Chapter 302
by post_apiChapter 302: The Terrifying Breath Returns
Who was the ghostly figure?
This had always been a mystery.
Yaoruoxian had been the first to discover him, and he had only revealed himself upon stepping onto the deck of the Ghost Ship of the Buried Immortals. He had formed from the absorption of dark energy and the decayed aura of the River of Death.
No one knew his true name or his origins.
However, Zhang Yang remembered one crucial thing, this ghostly figure, too, feared the Annihilation Wind. The power he had displayed so far was unworthy of the title great terror.
Yet now, Zhang Yang felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
A great danger.
The feeling of being watched by the great terror surfaced once again from the depths of his soul.
Zhang Yang, Jin Zhihong, the Moon-Returning Dragon, and the others—those with flesh and blood had yet to feel an oppressive force. However, the skeletons had already begun to panic. Some dropped to their knees in terror, wailing as the Aura of Death within their bones rapidly expanded.
The ghostly figure’s voice echoed once more.
“Correct, Zhang Yang. You are indeed right. I am not the great terror within the cabin.”
“I am… Ghost Island.”
A chill ran through everyone’s hearts.
Ghost Island?
Zhang Yang was momentarily stunned, but then his eyes flickered with understanding. “You are the life born from this island?”
The revelation sent a wave of shock through the crowd.
The ghostly figure was Ghost Island itself?
“Hahaha, yes! I am Ghost Island! Ghost Island is me! Everything on this island is under my control. If I want someone dead, they will die. If I want someone to live, they shall live. These worthless skeletons are nothing more than parasites clinging to my existence. Granting them life was merely a diversion for my own amusement. And yet, they show no gratitude for my gift. Instead, they dare to disobey me. Truly, they do not understand life and death.”
Many skeletons collapsed to their knees in horror, begging for mercy.
Even the White Jade Skeleton took an involuntary step back, fear flickering in his soul fire.
No one had expected this.
The ghostly figure was the island.
This meant that he was definitely not the great terror lurking within the cabin of the Ghost Ship of the Buried Immortals. With this realization, Jin Zhihong, the Moon-Returning Dragon, Nie Bahuang, Liu Yuewu, and the others felt a deep chill crawl down their spines.
They had mistaken the ghostly figure for an extension of the great terror, failing to grasp the true horror that still lay within the cabin.
The ghostly figure turned his gaze back to the White Jade Skeleton, his tone laced with cruelty. “You worthless skeleton, do you regret it?”
He was unwilling to accept defeat on his own island, especially at the hands of a skeleton he considered nothing more than trash.
The White Jade Skeleton’s soul fire flickered violently, a clear sign of his turmoil. Fear and hesitation surged within him.
But then, he calmed.
His voice was steady as he declared, “I have long loathed the darkness. I yearn for sunlight.”
Ghost Island trembled violently.
A terrifying, eerie sound echoed from its depths.
The River of Death surrounding the island bubbled and churned, responding to the chaos.
The ghostly figure went berserk, snarling, “You want to die? No! I will make you wish you were dead! I will tear your soul fire from your body and wash it in the River of Death for a thousand years!”
He had gone mad.
The earth shook violently as if boundless dark power was being unleashed.
All the skeletons trembled in fear.
Zhang Yang furrowed his brow, cautious, searching for a way to break the deadlock.
At that moment, he realized something unsettling. He had no idea how to proceed.
The ghostly figure was Ghost Island!
How did one fight an island?
Should he just punch it until it exploded?
Just then, a strange sound echoed through the chaos.
“Breathe… in… breathe… out…”
It was a deep, rhythmic breathing—so vast and overwhelming that it drowned out even the rushing waters of the River of Death.
The skeletons remained unfazed.
But Zhang Yang, the Moon-Returning Dragon, Jin Zhihong, and the others who had come down from the Ghost Ship of the Buried Immortals stiffened in shock.
Even the agitated Ghost Island fell silent.
Clearly, the ghostly figure was startled as well.
All of them turned toward the source of the sound.
Their gazes penetrated Ghost Island, stretching across the vast River of Death, where they saw the Ghost Ship of the Buried Immortals drifting ominously amidst the waters.
“The Great Terror in the Cabin!”
Jin Zhihong swallowed hard, his voice trembling with fear.
Before, they had feared this entity simply because they didn’t know what it was. They had never heard of a Great Terror within the cabin. After witnessing the ghostly figure’s power, they had mistakenly believed he was the true horror.
But now, dread settled deep in their bones.
The breathing sound drowned out everything.
It forced every living being to sync with its rhythm. No matter how hard they tried to resist, it was impossible to fight it.
And with the forced synchronization, it felt as if their very heartbeats were being drawn into a unified rhythm.
