Chapter 588: Alibi

The Desire Ghost was the strongest ghost entity I could mobilize right now. If its soul scattered over a mere talisman, the loss would be far too great.

I wasn't afraid of Xu Yan noticing. Acting decisively, I used a ghost art to force the Desire Ghost to spit the talisman back out.

To my surprise, even though the talisman had been largely polluted, its spiritual essence remained intact.

The moment it left the Desire Ghost's body, it darted straight toward me. It seemed it had to reside inside a living person or a ghost entity to function.

Having finally forced this thing out of my body, I wasn't about to let it back in. When the Desire Ghost couldn't endure it, I released the Filthy Ghost. And when the Filthy Ghost also neared the verge of dissipating, I dragged out the screaming Seductive Ghost and shoved it forward.

Worn down by the Seductive Ghost, the talisman's glow almost completely died out, but the Seductive Ghost paid a massive price in return.

Its ghostly body turned nearly transparent. If drained any further, the Seductive Ghost would completely dissipate. I had no choice but to make it spit the talisman out as well.

Seeing that the talisman was at the absolute end of its strength, I pulled the final ghost entity from the Ghost Ring—Wang Shi.

He had reaped the greatest benefits from the earth vein. His soul body was stable enough that he could now linger briefly in the sunlight.

Wang Shi was a bit surprised by the sudden summons. Just as he prepared to greet me, a hair-raising terror suddenly welled up from the depths of his being.

"Number Twelve? What are you doing?!"

The situation was critical, and I had no time to explain. I drove the talisman straight into his body.

"Wang Shi, hold on!"

Looking as though his body were melting, Wang Shi thrashed on the ground and screamed in agony. I couldn't bear watching him suffer like this, but every ghost entity on me had already reached its limit. The Infant Spirit was still slumbering in my Kidney Aperture and couldn't be summoned, so I had no choice but to let Wang Shi endure it.

'In the future, I definitely need to capture more ghost entities and keep them in the Ghost Ring for emergencies.' Watching Wang Shi endure the agonizing pain on the floor, I muttered inwardly, 'Sorry, brother.'

Wang Shi screamed continuously. After two or three minutes of agonizing wailing, my expression gradually turned strange.

His body wasn't showing signs of collapsing like the Desire Ghost and the Filthy Ghost. Instead, faint traces of what looked like golden threads began to appear within him.

'Isn't this the golden energy from the Vermilion Fruit? When I broke through my realm just now, my body was flooded with this exact energy. But how could it be inside Wang Shi's body too?' I couldn't figure it out. As I continued to observe, I slowly began to understand.

Wang Shi's situation was highly unusual. He wasn't an ordinary spirit or ghost; he was a person I had brought off the Death Train to return to the living. He only ended up in this state because his physical body was already dead. Strictly speaking, he was different from a normal ghost—he was more like a self-aware cluster of memories.

The talisman had burrowed into Wang Shi's chest, hovering right where his heart should be like a bright lantern.

The Yin energy he had previously absorbed in the earth vein was scattered by the light radiating from the talisman. The ancient characters on it pulsed steadily, as if they had no intention of killing him, but were instead adapting to his body.

Half an hour later, Wang Shi finally stopped screaming. He lay slumped on the ground, his soul body now much more solid. Yin energy circulated across his surface, intertwined with those golden threads to achieve a delicate balance between Yin and Yang.

"What's going on?" Wang Shi sat up from the floor in a daze. With the Yin and Yang within him now balanced, his strength was low, but he had become an extremely unique existence—neither human, nor quite a ghost. He could absorb Yin energy, yet he no longer feared sunlight or the minor Daoist spells designed to target ghosts.

I was also astonished by this outcome, but I didn't let a single trace of it show on my face.

Calmly recalling the three ghost entities, I forced a gratified smile. "Wang Shi, I promised I would truly return you to the living, and I will. Helping you reshape your soul is just the first step. As long as you assist me wholeheartedly, anything is possible in the future."

"Reshaping my soul?" Wang Shi was baffled. He still hadn't recovered from the agony of nearly being burned to ash just moments ago.

"That's right. That talisman inside your body is incredibly precious. I stole it from a major sect. You must never expose it, or it will bring a fatal disaster upon you."

"No, wait a minute, I'm a little confused." Wang Shi was a highly shrewd man, but this had all happened so suddenly that he couldn't make heads or tails of it, no matter how hard he thought.

