Two-star, Deer Power Immortal

With the old man dead, Zhang Wenbo finally lost his composure. His previously normal complexion slowly turned a stiff, ghastly blue, and a thick stench of rotting flesh seeped from his body.

"Stop waiting! At this rate, he'll kill every last one of us, one by one!"

At his low growl, several white sheets lifted, and corpse after corpse stood up. The corpse aura they emitted sent the morgue's temperature plunging again, cold enough to raise goosebumps. They all stared at Jiang Chen with dark, hostile eyes.

"Why did you have to push us?" a middle-aged woman asked, her face full of venom.

"We only wanted to keep living this way. What did we do wrong?" an old man rasped.

Jiang Chen swept his gaze over the corpse ghosts, his eyes indifferent.

"So living people deserve to die just because you want to live?"

The question stopped the indignant corpse ghosts short, leaving them at a loss for words.

Resentment-level ghosts would dissipate within days unless they harmed people and fed on their vital energy. If they wanted to remain ghosts indefinitely, killing a few people was unavoidable.

"Hmph! Stop wasting words on him! Kill him and make him one of us. Let's see if he can still preach when he's in our shoes!" Zhang Wenbo grabbed his face and tore off half its skin, exposing flesh that had long since rotted. His resentment was the strongest among all these corpse ghosts.

He lunged first. The other corpse ghosts charged after him, clawing wildly, their vicious gazes making it seem as though they wanted to devour Jiang Chen alive.

Jiang Chen tightened his grip on the knife. Recalling how he had felt during his Demon Transformation, he imitated the monster's combat instincts. He ducked beneath Zhang Wenbo's attack, which was full of openings, then drove the pointed knife into his back, straight through his heart, and gave it a full twist.

Ding! Ghost Qi...

Flesh and blood flew through the morgue. Severed limbs and body parts occasionally struck the glass in the door. The scene was so bloody and brutal that even an ordinary Unusual Person would have found it chilling.

Before long, the commotion died down. Jiang Chen emerged, panting heavily, with a burial shroud in his hand, wiping the blood from his knife and body.

"Finally broke a thousand."

He glanced at the system notification, delight spreading across his face.

Ding! Congratulations, host. Your Ghost Qi has exceeded 1,000 points. Two-Star Monster Transformation Card draws unlocked!

Jiang Chen had not undergone Demon Transformation during this fight. He knew that without understanding how to use his strength, the more power he possessed, the more easily things could go disastrously wrong.

It was like giving a five-year-old a gun. Before he managed to kill anyone, he might blow his own hand off.

Jiang Chen was deliberately learning to control the strength permanently left behind by his Demon Transformations. That way, he would be better able to handle higher-tier Monster Transformation Cards in the future.

System, draw a Two-Star Monster Transformation Card for me! Jiang Chen commanded silently.

Ding! Spend 1,000 Ghost Qi to draw a Two-Star Monster Transformation Card?

Even though he had been prepared, Jiang Chen still couldn't help wincing. "Even a capitalist would shed tears at this. You just raised the price tenfold?"

Still, he understood that although the draw cost ten times as much Ghost Qi, a Two-Star Monster Transformation Card would surely offer far more than the combined power of ten one-star cards!

"Draw!" Jiang Chen said firmly.

Ding! Draw initiated.

His accumulated Ghost Qi emptied in an instant. Illusory figures appeared before Jiang Chen, each more terrifying and imposing than those he had seen when drawing a One-Star Monster Transformation Card.

A goat with horns rivaling great sabers, a human-faced spider the size of a house, an azure python wreathed in lightning, a yellow fox with eerie, mesmerizing eyes...

Merely being watched by these phantoms made Jiang Chen's body tense. He felt as though he were facing a pack of apex predators.

"The Monkey cut through them like they were nothing back then, but that was the Monkey. These monsters ruled their own territories. Not one of them was a pushover!"

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, a faint sense of anticipation rising within him.

Once I have enough Ghost Qi, could I draw the Monkey?

The phantoms continued to shift, finally settling on a tall figure with a deer's head and a human body, dressed in Daoist robes.

Ding! Congratulations, host. You have drawn a Two-Star Monster Transformation Card-Deer Power Immortal!

Jiang Chen's eyes brightened slightly.

Anyone who knew a little more about Journey to the West would know that the three royal preceptors of the Chechi Kingdom were no ordinary monsters. They practiced Daoist arts in their monstrous bodies and had attained considerable mastery. As worshippers of the Three Pure Ones, they were qualified to call themselves disciples of the sages.

Great Immortal Huli knew the Five Thunders Art. When he burned a petition and followed the proper procedure to request rain, even the Jade Emperor had to approve it and send someone to gather clouds and bring rainfall.

The three had seemed rather weak in Journey to the West, mainly because they had chosen the wrong opponents for their contests. It was either the Monkey or Golden Cicada. Who could possibly stand up to that?

"I remember Deer Power Immortal could summon rain too. I wonder if he knows the Five Thunders Art?"

Jiang Chen murmured, then suddenly thought of something. He focused on the Monster Transformation Card, and lines of text soon appeared.

[Two-Star Monster Transformation Card]: Silently command "use" to activate Demon Transformation, granting a portion of the monster's power for half an hour and two randomly selected Divine Abilities; the host may choose one body part to undergo "demonization," granting exceptionally formidable power.

Note: Demonization consumes enormous amounts of energy and may end the Demon Transformation prematurely. Use with caution!

Note 2: After the Demon Transformation ends, permanently retain one-tenth of the physique and demonic power, with a 1% chance to permanently inherit Divine Abilities and demonized body parts.

"Two Divine Abilities, and demonization?" Jiang Chen's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected the Two-Star Monster Transformation Card to be such an improvement over the one-star card.

Though he didn't know what demonization would do, the words "exceptionally formidable power" said it all!

"Besides, Deer Power Immortal's strength is definitely beyond the likes of the Chaos-Dwelling Demon King. As the star ratings of the Monster Transformation Cards rise, I'll draw increasingly terrifying monsters!"

"I just wonder how powerful a ghost a two-star card can handle?"

Muttering to himself, Jiang Chen walked down the corridor on the third basement level. Only his footsteps broke the silence, which was eerily unsettling.

When he reached the middle of the corridor, he pressed the elevator button. Before long, the metal doors opened.

Jiang Chen stepped inside and pressed the button for the first floor. Although he had dealt with the morgue's corpses, they had all been resentment-level ghosts. He hadn't encountered Patient No. 18, who was very likely a top-tier Vicious Ghost.

Based on what he had learned, he figured the patient might have returned to the intensive care wards.

Jiang Chen planned to start on the first floor and search upward, floor by floor.

Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a woman's slender, pale hand suddenly reached in from outside and wedged between them. The doors slowly opened again, and a nurse entered carrying a stack of medical records.

She had been running so fast that she nearly dropped the records. Jiang Chen gallantly stepped forward and reached out to steady them. In the process, his other hand casually brushed across the back of the nurse's neck.