A horde of white, skeletal monstrosities clawed their way out of the black mire, their forms twisted and grotesque. They hurled themselves at the Wraithlord with reckless abandon, but each one was obliterated in less than a heartbeat.
I remained quietly seated, with John Chou standing behind me. I kept replaying the moment when the Wraithlord granted me the source of baleful energy—everything I saw then. The more I tried to recall, the harder it became, which was strange. John Chou seemed to notice as well; his ghostly threads were still linked to my body, as if searching for this anomaly.
We could only rely on Yuna Ji to stall the Wraithlord. But now, the Wraithlord was leisurely destroying the bone monsters crawling from the mire, while Lord Shenyan kept him contained on all sides.
"Focus."
I nodded and closed my eyes. Gradually, I felt my consciousness begin to fade. In a trance, I saw a blood-red world. I stood atop a crimson lake, the surface thick and viscous as blood. John Chou sat on a stone at the lake’s center, looking at me with a half-smile, raising one hand. In his palm, a swirling mass of blackness writhed and pulsed, as if alive.
"What is going on?" I asked, my voice trembling with unease.
I asked. John Chou stood up and drifted closer, raising the mass in his hand. It didn’t look like baleful energy—more like a fragment of a soul, but broken, incomplete. The sight sent a chill down my spine.
"This is what you saw—the true form of baleful energy."
I looked at John Chou, confusion tightening my chest. He smiled, and for a moment, the oppressive air seemed to thicken.
Mona Ouyang spoke, her face anxious as she watched the fierce battle below. But this fight was meaningless for us—a waste of time.
I shook my head. That wisp of black energy drifted slowly in John Chou’s hand, feeling like a soul but not quite a soul.
"This is the true form of baleful energy. It now exists within your body—can’t you see it?"
I shook my head; this was my first time seeing it. These black, smoke-like wisps of baleful energy, so delicate—John Chou’s smile grew delighted.
"Did you discover something?" he asked, his voice tense and probing.
"The Ultimate Baleful Essence. The reason we can’t break through the Wraithlord’s ghostly body is that his form has completely changed."
I looked at John Chou suspiciously. I’d seen bodies constructed from baleful energy before—even my own ghostly form had some mixed in, partially made of it. Baleful energy is only meant to help channel power more quickly. That’s why it naturally becomes part of a ghost’s body, serving as a medium to better wield that strength.
"What exactly does 'changed' mean?" I pressed, unsettled.
I asked, anxiety prickling at my skin. John Chou smiled, his expression unreadable.
"Maybe someone did it on purpose," he said, a hint of suspicion flickering in his eyes.
My confusion deepened. John Chou released his grip, and the black energy vanished. Suddenly, everything before my eyes disappeared, and I was consumed by a burst of manic laughter.
"Why don’t you all attack together? If you do, you’ll have a much greater advantage."
The Wraithlord kept laughing wildly. Lord Shenyan raised his sword and stabbed at him, but no matter how he attacked, the Wraithlord dodged effortlessly.
I sensed Lord Shenyan’s power weakening, while a force from the Underworld was slowly rising—Quentin Kue’s power. Yuna Ji kept creating monsters that were meaningless to the Wraithlord.
"This can’t go on. There’s no breakthrough at all."
Redmond cried out in delight, but in the next instant, John Chou exploded into a mass of blood. Redmond was yanked away from the Wraithlord by a strand of red ghostly thread.
I glanced at the now completely calm John Chou. What exactly did he mean by the Ultimate Baleful Body? He seemed to have realized something. When the Wraithlord granted me power, I saw the composition of his ghostly body. It seemed forged in an extremely hot place. What I saw was a pitch-black heart with a single red spot, looking incredibly fragile. At that moment, I remembered everything.
"Who could have helped the Wraithlord forge such a body?"
I muttered in confusion. The Wraithlord’s ghostly body, able to carry three souls and seven spirits, was immensely powerful. In the past, even if his body recovered, it couldn’t bear such strength. I couldn’t imagine who could have crafted a vessel like this for him.
"It could only be Mother Goddess Nuwa."
John Chou replied, raising the Rage Blood sword.
"I think the time is about right. Haven’t you found the Earth Soul yet? The source of desire?"
