As if finding it novel, Fu Sang looked at Qi Changying’s profile and raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.
Fu Sang knew Qi Changying had a cotton-like disposition…he wouldn’t get angry no matter how he was treated. Expecting such a ghost to act like a summoned beast and attack on command was simply wishful thinking.
So, every time he needed Qi Changying to fulfill his role as a seventh-rank Crimson Evil, Fu Sang would first loosen the seal on the snake-bone nail just a little, letting the malevolent energy of the nail take control of him, causing him to briefly lose his sanity and enter a state of frenzy.
Although he didn’t know why, Qi Changying indeed obeyed the snake-bone nail. This nail was like the Achilles heel of this Crimson Evil…touch it and he went mad, and whoever could control this nail could control this ghost.
The situation before him made Fu Sang double-check many times: he had indeed not touched the nail, the seal on the nail was intact, and Qi Changying was in a state of complete clarity.
So this threatening action of baring-teeth was indeed Qi Changying’s own initiative.
So cotton did have a temper after all.
Indeed, how could a general lead the invincible Qi Family Army if he didn’t have a bit of a temper?
“Cotton.”
“…Hm?”
Qi Changying was stunned for a moment before realizing Fu Sang was calling him.
“Move aside.”
Fu Sang pressed down the hand Qi Changying had raised in front of him and pushed the ghost aside a little.
Qi Changying wasn’t entirely willing. “He seems to want to hurt you.”
“Do I need him to welcome me?”
Fu Sang let out a scoffing laugh, “Move aside, don’t get in the way. I want to see what he’s really trying to do.”
This little ghost’s behavior was rather unusual.
Ordinary spirits would have already fled in terror upon encountering a seventh-rank Crimson Evil like Qi Changying, but this little boy showed no sign of retreating; instead, he kept threatening him fiercely.
Even if he had intellectual disabilities, that shouldn’t be the case, because Fu Sang noticed the little boy’s legs were trembling, and fleeing from fear was a survival instinct, unrelated to intelligence.
Upon receiving Fu Sang’s instruction, Qi Changying dispersed into mist, and when he recondensed, he was already sitting on top of the high, charred wall.
Fu Sang glanced at him without a word, then turned his attention back and continued walking toward the little boy.
Fu Sang’s approach made the little boy very uneasy, but Fu Sang clearly wasn’t going to consider his feelings.
In the most dominant posture, he looked down directly into the little boy’s eyes, stretching the invisible string between the one human and one ghost to its limit, until finally, with a “snap,” it broke…
The little boy let out a strange cry, kicked off his back legs, and lunged at him.
Fu Sang, unusually, didn’t strike first. He sidestepped slightly, letting the little boy lunge at empty air, then grabbed the back of his neck and lifted the little ghost up like a puppy.
The little ghost had no power to resist at all. His short arms and legs flailed wildly, making “wu wu wu” sounds from his mouth.
Finding the sound a bit muffled and strange, Fu Sang glanced down and saw that the little ghost had bitten onto his canvas bag with his mouth.
Ghost teeth were very sharp, and their strength was great. The little ghost clamped down on the bag, shaking his head and tearing at it a couple of times, and with a “rip,” the fabric split open, spilling its contents all over the ground.
Fu Sang’s bag hadn’t held much, just his ID, some change, keys, and small items like talismans and copper coins, plus the ugly old man statue he’d swiped from someone’s house.
As if suddenly realizing something, Fu Sang let him go.
The little boy, free again, dropped back to the ground, rolled over in one swift motion, and, ignoring Fu Sang entirely, bit down on the statue, crunching it to pieces in a few bites.
His mouth was covered with debris. Finally, he let out a threatening puff of air at Fu Sang and turned to run. Fu Sang didn’t stop him, only calmly called out:
“Cotton.”
This time, Qi Changying knew the term referred to him. He immediately blocked the little boy’s path, hoisted the little ghost up under his armpits, and lifted him.
Since the little ghost hadn’t harmed Fu Sang, Qi Changying’s movements in restraining him weren’t too rough. He even handled him with a careful gentleness, as if dealing with a living child.
