Chapter 38: The Celestial Ghost

Chapter 38: The Celestial Ghost

“Formless Celestial Ghost?”

Li Yi stared straight ahead, but he was not looking at that heavy, peerless weapon; he was looking at the peerless beast seething with murderous aura!

The creature before him was shaped like a giant bat, with bloody eyes and no pupils. Its claws, wings, and head seemed to melt into the night, making it hard to distinguish where it ended and the night sky began. Not only did it cast no shadow, but its huge form was also faint and indistinct, like an illusion, like mist and clouds, unclear and unreal.

“Oh? You, kid, actually recognize my ‘Black Moon’? You have some discernment…” Gu Yanran was a bit surprised. She stroked the giant beast’s neck, soothing its ferocity. “Correct. Its name is Black Moon. It is a Formless Celestial Ghost, but it’s not yet mature.”

With her movements, her chest swayed gently. Before, this would have surely made Li Yi blush and his heart race, but at this moment, he was far too shocked to have any appreciation for the view.

“Teacher Gu, is this Formless Celestial Ghost… your magical pet?” Cold sweat dripped in Li Yi’s heart, and he stammered as he spoke.

“Correct!”

Gu Yanran’s straightforward answer made Li Yi’s face turn pale again.

So that meant…

The Formless Celestial Ghost was a type of gargoyle.

On the divine continent of the Nine Provinces, there was a tradition of burying stones to protect homes. Over time, if a large stone protecting a home absorbed the energy of the Nether Prison, sucking in baleful auras, resentments, and rage, it could develop sentience and transform into a nocturnal terror—a gargoyle!

And the Formless Celestial Ghost belonged to one of the strongest kinds of gargoyles. It could only be born in extreme environments like the “Evil Corpse-Nurturing Ground,” the “Heaven-Detesting Blood Pool,” and such places.

Li Yi did not know where she obtained it, but this Formless Celestial Ghost, though not yet mature, likely possessed strength no less than Gu Yanran’s!

Moreover, this Formless Celestial Ghost revealed another hidden piece of information.

Gu Yanran was actually an extremely rare—Necromancer!

Her Night Enchantress bloodline specialized in stars, moon, wind, darkness, and necromancy, but among these, choosing the least popular necromancy path was rather unexpected.

“Teacher Gu, what did you need me for?” After a long while, Li Yi snapped out of it, realizing his mind was unsettled and he had left Gu Yanran waiting for too long. He hurriedly spoke respectfully.

“I have a matter to discuss with you. No more idle talk, come with me!”

Gu Yanran raised her index finger. A dark light glowed on her slender finger. Li Yi’s vision suddenly blurred, and a dark energy shield enveloped him.

“Shadow Shield? That casting time was way too short… Tsk tsk, an empowered magic effect?”

Before Li Yi could finish his amazement, Gu Yanran stepped onto the back of the Formless Celestial Ghost. Her mage robes fluttered, her posture heroic and dashing.

“Go!”

At her command, the Celestial Ghost’s giant claws grasped the large shield. It beat its massive wings, soaring upward on a strong wind, heading for the higher levels of the Star Radiance Tower.

“Teacher Gu, where… where are we going?”

The wind whistled past his ears. Li Yi did not have a fear of heights, but as the distance from the ground grew, he couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart and some weakness in his legs.

“My room.” Gu Yanran maintained her usual style—brief and to the point.

Gu Yanran’s… room?

Li Yi naturally did not believe any romantic encounter would happen. Still, in his heart, an uncontrollable hint of fanciful thoughts emerged.

If his memory served, in both his lifetimes, he had never, it seemed, entered the private chamber of any young woman?

A failure!

“Teacher Gu, you mean, your private chamber?” As he said this, Li Yi’s face reddened slightly. For some reason, he felt a little excited.

“Private chamber?”

Li Yi’s ears twitched. It seemed from deep within the darkness came a meaningful, cold laugh.

Soon, he understood the meaning contained within that cold laugh.

In the upper section of the Star Radiance Tower, the Formless Celestial Ghost halted, suspending in the air. It had clearly reached its destination.

“What are you dawdling for? Go inside!”

After Gu Yanran gave the order, it shook its head and gave a soft roar. Countless streams of dark, yin energy transformed into thousands of sinuous serpents that swarmed up, coiling around Gu Yanran and Li Yi.

For a moment, Li Yi felt as if he had turned into an invisible shadow.

Immediately after, the Formless Celestial Ghost dove like a moth to flame, its whole body crashing toward the tower wall of the Star Radiance Tower!

“Hiss—”

The wall grew closer and closer. Li Yi sucked in a sharp breath and instinctively closed his eyes.