I shook my head, powerless. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t locate the Desire Ghost. Maybe she truly couldn’t coalesce anymore.
Suddenly, as the Wraithlord shattered a white skeletal monster about his size, Lord Shenyan had already moved behind him.
With a crack, I heard chains rattling. Instantly, black chains wrapped around the Wraithlord’s neck. Amid thunderous noise, flames erupted from the chains, burning fiercely. The Wraithlord struggled, unable to break free. John Chou transformed into a streak of red light and appeared before him. The broken Rage Blood sword in his hand stabbed straight into the Wraithlord’s heart.
"I knew you’d try that, John Chou."
For a moment, everyone was stunned. A red beam pierced the Wraithlord’s heart, but the next second, he gripped John Chou’s throat. Immediately, Redmond charged in. The Wraithlord roared, broke the chains, and hurled Lord Shenyan away with tremendous force.
With a flash of black-green light, Yuna Ji’s spear stabbed at the wound in the Wraithlord’s chest, but he caught it easily.
With a thunderous crash, the ground caved in. The Wraithlord slammed John Chou hard into the earth—he spat blood. Redmond was already at the Wraithlord’s side, moving in fast. Black flames surged into the wound in the Wraithlord’s chest as it tried to heal. With a crack, his body showed fissures, turning to stone.
"We did it!"
Redmond cried out in delight, but in the next instant, John Chou exploded into a mass of blood. Redmond was yanked away from the Wraithlord by a strand of red ghostly thread.
The air shuddered violently, a web of fractures splitting the space above. The Wraithlord rose, black mist seeping from the gaping cracks in his flesh. For a moment, his form was a grotesque ruin—but the mist thickened, swirling, and his body knit itself whole once more.
"Earth Soul, you see things quite clearly. Indeed, when this body was created, a gap was left at the heart to prevent excessive power from destroying it. You tried to destroy my heart using what the Earth Soul revealed, but unfortunately, my heart can be moved."
The Ghost Sovereigns’ ghost energy had dropped significantly; it seemed they had exhausted themselves fighting the Wraithlord. Yuna Ji and Lord Shenyan were especially depleted, and Mona Ouyang’s energy was nearly gone.
Yvonne May’s ghost energy was also fading fast. She struggled to stabilize the space alongside Tan Tian, helping the Ghost Sovereigns evade the Wraithlord’s attacks. When the Wraithlord’s power radiated outward, I hadn’t noticed before, but now I sensed it: Yvonne May was using Juchen’s power to swallow it into another dimension.
"Redmond, your Malice Wraith power is impressive, but it’s useless against me. I see everything. This force of inevitability—the self-destructive tendency present in all things—would normally lead to collapse. But I see the trigger, so I know what will happen next."
Redmond stared at the Wraithlord in shock, but John Chou started to smile.
"How about a temporary truce?"
No sooner had John Chou spoken than the Wraithlord charged at us. I raised my fist, baleful energy swirling around me, but the Wraithlord suddenly stopped. Black and white interwoven spaces appeared all around—Yvonne May raised her hands.
The Wraithlord sneered, lips curling with contempt. Suddenly, he swung his fist to the left. The crash was deafening. Yvonne May’s face drained of color as the twisted black-and-white vortices froze in place, then shattered, raining shards like broken glass.
John Chou looked uneasy. I knew that the instinct for slaughter could let him overpower an opponent for a moment, but now it was extremely difficult to use—because the Wraithlord’s strength was unmatched. Using that instinct would put a huge burden on his ghost soul.
"How many more times can you use it? Next time, don’t miss—if you do, you’ll die."
The Wraithlord spoke, while John Chou kept smiling. The Wraithlord stepped forward, and the space twisted violently. I stared in shock as everything around us warped; the Wraithlord’s power was even stronger, and the Nether Syndicate began to shake again.
A low hum vibrated through me as something purple slashed across my body. The ground split open, and a monstrous maw—vast and dripping—erupted from below, snapping hungrily. The vision vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving a chill lingering in my bones.
"Damn zombie."
The Wraithlord cursed angrily.
"Nothing’s changed, John Chou. Finding a weakness in that guy is still far too difficult."