It was a pair of eyes that looked at lifeless things.
If Xiaotian viewed everything as rocks, flowers, and birds in the forest, unable to understand life and death, indifferent to everything to the point of coldness, then the eyes of Yin Wangzhi were filled with a cold killing intent.
It was as if he simply and crudely divided everything within his sight into two categories: those that were already dead and those that could be killed.
Because the death of others meant his own survival.
Yu Sheng was startled for a moment but did not leave immediately. Instead, he stared blankly at Yin Wangzhi, inwardly sighing.
So this was the past Yin Wangzhi...
Like his human self, he too, in his heart, sighed with regret at not seeing his young disciples, but more than that, there was also a comforting feeling in seeing a familiar person in an unfamiliar time and space.
After becoming a ghost, it seemed that all emotions and desires were amplified, becoming more direct, more unmasked. When freed from the constraints of the body, other things also became harder to control.
He couldn't help but want to get closer, missing his disciples, even holding onto a slightly illogical hope—perhaps the Yin Wangzhi in front of him wasn’t the past him, but had followed him through, intentionally coming to find him...
It wasn't that he had never been to the Ghost Festival, nor that he had never seen the Soul-Blooming Flower Forest, but for Yu Sheng at this moment, it was no different from an unfamiliar world. As a newly made ghost, at any moment his soul could scatter, and Yin Wangzhi was the only familiar person here.
Even though at this moment, Yin Wangzhi was not yet the Ghost King, his power was incomplete, and he looked even fiercer and more bloodthirsty than the one in his memories.
But Yu Sheng knew what the essence of this protagonist was.
Yin Wangzhi had been gnawing on the fruit of the Soul-Blooming Flower, and after locking eyes with the suddenly approaching Yu Sheng, he froze for a while.
After a long time, he finally spoke and asked, “Aren’t you afraid of me?”
Yu Sheng couldn't speak, so he just shook his head, looking harmless.
Anyway, staying in this forest meant death. Being drained by Yin Wangzhi... No, absorbed dry?
...Being killed by Yin Wangzhi was still death.
Why did it still feel strange...
There was no good outcome either way, so Yu Sheng had no reason to be afraid anymore. If he were to die here and his soul scatter, it would be better to be by the side of a familiar disciple. At least in the end, he wouldn’t become the former Ghost King’s drink, but could help the disciple, grow stronger, and reverse the situation.
Of course, when Yin Wangzhi really came over, grabbed his arm, and leaned close to his neck, Yu Sheng still tensed up slightly.
Even those preparing for an injection would stretch out their arm and close their eyes to avoid looking. How much more so in this situation?
However, what he experienced wasn’t some slow-acting murder like the consumption of Yin energy, but rather, Yin Wangzhi got closer and started sniffing around. Yu Sheng was stunned, his mind filled with question marks as he turned his head to look at him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Instead, he felt the area that was close to him was itchy, and couldn’t help but want to pull away.
“You…”
Me? What about me? Do I smell good? Is it like the scent of a big chicken leg?
Yu Sheng awkwardly stared at him, feeling very awkward, with complaints piling up inside, almost choking himself.
After a while, Yin Wangzhi also noticed something was off. He looked at him strangely and asked, “Why don’t you speak?”
Yu Sheng pointed at his throat and waved his hand, signaling that he couldn’t speak!
“A mute?”
He nodded.
Yu Sheng could feel that even the current Yin Wangzhi was stronger than him, so in order to avoid being at a disadvantage, he made sure to show no aggression.
Yin Wangzhi stared at him for a while, as if assessing something, before silently leaning in again.
Yu Sheng thought he was going to sniff again to quench his thirst, but this time, he was actually bitten, and it hurt.
Ghosts don’t have flesh or blood, so when bitten, more Yin energy leaked out and was sucked up by Yin Wangzhi’s mouth, not wasting a drop.
Yu Sheng felt his legs go weak, and as his body swayed, he was tightly held by Yin Wangzhi, silently clutching the latter’s clothing. He suddenly thought of the Soul-Blooming Flowers that had been gnawed on and the pile of corpses nearby...
He felt that he should still be able to be saved and wasn’t really going to die so stupidly. Just as Yu Sheng thought about doing something, he felt the sensation on his neck change.
It was no longer the blood-sucking bite that drained his Yin energy, but now... licking.
Still in a daze, Yu Sheng was released. Since his body was a bit weak, he almost collapsed against Yin Wangzhi, who frowned slightly upon seeing his condition. He wrapped an arm around his waist and, like dragging a drunk person, started walking him to another place.
He was carrying him? But in the past, he would have just princess-carried him—
A frightening thought suddenly popped into Yu Sheng’s mind, and it startled the Yu Sheng from the human world who was currently immersed in the memory.
Ah! How could I have such a shameless thought!!!
Fortunately, the Yu Sheng from the Ghost Realm quickly realized that being a ghost was different from being human.
Yin Wangzhi brought him to the Soul-Blooming Flower tree that had been half-destroyed, set him down, and then continued his previous task silently—siphoning Yin energy from the tree.
