Chapter 137: Return to Reality, the Old Man Beneath the Stairs

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Hao had been staying in Baishui Town for a month.

During that month, he finally succeeded in having the Dried Corpse Bride wield the paper wedding dress from the outside world.

At the same time, Zhang Hao discovered that when he concentrates all the Ghost Power, he can even see Baishui Town in the Reality World.

In the Reality World, Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride are still in that wooden house.

As long as Zhang Hao concentrates Ghost Power, he can open his eyes and even affect the Reality World to some extent.

But even if he can influence the Reality World, he can only affect the situation inside the room, which is very limited.

Because he can feel that every move he makes in that wooden house in the Reality World seems to be tugged by countless people.

At the same time, he also sees in the wooden house a dry corpse that appeared from nowhere.

That dry corpse seems to try to snatch the ghost from Zhang Hao's body, but because of Infinite Restart, even though Zhang Hao does not actively control his body, the opponent cannot succeed.

And on Zhang Hao's side, even if he wants to seize the dry corpse, he cannot actually act.

Too many people in this world know Zhang Hao; each person who remembers him is a chain that binds his actions, and unless all chains are cut, it is hard for him to truly move in the Reality World.

But even so, this is enough to show that when you possess Ghost Power beyond the world, you can affect things beyond the world.

For Zhang Hao, that is a good thing, at least giving him more confidence in searching for the world where Yang Jian resides.

As for the ghost infant he placed deep in Baishui Town, Zhang Hao now has no patience to keep waiting.

Rather than keep waiting, it would be better for him, after returning to the original world, to re-enter Baishui Town's world for another attempt.

Accompanied by Zhang Hao's resolve.

In this world that has lost all color, everyone at this moment has lost consciousness.

All the people at this moment appear with vacant, lifeless eyes, like walking corpses.

Zhang Hao directly uses the memories lingering deep in these people's minds to erase the consciousness of everyone in this world.

As all the people are killed by Zhang Hao, the invisible shackles binding him disappear one by one; each memory is a Medium that trapped Zhang Hao in this world.

Without the Medium, this past world can no longer bear Zhang Hao's existence, and now collapses and dissipates at an unimaginable speed.

Soon Zhang Hao returns to a wooden room, the wooden house from the original world.

As the past world dissipates, the terrifying Ghost Power on Zhang Hao fades away.

After wielding Human Skin Paper and Qin Lao Fierce Ghost, that all‑knowing feeling also disappears.

The void left by the loss of power spreads, giving Zhang Hao a hollow feeling.

"Although this trip yielded no gains in Ghost Power, there were still plenty of gains in various tests and information."

Zhang Hao opened his cold eyes; the ability of Human Skin Paper to see everything vanished, but the various pieces of information obtained from Human Skin Paper did not disappear.

Zhang Hao looked around, unconsciously.

The wooden house is no different from what he saw in the other world; a strange light from an unknown source shines eerily on Zhang Hao, reflecting a human silhouette.

And the dry corpse he saw when concentrating Ghost Power has long vanished, unable to be found; perhaps it only appears when his consciousness is in the other world.

"Baishui Town! Yang Jian, Yang Jian!"

Zhang Hao gently pulls the Ghost Bride up, murmuring a few names in his heart.

The next moment, his gaze turns eerie.

Having experienced that overwhelming power, Zhang Hao, upon just returning to reality, feels a desire to devour everything.

Unfortunately, the starving ghost of this world is not on him, and Human Skin Paper is still with Yang Jian.

"Never mind, let's check the Dried Corpse Bride's condition."

Zhang Hao looks at the Ghost Bride, who at this moment also regains movement.

"Madam, open the Ghost Domain and bring out the Paper Bride."

Zhang Hao says to the Ghost Bride.

Paper Bride, this is the paper wedding dress Zhang Hao uses from the Reality World.

Combined with Liu San from the previous world, the Ghost Power of the paper shop in Taiping Ancient Town, and the items crafted in the Red Room.

