The fog cleared, leaving the forest shrouded in darkness.
And with a command from the Ghost King, ghost soldiers, thick as shadows, approached the Jin army in the forest with the aura of death, like spirits crossing the border.
The Jin army wasn’t weak, in fact, they were incredibly valiant in battle.
Tracing back to history, Jin Country and the Turks once shared roots, with the largest tribe seizing royal power and exiling other tribes that refused to submit, leading to the emergence of the Turks.
The Turks were not recognized by the Six Countries partly due to Jin Country’s influence.
The people of Jin Country have a fiercely combative nature; on a proper battlefield, these five hundred troops could face thrice the force, but now they were petrified by the signs of haunting.
Leaves moving without wind, trees inexplicably bleeding, ground covered with bird carcasses consumed by death... each one chilling the soul!
Had they really entered the Underworld?
Were these ghost soldiers fierce spirits from Ghost Gate Pass?
The armor worn by these ghost soldiers was neither pristine nor intact, but dilapidated, many covered in dust, rusted, stained with dried blood.
Yet that only made it more evident that this was a phalanx of ghost soldiers perished on battlefield.
Their uncompleted mission on Earth remained unforgettable even after descending into the Underworld.
Thus, they neither drank the waters of Wangchuan nor consumed the Spicy Soup, nor did they cross the Naihe Bridge.
Every night, they replay their dying obsession: kill the invading foes, kill them all, annihilate them!
"Ah—"
A Jin soldier could no longer withstand it, his legs buckling, he collapsed onto the ground.
At that moment, the soft soil suddenly shifted, a skeletal hand emerged, clinching his ankle with a crisp snap.
The soldier was scared witless!
He flipped over, scrambling back toward where he came, only to freeze as wave upon wave of skeletal hands emerged from the ground!
"Ghost Gate Pass has opened... there truly are ghosts—"
Another Jin soldier broke down in terror.
Emotions are contagious, one soldier collapses, then a second, followed by a third and fourth... until the entire army’s morale crumbled.
The scholars say, "A gentleman does not speak of monsters or spirits."
Yet they also say, "Above, within three feet, resides the divine."
They were invaders of Yan Country, and the specters and ghosts of Yan Country would not spare them!
It is not fearful fighting the living, for they can die.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Prime Minister's Darling