“When my soul and consciousness crossed over into this body, the remnant soul of the Corpse Demon Sect’s sect master, Henry Clark, was in the midst of trying to seize this body, and it was at the most critical moment. As a result, my arrival made me the fisherman who benefits when the snipe and clam fight.” After regaining his senses, William Carter, through careful thought and deduction, finally began to understand: he, who came from another modern civilized world, had actually fused with the remnant soul and consciousness of Henry Clark, the sect master of the Corpse Demon Sect, one of the six great demon sects.

However, as for why the Corpse Demon Sect’s sect master was suppressed and killed at Xiaolong Mountain outside the county city, William Carter had no idea.

“Heavens! I actually fused with the remnant soul and consciousness of a demon! Doesn’t that mean I possess the soul and consciousness of two people and one remnant soul? That’s right, ever since I was reborn, not only have my senses become sharper and my perception of external changes more acute, I can even multitask—could all of this be because this body has fused with two souls and one remnant soul?” With everything clicking into place, after deducing the truth, William Carter also figured out many of the changes in himself.

As he thought about this, William Carter’s gaze once again fell on the black ring tightly gripped in his palm.

Chapter 3: Corpse-Nurturing Ring

The ring looked ancient and unremarkable, but William Carter knew that this was the most precious item belonging to the Corpse Demon Sect’s sect master, Henry Clark: the Corpse-Nurturing Ring.

This Corpse-Nurturing Ring and his severed finger had fallen into the ancient well; it was a deliberate act when he self-destructed and escaped with a wisp of his remnant soul, so that he could retrieve it later. Therefore, even though his remnant soul ultimately failed to seize the body and was instead fused by William Carter from another world, this scene was deeply imprinted in William Carter’s consciousness, causing him to have the same nightmare for several nights in a row.

“When refining this Corpse-Nurturing Ring, Henry Clark not only used the most common blood sacrifice method, but later also imprinted a higher-level divine sense mark on it. Even if someone else took the ring, they wouldn’t be able to open it with a blood sacrifice. But since I’ve fused with Henry Clark’s remnant soul and consciousness, I wonder if I can open it with a blood sacrifice.” As this thought crossed William Carter’s mind, he bit his finger and dripped a drop of fresh blood onto the ring.

The blood seeped into the ring and disappeared. At the same time, an even stronger feeling of blood-bonded connection surged in William Carter’s heart. Then he felt his mind blur, shivered all over, and found himself “present” in a space about the size of a football field, nearly a hundred meters high, filled with masses of pitch-black, icy cold black mist and a decaying aura.

In reality, William Carter was fully aware that his body was still in place, and his eyes could still see the mountains, rivers, and the ancient well of the Daoist temple outside.

“Amazing, this is like a virtual space that can be entered entirely through consciousness, but in fact, it’s a real, existing space.” While marveling inwardly, William Carter began to survey this space the size of a football field.

Within this vast space, not only were there masses of pitch-black, icy cold black mist floating everywhere, but on the ground there were also twelve coffins of various sizes.

The coffins were covered in strange and bizarre runes, which flickered with a ghostly light. With each flicker, a wisp of floating yin fiend black mist would be absorbed.

Of the twelve coffins, nine were empty, while each of the remaining three contained a corpse.

Two of the corpses resembled apes, but were much larger than ordinary apes, standing about three meters tall, their entire bodies gleaming with a cold bronze luster, giving the impression of being cast from copper and iron—extremely hard and powerful.

The last coffin held a gigantic monstrous bird with four heads. This bird also radiated a cold bronze luster, but its wings were badly damaged.

Each corpse was covered in runes, which echoed the runes carved on the coffins. With every flicker, wisps of the black mist gathered by the coffin runes would drift into the runes on the corpses, making it seem as if the corpses were breathing in their sleep.

Moreover, as the black mist continued to merge into the runes on the corpses, the metallic luster on their bodies became even purer, and the broken wings of the four-headed monstrous bird seemed to be faintly repairing themselves.

When William Carter “looked at” these three corpses, they seemed to sense something and suddenly stood up from their coffins, their pitch-black eyes staring at William Carter, with ghostly green flames flickering within.

The sight was as eerie as could be, enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

Even stranger, William Carter was shocked to find that, facing these three suddenly risen zombies, not only did he feel no fear, but instead felt a faint sense of spiritual connection and intimacy, and even a trace of bloodthirsty, murderous impulse.

This bloodthirsty urge did not come from William Carter’s own consciousness, but from these three zombies.

“This…” William Carter swallowed hard, struggling to recall and search through the chaotic images and fragmented knowledge left from the remnant soul of Henry Clark that he had fused with.