As Zhang Hao finishes speaking, the Ghost Bride releases the Ghost Domain, and a paper puppet identical to the Ghost Bride in appearance, aside from size, appears in her hand.

The puppet wears a paper wedding dress, paper embroidered shoes, and a Red Cap, and holds a fingernail‑sized portrait.

Zhang Hao takes the puppet from the Ghost Bride; the moment it appears, it immediately emits a bizarre, chilling aura that climbs up Zhang Hao's palm.

The Paper Bride's climbing is clumsy and stiff; she constantly grabs the folds of Zhang Hao's Funeral Clothes and quickly reaches his shoulder.

"Hehe!"

The Paper Bride stands on Zhang Hao's shoulder, laughing like a happy child.

But the laugh sounds oddly terrifying; if an ordinary person heard it, they would likely be killed by it.

"Come, show me, are you still alive?"

Zhang Hao extends his hand, pulls the Paper Bride off his shoulder, and places her before his eyes.

Zhang Hao lifts the puppet's clothing to inspect inside.

Although the puppet looks entirely like a paper puppet.

But after removing its paper wedding dress, one can see that the legs inside the dress are flesh and blood, not paper.

"The body remains, what about the consciousness and Ghost Power?"

"Summon the Ghost Cabinet."

Zhang Hao places the puppet on his palm; as the puppet prepares to crawl up his arm toward his shoulder, he extends his other hand and taps the puppet's head.

Seeing this, the puppet seems to feel pain, falls onto the palm, and after a while finally lifts its head to look at Zhang Hao.

As if angry, small pieces of paper ash appear around Zhang Hao's palm, covering his hand.

"Summon the Ghost Cabinet," Zhang Hao reiterates.

At the same time, Zhang Hao can't help but fall into contemplation.

It seems that losing the other world's Groom's Robe and Ghost Seeking Kin is the cause, and my control over this Ghostly Puppet created by Gan Si Xinniang has weakened.

Fortunately, Zhang Hao himself also already wielded Ghost Seeking Kin and the Groom's Robe, so he can still control this Ghostly Puppet.

Zhang Hao emphasized it twice, and only then did the Paper Bride stand up again, while unknowingly a paper small cabinet appeared on Zhang Hao's palm.

"Fortunately, some paranormal phenomena remain, but they've been weakened considerably."

The paper Ghost Cabinet can still be used, but its paranormal effect has been greatly reduced.

Moreover, Gan Si Xinniang's intelligence has been preserved; although not as wise as truly sentient Fierce Ghosts, her thought patterns are clearly far stronger than those of ordinary ghosts.

"It should be a mindset on the same level as the lady's," Zhang Hao roughly estimated.

Then he checked the terror level of the Paper Bride.

The current strength of the Paper Bride, if left outside, would still count as an S-level Paranormal Event.

Although it might only be a lower-tier S-level Paranormal Event, that's already quite good.

After all, that paper wedding dress, if left outside, might only reach an A-Class Paranormal Event.

The paper wedding dress controlled by Gan Si Xinniang hasn't had its terror level increased, but the number of paranormal methods has grown considerably.

The Paper Bride's current situation is somewhat similar to the ghost infant in Yang Jian's hand.

Yang Jian's ghost infant, from birth to the starving ghost, should, in theory, have dissipated when the starving ghost was suppressed.

However, because of the Ghost Eye, the ghost infant, though it lost the paranormal power granted by the starving ghost, did not dissipate and can still use its ghost‑eating ability.

Although she comes from another world within Baishui Town, she still can use her former paranormal abilities because she once wielded a true Fierce Ghost.

But since the ghost belongs to another world and has no effect here, her terror level has been reset to zero, relying only on the paper wedding dress she wears.

"Leave first; staying here offers me no benefit."

Zhang Hao led the Ghost Bride, letting the Ghostly Puppet lie on his shoulder, tugging at his face‑covering cloth as they walked outward.

However, as Zhang Hao walked toward the room's exit, a strange noise came from the silent, soundless floor below.

