Chapter 148: Combat Development, Reverse Invasion of One's Own Self in Memory

In the dark funeral hall.

Yang Jian now seemed completely sunk here.

He knelt before the Coffin, sobbing, repeatedly kowtowing to it, his face constantly shifting, sometimes a man, sometimes a woman's image.

Yet at that moment, a dog bark sounded outside the funeral hall.

"Is this the Da Lang Gou my father raised?"

The bark seemed to draw Yang Jian's attention, and his vague, ever‑changing visage suddenly returned to Yang Jian's appearance.

Yang Jian looked around, then turned back toward the direction beyond the funeral hall.

The Da Lang Gou seemed far away, yet its fierce bark echoed at his ear, reminding Yang Jian that he had not died.

Accompanied by the bark, Yang Jian's bewildered eyes slowly cleared a bit; he seemed to recall his identity, though still with confusion.

He tried to stand up and walk toward the direction of the sound.

But he found his body had somehow become soaked with tears, as if pressed down by something, unable to stand up.

"Right, I was affected by the supernatural influence of the Red and White Double Evil; that Ghost thing invaded my consciousness through the Ghost Lake's Ghost's Invasion."

Yang Jian seemed to recall it, yet he still could not stand up.

The bark kept sounding, but at this moment—

It seemed even the Da Lang Gou that can suppress the Ghost Lake could not discern its position when facing the White Evil.

"What should I do? If this continues, I'll eventually die here."

Yang Jian felt anxious inside, but at this moment had no way.

The supernatural on his body was too terrifying, beyond what he could currently resist.

Even the Ghost Dream Dog could only keep him awake, preventing him from fully sinking into this implanted bizarre memory.

Just as Yang Jian despaired, a sigh seemed to arise from the darkness.

The voice was hoarse, as if uttered by a weathered old man.

"Who is it?" Yang Jian cautiously lifted his head, looking around, yet saw no one.

He gazed at the portraits behind the Coffin; among those portraits were many old men.

At this time they seemed normal; the expressions on the portraits were slightly eerie, but there was no other movement.

Moreover, after being awakened by the Ghost Dream Dog, Yang Jian also recalled.

The portraits on this Coffin were all his memories.

Each portrait on the Coffin represented a living person's memory existing within the Ghost Shadow.

It is because the Ghost Shadow can invade living beings, seize memories, and exert a certain influence on consciousness.

This is why Yang Jian, after being pulled into this Memory World, was not killed instantly.

Otherwise he could never have waited for the Ghost Dream Dog's arrival; he should have been completely killed and turned into a Funeral Clothes Ghost that only mourns.

"Tap tap tap!"

While Yang Jian, uncertain and observing the surrounding portraits and the Coffin before him, heard Footsteps outside the funeral hall.

The footsteps were heavy, likely an old man's, which reminded Yang Jian of the earlier sigh.

The sound drew nearer, soon appearing outside the funeral hall.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you or your master; first, rest assured I'll help your master dispel the supernatural influence, I'll help him restore his body."

The old man outside the funeral hall stopped, and spoke again.

Yang Jian turned his head and, at some unknown moment, saw an old man and a dog appear outside the funeral hall.

The dog was familiar to Yang Jian; it was the Ghost Dream Dog his father had left him.

As for the old man, he was unfamiliar; his body seemed ethereal, and Yang Jian judged him to be a Wraith summoned by He Yiner.

His face was full of wrinkles, he wore reading glasses, and a Zhong Shan suit, looking like a Republic Era scholar.

"Young man, may I borrow your body for a moment? I'll return it soon."

The old man noticed Yang Jian's stare, said a word to him, then vanished at the doorway.

After the old man disappeared, the Ghost Dream Dog barked several times at the funeral hall, baring its teeth.

Suddenly, the Ghost Dream Dog lunged beside Yang Jian, clamped its jaws on his clothing and dragged his body out of the funeral hall.

The Ghost Dream Dog dragged Yang Jian through the funeral hall's gate and into the darkness beyond.

During this, Yang Jian could not move at all; aside from turning his head left and right, he could do nothing useful.

Dragged all the way, with no sense of how much time passed, Yang Jian finally saw a new light ahead in the darkness.