Yu Sheng was initially confused, thinking he was going to be eaten—thinking at first that Yin Wangzhi was just sniffing, then thinking he was going to be eaten again. All these ups and downs in his emotions left him utterly bewildered.
It wasn’t until later that he figured out a way to use Yin energy and tried to express himself in front of Yin Wangzhi. When he asked, Yin Wangzhi confirmed that he had no intention of eating him.
The reason he treated him so specially when he found him was because he realized that, like him, Yu Sheng was a somewhat unusual ghost.
Both of them had a certain amount of Yin energy by nature, but it was not directly linked to any obsession, and unlike typical ghosts of this level of Yin energy, they did not possess the usual mentality. They also seemed like incomplete ghosts, unable to detect the scents of their past or future lives.
Much like Yin Wangzhi himself, if there was a way to dissipate completely, that would be the true end, not going to the Spirit Realm, and not coming from the Human Realm.
And that bite wasn’t really meant to consume him, but rather to test whether he would quickly recover or become as weak as ordinary ghosts.
Yu Sheng soon realized that Yin Wangzhi’s attitude towards “his kind” was very different from that of Zhan Xiaotian.
The latter, Zhan Xiaotian, consciously felt rejected by the world and began to feel somewhat lonely. On the other hand, Yin Wangzhi appeared to be completely indifferent to this. His interest in this ghost who was somewhat similar to himself was purely to use the opportunity to uncover his origins and discover anything that might help him survive.
He would not reincarnate, so his will to continue existing was stronger than any other ghost's.
After being bitten by Yin Wangzhi, Yu Sheng remained weak for several days. In the end, Yin Wangzhi seemed to be disappointed but did not abandon him. After realizing that they were ultimately different, he brought some Soul-Blooming Flower fruits, broke them open, crushed them, and fed the Yin energy inside to Yu Sheng’s mouth, ensuring that he wouldn’t completely dissipate.
Later, when their destruction of the flower forest was discovered, Yin Wangzhi grabbed Yu Sheng and rushed out of the encirclement, escaping the area.
After several days of continuously siphoning Yin energy, Yin Wangzhi’s strength had steadily increased, no longer being the ghost who could be casually thrown into the flower forest to serve as fertilizer.
In the following days, the two lived under the constant pursuit of the Ghost King. Countless ghosts were sent to chase them, and many more were sent to deliver their heads to Yin Wangzhi.
If Yin Wangzhi had merely been a wandering soul escaping the flower forest, perhaps those pursuing him, including the Ghost King, wouldn’t have cared much—like throwing away an insignificant little trinket and not bothering to pursue it. However, when Yin Wangzhi left, half of the flower forest had been devoured and destroyed by him, which naturally enraged the Ghost King.
Just when Yin Wangzhi was getting frustrated with being chased and began wondering if he should part ways with this mysterious ghost, Yu Sheng saved him once.
It wasn’t a literal, active rescue—Yu Sheng couldn’t speak, nor did he have the talent for practicing ghostly arts, and simply not holding him back was the best he could do. The real turn of events came from the information Yin Wangzhi learned through entering Yu Sheng’s dream.
It was a very fragmented and chaotic dream, lacking logic and coherence. It was the type of dream that would be forgotten immediately upon waking. But Yin Wangzhi, strangely, found important information within it. He saw the temperament of the current Ghost King, his strengths and weaknesses, the psychological vulnerabilities of some of his more powerful subordinates, and the areas those pursuers would focus on in their search.
Some of it was vague imagery, while others were like recorded text from history.
How could such a weak ghost possibly know these things? Was it all fabricated?
But everything appeared so reasonable.
At his wit’s end, Yin Wangzhi chose to take a gamble.
And he won.
During this time, Yu Sheng once thought that he had interfered with the plot. He remembered the dream from the previous night and noticed that Yin Wangzhi had been spying on him. He failed to remain calm and, in a lucid dream, consciously kept recalling helpful information.
Fortunately, soon after, the system brought good news, and Yu Sheng was advised to remain calm.
After this, when the current Ghost King encountered new troubles, he had no more time or energy to focus on Yin Wangzhi.
Finally, the prologue of the original story came to an end.
One day later, Yin Wangzhi’s attitude toward Yu Sheng, which had been gradually softening, suddenly took a sharp turn.
"Who are you looking at through me?"
Such a question left Yu Sheng speechless. He held his brush, but even as the ink dripped onto the paper, he couldn't think of a satisfactory explanation.
Last night, he had failed to control his dream and accidentally dreamed about something related to Yin Wangzhi...
And it was something quite private—Yin Wangzhi was wearing the black robe that symbolized his status as the Ghost King. He was powerful, with his own soul flower garden, and, without any reason, pressed Yu Sheng against a thick tree trunk, lowering his head to kiss him.
Yin Wangzhi was too perceptive, his sharpness far beyond Yu Sheng's expectations.
There was no way he could directly tell him, I'm looking through you to see the future you.
But now, Yin Wangzhi's temperament was even colder. He didn’t seem like the type to let go of past grudges just because the person in front of him was himself.
Yu Sheng lowered his head in guilt, not realizing that such an action seemed to validate Yin Wangzhi’s suspicions.