When I opened my eyes, I found myself inside my own instinctual space. All seven Ghost Souls were without exception extremely weak, unable even to maintain their forms—just lumps of pitch-black sludge beside me. Only the Spirit Snake still had a head left.
"Ethan, things outside are looking grim. The entire Ghost Domain has been sealed off."
Spirit Snake spoke, and I nodded. It was indeed grim. Here in the Ghost Domain, Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut could completely block Drake Kwan's attacks, but if the other two joined in, the balance would be broken.
I plopped down on the ground, pondering what exactly John Chou intended to tell me.
I remember long ago, before heading to the depths of the Yellow Springs for my cousin's matter, I had the King of Hell's Token engraved on my body. It was John Chou who helped me remove it.
A buzzing rang in my head. That memory was missing—a blur, as if John Chou had done something to me, causing about half an hour of lost time. Ghostly memories are stored in a special place within the Ghost Soul, never to be forgotten. Yet when I checked, that segment was gone.
With a boom, I clutched my head as my consciousness began to fade within the instinctual space.
"What the hell is happen..."
The moment I opened my eyes, I swallowed hard—Drake Kwan held me aloft, while Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut's right hand had morphed into a blade, piercing straight through Drake Kwan's body. Now, Drake Kwan looked on the verge of death; the golden scales on his skin had begun to dissolve into green smoke, and his own body was turning to sand.
The odd protruding lumps I'd seen earlier on Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut's body had vanished. Now, Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut raised its left hand.
I swallowed hard. A mechanical creak echoed out as his left hand folded up and retracted, then a half-meter-long blade shot forward. With a few slicing sounds, I saw Drake Kwan instantly carved into several pieces, which immediately dissolved into drifting sand and vanished.
"I told you, if you’d let us help, you wouldn’t have ended up like this."
Maya Yin said this, and at that moment, the woman beside him—Phoebe Fang—stepped forward, raising her hand.
"Shut up. If you go out there, you’ll be killed in seconds. Leave this to me. Get out."
Maya Yin flashed a mysterious smile, then slipped into the ground and vanished from my Shadow Realm.
With a roar, Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut charged at Phoebe Fang, swinging its white double blades at her.
"Head-to-head, I wouldn’t last long against this corpse. But beating him isn’t impossible."
My eyes widened in shock.
"What’s going on..."
Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut’s attack missed. At that speed, Phoebe Fang shouldn’t have dodged, but she easily avoided the flurry of strikes. Red supernatural ropes appeared in her hand, already binding Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut.
A colored feather appeared in Phoebe Fang's hand. With agile movements, she dodged Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut's attack, leaping over him in an instant. She released the feather, letting it spin through the air, then landed in a crouch, one hand gripping the red cords.
"No matter how powerful a zombie is, fire always works..."
With a roar, a massive burst of flames erupted before my eyes. In an instant, Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut was swallowed by the towering pillar of fire. I immediately sensed something was wrong.
This woman seemed to know a lot about zombies. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how she managed to evade the attack so perfectly.
A howl echoed from within the flames—Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut screamed. When the fire finally faded, I felt a wave of relief. His body hadn't sustained any real damage, only steam rising from his surface, a result of the intense heat.
Suddenly, a blue rooster—completely made of water—appeared behind Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut. Phoebe Fang held a string attached to it.
"It's over..."
"Not good."
I cried out in panic and floated over, my ghostly energy partially restored, but I was still too slow. With a sharp crack, the watery Golden Rooster slammed into Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut's body, and a chilling cold surged forth.
Cracks began to spread across Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut, Deathbane Aura leaking out. Phoebe Fang landed gracefully in front of him, raised a finger, and gently pressed it to his forehead.
A sharp cracking sound echoed as Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut's body began to shatter and flake away. Suddenly, a shrill alarm blared inside my head.
Damage rate: 59%. Repairs required...
With a heavy thud, Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut crashed to the ground. The surface of his body split open, revealing a complex mass of dark metal, some of which had fractured as well.
I raised Belle with a swift motion and slashed out. With a metallic clang, Phoebe Fang blocked my attack with a single finger. Instantly, red cords floated around me, and before I could escape, I was wrapped up tight like a dumpling.
"Brilliant..."
At that moment, a wisp of blue smoke rose from the ground. I saw a figure, pure white, appear—a Heavenly Soul. But suddenly, I realized it wasn't a Heavenly Soul at all, but someone who had infiltrated my Shadow Realm. Maya Yin had been able to prepare so thoroughly here because of this person.
Gradually, the white disguise fell away from the figure, revealing a young man with piercing eyes and long, jet-black hair cascading to his waist.
"Such a minor trick. As Big Cat's top disciple, you should be able to handle it with ease, right?"
"No, no, Phoebe. I could never come up with something that clever. But it's not over yet."
In a daze, I realized Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut had vanished. It dawned on me—he'd returned to the Iron Containment Cabinet.
Switching mode: visual mode to sensory mode.
With a thunderous boom, just as the voice echoed in my mind, Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut appeared before me. His fists swelled rapidly, then he launched an attack at Mason Yu and Phoebe Fang.
With a deafening crash, two blasts of Deathbane Aura erupted and swallowed everything in front of me. In an instant, I saw Mason Yu throw himself in front of Phoebe Fang.
I noticed Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut's eyes—pitch black, empty. Suddenly, I understood: it was a problem with his vision. Just now, Phoebe Fang must have used some kind of spell to disrupt it. His attacks seemed fast, but none landed.
The Deathbane Aura gradually faded. I saw Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut hunched over, fists clenched, as if sensing something. Now, without vision, he relied entirely on perception.
"Drake's approach was correct. Without corpse essence, the perfect Corpse Barrier can't be deployed."
With a thunderous leap, Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut sprang into the air, cracking the ground beneath him. Mason Yu, sword in hand, lunged straight at him.
My eyes widened—it was the Celestial Chord Sword. The two elders had clearly given it to Mason Yu before.
With a metallic ring, Mason Yu—who had infiltrated my Shadow Realm—thrust the Celestial Chord Sword into Ethan's Spectral Juggernaut's chest.
"Tough as expected. But with the sharpness of this sword..."