“What's going on?” Zu An was taken aback by how hesitant the giant taotie was.

Pei Mianman glanced at the elevated pavilion. “I think it’s scared of this elevated pavilion. There might be something terrifying lurking over there.”

“But there’s nothing over there…” Zu An jumped high up into the air, but did not see anything.

“Let’s wait for a while,” suggested Pei Mianman. Regardless of what was going on, something that could scare even this giant taotie was probably not something that they could deal with on their own.

“All right.” Even though Zu An was usually rather easygoing, he was a cautious person deep down. There was clearly something dangerous up there, so there was no way he would run headfirst into that.

“I wonder when that guy will leave,” Pei Mianman remarked, frowning at the giant beast.

“I don’t care about it leaving. I’m more worried about it charging over.” Zu An estimated that the distance between them was only about ten or so meters. For most cultivators, such a distance could be taken care of in a single leap, and the same went for that taotie monster.

That giant taotie had clearly grown impatient as they were talking. It pushed off its hind legs strongly and charged at them.

Zu An could not believe it.

Why the hell did I have to raise a stupid flag for myself?!

“Does your mouth have some bloody superpower?” Pei Mianman was incredulous. This sort of thing had already happened more than once.

With no other escape route, the two of them were forced to run up the stairs.

They had only made it up a few steps when ancient music began to fill the air around them.

The ferocious giant taotie hesitated when it heard this music, and subconsciously took a few steps back.

“Where is that music coming from?” Pei Mianman was confused. There were no instruments around them to explain the sudden music.

“I think it’s coming from the stairs.” As he said this, Zu An stomped on the step he was standing on, and music drifted out.

“Why would these stairs make music?” Pei Mianman stomped in disbelief as well. Sure enough, more music followed.

“I dreamt of some musical staircases. All sorts of songs could be played when they were stepped on…” Zu An didn’t dare bring up his hometown as an excuse anymore. After all, everyone knew that he had spent his entire life in Brightmoon City. Pei Mianman was intimately familiar with Brightmoon City, so he wouldn’t get away with that sort of bluff. He could only put all of this on dreams.

Pei Mianman already knew that he dreamt of weird things, so she accepted what he said. “The music that is being played sounds like wind chimes, but also a bit like the bianzhong, that ancient bell instrument. But this melody is different from the usual sweet-sounding tunes that these instruments tend to play. It actually sounds rather sinister. I think it’s giving me the chills.”

“If something’s not right, then let’s not climb up any further!” Zu An pulled Pei Mianman back. Creepy music was playing, and they had a giant taotie right behind them. Everything about this was weird!

Unfortunately, that giant Taotie had no intentions of letting the two of them go. Even though it didn’t dare climb up, it opened its bloody mouth, sending a long tongue shooting out at the two of them.

The skeletal warrior’s bones, which were as hard as steel, had been instantly shattered by this tongue. The two of them didn’t dare underestimate its power, and instantly evaded to the side.

However, the massive taotie used its tongue like a spear, continuously thrusting it at the two of them. There wasn’t that much room to evade, since they were on a flight of stairs, and they were almost impaled by the tongue several times.

Zu An knew that it was folly to continue on like this. They were going to be wounded by that tongue sooner or later. He grabbed Pei Mianman and began to run up the stairs. “There’s no choice! We have to go up!”

Even if this giant taotie didn’t continue to attack them, it’s mere presence would be enough to trap them here, and they would die sooner or later.

Pei Mianman voiced her agreement. Given their current situation, she would much rather risk whatever was up there than face the giant taotie.

The two of them went up the stairs. It was as if they were stepping on a piano―every step produced music that echoed through the cavernous place. It really was eerie.

“Do you feel like the air is getting colder?” Pei Mianman crossed her arms and asked in a puzzled manner.

Zu An spread his arms. “Come here, I’ll give you a warm hug.”

Pei Mianman snorted. “You’re always so annoying. I’m being serious!”

Zu An put away his smile. “You’re right. There might be some sinister things nearby. We need to be careful.”

“I think there’s a stele over there. There seem to be some words on it,” Pei Mianman said, pointing at the distant summit.

Zu An’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t see what’s on it.”

Given their cultivation, it shouldn’t have been difficult to make out the words from this distance away. However, the air around that stele seemed rather strange, and it was making the words blurry.

As the two of them approached, the words grew less blurred. By the time they reached the end of the stairs, they could finally make out those words.

Unfortunately, they were still written in the cryptic runes of the oracle script, and Zu An could not make heads or tails out of them. He called out to his big sis empress, but Mi Li didn’t respond at all.

“Turn back now, turn back now; forty-four steps, none shall leave!” Pei Mianman looked at that stele and slowly recited the words.

Zu An looked at her in shock. What the hell…?

“You can understand these characters as well?”

Pei Mianman shook her head. “I don’t understand them, but for some reason, I subconsciously read them out when I looked at those words.”

“Forty-four steps… I think we just happened to have walked up forty-four steps.” Zu An’s face paled. Whoever planted this stele had put it in a terrible spot! They hadn’t been able to see it clearly beforehand, and it only managed to warn them when they were close to it.

Of course, by the time they were close enough to read it, it was already too late! What a stupid scam!

The music grew ever more sinister and eerie, sounding as if countless spirits were wailing.

The two of them felt the ground beneath them tremble. When they looked down, they didn’t see any stairs. The path was made of countless skulls!

There was a row of torches along the sides of the stairs, which Pei Mianman had lit with her black flames earlier on. The ordinary flames within them suddenly flickered, and took on a frightening green color.

Zu An swallowed. “What the hell is this... I don’t like where this is going at all!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, many transparent ghosts suddenly appeared from within the mist, each with a sinister appearance, and every single one of them wailing and howling.

“Ghosts?” This sight was a rude shock for someone like him, who had been educated using science.

Pei Mianman jumped in to explain it to him. “In some special circumstances, if the souls of the deceased are not extinguished, they will turn into these evil, spirit-like existences. Some texts refer to them collectively as the underworld race, but they are quite rare…”

As she was explaining this, the spirits, which seemed to be flickering in and out of existence, suddenly grew alert, as though they had smelled blood. A group of them flew towards the two humans, but the majority headed towards the giant taotie. Its massive size clearly made it more attractive.

That taotie immediately broke out into a run. Unfortunately, it had unknowingly ended up on the stairs while chasing Zu An and Pei Mianman, even if it wasn’t as far up as the two of them.

Those evil spirits swarmed over it, drowning its massive body in a sea of ghostly ones.

The taotie wailed continuously, waving its razor-sharp claws about itself, and using its bloody mouth to tear at the spirits. Its sharp tail thrashed about.

Unfortunately, the evil spirits had no material form, and so its physical attacks passed straight through them without doing anything.

“Screech!”

The giant taotie shrieked furiously, but as time went on, its utterances sounded more and more like cries of anguish.

In a matter of moments, its massive body collapsed. The flesh covering some parts of it had already disappeared, exposing the white bone beneath

At this rate, its entire body would soon be devoured by those evil spirits.

Zu An and Pei Mianman had no time to be distracted. Some of the evil spirits were swooping towards them as well.