Chapter 152: The Most Hated Person

Zimao was speechless. He stared at the vivid Blood Fox Tattoo on my chest, the nine ethereal fox tails behind me, and finally, the blood-red fierce talisman floating above his brother's head.

"Brother, how did the fox immortal end up in his body?"

Zichou looked just as bewildered as his younger brother. It took him a long time to finally speak. "He's not human. He's a fox immortal!"

The two brothers could die and never realize that the demon spirit they had paid such a massive price to invite had long since settled into my spirit platform. It had merged with my will; we were Bound in Glory and Loss.

It was laughable that they had actually tried to use this talisman to hurt me. This time, they were truly lifting a stone to drop it on their own feet.

The nine fox tails thrashed wildly through the yin energy like nine dragons returning to the sea. This yin energy had originally been gathered to supply the fox immortal; after being refined by the fierce talisman, the Blood Fox Tattoo rapidly absorbed it all.

The tattoo grew more solid and glaringly red, as though my flesh had just been sliced open and painted with fresh blood.

This surging yin energy became a massive tonic for the Nine-Tailed Blood Fox. It had been heavily injured, but nourished by this energy, it recovered a fraction of its strength.

Once the yin energy was swept clean, the corridor felt noticeably emptier, and the eerie chill faded significantly.

"Zichou, whatever tricks you have left, go ahead and use them." The Blood Fox had reaped massive benefits and naturally hadn't forgotten me. My will had been tempered by the yin energy, growing even more resilient. My mind was perfectly clear, and a sharp light flashed in my eyes. My Heavenly Eye had also been strengthened; I was only a hair away from breaking through Chasing Eye and achieving Judging Eye.

The twin brothers backed away, looking at me completely differently than before. Unsure of what other trump cards I held and seeing my absolute lack of fear, they began to lose their nerve.

"Brother, I don't think we can finish this mission. How are we going to answer to Lu Xing when we get back?"

"It's still up in the air whether we can even make it out of here. This Gao Jian's background isn't simple. He's definitely no ordinary man," Zichou said, a deep dread showing on his face. He kept his voice so low that only Zimao could hear. "We'll play it by ear. If things go south, we'll use that item to force our way out of the Dream Realm."

Looking troubled, Zimao gave a stiff nod.

The two brothers kept muttering to each other. I didn't want to push them too hard. The most dangerous enemy in the Dream Realm hadn't even shown up yet; if these two knew what was good for them, I had no intention of starting a conflict.

Whether it was the Two-Faced Buddha's plan or a mission from the Underworld Live Show, none of it mattered to me. I just wanted to escape this nightmare as quickly as possible and put an end to this entire absurd situation.

But a man might not intend to harm the tiger, while the tiger still intends to eat the man. The twin brothers were currently as skittish as frightened birds, and any movement I made only deepened their paranoia. Zichou didn't even give me a chance to speak. With a wave of his hand, he tossed out seven pieces of Talisman Paper to guard their surroundings. "I didn't realize a fox immortal master had entered this dream. I was reckless just now. I hope you can forgive me."

"Forgive you? I'm not nearly that generous." The truth was, aside from the thunder talisman, I had no other means of defending myself, so getting into a real fight with these two wouldn't do me any good. Still, I was the type to pluck a feather from a passing goose. If I didn't bleed them for something, I'd just be doing myself a disservice.

"Considering we're all trapped in this nightmare, you could say we're Grasshoppers on the Same Rope. I won't hold what just happened against you. But since we're in the same boat now, shouldn't we offer each other a little support?"

I looked at Zichou with a faint smile. "I'm very interested in that formation you used earlier. Let me take a look at it, and we'll wipe the slate clean."

That formation could gather yin energy to help the Blood Fox heal while tempering my own spiritual will. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"You shameless bastard! Brother, you can't give it to him!"

"It's merely a formation, a worldly possession. If you want it, it's yours." Zichou pulled an ancient text from his coat and tossed it over to me. He was being much too cooperative. I caught the book and flipped through it; it seemed to be the real deal.

"Do you have any other demands?"

To be honest, these two brothers had horrible luck. They had entered the dream late at night, and before they even caught sight of their actual target, they ended up chased by a massive horde of fierce ghosts I had lured over. The moment they finally caught their breath, they meticulously set up a great formation to perform their inviting spirits ritual and shatter the Dream Realm. Instead, the spirit never came, and their bodies were nearly rotted away by yin energy.

