Chapter 147: Above the High Heavens

What exactly had the ghost infant sent up there seen, to make this experienced former ghost hunter lose her composure so completely?

"Look up at the sky."

Ghost Infant stood beside Gao Tian, pointing at the sky once more.

Gao Tian looked up. A moment later, a dark object plummeted straight down. It hit the ground with a wet splat, bursting into a puddle of rotting flesh.

It was the head of the little ghost infant that had been hooked earlier.

Something high above had cleanly severed it and casually tossed it back down to earth. Both eyes had been gouged out, leaving only two bloody, sightless holes.

In other words, the ghost infant had struggled all the way up there only to see absolutely nothing. The enemy had even tossed the head back down—an act of low physical damage, but extreme humiliation.

No wonder Ghost Infant was anxious.

More and more fishing hooks rained down from the sky. There were at least twenty or thirty of them, gleaming like cold steel suspended in the darkness as they closed in on Gao Tian and Ghost Infant. They swam rapidly toward them from all directions, high and low.

It seemed the "fisherman" sitting in the sky above was ready to eliminate the man and the ghost once and for all. It had no intention of playing this game any longer.

"I'm out of options for now.

"Seriously, why have you just been watching the show all this time? Are you waiting until we're completely doomed before you make a move?"

Ghost Infant threw her hands up, signaling that it was Gao Tian's turn. "You sure had fun beating up me and Ghost Cave back at the Jinhai Building. Weren't you a great fighter back then?

"Why have you suddenly become so weak now that we're teammates? All you do is stand on the sidelines posing with your hands in your pockets."

Gao Tian paid little mind to Ghost Infant's cynical remarks.

Having survived countless paranormal events, his mindset had grown increasingly mature. The closer he was to a life-and-death crisis, the more he needed to suppress his emotions and observe his surroundings.

The good news was that the fisherman's hooks were all currently clustered around them. Ai Ning was still standing in the light opposite them, temporarily ignored.

The fisherman wanted nothing more than to reel in Gao Tian and Ghost Infant, the two biggest catches.

Gao Tian held quite a few cards in his hand; he just didn't know which one to play to maximize his advantage.

First was the Supernatural Die, the very one Zhao Zhenjia had given him as a bonus during the Blood Shroud trade on the fifth floor.

If he rolled a 4 on that thing, it was guaranteed to eliminate one paranormal phenomenon. Paired with his Ghost Luck, it could instantly wipe out all these hooks lurking in the shadows.

But each face of the Supernatural Die could only be used once before shattering.

The main event of the night hadn't even begun yet. There was no way Gao Tian would waste such an important item here.

He could also activate the Black Leather Shoes and fly straight up into the sky to see the true face of the entity holding the fishing rod.

But he wasn't the only one here who could fly. Ghost Infant, who had nearly been hooked just moments ago, hadn't chosen to do that.

While Gao Tian was pondering, a hook arrived right in front of his face. He didn't have half a second to waste. In the very next blink, he too would become prey and get reeled in.

"You really are just going to stand there and watch.

"I have no idea how Ghost Cave and I ever lost to you back then."

Ghost Infant's bitter sigh echoed beside him.

"If you spent the time you waste talking nonsense on actually thinking, you wouldn't be such a failure as either a human or a ghost."

Even as he spoke, Gao Tian had already figured out a solution.

He instantly summoned a brand-new Wind Attendant Buddha to block his front. Caught off guard, the hook snagged right onto the neck of the wind-formed Buddha, dragging it upward.

Of course, seven or eight other hooks also circled in. Naturally, Gao Tian didn't expect a mere Wind Attendant Buddha to block them all.

Letting it be hooked fully realized its value.

He just hoped the Wind Attendant Buddha could withstand the pressure and not shatter in mid-air.

Gao Tian wished silently in his heart.

Along the way, some Ghost Luck had naturally formed above his head, so his luck tonight wouldn't be too terrible.

At the same time, Gao Tian triggered his Mirror Ghost ability again, pulling both himself and the nearby Ghost Infant into the mirror.

The instant they entered the mirror, the Wind Attendant Buddha—already dragged halfway into the air by the hook—grabbed the mirror with one hand and scooped up the half-destroyed head of the little ghost infant with the other. It carried them all as it flew thousands of feet into the high heavens.

This way, the fisherman was actively reeling them right into its hiding place.

This also prevented the alternative: getting snagged by the hook, losing all combat capability, and being dragged defenseless into the enemy's lair.

Entering the Mirror World for the first time, Ghost Infant was utterly shocked, freezing in place for a long time. She felt both the lingering terror of narrowly escaping the hooks and sheer amazement at the boundlessness of the Mirror World.

Back at the Jinhai Building, she had seen Gao Tian dive into a mirror to dodge Ghost Cave's pursuit. But she never imagined the inside of the mirror would look like this.

"What is that endless nothingness in the distance?"

Looking around, Ghost Infant pointed beyond the long white path toward the cosmic, abyssal depths.

Gao Tian didn't know either. "There's nothing.

"It's a place even emptier than nothingness."

Ghost Infant asked, "Have you ever been out there?

"I mean leaving this white path beneath our feet and exploring the depths of the Mirror World."

Gao Tian said, "No.

"But if you really want to die that badly, go ahead and explore it.

