In a swirl of black and white halos, I slowly closed my eyes.
The moment I opened my eyes, a jolt of awareness shot through me. Old Ray barreled toward me, shouting, while all around, the wailing of ghosts pressed in—surrounding me, closing in from every side.
Some of the ghosts had already reached my side, their mouths agape, ready to bite down. The woman's manic laughter echoed incessantly.
"My heart is human, my body is ghost. I have crossed countless boundaries between man and ghost...
Thus I am named: though our paths diverge, our ends are one.
My heart burns like fire, my body chills like ice.
I fall but never break..."
I shouted, my voice echoing through the gloom. Suddenly, black mist surged around me. The air was filled with the sounds of tearing, gnashing, and ravenous chewing as my body was ripped apart, shredded, and devoured by the onrushing evil spirits.
Flesh was gnawed, bones crushed to splinters, blood drained dry—until my body vanished into nothingness.
"Hahaha, it's finally over. Heh, just one dog left? Sigh, boring. Is this what it means to be human?"
The woman spoke, but in that instant, everything sharpened with eerie clarity. Through the ghosts that devoured me—their eyes, the grains of sand on the ground, every detail around me—became vividly, almost painfully clear in my mind.
Every detail registered with piercing clarity, even the darkness lurking in the woman's heart—hidden from all but me. Her name echoed in my mind: Yvonne Yang.
"Enough, hurry up and slaughter that dog for me. This Desire Realm is mine for the taking, hahahaha!"
Old Ray wasn't discouraged by my being devoured by the ghosts. Instead, he turned and immediately started running. In the sky, countless ghosts swooped down toward him.
I smiled faintly, watching everything unfold. The thirty or forty ghosts that had just devoured me now drifted toward Yvonne Yang, the female ghost.
"What are you doing?" Yvonne Yang looked puzzled at the thirty or forty ghosts before her. Suddenly, they lunged at her.
Yvonne Yang's hair, swirling and coiling like water, instantly pierced through the ghosts—each strand glinting with a deadly, spectral sheen.
"What's going on?" Yvonne Yang seemed to realize something was wrong.
"Ethan, if you're still here, come out now! I can't hold on much longer!"
Old Ray shouted from below as I burst out laughing. Wisps of black, smoke-like mist emerged from the mouths of those ghosts, slowly condensing until my form took shape before Yvonne Yang, floating in the air.
"What is this?"
Yvonne Yang stared at me in astonishment, then suddenly cried out.
"Impossible. You clearly..."
"I'm a ghost, just like you. As a ghost, you should know—ghosts are impermanent, they can transform, they can float. Even if their bodies are torn apart, they can restore themselves, possess others, and..."
Yvonne Yang screamed sharply.
"Go to hell."
Yvonne Yang instantly retracted her flowing, water-like black hair and stabbed it toward me. I closed my eyes slightly; in my mind, I tracked every strand's trajectory, twisting and dodging nimbly in midair to evade them.
"Impossible, what is this?"
With a swoosh, I floated right up to Yvonne Yang, leaning my head in with a wicked grin.
"If you're a ghost, you should know this well."
"What on earth is this?" Yvonne Yang shouted, her hair attacking me from all directions.
A murderous aura instantly surged from my body, spilling out and morphing into spectral hands that seized Yvonne Yang's hair.
"With your current strength, you can't hurt me. Let me show you a little."
As I spoke, I willed it so: in the sky, countless thin, black thread-like things floated, densely packed, covering the entire space.
"This is called the Specter Web. Don't you have one?"
Yvonne Yang looked around in astonishment.
"Damn it, Ethan, hurry up and help me!" Old Ray was still being chased by ghosts. With a swoosh, I vanished from Yvonne Yang's sight and appeared before Old Ray.
"If you don't want to die, don't come any closer." I raised a hand, and murderous aura flowed out of my right hand like water. Instantly, the surrounding ghosts, though still dull-faced, dared not approach again.
"Kill them, go!" Yvonne Yang shouted urgently, but the ghosts surrounding Old Ray and me didn't approach. Instead, one by one, they turned to wisps of smoke and vanished into the air.
"Ethan, what's going on? You suddenly turned into a ghost?" Old Ray asked. I smiled and shook my head.
