I didn't say anything, just quietly watched Black Moon. His eyes gleamed with excitement.
"You want to find that Blood Jade. What's really inside it?"
I asked, and Black Moon burst out laughing.
"If I knew, I wouldn't need to look for it. I have my own reasons for finding the Blood Jade. But you, Boss, what will you do? Those two aren't that easy to help you with, especially that black one. You must've sensed it, right?"
I still looked at Black Moon with some disbelief. His crescent-moon-shaped eyes trembled.
"You don't believe me, naturally. But since I've decided to cooperate with you, at least during our partnership, I won't betray you."
I nodded and asked a question.
"Was it you who secretly helped the Ouyang Family by erasing their memories?"
"Yes."
Black Moon replied. I glanced at the Celestial Hound beside him, lying on the ground, dozing off.
"I want you to erase everything Vivian Ouyang did as a spy from her mind, and from anyone else who knows about it—except me. Erase it all."
"Oh, oh, Boss, that's a big request. As soon as I join Blackfang, you make me do such exhausting work."
I didn't respond, just glared at Black Moon. His mouth, shaped like a crescent moon and always seeming to smile, opened slightly.
"Of course I can do it—if this is the first task you give Black Moon."
At this point, blaming him further was pointless. Vivian Ouyang's heart was already shattered, and the only way to free her now was to erase the memories—wipe out every trace of her espionage, every betrayal of the Ghost Burial Squad to the Immortality Society, leaving nothing behind.
"Since I agreed, Boss, are you going to take out the Blood Jade and let me have a look?"
"I don't have it with me."
As soon as I finished speaking, Black Moon laughed, then said:
"Boss, I still..."
"Don't call me Boss. It feels wrong."
Black Moon slowly walked over, and my Seven Ghost Souls started watching him warily.
"Everyone, I know you're special. Outsiders may think you're just Ethan Zhang's ghost souls, but that's not true. You were unique from the start, and only by merging with Ethan Zhang's power did you become his ghost souls. Now, we're colleagues—no need to be so tense."
As Black Moon spoke, my ghost souls returned to my side.
The so-called Blood Jade is a rare sight even in the ghost world, but in earlier times, it was a little more common. Jade, being one of the purest materials between heaven and earth, has always been valued since ancient times. That's why wealthy families often used jade ornaments and decorations to show off their status.
Most families see jade as a symbol of good fortune and prosperity. The belief that jade can ward off evil actually has its origins.
Some high-quality jade, after many years, may faintly reveal black spots inside—these are traces of yin energy, harmful to humans. Over time, these black spots naturally disappear, meaning that the harmful energy has been expelled and dispersed.
Jade is neither yin nor yang, but it has the ability to contain both. That's why in the occult world, jade artifacts are used to craft magical instruments—the purer the jade, the stronger the artifact, and the more powerful the spells it channels.
As for Blood Jade, it's called that because when some people die with heavy resentment, their spirits, trying to avoid being caught by ghost wardens, hide inside the jade they carried. There, they wait and gather strength.
Over time, the jade and the ghost become one. When the ghost finally emerges, it must carry the jade with it. If the jade is damaged, the ghost itself is harmed as well.
Throughout history, there have been many ghosts who possessed Blood Jade, but nowadays, it's rare because pure jade is so scarce.
Most of the jade on the market is fake, mass-produced, or even artificial. The high-quality pieces are almost all kept by the wealthy.
The Blood Jade I obtained is indeed Blood Jade—there's a trace of yin energy inside, clearly something ghostly. However, the difference is that the ghost inside never appears. Whether it even exists is uncertain.
The greatest advantage of ghosts fused with jade is that they're not afraid of sunlight.
"So why is the one I'm carrying so special?"
I asked, and Black Moon laughed.
"Because a Blood Jade that can talk—only yours does that."