"I have a feeling that its depths are even more terrifying than the Inner World."

This time, Ghost Infant remained silent for a long time before letting out a slow sigh. "If Ghost Cave were here, knowing his personality, he'd definitely find a way to go explore it.

"He's just that kind of person. Then he'd get into trouble, and Boss Xu Yuan would have to come in and fish him out.

"That exact scenario has happened countless times."

Ghost Cave was gone now.

Perhaps he was a murderous demon, but in Ghost Infant's memory, he would always be that dark-skinned, clever boy next door who was constantly stirring up trouble.

Even among the wicked, friendship existed.

Gao Tian ignored Ghost Infant's words, keeping his eyes glued to the mirrors along the long white path to confirm exactly where the Wind Attendant Buddha was being pulled.

A moment later, he said in a low voice, "We're almost there.

"When we go out, we attack together. Don't hold back. Use your most ruthless moves. We have to finish that guy off completely the second we meet."

On Ghost Infant's plastic face, her paper-pasted mouth curled up slightly, revealing a chilling, eerie smile. "Hehe. Understood."

Gao Tian stared intently at the outside world and held up three fingers.

"One!

"Two!

"Three—strike!"

Once the fishing line was fully retracted into the sky, it was time for the mastermind behind it all to reveal itself. Gao Tian activated the Mirror Ghost effect once more, pulling the Wind Attendant Buddha and the little ghost infant's head back inside in exchange for bringing himself and Ghost Infant out of the mirror.

Above this pitch-black sea of clouds sat a figure so massive it bordered on the absurd. It was a mountain of blood-red flesh—its perfectly round shoulders looked like twin hills, and rolls of fat stacked layer upon layer from its waist all the way up to its chin, stretching the skin until it glowed a sickening scarlet.

The mountain of flesh sat cross-legged, its short, stubby legs hidden beneath folds of fat. Arms as thick as stone pillars rested casually on its knees. Its right hand gripped a long, slender fishing rod with the tip tilted slightly forward. An almost invisible thread dropped from its fingers, piercing straight down into the churning clouds below.

The Fishing Ghost's true body. They had found it, hiding right here.

This area clearly wasn't just a high altitude obscured by clouds, but rather a small alternate dimension. If the Fishing Ghost hadn't actively dropped its hook to reel the Wind Attendant Buddha up, Gao Tian and Ghost Infant would never have found this place in a lifetime. They would have been left purely on the defensive, taking a beating.

The moment the two burst out of the mirror, the blood-red mountain of flesh sensed something and slowly shifted its massive body to turn around. Amidst its enormous bulk, a bizarrely tiny face was revealed right in the center of its chest, peering curiously at the two of them.

It was as if the Fishing Ghost was also puzzled. Why were the prey reeled in this time still moving freely, completely unlike previous victims who had lost all power to struggle?

Because they had come up voluntarily; they hadn't been snagged by the hook.

First eye contact.

Gao Tian counted silently in his mind.

This ghost's abilities were impressive. It was worth paying any price to acquire them.

Meanwhile, Ghost Infant sneered beside him. "What a bountiful body.

"It's the perfect granary to birth my babies. Oh, my children are going to love your corpse."

She pointed the fingers of both hands at the entity, and the flesh on its abdomen began to swell slightly. In truth, given its gargantuan size, the bodily deformation caused by this "pregnancy" was almost negligible.

Two little ghost infants promptly crawled out of the mountain of flesh's belly and began gnawing on the Fishing Ghost's mountainous body. When the little infants opened their mouths, the tips of their tongues were actually shaped like fishing hooks, piercing straight into the Fishing Ghost's flesh as they feasted ravenously.

Ghost infants spawned from a ghost would also randomly steal the "mother's" Killing Rule. This was precisely what made Ghost Infant's abilities so terrifying.

The Fishing Ghost merely stared at them expressionlessly. One of its arms began to reel in the dangling fishing line, raising the rod. It seemed its next cast would target these two who had scaled the heavens.

Second eye contact.

Gao Tian kept count in his mind.

"It seems two ghost infants can't even break your defenses.

"Then how about four? How about six?"

Ghost Infant's Killing Rule had absolutely no cooldown. Wherever her hands pointed, the Fishing Ghost's lower abdomen swelled once more, summoning forth new ghost infants.

The Fishing Ghost hoisted its thick, oar-like arm high and cast its next hook. The vicious hook sliced straight toward Gao Tian's face, snagging him directly by the neck.

Without a moment's hesitation, Gao Tian chose to offer a sacrifice to the blade. This time, the sacrificial target was himself.

Simultaneously, he stacked the Ghost Luck from his Luck Jar.

In the instant he swung a terrifying strike that cleaved off more than half of the entity's face, Gao Tian himself shattered into countless pieces due to the effect of the Terror Blade, thus dodging the fishing hook's attack.

The card you have drawn this time is the Three of Hearts.

Your soul now holds eight playing cards: Ace of Hearts, Two of Clubs, Three of Hearts, Four of Diamonds, Five of Diamonds, Ten of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, and King of Spades.

Resurrected once more, Gao Tian returned right in front of the fisherman's split face. An eye on the left and an eye on the right both locked in a dead stare on the tiny human before them.

Third eye contact.

Fourth eye contact.