Totem

The three hundred people suddenly sank into absolute silence.

The black figure’s voice grew even icier! “How come you’re not speaking anymore? Talk!” He pointed towards a thin youth, “Since none of you are talking, then let me ask you what your name is!”

“G-Greene!”

The thin youth lowered his head under the freak’s gaze.

“Your ident.i.ty and your strength?!”

“I-I’m the student of a Ghost Totem master. My master has already been killed, and I have no more relatives!” The youth was nearly about to cry, “Furthermore, my Ghost Totem talent has already been crippled, so I’m just a f***ing cripple!”

“Correct, you are now a cripple. Have you ever thought what your future would be like?”

For an instant, the look in the youth’s eyes went blank, and the freak with the hanging eyeball laughed uproariously in a crazed manner, “You’ve realized it, but do you not dare to say it? Are you afraid to say it out loud? If you won’t say it, I’ll say it!”

He pointed towards the youth’s chest, his tone without the slightest bit of human emotion, “You only have two paths. The first is to hide in this dense mountain forest and die in the mouth of a wolf or tiger! The second is to wander the various nations of the continent, get seized by executioners and suffer a thousand cuts, getting chopped in half at the waist, or your heart being dug out…. You will suffer various methods of torment and die! Did I speak correctly? My fellow ‘Ghost Totem’?!”

The youth gripped his head in pain.

“Glaston!”

The freak then bellowed Glaston’s name as he pointed towards the youth and said sinisterly: “He doesn’t dare to speak of his future. You are a soldier, so you say it!”

Glaston continued to maintain his expressionless face, and his tone was likewise indifferent and cold, “I am also a cripple, so I only have two paths in my future: to kill myself or die from another’s hands!”

“Correct. All of you are the same as me–we are all Ghost Totem lowlives! However, I am even stronger than all of you! I am free! I am strong! I leave people terror-stricken with my name! All of this is because…. I possess power!”

The black figure began laughing maniacally and his voice turned faint, “Do all of you…. Wish to be like me and possess power?”

Power….

Glaston’s eyes slightly narrowed as he answered coldly: “Don’t tell me that you can restore our power?!”

“Correct!”

A sheepskin scroll suddenly shot out from the black mist around the freak. This scroll floated at his head, and the characters on it surprisingly formed a name: Domeyer!

“Domeyer! None of you are unfamiliar with this name, right? Correct! It is precisely the Ghost Totem King who, in these thousand years, was the continent’s most powerful Ghost Totem, Domeyer!”

The black figure pointed towards his own chest, “Of course, I’m not Domeyer. However, I possess Domeyer’s secret ma.n.u.script! As long as all of you can read this ma.n.u.script…. Those who are crippled can restore their strength, while those who are not crippled can become even more powerful, to the point that all of you can become the most terrifying army on the continent with this secret ma.n.u.script! All of this…. Can be done just by looking at the contents of this ma.n.u.script!”

“Give me the ma.n.u.script!”

A Ghost Totem criminal charged over!

The hanging eyeball freak evaded him as quickly as a feather as he cackled: “Why should I give this ma.n.u.script to you?”

This….

The three hundred criminals all went into a daze. Several seconds later, a clever criminal dashed out of the group and dropped to his knees before the freak, “Benefactor, you saved me! I’m willing to follow *you all the days of my life with my ident.i.ty as a Ghost Totem and become *your most loyal servant!”

“Benefactor, we are already cripples without a future! Take us in! On our honor, we guarantee our loyalty!”

Thud! Thud!

Everybody said that the kneeling knees of men were golden*. However, at this moment, three hundred criminals were all on their knees!
(*TL: meaning that they don’t/shouldn’t kneel easily)

Only Glaston was an indifferent bystander as he stood underneath that withered old tree….

“Kek! Kek!”

Enjoying everybody’s worship, the black figure laughed heartily, “Young fellows, my comrades! All of you are qualified to acquire this ma.n.u.script….”

Just as everybody was about to call out master, his tone suddenly turned serious: “However, all of you must remember that the target of your devotion is not me!”

“Not *you? Then….”

The crowd was completely puzzled!

The black figure stuck out two bony palms. Golden light flashed on one hand, while the other began radiating with a white color. He began to draw in the air, and very quickly, he had drawn a bizarre picture!

It was an eerie looking skull with a pair of starkingly different golden yellow b.u.t.terfly wings at its posterior end.

After seeing this picture, the three hundred criminals were even more confused.

“Golden Ghost b.u.t.terfly!”

The black figure pointed towards the image as he declared loudly: “This picture is called the Golden Ghost b.u.t.terfly! One day, all of you will meet a person who possesses a Golden Ghost b.u.t.terfly tattoo! That person is the true target of your loyalty and devotion, your true master!”

After he said this, his eyes fixed onto Glaston who, up till now, had only been looking on indifferently, “Glaston, everybody else has made a decision. What about you? These three hundred people need a leader, a general like you…. When you join them, you will be the highest commanding officer in this team…. Glaston, tell me, what is your decision?!”

The valley was deathly silent!

Glaston did not kneel, but his right hand thumped his chest, which was a flawless and perfect military salute!

And then!

Right as his salute concluded, he raised his hand. The instant he did so, the nails which had already grown long and sharp after being imprisoned for five years left five b.l.o.o.d.y gashes on his face!

Five b.l.o.o.d.y grooves, their lines willful and billowing, seemed like the fluttering b.u.t.terfly wing of a blood colored b.u.t.terfly!

“This blood oath will serve as witness: from this day forward, Glaston no longer exists in this world. The only one who exists…. Is the Ghost b.u.t.terfly Chief Knight!”

After he said this, Glaston goose-stepped* in militaristic style to the freak’s side. He then used his cold gaze to sweep over the three hundred criminals, as if waiting for something.
(*TL: meaning)

Pu! Pu! Pu….

Three hundred criminals all stood up, their five fingers cutting across their left cheek. Soon, three hundred fluttering b.u.t.terfly wings dripping with blood were born, “This blood oath will serve as witness that from this day forward, I no longer exist on this world. The only one who exists…. Is a Ghost b.u.t.terfly knight!”

Seeing all this, the hanging eyeball freak laughed. He then raised his head and exhaled long and loudly, “Young fellows, take hold of the ma.n.u.script and follow me to look for a place to train, train to become an army that will leave the whole world terror-stricken at the very name, train to become a group good enough to make the Golden Ghost b.u.t.terfly proud…. the Ghost b.u.t.terfly Knight Squadron!”

At this time, no one knew what the Ghost b.u.t.terfly Squadron meant. However, in the long history of the continent, perhaps after many years, those melodramatic minstrels would say this, “There occurred something fantastic: the continent’s most terrifying Ghost Totem army, the Ghost b.u.t.terfly Knight Squadron that makes even specters tremble, was born in a small and nameless valley. And when she was born, her master, the fellow with the Golden Ghost b.u.t.terfly tattoo…. Was actually ignorantly, shamelessly, and utterly disgracefully…. Pretending to be a pig peddler!”

Of course, how the future minstrels would recount the tale was something that did not even have a hair’s worth of anything to do with Jiang Nan!

At this moment, Jiang Nan was currently feeling that he was even more like model than an actual model! Other models would change one outfit every several minutes. However, he…. Had already changed four full outfits in several short minutes!

Of course, the models described above did not include models of the human body.

Eddy went to work with Weylin, while Jiang Nan came to a remote alleyway and stripped off Rodi’s slave clothes for the Professor’s mask and black, tight-fitting gown.

Sauron!

Soon, Jiang Nan would have to fight an ultimate match with Sauron for the summit of Sun City, the true…. Number one expert!