Carter Shaw was thoroughly startled, but he knew this was not the time to overthink. He murmured a low thanks, then immediately picked up Charles Gray, lightly leveraging the soul web, and sprang upward. His toes tapped the railing of the suspension bridge, and he swiftly landed at one end of the bridge. He swung his arm and tossed Charles Gray toward the cave entrance behind him, then flicked out twelve talismans in quick succession, hurling them at the red-eyed ghost clan blocking their way. In response, thunderbolts from the heavens struck down, turning the suspension bridge into a high-voltage electric grid.

Behind the battlefield, the souls woven into a net transformed into a string of glowing dots, circling around Charles Gray.

The unremarkable young man suddenly radiated a faint orange halo, like the warm glow of fire. The souls swirling around him seemed to sense something and instinctively drew closer.

In Charles Gray's mind, a voice seemed to speak, and he couldn't help but blurt out, "Calm... calm the souls of the living, bring peace to the hearts of the dead..."

A beam of light came from afar, piercing the endless darkness of the world. At first, the light was extremely faint, but then the area it illuminated grew larger and larger, eventually spreading as far as the eye could see, covering the entire land.

The red-eyed ghost clan, who had gained the upper hand and nearly forced Carter Shaw back onto the bridge, suddenly let out a miserable scream, covering their eyes and stumbling back several steps. On the swaying bridge, they fell to the ground, then twisted and shriveled, and were finally burned away by the light.

Carter Shaw was shocked again and turned to look at Charles Gray. In that moment, he had the illusion that Charles Gray had become a cluster of flames, his flickering matching the rhythm of every spark across the land in a miraculous harmony.

The corpse king looked worried, strode over, and tentatively reached his hand into the flames flickering on Charles Gray, only to feel a strange warmth—not hot at all.

Charles Gray couldn't see the flames on himself. Still dazed, he followed the voice in his heart and recited the second half: "...atone for the sins of those not yet dead, complete the cycle not yet finished."

His voice seemed to merge with something vast within the earth, resonating and echoing without end. Carter Shaw sensed something, looked up, and saw the souls who had died in the villa town—whom they had searched for all night but never found—floating up from the foot of the mountain, drifting to Charles Gray's side.

Charles Gray carried a notebook with detailed records of every missing person described by their families, as well as the names, ages, and physical features of each homeowner in the town.

The souls lined up, each finding their own page. Some picked up a pen to add a message for someone, while others, seeing their own names written in childish scrawl, seemed to let go of their lingering attachments.

At last, they disappeared one by one into the air, turning into countless points of light that flew toward the sky.

Thunder rumbled at the horizon like the coming of spring. The sky, shrouded in dark clouds, showed a hint of change. Then, in the due south, two enormous trees broke through the earth—no one knew when they had sprouted—growing taller than houses, taller than skyscrapers... even taller than the mountains.

The souls gathered around Charles Gray had almost all departed, leaving only one behind, who landed on the ground and revealed the appearance of the courier David Ford.

"Bro," he called excitedly to Carter Shaw and Charles Gray, "thank you both. I believe in the next life now. When I'm reborn as a human, I'll still be my parents' son, my brother's brother. I'll live well, do good deeds, and make up for everything from this life."

As David Ford spoke, his soul grew more and more transparent, until he too dissolved into fragments of light and finally drifted into the endless cycle of reincarnation.

The light on Charles Gray reached its peak, then suddenly detached from him, shooting off like a meteor toward the distance.

Sitting beneath the Soul Suppressing Lantern, Hermit of the Wildlands suddenly opened his eyes. A ball of fire, brilliant as the morning sun, fell into the lantern, and the once tiny flame leapt a hundred meters high.

Warden of Highspire stood up, his hands pressed against the lantern glowing orange in the firelight. With his back to the others, he finally revealed a flicker of indescribable anxiety and hope as he gazed at the lantern.

A human figure gradually took shape in the flames, broke free, and flew straight into Warden of Highspire's arms. The person was not heavy, but Warden of Highspire seemed to use all his strength to catch him, stumbling back and falling to the ground together.

Julian West let out a small cry: "Mr. Sherman!"

The calm expression Warden of Highspire had struggled to maintain finally cracked, his knuckles turning white as he clutched William Sherman.

