Chapter 58: 57, Zhou Eryang

57, Zhou Eryang

On the dim mountain path.

Zhou Chang opened the palm of his left hand, feeding threads of thought into the purple-black lips within his palm; immediately, threads dyed black like cotton yarn swam out from within, weaving a sleeve on his left wrist.

As the threads of thought continued to be fed in, the cotton yarn spread along, and in an instant, Zhou Chang was covered by the black satin funeral robe that Li Xiamei often wore.

"Zhou, Zhou young master..."

At this moment, Bai Xiue's somewhat timid voice sounded behind Zhou Chang.

Zhou Chang turned his head toward the sound and exchanged a glance with Bai Xiue, who was a few steps away.

Seeing Zhou Chang in the pitch-black funeral robe, Bai Xiue was clearly startled; she halted her steps behind, hesitating and daring not to approach.

And at this moment, Zhou Chang perceived Bai Xiue and her father's fear very clearly—in his eyes now, purple-black dread-feeding qi swam out from both of them, all merging into the 'Ghost Funeral Robe' on his body.

The 'Ghost Funeral Robe' on Zhou Chang's body surface twitched slightly like a living skin.

Those pale-white characters for 'funeral' seemed gradually to be splitting open, turning into mouths full of canine teeth.

Zhou Chang's spirit was connected to the threads of thought; this Ghost Funeral Robe on his body, formed with the help of the threads of thought and the Thought-Demon Root-Image, absorbed the dread-feeding qi and also returned the purest spiritual power within it to Zhou Chang.

Li Xiamei's Thought-Demon Root-Image, having absorbed the dread-feeding qi from the outside, seemed to show signs of gradually reviving.

But all of this was under Zhou Chang's control.

He spread open the palm of his right hand; threads of thought, pitch-black like cotton yarn, drifted out from the cuff of the right-hand funeral robe and drilled into his right palm—

In the center of his right palm lay a golden-red seal.

Only, upon the seal there was no substantive text content; solely patches of dragon scales were stacked together within it.

As soon as the black threads of thought fell onto that seal, they turned golden-red; layers of fine scales spread up along Zhou Chang's right wrist, and in the blink of an eye, his entire black funeral robe, as if by magic, transformed into a python robe!

Zhou Chang was already tall and imposing; now wearing a golden-red python robe, he appeared even more majestic and noble, his power immeasurable!

Bai Xiue and her father stood dumbfounded on the mountain path, completely unsure how to react.

And at this moment, Zhou Chang grinned, clapped his hands together, and the python robe on his body suddenly shed away; he returned to his original short-cloth attire.

Without the Ghost Funeral Robe, he could not easily remove that python robe from his body.

Without that python robe, he could not easily use the Thought-Demon Root-Image to test anything.

Now the two balanced each other, allowing him to reap the benefits as the fisherman.

He had now initially explored the uses of the 'Ghost Funeral Robe': first, it could cause surrounding living beings to tremble in terror at the sight of it; second, it could absorb the dread-feeding qi of surrounding people and convert it into his own spiritual power.

The Ghost Funeral Robe would also grow; perhaps it would have other functions in the future.

As for that 'python robe', Zhou Chang could currently only confirm that it could balance the Ghost Funeral Robe; its other functions remained unknown for now.

Bai's father watched Zhou Chang return to normal attire; only after a long while did he come to his senses.

He looked at Zhou Chang with both wonder and fear, unable to help but say, "You, you... are even more impressive than the 'face-changing' people speak of—the legendary Sichuan face-changing king could change a hundred or so faces of gods and ghosts, bewildering spirits and gods, escaping death from within death.

The face-changing king could only change faces; he could not change the clothes on his body.

Your skill of donning ghost-skin in the blink of an eye and putting on an official-skin in the next blink is no less than that face-changing king!"

"The face-changing king can change a hundred or so faces of gods and ghosts; I only have this one ghost-skin and one official-skin, so I still cannot compare to him." Zhou Chang smiled and shook his head, finding Bai's father's words quite apt.

