"You'd really let me go? After I rest?" I asked, but Isabelle Frost only shook her head.
"You shouldn't even think about leaving. If you die, it'll be trouble for me, Ethan Zhang. Unless something changes outside, don't get your hopes up."
My heart skipped a beat as I looked at Isabelle Frost. Her words seemed to carry hidden meaning. I sat down on the bed, which was very soft, took out my watch, and set the timer for two hours. It was just six o'clock; I had six hours left. I really needed some rest.
Lying on the soft bed, I drifted off to sleep. I closed my eyes, and within moments, I was asleep.
I felt a breath on my face, tickling my cheek. Suddenly, I opened my eyes wide. Ironmask was standing before me, his eyes glinting with amusement as he looked at me.
"What are you doing?"
I screamed in surprise. Ironmask lifted his head.
"Ethan Zhang, I told you a long time ago. Face reality, hah. You can only rely on yourself now; no one else can be trusted. Why won't you listen?"
At first, I thought it was a dream, but when I saw Isabelle Frost standing innocently to the side, I realized this was real.
"He's the one who told me," Isabelle Frost said, "said you were dying. That's why, just this once, I found a way to enter the ghost realm."
As Isabelle Frost spoke, Ironmask gestured animatedly, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up from the bed.
"Come with me, Ethan Zhang. In this world, it's just us. Isn't that good?"
For a moment, I awkwardly stared at Ironmask, not sure what he was getting at.
"Hey, hey, you! Ethan Zhang and I still have an agreement to finish. Where are you planning to take him?"
Ironmask burst out laughing, slapping his iron head with a loud thud.
"An agreement, huh? Fine. You don't seem to mean any harm, so I'll agree for now. Don't worry, I'll take care of Yin Choujian."
I looked at Ironmask, confused, as he continued to hold my hand.
"Let's go, Ethan Zhang. I'll take you somewhere nice. Just you, me, and him. It's time for the three of us to be together."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I shook off Ironmask's hand and turned to Isabelle Frost.
"Let me out." I repeated, unwavering.
With a wail, Ironmask began to cry behind me, squatting on the ground and clutching his head.
"What's wrong now?" I asked impatiently.
"Ethan Zhang won't come with me. What do I do?"
"Just drag him along by force."
"Yeah, that's right, just take him by force."
I stared wide-eyed at Ironmask, who sat on the ground as if performing a two-person act.
"Listen, I'm not going with you. If you try to use force, I'm not afraid. Worst case, I die."
Suddenly, Isabelle Frost appeared right in front of me. I stared at her in shock.
"Really? Even if it means death?"
With a sudden scream, I realized I was outside the platform, my feet dangling in empty air as I plummeted downward.
I shouted loudly as I fell.
"Ethan Zhang..."
A voice came from above—it was Ironmask. He jumped down after me. I was falling fast, the powerful air currents roaring past my ears.
The moment Ironmask jumped, a surge of black Deathbane Aura burst from his back. Huge black wings unfurled—bat-like, but with feathers like a bird.
I was still falling when, in an instant, Ironmask flew up to me, reached out his hand, and I grabbed it. My descent stopped.
"So careless, Ethan Zhang. If you fall, you'll die for sure."
Panting, I glanced nervously at Isabelle Frost, who was floating upside down beside me.
"You..." I glared at her.
Isabelle Frost giggled, covering her mouth.
"Sorry, sorry, just playing a little joke on you, Ethan Zhang."
Back on the platform, I was fuming, glaring at Scarlet Hayes.
"Had enough fun? Can you let me out now?"
I stretched out my hand, feeling the Deathbane Aura flowing normally again.
With a snort, Ironmask started laughing.
"So weak—how will you ever win a fight like that?" he chuckled.
"That's right. He's so weak, if he goes out, Lord Wraith will tear him apart."
"You two, that's enough."
My face flushed red as I watched Isabelle Frost and Ironmask standing together, mocking me.
With a bang, Isabelle Frost slapped Ironmask on the head, cutting off his laughter.
"Enough laughing. Let's talk business."
Isabelle Frost put away her smile and looked at me.
"Ethan Zhang, what you know about Lord Wraith isn't the whole story."
I gasped, then nodded. It's true—Lord Wraith always felt strange to me. He loved Mia Lin deeply, but in reality, he's ruthless and cruel, with no trace of Du Zesheng left.
