Chapter 43: Retirement Day 43: I can’t finish deducting points. I can’t finish deducting points at all. …
The arc of his body's shaking gradually became larger as the island in the middle of the lake swayed, but the water ghost had no hands to hold the island pillar. He painfully reached out to cover his ears which were hurt by Sang Qiqi's voice. It seemed like there were ten thousand flies and mosquitoes buzzing in his head.
Does that woman have a trumpet in her throat?
Not only is the volume loud, it also has a howling effect.
The water ghost shook his head vigorously, and when the pain subsided a little, he bared his teeth and exhaled a foul breath. He didn't care why the lake island was shaking so violently. He walked forward with anger, pushed aside the cracks in the rocks, stretched out his face and cursed at Sang Qiqi: "Are you sick?! You yelled so loudly, do you really think I've been in the water for a long time? Is your brain filled with water? You don't want to stay in such a good shelter——"
Running out to die.
The last six words suddenly disappeared when the water ghost saw the dense crowd of ghost officials behind Sang Qiqi.
His exposed head froze in place, and the eyes on his ma bing face widened little by little. When he saw that these ghosts were holding similar soul-catching chains in their hands, he almost stopped breathing.
When he was drowning, he saw a ghost messenger. The ghost messenger wore a black robe, and the backs of his pale hands were wrapped with patterned black soul-catching chains. He walked towards the reservoir. With every step, the chains made a clanking sound, which sounded like a death knell to his ears.
Terrified, he turned and ran wildly in the water. Luckily, he had already hidden on the island in the middle of the lake before the ghost officer spotted him. The ghost officer, unaware of the leaking ghostly aura, stood by the lake with a bewildered expression. After a moment's hesitation, he chose to leave.
There was only one ghost messenger back then, but now there are several platoons!
The dark figures standing in front of me gave me such a strong sense of oppression!
The water ghost swallowed and didn't dare to move his head, but his feet hidden in the formation on the island in the middle of the lake were already digging into the ground with force, and his hands were quietly grabbing the stones, waiting for the opportunity to come and quickly use the force to retract.
"Still want to hide?" Sang Qiqi raised her red lips, her eyes sweeping across the water ghost's paler face, and asked with a smile, "Weren't you quite formidable when you provoked me during the day? Why are you so cowardly now?"
Water ghost: “…”
He gritted his teeth and said, "Who knew you had no moral integrity and summoned so many ghost messengers?"
Although Sang Qiqi didn't say anything, the expression on her face clearly said - How can I talk to a stinky piece of trash like you about martial ethics? Do you think I'm crazy?
The water ghost was even more angry. They looked down on him so much, and he still wanted to call for help? Besides, it was not certain whether these reinforcements would be effective! Although he did not know where the powerful resentment behind him came from or how it was generated, as a fellow creature, he could fully feel the terrible oppression coming from them.
Not weaker than these ghost officials!
Sang Qiqi will be blown away, and these rows of ghost officials will also be blown away!
Having made up his mind to this, he snorted coldly, threw down a sentence "Let's wait and see", and suddenly retracted his head, continuing to be the coward that he was.
At the same time, on the surface of the water, Taiwei Sanren stood suspended in mid-air above the lake's central island, his feet on a piece of talisman paper. He formed a seal with his left hand and whisked his right. With a flick of his wrist, white animal hair swept across a similarly suspended yellow paper and red talisman. Streams of air slowly flowed from the talisman paper, transforming into wind and gathering around him. As his finger prints fell, these currents suddenly descended upon the eight pillars of the lake's central island, crackling with a clattering sound.
The thunderous noise lasted for nearly five minutes. Taiwei Sanren's face turned slightly pale. Seeing that the formation remained the same, he pursed his lips and was about to make another gesture when a crisp "click" sound suddenly rang in his ears.
Just like a glass barrier naturally cracking, the formation that had been in place for hundreds of years suddenly began to collapse.
The entire island in the middle of the lake seemed to have suffered a collision from within. The eight crab-leg-like pillars shook, and countless pieces of rubble fell from above, crackling like firecrackers exploding, hitting the water ghost who was wondering whether the ghost catcher or the evil ghost was stronger, making him dizzy and almost died on the spot.
