We had initially intended for these nascent souls to guide us based on the strength of their Yang energy.
However, they pointed in more than a dozen directions.
"Old Qin, the ghosts have indicated so many paths, which way do we go?" Old Mo asked.
But at this moment, Uncle-Master produced his compass.
Then he spoke,
"This way, the Yang energy is strongest here!"
He pointed in one direction.
"Alright, then we'll go this way!"
I replied immediately. We no longer had the luxury of excessive deliberation.
Then, Uncle-Master, holding his Feng Shui compass,
began to run forward.
The two hundred-plus nascent souls followed suit.
Black vortices continued to appear all around.
Occasionally, we could also see some phantoms.
But these phantoms, like us, were fleeing.
All wanting to get away from those black vortices.
They posed no threat to us whatsoever.
The only threat was those black vortices.
We ran and ran through the distorted parking garage!
During our run, we encountered many vortices blocking our path, and some nascent souls fell into them.
But we few managed to break through without incident.
Approximately twenty minutes passed.
The black vortices around us had become very dense.
Some vortices extended from the pillars down to the ground.
Some appeared directly overhead.
It looked incredibly bizarre. kuAiδugg
And our location was still within the interconnected parking garage.
We had long lost our bearings, merely following the faint traces of Yang energy to guide us.
At this point, the compass in Uncle-Master's hand also began to spin wildly.
It had completely lost its efficacy.
"The compass is no longer useful," Uncle-Master stated.
"With vortices everywhere, how do we proceed?"
Looking at the illusory ghost realm, about to be swallowed by the vortices, everyone panicked.
The surrounding nascent souls were of no help either.
Just as we were wondering where to go next,
I suddenly smelled a musty odor.
Keep in mind, this was the illusory ghost realm, an alternate dimension.
There was no dampness here; where could a musty smell come from?
I sniffed, and discovered the scent was emanating from a dark, shadowy hole not far away.
That dark hole was different from the surrounding vortices.
Other than its darkness, it lacked any black miasma.
"Qin Ze, what are you looking at?" Xia Qiu Xi asked when she saw me staring in one direction.
Hearing Xia Qiu Xi's question, I did not hesitate.
I directly pointed at the dark hole and said,
"Do you smell that musty odor? I feel it's coming from that dark hole."
"I smell it? What about it?" Old Mo replied.
But Uncle-Master's face lit up with joy:
"If there's a smell, there's a way out.
That dark hole is our way out!"
As the saying goes, old ginger is the spiciest. Uncle-Master immediately grasped the key point.
I nodded in agreement:
"That's what I think too.
And that dark hole is different from the surrounding ones; it has no black smoke.
I think that should also be an Yin-Yang Gate."
I made my assessment.
Old Mo and Xia Qiu Xi, upon hearing this, were also delighted.
The nascent souls behind us, hearing this, were incredibly excited:
"There's an exit!"
"That's great, there's finally an exit."
"We're not going to die now, not going to die."
"..."
Amidst the nascent souls' exclamations,
Old Mo excitedly said,
"Then why are we dawdling? Let's go!"
We all nodded and quickly moved towards the dark hole.
However, as soon as we approached the dark hole,
a two-meter square vortex twisted into existence in front of it.
On one pillar of the vortex was what we believed to be the exit, the Yin-Yang Gate.
And the distorted vortex blocked our path, emitting black miasma.
It seemed to be connected to the dark hole we identified as the exit.
"Holy crap, is this place collapsing too?" Old Mo grumbled.
"These two dark holes seem to be connected," Xia Qiu Xi added, raising her eyebrows.
At her words, the nascent souls behind us recoiled in fright, none daring to move forward.
They feared being devoured by the distorted vortex.
We could not rely on these nascent souls.
I surveyed our surroundings. Currently, apart from the feeling that this dark hole was the exit,
the entire area was densely packed with distorted dark holes.
Finding another way out might mean running out of time.
"We have to take a chance!" I declared.
Uncle-Master also nodded:
"Life and death are determined by fate, wealth by heaven. We're out of time!
This old Daoist will try it first.
You wait for my signal."
"Master..." Old Mo started to say something, but Uncle-Master stopped him.
He glanced at us and without another word,
leapt up, clearing a height of two meters, and flew directly into the dark hole.
But the next moment, everything returned to a semblance of calm.
We waited outside anxiously for over ten seconds, shouting "Uncle-Master, Master, Uncle Tang" into the dark hole, but received no response.
It was as if the dark hole was isolated from the outside world.
No messages could be transmitted in or out.
Only that musty smell had become slightly more potent.
"It's over, the Daoist is dead."
"This, this definitely isn't the exit. The Daoist jumped in and vanished."
"You young Daoists, let's find another exit!" the nascent souls behind us began to say again.
Listening to their words, Old Mo gritted his teeth, shouting anxiously into the dark hole:
"Master, Master..."
I looked around.
The densely packed distorted dark holes were converging; we had no other paths to choose or escape through.
Staying here meant certain death.
Uncle-Master had already jumped. Although I didn't know why there was no response,
I still felt this was the exit.
We couldn't just sit and wait for death.
I spoke directly:
"This is the only different one among all the distorted dark holes.
Whether it's an exit or not, we'll only know once we go in.
Old Mo, Qiu Xi, I'm going first..."
With that, I hesitated no longer.
I took a running start and leaped directly into it...