Chapter 156: Fusing Ghosts (8)

Lai's gaze shifted to the black-bound book. Although the two ghosts had only just reached the seven-star level and were still far inferior to Lai, Lai found the power of rules within them to be extremely appetizing.

Well... it was just a bit too little.

Feeling the gaze fixed upon it, the black-bound book began to tremble slightly.

Seeing how terrified the book ghost was, Wu Zui formed a new idea.

Wu Zui had experienced the book's abilities firsthand. If not for the Asking-Heart Sword suppressing his body from within, the moment his name appeared on its pages, his physical form would have dissolved and turned into nourishment for the book.

That irresistible rule which forced all strength and flesh within a target to transform into resentful energy was truly terrifying. If one were to make a comparison, it was not the least bit inferior to the rule of the Dao of Silence possessed by Lai.

"Lai, would you mind if I took it as a subordinate?"

As he spoke, Wu Zui handed over more than a dozen red crystals in exchange.

"Nom... crunch, crunch..."

Lai swallowed the crystals offered by Wu Zui in a single gulp, then fell into a rare moment of deep thought. After finishing the red crystals a moment later, Lai looked at Wu Zui with a deeply regretful expression and said, "You cannot control it."

〖Then what were you thinking when you ate my stuff?!〗

Wu Zui's expression turned somewhat ugly, but then he said to Lai, "Let me try anyway!"

"Fine!"

Lai licked the crystal residue from the corners of its mouth and said, looking as though it still wanted more.

Upon hearing Lai's reply, the Asking-Heart Chain instantly pierced through the body of the black-bound book, leaving a red chained imprint upon its ghost core. Wu Zui controlled other ghost spirits, such as Tang Yingying, in this exact manner.

Naturally, the book ghost felt the imprint forming within its core. It let out a roar as a layer of black qi flashed across the surface of the book, and the remaining power of rules within its body began to fight back. Meanwhile, the imprint Wu Zui had left inside the core started to shatter inch by inch.

In less than two minutes, the book used the power of its ghost domain to completely obliterate the imprint, thereby breaking free from Wu Zui's control.

Wu Zui felt somewhat discouraged; if even the karmic fire imprint was useless, he truly had no other options left. He coveted the black-bound book's ability deeply. Even if it could only deal with ghosts of a lower realm than its user, it would still be a divine artifact when facing a sea of enemies.

At this moment, Lai's eyes lit up as it said to Wu Zui, "Give me a crystal this big, and I'll get you a servant." As it spoke, Lai fluttered in the air, its hands tracing a large circle in the void.

Wu Zui looked at Lai in surprise. Ever since he had coaxed Lai into following him, he had never seen it speak so many words at once.

"Can a servant still possess that kind of special power?"

Wu Zui didn't care about Lai's conditions for the trade; there were still plenty of those red crystals left within the spatial dimension of the Asking-Heart Sword, more than enough for him to squander for a long time. After all, those crystals had been scattered all over the three main peaks of Shennongjia!

"Yes!" Lai replied.

"Deal!"

Wu Zui said as he hauled out a pile of red crystals standing half a person high from the spatial dimension of the Asking-Heart Sword.

Lai licked the drool spilling from its mouth. For once, it didn't immediately dig in, but instead glanced at the trembling black-bound book nearby.

At this moment, the book was filled with boundless regret. If it had a second chance, it would have eliminated Wu Zui first and never let him run around for so long. Even more, it would never have harbored wishful thinking upon meeting Lai, naively believing a two-on-one fight could take the creature down.

It had no idea what kind of gulf existed between an artificially ripened seven-star entity and an ancient veteran seven-star existence like Lai!

As the book shook, Lai made its move. Its proprietary ghost domain instantly shattered the book's ghost core. Then, Lai told Wu Zui, "Mark it."

The Asking-Heart Chain once again pierced through the remnant ghost core of the book. Under Lai's control, the spilling resentful energy and rule power belonging to the book gathered around the karmic fire imprint, forging a brand-new ghost core controlled by the karmic fire.

Only then did Wu Zui faintly sense a connection established between himself and the black-bound book.

The next moment, with a thought from Wu Zui, the black-bound book floated into his hand. It was as obedient as an extension of his own limb, cooperating with him as smoothly as if they had worked together for years. As for the book's original nascent intelligence, it had been completely destroyed by Lai's previous strike.

Crunch... crunch...

Having finished all this, Lai sprawled across the pile of red crystals and began to feast heartily. Although helping Wu Zui this time had consumed a fair amount of power, such a massive pile of red crystals more than made up for it, and there was even a profit to be made!

All in all, this deal wasn't a loss!

For some reason, even though Lai could transform into its true form and swallow the red crystals in one bite, it preferred to consume them in tiny little bites. Could the sensation of eating a crystal larger than itself really feel that good? Wu Zui had no way of knowing.

Taking advantage of Lai's feeding time, Wu Zui checked on Ming Yourou's injuries, catching a momentary flash of scenery... As for the wounds, they had already scabbed and healed under the effects of medicine.

