Pain—the pain surging from every part of his body overwhelmed Gao Ming.
Then a light seemed to appear before his eyes, a radiance he had never seen in the Dark Shrine. It enveloped him as his consciousness kept retreating in a certain direction.
When a Dream Ghost invaded a shrine, what descended into it was not its original body, but nine-tenths of its will and soul.
By destroying himself in the Deep Pool of the Underground Water Network, Gao Ming had ignited that accumulated nine-tenths.
Everything within the Dark Shrine caught fire. His remaining consciousness awoke in Dream's Main Shrine. Gao Ming had never been so weak.
The bloody hue of the Execution House faded, and the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God had suffered grievous injuries as well. He no longer possessed his former imposing presence. He was now slightly shorter than Gao Ming, only two of his eight arms remained, and his four ghostly faces had blurred. His lower body was a mangled mess of flesh and blood.
Neither the man nor the ghost had the strength to move. They could only take refuge in Dream's Main Shrine and slowly recover.
As they breathed in and out clouds of blood mist, a long time passed before Gao Ming reestablished his connection with the Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God. His heart beat, and at last, he felt a faint sense that he was still alive.
"If we don't take down the Dark Shrine this time, I won't even be able to return to Hanhai in this state. The Investigation Bureau's Dream Ghost will definitely come after me."
The Flesh-and-Blood Ghost God's power slowly restored Gao Ming's will. He opened his eyes, and together, the man and the ghost secretly opened a narrow crack in the Execution House.
They were still in the passage between