“Phew~”
Leaning against a crooked tree, Li Hai, with a pale and somewhat weak face, let out a tired, foot-long breath of white air tinged with blood:
“After using this Devouring Blood Burning Heart… it’s truly exhausting.”
Life-draining skills were indeed taxing, but their effects were also quite remarkable.
In this misty You Forest, ordinary people couldn't travel far in half a day.
Even a martial artist of Guo Huaijin's Rank could, at most, reach a speed of ten zhang per second.
However, Li Hai, using the Devouring Blood Burning Heart Divine Ability, only took the time of a cup of tea to cover a distance of twenty to thirty li at a speed of fifteen to sixteen zhang per second.
This place was so far from the three-way intersection that it seemed safe enough for now.
“If I’m safe, you’re safe.”
Li Hai looked at Guo Shiwen, who was lying on the ground slowly waking up, and said indifferently, “If I’m not safe, you… huh?”
Suddenly, he saw an elderly farmer, carrying a hoe, slowly trudging through the mist in the empty forest not far away.
“Stop, old sir~”
Li Hai took a few quick steps, crossing a dozen zhang of thin mist to reach the old farmer, and asked with a smile, “Old sir, where are you from…?”
As soon as he spoke, his eyes widened, and he froze in place.
Because upon closer inspection, Li Hai discovered that the old farmer’s face, neck, and hands were covered in large patches of burnt flesh, exposing bone.
No, it wasn't just simple marks.
Upon closer look, this old farmer was simply a charred corpse, burnt to carbonization, with no living blood or flesh.
A corpse could still wander around with a hoe?
Damn it, this was a ghost!
“Young man, you’ve lost your way, haven’t you?”
The charred corpse farmer parted a toothless, tongueless, almost hollow mouth, and chuckled honestly, “Otherwise, why would you run to our remote, impoverished place?”
Heaven knew how Li Hai could discern an 'honest' expression on the face of a charred corpse.
But that wasn't important.
What was truly important was the old farmer's personal interface—
Character Name: Unknown
Rank: Ghost Dao → Ghost Body Soul Remains
Skills: Ghost Body Soul Remains
Traits: 【Ghost Body Rank 1】 【Strange Phenomenon Rank 1】
Strongest Fragments: None
That's right, after Zhengchuan Martial Arts and Bloodline Divine Power, Li Hai had, in a short time, discovered a third Cultivation System on this 'farmer'—Ghost Dao!
And at the same time he saw this ghost's personal interface, Li Hai was surprised to find that he could learn the opponent's skill—Ghost Body Soul Remains—without any hindrance.
No, that wasn't a skill.
Under the System’s ‘identification’ or rather, ‘explanation,’ Li Hai suddenly understood.
It turned out that this so-called Ghost Body Soul Remains was actually the core essence of this old farmer as a ghost.
Comparatively, it could be regarded as a concept similar to Bloodline or Physique.
In other words, if Li Hai learned this Ghost Body Soul Remains skill, he might also turn into a… ghost.
“Hmm? What’s that fragrant smell?!”
Just as Li Hai was hesitating whether or not to learn this ghost-transforming skill, the charred corpse ghost, dressed as a farmer, suddenly twitched its nose and muttered, “It smells a bit like watermelon, hiss~ what a strong fragrance.”
As it mumbled, the old ghost's expression visibly grew ferocious, quickly transforming from honest and simple to greedy and covetous.
At the same time, its gaze, filled with appetite, fell upon Li Hai… no, it fell behind him.
When Li Hai followed its gaze, he saw it in the distance.
A dozen zhang away, Guo Shiwen, who had already woken up, was limping away into the depths of the You Forest, clutching his severed hand wound.
Swoosh—
The next second, the charred corpse ghost vanished into thin air before Li Hai’s eyes, instantly crossing a dozen zhang to appear behind Guo Shiwen, then tilted its head back and roared, its entire mouth and half its face splitting into eight petals, biting fiercely into his shoulder and neck from behind.
Crack! Crack!
“Ah! Ahhh! Help meee!!”
Accompanied by the sound of bones shattering and flesh tearing, Guo Shiwen immediately screamed and fell to his knees.
Then, in the dark, lightless clearing under the trees a dozen zhang away, a scene of gruesome and terrifying ghost-eating-human unfolded.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Crunch, crunch!
The charred corpse ghost ate extremely fast; in just a few breaths, the part of Guo Shiwen above his chest and abdomen had vanished, leaving only a gushing stump of a torso and messy, bloody fragments.
Perhaps having eaten its fill and satisfied, the charred corpse ghost gradually slowed its eating, then actually turned its head, eerily looking towards Li Hai in the distance.
Feeling the charred corpse ghost’s cold gaze and unconcealed malice, Li Hai thought, This is bad:
“Damn it, this ghost has gone feral from eating, and it looks like it wants to eat me too… Fine, I’ll become a ghost too, let’s see if you still eat me then!”
He no longer hesitated and immediately and decisively learned the opponent's ghost 'Bloodline'—Ghost Body Soul Remains—and at the same time he learned it, he pushed this skill to its limit with a single thought.
Whoosh~
As if falling into the bottom of a thousand-zhang deep You Lake, Li Hai instantly felt the surroundings, above, below, and on all sides, filled with an eerie and chilling Yin Qi.
And these Qi were like tens of thousands of invisible snakes and insects, hissing, twisting, and flying, forcibly drilling into his body and even his soul.
This process had no pain, only endless coldness and numbness.
To describe it, it was like the feeling Li Hai had when he had a ganglion cyst in his previous life and underwent local anesthetic excision surgery in the hospital.
Although he was anesthetized and felt little pain, he could clearly perceive the chilling, unusual sensation of the surgical knife cutting through skin and flesh.
It was the same now.
Although there was no pain, Li Hai could still feel the strong discomfort of the wisps of Yin Qi frantically drilling through his skin, penetrating his bones, and splitting his soul.
Fortunately, this process was as swift as an illusion; as soon as he felt a slight sensation, it vanished without a trace.
At the same time, this also meant that Li Hai had truly become a ghost.
Or one could say, he had become a… person who possessed both Martial Arts and Divine Ability, a vibrant physical body, and also the abilities and essence of a ghost.
Master Name: Li Hai
Rank: Zhengchuan Martial Arts → Strong Soul Cycle, Bloodline Divine Power → Low Grade, Ghost Dao → Ghost Body Soul Remains
Skills: Five Animal Qi Gong, Tiger Claw Knife Fist, Devouring Blood Burning Heart, Ghost Body Soul Remains
Traits: 【Strong Soul Rank 1】 【Claw Finger Rank 1】 【Berserk Rank 1】 【Ghost Body Rank 1】 【Strange Phenomenon Rank 1】
Strongest Fragments: None
And after officially possessing the essence of a ghost, Li Hai instantly understood the specific effects represented by the two trait characteristics: 【Ghost Body】 and 【Strange Phenomenon】.
The former meant that Li Hai could, like a true ghost, freely pass through walls and rocks, and also ignore conventional physical touch and attacks.
As for the latter, it allowed him to use methods of confusing the mind and senses, such as 'ghost walls' or 'ghostly blindfolds,' on living people, making them run in circles.
