John Chou wore a broad smile on his face, and thinking back, this was exactly how Rage Blood looked the first time I saw it. I had always thought Rage Blood was just half a weapon, but I hadn’t realized it was actually broken.
"Trust, huh. John Chou, that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth."
"You’ve taken advantage of this situation to accomplish a lot, haven’t you? As for that guy outside, you’re just letting him do as he pleases—is that really wise? Give it enough time, and it could turn into a disaster."
As John Chou spoke, Zuo Quanyi shook his head.
"If you’re talking about Fan Xiaoran, then you don’t need to worry about him. John Chou, mind your own business. Your Hundred Ghosts asked me to pass on a message: what they’ve lost, one day, they’ll come to collect from you."
As Zuo Quanyi finished speaking, John Chou nodded.
"Then tell them this: I’ll be waiting."
Speaking of John Chou’s Hundred Ghosts, I’d never actually heard much about them. The only ones I knew were Zhuang Bo, Wu Rong, and Bai Changde—the three Emerald Shade Ghosts. The rest, I knew nothing about.
But before, through Lan Yin’s memories, I’d seen that before John Chou established the Bloodbane Hall, his Hundred Ghosts were like an army—there were so many of them. I’d always wondered what happened between then and now.
Just then, I felt a chill run through me. In an instant, a layer of condensation appeared on all the glass in the hall, and the temperature kept dropping. John Chou started to laugh.
With a ding, the elevator doors opened and a wave of cold air swept out. I saw Ghost Dreadstar’s hands frozen stiff like icicles, clutching a blob of gray-black paste that kept emitting bursts of cold. Cracking sounds rang out as the glass froze and shattered, and icy blossoms drifted through the air.
A thin layer of ice had formed on the floor as well.
"Where’s the thing wrapped around the Yin Iron?"
John Chou asked, and Ghost Dreadstar burst out laughing.
"You want the item and the treasure we wrapped it in? John Chou, do you take me for a fool? You can have it, but you’ll have to unwrap it yourself."
With that, Ghost Dreadstar tossed the Yin Iron toward John Chou. The moment John Chou’s hand touched it, a cracking sound rang out—his left hand was instantly frozen solid, and the freezing kept spreading. Ghost Dreadstar laughed gleefully from the side.
"Hurry up—reforge it, ha!"
A bloody light flared, and the freezing stopped. The shards of ice covering John Chou cracked and fell away. He gripped the Yin Iron in one hand and smiled.
"Not here—I need to go to the Old City. The forge should still be there, right?"
For a moment, Ghost Dreadstar stared at John Chou in surprise.