"Phew~"
Leaning against a gnarled, crooked tree, Sevrin, his face pale and greenish with exhaustion, let out a long, weary sigh of white vapor that stretched a foot long and carried a metallic scent of blood.
"Using this Blood-Devouring Heart-Burn... is really damn tiring."
Life-burning skills certainly took their toll, but the results were undeniable.
In this fog-shrouded, gloomy forest, an ordinary person wouldn't be able to cover much ground even in half a day. Even a martial artist of Huin's caliber could, at most, reach a speed of forty-odd meters per second.
But Sevrin, utilizing the Heart-Burn divinity, had covered twenty to thirty miles in just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, moving at a speed of hundred-odd meters per second.
Since he was now so far from the junction, it seemed he was safe enough for the moment.
"If I'm safe, you're safe," Sevrin said indifferently to Schture, who was lying on the ground slowly regaining consciousness. "But if I'm not safe, you go... Huh?"
Suddenly, he spotted an elderly peasant carrying a hoe on his shoulder, slowly strolling through the mist in a quiet clearing not far away.
"Hold on, old sir~"
Sevrin took several quick strides, crossing over forty-odd meters of fog to reach the old farmer. He asked with a smile, "Old sir, where did you come from..."
As the words left his mouth, his eyes widened, and he froze on the spot.
Upon getting closer, Sevrin realized that the old farmer's face, neck, and hands were covered in massive patches of charred, raw-flesh-to-the-bone burn marks.
No, they weren't just marks.
Looking closely, this old farmer was essentially a scorched corpse, burnt to charcoal, completely devoid of blood or living flesh, an incomplete cadaver.
A corpse could still carry a hoe and wander around?
Damn, this is a fucking ghost!
"Youngster, are you lost?"
The scorched-corpse farmer split open a toothless, tongueless mouth that was practically an empty cavity, laughing with a simple, honest tone. "Otherwise, why would you wander into this desolate, godforsaken valley of mine?"
God only knows how Sevrin managed to see an "honest" expression on a face made of blistered, charred flesh.
But that didn't matter.
What truly mattered was this old farmer's personal interface:
[ Character Name: Unknown
Level: Ghost Path → Wandering Soul
Mastered Skills: "Ghostly Body, Soul Remains"
Special Traits: [Level 1 Ethereal Body][Level 1 Ghostly Visage]
Expert Shards: None ]
Following Mainstream Martial Arts and Bloodline Divinity, Sevrin had unexpectedly discovered a third cultivation system within this "Farmer", the Ghost Path!
Furthermore, the moment he viewed this ghost's personal interface, Sevrin realized with a start that he could learn the other's skill without any hindrance, the "Ghostly Body, Soul Remains".
No, it wasn't exactly a skill.
Under the system's identification, or perhaps its interpretation, Sevrin suddenly understood.
It turned out that this so-called "Ghostly Body, Soul Remains" was actually the core essence of this old farmer's existence as a ghostly entity.
By analogy, it could be considered a concept similar to bloodline or constitution.
In other words, if Sevrin learned this Soul Remains skill, he might very well turn into... a ghost himself.
"Hmm? What is that delicious scent!"
While Sevrin was hesitating over whether to learn this ghost-turning skill, the scorched-corpse ghost in farmer's clothes suddenly twitched its nose and muttered, "It smells a bit like watermelon... hiss~ such a thick fragrance."
As it whispered, the old ghost's expression became visibly distorted, rapidly shifting from simple honesty to greed and gluttony.
Simultaneously, its appetite-filled gaze locked onto Sevrin... no, it was looking behind him.
Following the ghost's line of sight, Sevrin looked into the distance.
Thirty-some meters away, Schture, who had fully regained consciousness, was clutching his mangled hand and limping toward the depths of the dark forest in an attempt to escape.
SWISH
A second later, the scorched-corpse ghost vanished into thin air. In the blink of an eye, it crossed the thirty-meter gap and materialized directly behind Schture. Its head tilted back as its entire mouth and half of its face split into eight jagged petals, lunging forward to deliver a brutal bite to the youth's shoulder and neck.
CRUNCH! CRACKLE!
"AAAHH! AHH! HELP ME!!"