“Aaah! Aaaah! Bad! Bad!!”
The little ghost didn’t sense Qi Changying’s kindness. He was very uneasy, flailing desperately in the big ghost’s arms.
And while the two ghosts were making a ruckus, Fu Sang suddenly felt a pain in his wrist. He looked down and saw a ring of teeth marks there.
Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly.
He strode over, raised his hand, and smacked the little ghost on his still-intact half-head, producing a “bang” sound.
“Ah!!!” The little ghost was stunned by the hit. After coming back to his senses, he clutched his head and glared at Fu Sang angrily.
Qi Changying was also startled. He looked at Fu Sang, then at the child in his arms. He was about to advise Fu Sang to hit a little lighter and, if possible, not to use direct violence on such a young child, but before he could speak, Fu Sang grabbed the little boy’s chin and forcefully lifted his face. He then held up the flashlight in his other hand, using the light to carefully examine his features.
This little ghost was missing half his head, his entire body pale, bloated, and his features distorted, making it hard to match his appearance to memory.
So Fu Sang clamped the flashlight between his teeth and pulled an old photograph from his pocket.
Previously, Zhuge Buhuo had given him the photo without asking for it back, so Fu Sang hadn’t returned it.
It was intentional.
Because he felt this thing would have a brighter future with him than with Zhuge Buhuo.
And now this photograph’s moment of glory had arrived.
Fu Sang carefully examined Wu Renshuai, whose face was somewhat blurry in the photo, sitting in Zhang Xifeng’s lap.
He hadn’t paid much attention when he first looked, but now he noticed that Wu Renshuai had a large black mole on the sole of his right foot.
So he released the little ghost’s half-missing face and instead grabbed his intact right foot.
It was the same spot, the same mole.
This little ghost was Wu Renshuai.
It was as he guessed, but compared to speculation, Fu Sang preferred things that have been thoroughly confirmed rather than guessed.
“Can you talk?” Putting the photo away, Fu Sang looked at Wu Renshuai and asked.
“Ah! Bad!”
Wu Renshuai was still clutching the spot on his head where he’d been hit, refusing to communicate with Fu Sang and simply calling him bad.
Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly, and as the hand with the Ghost Blood Whip formed a seal, the copper coins clinked with a crisp sound.
The reversal spell took effect, restoring the bag and statue that Wu Renshuai had destroyed back to their original state.
Fu Sang crouched down, picked up the scattered items, packed them away, and slung the bag back over his shoulder. Holding the statue in his hand, he deliberately waved it at Wu Renshuai.
Wu Renshuai immediately became like a cat with its fur standing on end, screaming and flailing his limbs as if to lunge at him.
“He’s very afraid and hates this thing very much.”
While Fu Sang was teasing him with the statue, Qi Changying suddenly spoke.
He frowned very slightly, and when he spoke again, he looked up into Fu Sang’s eyes, his tone considerably more certain:
“His death has something to do with it.”
…
Huo Wei walked unsteadily along the mountain path.
Her heart was pounding in her chest. Ahead of her, Wu Renmei had a tight grip on her hand, making her flesh ache.
Huo Wei didn’t know where she was being taken.
She couldn’t break free, and didn’t dare speak, so she could only follow silently.
Zhuge Buhuo and Zhuge Buyi, who had only recently woken up, followed at a distance, supposedly to ensure her safety, but Huo Wei couldn’t derive even a shred of security from these two.
Ridiculous.
Once you’ve seen the vast ocean, no mere river can compare; without Fu Sang, no one was dependable.
Wu Renmei seemed to be avoiding something, because along the way, she kept pulling Huo Wei into hiding, almost always staying close to large trees and bushes, constantly looking around, cautious and furtive.
“My didi is sick, Ah Tian.”
At some point along the way, for some unknown reason, Wu Renmei suddenly started crying.
She raised her hand to wipe away her tears:
“Everyone says he’s been possessed by something dirty. Auntie said that only big brother can cure his illness.”
These words made Huo Wei’s heart itch with frustration.
‘What illness? What big brother?’