"Don't overthink it! Just adapt to your new body first." I turned on all the lights in the room. Wang Shi didn't show any discomfort; the bright light no longer had any effect on him.

Since his body had undeniably changed for the better, Wang Shi stopped dwelling on the pain. "You really could have discussed this with me first so I could mentally prepare myself. For a second there, I thought you were trying to kill me."

"Why would I harm you? Did I save you and keep you around all this time just to kill you? Don't worry, there will be plenty of times I'll need to rely on you in the future." The corners of my mouth curled up. The talisman accidentally fusing with Wang Shi was an unexpected, pleasant surprise. Because Wang Shi retained his memories and intellect, he was far more capable than the other ghost entities. I could absolutely use him to set up my plans.

Whether it was luring the righteous path cultivators into the Ten Directions Ghost Refining Grand Formation, or splitting up to create an alibi for Chen Jiuge's assassination—everything was now entirely possible.

As plan after plan formed in my mind, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Cleverness is defeated by cleverness. This time, those righteous path cultivators are lifting a stone to drop it on their own foot." I waited for Wang Shi to finish adapting to his body before recalling him back into the Ghost Ring. By keeping him on me, I could maintain the illusion that the talisman was still inside my body.

With the internal threat neutralized, I shifted from a passive position to an active one. Now, it was my turn to test the waters.

Turning off all the lights and opening all the windows, I sat upright beneath the moonlight, performing Breath Regulation to restore the Yin energy in my body.

I couldn't use the Profound Truth Mental Method. Exposing it would invite even greater trouble, so the only thing I could rely on now was ghost art.

By 3:00 AM, my Yin energy had recovered to about fifty percent.

I closed the windows, walked over to the suite door, and pressed my ear against it to listen.

The VIP suite had excellent soundproofing, but I had already entered the Breath Listening Realm. By channeling true qi into my Yifeng acupoints, no rustle of grass or gust of wind within a dozen meters could escape my ears.

The guests in the adjacent rooms on both sides were already sound asleep, their breathing slow and steady.

'They must be cultivators, though I don't know exactly who is staying inside.' It seemed the entire sixteenth floor had been booked out by sect members. Unwilling to give up, I continued to eavesdrop, and a muffled female voice faintly drifted into my ears.

Hearing that voice in the dead of night was rather seductive. It shifted from soft protests to sharp gasps, then rose into unconscious, melodic moans. It didn't take a genius to figure out exactly what she was doing.

'Still doing that at 3:00 AM? A guy with that much stamina probably isn't a cultivator, right?'

I quickly pinpointed where the voice was coming from. It was directly below me.

'The fifteenth floor. The room right underneath mine isn't occupied by anyone from the sects!' Standing by the window and looking out, the night breeze brushed across my face. 'If I want to leave without alarming the cultivators, maybe I can slip out this way.'

Looking down, the night cityscape of Jiangcheng filled my vision. If I fell from this height, I would undoubtedly die.

'When the day of my live broadcast arrives, I'll leave Wang Shi here in the room, put on the Human Skin Mask, and slip out via the fifteenth floor. Then I can interfere with Chen Jiuge's broadcast. Even if I kill him, I'll have a flawless alibi to clear myself of any suspicion.'

Closing the window, I clenched my fists. Wealth and honor are sought amidst danger. The next broadcast would be my absolute best chance to assassinate Chen Jiuge.

The longer I dragged this out, the more information the Traitors might leak to him. Once my identity was exposed, every single advantage I held would be completely wiped out.

'When the time comes, I should bring the Plush Bear with me. I'm sure he's desperate to snatch his body back, too.' Now that the plan was set, I still needed to figure out several details to ensure its success—such as the surrounding terrain, and my exact escape route once I reached the fifteenth floor.

'You wanted me to sneak out? Then I'll give you exactly what you want, and verify my own suspicions while I'm at it.' Putting the Ghost Ring away safely, I decided to fake a stealthy escape. The first goal was to scout the outside environment and gauge the true strength of these Daoists. The second was to lower their guard in preparation for my plan two days from now.

Yanking out the room keycard, I stood alone in the darkness and quietly pulled the door open.

The corridor was dead silent; no one had noticed me. I walked slowly, memorizing the position of every security camera. Yet the moment I left the sixteenth floor and stepped onto the fifteenth, my ears picked up the sound of suddenly disturbed breathing. Inside three different rooms, the occupants seemed to snap awake at the exact same time.