"There's no point in talking further."
Faced with Xu Fu's proposal, Emperor God paid him no heed. He moved right up to Xu Fu, pressing a hand toward him. Suddenly, Xu Fu grabbed Emperor God's wrist.
"If you don't want to make a deal, then rot away in this world."
"You..."
I couldn't see what happened at all—Emperor God had already vanished from Xu Fu's side. Then I saw, behind Xu Fu, a shadow, faint and flickering, as if veiled.
When I saw Emperor God again, he was already outside the barrier, staring in shock.
"Mr. Wraithshade, come out. I've offered you a fine vessel, haven't I? This body."
With a rustling sweep of his cloak, Mr. Wraithshade appeared beside Xu Fu. I stood up, clenching my fists.
"Was all of this your doing, Mr. Wraithshade?"
"Yes."
Mr. Wraithshade made no effort to hide himself. He glanced around the area.
"Everyone, stop for now. Ethan Zhang, you have the right to know everything. I'll tell you."
Mr. Wraithshade began to speak. Over two thousand years ago, he set foot in this world, and after learning many things, he taught Emperor God and the others how to create the strongest body.
When he returned to the Living World, he heard that seven Evil Ghosts were wreaking havoc everywhere. At first, Mr. Wraithshade wanted to take care of those seven Evil Ghosts, but because of Kane, he was delayed. By the time he planned to act, the Underworld Court had already captured them.
It was around that time that a group called the Immortality Society appeared—a bunch of people obsessed with eternal life. Out of curiosity, Mr. Wraithshade entered the core of the Immortality Society and met Xu Fu.
"Back then, the Immortality Society was far too conspicuous. I foresaw that in a few centuries, seven incredibly powerful Evil Ghosts would emerge in the Living World, so I advised Xu Fu to keep a lower profile and operate in the shadows. I also told him about the state of this world."
"Yes, it was thanks to your advice, Mr. Wraithshade. Otherwise, the Underworld Court would have taken us out long ago."
Judging by the way Xu Fu and Mr. Wraithshade acted, it was clear they hadn't just met yesterday.
"Actually, all of this was just a coincidence—or maybe it was inevitable. At that time, Xu Fu realized his body was completely failing, and I thought of the corpse in this world. So I told him, and we agreed that I would kill Xu Fu, sending him to this world. But I couldn't kill Xu Fu, so I leaked some information about the Immortality Society to the Underworld Court."
My eyes widened. This was all a show they staged themselves, and John Chou was just a pawn in their game.
It was at that moment that Xu Fu's actions drew the attention of the Underworld Court. So, in exchange for recognizing the Ghost Sovereigns, the Underworld Court had the seven Ghost Sovereigns join forces to destroy the Immortality Society. Of course, things didn't go as planned—John Chou nearly killed Xu Fu, and it wasn't as smooth as we thought, because I couldn't predict that centuries later, someone as unusual as you would appear and give John Chou another chance.
"What exactly do you want?"
I shouted in anger, glaring at the two of them. Xu Fu just smiled.
"That's all there is to it. By chance, I came to this world, planted the seed, and now it's time to reap the harvest. As for you, Ethan Zhang, you're just an incidental existence—like a chicken rib, tasteless yet too much trouble to discard. Your instinct is irrelevant to us. Now, it's all over. Evil Ghost John Chou will never return, and what about you? What do you plan to do?"
I stared quietly at Mr. Wraithshade.
I glared at them, trembling with rage, unable to contain my fury.
"What you want, what you're after—it's not me."
After I said that coldly, a wave of bitterness welled up inside me. John Chou's half-smiling face flashed through my mind.
"You're the one who gave us the opportunity, Ethan Zhang. If you wanted to get rid of John Chou, you couldn't do it without getting past Zane Zhuang. But we don't want a direct confrontation with Zane Zhuang—our calculations show the losses would be too great. So we could only go through you..."
"Enough..."
I roared, eyes wide, staring at them.
At that moment, Mr. Wraithshade pulled out a broken sword. My eyes widened as I stared at the blade—its body was completely ruined. It was Rage Blood. He tossed Rage Blood toward me, and a flash of red light shimmered.
"I said before, from the moment John Chou stepped into this world for your sake, he had already lost. I won, Ethan Zhang."
I crouched on the ground, one hand gripping Rage Blood. I couldn't feel anything anymore—only death lingered. My heart was ice-cold. I clutched Rage Blood tightly, unable to shed a tear, no matter how deep my sorrow.
Four shimmering Golden Soulstones fell. In an instant, Luna Quay, Luo Yichen, Lance Quinn, and Luo Yu all returned to normal. Tan Tian also stepped forward.
I stared at Rage Blood, unmoving. Tan Tian slowly landed in front of me, raising a hand. Xu Fu stood before him.
"Alright, let me show you one last thing. To kill John Chou, we paid a price too."
My eyes widened as a brownish-yellow stream of energy surged up. Gradually, I saw twelve figures—five lay on the ground, while a woman tended to the wounded. Slowly, I could see them clearly.
"Xu Fu, you bastard, why'd you go in circles? Such a pain, it hurts like hell, you know!"
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