She had so many questions she wanted to gossip about, but was agonizingly unable to speak.
She had never felt so vividly how painful it was to lose one’s ability to speak.
She was unbearably uncomfortable until she was finally led by Wu Renmei to their destination…a dilapidated temple hidden deep in the mountains.
But Wu Renmei didn’t go inside. She just pulled Huo Wei around to the other side of the temple and stood on tiptoe to peer through a broken window.
Curious, Huo Wei also looked, but she couldn’t see anything.
Because the window had been nailed shut from the inside with wooden planks; aside from the grain of the wood, she could see nothing.
“Creak!”
The sound of a wooden door opening and closing came from somewhere, followed by a dragging, shuffling footsteps.
Whoever it was had come out of the temple, and the footsteps grew clearer, meaning the person was approaching their direction.
But Wu Renmei seemed not to hear anything at all.
She only stared fixedly at the window, her round eyes wide, her mouth slightly open, even trembling a little.
Huo Wei tried shaking her arm.
It was no use.
So she could only swallow dryly, watching the shadow stretching longer and longer around the corner of the wall, praying it wasn’t something strange.
“Crack!”
A branch snapped in two, letting out its final dry sound in life.
A man walked out from behind the wall.
By the moonlight, Huo Wei could see he was about fifty years old, not tall but very fat, like a big meatball with four sticks stuck in it…it was definitely a human.
The man seemed to have been woken from sleep; he rubbed his eyes as he walked. When he saw them, mainly when he saw Wu Renmei, his slit-like eyes suddenly flew wide open!
At the same time, Wu Renmei seemed to realize something too, and stiffly turned her face toward him.
“Ahhh!!!”
They both screamed at the same time.
Wu Renmei looked as if she’d seen the most terrifying thing in the world. She fell back onto her buttocks, instinctively scrambling backward.
The man’s legs went weak too, and he staggered backward.
Huo Wei was forced to endure two piercing shrieks, her head feeling as if it was being torn apart by the screams. She was dazed, and when she finally came back to her senses, Wu Renmei had already scrambled up and fled down the path behind the temple.
Huo Wei turned to look at her retreating figure, then back at the man, and finally regained the freedom to close her eyes and scream:
“Help!!!”
Just as Huo Wei was drawing out her cry for help, four talismans flew out of midair, accurately sticking to the man’s four limbs. Then the lower halves of the talismans stretched like elastic, winding around his wrists and ankles several times before violently yanking his entire body to the ground.
The man was stuck to the ground in a spread-eagle position, the four talismans acting like extremely tough shackles, their ends sinking into the ground to firmly trap him, leaving him unable to move.
Huo Wei was stunned by this turn of events. Then she heard a “thud” as something heavy landed on the roof. She instinctively looked up and saw a dark figure leap down from the top of the temple.
The person was holding a sword-shaped magical weapon, the blade pointing downward and heading straight for the man lying face-up on the ground!
“Big Brother…wait!!”
At the moment Zhuge Buhuo leaped down, Zhuge Buyi, hiding not far away, seemed to have noticed something and shouted to stop Zhuge Buhuo’s action.
So Zhuge Buhuo, midair, had no choice but to pull back his blade at the last moment. Upon landing, the wooden sword handle, which he had turned around, was positioned precisely at the center of the man’s torso.
Having his attack suddenly halted midair would make anyone break out in a cold sweat.
Zhuge Buhuo wiped the cold sweat from his brow and, once he’d recovered, couldn’t help but break down: “What the hell?!!”
Zhuge Buyi trotted over, his face still pale, breathing a little heavily, and told him:
“…He, he’s human. A living person.”
“Of course I’m a living person!!”
Chen Binglong felt very wronged.
He’d only gotten up at night to pee behind the house. Who could have guessed that in the middle of the night, the village’s ghost child would have nothing better to do than peek through his window?
Who could have guessed that before he’d even gotten over the fright, he’d suddenly be inexplicably tied to the ground?
And who could have guessed that someone would suddenly jump down from the roof holding a sword, looking like they were about to cut him open?
