Chapter 9: Ghost Devouring and Molting

Zhang Hao did not rush to attack the women in the Village who had undergone strange changes.

Although the Dry Corpse Bride did not move, to be safe, Zhang Hao still chose to move closer to where the Dry Corpse Bride was.

But at this moment, women from the Village had already approached Zhang Hao.

Their expressions were strange, their eyes filled with venomous hatred, and they lunged at Zhang Hao.

Clearly the Dry Corpse Bride was standing not far behind Zhang Hao, yet these women seemed to have no intention of attacking the Dry Corpse Bride at all.

Seeing this, Zhang Hao hurriedly controlled the Ghost Mourning Clothes on his body to launch a counterattack.

Invisible Ghost Power began to corrode the women approaching, and as they drew closer to Zhang Hao, their legs began to bend.

In the end, when these women got within one meter of Zhang Hao, they all knelt down one after another.

The Kneeling Death ghost power activated, and these women lost the ability to move along with it.

But Zhang Hao looked left and right; there were fifty or sixty women approaching, and at this rate, Zhang Hao could not hold them off.

The Terror Level of any single one of these women was not high.

But Ghost Power stacks continuously.

Perhaps at the very beginning, these women could not get within one meter of Zhang Hao.

But as their numbers increased, Zhang Hao's safe distance could not remain at one meter forever.

He could only try to compress the range of this Kneeling Death ghost power as much as possible.

As more and more people approached, the original one-meter range was slowly being compressed.

0.7 meters, 0.5 meters, 0.3 meters.

In the end, Zhang Hao could feel pale, withered hands grabbing him.

These women had broken through the suppression of the Ghost Mourning Clothes.

Fortunately, as a piece of clothing, the Ghost Mourning Clothes' function was not as simple as just Kneeling Death.

As a ghost garment, it also provided Zhang Hao with a protective effect.

Otherwise, with Zhang Hao's Ghost Slave body, the moment he came into contact with a true Fierce Ghost, he would likely have lost all function.

However, even so, Zhang Hao could feel his own body becoming harder and harder to control.

His body was growing heavy, as if someone were pressing down on him; invisible Ghost Power corroded his body, making it impossible for him to move even an inch.

If someone watched from afar, they would see Zhang Hao now completely surrounded by the women, unable to move at all.

Whether around his body or above his head, one stiff-faced woman after another was encircling him.

These women surrounded Zhang Hao, their heads bobbing up and down constantly, doing who knows what.

At this moment, only Zhang Hao knew that these women were gnawing at his body.

Just like those bandits earlier gnawing at Li Chun's corpse, they wanted to devour Zhang Hao piece by piece.

It was only because Zhang Hao could not feel pain that he had not noticed at the very beginning.

As Zhang Hao's body was continuously devoured, he was soon reduced to nothing but a skeleton wrapped in the Ghost Mourning Clothes.

However, strangely, even so, Zhang Hao did not feel his consciousness fading, nor did he feel himself falling into slumber.

Suddenly, Zhang Hao's skull, with nothing left but bone, turned slightly.

Just now, he had sensed a pair of withered hands holding his own.

"It's the Dry Corpse Bride."

Relying on the connection between the Ghost Slave and the source of the Fierce Ghost, Zhang Hao immediately knew the owner of these hands.

Clearly, after being surrounded and devoured by the Village women, Zhang Hao had already lost the ability to resist.

But the instant Zhang Hao's hand was held, he miraculously withstood the previous suppression and forced himself to stand.

Then, after standing up, Zhang Hao bent his legs and slowly knelt down. With the Dry Corpse Bride's enhanced Kneeling Death ghost power activating, the women who had been surrounding Zhang Hao fell down one after another.

The women behind Zhang Hao, who had not triggered the Kneeling Death, also bent their legs along with them.

The Ghost Power corrosion of the Ghost Mourning Clothes was also strengthened at this moment; under its erosion, they were forced to kneel, triggering the Kneeling Death ghost power.

"It's over?"

Zhang Hao raised his face, which had been gnawed until only bone and a few strands of flesh remained.

Zhang Hao looked around. Now, apart from the Dry Corpse Bride and Zhang Hao, there was no one left standing in the Village—or rather, no ghost.

The Dry Corpse Bride did not answer Zhang Hao, only releasing the hand that had been holding his.

But for some unknown reason, Zhang Hao's body control had not returned; although the Dry Corpse Bride had let go, she still controlled Zhang Hao's body.

Under the Dry Corpse Bride's control, Zhang Hao came to the nearest bandit corpse.

Then, an incomprehensibly bizarre scene unfolded.

Before Zhang Hao could react, he suddenly picked up a bandit corpse.

His mouth, with only bone remaining, opened wide and swallowed the corpse whole in one gulp.

Under the bride's control, Zhang Hao was actually eating ghosts? As the corpse was swallowed, the exposed skeleton on Zhang Hao slowly grew new flesh and blood.

Not just one bandit corpse—then a second, then a third.

After Zhang Hao finished eating all the bandit corpses, his appearance was no longer much different from before he had been devoured.

Moreover, Zhang Hao could feel that a new ghost power had appeared within his body; he had gained a new ability.

"This is… the Ghost Power from those bandits?"

Zhang Hao felt his body control return, and he looked toward the Dry Corpse Bride.

At this moment, beneath the Dry Corpse Bride's Red Cap, female corpses were also being devoured by her one after another.

As the Dry Corpse Bride swallowed the last female corpse, Zhang Hao was astonished to find that the Dry Corpse Bride's withered flesh was constantly falling away.

When all that rotting, shriveled flesh had fallen off, patches of pale flesh could be seen growing on the Dry Corpse Bride's hands.

Although it still looked bizarre, compared to the previous flat, dark-yellow flesh, it was undoubtedly much more normal.

Moreover, there was no longer that rotting-flesh smell clinging to her body.

"It's dealt with?"

Zhang Hao wondered to himself.

The Dry Corpse Bride moved, heading out of the Village.

It seemed the purpose of this trip had already been achieved.

But when Zhang Hao looked carefully, wasn't this the direction Old Master was in, just as Li Chun had mentioned earlier? Following the Dry Corpse Bride, after traveling an unknown distance, they soon arrived at an old, worn Thatched Cottage.

The Thatched Cottage was very ordinary, with no plaque of any kind, and Zhang Hao couldn't even sense any Ghost Power on it.

"Is this where that Old Master lives?"

Zhang Hao, curious, and thinking he shouldn't let the bride take the risk, stepped forward and pushed open the door first.

Inside, there was only a table, a chair, a bed, and a smoking pipe.

On the table, Zhang Hao could also see a book.

"By Lin Taisheng."

On the book, only an author's name was written; there was no title.

(End of chapter)