Chapter 86 - 81: Night Has Fallen

Chapter 86: Chapter 81: Night Has Fallen

"You’re very strong."

"Stronger than many living beings I’ve seen. And I can feel that your efficiency at absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power is remarkably high. You’re an out-and-out genius."

Zhao An watched Xia Yu slaughter the Mutants as if she were slicing through vegetables. A look of admiration crossed his face as he spoke again, "Become my Ghost Slave. I can give you the best cultivation resources and make that body of yours even stronger."

"Become a truly strong person."

"And stand proudly between heaven and earth."

He was trying to win Xia Yu over.

’If I had a Ghost Slave as powerful as Xia Yu, how could I be suppressed by a group of Mutants like this?’

"No matter how strong it becomes, it wouldn’t be me."

"Just one of your puppets."

Xia Yu shook her head. "Besides, you might not even be able to beat me. Why should I submit to someone weaker than myself?"

"You’re very confident."

Zhao An gave a faint, self-assured smile. "Seeing as you’ve answered my questions, I can tell you my rule for killing..."

"Being alone!"

’Being alone?’

Four things immediately came to Xia Yu’s mind:

Song Zichao, his brother, and the "pure girl" had entered the village together as a group of three.

Ye Xue and four others had entered the village together.

Zhao An and the others had all entered the village alone.

Zhu Fangfang’s group of four, including "Hemorrhoid Man," were not alone.

"Whatever you do, don’t get caught alone."

"Your soul looks delicious. I can’t wait to eat it."

"SLURP."

Zhao An’s smile widened, and he couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.

But a smile on that ruined, bloody face was simply grotesque.

Then, like a robot that had lost power, he collapsed to the ground.

Apparently, the ghost had relinquished its control over him.

PFFT.

The Blood Butterfly pierced through the center of his brow.

She did this to prevent the Ghost Clan from controlling him again.

’That ghost just said it wanted to eat my soul?’

Xia Yu pondered this as she continued to fight.

’There are many soul-eating members of the Ghost Clan, so I still can’t identify which ghost this is.’

Still, knowing its rule for killing was already a huge gain.

「One minute later.」

Xia Yu had killed all the Mutants, obtaining another two Crystal Cores.

「Afterward.」

She turned her gaze to the large, red bridal sedan chair.

After a moment’s thought,

Xia Yu suddenly grabbed a dead Mutant and hurled it viciously at the red sedan chair.

BANG.

The sound of impact rang out.

The large, red sedan chair didn’t budge an inch.

The Mutant fell to the ground, and nothing unusual happened.

She grabbed another dead Mutant and threw it again, this time aiming for the sedan’s curtain.

BANG.

The sound of impact rang out.

The seemingly thin curtain also didn’t move at all.

The Mutant fell to the ground, and nothing unusual happened.

She grabbed Zhao An and threw him for a third time, still aiming for the curtain.

BANG.

The sound of impact rang out.

The curtain remained motionless.

Zhao An fell to the ground, and nothing unusual happened.

’Ghost artifacts are powerful, but not so powerful that you can’t get near or touch them.’

’There could be many reasons for this, but no matter what it is, I shouldn’t linger here for too long.’

Having figured this out, Xia Yu didn’t test it further and simply turned to leave.

Seeing that Xia Yu wasn’t holding his earlier skepticism against him, "Hemorrhoid Man" breathed a secret sigh of relief and did his best to fade into the background.

Zhu Fangfang and the other two followed, looks of contemplation on their faces.

The conversation between Xia Yu and Zhao An had been a huge shock to them, and they still hadn’t fully processed it. However, they had come to a terrifying realization:

They seemed to have encountered something... unclean.

This made them even more terrified.

Recalling the ghost’s rule for killing, everyone stuck close together, afraid that the "unclean thing" would target them the moment they separated.

’The strange woman.’

’The missing child.’

’The eerie coffin.’

’The sedan chair blocking the road.’

’This ghost is even stronger than I imagined.’

Xia Yu frowned.

These were all the clues she had so far. For now, she couldn’t accurately gauge her opponent’s strength.

Her only option was to continue exploring the village and search for more information.

House after house was searched.

Nothing was found.

The sky was on the verge of turning completely dark.

"Hm?"

Xia Yu discovered that the courtyard gate in front of her wouldn’t budge!

Her eyes sharpened.

’Anywhere that’s out of the ordinary might lead to a new discovery.’

「Just then.」

The wind began to blow.

