King Grimcourt raised his hand and wiped away the image on the Yin-Yang Mirror, his expression heavy as he spoke to the robber Logan Sullivan, who was holding a gun and had taken a judge hostage: “Lord, have you not realized yet? The Great Seal has already been broken. All these years, it was Soulwarden who guarded the seal, but now he is missing, his fate unknown—perhaps even dead. The small oil lamps along the Yellow Springs Road can only provide a brief buffer. The first to suffer will be the Underworld, and then the mortal world. Please, calm yourself. If not for these extraordinary times, we would never have tested you in this way. Right now, we should unite and face this catastrophe together.”

As expected—Logan Sullivan thought—this was a slap followed by a sweet date, force before courtesy.

He lowered his eyes, expression unreadable, released the judge but kept hold of the gun, and glanced back at the ethereal Soulbound Lamp.

“So what exactly does King Grimcourt mean?”

The chaos outside was like a boiling pot, and yet King Grimcourt remained as steady as a mountain. If “having a steady seat” could be entered into the Guinness Book, he’d be the only one in all three realms.

As soon as Logan Sullivan asked, King Grimcourt sighed for a moment, then began to speak in the tone of an old opera singer: “The Soulbound Lamp was once the transformed body of Hermit of the Wildlands’s Warden of Highspire, used to calm souls and ward off evil. It is the last and most powerful of the The Four Pillars, our final protection. But… sigh, Lord, please see for yourself.”

As he spoke, he intended to lead Logan Sullivan directly to the pool where the Soulbound Lamp was kept. Logan Sullivan, however, didn’t move an inch, simply watching him coldly. King Grimcourt looked a bit embarrassed, so he gestured, and the Soulbound Lamp slowly floated to the surface, turning toward them and tilting slightly so those below could see clearly—the Soulbound Lamp had no wick.

“Now that things have come to this, let’s be frank. I have shown much disrespect to Warden of Highspire, and I ask Mountain Sage to be lenient, considering my low rank and my tireless efforts for the safety of the three realms.”

Holly Harlow was startled and turned to look at Logan Sullivan, but the man’s expression didn’t change at all, clearly already aware of the truth.

Logan Sullivan looked quietly at King Grimcourt: “I’m not very smart, so I didn’t quite understand—what exactly were you trying to test me for?”

King Grimcourt was momentarily at a loss for words.

Suddenly, Logan Sullivan laughed. His smile was strange, a bit mocking, but mostly helpless: “Why did you stop the judge from taking me to see Reincarnation? Since the King of Hell knows so many secrets, doesn’t he also know that my memory and power were sealed by Embergrower? Embergrower became Reincarnation itself. I want to find a way to recover my power—maybe I could help you deal with the aggressive Wraith King outside. So why are you stopping me? And… little King of Hell, what gives you the confidence to treat me like that just now?”

King Grimcourt hadn’t expected that a single slip of the tongue would cause so much trouble, and hurriedly said, “It was my poor choice of words…”

“I don’t think it’s just a matter of wording,” Logan Sullivan cut him off. “Actually, you know that when Embergrower sealed me back then, for some reason, my memory and power could never be restored, right?”

King Grimcourt’s eyes darted quickly: “This… this is true. At this critical moment, we just didn’t want Mountain Sage to waste time…”

“You still haven’t said what you were trying to test me for.” Logan Sullivan interrupted him again.

Holly Harlow seemed to sense something from his attitude and silently moved to stand behind Logan Sullivan, glaring at King Grimcourt with a hostile expression.

Before the other could reply, Logan Sullivan gave a half-smile and said, “Since you can’t say it, let me say it for you. You wanted to test whether ‘Warden of Highspire’s power can never be restored’ is really true, right? ‘Rudeness’ is a much lesser crime than what you actually wanted to do, isn’t it?”

King Grimcourt: “Lord, you misunderstand…”

“I was confused too, until I saw the Soulbound Lamp you’ve been hiding here all this time.” Logan Sullivan raised his eyebrows slightly. “Especially… King Grimcourt kept trying to remind me that the Soulbound Lamp was once ‘my’ physical body. Were you also going to remind me that the wick of the Soulbound Lamp was a drop of Warden of Highspire’s heart’s blood?”

He had laid everything bare. King Grimcourt finally fell silent.

“You brought me here to draw a vial of blood from my heart?” Logan Sullivan narrowed his eyes, sizing up King Grimcourt from head to toe. “I’ve spent my whole life being a rascal to others, thought I’d become an invincible old scoundrel, but in the end, someone’s actually trying to play tricks on me.”

The Ten Lords of the Underrealm all descended, their colorful robes fluttering like a flock of bedraggled parrots, and spoke in unison: “Lord, your noble character is an example to us all. We hope you will always put the greater good first.”

