When the Ghost King spoke in that manner, Lu Wuming felt that Liu Buli and their previous guess might have been correct after all.
He narrowed his eyes, and his voice became tinged with impatience. "So, you've made preparations and intend to start interfering with my thoughts, is that it?"
"Child, don't put it so harshly. I'm merely correcting your misguided thinking. This isn't interference; it's correction," the Ghost King refuted Lu Wuming's statement, accompanying it with a sound of pure amusement. "You've been too thoroughly brainwashed by that detestable human. Without this method, you'll never know what you truly desire. If possible, I wouldn't want to use such means. But the facts prove that aside from Chu Yi helping you, you have no intention of changing your own line of thought, don't you agree?"
Lu Wuming offered no response to this question.
He knew very well that he was a fool.
A fool who wasn't very good at acting.
So, if he were to feign obedience to the Ghost King, to pretend he enjoyed eating people and relished it, he believed he would be incapable of doing so.
Moreover, the most crucial point was that even if he managed to fake it, even if he succeeded, the Ghost King would likely never believe his actions were genuine.
Therefore, the person named Chu Yi would undoubtedly still inflict harm upon his thoughts.
This was an outcome that could not be changed.
Lu Wuming pondered for a moment, then abandoned any pretense of acting. He closed his eyes and once again contacted Liu Buli, relaying all the information he had gathered and deduced. How to proceed thereafter would depend on Liu Buli's reply.
Unfortunately, Liu Buli offered no particularly useful advice this time. After a moment of silence, he simply told him four words: "Go with the flow."
Unsure of how to proceed next, and how to resist Chu Yi's abilities, all Lu Wuming could do now was adjust his mindset and await the Ghost King's initiative.
As if to comfort his foolish dog, Liu Buli added a remark after his initial words. "No matter what you've done during this time, I will forgive you. Because I know very well it wasn't your intention. You merely made some mistakes while your mind was unclear. Even if others don't forgive you, I can. I can tolerate all your wrongdoings, so no matter what happens, never deny yourself. Just wait for me to find you; don't worry too much about anything else."
Liu Buli's words were rather veiled.
But Lu Wuming understood.
He was clearly telling him that even if he had indeed eaten people during this time due to the Ghost King, Liu Buli would absolutely not blame him for it.
Although he had long known Liu Buli would give him such an answer when he heard about it, hearing it now, Lu Wuming couldn't help but feel a sting in his nose.
He had indeed not misjudged.
No matter the situation, his master would always embrace him and never speak harshly to him.
That night, Lu Wuming spent it listening to Liu Buli's comforting words. Even though they couldn't have any physical contact, just hearing the other's voice brought a sense of solace to Lu Wuming's heart. At least this current situation felt far more comfortable than enduring it alone.
The Ghost City had no distinction between day and night, so the concept of time became exceptionally blurred here.
Lu Wuming engaged in conversations with Liu Buli for a period each day. Although each conversation wouldn't last long, maintaining this connection ensured that his state of mind wouldn't collapse significantly.
Perhaps because their conversation that day had indeed played a role, in the following days, Shisan occasionally brought food from the human world for Lu Wuming to eat.
The Ghost King tacitly approved of his actions, so Lu Wuming didn't hesitate to accept. Besides eating, they also engaged in combat training.
And during these battles, Shisan gradually began to notice.
Their young master was clearly the type who grew stronger with every fight. While he could initially hold his own against Lu Wuming for a while before a victor was decided, as time passed and their battles increased, Shisan found that he could no longer last very long under Lu Wuming's hands.
The gap between them was widening.
And as it widened, Shisan became certain that Lu Wuming had not secretly eaten anyone.
Precisely because of this, Shisan became even more convinced of Lu Wuming's earlier pronouncements—
That the Ghost Clan's path to strength had nothing to do with eating people.
It turned out they, the fools, had been going down the wrong path all along. They thought they had grasped the best shortcut, only to realize they had obtained mere illusions.
The more Shisan thought about it, the more his admiration for their young master grew.
Lu Wuming, of course, could feel his adoration.
So, besides eating and training, he would occasionally adopt an air of profound mystery and explain some secrets of human cultivation to Shisan. By simply replacing "spiritual energy" with "ghostly energy" in his explanations, he could make Shisan feel as if he had benefited greatly and learned much new knowledge.
Shisan, of course, didn't realize that what he was hearing was merely his young master's nonsensical ramblings. Thus, he memorized everything diligently, his admiration and respect for Lu Wuming deepening day by day.
Nearly a month passed in this manner.
Lu Wuming considered it and felt that his relationship with Shisan was now sufficiently established. So, after another battle concluded, he glanced at Shisan's face and then, as if by chance, casually asked, "Shisan, I've been here for quite some time, and the only people I've encountered with numerical codenames are you few. Do you know where the others have gone? And what are their abilities? Can you tell me about them?"