I let out a sound of surprise. He continued, unless the ghost inside comes out, the world within the jade, though connected to the outside, isn't the same. Even if you know there's a ghost inside, you can't communicate with it.
Carrying this kind of Blood Jade brings misfortune, because there's a ghost inside. Wearing it makes it easier for the ghost to absorb a living person's energy, and over time, the person becomes unlucky, even dying suddenly.
Many ghosts hide in Blood Jade, waiting to pass from one owner to another, slowly gathering strength.
"Maybe it's because of my instincts that it can talk."
I said, but Black Moon immediately contradicted me. Right now, what concerned me most was the Immortality Society.
"Tell me about the Immortality Society..."
"I've said it before—I won't mention anything about former partners. If you really want to know, find the second Blood Jade. These special ones, after all, look the same as ordinary jade. You should see it yourself—the color of this Blood Jade is red with a purple hue."
I was startled. This guy knew my situation all too well.
"Fine, I'll reveal a little. The method for erasing memories in those horror stories—I set it up. No matter how strong they are, it's not easy to wipe someone's memory. I designed a mechanism: as long as someone remembers who they are, they can recover all their memories."
I let out a sound of surprise and looked at Black Moon, who burst out laughing.
"After all, you never know what will happen next. If things go wrong, at least there's a lifeline, right?"
I nodded. Indeed, Black Moon wasn't just any schemer. If he'd solved all the Immortality Society's problems from the start, they wouldn't need him anymore.
"So, those people from the Immortality Society in the city..."
"Alright, let's stop here. Boss, I'll keep calling you that. After all, if we slip up during an operation outside, things could get messy. Everyone else should call you that too. Ethan Zhang, you should at least act like a Boss."
I looked at Black Moon and nodded.
"Since you managed to get in, tell me—do you have a way to get us out?"
Black Moon leaned in and smiled.
"Of course there's a way. But the Ghost Burial Squad has 31 teams and eight memory fragments in total. Boss, you've collected three. These three fragments—I set them up from the start. After all, I don't rely solely on this guy to devour or even alter people's memories."
I started to understand how this guy did it. I raised my hand, and a memory fragment appeared in my palm.
"It's about things that happened in the memories. At first, they might be the same, but multiple possibilities branch out from them."
All I could think of was that after entering the time point, what I saw were events that repeated over and over. There was no actual time reversal, just different outcomes within the memories.
Black Moon used this method to create places where memories could develop differently. Starting from the beginning, he created false memories, yet people inside those memories felt nothing had changed.
"But the memories of Immortality Society members can't be altered. Heh, they're special, Boss—their bodies contain Sha Ghosts."
I stared at Black Moon in surprise, then he glanced around.
"Many years ago, I was already in the Ghost Burial Squad. Every batch of recruits, we would select a few people—those able to connect the entire Squad. We’d take fragments of their memories, make them into shards, then return the original memories to them. Alright, Boss, that’s all I’ll say for now. Those two are already here, you’d better..."
"I’ll ask them face to face."
As I spoke, Black Moon looked at me in disbelief.
"Heh, well then, I’ll take my leave. Good luck, Boss, and to all my colleagues."
With that, Black Moon mounted the Celestial Hound, and gradually, like melting into mud, disappeared from my instinctual space.
At that moment, the only thing I could think of was how Black Moon could travel through time to get here. It must be related to memory, just like how something remembered in childhood might still linger even at the end of one’s life.
"What should we do, Qingyuan? If what that guy said is true, Jules and Darren, who control time, might mean you harm."
I nodded, looking at Spirit Serpent. The other ghost souls gathered around. We discussed for a while, and I decided to leave the instinctual space.
As soon as I stepped outside, I saw that all around was still a vast wheat field. But now, none of that mattered. What mattered was getting Jules and Darren to release the Ghost Burial Squad. They had the power to do it.
At that moment, I felt a white mist coil around my body, then pull me forward. Gradually, my form twisted and sank into a black, distorted vortex.