"The ghost... the ghost is back!"
Even Zhou Qiaoling, who had the highest sanity among them, couldn't help but gasp in fear.
"Don’t panic! We have the Evil-Warding Copper Coin!"
Zhong Yi raised the coin tied with a red string, waving it around frantically.
In the oppressive darkness, it felt as though ghosts lurked in every shadow.
Mu Yawen pulled out a Spirit Lantern and shone it around.
No ghostly figures were visible, yet the chilling, suffocating presence clung to them like a second skin.
The three of them were certain.
The ghost,
was right beside them!
"Let’s head for the door first... Junior Sister Zhou, try communicating with it again!"
Zhong Yi gripped the copper coin tightly, forcing himself to stay calm.
"Alright..."
Zhou Qiaoling nodded timidly, her earlier bravado completely gone.
"You..."
"Do you know Old Demon Lu...?"
"......"
A brief silence followed.
But all three of them noticed something unsettling—
Faint breathing could be heard from the other end of the Spirit Jade Slip!
"Heh... hehehe..."
A bone-chilling, hysterical laugh erupted from the Spirit Jade Slip.
"Old... Demon... Lu...!!"
Each word was heavier than the last.
The trio froze, their breath catching in their throats.
At the mention of "Old Demon Lu," the ghost spiraled into madness.
Its shrill, deranged voice scraped against their ears like nails on a chalkboard.
"Give me back my life... Give it back!!!"
"It’s so cold here... so cold..."
"Giggle giggle... hahahaha..."
At the same time,
Black resentment, thick as smoke, gushed out from the Spirit Jade Slip!
"RUN!!"
Zhong Yi sensed imminent danger and shouted. The three of them bolted for the door.
Then—
BANG!
The door slammed shut on its own!
Despair filled their eyes.
A closed door meant only one thing—
The ghost had begun its hunt!
After a moment of frantic thought, Zhong Yi turned around, facing the ghost now striding rapidly toward them from the end of the hallway.
He took a deep breath and raised the Evil-Warding Copper Coin.
"Junior Sister Zhou, Junior Brother Mu... Go. Now!"
"If it kills me, the hunt will end... and the door will open."
"The evidence is clear—this has to be a Wraith!"
"My life in exchange for our team’s victory... It’s worth it!"
"Don’t worry about me, just—... Huh?"
Mid-sentence, Zhong Yi glanced back.
Zhou Qiaoling and Mu Yawen were already sprinting full-speed toward the door, nearly there.
Zhong Yi’s lips twitched.
Well. So much for noble sacrifices.
Meanwhile, the live-stream chat was having a field day watching the elite disciples suffer inside the illusion.
[LMAO, what the hell did Old Demon Lu do to these ghosts? They go berserk at just his name!]
[Fellow cultivators, I take back my earlier arrogance... I lasted half an incense stick in that illusion before dying...]
[Is the illusion really that scary? I don’t believe it.]
[The last guy who said that pissed his pants.]
[Respect to Senior Brother Zhong! Sacrificing himself for the team!]
......
"Trade my life? Not necessarily!"
Zhong Yi stared at the Evil-Warding Copper Coin in his hand, a glimmer of hope still burning in his eyes.
"This coin can block one hunt! It might not kill me!"
As the ghost drew closer, he mustered his courage and charged forward on trembling legs.
"Coin, BREAK ITS POWER!!!"
Three seconds later, Zhong Yi learned another hard truth.
The Evil-Warding Copper Coin only worked when placed on the ground...
......
Now spirits themselves, Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue exchanged wry smiles.
Watching Mu Yawen and Zhou Qiaoling return safely to the carriage, they both felt a flicker of relief.
"Old Zhong... You didn’t guess wrong again, did you?"
"No way! All three pieces of evidence matched, and the constant candle-blowing fits the Wraith’s behavior perfectly. If it’s not a Wraith, I’ll eat my words live on stream!"
Just as Zhong Yi finished his confident declaration, the results screen popped up.
[Entity Type: Mimic Spirit]
[Score: 0]
"???"
"WHAT?! Mimic Spirits can copy any ghost’s traits!!!"
"Damn it all, go eat crap instead!!!"
[P.S. Finally hit 500k words, folks. If you’ve made it this far, drop a five-star review, yeah? That May incident really tanked the ratings... Love y’all.]
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