William Sherman seemed to suddenly choke on something, coughing softly a few times. His head tilted unconsciously to the side, resting against Warden of Highspire, his gentle breathing brushing against his neck.

Tiny flames flickered briefly at William Sherman's brow and shoulders, then sank into his body and disappeared.

"Is that... soul fire?" Embergrower’s Cauldron said in a daze. "A person of great evil and no soul has now gained true three souls and seven spirits? Do ghosts have souls too? Then why does the Great Seal still exist..."

"The Great Seal is gone. Can't you feel it?" Warden of Highspire gently kissed William Sherman's brow. "The Ghost King has become a saint, gained three souls and seven spirits. Embergrower has finally fulfilled his long-cherished wish, building the true cycle of reincarnation he dreamed of for thousands of years after his death."

"But that's impossible!" Embergrower’s Cauldron said in disbelief. "The three corpses of the human body originated from a place of great disrespect. What about the thousand fathoms of resentment underground? If they merge into the human world, won't the war between gods and demons start all over again..."

William Sherman had been clenching one hand, as if holding something. Warden of Highspire gently took his right hand, sensing a familiar aura. William Sherman's grip slowly loosened, and a golden calming talisman flew from his palm, leaping before Warden of Highspire's eyes.

Warden of Highspire suddenly smiled—this was exactly the one he had drawn on the other's hand the first time they met.

The calming talisman flew straight into the Soul Suppressing Lantern, which slowly rose from the ground and finally sank into the southern land.

The new Four Pillars were thus established, but no longer to suppress anything.

"It was you who kept reminding me with Embergrower's words, and you who found the true core of the Soul Suppressing Lantern." Warden of Highspire carefully picked up William Sherman. "How come you don't understand now?"

"Calm the souls of the living, bring peace to the hearts of the dead—as long as the Soul Suppressing Lantern keeps burning, chaos may exist, but it will never run wild."

As he finished speaking, the tree crowns taller than the mountains suddenly turned into countless tiny droplets of water, scattering to every corner. The land, ravaged and scarred by the breaking of the Great Seal, returned to its original state, sprouting the tender green shoots of early spring that are so easily overlooked. The mortals on the ground would not remember that such a dark and catastrophic event had ever occurred.

The first ray of sunlight pierced the clouds—it was dawn at last.

Author's note: The end

Finally, a while ago a reader suggested I distinguish between the parts of the story that are based on real Chinese mythology and the parts I made up, to avoid misleading everyone.

Actually, almost all of it is my own invention [gets smacked...

The parts with some basis are mainly:

1. Regarding the Three Sovereigns: Fuxi and Nüwa are definitely among them, but the third is debated—some say Suiren, some say Shennong. Here, I chose the Shennong version.

2. The descendants of the Yan Emperor are the descendants of Shennong.

3. The Yellow Emperor's battle with Chiyou is real; after Chiyou's death, the emperor made him the god of war, which is also true. Everything else about the demon clan and such is my own fabrication.

4. The legend of Nüwa creating humans exists, and the concept of "three corpses" also exists, but the idea that "the three corpses originated from earth" is my own invention—the two are unrelated.

5. The story of Gonggong angrily striking Buzhou Mountain is real, and Nüwa repairing the sky afterward is also real. The old turtle offering its four legs is from mythology, but the later addition of the Four Saints and such is made up.

6. The idea that Nüwa is "Houtu" exists, but Chinese mythology is rather messy, and I'm not sure where this originated. There is a version where Houtu is the deity of the underworld, but any connection to reincarnation is my own invention.

7. In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Emperor Jun is a mysterious figure. Some scholars believe Emperor Jun is Fuxi, and that Houyi's bow was given by Emperor Jun. The Fuxi Bagua is also legendary—everyone knows that.

8. What else... I can't think of anything for now... But whenever I quoted from classics, I marked it in the author's notes for that chapter. If it's not marked, it's basically my own fabrication = =

Extra Story One

The afternoon sun slanted into the room, the humidifier spraying a misty white vapor. A coat was tossed onto the sofa in the reception area, leaving creases, but the owner didn't care. The room was extremely quiet, with only the sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard—Logan Sullivan, wearing anti-radiation glasses, was busy revising a report.