Chapter 645: Mad Demon (1)

The existence of the Underworld Live Show had to remain a secret. As for Wang Wu, our cooperation was entirely forced. Given the chance, I wanted to eliminate him too.

Living with corpses for over twenty years had left his personality twisted. Keeping him around was simply too dangerous.

However, now was not the time to act. There was an order of priorities, and Chen Jiuge had to be dealt with first.

"Daoist master Wan, do you have a way to break the nested array in front of us?" I whispered to the livestream while Wang Wu wasn't paying attention.

Daoist master Wan: "The talismans are complex. It's not just a single array; multiple arrays must be linked together. Without seeing the array eye, once you step inside, forget about breaking it—even escaping would be hard. If you ask me, kid, you should stop messing around. Wouldn't it be better to just obediently follow him out of the hospital?"

His message floated across the screen. I smiled bitterly to myself; if I could run, I would have long ago. Why else would I still be here?

The camera could only capture a portion of the grand array. Constrained by the limited viewing angle and separated by a vast distance, Daoist master Wan couldn't immediately come up with a way to break it either.

While Daoist master Wan and I were talking, Gu Bei's mutation finally stopped.

Unlike other white fiends, he still wore his human skin, draped over him like a tight-fitting piece of clothing.

White Fur grew out of the splits in his skin, rendering his face hideous, while his confused eyes slowly regained their focus.

"He seems to have retained his consciousness?"

Following his Corpse Reanimation, Gu Bei climbed up from the ground. His movements were extremely stiff at first, but he slowly seemed to grow accustomed to his body. Soon, his actions were no different from those of a living person.

"This white fiend is a bit unusual." Utilizing my Judging Eye, I pierced through the grand array's defenses and stared intently at Gu Bei's every move.

Sensing my gaze, he immediately looked in my direction.

His cold gaze bypassed Wang Wu and finally landed on me. He stared at the Good and Evil Asura Mask on my face, his expression suddenly twisting with ferocity, as if he had just seen a mortal enemy.

Resentment, hatred, and all sorts of negative emotions appeared on that recently reanimated face.

"Why does he hate me so much? If I'm seeing this right, this guy hasn't paid any attention to Wang Wu at all. He's been staring at me the entire time. Something isn't right!" Meanwhile, Chen Jiuge remained seated on the sand table, his eyes tightly closed and completely motionless.

Gu Bei's actions after his Corpse Reanimation exceeded my expectations. The resentment on his face was completely undisguised—this was absolutely not an expression a corpse should have.

"I just feel like something is wrong. Get back!" Before my voice even faded, Gu Bei walked over to the sand table. He reached out and fiddled with it. His movements were as casual as a child playing in a sandbox, but the resulting consequences were truly shocking.

The moment the sand table moved, the entire hall trembled. The talismans around Wang Wu and me flickered unsteadily as a portion of the array activated.

"How could he manipulate the grand array? A newly reanimated white fiend can actually control a nested array?" This could no longer be explained by mere talent. The Dao of arrays was incredibly complex. White fiends had simple minds; it was absolutely impossible for them to perfectly control one in such a short time.

I stepped back, staring at the current Gu Bei with a lingering sense of strangeness. "No, something must have gone wrong somewhere."

After manipulating the grand array, Gu Bei collapsed to the ground again. It seemed his consciousness hadn't fully awakened yet.

Pushing my Judging Eye to its limits, I finally noticed something the moment Gu Bei fell: the back of his neck and the skin beneath his suit were plastered with many Blue Talismans!

I had seen these blue talismans in the Deep Dream Layer. They were a talismanic art unique to Xiao Zhuang Taoist Temple. Back when I sent Ye Bing away in the Despair District, Chen Jiuge had slipped her one of these talismans at the last moment. As a result, Ye Bing never woke up and seemed to still be lost somewhere within the Dream Realm.

"Dream Dao Talismans!"

The moment I saw the Blue Talismans, my first thought was that Gu Bei was being controlled by Chen Jiuge, but something still felt faintly off.

Following his Corpse Reanimation, Gu Bei acted far differently from other white fiends. His eyes harbored killing intent and hatred—emotions only the living possessed.

'Is Gu Bei not dead?' As soon as the thought surfaced, I rejected it. His skull had been cut open, his body filled with silver sand, and he had been soaking in that medicinal liquid for far too long. There was no way he could still be alive.

'Could it be that Chen Jiuge attached his own consciousness to Gu Bei's body?' The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed. His actual body kept its eyes tightly shut and remained completely motionless, yet the reanimated Gu Bei was growing increasingly agile, and his facial expressions were multiplying. You couldn't see the stiffness of a white fiend in him at all.

'Don't get any closer for now.' Chen Jiuge was multitasking. Controlling Earth Corpses and White Worms simultaneously while trying to adapt to Gu Bei's body meant he shouldn't have the time to deal with Wang Wu and me.

The grand array provided early warning and defense. As long as the talismans weren't touched, Chen Jiuge probably wouldn't wake up.

I couldn't help but feel a little fortunate that I hadn't acted impulsively against Chen Jiuge just now.

The moment I touched a talisman, there would be no room left to maneuver; we'd be forced into a direct clash to the bitter end.

"Are you ready to leave?" Wang Wu breathed a sigh of relief and looked at me strangely. "Did you spot a flaw or something? You were screaming for blood just a second ago, so why the sudden change of heart?"