It was Yang Jian's old home, a village existing within a dream.

After fully leaving the darkness, Yang Jian finally regained movement.

However, when he stood up, he found his consciousness could not return to his body.

"Woof woof!"

The Ghost Dream Dog barked at Yang Jian a few times.

"You mean the old man just now temporarily borrowed my body?" Yang Jian recalled.

When that old man arrived with the Ghost Dream Dog, he also said he would temporarily borrow his body.

"Fine, with these Republic Era seniors stepping in to help, I'm happy to take it easy."

Yang Jian had no objection; they saved his life, and now it was only a temporary body borrowing.

Moreover, after Yang Jian's contact with the White Evil, he realized the opponent might be beyond what he and others could handle now.

Given that, handing the battlefield over to these seniors isn't a good idea? Yang Jian looked toward the not‑far direction.

Although the Ghost Dream Dog successfully dragged him out of the darkness, he seemed not to

The darkness still existed within Yang Jian's dream, but it had not invaded this side.

The Ghost Dream Dog seemed to help Yang Jian seal that memory, which did not belong to him, as a nightmare deep within the dream.

Suddenly, at that moment, Yang Jian's complexion changed slightly.

His body regained control.

Yang Jian hurriedly asked the Ghost Dream Dog to send him out, but when he opened his eyes he was stunned.

At this time he was beneath the cold lake water, with corpses surrounding him and drawing near.

"Did I fall into the Ghost Lake?"

Yang Jian immediately reacted, hastily controlling the four layers of Ghost Lake's anomaly on his body, trying to break free from the lake water.

Yet at that moment the Ghost Lake anomaly on Yang Jian seemed fused with the lake water, impossible to separate.

"It's those nightmares!"

Yang Jian's expression grew sour; he instantly realized the reason he could not separate.

That nightmare buried deep in his dream caused the lake water to be constantly linked to his body by the anomaly.

In this situation, White Evil could continuously connect the lake water within his body, corroding him.

The two Ghost Lake anomalies merged into one at that moment, and Yang Jian now became part of the lake water.

"Give up?"

Yang Jian's eyes showed struggle; in this case the only way to leave was to discard the Ghost Lake anomaly attached to him.

By doing so, he would no longer belong to the Ghost Lake and could naturally depart.

Yang Jian was not indecisive, even though he didn't know what had happened or why he was under the lake water.

Yet when faced with life and death, he quickly made a choice.

He controlled the lake water to avoid the approaching corpses and swam toward the lake surface.

When Yang Jian reached the surface, a hand had already reached the shore, ready to pull him out of the water.

He immediately employed his Ghost Shadow ability, directly separating the portion of the Ghost Lake anomaly from his body.

Without the Ghost Lake anomaly, Yang Jian instantly felt his body uncontrollably sinking toward the bottom.

However at that moment Yang Jian hurriedly flipped out of the lake water.

With no Ghost Lake anomaly tethering him, Yang Jian quickly left the water.

Back on shore, Yang Jian walked away, while the Ghost Dream Dog helped cleanse the lake water anomaly from his body.

"Finally made it out alive, that wasn't easy."

Yang Jian looked up around and found that the battlefield had changed at some point, entering a concept beyond his comprehension.

Above the Ghost Lake, bright flames burned—it was a furnace fire, Yang Jian remembered clearly.

"Did Li Jun produce that?" Yang Jian's face showed suspicion.

At this intensity, he feared that being contaminated would be fatal; could Li Jun wield such a level of anomaly?

On the lake surface floated wooden or iron door panels, and an eerie knocking echoed across the water.

"That's the Knocking Ghost's knock."

Yang Jian surveyed the surroundings but found no useful traces.

Moreover, the sky suddenly filled with gray ash, the ghost painting's Ghost Domain. "Yang Jian!"

At that moment, someone seemed to have noticed him.

Shrouded by a wisp of pale green Ghost Fire, Li Jun quickly appeared before Yang Jian.

"What's the situation now?" Yang Jian asked hurriedly.

"It's a long story." Li Jun, after gathering Yang Jian with the other captains, finally spoke.

