Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Energy Ball

Lana’s gaze instantly sharpened. She held up her hand, signaling Naina to stop talking. The warmth in her eyes faded, replaced by icy alertness.

’Finally,’ she thought, her fingers subtly brushing against the talismans tucked in her hand. ’It’s here.’

Naina’s breath hitched as she, too, felt the sudden drop in temperature. Her body tensed, and her words died in her throat.

The faint sound of something dragging across the floorboards came from the corridor outside, the slow, scraping noise of fingernails clawing wood.

The door creaked open, though no wind had touched it.

A wisp of cold fog slithered in, spreading along the ground like a serpent.

Lana whispered, “Stay calm. Don’t show fear.”

Naina swallowed hard, clutching the blanket tightly. “Is… is that it?” she whispered, her voice trembling.

A low, guttural growl reverberated from the shadows. The faint silhouette of the ghost slowly materialized near the doorway, its body warped, flickering between solid and smoke, its face twisted into something no longer human.

As it was about to go near Naina, Lana waved the talisman, and it struck the ghost. However, like before, the ghost waved its hand, and the talisman fell on the ground like a deflated balloon.

Naina’s face turned pale.

What made her more scared was… the shadow wasn’t moving in her direction. Rather… the shadow’s entire attention was trained on Lana this time.

The moment Lana saw the ghost, she only had one thought in her mind: ’Oh, fuck… this ghost is creepy as hell!’

From the information she had researched earlier, she understood something… The morphing ghost has changed its target.

And its new target was Lana. Why was Lana so sure?

Well, the morphing ghost usually absorbs the facial features of the host they are planning to take control of. But in case they meet some other powerful host on the way, and they are planning to change the strategy, they simply start to dissolve the foundation.

The sign of it? If the ghost starts to flicker between a solid state and smoke.

“Lana… why is… the ghost… looking in your direction?” Naina asked in uncertainty.

Lana didn’t answer immediately. Her lips parted slightly, but no sound escaped. She took a step back subconsciously.

The ghost mimicked her action.

Lana’s pupils contracted. ’It’s already starting to mimic me… damn it!’

Naina’s breath came in quick, shallow gasps. “L-Lana?” she stammered, inching closer. “It’s copying you!”

“Don’t move,” Lana said in a low, calm tone that barely masked her tension. Her hand gripped another talisman, but she didn’t release it yet. “It’s trying to form a connection. If you interrupt it now, it’ll split its energy and target both of us.”

Naina froze, the blood draining from her face. “S-split…? You mean it can possess both?”

“Temporarily,” Lana replied, her gaze sharp. “But if it does, it’ll destroy itself in the process. It won’t risk that, not unless it’s desperate.”

The ghost tilted its head unnaturally, its neck cracking as it did. “…Lana…” it rasped, its voice echoing like two tones overlapping.

Hearing her name come from that distorted mouth sent a chill down her spine.

’This thing… it remembers me,’ she realized grimly. ’It must’ve sensed the link when I used my mystic energy to protect Naina last time. Now it’s trying to latch onto me instead.’

However…

“You can mimic me, huh?” Lana asked, and the ghost repeated in a hoarse voice the same words as Lana.

“Sh*t, I am damned,” Lana muttered, and this time the ghost didn’t follow behind. Lana’s lips curved into a smirk, but she looked at the ghost with an innocent expression. “Are you not going to mimic me now?”

The ghost glared at Lana as if offended by her and opened its mouth to speak when Lana murmured, “F*cker. How can you mimic me, huh? You are Black, while I am white.”

Naina: “…” That was a racist joke.

Ghost: “…” That’s bullying.

“What? Speechless are we? God, I saw you repeating my words. So I will say it now. I am Black; Lana’s much whiter than me.” Lana continued her words, and the ghost suddenly fell silent.

“You see?” she continued in an almost conversational tone, taking a step forward, her expression daring and mischievous.

“You can’t even mimic properly. That’s the difference between an imitation and the real thing.”

The ghost’s body trembled, its once-shadowy form beginning to solidify.

Its mouth opened, revealing jagged, uneven teeth that stretched across its face as it let out a sound halfway between a hiss and a growl.

Lana tilted her head slightly. “Oh? Did I hurt your feelings?”

The ghost lunged forward suddenly, its claws extending like black smoke shaped into blades. Naina screamed, but before the attack landed, Lana, who was restraining the ball of mystic energy she was holding in her hand, threw it in the direction of the ghost.

This was a new trick that Lana had invented in the past few days.

Earlier, the mystic energy in her body was too small to make an energy ball. But after fighting and cultivation, she was only 4 to 5 steps away from crossing over to the Yellow Rank.

Her mystic energy rose significantly, and she learned how to make energy balls.

The only flaw?

Lana has to condense for 3 hours before she can make a single one.

The advantage? A single ball can act like a one-shot kill.

There was another flaw to it, and that was… Lana has to be in peak state when she starts to make the energy ball, i.e., she must have cultivated for 6 hours before she can make one.

Another flaw? She can hold it for more than a minute!

Lana did her calculations, but still she needed 3 minutes more to finish making the energy ball. Hence, she constantly taunted and mocked the ghost in the hopes of distracting it.

It worked in her favor, and she got the time to finish making the mystic energy ball.

The moment the energy ball left Lana’s body, Lana felt her body turning slightly weak.

As for the ghost…

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