"Jue Shen!" (Absolute God)

Zhi Nan stared intently at the short sword, his gaze fixed on the small sword in Ye Yang's hand. His face shifted between murderous intent and hesitation.

Ye Yang didn't speak, only raised the small sword and met Zhi Nan's cold gaze.

After a moment, Zhi Nan finally said, "I will find you again."

"You're welcome anytime!" Ye Yang replied indifferently, sheathing the short sword, and Zhi Nan disappeared.

Zhi Nan wasn't necessarily afraid of death; he was probably afraid that after Ye Yang launched a desperate attack, he wouldn't be able to see Gu Bei again.

Once I was sure Zhi Nan was gone, I reached out and slapped Ye Yang's leg. "You son of a bitch, why did you have to show off?"

Before I could finish speaking, Ye Yang collapsed to the ground with a thud.

I was almost scared out of my wits. "Leng Gou, what's wrong?"

In my panic, I passed out as well.

When I woke up, Wang Butcher and Old Liu had carried me into a cave. The first thing I did was look around wildly for Ye Yang. "Where's Leng Gou?"

"I'm dead!" Ye Yang walked out with a straight face. "Could you be any dumber?"

"Go to hell! I'll nail you in a coffin in a minute." I said with a laugh. "Shijie, kill two pigs, let's have a feast."

Wang Butcher rubbed his eyebrows. "You two have barely half a life left, and you're still talking nonsense. Just lie down and heal your wounds."

"Where is this place? Why am I here to recover?" Although I didn't know where it was, I was sure it wasn't a good place.

Wang Butcher said, "This is the sealed land of the ghost god Zhi Nan."

"You two were too badly injured. I was afraid you'd die on the road, so I didn't dare move you around. I had to hide you near where Zhi Nan was sealed."

"Old Liu is setting up traps. If the Cangyu Sect comes, we'll have to rely on Old Liu to fool them."

Only then did I take a closer look at the cave where I was recovering.

Zhi Nan's dwelling was almost identical to Gu Bei's small residence, except that the room had a swordsman's stiffness.

Wang Butcher said, "Zhi Nan has lived here for many years, and the power of the ghost god has permeated the entire cave. If he lives here for another hundred years, this place might become a holy land for evil sorcerers."

"However, the power of the ghost god can also be considered spiritual energy, which is suitable for healing your injuries."

Although my injuries hadn't recovered, they were under control without medical equipment, and at least they weren't getting worse—that was the power of a ghost god.

I stood up. "Have you found anything? Mo Caiwei's business isn't finished yet, I have to give the employer an explanation somehow."

Ye Yang said, "I found a notebook written by Zhi Nan. Take a look!"

Wang Butcher said, "I already read it while you were unconscious. I can only say: What is love in this world that makes people willing to die for it!"

"They were originally a couple of immortals, but they were torn apart by sect disputes."

"They resisted the sect and even resorted to cultivating ghost and god magic, destroying their mortal bodies, just to break through the sect and stay together. But did they succeed?"

"One was suppressed on the top of a snow mountain, and the other was hidden deep in the Yellow Springs. But they are both thinking of each other!"

"I heard you say that Gu Bei just doesn't want to forget the most important person in his life, so he can never leave that tomb."

"What about Zhi Nan? He just wanted to resurrect Gu Bei, but fell into the demonic path to reshape Gu Bei's body."

Hearing this, I couldn't help but interrupt Wang Butcher, "Gu Bei's body is still there! Hasn't it already turned into a corpse demon?"

Wang Butcher opened a few pages of the diary. "Zhi Nan doesn't seem to know that Gu Bei has become a corpse demon. He always thought that Gu Bei's cultivation of the Corpse King's evil art would turn himself into a dried corpse."

Wang Butcher explained, "I guess Zhi Nan didn't expect Gu Bei to surpass the limit of the Corpse King and be promoted to a corpse demon. He regained his appearance from back then and frantically wanted to find a way to create living puppets, to return a perfect body to Gu Bei."

"That's right!" I nodded. "Some coincidences or adventures in the art world are not new. What happened next?"

Wang Butcher said, "Zhi Nan doesn't know how to make living puppets at all. What he did was to constantly lure sect disciples into the Yellow Springs. Then, he used all the methods he could think of, even absurd ones, to resurrect them."

Wang Butcher pointed to another diary. "These are the notes he left behind from each experiment. I advise you not to read them. His methods are even crueler than a butcher."

I glanced at the notebook. "Forget it! I'm not interested in those things. Keep talking."

Wang Butcher continued, "Originally, Zhi Nan had no clue about resurrecting the living, but the Cangyu Sect made a fatal mistake."

"In order to divert Zhi Nan's attention, they ran to Paper Figurine Village and forced the village warlocks to cross Tianguan Pass. As a result, the Mo family came, but instead, they became Zhi Nan's help, and he officially came into contact with living puppets."

Hearing this, I couldn't help but ask, "According to you, Zhi Nan and the Mo family should be in a cooperative relationship. How could the Mo family die in Zhi Nan's hands?"

Wang Butcher said, "I've also considered this question. After repeated deliberation, I finally came to a conclusion: Zhi Nan's mind is no longer normal."