My eyes saw through time and space. I also saw the souls appearing behind the three-dimensional human figure.
Those souls wore different clothes and stood side by side, making it seem as though I were looking at a long scroll depicting history.
"A thousand, two thousand years?" I guessed. "Or even earlier... You came here."
He staged supernatural incidents himself, left behind cursed objects shrouded in mysterious legends, and sold them years later.
That was the hobby of the ghost king before me.
And those legends, along with the people obsessed with them, were the source of his power.
It was a power that was, in truth, scattered and feeble.
Without an ability user like Skinny, or someone with an ability like Ghost Speech, the things he sold wouldn't have any supernatural power at all. Some of the things he sold were even fakes he'd made himself.
No, that wasn't right.
As I watched the scene before me change, my heart gave a sudden jolt.
I sprang to my feet and turned to look at Skinny.
I could only see Skinny's soul chains. I was still using Nangong Yao's ability.
For a moment, I had lost my ordinary vision.
But I still saw the plump figure behind Skinny. Just from its shape, which was twice as big as most of the chains, I knew who it was.
I tried to control the power inside me, and shouted, "Look out!"
The black, white, and gray colors receded like a tide. Before they disappeared, I saw black cover the Fat Shopkeeper's chains and swallow them completely.
The ordinary scene returned to view.
I was already charging forward.
My warning had alerted Skinny. He turned, saw the Fat Shopkeeper rushing toward him, and tried to dodge to the side.
He took a step