Chapter 126: The Manifestation (Part Two)

"How have you considered the offer for Fish Head Town? Why not hasten to acknowledge our Enlightened Master as the true god? Worship him, offer sacrifices to him, and present him with blood offerings in every season. Only the Enlightened Master can lead you abandoned, petty commoners away from your miserable fate and toward a bright future."

Magistrate Wen, dressed in the official robes of a seventh-rank magistrate and wearing a black gauze cap, stood over thirty feet tall. He was a veritable giant, wreathed in a swirling aura of gloom, his voice booming like muffled thunder. Seeing Fang Baoliang sitting at the ferry, he did not strike immediately, but instead droned on with this litany.

"Are you finished?" Fang Baoliang asked coldly. He stood up, blade in hand, and looked up at the towering magistrate.

"Audacious! How dare you speak to our Magistrate in such a tone!"
"Are you tired of living?"

Fang Baoliang’s attitude incensed the ghost bailiffs at Magistrate Wen’s side, and they began to shout and berate him.

Magistrate Wen said, "I saw the aura of gloom upon you and took you for one of our own, which is why I have deigned to speak so much. If you have any authority in this Fish Head Town, you had best persuade the residents to worship our Enlightened Master. Do not be stubborn and foolish, bringing ruin upon yourself and others."

Standing at the ferry, the sea breeze tousled Fang Baoliang’s clothes and hair. He sneered, "You are nothing but man-eating ghouls; how dare you speak with such arrogance? Who is 'one of your own'? You have your eyes on Fish Head Town simply because it lies beyond the reach of the Imperial Court, making it convenient for your schemes. If the townspeople were truly to worship that pathetic 'Enlightened Master' of yours, none of them would survive when the Imperial Court eventually comes to settle accounts."

Magistrate Wen laughed, his voice shaking the sky. "The Imperial Court? Those puppets of the great clans? You call us man-eating ghouls? They are the ones who devour men without even spitting out the bones. Besides, why worry about them? The world will be in chaos before long, and when that time comes, neither the Court nor the clans behind them will be able to save themselves. You commoners—it is no easy task to survive the coming chaos. Only by worshipping our Enlightened Master can you ensure your safety."

Fang Baoliang believed the part about the Court and the clans devouring men without spitting out the bones. The pirate invasion of Peace County, which saw the slaughter of the entire city's population, was a living testament to that. The Court had ignored it entirely, not sending a single reinforcement, watching as Peace County fell. The people of Fish Head Town could not help but wonder what role the Court had played in the tragedy, and what connection those pirates truly had to them.

However, as for the claim that the world would fall into chaos, Fang Baoliang did not believe it. Since acquiring his supernatural strength, he was no longer the simple, honest fisherman he once was, and his perspective had broadened significantly. The Court’s rule was currently quite stable; although the world was troubled by ghosts and monsters, it was still under control. In such circumstances, without any warning, how could the world possibly fall into chaos?

Fang Baoliang assumed Magistrate Wen was merely trying to deceive him to force Fish Head Town into submission.

"No matter what problems the Court has," Fang Baoliang shook his head, "they are far more reliable than man-eating monsters like you."

Magistrate Wen’s expression darkened. He growled, "So that is your answer? You refuse to drink the wine of hospitality, so you shall drink the wine of punishment. Very well. Head Bailiff Sun, continue the arrests of the town residents."

This meant they would continue to eat people. If Fish Head Town refused to worship his Enlightened Master, Magistrate Wen and his ghost bailiffs would come every night to capture residents and devour them alive as blood offerings, using this to threaten the people of the town.

"Yes, my lord."

Head Bailiff Sun and his ghost bailiffs answered in unison, their sallow, grotesque faces twisted into expressions of cruel excitement.

Just as they were about to move, a man stepped forward, blade in hand, blocking their path. It was Fang Baoliang.

"You are courting death, boy!"

Head Bailiff Sun roared. It stood about ten feet tall. Beside the thirty-foot-tall Magistrate Wen, it did not look particularly large, but facing Fang Baoliang, who was of normal human stature, it loomed over him. The other ghost bailiffs also stood nearly ten feet tall. The land of Peace County was rich with terrestrial energy, and these ghosts had benefited greatly from its nourishment. Surrounded by these giants, Fang Baoliang looked like a child among adults, the disparity in size immense.

Yet, Fang Baoliang was utterly unafraid. He struck first, swinging his blade at Head Bailiff Sun.

*Clang!* The blow rang out. Head Bailiff Sun’s body was sturdy, and the blade did not cut it, but the sheer force of the strike sent the ten-foot-tall creature stumbling backward. This sent the bailiff into a fury; it felt deeply humiliated. In its eyes, humans were nothing but food—how dare one raise a weapon against it?

It shrieked, drew the long blade from its waist, and charged again. The weapon, scaled to its massive size, was larger than a normal sword and wreathed in rolling black mist, clearly no ordinary blade.

The other ghost bailiffs also drew their weapons and joined the assault on Fang Baoliang. Fang Baoliang had trained in hard-body techniques; as he focused his energy, his muscles bulged, and his skin became as hard as iron. The ghosts' blades could only leave shallow scratches on him, and not a drop of blood flowed.

Fang Baoliang did not fear bodily damage. He was not truly a living man anymore; he was a corpse brought back to life by the influence of the terrifying monster from the ocean floor. Even if his body were torn apart, it would have little effect—he could simply stuff some flesh and blood into the wounds and patch himself back together.

The battle between Fang Baoliang and the ghost bailiffs was a brutal exchange of blows. Since both sides possessed unnatural resilience and neither was truly "alive," there was no carnage of flying blood and gore. However, Fang Baoliang was at a disadvantage: his ordinary blade struggled to inflict effective damage on the ghouls, while their weapons were slowly marking him.

But Fang Baoliang had come prepared with his own methods for dealing with spirits. A surge of black mist erupted from his body and bled into his blade, causing it to smoke with the same dark energy as the bailiffs' weapons.

"Audacious! You dare to devour our ghostly essence!"

Seeing the black mist, Head Bailiff Sun exploded with rage. It was always they who treated humans as sustenance; when had the tables ever turned? Although Fang Baoliang was wreathed in gloom and no longer a pure human in their eyes, the fact that he stood on the side of the living was enough to infuriate the bailiff.

It grinned hideously and raised its massive blade, bringing it down as if to cleave Fang Baoliang in two. Fang Baoliang channeled his internal energy and lunged forward, meeting the strike head-on. The blades collided, the black mists consuming each other with a hissing sound, as if countless wronged souls were weeping in the void.

While Fang Baoliang was locked in a stalemate with Head Bailiff Sun, the other bailiffs swarmed him, their wild strikes leaving several deep gashes on his body. Even with his hard-body training, he could not fully deflect the enchanted blades.

Fang Baoliang gave a roar of anger; his temper, affected by the changes in his body, had become volatile. He swung his blade, breaking free from Head Bailiff Sun, and swept it back across the other ghosts. Despite their size, they could not withstand his immense strength and were sent flying, letting out shrill, ghostly wails. The black-mist-covered blade in Fang Baoliang's hand had dealt them significant harm.