"Warden of Highspire protected the Wu and Yao clans during the first war between gods and demons, and even provided them with places to live and cultivate, taking care of them for generations. But after only a few years of peace, the second war between gods and demons broke out. This time, it was an internal conflict among the Yan and Huang, with the water god Torrent Warden clashing with the descendant of the Yellow Emperor, Fireborne Sovereign, and the Eastern Emperor Sunpiercer trying to take advantage of the chaos for his own gain. The three realms were thrown into turmoil, and the Wu and Yao clans were dragged in again. In this battle, since the populations of humans, demons, and Wu had all grown much larger than before, the casualties were also much higher, providing Embergrower with more samples. He concluded that 'death is chaos' and that 'souls restless in chaos suffer even more'—in summary, the humans created by Lifesmith were 'unhappy in life, and suffer too much in death.' So Embergrower and Lifesmith discussed how to break free from death forever, and that's when he first conceived the idea of reincarnation."

William Sherman gave a slightly sharp smile: "Maybe it was just because he himself became a mortal, and had to face the fleeting, cicada-like life of mortals—maybe he was just more afraid of death himself."

"Hmm, we can set that question aside for now, it's not important." Logan Sullivan continued, "Embergrower later, in the name of 'soul suppression,' took away the soul fire from my left shoulder, and then, when he reached Buzhou Mountain, he was unfortunately caught in the suicide attack of Torrent Warden, the first person in history to invent the human bomb, and dropped that flame down."

"I actually think he did it on purpose," William Sherman sneered, "He was just afraid he couldn't explain himself to Lifesmith, so he found an excuse. His original plan was to establish reincarnation in the underworld."

"Alright, stop holding a grudge. He got his retribution, didn't he? He didn't succeed, after all." Logan Sullivan took out a cigarette, squatted down and lit it, hanging his arms over his knees like a big monkey, wantonly disturbing the air at the top of the sacred mountain. "In the end, even though the ghost clan was discovered by accident, you were born missing a piece, without souls, so not only was it impossible to establish reincarnation, but once the great seal was opened, you'd come up to the surface and cause trouble."

"Heaven leaked and the earth collapsed, so all the gods took the living beings up to Mount Penglai. The Wu clan was abandoned for being ungrateful, while the humans and demons were saved. Lifesmith mended the sky and transformed the earth, Embergrower died of old age, his primordial spirit became reincarnation, Highspire sealed the four pillars, and finally went to guard the great seal of Houtu." Logan Sullivan paused slightly at this point, "Oh, I think I understand now."

Logan Sullivan had been busy before and after the New Year, and hadn't had time to cut his hair, so it had grown a bit long, almost covering his ears. The messy hair on his forehead was blown by the mountain wind and swept across his nose. William Sherman bent down, brushed aside the messy hair on his forehead, and asked softly, "What did you figure out?"

"You were so young back then. Since I was watching over the great seal, I naturally wouldn't let you run out. So why did I give you the Highspire Divine Sinew?" Logan Sullivan grabbed William Sherman's wrist and looked up, "Was it because Embergrower wanted to kill you? I wanted to protect you, so I had no choice but to do this, hoping that if one day I was gone, I could pass the authority of the Ten Thousand Mountains to you."

"That's not right this time. He didn't want to kill me, he wanted to wipe out the ghost clan. Embergrower couldn't believe there could be things in the world without souls. Without a soul, how could it be considered alive? He was the one who brought about the birth of the ghost clan, so of course he couldn't escape responsibility and wanted to 'make up' for his mistake." William Sherman started trembling as he spoke, "If you hadn't given it to me, if not for that... you wouldn't have left me so early."

Logan Sullivan smiled gently: "Even if it wasn't so early, it would have happened sooner or later."

"If I'd had a little more time, maybe..."

"The little beauty has grown into a great beauty now, what can you do?"

William Sherman was momentarily speechless.

"And then?"

"...Then I ambushed you, imprisoned your primordial spirit, and went down to the cycle of reincarnation to beg my enemy Embergrower," William Sherman said. "The only time in my life I ever begged anyone, it was him."

"By then, reincarnation already had order, the underworld had just formed, and there were complete rules. I begged him to let you enter reincarnation like a mortal. That way, even though you wouldn't remember me each time, at least you would still exist." William Sherman said, "But he refused. The ancient gods couldn't enter reincarnation, because at first, reincarnation was supported by Embergrower's own primordial spirit. Although it could gather the souls of humans, gods, demons, and ghosts, it couldn't bear the true mountain saints. Unless... he personally suppressed all your divine power, completely washed your soul into that of a mortal. In that case, Embergrower would naturally die from the backlash... It would be a life for a life, trading his for yours."

