Eryke the Third whispered to Hak Soo in a barely audible tone:

"They can't see me, so talk to them first."

"Yes." Hak Soo nodded, her body trembling as she stood up and faced the group.

There was a young man to one side, a young lady with five burly bodyguards, and an elderly man with a wrinkled face.

"Who are you all?" Hak Soo demanded, her voice shaky.

"Don't worry, little girl, we mean no harm," the young lady said with a warm smile. "We're just travelers heading to the famous Flowering Clouds Town. Are you the keeper here?"

"Y-yes." Hak Soo stammered, lying through her teeth.

"Great!" the young lady beamed. "We're exhausted. Would it be alright if we stayed here for the night?"

Hak Soo didn't respond until Eryke the Third gave a subtle nod of confirmation.

"Okay."

The group opened the doors to the old temple, revealing an empty space cloaked in darkness.

As soon as they entered, Eryke the Third narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong here, his ghoul instincts were on edge.

"Is this… death energy?"

He watched as Hak Soo cleared a spot and leaned against the wall, while the travelers quietly settled into their own places, the scene strangely peaceful.

His gaze shifted downward, his eyes narrowing further.

"There's something here… something I can't quite place."

The air felt heavy, as if death energy lingered in the space, but he couldn't pinpoint its source.

Eryke the Third remained in the same spot, his mind sharp and alert, watching for any signs of danger.

But…

Nothing happened.

The hours passed, and he remained patient, waiting for something, anything, but there was no change.

Hak Soo had regained her calm after a few hours and was now casually chatting with the young lady, trying to lighten the mood. But there was always a flicker of vigilance hidden deep in her eyes.

As the sun began its descent and night slowly took over, they were still there. Eryke the Second never took his gaze off them.

Finally, the moon rose high in the sky, yet there was almost no change. The death energy still lingered, oppressive and heavy in the air.

"Umm?" He scratched his head in confusion.

"Is there really nothing?"

Eryke the Third thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly felt a shift in his surroundings.

The death energy began to gather, swirling in rapid succession. The dense mass of death energy surge through the roof.

"Finally." Eryke the Third muttered under his breath. He focused, suppressing his own leaking death energy and drawing it deep into his core, trying to hide his presence as much as possible.

Meanwhile, the little girl and the travelers were finishing their meal and preparing to sleep. The sense of danger around them was growing stronger with each passing moment.

He took a deep, steadying breath, calming his mind, focusing on the rising threat.

Crack!

A sharp, crisp sound, like glass breaking, echoed through the air.

Reality itself seemed to tremble, space warping and tearing apart as if it were unraveling.

Eryke the Third looked on as the world completely broke apart into pieces, and the world changed in front of him.

His pupils looked around and were immediately attracted to a giant statue in the middle of the temple.

This statue was a giant, fifty feet in height, and its face…

"Exactly the same as my main body."

He looked on as children were in chains, grinding herbs with a stone religiously.

His gaze fell on Hak Soo and the others, who had already completely fallen asleep.

"Is this place only shown when there is night?" He looked around for any exit in his ghastly form but couldn't find any.

It was as if there was a barrier that completely sealed away anything that correlated with entrance.

"More troublesome than I imagined. First, let's explore the statue."

In his ghastly form, he crept up on his own statue and started to observe it from head to toe.

Immediately, he found some similarity, not only in his face but also in his body.

It was as muscular as his main body; however, the clothes were those of a Buddhist monk, and its eyes were covered in a black gleam.

"This is…" When Eryke the Third's eyes fell on this thing, he was immediately stunned.

At this moment, a figure wrapped in black rags with a hunched back walked into this place.

And following him were two people.

Their steps were filled with respect towards this man.

The children didn't stop their work, which began even more rigorously, with trembling bodies.

One of them couldn't handle the pressure, around the age of twelve to fourteen years, tears filled in his eyes.

Plop!

His tears fell in the herbs.

A strange silence followed.

One of the two men following the hunched man immediately wore a ferocious expression.

"You little brat, how dare you taint the herbs?" He drew a whip and ruthlessly slashed at the child.

Ahhh—

The child cried out in pain and horror as a layer of skin was torn from him. Blood splattered everywhere, staining the ground.

The other children didn't dare to stop. Their bodies trembled violently.

Despite the pain, they knew that the moment they stopped, they would face a terrifying consequence, one too horrible to imagine in their wildest nightmares.

The hunched man shook his head and approached the fallen, unconscious figure of the group.

"She escaped from this place once, but now she's returned. Those I sent after her have completely disappeared," the hunched man spoke coldly. "What do you think I should do with her?"

"Investigate her. Her life holds little value compared to the master's, but if we examine her, we might uncover something useful," the man holding the whip, stained with the child's blood, said venomously.

"You're right." The hunched man snickered, nodding with appreciation. "And what should I do with the others?"

"Investigate them?" the man asked, his voice tentative.

"Haha, very good, disciple."

The hunched master spoke, pointing a finger at him.

The man's excitement grew, as if he were about to be rewarded.

But then, a flash of light, the man's world turned blank.

With a sickening thud, he collapsed to the ground, blood soaking into the earth.