The sound was odd, like someone sprinting back and forth, rapid yet muffled, also like something scurrying quickly across the ground.

The sound came and went, sometimes appearing right at the staircase entrance, but fortunately it did not travel up the stairs.

When Zhang Hao reached the staircase entrance, the noise from below returned, and the Fierce Ghost seemed to be frantically searching for something in the lobby.

It roamed everywhere, and as time passed the noise grew louder, as if the ghost below was becoming increasingly impatient.

Accompanied by a series of rapid Footsteps echoing, the sound was no longer confined to the first‑floor lobby but reached the Staircase leading to the second floor. The ghost wandered for a while, seemingly having found the right path.

A muffled yet rapid climbing sound rose.

The wooden stairs creaked.

Zhang Hao looked down, but saw nothing.

This staircase possessed an incomprehensible paranormal quality; although it should span only one floor up and down, it was unusually long.

"Dare to provoke me, then just wield it."

Zhang Hao led the Ghost Bride downstairs, not overly worried about the sound.

After walking for two or three minutes, Zhang Hao finally discovered a cold corpse before his eyes.

It was a gaunt man with dark bluish skin.

It was a Fierce Ghost that does not exist in reality; in Zhang Hao's normal sight there was no trace of it, only visible within the Black and White World.

It seemed Zhang Hao's descent attracted its attention, and it was now sprinting toward Zhang Hao.

However, when the distance was less than five Staircases, the dark‑blue man suddenly halted.

He was suppressed; the Unsolved Suppression ability activates within a certain range of Zhang Hao unless he chooses to stop it, in which case it triggers on its own.

"Another thing delivered to my doorstep."

Zhang Hao seized the strange youth, directly wielded him, and then walked downstairs.

This time, with no Fierce Ghost blocking the way, Zhang Hao quickly made it down the stairs.

However, at that moment a voice came from somewhere beneath the stairs, sounding like an old man's.

"Young man, wait a moment. I'm not a ghost; I'm a person who has been trapped here for a long time. I haven't seen a living person here in ages."

"I hope you can help me get out; I will repay you properly and will never let you suffer a loss."

The old man's voice was hoarse, like that of a desperate elder.

"Not a ghost?" Zhang Hao heard the voice, his face showing no particular reaction.

Now Zhang Hao, because of his experiences in Baishui Town, can no longer distinguish between humans and ghosts by his behavior.

However, from the current situation, that old ghost clearly mistook Zhang Hao for an abnormal possessing living consciousness.

"Can a place of ghosts have a living person? Where are you?"

Zhang Hao's expression remained calm, his tone even as he asked.

"Is this place filled with ghosts everywhere? How did you survive?"

To avoid revealing himself, Zhang Hao deliberately pretended to be on guard.

"I am not an ordinary person; I am someone who can control Fierce Ghosts, so all these years I have not died."

The voice from the darkness explained.

"Young man, please do me a favor and get me out; I will repay you greatly."

"You can withstand ghost attacks, why can't you free yourself?"

The voice from the darkness continued: "Each discipline has its specialty; I am trapped here because I lack the ability in the ghost domain."

"Young man, I beg you."

"How can I save you? I can't just use Ghost Domain invasion, can I?"

Before coming, Zhang Hao had wanted to meet this old ghost, but now he feels there's no longer any need.

Compared to conversing with this old ghost, Zhang Hao thinks directly wielding the other may be a better option.

"You use the Ghost Domain to invade these Staircase steps; remember, count from the top down, do not invade the even-numbered ones, only invade the odd-numbered ones, and I'm right beneath the Staircase."

A voice came from the darkness.

"Is that so? I see, no wonder I couldn't find it before."

When Zhang Hao previously went to Baishui Town in another world, in order not to affect the Ghost Infant entering that world, he did not use the Ghost Domain to invade Baishui Town.

Moreover, at that time he had no intention of looking for that old ghost, and he didn't expect this thing to be under the stairs, so it's no wonder he didn't notice it then.