"For that, what did you promise him?"

"To guard the great seal of Houtu forever. As long as the seal stands, I live; if the seal breaks, I must perish together with all the ghost clan." William Sherman's fingers were icy cold. "And... I can never see you again. If I can't help myself, then your vital blood will be drained by me, and your soul will be scattered and destroyed."

William Sherman suddenly broke free from Logan Sullivan's hand, his palm brushing across the other's face, then grabbed Logan Sullivan's chin, forcing him to look up, and said word by word, "I've kept this promise for thousands of years. Now that the great seal is about to break, I've reached the end of the road. I originally wanted to come quietly and leave quietly, but by a twist of fate, because of you, I failed at the last moment. From the night you truly became mine... no, from the night you told me for the second time that you wanted to give me your true heart, I could never let you go again."

"I deliberately left false memories in the sacred tree to mislead you, then deliberately let you see me taking blood from my heart for you, then deliberately played hard to get and left you, so you'd come to the underworld to find me, then guided you to see the edited memories in the great seal of Houtu... It was all to make you feel guilty, to make you unable to leave me, to make you finally willingly accompany me to death." William Sherman's hand grew colder and colder, and the more agitated he became, the tighter his grip, making Logan Sullivan's chin ache.

"Even now, when you've seen through everything, I'm still forcing you," William Sherman's voice was very low, almost breaking, "Will you choose to die with me, to return to chaos forever, or will you let me take away your memories of this life, so that you no longer know me, no longer remember me, and I have nothing to do with you ever again?"

Because he refused to fall for it, these two paths finally lay clearly before him.

The two of them stood atop Mount Penglai in William Sherman's memory. After Zane Shaw and Zach Warren came up empty, they called No. 4 Radiant Way. Zach Warren probably subconsciously believed that as long as the Soulwarden was with their boss, nothing serious could happen, so she spoke lightly and told everyone not to worry.

But after Charles Gray hung up, he held his big face in his hands, troubled: "How are we supposed to find her?"

He lowered his head, searching through his phone for a long time before finally pulling up a group photo with so many people that the faces were barely visible. Then Charles Gray spent five minutes coming up with a very simple and crude idea: "How about I enlarge her photo, print it out, and post a missing person notice online and in the newspapers?"

Carter Shaw said, "By the time you do that, the scammers will have already sold that girl wholesale and then retail her again. I suggest you go look for her at Carrefour instead."

Charles Gray looked at him, completely at a loss.

"Alright, just tell me exactly where her family lives. How do you get to Longcheng?"

Charles Gray reported the name of the province and administrative district: "Of course her family isn't in the city. They're from Cuijia Village, a rural village under a remote county in the whole region. You can take an eight-hour bus from the village out of the mountains to the administrative center, then take a train..."

"No way," Carter Shaw cut him off, "You need real-name registration for trains. Never mind whether the scammers would do that, but we don't even know if the girl has an ID card. She couldn't have just stolen the household registration book and run off."

Charles Gray was stunned.

Carter Shaw opened his computer and looked up the long-distance bus schedules from the prefecture-level city Charles Gray mentioned to Longcheng. After thinking for a moment, he checked the route: "Most of the buses from there enter the city via National Highway 220. It's a thirty-hour trip. If the kid ran away from home yesterday, she should be arriving in Longcheng about now."

Charles Gray's eyes lit up: "That's right! Brother Carter, you're a genius! We can wait for her at the highway exit—maybe we'll run into her."

Carter Shaw glanced at his watch and saw it was almost eleven o'clock. How long would they have to wait?

He thought Charles Gray was crazy, but seeing how excited he looked, he couldn't help but pour cold water on him: "Human trafficking isn't even our responsibility. Can't you just go home and sleep? You're so quick to promise things, even to ghosts..."

Charles Gray immediately picked up on the complaint in his tone, paused, and awkwardly rubbed his sleeve: "Brother Carter, maybe... maybe you should go home and rest first. I'll just drive over myself. Thank you so much for today. If it weren't for you, I never would have thought of the route."

Carter Shaw frowned.

Charles Gray instinctively thought he'd done something wrong, and immediately nodded and bowed in apology: "Sorry for troubling you to help me carry things today, I really, really feel bad. Maybe... maybe when you have time, I'll treat you to a meal?"

Carter Shaw snorted, picked up his coat, and walked out.