Chapter 279: You’re in Big Trouble!

“I love you!”

A loud shout echoed in the dark, smoke-filled Lounge Bar.

At that moment, Jiang Li was vigilantly staring at the enormous haunting standing in the center of the room, her hands never stopping as she played the Erhu. Suddenly, she heard Lu Yibei’s pig-like scream, causing her to shiver.

Following the sound, she saw Lu Yibei, who had been lying lifelessly on a chair, suddenly awaken. She jumped up like a carp, landing steadily on the ground. In that instant, she employed the footwork from “The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe,” enhanced by the speed effect of the Imitation Divine Speed Horse Talisman.

“Whoosh-!”

In an instant, the wind roared, and her silver-white hair, tied up, scattered behind her like a flag fluttering.

Lu Yibei dashed towards the Broken Sword suspended in mid-air. Reaching below it, she stomped the ground fiercely and leaped upward.

In a brief moment of suspension, her forward momentum continued as she grasped the sword’s hilt and slashed down at the haunting with a clean and decisive “jump strike.”

The momentum was impressive, but the effect was lacking; she couldn’t penetrate the armor.

The jagged edge of the ancient sword scraped against the haunting’s body, accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound, sparking and scattering charred fragments, leaving only a shallow white mark.

Then Lu Yibei began to fall, heading towards the ground. She slightly bent her body, retracting her legs to brace for the impending impact.

As she touched the ground, her leg muscles subtly shifted with the aid of psychic energy, utilizing the gravity acceleration and inertia from the brief fall to launch herself again.

Like a soccer ball bouncing off the ground, she broke through the surface and soared once more. Before the haunting could react, she thrust the Broken Sword forward again.

“I really love you!”

Jiang Li, “…”

Watching Lu Yibei’s bizarre behavior, Jiang Li was utterly confused.

Has she been possessed by something unclean?

How did she suddenly turn into a warrior of love? Jiang Li wondered.

“Benefactor? Why are you…”

In the darkness, the haunting murmured in confusion, the chaotic light and shadows behind it rippling, as the bones gathered to protect its body.

In its eyes, there was no Lu Yibei, only the ancient sword left by Qing Ji, which had accompanied it for a century.

It didn’t even understand why it was being attacked by the ancient sword.

While the haunting was momentarily stunned, Lu Yibei landed again, quickly retreated two steps to gather momentum, and leaped forward once more, thrusting the Broken Sword without hesitation.

“I love you to death!”

Accompanied by a low growl through gritted teeth, the Broken Sword swept across Lu Yibei’s chest in an arc, slicing through the haunting’s front.

In the darkness, a faint crackling sound echoed, and a web of cracks spread across the haunting’s chest.

It worked! It’s really effective! Lu Yibei’s heart leaped with joy.

Let me add some more buffs!

“May your ten-card draw always yield results!”

“If you’re well, and he’s not, it’s a sunny day!”

“May your life be smooth, your career soar, your love be harmonious, and may you have children soon!”

“…”

Originally, Jiang Li watched Lu Yibei charge at the haunting as if courting death, filled with worry. She knew that brute force alone was unlikely to cause any substantial harm to the haunting.

But then, seeing Lu Yibei somehow break through the haunting’s protective bones, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

However, as Lu Yibei shouted those phrases while striking, Jiang Li’s expression gradually turned peculiar.

What kind of technique is this?

A New Year’s sword technique?

As Jiang Li pondered, the haunting’s protective bones shattered under Lu Yibei’s relentless assault.

In panic, the haunting tried to retreat, its countless pale tendrils flailing desperately, attempting to drive away the annoying figure in front of it. But then, it felt a warmth in its chest.

A hand reached into its wound, touching its core entity.

In the darkness, Lu Yibei’s hand penetrated the haunting’s body, her gaze slightly focused.

Next, comes the most crucial step!

Moments earlier, on the dilapidated rooftop.

Qing Ji leaned in and whispered the solution to Lu Yibei, causing her eyes to widen in surprise.

“Oh, this… Ancestor, you said so much nonsense, and it turns out you just want me to make it a familiar? Couldn’t you have just told me directly?”

Lu Yibei was taken aback upon hearing that the haunting residing in Xingfu Community was once Qing Ji’s familiar, and now she was tasked with making it her familiar. Her feelings were mixed.

Although she didn’t understand the principle of a psychic making a haunting a familiar, it felt strange to her, like suddenly discovering a family heirloom of a fairy maid.

“Oh? In your era, is this how you call the subdued evil spirits, familiars?” Qing Ji nodded, “To become familiars is to have fate… Hmm, it’s somewhat fitting.”

“By the way, who came up with this term?”

As he spoke, Qing Ji’s eyes showed a hint of admiration.

“I don’t know either.”

Anyway, your idea of “love” seems more reliable. Lu Yibei added in her heart.

“In any case, who coined the term isn’t important. What’s important is, why me? That’s a Class A Haunting.”

Lu Yibei shook her head like a rattle.

“You’re asking me to make it my familiar, isn’t that just sending me to my death? It’s too dangerous, I won’t go! If I fail, I’ll end up being controlled by it!”