“What the hell are you doing hiding around here in the middle of the night if you’re human?!” Zhuge Buhuo was equally furious. He thought that after following We Reimeng, they’d gotten lucky and caught the mastermind behind everything, but it turned out to be another outsider causing chaos.
“When was I hiding? I live here!”
Chen Binglong was on the verge of tears.
The things binding his wrists and ankles were withdrawn, and regaining his freedom, he scrambled up from the ground in one swift motion.
Only after getting up did he see that what had bound him were talismans, and the peachwood sword in the young man’s hand was threaded with talismans too. The grievances and anger in his heart instantly dissipated, and his eyes lit up:
“Daoist masters! You are all Daoist masters too?!”
“‘Too’?” Zhuge Buhuo frowned, sharply catching that word, and sized him up.
“What do you mean? You’ve seen that kid surnamed Fu?”
“Uh, I did see someone, but I don’t know his surname. He’s the one with two different-colored eyes. He was quite handsome, but he was really fierce!”
“Like he hasn’t slept in a hundred years, with an inhuman, ghostly and gloomy aura that’s pretty scary, right?”
“Yes, yes!”
Zhuge Buhuo clapped his hands together, absolutely certain: “That’s him.”
Zhuge Buyi stood to the side, sizing up Chen Binglong, then looked at the dilapidated temple.
“Why do you live here? Is it… uh… because the person you met before told you to stay here?”
“Oh, no. I only met that guy this morning.”
Chen Binglong nervously dusted himself off and reintroduced himself:
“I usually help people with fortune-telling and feng shui, nothing as professional as you, of course. About half a month ago, I got an email saying there was a big job in Mitou Village, so I came over. But this place is seriously creepy…once you’re in, you can’t get out. The village is full of ghostly things. Maybe you don’t understand why I say that, but this explanation should clear it up, that little girl just now, I saw her thirty years ago! She’s still exactly the same as when I knew her back then. Tell me, isn’t that terrifying? How could I dare stay there? With no other choice, I had to hide here just to survive, living day by day, praying that one day someone would come and save me from this horrible place…”
“Wait.” Huo Wei suddenly interjected.
Her legs, which had gone weak from fright, finally recovered. She slowly stood up using the wall as support, and asked,
“You saw her thirty years ago? You mean, you’ve been to this village before?”
“I have, so I’m pretty familiar with this place. If you three want to know anything, just ask me! I don’t want anything. I’m not after anything…I just hope that when you get out, you’ll take me along!” Chen Binglong smiled ingratiatingly.
Zhuge Buyi looked at him, then at the dilapidated temple beside him. After a moment of scrutiny, he suddenly asked, “You said you’ve been hiding here for half a month already?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Why is there a house like this on the mountain? Is this… a temple? What temple? What god is enshrined inside? It’s been half a month…you’ve been hiding here, and no one from the village has ever found you?”
“Oh, oh, to the villagers, this place is like their holy ground. They don’t usually come here to disturb it, so there’s basically no one around, naturally they wouldn’t find me! All this time, the only people who’ve come here, besides you three and that previous Daoist master, is that little girl just now. Actually, I don’t know why she suddenly came running here today, peeking through people’s windows in the middle of the night. It was pretty scary…”
“Why?” Zhuge Buyi suddenly cut him off.
“Wh-what why?” Chen Binglong was taken aback.
“Why wouldn’t people usually come here? Why is it called a holy ground?”
“Oh, oh, because the temple enshrines the mountain god of this mountain, he’s called the Hubizi God, the guardian deity of Mitou Village. The people in the village have believed in it for generations, they’re very devout. But actually…”
Bringing this up, Chen Binglong suddenly lowered his voice, looking mysterious.
“What is it? Don’t beat around the bush, just say it!” Zhuge Buhuo hated this dragging, hesitant attitude. He tucked his peachwood sword into his belt, crossed his arms and asked impatiently.
“Oh, oh, actually, I feel…it’s just my feeling, you know…even back thirty years ago, I thought this god didn’t seem like anything good. Rather than a guardian deity, this thing seemed more like a…”
Chen Binglong swallowed, enunciating each word: “…an evil thing!”