With a roar, the Desire Fiend, under Yvonne Yang's control, charged toward us. I slowly floated forward.
"Next comes the battle of ghosts."
With a boom, the Desire Fiend's massive fist came at me. I floated past it easily, passing right through the monster's fist as expected.
"Since you can slip into the Desire Fiend's body, so can I."
The moment I entered the Desire Fiend's body, I felt all sorts of intense desires flooding my mind. These desires, whether human or ghost, were all the same.
"Got you." I grabbed Yvonne Yang's left hand and yanked her whole body out of the Desire Fiend.
Yvonne Yang shrieked in agony, her cries echoing like broken glass. Black liquid poured from her mouth and eyes, and behind her, a writhing mass of darkness surged toward me, its icy chill swallowing my body whole.
"These things can't kill me."
It was murderous aura—I felt it. With a sudden thought, I began to inhale the aura wrapping my body through my eyes, nose, and mouth.
"To a ghost, these things are a delicacy. I don't know how you managed to control the Desire Fiend, but you're far too weak."
Suddenly, I floated before Yvonne Yang, reached out, and with a hiss, stabbed into her chest. She screamed wildly.
"A white-robed ghost who doesn't even know how to hide her ghost soul, yet can control such immense desire? How laughable."
My right hand made clear contact with Yvonne Yang's ghost soul. It was like a human heart—cold and chilling, yet violently trembling.
The world around us slowly returned to normal. The black mist on the Desire Fiend quickly faded, and it quieted down, looking around before turning and swiftly jumping into the newly formed pit.
"Ah..." Yvonne Yang screamed, her face contorted. The black mist around her gradually turned white. I could clearly sense her extreme instability; her ghost soul felt like it was about to explode.
Suddenly, I sensed something inside Yvonne Yang's ghost soul. Carefully, I reached into it. Yvonne Yang screamed—it was a streak of crimson.
Instantly, I grabbed that crimson streak and pulled it out of Yvonne Yang, holding it in my hand as it slowly dissipated like mist.
Yvonne Yang's face was pale as she slowly fell into the camp. I looked down—those black ice blocks had vanished, and the red moon in the sky was gone too. Five people stood in the camp; they'd all emerged from the black ice. Aside from looking pale, they were unharmed.
With a rush, I landed on the ground. Everyone stared at me in astonishment.
"Ethan, how did you die so quickly?"
Old Eccentric muttered. I shot him a glare.
"You're the one who's dead."
As I spoke, pain tore through my chest and I cried out, as if my flesh were being peeled away, layer by layer. The agony was overwhelming. Blackness receded, swirling toward the center of my chest, slowly sinking into me.
Suddenly, Vincent Swallow rushed over, pulled out a yellow talisman, bit his finger, quickly wrote some Sanskrit, tore open my shirt, and slapped the talisman onto my chest with a smack.
"Listen, don't use that power for now, Ethan," Vincent Swallow said. To my surprise, the talisman sank into my chest, leaving a large red swastika mark as if it were a tattoo.
"Once we're out, I'll get my tools together and help you handle it properly," Vincent Swallow said.
As Vincent Swallow spoke, the pain in my body gradually subsided. Then Tammy Blade walked step by step to Yvonne Yang. I watched Tammy Blade, her gaze icy, while the others started moving toward the stone table.
"Time to drink!" Tunjiu shouted gleefully, running off. I stood quietly to the side, lost my balance, and collapsed to the ground. I had returned to being human—my right leg was still missing. Though I was starving, I didn't want to move.
"If you're going to kill me, then do it," Yvonne Yang said with a smile. Tammy Blade had already reached her, extending a hand. Yvonne Yang suddenly closed her eyes, her expression oddly content.
"As long as she's alive, that's all that matters," Tammy Blade said simply. Then she hugged Yvonne Yang. Yvonne Yang pushed her away indifferently and with a whoosh, floated off into the distance.
"No matter how many times it takes, I will fulfill my wish." Yvonne Yang's face still showed a trace of viciousness as she drifted farther away. I watched her go.
"What will you do if we meet again next time?" I asked Tammy Blade. She burst out laughing.
"No matter how many times, I will always save her. No matter what she becomes, as long as she's alive, that's enough," Tammy Blade said.