Chapter 131: Preparing for the Seven Elders, Unlimited Derivation

Controlling the starving ghost, Zhang Hao looked again at the Coffin Nail in his hand.

"Should I also control this thing?"

Zhang Hao frowned; the starving ghost can, while being nailed by a Coffin Nail, reverse and digest the Coffin Nail, so there is no reason the Ghostly Servant cannot do it.

Especially since Zhang Hao's own Terror Level now far exceeds that of the starving ghost, and he has gathered the abilities of both the starving ghost and the Ghostly Servant.

Zhang Hao closed his eyes, and the next moment, many strands of fate about the future appeared in his mind.

Zhang Hao found the fate of swallowing the Coffin Nail.

In that future, swallowing the Coffin Nail can successfully be controlled.

Only it requires a longer time; after eating the Coffin Nail, even the current Zhang Hao would be suppressed and unable to act.

It takes a full hour for him to recover from the incapacitated state.

Moreover, swallowing a single Coffin Nail cannot grant Zhang Hao enough power to defeat the Seven Elders.

In the end, because that hour lost to swallowing the Coffin Nail, Zhang Hao was captured and detained by Qin Lao together with Zhang Dong and others.

"Looks like we still have to go find Ghost Lake and Silence first."

After reading this fate, Zhang Hao sealed the Coffin Nail he intended to swallow into the world of Ghost Painting.

Now digestion takes an hour, but what if he replenishes other supernatural powers again?

Don't forget, the Ghost Lake on Zhang Hao now is only Six-Tenths of the Ghostly Power.

If he can complete that Six-Tenths Ghost Lake of this world, his supernatural intensity will reach the Complete Ghost Lake state, and even exceed it a bit.

To save time, Zhang Hao didn't even eat any other Fierce Ghosts in the Basement of Dajing City, but headed straight toward Zhongzhou City.

Ghosts that can be detained by Headquarters generally have low Terror Level; swallowing dozens may not match the boost from Ghost Lake.

In this time‑pressured situation, naturally he must first seek stronger and more important Fierce Ghosts.

Zhongzhou City, at this time, the Ghost Lake had just begun to go out of control, so the city appeared normal, with no trace of any supernatural presence.

Zhang Hao walked through Zhongzhou City and soon arrived at the river leading to Ghost Lake.

Along the riverbank, Zhang Hao did not look for paper boats, but simply walked toward the river's depths.

The Ghost Domain began its Ghost's Invasion of the river; as the surroundings lost color, a lake soon appeared before Zhang Hao.

Zhang Hao, holding the Ghost Bride, performed Ghost Summoning toward the lake.

A muffled, sobbing wail drifted eerily over the dead‑cold Lake Surface.

Soon a woman appeared.

She wore white clothes, an old‑style coat, and her jet‑black hair hung down, already resting on the lake surface, the hair wet and continuously dripping as if she had just washed.

The woman faced away from Zhang Hao, so her front could not be seen.

Nevertheless, on the deck one could still see that woman now holding a blood‑red Wooden Comb, slowly combing her damp long hair.

"Bride, go fetch the comb."

Zhang Hao waved at Ghost Lake, controlling it to come before him.

Perhaps because of Terror Level, or because Zhang Hao carries Six-Tenths Ghost Lake supernatural power, this shared origin made Ghost Lake show no resistance when approaching Zhang Hao.

However, as Zhang Hao reached out, snatched the Wooden Comb from Ghost Lake, and his palm touched the woman's body, a chilling, damp sensation appeared on Zhang Hao.

Although Ghost Lake was controlled, upon sensing the same‑origin Ghost Lake aura, she began to erode Zhang Hao instead.

Yet faced with this, Zhang Hao felt no worry.

When Zhang Hao's body was fully invaded by Ghost Lake, the world seemed to change accordingly.

Although still on the Lake Surface, everything around seemed already dramatically altered.

Ghost Lake's memory was invaded by Zhang Hao, and now Zhang Hao finds himself within Ghost Lake's past.