He howled in pain, holding up his hands to block the rubble while hiding in a corner.
But this obviously didn't work.
The island shook even more violently, and the water ghost could even hear the screams of the evil spirits, which could no longer be hidden after the island cracked. Suddenly realizing what Sang Qiqi was up to, the water ghost emerged from the crevice again, gazing at her like a madman and cursing again, "You're out of your mind! You're actually going to tear down the island? Do you know how many evil spirits are trapped here? You're actually going to let them all out just to catch me! You're courting death!"
Sang Qiqi hugged her arms. In her sight, the gravel broke through the river water and fell to the bottom of the lake, like shooting stars, which was quite beautiful.
It is very ornamental.
After hearing the water ghost's question, she slowly retracted her gaze, raised her eyebrows, and asked with amusement: "You don't think I brought so many ghost officials just to catch you, do you? Aren't you a little too self-righteous?"
If Sang Qiqi hadn't been worried that acting forcefully would cause an unpreventable accident, she would have torn the seal with her bare hands that morning.
Is it this water ghost's turn to complain?
Water ghost: “…”
Damn, this woman's target isn't him?!
The water ghost looked back at the evil ghosts who were struggling to get out. When he met those pairs of scarlet eyes, he was so scared that he trembled all over and quickly hid in a corner.
-
The sound of clacking continued, and the talisman paper above the water continued to release air currents, radiating to the eight pillars of the island in the center of the lake. The formation had completely collapsed and would disappear completely in a few minutes. However, as time passed, Taiwei Sanren's brows slowly frowned.
The gradual disappearance of the formation brought with it an increasingly strong ghostly aura.
It was as if poison gas was injected into the originally enclosed and clean space, leaving people with nowhere to escape.
He lowered his eyes, and in his pupils he could see the figures of countless evil spirits struggling in cages at the bottom of the reservoir, and their heart-wrenching screams echoed in his ears.
The solar plexus kept swelling, and Taiwei Sanren's old face was tightly tensed. Although his expression did not change much, a trace of worry arose in his heart. He began to wonder whether it was the right choice to obey Sang Qiqi's wishes and untie the formation left by his master.
In fact, when he first arrived at Wuyanzhuang, he did not inform Mingxin and Sang Qiqi immediately, but chose to go to the reservoir alone and came to the island in the middle of the lake to check the situation.
The formation on the lake island was indeed created by Liuyun Temple and its master. But because of this confirmation, when he realized that the formation that trapped so many resentful souls had been pried open from the inside, he guessed that the power of the evil spirits sealed within was definitely not to be underestimated.
If the formation is removed and the seal is lifted, will they really be able to withstand such powerful resentment and eliminate so many evil spirits?
Taiwei Sanren asked himself this question, but before he could come up with a definitive answer, Sang Qiqi appeared silently behind him. The girl bowed politely to him and got straight to the point, "Hello, Master Taiwei. Thank you for taking the time to come. Are you confident you can break the formation?"
After receiving a positive response, she smiled and said, "Then I hope the master can help me with this."
Taiwei Sanren hesitated and said, "But from what I know, the resentment sealed here is enough to massacre all the nearby villages. I am not talented enough. If I break the formation, I am afraid I will not be able to seal it back like my master did. If I break the formation just to catch that water ghost, perhaps... it is not appropriate."
Sang Qiqi heard the hidden meaning in his words——
There's no need to go to such great lengths to catch a water ghost.
But Sang Qiqi shook her head. "Although my original purpose in coming here was indeed to capture water ghosts, now that I know the history of the reservoir and have confirmed that the ghosts of the sacrificed children are sealed there, it's only natural that I have to send them to the underworld."
Whether accepting the verdict or queuing up for reincarnation, one must first enter the gates of hell.
As if she knew his worries, Sang Qiqi thought for a moment and added, "If anything unexpected happens, our underworld will be fully responsible."
We, the underworld.
When these two keywords were combined, Taiwei Sanren's gaze towards Sang Qiqi suddenly became a little different.
