And by some strange coincidence, Spirit Mask appeared in the River of Forgetfulness at that very moment, neither early nor late.

Although the Great Seal was on the verge of collapse, it hadn’t truly broken—at this point, only William Sherman and Spirit Mask knew the real situation. Spirit Mask, in order to set a trap for William Sherman, had spent years extracting chaos from the cracks in the Great Seal to create the illusion of its breaking. Unexpectedly, that small cluster of chaos was instead sealed away by William Sherman, and no one knew where it had ended up.

Spirit Mask was suspicious and neurotic by nature. He hadn’t thought much of it at first, but after overhearing William Sherman say something ambiguous under the ancient tree of merit, he became restless.

He hadn’t expected that small cluster of chaos to cause such a commotion in the underworld. Spirit Mask, who had followed its trail here and just surfaced from the water, was shocked to see the scene on the shore and immediately realized he’d been tricked. It was already too late to retreat.

Amidst the chaos, someone shouted, “Wraith King!”

King Grimcourt immediately seized the opportunity: “Wraith King has appeared. No matter what, fellow cultivators, is this really the time to argue about right and wrong?”

The Ten Lords Choir quickly echoed him: “If you still care about the bigger picture, now is the time to set aside sectarian prejudices and unite against the ghost clan!”

In an instant, Wraith King was surrounded. Spirit Mask secretly resented William Sherman for outmaneuvering him, but no matter what, he felt that the matter between him and William Sherman was just between the two of them, and there was nothing to say to this rabble of nobodies.

Suddenly, he shot up several zhang from the water, let out a whistle, and countless ghosts emerged from the River of Forgetfulness. The chaos that could devour all things formed a massive barrier behind them.

The inside and outside of the Hall of Yama became a battlefield.

Holly Harlow was a bit worried about her fourth uncle and was itching to join the demon clan, but Logan Sullivan grabbed her: “Look carefully at who’s in there. Little girl, don’t go making trouble.”

At that moment, a higher-level ghost, bloodthirsty and crazed, somehow charged right up to Logan Sullivan. Logan Sullivan raised his gun, but the ghost dodged. Just as he was about to fire again, a familiar bell sounded from behind—Julian West, missing for several days, appeared and flung several talismans marked with the “卍” symbol.

The ghost instantly turned into a wisp of black smoke.

Julian West dragged Logan Sullivan toward the secret chamber where the Soulbound Lamp was kept: “Get out of the way! What are you two doing here in the middle of this mess?”

Logan Sullivan looked him up and down, his expression uncertain: “Were you the one shouting just now?”

“……” Julian West, “I was already pinching my throat to call out.”

“Pinching your throat? Even if you screamed yourself hoarse, I’d still recognize your voice.” Logan Sullivan’s face was as dark as a stormy sky. “William Sherman, get out here right now!”

Chapter 103 Soulbound Lamp …

Behind the massive stone door of the secret chamber, William Sherman finally appeared slowly. He hadn’t looked nearly this anxious when he’d just instructed Julian West to cause trouble.

Logan Sullivan’s gaze landed on the bloodstain on his chest and lingered there. His fist, clenched at his side, made the veins on the back of his hand stand out, as if he might punch William Sherman at any moment.

Yet in the end, Logan Sullivan didn’t even lift a finger. He just stayed silent, pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth, forcing himself to keep quiet, and silently counted—losing track twice. This man, who always joked about his “low IQ,” finally fulfilled his own prophecy—he took nearly two minutes to stumble his way to thirty.

Julian West, quick on the uptake, immediately covered Holly Harlow’s mouth and dragged the confused girl aside the moment William Sherman appeared.

The longer Logan Sullivan stayed silent, the more anxious William Sherman became, until finally Logan Sullivan spoke: “William Sherman.”

In that instant, his tone reminded William Sherman of the time Logan Sullivan had seen through the deception in the sacred tree, and said, with a hint of exhaustion, “If you keep this up, I really will turn against you.”

William Sherman suddenly panicked and, heedless of everything, tried to walk toward him. But as soon as he lifted his foot, Logan Sullivan raised a hand to stop him.

“Don’t come over.” Logan Sullivan lowered his head, his voice barely above a whisper. “Don’t come over yet. Now’s not the time for you to show yourself.”

William Sherman had no choice but to freeze in place.

Holly Harlow, not understanding, stared blankly at Julian West and asked, “What do you mean? Why isn’t it the time to show himself? Why can’t he?”

