Shen Siyuan stepped forward, first crossing the broken entrance of the Xuzhou City God Mansion.
The threshold had long decayed and shattered over a thousand-year span, while the blue stone path beneath his feet cracked with dense fissures, the columns on either side inclined and skewed, their vermillion paint peeled away to reveal carbonized wooden bones.
Yet even amidst such desolation, there was not a trace of the outside's chilling polluted energy within the mansion; instead, a faint scent akin to incense lingered, isolating the surrounding polluted energy, and even the heavy black clouds above parted to reveal a few strands of clear, ghostly light.
With the Lotus Lamp held high, Dou Dou walked at the forefront, its wick like a jumping sprite, casting an orange-red glow that illuminated the path ahead brightly.
