I've never drifted in there, but this character has.
Li Ban silently thought to himself.
"My lord, I don't remember. I woke up in the Corpse Pit. But aren't all things in the river supposed to be corpses?"
Zhou Gu gazed at the turbulent yellow river water, feeling emotional, and unexpectedly became talkative.
"Occasionally there are living people too," he said, pointing to small boats on the river. "Those people are corpse fishermen and corpse-bearers."
"Living people found by corpse-bearers without Identity or elemental affinity become their property. These people jointly operate a slave market in the Black Market White Market."
"If they find corpses with elemental traces, they carry them back to Eternal Tower for processing."
Hearing this, Li Ban's heart stirred.
If he could find elemental corpses by the riverbank, could he obtain free elements?
If true, his need for elements would far exceed other Spirit Practitioners.
The better the element, the more expensive. Buying them outright was impossible—he needed alternative methods.
Zhou Gu glanced at Li Ban and immediately understood what the intense river-gazing meant.
"All corpses in the River of Forgetfulness belong to Eternal Tower. Anyone caught secretly fishing for corpses becomes a slave."
"Moreover, Eternal Tower has unique methods for extracting fused elements from corpses. Others attempting this would likely only get rotten flesh and useless elements."
Li Ban averted his gaze but didn't truly abandon the idea.
With his mission assistance system, maybe he could try.
Previously, he hadn't extracted elements from corpses himself—they were already obtained and fully belonged to him when the system gave fusion prompts.
Not feasible now, but worth long-term consideration.
"My lord, why are there so many corpses in the River of Forgetfulness? And though damaged, none show signs of rotting or swelling."
Zhou Gu's reply surprised him.
"I don't know."
"What?"
"Perhaps higher Identity individuals might know. I only know one saying passed down for centuries:"
"The River of Forgetfulness flows to the Corpse Pit, the River of No Return flows to the Unreturning Place."
So there was another river called the River of No Return equally famous as the River of Forgetfulness.
Li Ban wondered what this other river looked like.
After forcing himself to look away, Li Ban's gaze kept drifting back.
He repeatedly reminded himself—this was the Witch World, a virtual reality, his true body remained in that sci-fi laboratory after transmigration.
Yet among thousands of floating corpses, he didn't see a single repeated character model.
Either the virtual world's processing core was immensely powerful, or...
Li Ban stopped that thought.
He turned his back to the river, looking no more.
"Scared?" Zhou Gu misunderstood Li Ban's action. "You'll get used to it."
They didn't cross the river but walked along it until reaching a bend where their destination appeared.
Eternal Tower.
Li Ban expected a corpse-processing facility to be either ghostly or reeking of decay.
Instead, he saw a magnificent ancient pagoda complex.
The sprawling complex had mostly three-to-four-story peripheral towers, with a central seven-story pagoda standing out—black tiles, red lacquer.
This brick-wood structure had a three-meter-high base alone.
Each of its towering levels exceeded four meters in height.
As Li Ban admired it, the black roof tiles on the main pagoda's eaves suddenly shifted.
His eyes widened slightly as a giant black-scaled tiger rose atop the tower.
Then massive black leather wings unfolded, momentarily blocking the sun behind it.
Sunlight filtering through gilded the beast's outline—radiant as a divine creature.
The tiger seemed to merely stretch before folding its wings and settling back, blending into the black tiles until nearly indistinguishable.
"That's Eternal Tower Master's mount, the Black-Winged Qiongqi. Keep your distance."
Li Ban thought, I wouldn't go near it even if you told me to.
"My lord, with Eternal Tower so impressive, what Identity rank is its master?"
Zhou Gu watched the Qiongqi cautiously. "Sixth rank."
Li Ban was surprised.
The master controlling all corpses in the River of Forgetfulness, preventing others from claiming them, was only sixth rank?
With ten ranks being peak, sixth was upper-mid at best.
Didn't that seem low?
"You think it's low?"
"Confusing, but surely there's reasoning beyond my understanding."
"Knowing your ignorance suffices. Even I don't understand, but this isn't Eternal Tower's deficiency."
Zhou Gu looked up at the increasingly towering pagoda, complex emotions flashing through his eyes.
After a moment, perhaps feeling overly exposed, he changed tone.
"Regardless, don't overthink. Though Death Prison jailers are fourth rank, Officer Du's exceptional skills and powerful fused elements place him among Yu Region's elite."
Li Ban suspected Zhou Gu was comforting himself.
Regarding Identity, elements and strength, he'd heard similar from the cat-woman.
One's power relates to Spirit Practitioner rank, fused elements, experience and mentality.
Lower ranks killing higher ones wasn't unheard of in life-or-death situations.
But Identity rank gaps do affect spiritual essence absorption capacity.
Quantity can transform into quality.
Normally, first rank can absorb one element. Suppose saturating it requires 100 spiritual essence.
Second rank allows two elements, but rank advancement might require 200 essence per element.
Besides reabsorbing 100 for original elements, new elements can take another 100.
Pure essence quantity makes second rank four times first rank.
Reality differs—elements have varying saturation points, never neat hundreds.
Actual power disparities have multiple possibilities.
It also depends on combat effectiveness.
More realistic this way.
Yet regardless of talent, Li Ban doubted Death Prison officers could defeat Eternal Tower's master two ranks higher.
Zhou Gu likely agreed—hence his complicated gaze at the tower.
The carriage finally stopped. Old Qin hadn't spoken the entire trip.
Only now did he say, "Officer Zhou, we've arrived."
Zhou Gu exited first, Li Ban following closely. Old Qin remained waiting roadside.
They approached Eternal Tower's front pagoda—merely two stories with three normal stone steps.
"Give me your purchase list." Zhou Gu took it and knocked.
A black-clad youth emerged immediately.
Recognizing Zhou Gu, they exchanged small packages from their robes.
Zhou Gu's contained Li Ban's list.
"Please also call jailer Zhao Yu."
The youth replied calmly, "Understood. Wait momentarily."
After the door closed, Zhou Gu returned to Li Ban's side.
"What did you just see?" Zhou Gu suddenly asked.