Julian West replied calmly, “Amitabha, don’t worry about it.”

Holly Harlow: “……”

Logan Sullivan looked at the torn clothes and bloodstains on William Sherman’s chest, and after a long while finally asked, “Does it hurt?”

William Sherman nodded instinctively at first, then, with his chin lowered, quickly shook his head.

Julian West was useless at serious matters, but a master at matchmaking and other sneaky business—truly a friend to middle-aged women everywhere. Seeing the situation, he immediately piped up, “Of course it hurts—he fainted from the pain twice!”

Logan Sullivan sucked in a breath, his face livid. Without even glancing at Julian West, he snapped coldly, “Julian West, it wouldn’t kill you to shut up for once.”

Julian West pretended to be interested in something else, turned around, tugged at Holly Harlow, and pointed toward the chaos: “Hey, miss, look—they’re fighting over there.”

Holly Harlow suddenly became very interested in her now-dusty shoes, studying them intently and quietly edging away from Julian West.

Logan Sullivan turned his head slightly, gazing at the melee outside. He relaxed, leaning against the stone wall, and after a while finally said, “So you used some method to force Spirit Mask into a corner…”

William Sherman quickly confessed, “I lured him to the summit of Kunlun Mountain, used the Three Lives Stone as the base of the furnace, connected the Soul Refining Cauldron and the Merit Brush to the Reincarnation Sundial, and used the Mountain and River Awl to lock onto the Reincarnation Sundial.”

Logan Sullivan didn’t look at him, speaking slowly, as if thinking as he spoke: “Kunlun summit… I wouldn’t have remembered if you hadn’t mentioned it. That time, you left a mark on everyone present, didn’t you? The more I think about it, it could only have been you. If the underworld could pull off something like that without anyone noticing, things wouldn’t have gotten to this point.”

William Sherman opened his hand, revealing a long strand of hair in his palm. He closed his hand, and the hair vanished in an instant. A moment later, it appeared in front of Logan Sullivan—the jet-black hair that the man had once loved to play with dangled before him, slowly emitting an ominous black aura… the same kind of black aura as the chaos collected by Spirit Mask.

William Sherman pinched the hair, breaking it into several pieces in his hand. He admitted his guilt very cooperatively: “That was the mark.”

Logan Sullivan nodded: “Oh, actually, back in the small town, when you split open the ground, I should have realized it. You’re the guardian of the Great Seal—if even I could tell it was a Yin Soldier’s cut, how could you not have noticed?”

William Sherman: “Spirit Mask wasn’t at his full strength. Part of his power was sealed in the Houtu Great Seal, so he didn’t realize my senses were sharper than his. I sensed it at the time—there were fragments of chaos beneath our feet.”

Logan Sullivan: “And you still let him stab you? Are you crazy?”

William Sherman: “……”

“Don’t play dead—answer me!”

“At that time…” William Sherman’s voice was hoarse for a moment. He quickly cleared his throat. “That really wasn’t my original plan. I wasn’t in such a hurry, even though the groundwork was laid… there was still time, I didn’t plan to act so soon. It was Spirit Mask who was desperate—he used the chaos fragments to set a trap for me. I just had a sudden idea to redirect the trouble, and later, when collecting the chaos fragments, I didn’t want all my efforts to go to waste, so…”

Logan Sullivan leaned his head against the stone wall and gave a sour little laugh: “Yeah, you’re so quick-witted. On Kunlun Mountain, you heard me say two sentences and spun a half-true, half-fake mythic world—so you used the ‘cutting off the arm’ thing to test me, found out I really couldn’t handle it, and then decisively tricked me into it too?”

William Sherman’s voice dropped: “You wouldn’t have agreed…”

His lips trembled slightly. Julian West, watching coldly from the side, couldn’t tell if this was an act or genuine—for all he knew, William Sherman looked just like a criminal who knew he’d made a huge mistake, standing in court awaiting judgment, anxious and uneasy.

Logan Sullivan fell silent again.

Suddenly, William Sherman vanished from where he stood. Logan Sullivan keenly sensed someone approach, carefully bracing both hands on the stone wall beside him. Then his fist was gripped by a cold hand.

William Sherman whispered in his ear, “If you’re angry, just hit me. I won’t dodge.”

Logan Sullivan jerked his hand away, breaking free.

William Sherman pulled him into a tight embrace, pinning him firmly against the stone wall.