The unending pain forced me to scream uncontrollably. John Chou’s entire hand pressed against my chest, causing waves of red light to flare. I saw that there was indeed a character—令—at the center of my chest.
John Chou’s hand gripped the King of Hell’s Token tightly. The token seemed to have become part of my body, and dark red light kept seeping from his fingers.
Gradually, I felt utterly drained, the pain fading away. Then I saw John Chou holding what looked like a physical King of Hell’s Token, gouged straight out of my body.
The red glow on the token dimmed and began turning black in John Chou’s hand. Then, with a creaking sound, the token cracked and started to crumble like sand, the falling black fragments turning to ash and vanishing.
I collapsed to the ground, my body limp and powerless. I tried to lift my hand, but found my body wouldn’t listen at all. The ghostly part within me was in total chaos, like headless flies darting everywhere.
The most obvious sign was the deathbane aura swirling around me—sometimes leaking out, sometimes dissipating, sometimes frenziedly condensing and vanishing at my sides.
I’d never seen anything so strange before. The King of Hell’s Token in John Chou’s hand was now almost gone. I saw his wicked grin as he raised his hand. Suddenly, just as the token was about to vanish completely, a blinding red light enveloped everything around us.
“John Chou, do you recognize this king...?”
A voice filled with authority boomed from above, its oppressive force crashing down. Terrified, I looked around—the red glow flickered everywhere, and a massive surge of ghostly energy filled the air.
“Old man, after all these years, you finally want to say hello?”
“Hmph, John Chou, I didn’t expect you to have regained your Bloodbane Power.”
Hearing this, I looked at John Chou. It was true—when he fought Uncle Mo, I saw him stab Uncle Mo with that blood curse, and Uncle Mo’s body reacted just like that King of Hell’s Token, losing all strength. What exactly is this Bloodbane Power?
“But it’s not as easy as you say, old man. If I had truly regained my Bloodbane Power, Ethan Zhang wouldn’t just be temporarily weakened.”
The oppressive force from the sky made me uncomfortable all over. John Chou slowly floated upward, crossing his legs and resting his chin on his hand, sitting in midair above me, eyes fixed ahead.
“Old man, since your echo has followed Ethan Zhang here, come out and catch up a bit. After all, it’s been centuries since we last met. This Nether Domain you’ve opened—no one and nothing can spy on it, right, old man?”
“Still the same as ever, John Chou? That’s reassuring. But don’t keep calling me old man.”
John Chou laughed. I stared in surprise—he actually seemed friendly with this speaker. Thinking carefully, could this be the Equality King, one of the Nine Kings of Hell?
“Equality King, just say it—why do you really want to take Ethan Zhang away?”
My heart skipped a beat as I looked around at the red glow. So it was true—he was the Equality King, one of the Nine Kings of Hell.
“Then I’ll call you Old Lu instead. Haha, back in Abyssal Hell, I owe you a lot for looking after me. Thanks.”
I stared wide-eyed at John Chou. He was actually thanking someone—I could hardly believe it, but everything happening before me was real.
“Hmph, John Chou, enough with the pleasantries. Emperor Song has always wanted you. I’m only taking Ethan Zhang so I can pass along a message for him to give you. But since things are like this, I’ll tell you directly: that guy has already come out.”
In an instant, I saw John Chou’s expression change drastically—he was terrified, as if he’d just heard something unbelievable, staring blankly ahead.
I could never understand their conversation.
“Understood, Old Lu. How many people know about this?”
“Right now, only I know. After all, my instinct is fundamentally different from yours. I just want to warn you, John Chou—watch out for the Immortality Society. You should gather the other six and pass this on to them too.”
John Chou stood up and nodded.
“Old Lu, I’d like to borrow something from you.”
“You mean the Abyssal Treasure Mirror?” said the Equality King. John Chou nodded.
I gazed at them in shock, feeling I’d just overheard something incredible. John Chou smiled, walked up to me, and looked at me with a half-smile.
"Brother, it's best if you forget what happened tonight. With your current ghostly soul, certain beings could easily steal your memories!"