Accompanied by the sound of shattering bone and tearing flesh, Schture instantly collapsed to his knees, screaming in agony.
Then, in that dim, sunless clearing thirty meters away, a scene of bloody horror unfolded, a sight so gruesome it would make one's blood run cold: a ghost feasting on a man.
SLURP!
CRUNCH, MUNCH!
The scorched-corpse ghost ate with terrifying speed. In just a few breaths, everything from Schture's chest up had vanished, leaving only a mangled torso geysering crimson plasma and a chaotic mess of bloody scraps.
Perhaps satisfied with its meal, the scorched-corpse ghost slowed its eating. It then slowly turned its head, its hollow gaze drifting toward Sevrin in the distance.
Feeling the ghost's icy stare and its now-unveiled malice, Sevrin knew things were taking a turn for the worse.
"Dammit, this thing has tasted blood and gone feral. Looks like it wants to eat me next... Fine, I'll become a ghost too. Let's see if you still have an appetite then!"
He hesitated no longer. He decisively learned the other's ghostly bloodline, the "Ghostly Body, Soul Remains". At the same moment he acquired it, he pushed the skill to its absolute limit with a single thought.
WHOOSH
As if falling to the bottom of a thousand-meter-deep lake, Sevrin instantly felt the surroundings, above, below, and all around, become saturated with an eerie, bone-chilling yin energy.
Moreover, this aura felt like ten thousand invisible serpents and scorpions, hissing and writhing as they forced their way into his physical body and even his very soul.
There was no pain in this process, only an endless, icy numbness.
To describe it, it felt much like the local anesthesia Sevrin had experienced during a cyst removal surgery in his previous life. He knew his skin and flesh were being sliced open, but the sensation was a detached, terrifyingly alien feeling rather than direct pain.
It was the same now.
Though he felt no agony, Sevrin could still sense the threads of yin qi frantically burrowing through his skin, piercing his bones, and weaving through his soul, a powerful, unsettling sensation.
Fortunately, the process was so rapid it felt like a hallucination. The moment he registered the feeling, it vanished into thin air.
This signified that Sevrin had truly become a ghostly entity.
Specifically, he had become a human who possessed Mainstream Martial Arts and Bloodline Divinity within a living physical body, while simultaneously wielding the powers and essence of a ghost.
[ Host: Sevrin
Level: Mainstream Martial Arts → Vitality Circulation, Bloodline Divinity → Low, Ghost Path → Wandering Soul
Mastered Skills: "Five Animal Yale""Tiger Claw Blade-Fist""Blood-Devouring Heart-Burn""Ghostly Body, Soul Remains"
Special Traits: [Level 1 Robust Physique][Level 1 Sharp Nails][Level 1 Berserk][Level 1 Ethereal Body][Level 1 Ghostly Visage]
Expert Shards: None ]
Upon officially acquiring the essence of a ghostly being, Sevrin immediately grasped the specific effects of his two new special traits: [Ethereal Body] and [Ghostly Visage].
The former allowed Sevrin to act like a true specter, capable of phasing through walls and rocks at will, while ignoring most physical contact and conventional attacks.
As for the latter, it allowed him to cast illusions on the living, such as ghost-walls or spirit-blinding, to deceive their senses and toy with them as he pleased.
"Phew~~"
In the vast, fog-shrouded forest, Sevrin stood with his head hanging low, his face as deathly pale as a corpse. He exhaled a breath that was extremely cold and infused with an eerie, wicked aura.
At this moment, he felt his mind turn as unnaturally still as a stagnant pond. He couldn't find interest in anything, nor did any emotional waves ripple through him.
Terrifyingly, however, when he looked up at Schture's mangled remains thirty meters away, a fierce craving suddenly surged within him, driving him to rush over and feast. To his current senses, that wasn't a bloody corpse, it was a platter of succulent braised pork trotters.
"No! I am a man, not a ghost. I can't be like this!"
The moment that thought took hold, the seemingly irresistible and bizarre desire evaporated from the depths of his heart, like mist scorched by a blazing sun.
Simultaneously, his chaotic and icy thoughts instantly cleared, becoming as transparent and lucid as those of a living person.
It was in this moment that Sevrin intuitively understood something.