As a Taoist priest and the abbot of Liuyun Temple, he naturally knew of the existence of the underworld. But he was also a living being, having never been there before, and at most, he had only come into contact with the ghost messengers who arrested souls. It was truly unprecedented to see a girl like Sang Qiqi make such a major decision without even having to speak, and even use the underworld as a backup.
The two looked at each other for a moment. Seeing that the cautious Taoist priest was still hesitating, Sang Qiqi understood his concerns.
Whether or not all the demons trapped within the formation could be brought back to the underworld was a consideration, and Taiwei Sanren also needed to verify that Sang Qiqi was a "good person." Despite her acquaintance with Mingxin, despite her claim to be a water ghost hunter, and despite her claim to be a member of the underworld, Taiwei Sanren had few connections there and was unable to determine the extent of Sang Qiqi's claims.
If she had long since set her sights on the evil ghost sealed under the island in the middle of the lake and harbored malicious intent, it is not impossible that she deliberately took advantage of the incident of the water ghost to release the evil ghost to wreak havoc on the world.
If Taiwei Sanren helps to break the formation without being sure of anything, then if something really happens, he will be no different from an accomplice.
Not to mention that his life-long cultivation was ruined by this incident, just think about how much suffering the human society would suffer if this group of evil spirits were released. Taiwei Sanren did not dare to try it lightly.
Sang Qiqi didn't have any tokens from the underworld, but even if she did, Taiwei Sanren probably wouldn't recognize them. She began frantically racking her brains to figure out how to convince Taiwei Sanren that she was truly a good ghost, when Taiwei Sanren bluntly replied, "I've met the underworld's ghost messengers a few times before, and we're barely acquainted."
Upon hearing this, Sang Qiqi's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands, "That's easy. What's the name and appearance of the ghost messenger that Taiwei Guan Master knows? I'll bring him over to you right away for confirmation."
Taiwei Sanren carefully avoided mentioning the man's appearance, saying only, "His surname is Cui, with the single character Jing."
Cui Mutou?!
Sang Qiqi blinked in surprise. "Cui Jing, he got a promotion and is no longer a ghost messenger. You two have known each other for quite a while, right?"
Sang Qiqi didn't expect that Taiwei Sanren would say such a familiar name.
A name that had just had her points deducted a few days ago and had been the subject of her scolding for a long time.
Without waiting for Taiwei Sanren to answer, Sang Qiqi said, "Please wait, I'll bring him here right away," and headed towards the underworld impatiently.
Sang Qiqi's execution was as strong as ever. In less than five minutes, she reappeared before Taiwei Sanren. Behind her, Cui Jing, dragged by the arm, was running wildly, his hair disheveled and his appearance in disarray. Catching Taiwei Sanren's gaze, he immediately broke free from Sang Qiqi's grip, pursed his lips, and straightened his appearance. His fair, yet deliberately serious, face turned to Taiwei Sanren, bowed, and greeted him, "Master Taiwei, it's been a while. How are you?"
Taiwei Sanren looked at Cui Jing and smiled gently, "All good. But you, I heard from this kid that you got a promotion?"
Cui Jing hummed: "Now I work as a clerical worker."
After some conversation and confirmation that the Cui Jing before him was the Cui Jing he knew, Taiwei Sanren no longer hesitated to bring up Sang Qiqi's request. Cui Jing had already heard about the relevant matters from Sang Qiqi, so he said bluntly, "Don't worry, the underworld will send a sufficient number of ghost messengers to help. After the seal is lifted, we will bring all the evil spirits back to the underworld. There will be no accidents."
Upon hearing this, Taiwei Sanren was silent for a while, but finally nodded and agreed to the request to break the formation.
But at this moment, feeling the terrifying resentment surging within the formation, Taiwei Sanren's worries, which had been put aside by Sang Qiqi and Cui Jing's firm promise, resurfaced. He exhaled, and in a few seconds of silence, his demeanor regained its composure and resolve. At this point, the formation was largely destroyed. Even if he truly couldn't fight these resentful spirits, it was already too late.
The only thing he can do now is to believe in Sang Qiqi and the underworld.