Facing Ghost Lake, Zhang Hao did not choose to control it with the Ghostly Servant or the starving ghost, but used the Fierce Ghost that invaded his memory from Shen Lin to invade the other side.

Because Zhang Hao wants to merge the Six-Tenths Ghost Lake supernatural power of the Reality World with this world's Ghost Lake into a single lake.

Thus, the two Six-Tenths Ghost Lake powers complement each other, ultimately possibly granting Zhang Hao a result stronger than the Complete Ghost Lake of the Reality World.

Of course, this boost is limited to this world.

But as long as he can defeat this world's Zhang Dong, Zhang Hao will have a rough idea of the Reality World's Zhang Dong.

Deep in the memory, one Zhang Hao after another emerged, beginning to assault Ghost Lake.

However, even the Ghost Lake in the memory is not so easily dealt with.

When Zhang Hao used the Black and White World to invade this memory, continuously sending out versions of himself from past memories, Ghost Lake surprisingly also learned his tactics.

Countless Zhang Haos and Ghost Lakes kept emerging from past memories, battling each other within this memory.

The world of this memory, with Zhang Hao's invasion, began to turn entirely black and white.

Nevertheless, Zhang Hao still possesses the Ghostly Servant's Unsolved Suppression; even if he does not choose to control this part of Ghost Lake with the Ghostly Servant, using the Ghostly Servant to suppress Ghost Lake poses no problem.

The battle was neither long nor short; controlling Ghost Lake ultimately took Zhang Hao half an hour.

"Next stop, Silence."

Zhang Hao has never seen Silence in the Reality World, but with Human Skin paper present, finding Silence won't take him much time.

Soon, Zhang Hao appeared above a city.

It was a small county town, but everywhere it was dim, with no light at all; the streets were empty, no living person in sight, truly an empty city.

This is the site where the supernatural incident Silence occurs.

Because Fierce Ghosts roamed, the nearby people were moved away long ago, and the county town was sealed off.

Entering the city, the surroundings were extremely silent, dim and cold.

All that could be heard was the night wind whistling past; there was not a speck of light.

"Ghost!"

Zhang Hao stood in the middle of the county town and whispered a single word.

The sound wasn't loud, but it seemed able to echo throughout the entire city, spreading continuously.

When the sound echoed on the empty road, a nearby streetlamp's light immediately began to flicker with a hissing.

Under the extinguished streetlamp, where a mass of shadows gathered, an unknown moment saw a bizarre silhouette abruptly appear there.

It was a girl whose body was covered in bruises, filthy all over, wearing a dress.

However, the girl only had two pitch‑black hollow eye sockets, no nose, no mouth, and it seemed the only thing that could connect her to the outside world were her ears.

The bizarre girl stood in the shadows, peering toward Zhang Hao, as if she had already set her sights on him.

"Ghost!"

Zhang Hao, upon seeing the girl appear, did not rush to attack, but shouted the word again.

In the next moment, another little girl emerged from the shadows beneath a streetlamp.

Each time he shouted "Ghost," a Ghost was summoned.

Zhang Hao kept shouting "Ghost," not knowing how many fierce Ghosts derived from Silent he had summoned.

Silent is the most unique Ghost in the mysterious Revival.

Its source cannot be found; it seems to exist only as a concept in a certain region.

Even if Zhang Hao uses the current Ghost Domain to cover the city, he cannot locate Silent's source; at most he can only remove the undetectable paranormal that hovers over the city.

The only way to locate Silent is to shout the word "Ghost" within the area affected by it.

However, even so, what can be summoned is not Silent's source.

Perhaps this is a conceptual fierce Ghost, more special than those consciousness‑type fierce Ghosts.

Zhang Hao released the Ghost Domain; the black‑and‑white Ghost Domain swiftly invaded the fierce Ghosts within Silent.

Zhang Hao approached the nearest suppressed little girl, lifted her, and swallowed her.

As Zhang Hao swallowed the fierce Ghost corpse resembling a little girl, his condition seemed to undergo an incomprehensible change.

In this black‑and‑white world, people dressed in white Funeral Clothes, completely colorless, stepped into the Reality World.

