But when Ning Beichen looked with his own eyes, this place was not a paradise at all, but clearly a devil's lair.
There were no tall buildings either, nor any colorful clouds, and as for a happy life, that was utter nonsense.
What Ning Beichen saw before him was a place like an Asura's battlefield. Dark clouds filled the sky, and all the souls were confined in cages, hanging in mid-air, wailing in agony.
"Hmph, it's all a deception!"
Ning Beichen snorted coldly, and with a thought, his body instantly merged with his soul. Following this, the bronze ancient sword in his hand was unsheathed, and with a single strike, it pierced through the beautiful scenery of paradise that everyone saw.
The souls who were originally immersed in the beautiful paradise were suddenly terrified by the horrific scene before them and began to cry out in alarm.
Those divine messengers who were originally responsible for guiding them had all transformed into monstrous beings with gaping mouths like grotesque fleshy orbs.
This was not a paradise at all, but clearly a farm and slaughterhouse for souls.
"Help!"
"Someone save me!"
After leaving their bodies, these souls were like masterless wandering spirits, with no idea where to escape.
And those monsters with gaping mouths lunged ferociously at the chaotic souls. At this moment, Ning Beichen snorted coldly, and a sword cry echoed. Following this, sword light shot out in all directions.
Then, the monsters with gaping mouths exploded and died as if they had been hit by missiles.
"Who has graced us with their presence? Why not come out and speak."
Just then, a figure dressed in white robes, with a halo behind him, appearing like a saint, descended from the sky and called out to Ning Beichen on the ground.
"Putting on a show!"
Ning Beichen floated through the air and appeared directly before the figure dressed like a saint, throwing a punch at him.
This figure, dressed like a saint, had no idea who Ning Beichen was and arrogantly attempted to retaliate.
As a result, Ning Beichen's punch blew away half of his body.
At this moment, his saintly appearance vanished, revealing his true form: a hideous mass of rotten flesh, unrecognizable as any monster.
However, Ning Beichen couldn't be bothered to investigate further. He directly pinned it to the ground with his sword, then stood with one foot on the hilt, steady and unmoving.
"Tell me, what exactly are you? And you dare to impersonate a saint to deceive people."
Ning Beichen interrogated it.
"You're finished. You've ruined the Sun Goddess's plan. The Sun Goddess will surely punish you and make your soul her meal."
This grotesque monster was still roaring.
"The Sun Goddess, is it? I'll be waiting for her here. And tell her for me that I've cleaned myself up and am waiting for her to come find me."
After Ning Beichen spoke, he kicked the thing away, not knowing where it landed.
Next, Ning Beichen began to release the souls bound in cages.
However, Ning Beichen also knew that even releasing their souls was of no use.
From the day they entered this place, they were essentially dead. Even if Ning Beichen took them away from here, it was unlikely that many of them would successfully return to their bodies and come back to life.
In many myths and ghost stories, there were quite a few demons and monsters that fed on human souls, but most of them were just legends. Ning Beichen had only encountered a few real ones.
However, Ning Beichen did know of one that truly existed: the Soul Devourer.
But the last recorded appearance of the Soul Devourer was during the Republic of China era, and they had long since disappeared in modern times. He wondered what this so-called Sun Goddess was.
But now was not the time to research such matters. Ning Beichen's purpose for entering this place was twofold: to investigate the situation and to search for the souls of Old Master Niu and the others.
Ning Beichen had already checked the nearby cages and had not found the souls of Old Ghost, Old Master Niu, and A Qin. He didn't know if they didn't exist or if they weren't imprisoned here. Therefore, Ning Beichen decided to search elsewhere.
Just as Ning Beichen was about to leave, he suddenly saw the soul of the female reporter looking at him timidly, with a pitiful expression.
Ning Beichen paused for a moment, then grabbed her soul and flew away.
Regardless, this female reporter had kindly offered to help him before. Since he could save her, he would.
"Are... are you an immortal?"
As Ning Beichen flew through the air, he heard the female reporter's voice, filled with curiosity and excitement.
"No."
Ning Beichen replied.
"Then... then how can you fly? I know, you must be like Superman in the movies, right?"
Perhaps it was her reporter's nature that made the female reporter extremely curious about Ning Beichen, making her forget that she was still in danger.
"No."
Ning Beichen was searching for the souls of Old Master Niu and the others with his divine sense and casually fended her off.
"You must be! You can't fool me. Is this your sword? It's so cool! Just like a sword immortal in the movies. Can you teach me? Why don't you take me as your disciple?"
The female reporter became more and more excited.
"Be quiet!"
Ning Beichen exerted a force that suppressed her, and the female reporter immediately lost the ability to speak, only able to look at him with pitiful eyes.
Ning Beichen paid her no mind and continued to search for the whereabouts of Old Master Niu's soul.
"Huh?"
Ning Beichen suddenly showed a hint of confusion, and then his body transformed into a beam of light, flying north. The female reporter's soul was so frightened that she didn't dare to open her eyes, exclaiming how thrilling it was.
Soon, Ning Beichen landed in a dark place. He stood before a mountain wall, looking left and right, as if observing something.
The female reporter also followed him curiously, but found herself looking at nothing. It was just a bare mountain wall, not even a single flower, and she couldn't understand what was so interesting about it.
But at that moment, Ning Beichen suddenly punched the mountain wall from a distance.
With a boom!
A huge opening appeared in the mountain wall.
The female reporter looked at the gaping hole in the mountain wall and then at Ning Beichen, her face filled with surprise and delight.
"It's confirmed! You say you're not an immortal, but how could an immortal punch such a large hole?"
"Even if you're not an immortal, you're at least a mysterious figure like Superman."
At this point, she had already mentally prepared the draft of her report and publicity for Ning Beichen.
Fortunately, Ning Beichen had sealed her mouth, preventing her from speaking.
Otherwise, at this moment, she would undoubtedly have been unable to resist launching into at least three thousand characters of thoughts and praise.
At this time.
Ning Beichen had already led her into the entrance of the mountain wall that had been blasted open.
Inside was a very dark and damp place, like a complex ant nest, with numerous passages.