Naturally, while checking the wounds, Wu Zui inevitably saw a few things he shouldn't have...

At this moment, Lai was still maintaining its ghost domain which enveloped the entire room, allowing Wu Zui to safely venture into the hotel and find a suitable coat for Ming Yourou.

A moment later, Wu Zui returned with a long black women's overcoat, wrapping her tightly from head to toe. Then, he hoisted Ming Yourou onto his back. The soft tactile sensation against his back caused Wu Zui to become somewhat absent-minded.

When Lai finished its meal, leaped onto Wu Zui's head, and fell back into a deep slumber, Wu Zui carried the large and small figures out of the hotel.

Meanwhile, following the subjugation and demise of the two ghosts, their ghost domains also began to rapidly collapse, allowing Xiao Ke'ai to arrive smoothly at White Dragon Temple.

The golden barrier formed by the golden bell and giant drum enveloped the entire temple, shimmering in the sky above White Dragon Temple.

It looked just like... the time Wuxiang had once treated Wu Zui here.

Soon, Wu Zui also emerged from the spatial singularity with Ming Yourou on his back. After settling her inside White Dragon Temple, Wu Zui went to find Xiao Anguo.

Seeing Wu Zui, Xiao Ke'ai familiarly leaped back onto his shoulder and squatted there. Wu Zui casually picked up the sleeping Lai from atop his head and placed it amidst Xiao Ke'ai's fur.

"How are those two seven-star ghosts now? I noticed the ghost domain shrouding Beijing City has vanished," Xiao Anguo asked, looking at Wu Zui.

"I tricked them into meeting another ghost. That red-eyed one has perished, and the black-bound book has become my trophy." As he spoke, Wu Zui produced the black book, which had now shrunk to the size of an ordinary volume.

Even though the news Wu Zui brought back was entirely good, Xiao Anguo still couldn't feel happy. Following this battle, the entire research institute base had been wiped out, leaving only a dozen high-ranking officials in China, while spirit investigators in Beijing had suffered near-total casualties.

In the short term, Beijing could only focus on self-preservation.

While various leaders at White Dragon Temple organized spirit investigators from other regions to come and clean up the aftermath, foreign nations received China's research data and all initiated studies into fused ghosts.

Among them, Metropolis was the most enthusiastic. After all, having once been the stronghold of the World-Purifying Society, they possessed a considerable number of texts concerning the manipulation of ghosts.

Inside a massive room in Metropolis at this moment, a supercomputer flashed with blue light. Suddenly, a figure stepped out from the computer screen. As its features gradually cleared, the face of Sun Lang was revealed.

He looked vastly different from when he was human; his new body bore not only traces of his father, Sun Ming, but also elements from various other consumed individuals.

It was none other than him who had infiltrated the underground base in China and transmitted all the research data regarding fused ghosts to various countries!

Do not assume he was kindly helping humanity solve the crisis of the heavenly change and black fog. Let us not forget that ghosts do not fear sunlight and feel no interest in food other than flesh and blood; the current situation made no difference to ghosts at all.

What's more, the heavenly change and black fog were supreme treasures capable of elevating their realms! Wu Zui had even once suspected that this global phenomenon of black fog was the very first wave of welfare bestowed by the Heavenly Dao consciousness once ghosts became the masters of heaven and earth.

Just like the countless blessed immortal mountains that emerged endlessly in original myths and legends after humans became the masters of heaven and earth. Viewed in this light, how could Sun Lang bear to give away something that could elevate cultivation realms unless there was a conspiracy?

In truth, it was because after Wuxiang and Qingqing transformed into the Dao, ghosts required more power in the mortal realm to accelerate the dissipation of the residual power left by Wuxiang and the other. Once seven-star and higher ghosts could manifest here, they would completely rule over the mortal world.

Every seven-star ghost was well aware of this fact once ghosts became the new masters of heaven and earth!

At this moment, Sun Lang formed his body in front of the supercomputer, but he did not leave. Behind him, numerous black thread-like objects remained connected to the mainframe. As a ghost possessing a ghost domain, he knew that mere spatial power alone was insufficient to threaten a seven-star entity.

As one of the weaker forces among the rules, how could space possibly threaten a seven-star powerhouse capable of rewriting rules?

Right now, utilizing his ghost domain and electromagnetic parasitism abilities, Sun Lang was seizing control of the entire planet's network to prevent the outside world from discovering what had happened in Beijing, China. The moment anyone detected anomalies in the network, his electromagnetic parasitism would strike them dead instantly.

In this way, as long as humans adopted the ghost-fusion program in hopes of seeing the light of day once more, once they began mass-producing ghost-fused humans, premature extinction would be the only fate awaiting them.

"China... a beautiful yet unyielding nation... All that awaits you is to join my incompetent father in death!" Blue electromagnetic signals flashed in Sun Lang's eyes as he whispered with an evil smile on his lips.

And things unfolded precisely as Sun Lang had anticipated. Upon receiving China's research data, other nations eagerly initiated their own ghost-fusion programs! Lacking food reserves as robust as China's, they had no spare time to uncover the hidden perils within the documents.