It was the same phenomenon they had experienced when the Great Terror in the Cabin had first breathed.
A chill ran through their hearts.
Even the ghostly figure had fallen silent.
As Ghost Island, he should have been able to board the ship. That alone was strange. But his ability to merge with the deck of the Ghost Ship was even more baffling. When the Ghost Ship of the Buried Immortals merged with Ghost Island and began to speak as Ghost Island, movement suddenly erupted, causing an even greater shock.
Was this some form of retaliation?
“Breathe… in… breathe… out…”
The breathing grew louder.
Surprisingly, it calmed the previously turbulent waters of the River of Death, which had been surging around Ghost Island. As the island trembled violently, the dark energy surrounding it began to fade.
Then, something even stranger happened. Ghost Island, which had always been pitch-black, slowly started turning transparent.
Everyone stared in stunned silence.
Suddenly, hazy images flickered within Ghost Island.
With each breath, they became clearer.
When the images sharpened, everyone including the skeletons—gasped in shock.
Inside the island, a corpse lay impaled by a dark sword.
“Immortal Sword!”
Jin Zhihong and the Moon-Returning Dragon exclaimed in unison.
Both of their empires possessed legacies of transcendent holy weapons, granting them some knowledge of such artifacts.
This was no ordinary sword.
It was a Dark Immortal Sword!
Even more terrifying was the aura it emitted—threads of evil, dark energy that seeped into the island, creating endless waves of darkness.
Then, they saw it.
A hazy figure lurking just beneath the transparent surface of Ghost Island, feeding off that dark energy.
That figure was unmistakable.
It was the ghostly figure himself.
Zhang Yang’s thoughts raced, and suddenly, he shouted, “Ghostly figure, you are not Ghost Island! You don’t even know the truth—you are simply an evil entity born from the dark aura of that Immortal Sword! You are nothing but a wisp of illusive evil. You aren’t even a true life form, which is why you were able to board the ship!”
“No! That’s impossible! I am Ghost Island! Everything on this island is under my control!” the ghostly figure shrieked, his voice sharp and desperate.
Zhang Yang looked at him with pity. “How pitiful you are.”
The ghostly figure howled in madness. “This is all fake! Fake!”
He struggled desperately, unleashing all his power.
Yet beneath the steady breathing of the Great Terror in the Cabin, he found himself powerless.
Ghost Island did not move, not even an inch.
Slowly, the ghostly figure began to dissolve, his form dissipating into nothing but a wisp of dark evil.
A chill ran down Zhang Yang’s spine. He murmured under his breath, “Is this a punishment… for impersonating the Great Terror in the Cabin?”
His gaze sharpened as more and more parts of Ghost Island became transparent.
He couldn’t tell if the Great Terror in the Cabin was punishing the ghostly figure… or if there was another hidden truth yet to be revealed.
His eyes locked onto the corpse impaled by the Dark Immortal Sword.
It was still bleeding.
And the blood corrupted by the sword’s evil aura, merged with the waters of the River of Death, bubbling up onto Ghost Island.
From this corruption, something began to take shape.
A yin-yang spring, capable of determining the skeletons’ life and death!
Zhang Yang’s gaze drifted lower.
Beneath the corpse, at the very bottom of Ghost Island, he saw something even more terrifying.
A water eye, a gateway to the depths of the River of Death.
Within it, something stirred.
Something far more evil.
It howled from beneath, barely suppressed by the corpse impaled above it.
Zhang Yang followed the flow of the water.
He saw it spilling from the water eye, mixing with the corrupted blood and dark energy, flowing to the edge of Ghost Island.
There, where the dark waters of the River of Death met this corrupted mixture, something was forming. The Death Crossing.
Within its swirling depths, a figure flickered faintly.
Yaoruoxian.
Zhang Yang’s heart pounded. He wanted to see more.
But suddenly, the terrifying breathing stopped.
The moment it ceased, everyone’s breathing faltered, their minds turning hazy as if momentarily severed from reality.
Zhang Yang reacted instantly, snapping his gaze back to the Ghost Ship of the Buried Immortals.
Outside the island, the waters of the River of Death churned violently.
Towering waves surged toward the ship.
From within those monstrous waves, something emerged.
A massive, terrifying figure began to take shape.
Zhang Yang felt an intense shock upon seeing that figure, as if he had once again witnessed the Ten-Thousand-Meter Ghost King attempting to kill him during the final strike of his Ascending to Heaven calamity.
Though the two figures were clearly different, his sharp intuition told him, without a doubt, that they were the same!
What surprised him even more was that, upon seeing the massive figure in the River of Death, Jin Zhihong suddenly screamed a name.
“Supreme Emperor!”