Chapter 152: Meeting the Void (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets)-Corpse Hunter in a Strange World(A sleepy, lazy person)

The bridge deck! The bridge deck is the true entity of the middle-aged man! Fang Mu finally understood.

After Abai's roar and Fang Mu's previous test, Fang Mu reached a conclusion.

From the beginning when the middle-aged man suddenly disappeared, to the subsequent ineffective attacks, it proved that this middle-aged man might be a fake.

Ghost One's attack being blocked by the middle-aged man further confirmed Fang Mu's conjecture.

From start to finish, Fang Mu's attacks were straightforward and direct, so the middle-aged man dodging made no difference, because after dodging, Fang Mu's attacks simply landed in the distant sky.

Ghost One's attack was different!

Ghost One's attack came from top to bottom, yet the middle-aged man did not dodge.

As for why he didn't dodge, the only reason was this bridge.

If the middle-aged man had dodged, Ghost One's attack would have landed on the bridge deck, and the bridge deck would have been damaged.

Combined with the fact that the middle-aged man's attacks all originated from the bridge, Fang Mu guessed that the bridge itself was his true form.

Whether the guess was correct or not, a test would reveal the truth.

Taking advantage of the middle-aged man's slightly slowed offensive, Fang Mu crouched down and reached out to touch the bridge deck.

Instead of slashing directly, he wanted to try the Corpse-Touching Skill.

If the bridge deck really was the true form, the Corpse-Touching Skill might be triggered.

Sure enough, the moment his hand touched the surface, the system prompt sounded...

[You touch the Bridge-Building Spectre, obtain a wisp of True Qi!]

...

True Qi poured in continuously, and a full ten wisps of True Qi merged into Fang Mu's body.

The True Qi serpent inside his body sprouted dense scales, which had already covered half its body.

This wasn't even the biggest surprise; the biggest surprise was the subsequent prompt.

[You touch the Bridge-Building Spectre, obtain skill — Withered Wood Meets Spring! Can enhance recovery ability and regenerate severed limbs!]

Waves of information flooded into Fang Mu's mind, and he instantly understood the immense power of Withered Wood Meets Spring.

Not to mention the massive boost to his recovery ability, the power of limb regeneration was simply terrifying.

Of course, "limb" here was just a general term, meaning any physical defect or damage could be regenerated.

A thought suddenly popped into Fang Mu's head—as long as you don't die from courting death, keep courting death to the extreme!

With the defensive power of the Triple Golden Body Art, combined with the regenerative power of Withered Wood Meets Spring, wasn't this essentially turning himself into a humanoid fortress?

The middle-aged man reacted. When he saw Fang Mu touching the bridge deck, a trace of anxiety flashed in his eyes.

Wooden spikes appeared once again, appearing even more frequently than before.

"He's panicking, he's panicking, he's really panicking!" A smile played on Fang Mu's face as he raised his butcher's knife: "Die!"

The butcher's knife descended from the sky, carrying a sky full of blade light, and slashed fiercely onto the bridge deck.

The fiery red blade light landed on the bridge deck and began to spread along its surface.

"Crack! Crack, crack!"

Crisp sounds rang out continuously, and dense cracks split open across the red bridge deck, spreading along like a contagious disease until they finally covered the entire bridge.

With the power of a single strike, the endless bridge was instantly covered in cracks!

The middle-aged man froze in place, and the wooden spikes vanished.

Wisps of blue smoke rose from the middle-aged man's body. He slowly dissolved into blue smoke and disappeared, leaving only the rattan armor suspended in mid-air.

The rattan armor transformed into a rectangular block of wood, attempting to fall into the river below.

However, someone was faster than it.

Abai spat out a mouthful of black Qi, wrapping around the rectangular wooden block and devouring it completely.

After the rectangular block of wood vanished, a patch of flat ground appeared ahead—that was the end of the bridge.

"No wonder," Fang Mu thought to himself. "The weakness really was this bridge deck."

Earlier, walking on the bridge deck was equivalent to walking right on top of the spectre; it would have been a miracle if they could have walked out.

Beside him, Ghost One let out a long breath.

Fortunately, the Master thought deeply, otherwise they would have planted themselves right here.

"Let's move." Fang Mu rubbed his chin and walked toward the end of the bridge.

Ghost One nodded and respectfully followed closely behind Fang Mu.

At the end of the bridge stood a monk wearing yellow monastic robes and a red kasaya.

After the middle-aged man died, this monk appeared along with the end of the bridge.

Fang Mu was not surprised. Stepping onto the bridgehead, he found the monk looking at him with a benevolent expression.

"Boundless is the Buddha's dharma." The monk pressed his palms together in a salute and said, "Many thanks to the Benefactor for eliminating a great scourge!"

Fang Mu looked at the monk with keen interest. "I don't understand a word of what you're saying. Why don't you try my knife?"

A sky full of blade light appeared, but as it approached the monk, it dissipated into nothingness.

Fang Mu frowned and said, "That high monk from Vajra Temple?"

With his attacks ineffective, coupled with the fact that this person was a monk, Fang Mu's suspicions were aroused.

The monk nodded without denying it. "This poor monk is Jiankong. Greetings, Benefactor. Please turn back."

After admitting his identity, his very first sentence was to tell Fang Mu to go back.

Fang Mu smiled and asked, "Why?"

Is this guy out of his mind? Can't he see what I'm doing here?

Jiankong sighed. "This poor monk cultivates here and has established a Land of Ultimate Bliss, harming no one."

Land of Ultimate Bliss?

Fang Mu pointed back at the bridge and frowned. "Is this what you call a Land of Ultimate Bliss?"

That middle-aged man, along with the pale human bodies under the bridge, were light-years away from any Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Jiankong smiled bitterly. "Benefactor, have you ever heard the story of building a bridge?"

Fang Mu shook his head. "Never heard of it. At a time like this, what stories are you spinning with me?"

"Benefactor will understand once you hear it," Jiankong said. "Is Benefactor willing to listen?"

"Speak," Fang Mu said, abandoning his aggressive stance in favor of concise speech.

Since his attack had failed again, Fang Mu decided it wouldn't hurt to listen first, figure something out while listening, and slaughter this Jiankong at the first opportunity.

"Benefactor, back when bridges were built, there used to be a small rule," Jiankong slowly explained. "Of course, this rule was merely a formality, just something done for amusement, and no one actually practiced it."

"What rule?" Fang Mu asked.

"When building a bridge, it was customary to bury a living person beneath it as a sacrifice to the river god." Jiankong pointed toward the bridge behind them and said, "The purpose was to have the river god bless the construction. In truth, it was merely a legend, but someone actually put it into practice. That person was Huang San—the very spectre you killed."

Fang Mu fell into deep thought, failing to see the connection in this story.

"Not only did Huang San do it, but he also murdered two beggars," Jiankong said indifferently. "After killing them, he threw their corpses into the river. The bridge was built, but Huang San fell into a terrifying situation. He suffered retribution. Those two dead beggars turned into spectres and sought to kill Huang San."

Fang Mu nodded, signaling him to continue.

"Threatened by the spectres, Huang San thought of a method," Jiankong continued. "Does Benefactor know what method it was?"

Fang Mu sneered. "Stop beating around the bush. Get to the point."

Jiankong sighed. "Heaven knows where Huang San heard of the Soul-Stealing Method, but he actually used it, causing the deaths of numerous innocent people."

The Soul-Stealing Method?

It was a term Fang Mu had heard before, circulating among the folklore of the ancient Yue State.