With a sickening crack, another one of my fingers was twisted off by that youth. I screamed in agony.
"Such a useless kid—am I supposed to be scared? Hahahahaha..."
"Enough." Sima Ying suddenly stepped forward and pressed down on the youth's hand.
"What? You want to defy me?"
"Let it go. What exactly do you want?"
"Oh, Sima Ying, don't you four already know what you want?"
Suddenly, the other three Ghost Kings looked over in surprise.
"I am your will, Ji Yuner's will, and the will of hundreds of years of humans and ghosts intertwined. What I need now is not peace, but to get out."
"Impossible. The stronger you are, the less you can escape the formation set by Zhong Kui. You should know that!"
The youth raised his hand and pointed at Ji Yuner.
"She can let me out!"
Ji Yuner stood up, looking relaxed and at ease, and floated up with a whoosh.
"Alright, I'll take my leave. Kid, you're still young—the outside world isn't as simple as you think."
With a crack, the space split open and a stream of eerie green gas seeped out.
"Qingyuan, it's too noisy here. I can't take it anymore. I'm leaving first."
The youth stretched out his hand and instantly flew to Ji Yuner's side, but Ji Yuner just sneered and slipped into the crack behind her, vanishing from sight.
"Ah..." The youth screamed madly, shaking the entire town. Then he flew to me, grabbing my head.
"Call Ji Yuner back. Bring her back!"
"I can't do that. You're the powerful one—call her yourself."
"Are you looking for death?"
I nodded. Suddenly, the ground erupted in a blaze of green light—shhh, shhh, shhh—several spears shot up from below, impaling Samantha Simons in an instant.
I screamed and looked to the sky. It was that boy, his body drenched in blood, not a patch of skin left unscarred. In his hand, he held someone—Rachel Lan.
"Ethan Zhang, you'd better hurry back, or I'll devour this little girl."
Rachel Lan's face twisted in pain, one arm gripped, dangling in the air.
Suddenly, the boy flung Rachel Lan aside and charged at me. His blood-soaked body instantly healed. He reached out, trying to grab me. Suddenly, golden light burst before my eyes. The moment his hand touched the light, it vaporized into smoke. He screamed in agony and fell back.
"Ethan, don't worry about me. Go!"
Rachel Lan shouted. I dashed inside. Suddenly, Samantha Simons—already torn apart and splattered with blood by the spears—blocked my way with her severed hand.
"Master Ethan, hurry and go!"
But I just smiled.
"What kind of man dumps all the trouble on a few women?"
I stumbled forward to Rachel Lan, grabbed her, and ran for the exit.
Suddenly, my foot was seized—it was that boy.
"Got you, Ethan Zhang."
"Go, now!"
I lifted Rachel Lan and hurled her toward the old tree.
"To tell you the truth, when Yuna Ji arrived here back then, she'd already been through the Seven Sovereigns War. Her strength had long since faded—she came here to recover."
Suddenly, the boy dropped down, standing before the cage and staring at the old ghost.
"Old fool, joking at a time like this? Can't you feel it? Thanks to this blood-soaked feast, my power in Exile Town has grown even more. Do you really think I'd lose to those so-called Sovereigns?"
Suddenly, the boy's expression changed. He shot up into the air, muttering to himself.
"No, that's not right. Why are there so few? Seven hundred sixty-three people—there are still seven hundred sixty-three alive?"