It Treated You as a Friend

"Wh-what?" The wizard's first reaction was to ask a meaningless question, seemingly unaware of why Yu Xing would say such a thing.

This is indeed difficult for believers to understand.

Because everything they have, including their lives and the opportunity to regain the ability to think, was bestowed upon them by the Ghost Tree —their Wood God—a gift and an irreversible honor.

The Ghost Tree is their god, their faith, and the meaning behind everything they have sacrificed for it. Who would think that these powers can not only passively await their bestowal but also actively plunder them?

Yu Xing shook his head, not intending to explain anything to the wizard. He simply muttered to himself, "You're the first little puppet. There are over two hundred more. Killing them one by one seems like a lot of trouble."

But if they actually gathered together, he would be in some danger.

So he had no other choice but to hide in one place, like a guerrilla fighter, waiting for the lambs to fall into the tiger's den.

"Hey, do you think I can kill you with the power I stole?" Yu Xing yawned, then suddenly tightened his grip without warning. Instantly, the elusive soul seemed to be bound by something, letting out a terrible scream.

The power of the curse is being drained.

Its vitality is waning.

The wizard realized this, and finally, panic gripped him.

In stark contrast to his earlier composure, the wizard began to struggle after realizing he might die, clinging to the physical hand restraining his neck, but to no avail.

"What, is your composure all fake? You panic like this when you're really about to die, how boring." Yu Xing casually commented, then decisively snapped the neck of this utterly uninteresting wizard.

Numerous unclaimed black mists emanated from the wizard's body, swirling in the air for a while before finally flowing towards the nearest source.

The most recent source is the tree-shaped pattern on the back of Yu Xing's hand.

The absorbable power flowed continuously into the back of Yu Xing's hand. In the tree-shaped pattern, the roots of the tree gradually spread from the wrist to the arm and then to the shoulder. Yu Xing had just seen it while washing up; the pattern had already wrapped around the shoulder blade. She wondered where the curse would extend after these black mists joined in.

If this continues, he'll soon be covered in lines like Yu Fengchen.

That's pretty cool. I hope it's similar to Yu Fengchen's style. It looks good.

Wizards bleed when they are killed, but the bloodstains quickly disappear as the black mist dissipates.

Unlike the man Yu Xing killed last night whose heart had been removed and whose throat was leaking air, last night's cause of death was a missing heart, while this wizard's cause of death was the absorption of a curse.

But his cries were annoying. Just as Yu Xing discarded the wizard's half-solidified body, he heard several footsteps coming from various directions.

It's time to leave.

Fortunately, killing the wizard didn't soil Yu Xing, otherwise his trip to the reception area to wash up would have been pointless.

Clapping her hands, Yu Xing took advantage of the time and distance difference to glance around and calmly walked towards the dining room.

He thought the big-headed hungry ghost would be there.

Although he had told the big-headed hungry ghost that it would be rewarded with a meal for killing a wizard's follower, without his presence, the hungry ghost couldn't actually prove how many "food" it had consumed.

Therefore, a hungry ghost will definitely go to the cafeteria to wait for him.

But when Yu Xing blended into the shadows and used the form of vengeful spirits to avoid the wandering sorcerer's followers and arrived at the dining room, he found that there were only a few scattered ghosts in the dining room, and no hungry ghosts.

Gu Fei

One of the ghosts was a familiar one; it was the one he had spoken to on the first night, the one who wanted to play hide-and-seek with him but failed to get through to Yu Xing's door.

The hide-and-seek ghost's lower body is a soft, snake-like body, but it makes other confusing sounds when it moves, sometimes footsteps, sometimes dragging, which is quite interesting.

This was the only talking ghost Yu Xing had encountered so far. He thought for a moment and walked straight over.

Within two days, the ghosts knew about Yu Xing and the Hungry Ghost. The Hide-and-Seek Ghost no longer saw him as prey, but rather as one of their own.

Seeing Yu Xing walk over, the hide-and-seek ghost swayed twice in place and spoke in the same voice as when it knocked on the door last time, "What do you want—play hide-and-seek with me?"

"No interest. I want to ask you something." Yu Xing stroked her chin and tentatively asked, "Do you know where the Hungry Ghost went?"

"Ah, hungry ghost." The hide-and-seek ghost circled Yu Xing a few times before saying, "It's with the blood-smeared ghost. Do you want to find them?"

"If you're looking for them, I'll come along too. I want to play hide-and-seek with them."

"There's no time for hide-and-seek right now," Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. "Then do you know what they're doing?"

"Kill those hypocrites, those fake humans who've been standing there for so long." The Hide-and-Seek Ghost chuckled sinisterly. "Hungry ghosts crave food; they're always hungry."

"It needs friends too. If you touch its head, it will consider you a friend."

"In times of famine, besides food, the thing most lacking is friends; they will cherish you as much as they cherish food."

"And what I need most is a friend to play hide-and-seek with. Let's play a game of hide-and-seek. I'll be 'it,' and you'll be 'it.' Let's begin! Ten, nine, eight..."

Yu Xing ignored the hide-and-seek ghost who covered his eyes and started the countdown, and instead focused on the previous sentence the hide-and-seek ghost had said.

Friend?

Since we're friends, aren't you afraid he'll renege on his debt?

Ha!

What a joke! He treated the hungry ghost like his adopted son, but the hungry ghost wanted to be his friend.

Although he grumbled to himself, Yu Xing's gaze was ultimately different. He remembered his instructions, but he hadn't expected the hungry ghost to do such a good job.

Seriously, does that mean they can't just pack up and leave?

"5.4..."

The hide-and-seek game was almost over. To avoid any uncontrollable forces arising from the ghost's rules, Yu Xing directly reached out and removed the ghost's paws from its eyes. "Stop counting, I'm not playing with you anymore."

The rules of the game of hide-and-seek were interrupted. At first, she gave him a malicious glance, but then, remembering his abilities, she silently backed down.

The other party clearly didn't want to talk to him anymore. After talking for a long time, it wouldn't even play with him. The hide-and-seek ghost staggered off to bother other ghosts and wizards, leaving Yu Xing with a stubborn back view.

Yu Xing: "... Hmph."

He planned to stay in the dining hall for a while. There were many ghosts here, and believers were not very willing to come. Although one or two believers would wander over here from time to time, it was still easy to hide from two or three searchers in such a large dining hall.

"Let's stall for time here for a while, "Yu Xing thought.