The curtain opened slightly. The fight between the butcher and the Minor Xi Gods escalated. Normally, one couldn’t see the Xi God, but they were infected by the butcher’s flesh. Their already mutated bodies started to grow fur and horns. The connections between the Minor Xi Gods were affected. The wedding procession was stopped at the village entrance. Bai Feng was not nervous at all. Riding on the paper horse, she showed no change in expression. She occasionally glanced at the sedan.
Gao Ming initially planned to escape with Bai Feng, but the latter didn’t seem like she wanted to leave.
“There is only one chance. We can come back for her.” The man reminded Gao Ming, “Don’t drag her down.”
Gao Ming scanned the rotten flesh. He looked down the alley. He slowly moved the copper mirror. After making sure there was no one in hiding, he yanked back the curtain and darted into the dark.
“You dared to hide in the sedan. You are stained by the Xi God! You can’t escape!”
Red lines crawled into Gao Ming’s body, but that did nothing. Most of the Minor Xi Gods were distracted by the butcher. Only the two closest to the sedan chased after Gao Ming. After some turns, Gao Ming managed to lose them.
“This is incredible. A tester managed to save me from the Xi Residence?!” The man didn’t think there was a loophole in his design. Normal people couldn’t see the Xi God. When they could see the Xi God, it meant that they had been corrupted by joy. That was why Zhang Mingli’s malice didn’t dare to enter the Xi Residence.
When Gao Ming returned with the man on his back, the shock in Zhang Mingli’s eyes couldn’t be hidden. Wan Min and Wan Yang were confused. Their father’s notes explicitly stated that one would die after accepting Zhang Mingli’s tasks. One had to use patience to slowly wear down Zhang Mingli.
Zhang Mingli’s eyes wandered between the man and Gao Ming. Zhang Mingli shook his head with a soundless laugh. He pointed at Gao Ming, “You have great talent in disrupting Immortal Pharma’s plans. If not for the black band you wear, I would think you’re a ghost from the deep-level world.”
“He might be.” The man said, “The joy aura didn’t work on him, and the rules couldn’t restrain him. This is so strange.”
“Fu Shu, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” Zhang Mingli slowly approached him. “I treated you as a friend and helped you climb to the top of Immortal Pharma. Is this how you treat me?”
“Winners take all.” The man had no complaints, just endless sadness.
“I forgot the saviour’s name, but I remember the things he left for us. It’s time for you to return them to their owner.” Zhang Mingli’s strength didn’t come from him alone. When the saviour’s people went to the deep-level world to find the saviour, Zhang Mingli was the only one who stayed for his sick wife. To help him fight against the greedy people, his friends left a lot of cursed items for Zhang Mingli.
“I don’t know where they have been transferred. Like you, I am a prisoner.” Fu Shu and Zhang Mingli appeared to be old friends.
“Back then, you used so many human lives to stop me from using the cursed objects. As a ghost, I didn’t want to kill. Who would have thought you people would be so heartless to implant curses in living human dreams? You sacrificed all of them just to trap me…”
“Stop. That had nothing to do with me.” Fu Shu lowered his face in shame.
“What’s the point of denying it now?” Zhang Mingli smiled. Then, he turned to Gao Ming. “Well done. I have no complaint. Join me in the classroom. I’ll help release the nightmare in your heart.”
With the Wan Siblings watching, Gao Ming hauled Fu Shu into the classroom. The wooden door closed. From the outside, the classroom hadn’t changed, but from the inside, everything had shifted. Divine patterns and blood stains appeared on the old and worn tables. The patterns converged on Zhang Mingli. They lit up a fire in his heart.
“Dream Release requires a catalyst, a lit soul fire and an altar. Actually, you already have all of that. I am merely going to be your guide.” Zhang Mingli had Gao Ming put down the knife. “Relax. I have no intention of harming you. Let me see into your heart.”
The sound of chanting echoed in the room. Indescribable shadows appeared on the walls. They were hard to capture. They seemed to be the Unmentionables Zhang Mingli had encountered. Their gazes easily cut through Gao Ming. Zhang Mingli frowned. “I can’t see through your will. How can a human will be so strong?” Focusing the fire in his heart, Zhang Mingli said, “Stop resisting me. I’m trying to help you.”
Gao Ming put down his guard. Zhang Mingli’s fire slowly approached his chest.
The smell of meat spread through the room. The ghosts howled. Zhang Mingli stared into Gao Ming’s chest, and his eyes twitched. There was an incredibly dark room. The walls were cracked. He looked in through the cracks.
Endless chains bound a God of Flesh and Blood. The steps that led up to God’s altar were made from Gao Ming’s own corpses. He was his faith and disciple.
“How can you have died so many times?”
The flame chased away the darkness. Zhang Mingli was about to pour his soul fire into the room when a loud voice came from the chains. “Leave!”
The powerful aura cut through the boundary between the real world and the false world. It blurred the past and the future.
This reminded Zhang Mingli of what the saviours had said. There was a group of creatures scarier than the Unmentionables in the deep-level world. They were called Demon Gods.
“This man’s heart is shattered. His soul and memory should be eliminated, but they were forcibly held in place by chains. Some of his memories are shoved inside his flesh and melted into his blood! What is this man’s history? I’ve never seen this before. Why doesn’t he want people to look into his past?”
Zhang Mingli was not frightened by the voice. He always lived up to his words.
The soul fire touched the crack. Zhang Mingli used the power he had obtained from an Unmentionable. He guided a part of memory out of that strange room in the heart!