If he disliked this ghostly, sinister state, he could switch back to his original living form with a single thought. However, by doing so, all the abilities belonging to a ghostly entity would be drastically diminished, becoming almost non-existent.
Therefore, to avoid being viewed as food by that other ghost, Sevrin felt it was better to maintain this ghostly appearance for now.
"So, in the eyes of a ghost..."
Gazing from afar at Schture's mangled torso lying among the rotting leaves, Sevrin murmured in a ghostly tongue, "All living beings are nothing more than portions of delicious delicacies."
As he muttered, he realized that the deep, dark, and vast forest surrounding him, along with the gloomy, fog-covered sky above, had completely changed their appearance.
The dark forest had transformed into a vast field covered in golden grain, and the somber sky had turned into a boundless, deep blue firmament.
At the edge of this sky hung a fiery, great sun, unsparingly casting down rays of sunlight that made the rice fields below shimmer brilliantly, like an undulating golden ocean.
And that scorched-corpse ghost which had just devoured half of Schture's body, that old farmer, now appeared entirely as a living man. He crouched amidst the brilliant, wind-swept waves of golden rice, burying his face in a watermelon and feasting greedily.
Sunlight, rice fields, a farmer, watermelon... when everything was combined like this, it looked so warm and vibrant.
It was as if what Sevrin was seeing now was the true world, and everything he had seen before was merely a hollow, nightmare-filled illusion that was difficult to wake from.
"Could it be..."
He stared with hollow, deathly eyes at the golden sea of rice ahead, whispering to himself, "Is this the world through the eyes of a ghost?"
"Youngster, do you want some watermelon?"
The old farmer shouted from a distance, "The weather is too dry. Eat some cold melon to soothe your stomach."
"No, no," Sevrin replied, waving his hands repeatedly in refusal. "I appreciate your kindness, but my stomach is weak, I happen to be unable to eat cold watermelon."
As he spoke, his body blurred. In a single heartbeat, he crossed the thirty-meter gap and arrived right beside the old farmer.
"Whoa!"
After finding his footing, Sevrin was internally stunned. "After turning into a ghost, even my speed has become this lightning-fast."
By a rough estimate, he felt several times faster than when he had been utilizing the "Blood-Devouring Heart-Burn".
No wonder he couldn't react at all when this old farmer had killed Schture earlier. This was faster than the wind itself, how could anyone react?
Composing himself, Sevrin looked at the old farmer and asked with a smile:
"Old sir, how should I address you?"
The old farmer, holding his watermelon, said through a mouthful, "This old man is called Geo Lesan. What's your name, youngster?"
"Geo?"
For some reason, Sevrin immediately thought of Huin.
"My name is Sevrin."
He crouched down and continued asking, "Old sir, once you're done with the farmwork, where do you return to? Where do you live?"
"Geo Village, of course," Lesan replied, wiping the blood-red watermelon juice from the corner of his mouth. "For dozens of miles around, mine is the only village. It's been this way for many, many years."
At this point, he suddenly rolled his eyes back like a hanged man, staring fixedly at Sevrin as he spoke in a low, sinister tone. "Wait... that's not right. Since you came all the way here, how could you not know this is the territory of my Geo Village?"
"Hahaha~"
Sevrin improvised with a laugh, "I travel far and wide, I simply go wherever my feet take me."
"Ah~"
Lesan's expression returned to normal as he grumbled, "So you're just a wandering idler who doesn't do a proper day's work."
"Old sir, I've just about run out of travel money since arriving in these parts."
Sevrin moved closer and added, "Would it be possible for me to do a few days of labor in your Geo Village to earn some meal money?"
"Certainly," Lesan replied. "The Village Chief's fields have just yielded a bumper crop. You can stay as a seasonal harvester for a few days to help gather the grain. The pay should be enough to get you to the next village."
"That's simple enough; strength is the one thing I have plenty of."
Sevrin played along, "Give me a sickle, and I can reap from dawn till dusk."
"Wonderful."
Lesan gave a simple, honest smile, then stood up and said, "Come, I'll take you back to the village."
"Alright then."
Sevrin straightened up as well, "Lead the way, old sir. This youngster will follow behind."
With that, the two of them set off one after the other, wading through the sea of rice toward the distance.
