Chapter 86: A Predicament of Certain Death

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: A Predicament of Certain Death

Shen Dujiang stared at Hu Shaoyu’s face, his voice low and strained. "One hundred taels? Hu, that’s not what we agreed on! This price is completely out of line!"

Hu Shaoyu chuckled slyly, not the least bit embarrassed. Instead, he sounded perfectly justified. "Boss Shen, that was then, and this is now. We originally discussed a normal, leisurely escort job, not this mad dash."

Veins throbbed on Shen Dujiang’s forehead. He was about to suppress his anger and speak when...

"That’s the price."

Chen Yue stepped forward, his gaze calm as he looked at Hu Shaoyu. His tone was utterly flat. "One hundred taels. You’ll leave with us now for Celestial State Prefecture. Immediately."

Hu Shaoyu froze, looking at Chen Yue in surprise.

’I thought the veteran, Shen Dujiang, was the one calling the shots. I never expected this incredibly young man to make the final decision so decisively. And that tone... it carried an even greater air of authority than Shen Dujiang’s.’

His gaze swept over the long saber at Chen Yue’s waist and the pack on his back before flicking to Shen Dujiang. He asked hesitantly, "This young... brother... does his word carry weight?"

Shen Dujiang took a deep breath, suppressing his frustration. He knew this was no time to argue. "What he says, goes!" he said in a low voice. "We can afford the silver coins! Hu, stop wasting time. Let’s go now!"

Seeing Shen Dujiang’s confirmation, Hu Shaoyu’s face immediately broke into a wide grin. "Excellent! So decisive! Just wait here a moment. I’ll pop inside to grab a few essentials, and we can leave right away!"

With that, he turned to duck into his low, earthen hut.

But just then...

"CRUNCH... CRUNCH... SQUELCH..."

An incredibly eerie sound suddenly drifted from the depths of a distant alley, carried on a cold, sinister wind.

It sounded like bones being crunched and flesh being torn, mixed with the squelching churn of some viscous liquid. On the deathly silent, dim street, the noise was exceptionally clear and piercing.

Hearing the sound, Lin Quan, who was not a Martial Artist, only felt his skin crawl. But the expressions of Chen Yue, Shen Dujiang, and even Hu Shaoyu, who was just about to turn, changed drastically. Their bodies tensed in an instant as they whipped their heads around, their sharp gazes fixed on the source of the noise.

"Such potent Qi Blood... So... fragrant..."

An ethereal, eerie voice drifted over, seeming to whisper right in their ears while simultaneously echoing from far away.

Immediately after, a black silhouette slowly materialized within the ever-thickening, gray-black fog at the end of the alley. Its outline was blurry, as if it were one with the mist.

It stood there, seemingly looking their way.

As they focused their gazes, a chill went down each of their spines.

The silhouette was roughly humanoid, but its form was hunched and twisted. The most terrifying part was its head—or rather, what was left of it.

The left side of its head, including the eye and ear, appeared to have been violently torn and gnawed off by some sharp weapon or savage beast. All that remained was a ragged, gory chasm, through which one could vaguely see the dark, blackened-red of the cranial cavity inside.

On the remaining right side of its face, a single turbid, bloodshot eye stared at them, fixed in a look of rabid greed.

Its mouth was askew, the corners stained with a dark red substance. It opened and closed, making a wet, smacking sound that made one’s scalp tingle.

"A ghost... It’s a ghost! H-how can this ghostly creature get into the county seat!"

The moment Hu Shaoyu saw the half-headed silhouette, he let out a choked cry like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. For the first time, genuine panic showed on his face.

In his youth, he had traveled far and wide for many years. It wasn’t that he’d never seen a ghost, but ghosts had their own rules of engagement.

A typical county seat teems with the vitality of the living; it’s a nexus of Qi Blood and is further protected by the providence of the Government Office. Ordinary Ghostly Objects find it nearly impossible to enter, and would be scorched just by getting close.

Yet this Half-Headed Ghost before them had appeared so brazenly in an alley of the county seat!

Shen Dujiang’s face was ashen. He gritted his teeth and said, "Now do you believe me? A blood sacrifice! They used an Evil Technique to shatter the county’s protection, letting these ghostly creatures in to assault the city, sow chaos, and make it easier for them to operate!"

The Half-Headed Ghost’s turbid eye first fell on Lin Quan, who had the weakest presence, and it showed undisguised hunger.

But then, its gaze shifted slowly, finally settling on Chen Yue.

In its perception, this young man’s Qi Blood was the most abundant and vigorous, emitting an unparalleled aroma that made it want to lose all reason and pounce.

However, a powerful, instinctual alarm held it in check.

This delectable meal before it also faintly exuded an aura that made it uneasy, causing it to hesitate.

Chen Yue’s brow furrowed slightly. He looked at the hesitant Half-Headed Ghost, then glanced at the black fog spreading in the distance. "Should we deal with it first?" he asked in a low voice.

But Shen Dujiang shook his head and whispered, "Now is not the time. This ghostly creature’s appearance means there’s likely more than one of them in the city.

"If we fight it here, the commotion could attract more. Our priority is to get out of the city as quickly as possible and leave this hornet’s nest!"

Hu Shaoyu nodded vigorously, his face pale. "Boss Shen is right! Ghostly Objects are extremely sensitive to their own kind and the scent of blood. Kill one, and you might attract a whole swarm! Let’s go, just ignore it!"

After a moment’s thought, Chen Yue knew they were right.