Worst of all, Zichou had burned through his precious formation tools and sacrificed a large amount of his own heart's essence blood just to gather all that yin energy—only for it to entirely benefit me. And now that it was over, he was even being extorted.

I secretly rejoiced at the thought. Still, this was a fat sheep serving itself up on a silver platter; how could I possibly let it go?

I was just about to fleece him for all he was worth when a sudden change swept through the corridor.

Yin energy began to gather in the darkness, spilling through the windows of the Laboratory Building like trickling streams flooding into the hallway.

"The yin energy is coming back?!"

It was slow, but the yin energy was steadily building up again. On the staircase, the ghosts that should have been completely eradicated began crawling out one by one!

"They're immortal?" The twin brothers grew deathly pale. They had pulled out their absolute best trump card, yet it hadn't wiped out the fierce ghosts at all. It was as if everything had reset back to zero.

I frowned, stuffing the ancient text into my coat, and stepped closer to Huang Xue. "The yin energy won't fully recover for a while. These reborn ghosts are still illusory, somewhere between real and fake."

Zichou had used the Three Infants Spirit Gathering Formation to obliterate over a hundred fierce ghosts. The yin energy those vengeful spirits had carried made up more than half of the entire nightmare world's total. The energy creeping back in from all directions right now was merely the residual yin energy that had been scattered in the corners of this realm.

"With the yin energy gathering like this, it seems the Primal Destiny Divine Fiends is getting anxious. It's preparing to make a move itself." I quietly slipped my hand into my pocket and gripped my thunder talisman.

The twin brothers also realized something was wrong. They raised the Precept Blade and Talisman Paper, scanning their surroundings on high alert.

The reborn ghosts seemed to have lost all intelligence. Every single one of them stood with their heads bowed, their pale faces staring blankly at the floor, resembling children who had done something wrong and were waiting for punishment.

"What are they doing?"

These fierce ghosts were even more terrifying than before. Their hollow, black eyes swirled with complex emotions, and their lips were drawn tight. It felt like the heavy, suffocating silence right before a storm.

Slowly, the yin souls and fierce ghosts on the staircase began to move. They dragged their mangled bodies forward like trackers hauling a ghost ship up the stairs.

They completely ignored the twin brothers. Their target this time was crystal clear—they were heading straight for me!

"What do I have on me that's drawing them in?"

The ghosts of those who had died tragic deaths closed in from all sides. I could barely hold my ground, while Huang Xue was struggling just to stay on her feet.

She clutched my arm, practically leaning half her weight against my back.

The horde of ghosts reached us, but in the end, they brushed right past me. I wasn't their target either. They were heading for Guo Junjie, who was standing a short distance away.

The frail boy stood on the steps, completely expressionless. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. The ghosts of the very people who had once bullied and abused him were now all kneeling before him. One by one, they broke into bitter sobs, dissolving into yin energy that surged straight into his body.

Agonized, weeping faces flickered continuously across his gaunt body. Finally, the shifting stopped on the face of a girl. It was Shen Mengting. Her face had settled directly over his heart.

"I gave you everything. I placed all my hopes on you, and in the end, you were the one who hurt me the most." Guo Junjie looked down, murmuring as if to himself. When he finished speaking, the woman's face above his heart began to wail, begging desperately for mercy, but it was completely useless.

The sight was incredibly bizarre to me, but Guo Junjie seemed completely unfazed. He simply pressed a hand to his chest. When the girl's face finally faded, a scar the size of a bowl was left in its place.

"Primal Destiny Divine Fiends!" I stared at the terrifying, grotesque boy before me, yet I couldn't muster an ounce of hatred for him. It was probably because I knew his past.

"We meet again." Guo Junjie showed no real reaction when I recognized him. He just stood quietly in the middle of the staircase. Now that all the yin souls and fierce ghosts had been absorbed, this nightmare felt a little less terrifying and a little more lonely.

I didn't know how to respond. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't pull my hand, which was gripping the thunder talisman, out of my pocket. Maybe deep down, I actually wanted to have a conversation with him.

"If I had the choice, I really wouldn't want to meet you," I said.

"Too bad. You don't have a choice right now." Wailing faces continued to flicker across Guo Junjie's skin. He listened to the helpless, agonizing cries of those vengeful spirits, a slow smile creeping onto his face. "Do you know who I hated the most when I was alive?"