Qing Ji patted Lu Yibei’s shoulder calmly, “Don’t worry, with me here, love boldly!”

“You mean you’ll provide me with protection?” Lu Yibei squinted, sizing up Qing Ji, waiting for his response.

If hunting hauntings could be turned from a horror game into a Pokémon collection game, that wouldn’t be bad, right? Lu Yibei thought.

Qing Ji nodded slightly, “Exactly!”

Weighing Qing Ji’s strength and various vulnerabilities, Lu Yibei made a compromise, “But the state you mentioned, I probably can’t achieve it!”

Unlike Qing Ji, who had traveled thousands of miles and seen the vicissitudes of life, Lu Yibei’s concerns were limited to the vast land and all living things, apart from Miss Lu Yanzhi.

She didn’t understand how to wield a sword with a loving heart to enhance the Pure Lotus Sword’s power; she didn’t even know what love was. She had never been in a relationship.

“That’s indeed a problem…” Qing Ji pondered seriously for a moment, “If you really can’t, just shout it out. The effect might be weaker, but it’s still there.”

“Really?”

“When have I ever lied to you?”

The ancestor wouldn’t joke about my safety, this is doable… Lu Yibei thought, nodding, “Then I’ll go?”

“Go, go!” Qing Ji waved his hand, showing a loving smile of concern, “Once you’re done, come find me to practice swordsmanship.”

Thinking of the “practice” that was more like “torture,” Lu Yibei felt pain all over, as if she had been stabbed into a beehive.

“Ancestor, not today…”

Qing Ji’s expression turned stern, his voice cold and angry, “You fool! Practice one day, gain one day; skip one day, lose ten days. Don’t even think about slacking!”

“Don’t worry, today I’ll show you something new, it won’t be boring.”

Lu Yibei, “…”

What does that mean? Make my death more varied?

Briefly recalling the conversation with Qing Ji, Lu Yibei refocused, softly calling, “Ancestor, it’s your turn!”

“…”

After waiting for a moment, Qing Ji didn’t respond.

“Ancestor? Hey! Are you there?”

“…”

In the silence, no one answered, only the occasional faint laughter from those suspended on the haunting’s tendrils.

What’s going on? This isn’t what was promised!

Damn it! If I ever believe his nonsense again, I’ll be his grandson!

Lu Yibei cursed inwardly, preparing to withdraw her hand and escape. Just then, a terrifying pressure gripped her arm.

The haunting suddenly tightened its wound, locking her arm like a hydraulic clamp.

“Crack-crack-!”

With the sound of joints deforming, the haunting’s neck bent and twisted unnaturally, its large face painted in green makeup silently approached Lu Yibei.

Two deep, black eyes, like obsidian, trembled slightly, scanning her up and down. Pale lips parted slightly, releasing a dizzying jaw harp sound, accompanied by a foul smell, revealing countless charred little hands wriggling within the gaps.

Invisible psychic energy fluctuations, carrying a bone-chilling coldness, brushed over Lu Yibei like malicious arms.

Instantly, her hair stood on end, sweat trickling down her temples.

This is bad!

“Um, I can explain, actually…”

“Roar-!”

The haunting suddenly let out a low roar, its tendrils swinging from virtual to real, like a torrential downpour, crashing onto Lu Yibei’s body.

The sudden pain was overwhelming, making Lu Yibei feel as if her bones were about to shatter. If she hadn’t experienced hundreds of deaths before, she might have fainted from the pain.

What is the ancestor doing?

Everything was fine before, why did he suddenly go offline?

If it doesn’t work, I’ll have to… like I did with Du Sixian… Lu Yibei thought.

At that moment, a faint gray line emanated from the haunting’s body, flowing into Lu Yibei through her arm…

Meanwhile, in the dilapidated city.

Qing Ji stood atop the tallest building, holding the Pure Lotus Sword, waiting quietly. As soon as Lu Yibei called, he would use the sword as a medium to transmit psychic energy and assist her.

However.

Just as Lu Yibei touched the haunting’s core entity, before she could call out, a sudden change occurred.

“Roar-!”

It was as if a sinister melody played above the clouds, and in the sudden lamentation, a torrent of psychic energy swept down from the sky.

In the air, the sound of crystal shattering was incessant.

In the sky, the piled clouds were eroded by the psychic energy fluctuation, gradually darkening from light gray. The black clouds were as heavy as marble, suffocating.

And the invasion brought by the psychic energy fluctuation seemed to have a viral-like activity, continuously spreading downward.

Soon, the ruined city was shrouded in haze.

The air was filled with a choking smell, Qing Ji frowned, the scent was like burning waste, battlefield smoke, and more toxic gases he had never encountered.

As the haze spread, everything became eerie and terrifying, invisible phantoms roamed in the thick fog, while in the sky came constant inhuman shrieks.

Something was raging, the shadowy figures in the city ruins trembled, fleeing into the shadows.

It was as if the apocalypse was coming again, everything rapidly turning into a nightmare.

Suddenly, a long howl, not quite real, echoed from the clouds, the world paused.

As the distant howl approached, outside the mist, the sky was suddenly torn open.