’I’m not afraid of this Half-Headed Ghost,’ he thought, ’but if I get tied up with it, it could attract more trouble and delay our escape. The potential gains aren’t worth the risk.’

"Let’s go!" Chen Yue barked, no longer hesitating.

Hu Shaoyu didn’t dare mention going back to his hut to pack. He spun around, exchanged a look with Shen Dujiang, and with perfect unspoken agreement, the two of them bolted toward the nearest section of the city wall as if their lives depended on it.

They weren’t even going to try for the gate. Who knew what state it was in? It might have already been taken over by the cult or the Ghostly Objects!

Scaling the wall was the most direct, and possibly the safest, way out!

Chen Yue supported Lin Quan, whose legs were weak with fright, and followed close behind.

Seeing its meal trying to escape, the Half-Headed Ghost let out an urgent, low growl and began to tail them. It maintained a distance of several dozen feet, not daring to get too close but unwilling to give up, clinging to them like a shadow.

The four of them raced through the dim, deathly quiet streets. The county seat was now eerily silent.

The faint sounds of commotion they had heard earlier were now completely gone, swallowed by the ever-thickening, gray-black fog.

The only sounds were their own hurried footsteps and the shuffling scrape of the Half-Headed Ghost trailing them.

Finally, ahead where the fog thinned, the tall silhouette of Youlin County’s wall became faintly visible. Their spirits lifted, and they instinctively picked up their pace.

However, just as they were about to reach the base of the wall, Shen Dujiang and Hu Shaoyu, who were in the lead, abruptly skidded to a halt. Expressions of shocked disbelief appeared on their faces.

Chen Yue, with Lin Quan in tow, stopped immediately as well, his gaze shooting forward like a bolt of lightning.

Ahead, at the mouth of the alley leading to the wall, the gray-black fog roiled. Another black silhouette emerged from it soundlessly, completely blocking their path.

This silhouette was also humanoid, but it was even more grotesque than the Half-Headed Ghost. It... had no head.

Its neck was a clean stump, as if severed by a single, clean slice of a blade.

Yet its body was facing them, and an unseen gaze, as tangible as a physical weight, fell upon the four of them, filled with undisguised malice and greed.

Shen Dujiang’s face was livid. He whipped the short blade from the small of his back, gripped it tightly, and bellowed at the Headless Ghost blocking their path:

"Get out of the way!"

Shen Dujiang’s harsh cry echoed through the silent alley but failed to elicit the slightest reaction from the Headless Ghost.

It remained motionless, its headless body exuding a deathly stillness. Seeing the group’s path blocked, the Half-Headed Ghost that had been tailing them began to close the distance, greed and madness swirling in its single, turbid eye.

"Hee hee... how lively it is here..."

At this critical juncture, a giggling laugh with an eerie echo suddenly came from a rooftop to their front and side.

Though it was a laugh, it held no warmth—only a sinister quality that was utterly bloodcurdling.

They all snapped their heads up to look.

There, in the shadows of a nearby roof’s eaves, a figure had appeared at some unknown moment. It was a hunched "person" with bluish-black skin, as if it had been smoked by fire for countless years.

It wore a robe covered in stains of every color imaginable. Most strikingly, it was carrying a dilapidated, half-man-sized Pill Furnace on its back.

The Pill Furnace was askew, and wisps of greenish-black smoke drifted from its opening.

The Alchemy Ghost’s face was shriveled and twisted. Its eyes were orbs of eerie green Ghost Fire, currently fixed unblinkingly on Chen Yue and Lin Quan, its gaze filled with a nearly delirious greed.

Drool dripped from the corners of its cracked lips, sizzling and sending up puffs of green smoke where it hit the roof tiles.

Behind the Alchemy Ghost, the gray fog churned, and two more figures appeared without a sound.

One was a man of about forty with a sinister face and cold eyes. He wore a long robe embroidered with a flame pattern, and his aura was profound and obscure. He was clearly an expert of the Marrow Refining Realm.

The other was slightly younger, with sharp eyes and an aura that radiated outwards. He was at the Bone Forging Realm of Cultivation.

The moment they appeared, their cold gazes swept over Chen Yue’s group in the alley below.

Seeing the Marrow Refining Realm expert and the Bone Forging Martial Artist, the color drained from Hu Shaoyu’s face, leaving it as white as a sheet. His legs began to tremble.

’One Marrow Refining Realm, one Bone Forging Realm, and three powerful ghosts... this is an inescapable death trap!’

Lin Quan was even paler, his body trembling uncontrollably.

He couldn’t fathom it. ’How could a perfectly normal county seat, bustling with people just this morning, turn into a hellscape overrun by Ghostly Objects and a rampaging cult in the blink of an eye?’

’Is this really the end of the world?’

Shen Dujiang’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead, and the palm gripping his short blade was slick with it.

He instinctively looked toward Chen Yue. In this situation, his own meager Cultivation and Jianghu tricks were a guaranteed death sentence.

His only hope lay with Chen Yue.

’But... is that damn Marrow Refining Realm expert for real?’

’This is a genuine, flesh-and-blood Marrow Refining Realm expert right in front of us!’

Shen Dujiang’s heart was in turmoil; he had no confidence whatsoever.

Chen Yue’s gaze fell on the dilapidated Pill Furnace. Combined with the creature’s earlier words, everything instantly clicked into place.

He then looked at Yin Mo Li, the one with the most powerful aura, and spoke calmly, "The Divine Flame Cult... and an Alchemy Ghost?"