"The Hong Jie you brought lit five Soul Summoning Incenses, summoned four revenants, and also her past life; now they're fighting White Evil."

As he spoke, Li Jun pointed to a woman in a red Cheongsam atop a nearby tall building.

The Cheongsam woman's delicate palm kept waving, sending wooden puppets on the ground toward the distance.

On the other side stood a bride dressed in red.

Around the Ghost Bride, eerie portraits fell, depicting people of all bizarre shapes.

As the Ghost Bride raised her hand, terrifying Fierce Ghosts stepped out of the paintings.

Simultaneously, behind the Ghost Bride, new portraits seemed to materialize from thin air at that moment.

Then, elderly, withered figures also emerged from the portraits.

"Is that… the Seven Elders' portrait?"

Yang Jian saw their appearances and his expression grew sour.

The thing summoned at Zhang Youhong's feet, upon close inspection, turned out to be the Seven Elders' wooden puppets.

Yet he was not surprised; after all, Zhang Youhong and the Seven Elders were allies.

Just as the captains of their generation have He Yiner the Soul Summoner.

Among the Seven Elders there is one who can summon them after death; it's not an incomprehensible matter.

Though Zhang Youhong's continuously stacking situation still gave Yang Jian a fright.

Yet compared with Zhang Youhong summoning the Seven Elders' wooden figures, the Ghost Bride's current state terrified Yang Jian far more.

The Ghost Bride even spawned painting ghosts resembling the Seven Elders, and from their post‑emergence behavior Yang Jian knew those Seven Elders possessed parts of the original souls' anomalies.

"By the way, it's the pigments from the Ghost Post Office!"

Yang Jian suddenly recalled that the Red and White Double Evil had invaded the Ghost Post Office.

It now seemed they entered the Ghost Post Office likely for those pigments.

Using the ghost pigments together with the Ghost Painting's Infinite Derivation, which can mimic painting ghosts into other people's forms, they could achieve limitless imitation of others.

Yang Jian stared intently at the battlefield between Zhang Youhong and the Ghost Bride.

At this moment, a Luo Wensong puppet made contact with a painted ghost.

The puppet raised its hand and struck the painted ghost.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

A terrifying knocking sound rang out as the puppet struck the painted ghost's head, carrying a terrifying and inexplicable ghostly effect onto the opponent.

Yet at that moment, nothing abnormal appeared on the painted ghost; instead, it mimicked the puppet's posture and raised its hand.

Meanwhile, after striking the opponent, the puppet's body began to turn oddly much darker.

"Ghostly backlash? Transferred onto itself?"

Wraith Zhang Youhong observed the scene and frowned.

These painted ghosts that imitate others not only copy others' ghostly powers, but also carry some kind of curse against the original body.

"You died early, you don't know, when this Ghost Bride revives later she'll be fierce."

At this moment, an old woman appeared beside Zhang Youhong, seeming to have sensed the situation below, and said to Zhang Youhong.

"Don't say it's already dead now; even when alive, I wouldn't want to provoke this Ghost Bride."

"If Zhang Dong hadn't been there, we'd have had a lot of trouble dealing with her."

Hearing that, Zhang Youhong nodded. "I understand, how long can you still hold on?"

Although it was only a brief clash, Zhang Youhong formed a judgment about the Ghost Bride's condition.

This thing is probably of a type similar to one's own.

I mimic others via a puppet, while the Ghost Bride creates painted ghosts by mimicking others through portraits; the abilities are comparable.

Only the Ghost Bride's painted ghosts seem able to impose a certain curse on the original body, which the puppet lacks.

Fortunately, the Ghost Bride hasn't fully matured yet, though she can already paint other people.

But compared with Zhang Youhong's exponential stacking—four to eight, eight to sixteen—the Ghost Bride's speed in painting others is still a bit slow.

That counts as Zhang Youhong's chance of victory, I suppose.

"We can't hold out long; that thing is very fierce. This Incense Stick's effect is not as good as the First Generation Soul Summoner's; lasting a minute is already the limit."

"After all, our situation differs from yours; you have this post‑reincarnation host, even though it's only half an Incense Stick, you can endure far longer than we can."

Meng Xiaodong shook his head, and as he spoke, vanished on the spot, beginning a Ghost's Invasion into some past.

