Chapter 134: Time Coffin

"Are you staying here this time? You aren't planning to go back?" Gao Tian asked.

Yusheng looked up at the Inner World's green sun.

According to his original plan, he was supposed to die in Longshu Temple. Handing the Time Coffin over to the next person would fulfill his mission. The dead had it easiest—they didn't have to worry about a thing. Once you died, your troubles ended. The rest was left for the living to fret over.

Since he had survived, however, countless responsibilities still awaited him.

"I will go back," Yusheng said.

"The revival of Fierce Ghosts in the real world is growing stronger. If this trend continues, not just Dragon Country, but the entire world will perish.

"I will do my best and contribute what little strength I have.

"While completing the missions of the Living Apartment, I'll deal with some supernatural incidents on the outside. I want to slow down the complete revival of the supernatural as much as possible."

He looked at the familiar grass and trees of Longshu Temple, his eyes reflecting the mischievous child from a thousand years ago. "But first, I will stay here to repay the sins that must be repaid.

"I owe this land, my master, and my senior brothers far too much. My sins are too deep to be repaid in a lifetime."

Gao Tian decided not to press him about the stars in the sky for now. After all, only one such case had been discovered in a thousand years; it was far less urgent than the Fierce Ghosts roaming the streets and alleys.

Regarding the Time Coffin, Gao Tian actually had a vague idea the moment he obtained it, though he hadn't been completely sure.

There was no such thing as a weak time-based Supernatural Item.

Now, after experiencing the fourth cycle, his theory had been proven correct.

But he still needed Yusheng's confirmation as double insurance. Otherwise, if the method failed, the consequences would be far too severe. Gao Tian said, "An expert in the supernatural circle once told me something.

"'When a person dies and becomes a ghost, it is an absolutely irreversible process. No item can turn a ghost back into a human.'

"Is that statement correct?"

Yusheng thought seriously for a moment. "There is nothing wrong with that.

"At least in my lifetime, I have never seen a ghost revert to a human.

"Of course, I can't speak in absolutes. Perhaps I am simply ignorant, and such a miraculous item truly exists in the depths of the Inner World."

Gao Tian prompted, "Not long ago, I saw a friend turn into a ghost and then back into a human."

Yusheng asked, "Who? Do I know him?"

Gao Tian replied, "Of course you do.

"And he looks a lot like you.

"No, 'like' isn't the right word.

"He looks exactly like you.

"That person is you, Yusheng."

Sitting off to the side, Wang Wenbo nearly spat out his water.

What was wrong with these guys? Breaking a single sentence into so many parts—who did they learn that from?

During the third cycle, Yusheng had delayed Mother and returned to Longshu Temple to see Gao Tian one last time. By then, he was already dead and had undergone ghost transformation. He had relied on a special method to temporarily maintain his sanity, but it couldn't last long.

In the fourth cycle, with the time reset and the effects of the Time Wheel Crows, Yusheng had once again reverted from a ghost back to his living form.

In other words, as long as time flowed backward, a ghost could theoretically change back into a living person.

Of course, this was only in theory. In practice, there were many more factors to consider.

The starving ghost in the temple, Dharma Master Jingming, and the Republican-Era Team had permanently become Fierce Ghosts through the endless cycles.

This proved that one couldn't remain a Fierce Ghost for too long; otherwise, even a time reset couldn't save them.

Gao Tian voiced this thought.

Yusheng nodded. "You are already very close to the true nature of the Time Coffin.

"Don't say anything beyond that. Otherwise, you'll pierce through that final layer of paper."

Saying this was equivalent to tacitly agreeing with Gao Tian's line of thought.

A new, and arguably very unique, combo slowly took shape in Gao Tian's mind.

The combination of these two Supernatural Items differed fundamentally from other combos.

The potential benefits were massive, but the risks were equally high.

Ghost Transformation Spear + Time Coffin.

First, activate the Time Coffin to ensure his body's time would reset five minutes later. Then, use the Ghost Transformation Spear to turn himself into a Fierce Ghost.

That meant Gao Tian could enter a Fierce Ghost state for a full five minutes.

After five minutes, the Time Coffin's effect would kick in, reverting his body to five minutes prior and turning him back into a human.

Fierce Ghosts were immortal and indestructible. He would stably acquire a Killing Rule and possibly even unfold a ghost domain. That was undoubtedly vastly superior to a human's flesh and blood.

If this combo truly worked, and time reversal could counteract ghost transformation—

Was this what Teacher Xu Yuan had meant back then when he said the Ghost Transformation Spear was a weapon capable of overturning an era?

He had spent his entire life searching for a time-related Supernatural Item. But that type of item wasn't easy to find, and Teacher Xu Yuan hadn't found one by the day he died.

By Xu Yuan's generation, their understanding of the Ghost Transformation Spear had grown even shallower. They couldn't grasp their teacher's true intentions.

But truth be told, Xu Yuan had already found the Divine Tree and died. The Ghost Transformation Spear was of little use to him anyway.