It sounded like the wail of a ghost.

Darkness encroached from all directions, as if trying to drive away the last of the light and swallow Xia Yu and her group whole.

A chill ran down their spines.

Zhu Fangfang’s hair stood on end. She was on high alert, gripping her Weapon so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

The "pure girl’s" male companion swallowed nervously.

"Hemorrhoid Man’s" entire body was tense. He clutched Zhu Fangfang’s clothes, unwilling to let go.

As for Zhao Huan, he kept glancing behind him. For some reason, he always felt a pair of eyes watching him from behind.

SHINK.

The sharp Blood Butterfly easily pierced the courtyard gate. With a casual swipe, it sliced the entire gate in two.

The sundered pieces of the gate fell to the ground.

Two wooden bars also clattered to the ground.

Xia Yu listened carefully. Hearing nothing unusual from within the courtyard, she strode inside.

「Soon.」

Following the muddy footprints on the ground, her gaze fell upon a house.

She approached step by step.

About three meters from the door, Xia Yu stopped and said, "Come on out."

???

Zhu Fangfang and the others were completely baffled.

They couldn’t follow Xia Yu’s train of thought at all.

Inside the room,

there was dead silence.

"Song Zichao."

"You and the people with you, come on out."

Xia Yu had been keeping a headcount and sensed there was more than one person inside.

A few more seconds passed.

Just as Xia Yu was starting to get a little impatient,

CREAK.

The door opened.

Song Zichao peeked his head out, tightly gripping a wooden stick. He stared at Xia Yu strangely and asked, "Do you know me?"

"No."

Xia Yu shook her head.

Uh.

Song Zichao faltered.

"You guys didn’t run into those monsters?"

Fifth Brother asked cautiously, showing no intention of letting them in.

"They’re all dead."

Xia Yu said calmly, her gaze falling on a dressing table inside the room. Her brow suddenly furrowed.

’A mirror facing the door?’

"Wang Hai!"

The "pure girl" was overjoyed. She immediately let go of Song Zichao and rushed to her male companion’s side.

"You’re okay! This is great!"

Wang Hai hugged the "pure girl" tightly, feeling the surprising elasticity where their bodies met. He glanced warily at Song Zichao, a faint hint of hostility in his eyes.

"*Sob*..."

"I just ran into a ghost."

The "pure girl" sobbed.

Zhu Fangfang and the others’ expressions changed. "There are really ghosts?"

Song Zichao and Fifth Brother exchanged a look and asked in confusion, "You ran into them too?"

The two groups recounted their respective encounters.

「A few minutes later.」

"There’s something strange about the dressing table!"

After learning about the "pure girl’s" experience, Xia Yu’s eyes were fixed on the copper mirror.

She could feel a faint Yin Qi.

’This is a ghost artifact!’

’Another ghost artifact!’

’How can there be so many ghost artifacts in this tiny village?’

’Could it be that there’s more than one ghost here?’

Her heart skipped a beat.

「Just then.」

The sky.

Turned completely dark.

When the last trace of light vanished, Zhao Huan felt as if he had been plunged into an icy abyss.

SWISH.

He whipped his head around, his pupils suddenly dilating.

There, standing motionless at the courtyard gate with her back to him, was a little girl in a floral-padded jacket with her hair in pigtails.

"Who’s there!"

Zhao Huan’s heart pounded wildly. Then, he remembered something, and his fear intensified. "You... Are you Little Flower?"

Everyone turned to follow Zhao Huan’s gaze, but there was no one there.

"Who’s Little Flower?"

"There’s no Little Flower here."

they asked with frowns.

Zhao Huan was dumbfounded.

’I just blinked, and the figure at the courtyard entrance was gone?’

"This..."

Thinking back on all the strange things that had just happened and the "pure girl’s" story of her ghostly encounter, Zhao Huan couldn’t help but press his lips together. He stammered, "I-I really did see that Little Flower just now."

"Stop trying to scare us. You’ll give someone a heart attack."

"Zhao Huan, are you sure you saw her?"

Zhu Fangfang asked, trying to confirm.

"I..."

Being questioned like that, Zhao Huan himself was no longer sure what he had seen.

"I think your eyes were playing tricks on you."

"Hemorrhoid Man" patted Zhao Huan’s shoulder and said, "We should focus on figuring out what to do with this copper mirror... Holy shit!"

Xia Yu was sitting in front of the dressing table, her eyes completely vacant.