Chapter 167: He Shouldn't Have Let It Descend Into the World

Many years later, Gao Tian would recall this scene—the events that had transpired in Minghai City.

What had felt like a catastrophic crisis back then no longer seemed so insurmountable, softened by the passage of time and his own growing strength.

Except for that one event.

If he could turn back time, he never would have chosen ghost transformation.

To suppress the evil ghost known as Xu Yuan, Gao Tian had chosen to release an even more terrifying entity.

He shouldn't have let it descend into the world.

Even though both of them were Gao Tian.

After killing "Gao Tian," Xu Yuan didn't linger. He prepared to return to the top of Fangzhu Tower to continue inspecting the barrier.

But before he could act, the countless faces covering his body saw that Gao Tian's battered corpse was still suspended in midair, in its original position. With one hand pointing to the sky and the other to the ground, his black suit fused with dark patches of coagulated blood, the body hadn't moved an inch.

?

Xu Yuan stared blankly, momentarily doubting his own eyes.

How was this possible? He had just tossed it into the new world. What was this thing floating here now?

Had he misremembered?

Xu Yuan immediately dismissed the possibility. He wasn't going senile. How could he misremember something so simple?

Or was "Gao Tian's" post-death ability to create illusions? Had Xu Yuan just thrown a phantom into the new world?

That was impossible too. The moment Xu Yuan fixed his gaze upon a ghost, all of its Killing Rules were suppressed. It could do nothing but wait for death, so how could it possibly create an illusion?

Just what was going on here—

Had "Gao Tian's" corpse somehow come right back out after being thrown into the new world?

Although the chances were slim, it was the most reasonable explanation so far.

This guy's post-death ability had to be spatial. Even from a place completely severed from reality—like under the Woman in the Rain's umbrella—he could still make his way back.

Xu Yuan observed the "Gao Tian" corpse floating before him. Seeing it still maintaining that stiff posture, pointing at the sky and the ground, he felt momentarily baffled.

He couldn't determine what this thing actually was.

Forget it, he would test it out first.

He activated the Final Decree once more, suppressing all of "Gao Tian's" abilities. Simultaneously, he opened the entrance to the new world and directly shoved the corpse inside.

This time, every face on Xu Yuan's body remained perfectly still, quietly watching the spot where "Gao Tian" had vanished.

In less than 0.1 seconds, "Gao Tian's" corpse returned. It was still suspended in its original position, maintaining the exact same posture as before.

That wasn't right.

Was it really a spatial-type ghost?

If it had escaped back from that place of the Woman in the Rain, its speed was far too fast. And why hadn't its posture changed at all when it came out?

There shouldn't be a ghost like this.

Even a paranormal scholar like Xu Yuan, who had experienced all kinds of peculiar Fierce Ghosts, was momentarily hesitant, unsure of what exactly was going on.

How strange.

Xu Yuan decided to try another method.

He utilized a Killing Rule called "Dismemberment," dividing Gao Tian's corpse equally into six pieces. He decided to toss the head into the new world, feed the torso to the Artist, drag the arms into the ghost domain "Incineration Furnace" to burn to ash, and use other Killing Rules to completely corrode the legs into rotting meat.

This way, whether "Gao Tian" had acquired an illusion or a spatial escape, he would surely be taken care of.

"Hee hee.

"Heh heh.

"Hee hee hee hee."

Before Xu Yuan could even act, strange sounds began to ring out.

"Gao Tian's" corpse was not right. While incessantly letting out those snickers, its shoulders trembled. With a creak, its neck slowly twisted 180 degrees, turning its entire face around to look at Xu Yuan behind it, even while its body maintained its original standing posture.

"Hel—lo—there—

"Lit—tle—friend—

"Why—did—you—stop—looking—at—me—after—just—one—glance?

"Don't—you—want—to—play—with—me—in—the—fu—ture?"

The wound on "Gao Tian's" neck formed a semi-circular arc, still continuously seeping fresh blood. It looked like a pair of blood-red, smiling lips.

"Gao Tian's" expression at this moment was incomparably grotesque and twisted. Even though the muscles on his cheeks were extremely stiff, his eyes were crinkled, and the corners of his mouth were forcefully yanked upward as if hooked by an invisible fishing line, forming an exaggerated, chillingly unnatural smile.

"Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee."

Waves of laughter surged in from all directions. All of them were being emitted from "Gao Tian's" facial features.

Xu Yuan's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

The Smiling Man?

Was this the Smiling Man? The one the younger Xu Yuan had seen through the future eye, standing on the earth fifty years after humanity's extinction—the entity capable of traversing time, that would come over and kill him just because he had glanced at it?

Because of a missing segment of memory, Xu Yuan only knew of the Smiling Man's existence and its traits, but he couldn't recall its exact appearance.

Right now, "Gao Tian's" physical features and the lines he spoke were completely identical to that filthy thing in the future world, the one forever smiling in twisted amusement.

Because his teacher had severed the Ghost Eye connecting space and time, this thing had waited for him in the future world for many years. That was why "Gao Tian" had spoken that strange line, asking why he hadn't come looking for him to play.