Gao Tian decided to keep this secret hidden.

The fact that he could turn into a ghost was his ultimate trump card. He would save it for the day of the final battle in Shanghai City.

When Artist, Woman in the Rain, and Xu Yuan—three S-level Fierce Ghosts—simultaneously descended to finish off Old Man Sun and forge a hell on earth, he would have a massive surprise waiting for them.

After leaving Longshu Temple, they found that Old Man Sun had disappeared from outside.

Jiang Yang said, "He was in a rush to head back and deal with the Woman in the Rain situation, so he didn't want to squeeze onto a slow bus with us.

"Also, Old Man Sun left a very strange message for you."

Gao Tian asked, "What could he possibly leave for me?"

A strange expression appeared on Jiang Yang's face. Mimicking Old Man Sun's tone, he said, "'To be able to fight a ghost that has opened its ghost domain, your strength isn't bad.

"'But next time, please don't fight in the city center. If you want to fight, go somewhere deserted.'"

He thought for a moment before he couldn't hold back his question. "You fought a ghost with a ghost domain?

"When did that happen? That's insane."

Gao Tian laughed it off and deflected, "The old man is just confused. He's pinning the things he did in his youth on me."

Jiang Yang looked deeply suspicious. "Is that so?"

Stepping off Bus 444, their feet touched the soil of the real world, bringing a surreal feeling as if a lifetime had passed.

Right now, the time in the real world was around four or five in the morning. The gray sky was tinged with the pale white of a dead fish's belly. As they walked toward the Living Apartment, Gao Tian and the others saw from afar that the first-floor lobby was brightly lit. Clearly, a resident had stayed behind to wait for them.

At this hour, who would be waiting for them?

Was it the elusive Old Man Sun? Had he returned to the Living Apartment after leaving the Inner World ahead of them?

That seemed unlikely.

Gao Tian was the first to reach the entrance. Pushing open the glass doors, he saw an exhausted-looking Xia Ta sitting on the sofa. In front of her sat the laptop that Wang Wenbo had left running before their long journey.

"Welcome back."

Xia Ta's gaze swept back and forth across Gao Tian, Jiang Yang, and Lan Zhu as they entered the apartment.

Directly behind her was the wall where the Green Text Missions were posted. The green text itself had faded, but the lingering imprints were still barely legible enough to read the requirements.

"The seventh Green Text Mission, with five people... For three of you to actually make it back alive is quite good," Xia Ta sighed.

From her perspective, since Yusheng and Wang Wenbo hadn't come in with them, they had naturally died in the Inner World.

This was a massive loss for the Living Apartment. As expected, still no one had managed to reach the eighth mission.

Jiang Yang smiled as he explained, "Yusheng and Wang Wenbo both survived. They're just stranded in the Inner World dealing with some follow-up issues from the Green Text Mission.

"We all completed this mission. I've now reached my sixth, Gao Tian his fifth, and Yusheng his seventh."

Hearing this twist, even the usually stoic Xia Ta showed a rather colorful expression.

A seventh-level Green Text Mission, five people, including the weakest, Wang Wenbo—and all of them had survived?

Since when did Green Text Missions become as easy as taking a tour through the Inner World? However many people had departed, that same number had survived, and the remaining two were merely lingering at a tourist spot?

Moreover, there was a rather awkward situation now.

Originally, having survived five Green Text Missions, Xia Ta was the apartment manager. But now, compared with Yusheng's seven missions and Jiang Yang's six...

She was actually the one with the lowest mission count. Even Gao Tian, a newcomer to the apartment, had reached his fifth.

Fortunately, Xia Ta wasn't the type to care about such things. Besides, having more high-level mission users in the apartment was a good thing for the other newcomers.

Confirming that everyone was alive, Xia Ta's mood visibly shifted from shock to pleasant surprise. However, unwilling to display such trivial emotions, she coolly changed the subject. "I had just gotten back from my hometown and rushed to the Living Apartment right as you guys were leaving to execute this joint mission.

"Logically, you should be taking some time to rest and enjoy your vacation now that you're back.

"However, there are two extremely important things I need to tell you right now."

Gao Tian and Jiang Yang found seats on the sofa. "Go ahead."

Xia Ta said, "First, I went through and took a full inventory of the children sent back to my hometown. I did this to confirm which year they were sent to the Children's Home and what the previous family head was named. I made a register of it all."

Xia Ta paused here, giving the three of them time to process. "But during the registration, I found that one child was missing.

"A child who should have been in the Children's Home, but couldn't be found."

Jiang Yang asked, "Were there any children in the Children's Home that you knew previously?"

Xia Ta nodded, stood up, and walked over to the drawer under the front desk to retrieve something. "Yes, there is. There's one child—I have her photo."

As Xia Ta pulled the photo from the drawer, Gao Tian's sealed memories slowly began to reawaken.

That photo... was the one he had given Xia Ta.