witnessed the process." "Bones uncorrupted, life unending?" Ye Xiu swallowed hard, staring blankly at Hong Ling's skeleton. The parts of the arm exposed outside the clothing were terrifyingly black. Moreover, there was some green moss growing in the palm of the skeletal hand.

How many people must have died here to create such a manifestation? It seemed Hong Ling was indeed somewhat older than both Ye Xiu and Old Liu. "Not good, the lotus leaf is coming!" Old Liu suddenly jumped up in alarm. He had felt the horror of the Ghost Lotus in the illusion, and now the massive leaf was surging toward the bank.

He retreated several steps in fright. "Its target is Hong Ling..." Ye Xiu watched the trajectory of the moving leaf. The thing approached slowly and stopped precisely where Hong Ling's skeletal remains lay. It appeared to have no malicious intent.

The Bird-Man flew into the air, and the Heavenly Eye on his forehead flashed with light once more. At that moment, he spoke with ease, "I can feel the Ghost Lotus communicating with Hong Ling. Place Hong Ling's skeleton onto the lotus leaf." "What?" Old Liu was deeply uneasy about this. He looked suspiciously at the Bird-Man.

"What is going on with that eye of yours? How can you see such things?" "Right, how did the Heavenly Eye of the Sun-Blind Clan form? What is its purpose?" Ye Xiu was also filled with questions about the Bird-Man. Logically, if the Sun-Blind Clan possessed such formidable abilities, they should have obtained the secret of eternal life from the Bone Gatherers long ago.

Why had they searched for so many years? "The Heavenly Eye is innate to the Sun-Blind Clan; as for why we have it, I don't know either." The Bird-Man glared at Ye Xiu with his Heavenly Eye. "The Heavenly Eye can pierce through all illusions in the world, and it can also create illusions. Haven't you already been through the Mirror Palace I created?

The scenes within those mirrors were illusions, but everything within the illusion is drawn from reality. Within this Nine Poisons Fierce Array, there are three vultures, which is why your illusion also contained them." "Then how do you know the Ghost Lotus is communicating with Hong Ling? Can you see that too?" Ye Xiu found this difficult to comprehend. The Bird-Man smiled and shook his head.

"The Ghost Lotus isn't communicating in any discernible way. I am merely observing certain things beneath the waters of this wine pool. You two must have also seen the bone jars held by the Bone Gatherers, right?" "Bone jars, yes! Hong Ling was living in a giant jar at the beginning!" Old Liu's interest piqued.

He looked at Ye Xiu. "We passed by the Bone Gatherers' graveyard; those jars are truly mysterious. Besides holding remains, who knows what else they are used for?" "Who knows!" Ye Xiu's curiosity compelled him to lift Hong Ling's remains and place them upon the Ghost Lotus. The leaf seemed to sense everything.

The moment Hong Ling's skeleton lay upon it, the leaf began to retract toward the center of the lake. A moment later, the entire surface of the leaf curled up, wrapping around the bones tightly like a zongzi, before finally sinking beneath the water. "Hey, what's down there?" Old Liu pulled out his sunglasses but couldn't see through the wine pool's surface. He casually picked up some small stones from the side and flung them heavily into the water, trying to gauge the depth.

However, the moment the small stones hit the water, they were violently repelled and bounced back to where they started.