So this filthy thing was actually what Gao Tian turned into after he died?

Why was it always smiling? Just what kind of obsession did Gao Tian have to maintain that smile even after death, and how had he acquired a Killing Rule that polluted the timeline?

A strong wave of PTSD flared in Xu Yuan's heart. He never expected to run into the Smiling Man this early. The filthy thing had appeared far too soon; it was supposed to show up fifty years in the future, not in the modern era.

This was supposed to be the ultimate Gu King, produced only after humanity's total destruction, when countless Fierce Ghosts ran rampant and devoured each other to evolve.

But on second thought, this might actually be a good thing.

The Smiling Man hadn't been born as a ghost surpassing S-Level; it grew slowly over time. Only the future—where humanity was destroyed and Fierce Ghosts slaughtered and devoured each other—had allowed it to become uncontrollable.

In other words, the prematurely born Smiling Man at this point in time was likely at its weakest starting point, making this the best opportunity to imprison and contain it.

The immediate priority was to figure out "Gao Tian's" true ability.

This filthy thing had mastered a time-based Killing Rule. That made things rather troublesome. The time element involved a bunch of bugs, and not a single entity that mastered such a rule was weak.

The future Smiling Man could traverse space and time through certain mediums, and wherever it went, history would be polluted. And at this point in time, the moment the Smiling Man was born from Gao Tian's corpse, their time had already been polluted.

It was just that he hadn't felt it yet.

That was why, even though Xu Yuan had clearly thrown it into the new world, it had reverted to its state prior to being thrown.

"Hee hee, ho ho, ha ha, heh heh."

Under the dismemberment of an invisible force, "Gao Tian's" limbs and torso were instantly split into five equal parts. But it still wore that twisted smile, smiling eternally as it floated opposite Xu Yuan, looking at him with a grin.

Knowing that the opponent was a time-based Fierce Ghost, Xu Yuan abandoned his plans to use the Incineration Furnace ghost domain or devour it to contain it. No matter how many times he imprisoned or dismembered "Gao Tian," in the twisted space-time, "Gao Tian" could always choose to return to the very beginning, back to how it looked the moment it was born.

Among the countless faces covering Xu Yuan's body, a young woman's face—her features above the chin covered entirely in eyes—slowly opened its countless eyeballs, all of them looking in "Gao Tian's" direction.

This woman was like a spider with compound eyes; through her line of sight, she could see through the Killing Rules of Fierce Ghosts or the effects of Supernatural Items. However, she was rather troublesome. If she looked at something she shouldn't, she would suffer reverse pollution and become a burden.

This was also why Xu Yuan disliked using her. If it weren't to probe "Gao Tian's" mechanics, he wouldn't have awakened her at all.

As the woman's eyes opened one by one, more and more gazes fell upon "Gao Tian." Unsurprisingly, by making eye contact with an entity of such extremely potent pollution as "Gao Tian," the multi-eyed Woman Face was indeed reverse-polluted.

She let out a miserable wail, as if she had seen something she shouldn't have. More than a dozen eyes either ruptured and sprayed blood or went completely blind, transforming into white cataracts.

Not only that, even the fifty or sixty other faces clustered near the Woman Face were affected, simultaneously screaming, howling, begging, and bleeding. The degree of pollution was exceedingly severe.

It had failed; he still hadn't confirmed "Gao Tian's" Killing Rule.

However, after paying these prices, Xu Yuan still managed to gain something.

He roughly sensed the presence of the Time Coffin.

So that was it.

So that was it.

Xu Yuan instantly understood. Gao Tian wanted to use the Time Coffin's "rewind" effect to turn into a ghost, maintain that state for five minutes, and then pull himself back to being a living human. He was trying to get a free use out of a ghost's time difference.

So this was the correct way to use the Ghost Transformation Spear. The secret his teacher had spent a lifetime pursuing.

But Gao Tian probably didn't even know himself what he would turn into after death, nor what kind of filthy thing he was summoning into the world.

He had to be careful, extremely careful. When facing a time-based Fierce Ghost without understanding its situation, even Xu Yuan—who had mastered tens of thousands of Killing Rules—could stumble.

Now that he knew the crucial intelligence regarding the "Time Coffin," this prematurely born Smiling Man wasn't impossible to deal with.

Xu Yuan raised his hand and activated "Temporal Harmonization," acquired after Old Man Sun's death, compressing the Time Coffin's original 300 seconds by a factor of ten.

Meaning less than 30 seconds.

The Smiling Man never belonged to this era in the first place. Once those 30 seconds were up, the Time Coffin would directly pull Gao Tian's body back into a living human state. That would forcefully banish the entity.

Old Man Sun's ability really did counter time-based Fierce Ghosts quite well.

At this moment, "Gao Tian," who had been quietly watching him, struggled to open that perpetually smiling, arc-shaped mouth and continued to ask, "When—you—were—little—you—dug—out—your—own—eyes—just—so—you—wouldn't—have—to—play—with—me.

"I—know—I—know—eve—ry—thing—

"Have—you—come—back—now—to—play—with—me?"