In theory, Sevrin, now possessing the abilities of a ghostly entity, could have easily walked out of this dark forest.
Relying on his [Ethereal Body] trait, which allowed him to shift between reality and illusion at will, he could have ignored conventional firearms, slaughtered Geo Fortress's rifle squad, and then dealt with the old dog Huin at his leisure.
But as the saying goes: "With a blade in hand, the heart fears no foe."
Now that he had a basic guarantee of combat power, Sevrin naturally wanted to go a step further and acquire more trump cards.
In short, his strategy was to stay low and play it safe.
Therefore, following Lesan to investigate the source of these entities, the Geo family's ghost village, was an excellent choice.
And so, the two... no, the two ghosts... proceeded slowly along the field ridges under the blazing rays of the scorching sun.
SWISH~ SWISH~ SWISH~
As they advanced forty-odd meters with every step, Sevrin caught glimpses of the heavy, drooping stalks of grain on either side. When the breeze brushed past, they swayed back and forth with a rustling sound, resembling a sea of human heads nodding and grinning in mockery.
"Quite the performance, looks almost like the real thing," he muttered under his breath.
In the midst of his whispering, he quickly deactivated his ghostly state. Seeing through human eyes, he discovered that these were not rice stalks at all, but rows of jagged, grotesque trees and withered shrubs.
Above his head, there was no blue sky or scorching sun, only the leaden, fog-shrouded firmament. Underneath that misty dome, the two of them were moving like twin flickers of shadow, phasing through trees and boulders as they headed toward the deepest reaches of the dark forest.
To avoid being noticed by Lesan and to ensure he wasn't left behind, Sevrin rapidly switched back to his ghostly form and hurried after him.
After about fifteen minutes of winding paths, Sevrin, following close behind Lesan, spotted wisps of cooking smoke rising in the distance at the edge of the golden sea of grain.
Beneath those spiraling plumes of smoke, a village flickered in and out of view.
"We're here," Lesan called out, pointing toward the cluster. "That's Geo Village. Just a few more steps and we'll arrive."
Sevrin nodded without a word.
A moment later, they finally reached the village entrance.
Standing under a lush, ancient locust tree, Sevrin put his hands on his hips and scanned the area. It didn't look much different from an ordinary settlement. The village was mostly comprised of various-sized mud-brick houses, appearing both aged and rustic.
Because there were many children laughing and playing, and plenty of young men and elders resting in the shade, the place looked filled with the warmth of mortal life.
But Sevrin knew it was all an illusion. If he looked through human eyes right now, these would undoubtedly be rows of sinister, dilapidated haunted houses.
And that was exactly what Sevrin did.
He very discreetly reverted to his living state, casting a swift glance inside and outside the village.
As expected, the frolicking children, the young men, and the elders were all ghosts, almost every one of them a hideous, charred corpse-specter.
Furthermore, those mud-brick houses had transformed into patches of blackened ruins, more than half-collapsed and decaying.
As for the so-called "smoke of life," it had turned into a deathly, mournful aura.
"Did a massive fire occur in this Geo Village long ago?"
Having switched back to his ghostly form, Sevrin hypothesized, "The fire burned everyone to death, and then these charred villagers, due to some incident, all turned into scorched-corpse ghosts."
While he was lost in thought, Lesan's voice rang in his ear:
"Youngster, what are you dazing off for? Hurry up and follow me to the Village Chief's house."
"Ah, right."
Sevrin replied casually, then followed behind Lesan as he strode toward the center of the village.
While walking, he intentionally observed each of the ghostly entities in the village, specifically looking for new skills and traits.
To Sevrin's disappointment, the personal interfaces of the ghost-children, ghost-adults, and ghost-elders were all identical to Lesan's. Every single one possessed only the "Ghostly Body, Soul Remains" skill.
"Bah~ Not a damn thing worth taking," Sevrin thought with silent contempt. "A bunch of penniless ghosts."
Before long, he and Lesan reached the highest point of the village, a rocky slope where a rice-drying courtyard had been built.
There stood a tiled house that was significantly larger and grander than the mud-brick huts in the village.
"Chief! Hey, Huin!"
Lesan marched his old legs up to the door of the tiled house and began pounding on it.
THUD, THUD, THUD.