Above the shattered sky, the black clouds surged like a turbulent sea, a moment of raging waves.

The next moment, a “tsunami” occurred.

As if gravity had reversed, the clouds suddenly crashed towards the ground, a twisted giant figure with wings formed from swirling smoke, rushing towards Qing Ji.

In the rolling smoke, various diseased structures briefly appeared. Whether grotesquely proportioned arms, claws, or tendrils, or mouth-like fissures.

On the high-rise, Qing Ji stood in the storm of filthy psychic energy, his hair fluttering, clothes flapping, his expression unchanged.

“Though I don’t know what you are, but…”

As he spoke, he pointed the three-foot blade at the sky, “That little one made a mistake, is it you, this abomination, causing trouble?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the psychic energy fluctuation beside Qing Ji intensified.

Tons of air, mixed with haze, were swept by psychic energy, creating a storm that collided with his body, producing a high-pitched roar like steel grinding.

“Hmph-!” Qing Ji snorted coldly, an ancient light pattern instantly unfolded behind him, then he swung a sword towards the haunting in the sky.

“Taihe Gentleman Sword: Violet Firmament Blade!”

With a shout, the ancient pattern behind Qing Ji shone brightly.

In an instant, dazzling lightning split from the sword blade, like a hidden dragon ascending, scattering branches of destruction in all directions.

The lightning was tangible, piercing through the mist, peeling off the haunting’s massive body, turning into foul-smelling blood that splattered down.

However, the haunting’s psychic energy seemed inexhaustible, the haze quickly gathered around it, continuously spawning new bizarre limbs, dull-colored, constantly waving, reaching Qing Ji in an instant.

Then, the ancient light pattern behind him lit up, and he swung a second sword.

“Taihe Gentleman Sword: Heavenly Symphony!”

With the sword swung, a celestial wind blew, a deep and ancient sound, as if from a distant palace, spread, a white rainbow soared into the sky.

Like a blade of divine wrath, it stirred the wind and clouds, tearing, shattering, evaporating, causing countless bizarre limbs formed by the haze to disintegrate.

With one strike, the haunting in the sky retreated thousands of feet, almost back to the dome, leaving only a cluster of clouds near the sky’s fissure, forming numerous eyes, peering down.

At this moment, a distant whisper echoed.

“A place with zhong mountain. A woman clad in green, wherever she is seen, there is a great drought…”

“Travel north of the red river, ascend Kunlun and look southwards, where the river is graceful, and the water gives rise to beauty…”

Then, the remaining haze was torn apart.

A line of blazing light emerged, igniting everything in the violent psychic energy fluctuation, and the haze was burned into a beautiful crystal, like a mark, imprinted on the dome.

Seeing this, Qing Ji’s body softened, collapsing.

Inside the Lounge Bar.

“A place with zhong mountain. A woman clad in green, wherever she is seen, there is a great drought…”

Lu Yibei kept silently reciting the description, her body temperature rising to a terrifying level, her coat long gone, leaving only smoke swirling, concealing unspeakable secrets.

Even the spell formation Jiang Li had cast to defend against the haunting’s tendril attacks was crumbling under the heat.

In the darkness, magma-like light flowed slowly through Lu Yibei’s veins, gradually converging at her fingertips, pouring into the haunting’s body.

Then, on the haunting’s surface, as if something ignited, a golden-red flame suddenly appeared, swiftly moving, a complex pattern of flame-like marks was instantly outlined.

As the flame began to outline the mark, Jiang Li realized Lu Yibei intended to turn the haunting into a familiar, her lips parted slightly, ultimately abandoning the thought of interrupting Lu Yibei.

In the absence of alternatives, becoming Lu Yibei’s familiar was better than being an uncontrolled haunting, right? Jiang Li thought.

However, as the familiar mark was completed, a haze suddenly dispersed from the haunting’s body, forming a distorted cloud pattern in the air, emitting a foul aura.

Jiang Li stared at the cloud pattern, her heart sinking, her pupils contracting violently.

This is bad!

How is this haunting related to the Haze Deity?

As Jiang Li hesitated, Lu Yibei completed the familiar mark’s imprint, the distorted cloud pattern shattered, the flame-like pattern flashed across the haunting’s head, then slowly faded.

Lu Yibei also collapsed from exhaustion, falling to the ground like a puddle of mud.

Seeing this, Jiang Li hesitated for a moment, then approached, examining Lu Yibei for a while, silently sighing, gently wiping away the blood seeping from her features.

Moments later, she looked up to find the haunting had vanished, perhaps under Lu Yibei’s command, hiding once more, leaving no trace of psychic energy fluctuation.

After an unknown amount of time, Lu Yibei gradually awoke, the intense pain causing her to gasp.

“Hiss-!”

Upon opening her eyes, she saw Jiang Li’s expressionless face, calmly speaking words that shocked her.

“You’re done for, you’re in big trouble. Don’t mention you know me when you go out.”

“Huh?”

Jiang Li rolled her eyes, explaining, “You snatched the familiar of the haunting ranked ninth on The Midnight Watchers Society’s Wanted List. Just pray it doesn’t find you!”

Lu Yibei, “…”