The men in the falling black and white Portraits from the sky also one by one stepped out of the Portraits at this moment; their faces were cold, their expressions strange.

Compared with the previously pale silhouettes, now these people wore faded long robes, which in style resembled faded Groom's Robes. At the same time, the ground of this county town began to be covered by cold, damp lake water; within the lake water, people drenched and completely black emerged and walked through the town.

Meanwhile, in the lake water, occasional bizarre semi‑transparent silhouettes were reflected, and these people seemed to have their own thoughts.

Their reflected silhouettes on the lake surface kept moving deeper into the county town.

Infinite Derivation paranormal began to appear.

However, because Zhang Hao had only consumed one fierce Ghost of Silent, this power was not strong.

"Ghost!"

A bizarre hoarse voice echoed through the city, seeming to be emitted by countless people at once, sounding mournful and eerie; any living person here would likely be half‑dead with fright just from hearing it.

In the instant the sound rang out, little girls without facial features appeared throughout the city.

And these bizarre people, upon seeing the little girls, acted as if they had spotted a feast, each going madly into action.

These bizarre youths some came directly from Zhang Hao's gaze into Reality, some stepped from the black and white Portraits into Reality, others emerged from the world of memories, and even some from the lake water.

Normally, aside from entities derived from Ghost Lake, Zhang Hao's other avatars could not enter the Reality World.

But after swallowing the first Silent, all of Zhang Hao's avatars seemed to gain the ability to enter Reality.

At this moment, no matter from where Zhang Hao emerged, his target was the little girls.

The derived youths began attacking the little girls; on the county town's eaves, streets, even sewers, riverbanks, and forests, silhouettes of little girls and youths appeared.

Whenever a little girl appeared anywhere, a youth would instantly appear beside her, seize her, and swallow her whole.

At first, there were many little girls; the youths, though not few, numbered only a few hundred.

But as the youths kept swallowing the little girls, the number of youths in the city gradually increased while the little girls dwindled.

"Madam, do you and the bride want to play? If you can harness the little girl's paranormal, you could try to control it; it should greatly aid your ability to derive avatars."

Dried Corpse Bride heard Zhang Hao's words but did not move.

She did not treat the little girl as a Puzzle‑completion ability.

As for Ghost Bride, however, she moved.

Her cognitive ability was higher than Dried Corpse Bride's; although she also could not control it, she would actively help Zhang Hao.

One by one, brides in Hong Bai Shuang Sha entered, perhaps Ghost Bride's actions prompted Dried Corpse Bride.

After Ghost Bride entered, Dried Corpse Bride also began to act.

Derived ghost paintings appeared, beginning to help those youths capture the little girls throughout the city.

After about another half hour, the little girls, being constantly devoured, had even most of the Source Ghost's paranormal stolen; at this point it would take a long time to successfully extract a little girl.

"It's over."

Zhang Hao glanced at the county town, knowing he could proceed to the next action, leaving this to his avatars to handle.

Leaving the city, Zhang Hao soon arrived at Da Cang Market.

This is the strange county town he had left before; this time he intends to go inside to find another White Ghost Eye and another Groom's Robe.

Zhang Hao entered the abandoned strange town, directly employing the Ghost Eye, and rushed quickly deeper along the darkness.

If he were not in a hurry under normal circumstances, Zhang Hao would naturally not choose to enter the city via Ghost Domain invasion.

But the situation now is different; he has no time to delay.

The forced invasion of the Ghost Domain seemed to provoke resistance from the darkness; some profound darkness entered Zhang Hao's Ghost Domain, invading his vicinity.

But perhaps because Zhang Hao had previously obtained identity recognition in another strange county town, the city's source made some judgment.

These black mists did not begin to attack Zhang Hao; they merely started compressing the range his Ghost Domain could affect.

Zhang Hao paid no mind; by using the Ghost Domain to form a rainbow, he quickly succeeded in entering the city's streets.

This time, Zhang Hao arrived at the same street he had originally reached by walking along the Kamiya old man's mud road.

