Accompanied by a few words from Xu Fu, the pavilion suddenly fell silent. I quietly watched John Chou's expression—he seemed to have known everything all along, his face calm as he gazed at the coffin before him. Though a little dazed, there was a clear trace of loss in his eyes.
But at this moment, the atmosphere around us grew unbearably tense. After all, Xu Fu spoke with an utterly indifferent expression, and the most agitated person present was Isabelle Frost. From beginning to end, she harbored an intense loathing toward Xu Fu.
"Of course, I'm not saying all this just to show off. You need to understand the connections between these events."
As Xu Fu spoke, he nodded toward Thousand Hands. Thousand Hands smiled as he stood beside the now-upright black coffin, gently stroking its surface, excitement shining in his eyes.
"The reason I say only this body can trigger a miracle is because, at the moment of Zachary Justice's death, when he was struck down by a power that transcended the limits of human strength, I performed a special procedure. I preserved his body, which had surpassed the boundaries of human strength. Of course, the price was severe, but I won't go into details here. This sword scar was left behind in order to keep this body intact."
As Thousand Hands spoke, his fingers danced in the air as if playing a piano, then he chuckled softly.
"Get to the point!"
Redmond looked at Thousand Hands with utter disdain, then immediately bowed and spoke.
"To put it simply, by using Rachel's Instinct currently residing in Rachel Lan's body, and this corpse as the medium, I will perform the surgery myself. By fusing Rachel Lan with her own remains, we can save her."
"And the risks?"
I asked a question, staring intently at Thousand Hands. This guy is no good—he’s done countless unspeakable human experiments for the Immortality Society, all orchestrated by this wicked ghost. Even though the members of the Burial Ghost Squad have returned, I suspect he’s tampered with every one of them.
Compared to Xu Fu and the others, the one I need to guard against most is this evil spirit. No one around here trusts Thousand Hands—after all, they’re all ghosts too, and it’s not so easy to believe the words of another fiend.
"It's only natural that none of you trust me," Thousand Hands said. "But maybe I can show you something with an experiment—that might help you understand."
As Thousand Hands spoke, he raised one hand. A wisp of ghostly green energy flickered out, and the handcuffs Jerry Li had put on him appeared. The ghost energy leaking from his body instantly stopped, scattering in irregular shapes. Suddenly, the handcuffs began to sprout rope-like strands that crept along Thousand Hands’ arm, slowly extending over his body.
Soon, Thousand Hands was completely bound by the red ropes, his whole body immobilized. He looked helplessly at Jerry Li.
"Can you undo them for now? The surgery will be performed inside my Ghost Domain. I want you to see that I can do what I say."
Jerry Li stood up and glanced at Yin Choujian. With Yin Choujian’s silent approval, he walked over and pressed a hand on the red handcuffs. Instantly, everything binding Thousand Hands vanished. Thousand Hands twisted his body, making a cracking sound.
"Your ghostly soul really is something special, huh."
Jerry Li glared at Thousand Hands, who immediately raised both hands and stood up with an innocent smile.
I watched Thousand Hands quietly as he began to release ghost energy, intending to open his own Ghost Domain right inside Ronan’s Shadow Realm. This was the first time I’d ever seen or heard of such a thing.
I glanced at Ronan Wu—he was already standing next to Thousand Hands, his gaze icy and fixed on him.
"I won’t do anything, don’t worry."
With a crackling sound, a chill swept through the entire pavilion—the surface of the surrounding lake instantly froze. Thousand Hands’ ghost energy seemed ordinary, but it was fierce; compared to the Specter Green Ghosts here, he was on a completely different level.
A gap in the ground opened up. We all floated and followed Thousand Hands into his Ghost Domain. The moment I entered, a stench of decay hit me—I covered my nose. There were corpses and ghosts everywhere inside.
I looked around. We stood on a barren patch of ground, with Thousand Hands grinning wickedly in front of us. Xu Fu came down and immediately walked over to him.
"You really have a twisted taste."
Allen Zhang said, and with a sudden wave of his hand, everything around us changed. My eyes widened as racks appeared all around, covered with corpses—some dried, some still disturbingly fresh. Beneath my feet, a massive iron cage materialized; we stood atop it as it creaked, and wailing rose from below. All sorts of ghosts moaned in agony beneath us.