"Let me tell you a little, Ethan Zhang. To become such a powerful Blue Wraith isn't something a petty vengeful ghost can easily achieve."
I began to listen carefully.
After Lord Wraith died, Isabelle Frost said she once visited the ruined temple nearby and talked briefly with him. Back then, Lord Wraith was just an angry ghost.
Even then, he hated Mia Lin for leaving him, but deep down, he still longed to see her. It was under these two extremes—hatred and longing—that Lord Wraith became more and more twisted.
From the very first couple, to the wishing tree where Lord Wraith devoured them, the fire in his heart exploded.
He grew to deeply despise love. Whenever he saw lovers, he would kill them on sight—the men he'd eat directly, and the women he'd torment in various ways before eating them, or depending on his mood.
Gradually, as Lord Wraith became a more powerful ghost, he entered a state of frenzied oblivion, endlessly devouring women. The ghosts of the women he killed became his slaves, forced to serve him.
Decades after Lord Wraith's death, he finally transformed into a Blue Wraith, then began to expand madly in all directions, searching for Mia Lin.
At last, after a century, Lord Wraith learned about Mia Lin's fate.
"I met him then, and knew his story. I asked if he planned to find Mia Lin at the Bridge of Regret and become ghost spouses."
"What happened next?"
"Madness. The kind that comes from obsession with greater power—a man's madness that blinds him to everything else. He just put away the note and entered the ghost realm, calling himself Lord Wraith ever since."
"So what did he mean by becoming Ghost Sovereign tonight?"
With a gulp, a ball of black fire rose from my throat.
"Redmond, what are you trying to do?"
"Why are you always so cold when you see me, Isabelle? Come on, if I hadn’t helped you back then, you’d still be crying in the corner."
"Get lost, Redmond. I don’t want to talk to you."
Isabelle Frost replied coldly.
"Rufina Howard is in danger, Redmond..."
As I spoke, Redmond, who sat at the desk in front of me, stretched his neck and stared at me coldly.
"You took her in there, didn’t you, Qingyuan? Since you brought her in, you have to bring her out whole. You’re a man, right, Ethan Zhang?"
My heart skipped a beat. In that moment, seeing Redmond, I felt a sudden urge to ask him for help.
I nodded, looking seriously at Redmond.
"Whether it’s Rufina Howard or anyone else, I’ll bring everyone back."
Redmond nodded.
"Don’t hesitate, and don’t lose your way, Ethan Zhang. Besides, that girl isn’t as fragile as you think."
Redmond spoke, propping both feet on the desk and watching Isabelle Frost.
"Tell him, Isabelle. You must've figured it out once you entered Lord Wraith's domain, right? His so-called method for becoming Ghost Sovereign—your ghost network is no smaller than Yin Choujian's, after all, you two are..."
"That's enough, Redmond." Isabelle Frost glared coldly at Redmond.
"Alright, I’ll stop talking."
Then Isabelle Frost began to explain. Though Lord Wraith was a powerful Blue Wraith, after a thousand years he accumulated so much power that he couldn't control it, especially on his birthday. To keep the resentment from overflowing, he would return to the Rakshasa Tree to contain it.
Lord Wraith had gathered a millennium of resentment. On his thousandth birthday, it became immense, so he split his ghost soul in two—half remained in his body, the other half was made into a heart.
In that moment, I remembered the huge black heart in the Wailing Maiden's Den.
"Could it be...?"
"Not 'could it be'—haven't you noticed? Lord Wraith's heart was made to collect the resentment produced by the women imprisoned in the Wailing Maiden's Den. Those women probably never realized they were locked up just to provide Lord Wraith with endless resentment."
"Bastard, that bastard!" I couldn't help but curse out loud.
The other half of his ghost soul became his Rakshasa Tree. The women thrown under its roots and into the lake served as nourishment, causing his ghost soul to grow larger. The final step was to merge himself with the twisted woman, Mia Lin—or rather, to completely devour her. But there was one thing Lord Wraith could never achieve before.
"What was it?"
Isabelle Frost smiled.
"It was fire. Mia Lin, born to restrain Lord Wraith—after all, she died by self-immolation. At the Bridge of Regret, after years of waiting, she gradually became a Blue Wraith."