Zhang Hao released the Ghost Domain, accompanied by a black-and-white Ghost Domain invasion.

The Staircase here began to crumble segment by segment, and among the shattered wood chips, some bizarre objects gradually emerged.

He saw the hidden broken fingers, the pallid skin clinging to them, and the eerie, illusory human silhouettes stored within.

Each step of the Staircase was a ghost; these steps were entirely constructed from Fierce Ghosts.

With so much Ghost Power gathering in one place, this staircase can no longer be called a Supernatural Artifact; it should be called a supernatural building.

With the continuous invasion, Zhang Hao soon saw where the old man was; it was a broken tombstone.

Sitting atop the tombstone was a man, about seventy years old, with a gaunt, aged face and an aura of chilling darkness.

Most bizarrely, the old man's legs seemed to have grown together with the tombstone, inseparable.

Precisely because of that, the old man remained seated on the tombstone, unable to move.

Seeming to sense Zhang Hao's invasion, the old man turned his head, and a gaunt face appeared before Zhang Hao, as if looking at him.

"This thing is rather terrifying!" Zhang Hao halted his invasion.

The old man's terror exceeded his imagination; this was already a Fierce Ghost of Seven Elders level.

He might have been a top Ghost Tamer from the Republic Era, but for some reason he was overtaken and controlled by the Fierce Ghost's instinct.

If this thing were truly rescued, it would be a huge trouble for Zhang Hao—indeed, essentially impossible to deal with.

Though this fellow is a ghost, it still possesses intelligence, and its use of Ghost Power will certainly not be lacking.

At least it's not the kind that must rely on the Killing Rule to act.

"My current Ghost Domain strength cannot invade the deepest part."

Zhang Hao, having stopped, said to the old man in the darkness.

"I can't save you now; let's talk after some time passes."

"Can't invade?" the old man's voice carried a hint of disbelief.

Just as Zhang Hao thought, this old ghost had just detected Zhang Hao's invasion.

However, after a moment of silence, the old ghost ultimately did not ask Zhang Hao to continue rescuing him or anything.

"How long is 'some time'? When do you think you'll have the strength to help me?" the old man asked.

"A few months at the shortest, up to one or two years at most," Zhang Hao replied calmly.

"Is that so?"

The voice sighed, "Very well, I'll wait here for you another two years; you must not forget."

"Rest assured! I won't go back on my word," Zhang Hao said calmly.

As a Fierce Ghost, Zhang Hao's words are unreliable, because when he rescues the old man he will inevitably kill and then tame the other.

But likewise, because he is a Fierce Ghost, he will not break his promise; having said at most two years, he will indeed rescue the old ghost within two years.

Soon, Zhang Hao descended the stairs and headed toward those Coffins.

These ghosts' Terror Level is not low, and they will be of great help to him.

Zhang Hao opened the Coffins one after another, taming the Fierce Ghosts inside, continuously increasing the Ghostly Servant's Suppression Quota.

"If you want to grow, you still need to go to Da Dong City to find a Hungry Ghost; the Ghostly Servant's Growth has many limitations."

After spending an hour, Zhang Hao tamed all the Fierce Ghosts in the Coffins in the room, yet he did not become overly excited because of it.

Having experienced the Hungry Ghost's ability to devour any Ghost Power, Zhang Hao easily discovered the Ghostly Servant's flaw.

Although the Ghost Difference and Hungry Ghost both have unlimited growth potential, the Ghostly Servant's Growth mainly manifests in Mindless Suppression.

If it were a Hungry Ghost, whatever it ate would belong to it; it wouldn't need to worry about anything, just start mindlessly devouring.

A true Fierce Ghost would raise its Terror Level; even by consuming Spirit Phenomenon it can enhance the Hungry Ghost's methods.

"Let's first check the situation outside before proceeding,"

Zhang Hao did not rush to act; instead, he planned to first gather information from the outside.

Through Ghost Lake, he quickly returned to the city where Ghost Lake is, bringing the Ghost Bride along.

(End of Chapter)