Logan Sullivan looked at them with a half-smile, but Holly Harlow exploded first. Her lower body transformed into a giant serpent’s tail, coiling around Logan Sullivan, her delicate eyes elongating to reveal the vertical pupils of a cold-blooded creature: “Do you realize he’s just a mortal?”

Logan Sullivan leisurely answered for them: “They’re not blind, of course they know.”

The scales on Holly Harlow’s body were as red as blood. She spat out a scarlet tongue in anger: “Why don’t you just say you want his life?!”

Logan Sullivan gave a soft, mocking laugh: “How ugly would that sound if they said it out loud?”

The Ten Lords Choir spoke in unison: “All mortals must face birth, aging, sickness, and death. It is the way of reincarnation.”

Logan Sullivan burst out laughing.

Another violent tremor shook the ground. Everyone looked toward the door, only to see the little ghosts in the ghost city running wild in utter chaos. The shadow beneath the River of Forgetfulness writhed more and more violently, and the small lamps along the Yellow Springs Road flickered, on the verge of going out. Some panicked little ghosts even rushed headlong into the Hall of the Underrealm King.

Oxhead and Horseface stood guard at the door, one on each side. 马面 turned his head: “My lord, we can’t hold them much longer!”

“Soulwarden and Embergrower Line agreed to guard the Great Seal and take charge of Highspire. He would never start a massacre without reason, precisely because he can endure what must be endured. Is that why you all act so fearlessly in front of him?” Logan Sullivan sighed softly. “Everyone, I really want to give you a piece of advice: ‘Leave a line for others, so you can meet again in the future.’”

Holly Harlow’s entire body transformed into a giant python, her crimson scales bristling in anger as she lunged at King Grimcourt at the front. Several ghost officers rushed forward, raising steel forks and broadswords to shield the King of Hell.

King Grimcourt pointed at Logan Sullivan: “Seize him!”

Suddenly, a voice cut in coldly: “Seize whom?”

A group of Nightkind burst in, each one a clan leader or elder. Uncle Seth’s eyes swept over Holly Harlow, and though he had previously tried to take her away by force, now he said nothing.

Uncle Seth, whose zodiac year it was, stepped forward from the crowd and bowed solemnly to Logan Sullivan: “Mountain Sage, this humble demon failed to recognize greatness.”

Even the Ravenkind knew whose reincarnation he was. Whether the Viper Clan Chief truly “failed to recognize greatness” or was just pretending, it was hard to say. Logan Sullivan didn’t expose him, just nodded with a smile, as if watching a show.

Uncle Seth declared righteously: “Underrealm holds the power of reincarnation and has always treated our friend with arrogance and disrespect. Normally, we would let it go, but Warden of Highspire has protected the Nightkind for a thousand years. No matter how weak we are, we cannot let you treat the reincarnation of the ancient sage with such disrespect!”

King Grimcourt was the first to speak: “What does the Nightkind mean by this?”

Somehow, the Ravenkind Elder, who had left the Nightkind but now followed at the back, said hoarsely, “Blame the King of Hell for breaking his word. It’s just too untrustworthy.”

Uncle Seth frowned deeply. He hadn’t wanted to be so blunt, but now that someone had exposed it, he was a bit embarrassed.

Just then, someone else spoke up: “Old King of Hell, we followed you to Highspire to help suppress the Wraith King, but you stabbed us in the back. What’s the meaning of this?”

This time, it was the Trinity Way Sect.

“Underrealm is utterly shameless. Last time you summoned us to Highspire to fight the Wraithborn together, it turns out you had a reason—you secretly marked us, guiding the chaos from the Blighted Grounds to leak everywhere. If Underrealm had even a shred of conscience, shouldn’t you have kept that thing sealed underground?”

Soon, the Western Arhats, various wandering immortals, and all sorts of others arrived.

King Grimcourt rebuked angrily: “The breaking of the Great Seal is a catastrophe for all three realms. Why should Underrealm bear the burden alone?”

That set off a hornet’s nest. The Hall of the Underrealm King erupted in a cacophony of arguments among the various great powers, and no one paid any attention to Logan Sullivan. He leaned over to Holly Harlow, who had obediently taken human form and stood to the side upon seeing Uncle Seth, and whispered, “Why didn’t I bring popcorn and soda in here?”

At that moment, the black shadow in the River of Forgetfulness suddenly surged dozens of meters high, and all the little oil lamps went out at once. Someone shouted, “Wraithborn!”

Sure enough, a small group of Wraithborn emerged first from the source of chaos. There weren’t many of them, but they struck right at everyone’s taut nerves.