Calling the Ghost Funeral Robe 'ghost-skin' and the python robe 'official-skin' was very fitting.

Seeing Zhou Chang and her father chatting amiably, Bai Xiue smiled with her lips pressed together on the side, not interrupting.

After the two had finished speaking, she quietly said to Zhou Chang, "When Zhou young master put on that funeral robe earlier, you looked a bit like Li Xiamei; it was somewhat frightening..."

"Li Xiamei is already dead."

Zhou Chang's eyes were firm as he spoke to Bai Xiue.

"Good." Bai Xiue obediently nodded, saying no more.

The three walked down the mountain path, entered a dense forest, and arrived before the Bride's Pool.

At this time, the sky was still pitch-black; one could not see five fingers before one's eyes.

Around the Bride's Pool, trees were lush, vines entangled, weaving an even deeper, cold, and silent environment.

The pool water was dark as a black sea.

Walking here, Bai's father and Bai Xiue were both somewhat silent; this place held the sorrowful past of father and daughter.

However, Zhou Chang was as if unaware of this; he picked up some withered branches and fallen leaves and lit a fire by the pool's edge.

The flames rose, fell, and leaped, bringing a bit of vitality to this cold and silent environment.

Even the gloomy atmosphere lingering among the few people was dispersed quite a bit by this firelight.

Zhou Chang sat beside the fire, picked up a stone shard from the side, and threw it into the pool to skip it a few times; waiting for Bai Xiue and her father to gather around, he turned his head and said to Bai Xiue, "Bai Ma previously took me to the bottom of the Bride's Pool to see for myself.

Has Miss Bai also seen the situation at the bottom of the Bride's Pool?"

Upon hearing his question, Bai's father immediately looked nervously at his daughter.

Bai Xiue nodded lightly: "Bai Ma is not from here; whatever scenes she has seen, I have naturally seen even more than her..."

"I now wish to enter the bottom of the pool again to see." Zhou Chang suddenly said.

"Since you came here to investigate, I knew you must want to go down to the bottom of the pool to take a look." Bai Xiue smiled, though her eyes still held some hesitation, "But the bottom of the pool is extremely dangerous; the feeding thoughts of the deceased have been tangled and piled up at the bottom for many years.

Last time, if Bai Ma had not cast a spell for you, you might have lost your soul at the bottom of the pool..."

Hearing this, Zhou Chang did not expect that when he went into the pool last time, the spell Bai Ma chanted was not meant to harm him, but rather to save him, preventing him from losing his soul at the bottom of the pool.

"Times have changed." Zhou Chang said, "I now have two skins to protect myself: the official-skin and the eerie-skin.

I will not be overwhelmed by the feeding thoughts and lose my sanity for a while.

Moreover, at the bottom of the Bride's Pool, there is an old acquaintance who may be connected to me.

To break the deadlock now, I may also need to borrow some strength from that old acquaintance."

Bai Xiue nodded, looked at Zhou Chang, and quietly said, "Is the old acquaintance you mentioned the one connected to Bai family's grandmother, Zhou Eryang?"

"Yes." Zhou Chang nodded, and asked Bai Xiue in return, "How does Miss Bai know?"

"This lotus silk was bestowed by the White Family Matriarch; many lingering thoughts of the deceased cling to it.

I can glimpse the past through it... Your face indeed resembles that Zhou Er Yang from over a hundred years ago... yet your characters are utterly different," Bai Xiue spoke.

That Zhou Er Yang, just like Zhou Chang and Zhou Chang, is another 'me' of Zhou Chang in this world.

He has now gradually accepted this fact.

But why is it only him who has countless other 'me's existing in this world?

Is it all caused by the Yin Birth Mother?

Did the Yin Birth Mother create himself and countless other 'me's?

What scheme does it have?

Every 'me' Zhou Chang has encountered in the current world is a person already dead, such as Zhou Chang, such as Zhou Er Yang.

Or like Zhou Chang, who left relics inside a coffin.

He has yet to meet another living 'me'; perhaps after seeing another living 'me', some doubts will find their answer.