Perhaps the spot where this street's exit meets Reality World is in Da Zang City?

Zhang Hao entered the city, and in no time a shout came from an Alley off the Road.

"It's so late at night, wandering outside, aren't you afraid of breaking taboos? Come with me quickly."

A man in a black robe stood at the entrance of a pitch‑black Alley and waved at Zhang Hao, shouting.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Hao looked at the other person, and an eerie smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

"Wait for me, I'm coming right away," Zhang Hao said, and immediately walked toward the black‑robed man.

The black‑robed man, having received the response, immediately headed deeper into the Alley.

While walking further down the Road, the black‑robed man kept urging Zhang Hao.

However, the moment Zhang Hao stepped onto the Road, the black‑and‑white Ghost Domain began its Ghost's Invasion of the darkness.

Zhang Hao's intrusion sparked changes in the Road; deep within the Road, a number of eerie black‑robed figures appeared, walking toward Zhang Hao.

But at that moment, a series of pallid silhouettes also emerged; each of them, upon grabbing a black‑robed figure, would immediately swallow it.

These pallid silhouettes walked along the pitch‑black Road toward its depths.

Unlike Zhang Hao, Zhang Hao, when walking on this pitch‑black Road, feels Gravity because of being gazed at by that eye.

But those who already exist within the Gaze do not experience this effect.

After a short while, the darkness covering the Road vanished.

A pallid figure dressed in Funeral Clothes, holding an eye, walked over.

Zhang Hao took the eye from the other's hand and deliberately pressed it onto his other eye.

In an instant, a pallid pupil also appeared in Zhang Hao's other crimson eye.

Ghost Devouring Silence, Ghost Lake, entering Ghostly City and wielding White Ghost Eye, after doing these things the time reached 3:08, and only three to four minutes remained before an attack.

"The current Combat Power is finally about right, and there's no time to keep scheming; next, we should Ghost Devour Fierce Ghosts to raise the Terror Level as much as possible."

Terror Level is the most fundamental ability of a Fierce Ghost.

Only a sufficiently strong Terror Level can support you in using sufficiently strong paranormal phenomena.

As Zhang Hao's voice faded, a number of figures stepped out from beside Zhang Hao.

Variously dressed Zhang Haos began walking deeper along the city's streets, and any Fierce Ghost they encountered would be immediately swallowed by Zhang Hao.

The taboo rule Zhang Hao obtained from the Strange County Town was inherently easy to trigger.

With so many Derivative Bodies of Zhang Hao present, a Fierce Ghost on the Road that doesn't satisfy one rule will satisfy another Zhang Hao's rule.

In this situation, Zhang Hao essentially grows by indiscriminately Ghost Devouring Fierce Ghosts.

Allowing these copies to Ghost Devour Fierce Ghosts, Zhang Hao at this moment walked toward another direction of the Road.

On a Road, the sound of gongs and drums was coming.

It was a wedding procession; the procession was moving from the depths of this Ghostly City toward its edge, seemingly heading to the Reality World.

However, at that moment, the procession suddenly halted.

Because a bride wearing a Wedding Dress and a Veil||Item blocked the front of the procession.

Perhaps sensing the Puzzle's aura, the Fierce Ghost at the front of the procession, dressed in a Groom's Robe, began moving toward the bride ahead.

But at that instant, this Groom Fierce Ghost seemed to be attacked by an incomprehensible paranormal phenomenon.

When he was less than two meters from the bride, he suddenly knelt down completely.

The next moment, a person dressed in white Funeral Clothes appeared beside this Groom Fierce Ghost.

"Finally found it; now the bride's Hong Bai Shuang Sha Puzzle series is finally complete."

"After dealing with Zhang Dong and the others, we can then see what upgrades the Hong Bai Shuang Sha Room actually provides."

Zhang Hao lifted the ghost groom, stripped the clothing from its body and put it on himself, layering it over the colorless Groom's Robe inside.

The next moment, the once vivid Groom's Robe faded to a worn, old hue.

And Zhang Hao could feel his connection with Dried Corpse Bride had increased considerably.

(End of Chapter)