When he opened them, he was already in a dimly lit room with a sickly green glow.

“Formless Traversal!”

In his heart, Li Yi slowly mouthed a term.

This was one of the abilities of the Formless Celestial Ghost. It was not as good as Feixue’s “Void Blink,” but it was still an extremely terrifying innate ability. It could not only pass through walls and rooms but also silently penetrate barriers and enchantments.

His head was still spinning, disoriented—a side effect of becoming formless and shapeless. It would pass after a short rest.

When his vision cleared, Li Yi looked around with great interest. Suddenly, his gaze froze, and his expression changed drastically!

He instinctively covered his nose and backed away three paces, thump, thump, thump, only coming to his senses when his back hit the cold wall.

Directly in his line of sight was the opened skull of a giant beast. Its pink brain was exposed. Its eyes glared fiercely. One eyeball seemed to have strained too hard and, trailing some flocculent matter, had popped out of its socket.

Under the sickly green lamplight, the sight was simply hair-raising!

“Teacher Gu, your room is… quite unique…” After holding it in for a long time, Li Yi forced out an evaluation through gritted teeth, with great effort.

“Unique? Your way of describing it is what’s unique!” Gu Yanran couldn’t help but cover her mouth and chuckle, though inwardly she was a little surprised.

Her room was a famously fearsome place at Dawn Cliff. Even her uncle kept his distance.

There was once a persistent suitor who believed in sticking to someone like glue, pestering her relentlessly. Driven to her wits’ end, she clenched her teeth and brought him here.

And then?

And then, she never heard news of that person again…

The light was dim, but Li Yi still detected the surprise in Gu Yanran’s eyes. He chuckled inwardly.

Hehe, all those years of watching horror movies weren’t for nothing…

Just now, it was a startle of surprise. But as he continued to look around, feelings of fear sprouted like wild grass, rising up madly.

In this gloomy, cramped room, there were none of those deliberately mysterious items like hand-bone lamps, skull bowls, or beast-head decorations. Creepy things commonly associated with necromancy, like toads and spiders, were completely absent.

This room looked as if it had been tidied by a housewife with a cleanliness obsession. It was simple, tidy, and clean.

But it was precisely this neat orderliness that made one’s hairs stand on end involuntarily!

More than thirty forearms hung on the left wall, arranged first in the order of birds, beasts, scaled creatures, and insects, and then from large to small, in sequence.

On the right wall, eyeballs and noses were placed vertically. Li Yi couldn’t discern the classification method, but they were neatly arranged. Next to each organ was a small white tag, some even with dates marked, all in perfect order.

Li Yi swallowed hard. An image appeared in his mind: Gu Yanran smiling, methodically dismembering magical beasts one by one, then sorting and placing the severed limbs, and finally attaching labels to each one.

Shudder-inducing!

“A Necromancer is scary enough already, but a Virgo Necromancer?”

Li Yi shivered, not daring to think further.

Gritting his teeth, he forced his gaze away from the walls. He scanned the floor for a while, his eyes landing on a surgical table in the center.

“Stitched Abomination?”

He murmured softly. The rising fear in his heart was temporarily suppressed by burgeoning curiosity.

Placed vertically on the surgical table was a formidable body formed by the fusion of countless pieces of flesh and blood. Dense, numerous stitches crisscrossed it like countless ferocious centipedes.

However, looking at its build, it was not like the fat and clumsy form of an Abomination. Its physique was powerful but not obese; it had a sense of agile, leopard-like strength. It seemed to be an assassin type combining both power and speed.

Its face was bound with layers of bandages. About ten eyeballs were visible on its forehead, like those of a tarantula, but of varying colors, each seemingly serving a different purpose.

It also had a full six arms, some long, some short, indicating its fighting style must be hard to predict.

“Is this also a Stitched Abomination? How is it different from an Abomination?” Analyzing as he looked, Li Yi couldn’t contain the doubt in his heart and asked aloud.

“Its name is Night Dancer. It’s a Stitched Abomination I specially created…” Gu Yanran lightly smoothed her hair, a hint of pride appearing in her eyes. “Don’t lump it together with the likes of ‘Abominations.’ This one alone can take down more than six Abominations!”

“That powerful?” Li Yi’s jaw dropped, his eyes wide with astonishment.

“I brought you here because I owe you a favor. I’ll give you some benefits as repayment.” Gu Yanran pretended to be cold and said calmly.

“A favor?” Li Yi was somewhat puzzled.

“Yes, that one!”

Gu Yanran pointed with her slender finger. Only then did Li Yi notice that beside the “Night Dancer,” there was another surgical table.

He stepped closer for a look, and his gaze became dazed again.

“This… is also a Stitched Abomination?”