He led the way, guiding me past the sand table and the talismans to the other side of the grand array. He lifted a brick on the ground, revealing a hollowed-out space beneath it.

"If we take this path, we can head directly into the Diagnostic and Treatment Building. The white fiends and living corpses have all been mobilized to the Third Ward by Mr. Chen, so it should be very safe there." Before we were even out of danger, Wang Wu had already started planning our next move. "Once you get out of the building, give me that piece of the Jade Bone, and I'll tell you how we proceed from there."

After he finished speaking, he cast a glance at me, seemingly observing my reaction. "This is my bottom line..."

"You'd better tuck away your bottom line. I never said I was leaving." Standing by the entrance to the hidden tunnel, I turned to look at Gu Bei and Chen Jiuge inside the grand array. "Tonight, either he dies, or I do."

"The saying goes, 'Either he dies, or you die.'" Wang Wu had probably never met someone as stubborn as me before; he was fuming but had nowhere to vent it. "Stop being stupid. We can't break this array. If we leave now, there's still a sliver of hope. Once Mr. Chen wakes up, we won't be able to run even if we want to."

"Running now is chronic suicide for both of us. I won't say much else; if you want this Jade Bone, stay and help me." I looked at Wang Wu and stated bluntly, "Cooperating with me was a wise decision. After tonight, you'll be glad you made this choice."

"Glad about what? Don't push your luck, alright? Do you really think I'm your subordinate?" Wang Wu's mouth twitched. "Are you sick in the head? You're passing up an open road to go looking for death?"

"Hide in the tunnel first. Gu Bei is about to wake up." Completely ignoring Wang Wu's protests, I waved at him and dragged him down into the hidden tunnel.

A few minutes later, Gu Bei underwent a third transformation, a change utterly unseen in any other white fiend.

The joints of his body popped crisply, and his twisted neck rotated back to a normal angle. The White Fur that had sprouted from his wounds slowly receded, hiding back beneath his skin.

From a distance, Gu Bei already looked incredibly close to a normal, living person.

"This... body... isn't bad." The reanimated Gu Bei quietly awakened. Flexing his arms, his throat actually let out a hoarse human voice.

"Mr. Paper spent so long searching for a white blood constitution, only for it to deliver itself right to our doorstep. Has my serendipity arrived? Indeed, surviving a great disaster brings subsequent fortune. Once my will takes root in the Uncorrupted Bone, even a Buddha will have to fear me."

Gu Bei's voice became smoother and more fluent. I watched everything from the shadows, inwardly horrified by Chen Jiuge's methods.

Judging from his words, it was definitely Chen Jiuge dominating Gu Bei's body right now. He seemed ready to transfer his will into the Uncorrupted Bone, seizing the body the Two-Faced Buddha had prepared for himself.

'Looking at it this way, their relationship isn't particularly harmonious; it's more like mutual exploitation.'

Injecting one's will into a living corpse was no simple task. At the very least, there could be no distractions during the process. Chen Jiuge had just been at the most critical juncture. Combined with his deep confidence in the grand array's early warning system, he simply hadn't struck out at Wang Wu and me.

Occupying Gu Bei's body, Chen Jiuge formed hand seals and shifted the sand table. Black pebbles emerged from beneath the sand. Staring at the stones amid the grains, Gu Bei sneered coldly. "Still resisting? Truly worthy of someone from that place. As for those two little bugs, they're irrelevant to the grand scheme."

He chanted an incantation. The talismans in the room flashed brilliantly, and the silver sand flowed. After issuing several consecutive commands, his hands formed a seal, and a gap automatically opened in the grand array.

Stepping out of the array, Gu Bei left through the front door. He was probably off to cause trouble for the Uncorrupted Bone.

"He left?" Once I was certain this wasn't a trap, I crawled out of the hidden tunnel and looked at Chen Jiuge's cross-legged body sitting inside the grand array. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as I can enter the array, I can chop off his head, destroy his physical body, and cut off his retreat."

My fingers trembled slightly from excitement. Recalling the hand seals he had just formed, I walked to the edge of the grand array. I tried a few times, but returned without success.

Calculating how long Gu Bei had been gone, my eyes narrowed into slits. 'The grand array is operating on its own. Since no one is controlling it, there will be flaws no matter how exquisite it is. If I force my way through, I should have a chance to break all the way to the center.'

Breaking the array was difficult, but killing a man was very simple. Even without tools, I had several ways to butcher Chen Jiuge.

"Let's give it a try." I placed the hand that had touched the Black Chess Piece in the earth vein in front of me. My Yin energy was completely depleted. At this moment, I could only circulate the Profound Truth Mental Method, gathering the true qi from my lower dantian and channeling it into my meridians. "I hope this works."

Right in front of Wang Wu, I directly unleashed the authentic Profound Truth Talisman Methods: "Celestial Master imparts the law—Hundred Dispel Talisman!"

"First, dispel ten disasters and a hundred calamities; second, dispel the fierce stars of the four seasons; third, dispel all taboos; fourth, dispel sores, scabs, falls, and diseases; fifth, dispel lawsuits and gossip; sixth, dispel unrest in the home; seventh, dispel fire, flood, and thieves; eighth, dispel the fierce stars of the day; ninth, dispel all omens of misfortune!"

Coating my finger in my heart's blood, I drew a talisman on my own palm.

Once the talisman was complete, I charged straight into the grand array.

"Chen Jiuge, with your human soul hidden inside a corpse, tonight you will undoubtedly die!"