"It's your Third Uncle! Open up quickly!"
CREAK~
The wooden door slowly opened, and a youth stepped out. Though dressed in coarse cloth, he was exceptionally handsome and possessed an elegant, refined air.
Clearly, this was the "Huin" Lesan spoke of, and the Chief of Geo Village.
The young chief looked at Lesan, frowning as he asked, "Third Uncle, shouldn't you be out harvesting grain? Why have you come to find me?"
"Huin, don't you always complain about the drudgery of field work?"
Lesan pointed with a silly grin at Sevrin, who stood silently behind him. "Well, look here! I've found a laborer for you."
"Ah, I see."
The young village chief immediately smiled, his brows relaxing. "That's perfect then. I happen to need someone to help me harvest the grain."
While the two of them chatted, Sevrin was internally reeling with shock.
It was because this chief named Huin... he actually couldn't see any of his personal interface information.
The System gave no reaction to this young man whatsoever, as if the person before him didn't exist at all.
While Sevrin was lost in dazed confusion, Lesan turned and waved him over:
"Hey, youngster~ Come here, let me introduce you."
Sevrin forced a simple, honest-looking smile onto his face and walked over without a word.
"Now, this here is our Village Chief, Geo Huin."
Lesan patted the handsome youth's shoulder and said boisterously, "His father happened to be my cousin, the previous Chief of Geo Village."
"Huin?!"
Sevrin's pupils trembled slightly. He immediately maintained his rustic smile, grabbed the hand of this young chief named Huin, and started spouting nonsense, "I've long heard that Village Chief Geo was refined and handsome; seeing you today, you truly possess an extraordinary aura."
"You bet!"
Lesan chimed in, his mouth curling as he bragged, "My grand-nephew is a famous handsome lad for a hundred miles around. Even the old Lord of the Qin Fortress wanted to recruit him as a live-in son-in-law. If it weren't for the deep love between Huin and Asell..."
"That's enough, Third Uncle," Huin said helplessly. "Your mouth has no filter; you're about to spill every bit of my family business."
"Alright, alright, I'll stop, hehe." Lesan gave himself a light, playful slap on the mouth and chuckled incessantly.
"Third Uncle~ Huin~"
A soft female voice drifted from inside the house. "What are you all talking about?"
Along with the voice, a pregnant woman with a delicate face and an extremely gentle aura emerged, supporting her waist as she walked out slowly.
"Asell, be careful."
Huin quickly moved to support the pregnant woman, scolding her softly, "Asell, you should be resting. Why come out? What if the wind blows and you catch a chill?"
"It's fine. The sun is so large, how could I catch a chill?"
Asell broke into a smile. "I heard Third Uncle calling my name, so I came out to see."
"Ah, it seems it's this Third Uncle's fault then."
Lesan rubbed his palms together and gave a dry laugh. "Well, Asell, your belly is so large now, I reckon it won't be long before you give birth."
"Indeed," Asell nodded with a gentle smile. "The doctor came to see me and said I'll go into labor within the month."
While these few were chatting, Sevrin was once again secretly terrified.
It was because this pregnant woman named Asell had a personal interface that was... suddenly and completely different from all the other villagers in Geo Village——
[ Character Name: Asell
Level: Ghost Path → Vengeful Spirit
Mastered Skills: "Ghostly Body, Soul Remains" "Evil Yin Arts (Damaged)" "Vile Slaughter Yin-Descent" "Resentful Slaughter Yang-Extinguisher"
Special Traits: [Level 2 Ethereal Body] [Level 2 Ghostly Visage] [Level 2 Twin Slaughter]
Expert Shards: None ]
Judging by the number of skills and the level of her traits, this female ghost named Asell was undoubtedly the true strongest entity in Geo Village.
But what was going on with this Huin, who was currently laughing and talking so happily with Asell and Lesan?
What was his relationship with that Old Dog Huin outside the forest?
Who was the real Huin?
Sevrin was utterly baffled by these mounting mysteries.
"To hell with it, if I can't figure it out, I won't bother. Whoever they are, I'm stealing the skills first."
After a few seconds of fruitless pondering, Sevrin tossed those messy questions to the back of his mind and focused intently on stealing Asell's skills.