A dense crowd of ghosts huddled in the black cage below. Thousand Hands chuckled and began to explain.
"These are just test subjects. Follow me."
He and Xu Fu walked ahead, and we followed. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the racks—not just human corpses, but animal ones too. Huge numbers of bodies hung from the racks.
I had no idea what Thousand Hands was planning, but soon we arrived at a place cluttered with all sorts of props—some for surgery, some for everyday use, and plenty of bottles and jars filled with mysterious liquids.
I snorted coldly, covering my nose as strange smells kept drifting in from all directions.
Thousand Hands stepped up to the table and pulled aside a black cloth. A man lay beneath it, recently dead. With a wave of Thousand Hands’ hand, bright green ghost veins appeared on the man’s back, morphing into scalpels and surgical tools.
"Hurry up—how long do you expect us to stay in a place this disgusting?"
Rufina Howard hadn’t come with us; she stayed outside, with Ronan Wu looking after her.
"First, I have to make it clear—the surgery to save Rachel Lan isn’t guaranteed to succeed. There’s about a thirty percent risk. That’s the conclusion we’ve reached after collecting all the data..."
"Call it off. If it’s not a sure thing, there’s no point in risking it."
I spoke up immediately. Thousand Hands stared at me blankly, but then Xu Fu laughed.
"Earth Soul, risk and reward always go hand in hand. Without risk, there’s no gain. And even if it fails, you won’t lose anything."
Thousand Hands chuckled, and just then, a blue-faced man ran over, dragging a soul that hadn’t yet become a ghost. He immediately pinned it beside the corpse for Thousand Hands.
"As you all know, ghosts or souls can’t enter a corpse. Once a person dies, their connection to their body is completely severed—no matter what, they can’t return to their own corpse. Only ghosts who reach the Specter Green Ghost level can naturally merge with their bodies again. That’s a crucial step in ghost evolution. But right now, the problem is that the person is alive, yet her bones aren’t in her body. From what I can tell, that girl’s body is just a manifestation of power—built from the energy of the Four Sacred Realms, with her damaged soul filling this power-made flesh. It’s not her original body, but it can maintain its form because of the instinct for rebirth. So, to truly live again, her own bones are essential. Add in the unique curse of the people from the Yellow Springs, and as time passes, the body will inevitably start to fail."
As he spoke, Thousand Hands approached the vacant-eyed soul. The surgical instruments floating above its back began to move, and the soul’s wails grew fierce. I watched as Thousand Hands worked with precise cuts, as if performing surgery—each incision exact.
With the soul’s screams growing harsher, I saw pieces cut out from its body—but astonishingly, the soul was still alive. Then Thousand Hands slowly moved the soul onto the corpse and began cutting into the corpse itself.
Thousand Hands carefully stuffed the pieces he’d cut from the soul into the opened corpse, then started stitching it up. The blue-faced man kept handing him jars, and Thousand Hands unscrewed each one, pouring the liquid inside into the corpse.
Finally, after the surgery reached a certain point, Thousand Hands shoved the soul directly into the corpse. My eyes widened in shock—the corpse opened its eyes and stared blankly at everything in front of it.
Thousand Hands was panting, as if he’d finally relaxed.
"It’s done, everyone."
My eyes widened—this state was exactly like Mason Yu’s. I whipped my head around; everyone was staring at Soren Black. He didn’t explain anything, and Allen Zhang stepped up to Mason Yu.
"You’ve worked with the Immortality Society before, haven’t you?"
Soren Black still said nothing. Just then, Xu Fu walked over and spoke.
"Everyone has one or two people they wish they could bring back. We developed this technique just to spare people pain. It’s not perfected yet, but once it is, we’ll introduce it to society."
I grabbed Xu Fu by the collar. He smiled wickedly.
"Why do people have to go to hell after death? Earth Soul, who decided that? Lao Chongyuan should have explained this to you in detail. The Immortality Society has always sought to benefit humanity. Think about it—when someone’s loved ones or even beloved animals die, people grieve. And what does grief bring? Don’t you understand?"