"Ah, it's you..." In his dazed state, Su Kun vaguely heard this phrase.

He felt as if his skin had been peeled off, his entire body burning with pain, stinging and numb, like he had been thrown into a washing machine, violently shaken from head to toe, leaving him floating and dizzy.

As he slowly regained his senses from the overwhelming dizziness, his vision refocused, revealing an extremely eerie scene—a mirror image of himself stood right in front of him, wearing a sinister and cold smile that he would never have.

The sight left Su Kun momentarily stunned, unable to comprehend what was happening. It wasn't until he instinctively looked down at his own body, seeing his translucent hands and torso, that he felt as if struck by lightning and again looked at the person standing before him.

It wasn't just someone who looked like him; it was his own body!

Typically, a person doesn't notice their resemblance to others. Like when Aunt Zhang and other neighbors saw Su Kun and his father together in middle school, they would comment on how much he resembled his father. Yet, when they saw him with his mother, they would say he looked more like her.

Su Kun himself never thought so until he stood in front of a mirror with his parents and compared their features carefully. Only then did he understand the neighbors' comments. From that point on, even when seeing his father, mother, or other family members alone, he could recognize their similarities to himself.

Now, as the scene from before he lost consciousness replayed in his mind, he had a similar realization. Perhaps it was the eerie sight of the man's soul emerging from the nurse's body, or the direct face-to-face encounter, but he could vividly recall the man's features. And that man's face had a seventy percent resemblance to his own.

However, the smile was too chilling, giving the man a completely different demeanor. If he didn't smile like that, he might have looked even more like Su Kun.

This realization brought two things to Su Kun's mind.

Firstly, when he was very young, some not-so-familiar neighbors would joke that he didn't look like his parents, suggesting he might be adopted. Little Su Kun would either cry loudly or stare blankly at them. The neighbors enjoyed this teasing until he was well into elementary school when they began to say to his parents, "Wow, he's starting to look more like you guys. Guess he really is your child, haha."

Secondly, Gu Yan once mentioned that the infamous fatuous emperor bore a seventy percent resemblance to him.

With his soul detached from his body, Su Kun's mind worked faster than usual. He quickly deduced the identity of the person occupying his body. The strange events from his childhood were likely due to this person influencing him after taking over his body.

The master had mentioned that the effects of body possession could vary, causing the possessed person to be in a constant daze, have a weak body, or, in Su Kun's case, influence his appearance due to residual possession and his young age at the time.

"I never thought after all these years, I'd end up using your body again. Fate has its ways," the man with Su Kun's face said. His words felt out of place, making Su Kun uncomfortable.

Whether it was because he had been suppressed for too long or due to his nature, Su Kun found this fatuous emperor somewhat neurotic. Even when smiling, he exuded a chilling aura that sent shivers down Su Kun's spine.

"Indeed, this body feels the most natural to use," the fatuous emperor said, looking at his hands and feet with excitement. He even took a few steps, though still somewhat awkwardly, unlike the previous clumsiness of the nurse.

Seeing someone else occupying his body, acting strangely and talking to themselves like a lunatic, Su Kun felt an overwhelming urge to get a platoon of soldiers to obliterate this fatuous emperor.

Too bad bullets wouldn't work on him. TaT

After admiring his new body, the fatuous emperor turned his gaze to the floating soul of Su Kun. With a chilling smile, he said, "You can't return to your body. Instead of becoming a wandering ghost, why not be of some use to me? My cultivation still lacks a bit. Help me, won't you?"

Though phrased as a question, it sounded more like a statement. Su Kun imagined this man, when he was an emperor, saying with a cold smile, "How about I sentence you to death by a thousand cuts?"

How terrifyingly cruel!

The thought made Su Kun shiver.

But his shiver didn't make the fatuous emperor relent. Instead, the man stepped closer, now less than half a meter away, and suddenly reached out towards Su Kun before he could react.

...

In the old residential area, Gu Yan tensed up upon seeing Qing Yuan. The reason was clear—the fatuous emperor, who should have been with Qing Yuan, was missing!

Qing Yuan's face twisted with rage, and during their fight, Gu Yan could sense a desperate frustration from him. This was likely due to their deliberate destruction of his carefully set formation, but there might be other reasons too...

Thinking quickly, Gu Yan realized a possibility.

He didn't fully understand the fatuous emperor but knew his suspicious nature. Someone who couldn't even trust his loyal ministers and generals, constantly fearing for his throne, wouldn't easily trust a stranger like Qing Yuan.

If Qing Yuan's goal with the formation was as the master suggested, how would he lure the fatuous emperor? By offering the most tempting bait. Gu Yan knew too well that someone who lost their life but still harbored resentment, especially a former emperor, would crave fear and respect, not as an evil spirit but as a human.

If Qing Yuan promised the fatuous emperor he could become human again through enough cultivation, the fatuous emperor would surely follow him. But the fatuous emperor wasn't naive; if Qing Yuan intended to refine him, he would see through it.

With the fatuous emperor's nature, he might pretend to be tempted, following Qing Yuan to set up formations and absorb souls to grow stronger. Once he was strong enough, he would break free, leaving Qing Yuan unable to find him.

Behind him, the master's progress in breaking the formation caused the entire setup to shake, like a house with holes on all sides, wind howling through it. The ghosts inside grew restless, their howls filling the air.

Amid the violent shaking, Gu Yan defended against Qing Yuan's attacks while keeping an eye on the changes behind him. He finally understood why Qing Yuan chose this place for the formation.

It had likely been a burial ground years ago, perfect for nurturing a horde of vengeful spirits. As the formation weakened, the trapped souls began to stir, almost breaching the boundaries.

Seeing Granny Camphor Tree and Mo Bao approaching at high speed, Gu Yan stepped aside, leaving Qing Yuan to them while he circled the formation's edge, channeling his energy to contain the escaping spirits.

In an instant, all the spirits attempting to breach the formation's boundary were contained within it, slaughtered by Gu Yan's relentless assault, creating a vortex-like airflow within the residential area.

Having eliminated all the peripheral spirits, Gu Yan planned to dive into the formation the moment the master broke it, ensuring none survived. But suddenly, he felt a tremor in his left chest, as if his heart had sunk.

This sensation had occurred twice before—when Su Kun was nearly hit by a car pushed by a baby spirit and when a female ghost almost strangled him in the hospital lobby.

So, when the feeling struck, Gu Yan instinctively dodged to the side.

As he leapt out of the formation's edge, he glimpsed four figures approaching from a distance, the landlord among them.

Seeing him, Gu Yan vanished in a flash without hesitation.

From the master's perspective, he only saw Gu Yan in mid-air, unaware of the distant figures. Stunned, he watched Gu Yan abandon the fight without a word, ready to explode in frustration, only to see another figure swaggering in with three others, taking Gu Yan's place.

The master was dumbfounded: =口=

As he broke the formation's final barrier, he noticed the three identical figures behind the landlord and was flabbergasted: "Hey, how come they all look the same?!"

Moments later, Gu Yan, sensing Su Kun in danger, arrived at the hospital, witnessing a bizarre scene: Su Kun reaching for the chest of another spirit, which looked exactly like Su Kun!