I let out a sound of surprise, staring at John Chou as he smiled at me.
"Luckily, Lady Meng helped me out a great deal."
As John Chou spoke, I had no idea what he was planning. Then he placed his hand on my forehead.
"Brother, you'll forget some things from tonight, but it won't affect you at all."
I gasped as I saw thin, white, almost transparent threads slowly flowing from my forehead. John Chou reached out and caught those threads. At that moment, my mind grew hazy, and I began to lose consciousness.
"You know, what you're doing to Ethan Zhang is really causing him serious harm."
Just as I was about to lose consciousness, my shadow suddenly flared up and appeared.
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"You all..."
The last thing I saw was John Chou’s smile—after that, I knew nothing.
With a startled cry, I woke up. The scenery around me was rushing by. Someone was carrying me on their back. Gradually, my blurred vision cleared—it was John Chou. My body was completely limp.
All I remembered was that after John Chou broke the King of Hell’s Token, I lost consciousness.
"Thank you."
I vaguely recalled that the last time one of my Threefold Soul fragments was taken, it was also John Chou who carried me to find Old Moe and the blind old woman.
"Heh, brother, you're awake. In a few days, you'll be fine. We're almost home."
I nodded and looked around. I could already see the park in the southern district. I thought of my cousin again. With my body in this state, I’d have to wait until I recovered before searching for the third item—Awakening Water.
Gradually, we entered the apartment block. It was nearly dawn. As we entered, I saw people in front of the building—some were already up and jogging.
When they saw John Chou carrying me, the joggers just smiled and waved, as if greeting us—there was no fear at all.
As we got closer to the building, I saw ghosts coming and going in the yard. I couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
Outside the apartment building, it looked like ghosts were lining up. As soon as I landed, I saw the small pavilion stretching out from the building, with a long line of ghosts waiting.
Sun Yu, Yu Xiaoting, and Xue Xiu—the three female ghosts—were busy under Samantha Simons’ direction. The other ghosts in the building were all occupied with their own tasks. I saw Old Wei and the eccentric old man, both looking tense as they played Go.
"I lost again. Let’s play another round," said Old Wei, conceding the game. The eccentric old man grinned triumphantly.
As I returned, many ghosts gathered around me. I looked at them gratefully.
"Brother Qingyuan, how was your journey to the Underworld?"
Zhao Yuyang smiled and came over. I sighed and sat beside the pavilion. The four female ghosts were still busy—I realized they were registering information for the ghosts living in my yard. I saw Samantha Simons use a small knife to cut off bits of fingernail or skin from each registering ghost and attach them to the registration paper.
The registration paper was made using Wordcraft by the eccentric old man. With identity details and a part of the ghost’s body attached, their status could be tracked at any time. If anything went wrong, we’d know immediately.
"Thank you all."
I looked at the four female ghosts and spoke.
"Qingyuan, you bastard!"
Just then, a big black dog darted out from under the cherry blossom tree—it was Old Ren, stomping over angrily.
I stared at him in surprise. After returning from the Nether Syndicate, I’d tried to find Old Ren but couldn’t. I’d almost forgotten about him.
"Sorry, sorry."
I hurried to explain. I believed Old Ren was fine—even though Blue Nine Qing sent him to the Nether Syndicate, he escaped and wandered there for a while.
The ghosts around us started chattering all at once.
"Quiet, all of you."
After John Chou spoke, everyone fell silent.
"Brother, go get some rest."
I nodded, said goodbye to the ghosts, and headed for my room—410. I realized I hadn’t slept at home in ages.
Vincent Swallow came over, carrying his wine gourd. He lifted me off John Chou’s back and helped me upstairs.
The eccentric old man followed. I looked at them in surprise—it seemed they had something to discuss with me.
Once inside room 410, Vincent Swallow helped me onto the bed and I lay down to sleep.
"We know the general situation. Blackface has already gone out to investigate for you."
As Vincent Swallow spoke, I immediately looked at them seriously.