I Am Your Natural Enemy

Given Wen Yan’s demeanor when he fell just now, he was definitely intent on killing them all; how could he possibly be aiding their salvation?

That can only mean that this was not subjectively controlled by Wen Yan.

He thought again about the first Ghost to be freed—it hadn’t even been dead for a hundred years. Moreover, after its death, it actually had an opportunity to find a replacement. But since it had only recently died, and the person it encountered was a guard patrolling the sea, it didn’t have the heart to act. It even helped the other to a wooden raft, letting them drift back to shore with the ocean currents.

The Long Blade Floating Ghost felt certain that the individual must have accumulated virtue in the past to have been freed before completely losing its mind.

He reflected upon his own life. It seemed he hadn’t done anything too terrible, but he hadn’t done any good deeds either. In life, he was just an ordinary fisherman. He died at sea, becoming a Ghost, without ever finding a chance for salvation. He was almost driven mad, and he could no longer even remember what his family looked like back then. He racked his brain for any valuable information that could lead to his release, willing to do anything for it. He dared to attack ships; for the sake of doing good deeds, he was even willing to risk his life. Having been a Water Ghost for years, his concepts and thinking had long since diverged from those of humans.

”I remember now, there was one thing; one year, it woke up. That day just happened to be the 23rd of March, and after it woke up, it did nothing, not even accepting the sacrifices of the Water Ghosts. It was only on the next day that it returned to its usual manner. That’s the only time I’ve seen or heard of such an event.”

”Oh?”

”That day is the birthday of Mazu Empress. The only reason I can think of is this.”

”Anything else?”

”It seems that’s all.”

At this point, another Ghost couldn’t help but interject, ”One year, there was a submarine—that’s what you call it, right?—that passed through this sea area and then got dragged into the trench. It still hasn’t been salvaged; I forgot which year it was.”

As soon as that Ghost spoke, another immediately chimed in, ”I heard an Old Ghost say that this entity used to never sleep. But after the appearance of Great Ming, one day, it suffered a heavy blow. Its periods of slumber grew longer, and later on, it went two or three hundred years without waking up. Half asleep and half awake, its consciousness only partly revived, and that was only in the last decade.”

”Anything else? Keep going. Your liberation depends on whether this information is enough; it’s up to you now.” Wen Yan took note of this information and encouraged them to continue.

What he said was actually not wrong; whether someone could rid themselves of the hereditary traits of a Water Ghost indeed depended on luck. It was about whether they were unlucky or not—in simpler terms, it was up to them. Anyway, he was not deceiving anyone.

After listening for about fifteen minutes, Wen Yan had heard both useful and useless information. When it was all said and done, it truly seemed that there was no more intelligence to be extracted.

Only then did Wen Yan look around at the Ghosts with a solemn expression.

”Everything should be measured by its own standard. If you attack ships, you are on a path to death. I know that because you are still Water Ghosts, it means you haven’t previously killed anyone to take them as your replacement. So, I can give you a chance: try and seek liberation first, then accept punishment. Do you understand?”

The Ghosts, almost driven mad by torment, looked eagerly, nodding their heads and neatly kneeling all at once.

Wen Yan sighed inwardly. Seeing their disregard for life and death, he realized his ideas were completely out of sync with these Ghosts. Forget it; the outcome would be the same either way.

His Yang Energy gradually unfurled. As murderous intent formed in his heart, the Yang Energy immediately began to burn. Some Ghosts dissipated in the wind, others lost their hereditary Water Ghost traits, and then evaporated in the Yang Energy.

In just one minute, the Ghosts on the decrepit ship and the bizarre Black Sea crabs had disappeared without a trace.

The deck beneath his feet also started to decay and crumble rapidly.

The Yin Qi steamed, forcibly expelled and evaporated by Wen Yan’s Yang Energy, and the ship began to sink. The rusty chains, losing their power, gradually corroded. They started showing honeycomb-like traces and broke one after another.

The Gray Cloth wrapped around Wen Yan’s left hand led him, rapidly changing into the form of a water sketchpad, while the other end swept over and coiled around the yacht.

At that moment, the bracelet on Wen Yan’s right hand seemed rather unhappy, tugging him forward.

Amidst the swirling currents, the sea’s moisture converged, forming a thick stream that lifted Wen Yan and directly carried him aboard the yacht.

On the yacht, the living hid in the cabin, steering the boat and rushing forward in a panic.

On the deck at the stern, Zhang Qihui, accompanied by eight Skeletons, watched with wide eyes as Wen Yan approached over the waves and hurriedly greeted him.

”My name is Zhang Qihui, may I have the honor of knowing your esteemed name?”

”Drop the formalities, Fuyu Wen Yan.”

”Oh, long admired,” Zhang Qihui responded with routine courtesy. But it was obvious he had never heard of Wen Yan before.

Within Nanwu County, Wen Yan’s name was widely known. Those who ought to know it did, and even those who didn’t necessarily need to, or weren’t very familiar with him, had generally heard of such a person. Beyond Nanwu County, that was not necessarily the case.

Wen Yan looked at the scattered remains on the ground. They resembled flayed skins, with unidentifiable material inside that looked like innards. They were caught in an ambiguous state, resembling human corpses yet not quite, creating a deeply unsettling sight for anyone who saw them.