All around me, everything was fiery red and shattered. I stared in shock, realizing I was truly inside magma. I looked upward, anxiety creeping in—my Shadow was chasing after me.
"Don't worry. That thing can't follow you in here."
I made a sound of acknowledgment, then glanced around. This voice—it wasn't coming through my ears, but directly into my mind.
"Are you Endbringer?"
I asked, and a muffled, thunderous sound echoed—so loud it felt like a shockwave. I clutched my head.
"Tell me, how can I restore my Ghost Soul?"
"You need to find certain individuals before your Ghost Soul can be restored."
I swallowed hard. Endbringer's voice sounded unbearably heavy.
"Your Human Passions and Desires are incomplete, Ethan Zhang. Because you are only one-third of your living self, think carefully—what exactly are you missing?"
I sat in silence, thinking deeply. Gradually, understanding dawned on me. What I lacked was the most severe part of being human—emotion. Besides anxiety, I could barely feel anything else. Love and hate, those two powerful, opposing feelings—I couldn't sense them at all.
In my mind, I thought of Lily Wu's death. I felt no sadness, no anger—only cold indifference.
"You've figured it out, haven't you, Ethan Zhang?"
I nodded.
"I've lost the most important part of being human—emotion."
"There's no going back. All of this was lost the moment you gained this instinct. Even if you become a complete ghost, you won't feel emotion. It's because you've grown numb to everything in this world that you can speak with me. In the end, you awakened me, and I am born from your emotional numbness. Everything around you is now meaningless, so those things are about to meet their Endbringer."
No anger, no joy, no sadness, no fondness—I've long since become indifferent to everything. Only when I'm tangled up in how to recover, how to become a ghost, do my thoughts and feelings stir at all.
Every day, thoughts about Ethan Zhang come up—about him and Rachel Lan seeming so close. Yet, inside, I feel absolutely nothing about it.
"Then why am I still troubled?"
I asked.
"So, what is it that you truly desire deep down?"
After thinking for a long time, I uttered two words.
"Power."
Endbringer burst out laughing.
"Correct. Perfect, Ethan Zhang. It's your craving for power that troubles you. Without power, you can't bring this meaningless world to its end. Without power, you can't do it. Impressive—your awareness now allows you to speak to me this closely."
"So, what kind of people do I need to find?"
"Three people consumed by extreme desire."
I made a sound of acknowledgment, and then Endbringer laughed again.
"All right, go back now, Ethan Zhang. I will guide you—in your dreams. What you need to do is kill these three people consumed by extreme desire in your dreams, and then devour them. Only then can you become a complete ghost. The desires they generate—one aspect of those desires is greater than anything else. There are three in total. You need to kill and devour the ones whose most fervent, dream-leaked desires are strongest."
I nodded, a smile crossing my face. I finally had a solution.
"The desires you're missing can be restored too. But in dreams, as in reality, without power you can't kill them. Go to the base of the Reverse Waterfall, Ethan Zhang. There, you'll find what you seek."
I nodded, and at that moment, a golden light flared inside my body. I stared in shock—it was the Buddha Statue of Visions.
"Take this. In a critical moment, it will save your life."
I made a sound of acknowledgment. A sizzling noise echoed—a fist-sized object, like molten iron, crackling with black lightning. I gripped it tightly, sensing it was the power of Endbringer. Then it merged into my body.
Just then, a rumbling sound came from above and a gap opened—it was my Shadow, leaping down in a fury.
"Found you, Ethan Zhang! Die! I'm going to crush you—kill you!"
Suddenly, the surrounding magma surged in, completely enveloping my Shadow.
"Get out of my way, Endbringer! This isn't your business. What's wrong with letting me take control? I'm a hundred times stronger than this pathetic fool. Move aside!"
Endbringer pressed my Shadow down with magma, holding it tightly. I swallowed hard.
"That's enough, Ethan Zhang. This is the furthest you can go here. The Buddha Statue of Visions will take you back."
Wrapped in golden light, my form gradually faded, and my consciousness grew heavy.
"Remember, when you regain your strength, try to fall asleep. With the will of Endbringer, I will break open the gate of dreams and help you find those three people consumed by extreme desire."
My consciousness began to sink, and then I closed my eyes.
"Heh, Benefactor Zhang, are you awake?"
Suddenly, I opened my eyes wide. The world was still roaring. A blinding golden light glowed behind me. Behind me, I saw Abbot Fortune holding a golden bead, sparkling in his hand.
"What exactly is this thing?"
Though I knew it was the Buddha Statue of Visions, the power it radiated was especially strong. In the path of devouring, all those gathering mouths were instantly turned to dust by the golden light from the Buddha Statue of Visions.
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"This is what monks in the living world spend their whole lives pursuing. They believe in Buddha, but rarely do they ever truly see him. The Buddha Statue of Visions is merely a dream monks have—receiving Buddha's guidance, their faith crystallizes into something real in the dream."
I listened, feeling lost, but I had no time to chat with Abbot Fortune. I needed to get to the bottom of the cliff—Endbringer had told me I'd find what I sought down there, and right now, all I wanted was to regain my strength.
When I reached the edge of the cliff, I looked down—it was still shrouded in mist and clouds, and I couldn't hear the waterfall. I glanced at Abbot Fortune and asked a question.
"Abbot Fortune, have you ever heard the waterfall make a sound?"
Abbot Fortune looked at me in confusion, then smiled calmly.
"Amitabha, Benefactor Zhang, I've never heard it. In all my life, I may never hear the sound of that waterfall. After all, I'm just an ordinary monk—it's been over a thousand years, and I still can't grasp Buddhist teachings. All I can do is live out my days here."
I looked at Abbot Fortune in surprise. For someone so powerful, it's shocking he can't comprehend Buddhist doctrine.
"Every word is true, Amitabha, Benefactor Zhang. People are all different. What others comprehend in decades, I've spent centuries on, and the result is the same. That's what they mean by 'all roads lead to the same end.'"
I swallowed and looked down. I couldn't fly now, and everything below was unknown. I asked if there was a rope; Abbot Fortune shook his head.
Staring at the steep cliff, dangerous as it was, I decided to climb down, inching my way bit by bit. As long as I reached the bottom, I'd find what I wanted—my strength.
Endbringer never lies. I was convinced I could regain my strength.
I started climbing, gripping the rocks on the cliff. After all, I'm a ghost now—though I have some weight, I'm as light as a feather. The only problem was the mountain wind, which threatened to blow me away. I clung to the rocks, inching downward with great effort.
Abbot Fortune stood at the edge of the cliff, now dozens of meters away and nearly out of sight. I'd descended into the thin mist, checking each foothold as I moved.
After a while, I could only see the white mist above me—the cliff had vanished, but there was still no bottom. I was startled when the stone I grabbed slipped away and fell. I froze, relieved there was no wind, and jammed my fingers into a crack in the cliff.
In less than a minute, I was amazed—there was no bottom. The stone I'd just dropped seemed swallowed by a bottomless pit, never making a sound. Then I heard a furious roar—someone was very close.
I kept climbing down quickly. Suddenly, I saw a dark mass—it was a person, or maybe not. The black thing had a mouth, eyes, and nose, but was a shadowy human shape. When it saw me, those eyes sent chills down my spine.
With a shout, the thing screamed. I was shocked—my ears nearly deafened. The black creature wanted to climb up, inching toward me. My back tingled with cold, but as it got close, the chill vanished, and I felt a strange sense of kinship. I wasn't afraid at all.
The creature stared blankly, glared at me, then climbed up past me. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"What are you exactly?"