Hearing that, Zhang Youhong's expression grew serious.

Now facing the Ghost Bride is already troublesome; if the others can't keep holding on, her solo chance becomes even smaller.

Although the First Generation Soul Summoner's incense works better.

Moreover, with Hong Jie present, Zhang Youhong can use Ghost Power, only needing to balance Hong Jie's body to avoid reaching the limit.

But Zhang Youhong herself is a dead person; her existence time is limited, so she cannot stack to the strongest state.

Compared with the two Fierce Ghosts that possess Infinite Derivation and infinite stacking, her chances are still rather bleak.

On the other side.

Above the Lake Surface, the combat here is more intense than that of Zhang Youhong and the Ghost Bride.

Luo Wensong and the others all know their time of existence is short, so at the moment they act, each employs their strongest method.

At this moment, deep in Zhang Hao's memory, an old woman continuously roams his past memories.

No, perhaps it's not past memories, but the past itself.

It's just that because Zhang Hao himself possesses the ability to invade memories, this old woman cannot invade Zhang Hao's past.

Nevertheless, even so, a fierce clash still emerged deep in Zhang Hao's consciousness.

Countless old women appeared in Zhang Hao's memories from different periods, beginning to assault him.

Facing this, Zhang Hao could only passively defend.

After all, to counter attacks from Reality World, Zhang Hao can only use a clone to fight the invading Meng Xiaodong.

However, Zhang Hao's clone ultimately has only Six‑Tenths of the Ghostly Power of the original, making it naturally at a disadvantage against Meng Xiaodong.

Moreover, because these Seven Elders are all Wraiths.

Even if Zhang Hao devours Meng Xiaodong's clone, he cannot steal the opponent's Ghost Power, thus cannot exhibit the ferocity he showed when hunting Meng Xiaodong in Baishui Town.

Fortunately, Zhang Hao is already a true Ghost; although he cannot defeat the Meng Xiaodong active in various memories.

But thanks to Infinite Restart and his Fierce Ghost identity, plus his ability to use Ghost Power without restraint, he can still avoid defeat.

As for the Seven Elders in Reality World, they choose to use clones to deal with them.

The clones continuously emerging from the lake bottom drain these Seven Elders' Ghost Power; in a one‑versus‑four situation, for a moment Zhang Hao didn't fall completely behind.

Although there were faint signs of being pressed down, it was still a fair exchange.

Meanwhile, Zhang Hao himself uses the Ghost Domain to begin invading himself.

For him now, the external Seven Elders are troublesome but not unsolvable.

A clone with Six‑Tenths of his Ghost Power is enough to engage these Seven Elders in a prolonged attrition.

In comparison, the Meng Xiaodong in the memories is still harder to deal with.

The black‑and‑white Ghost Domain begins to invade Zhang Hao's own memories; each segment of his remembered world at this time becomes shrouded in darkness, turning black and white.

As the Memory World changes, his past memories become completely blackened at this moment, and Zhang Hao even feels an urge to replace his own past memories.

"How about… give it a try? My current Terror Level is about the same as the Seven Elders; they have so many strange tactics, there's no reason my Ghost Power intensity can't be developed."

Zhang Hao thought of it and immediately acted, directly using his memory invasion ability to replace a segment of himself that was being invaded by Meng Xiaodong's memory.

That was a memory of Zhang Hao when he was still a Ghost Slave.

At this moment, a clone with Six‑Tenths of Ghost Power was barely confronting Meng Xiaodong.

Suddenly, in the distance, the Zhang Hao from that weak‑period memory abruptly opened his eyes.

After Zhang Hao opened his eyes, this black‑and‑white memory world seemed to find its backbone and began surging toward Zhang Hao.

The black‑and‑white hue, centered on Zhang Hao, began to spread outward in all directions.

Zhang Hao successfully reverse‑replaced himself in the memory.

At the instant the Zhang Hao in the first memory was reverse‑replaced, Zhang Hao's entire being seemed to have attained enlightenment.

In every memory fragment, Zhang Hao is undergoing intense change, the intensity of his aura evolving toward the Zhang Hao of the Reality World.

(End of Chapter)