The thunder from the talisman paper struck with increasing speed. Finally, with a heavy bang, the island beneath Taiwei Sanren's feet completely collapsed and shattered. Huge rocks crashed to the water's surface, sending up massive waves. Simultaneously, a thick aura of resentment rose to the sky, accompanied by shrill cries and the appearance of countless thin, dark figures.
An evil ghost floated past Taiwei Sanren, suddenly stopped, and tilted its head.
The face whose facial features could not be seen clearly opened its huge mouth like the abyss, let out an excited howl, and instantly rushed towards Taiwei Sanren.
Just when he was about to bite Taiwei Sanren, a chain came out from the bottom of the water, piercing the water and air like a sharp arrow, and wrapped around the little ghost's feet at an extremely fast speed.
The little ghost was startled by the sudden appearance of the chain, and subconsciously struggled to kick hard with his other foot.
But the soul-binding chains are meant to lock up ghosts. Once fastened, they will only fit tighter around the ghost's ankles, making it impossible for him to break free unless he cuts off his own feet.
The little ghost obviously realized this as he howled angrily. He grabbed the soul-binding chain with his hands covered with sharp nails and shook it violently. He even opened his mouth and bit the cold and hard chain, but unfortunately it had no effect.
The same fate happened to other little ghosts who escaped from the formation.
After they were trapped, their cries were even sharper than when they were inside the formation. Taiwei Sanren's solar plexus swelled even more violently, and he raised his hand and cast a silencing note, isolating all sounds into another world.
Suddenly, he seemed to notice something and raised his head.
At some point, the full moon in the sky was obscured by dark fog, and a bone-chilling chill spread from the fog. Countless little ghosts seemed to have received some instructions and gave up struggling at the same time. They ignored the chains that bound them, and knelt on the ground, kowtowing and screaming at the fog.
It's as if believers are kneeling down to worship some god.
Underwater.
After the formation was completely dispelled, the water ghost looked at the little ghost jumping up and down beside him and the falling stone that seemed to be able to crush him flat. He knew that if he didn't escape now, Sang Qiqi would catch him in the trap. Without hesitation, he found a dark and chaotic corner and rushed out.
This is the back side of the crevice in the rocks of the lake island, and Sang Qiqi happened to be standing in front of it. Logically speaking, it is impossible for her to realize that a water ghost had quietly escaped from such a narrow and dark environment crowded with countless evil spirits.
The water ghost looked at the island pillar that was close at hand, and then at the empty and extremely silent deep water area in front of him. He seemed to see full of hope, and an exaggeratedly bright smile appeared on Ma Zi's face.
Goodbye! Never again——
Bang!
The water ghost, who had not yet finished speaking his thoughts, was overjoyed and then tragically hit by a black chain that suddenly appeared in front of him, causing him to roll twice on the spot.
He stood up with a grimace, covered his head and took a step back. When the dizziness in his head ended and his vision focused again, he finally saw the scene in front of him clearly.
Several soul-locking chains extended from nowhere, surrounding the underwater part of the entire island in the middle of the lake. At first glance, it looked like a pure black woven cage!
And he was locked in a cage.
Sang Qiqi slowly appeared in front of the cage, staring at the water ghost from afar through the gaps between the chains. Seeing the frustration and panic on his face, the corners of her mouth curled up even more: "What a pity, he didn't escape."
Water ghost: “…”
He thought of a thousand curse words in his mind, wanting to scold Sang Qiqi bitterly, but before he could say anything, he saw Sang Qiqi's fingers flicker slightly, and the soul-binding chain that looked like a swimming snake raised its head and came towards him.
Seeing this, the water ghost ran away immediately.
Unfortunately, he couldn't escape this time.
Chains emerged from every corner of the cage. Amid screams, these soul-binding chains tied up all the little ghosts who were still in the formation and had no time to escape, leaving no one behind!
And he! He was clearly running away at the fastest speed, but not only was he restrained by chains, he was also restrained by chains coming from different directions!
The most terrifying thing is that the other ends of these chains have returned to the hands of the ghost officials who are standing far away. As their fingers grab the chains and pull them back, the forces in different directions in the front, back, left and right instantly pull the water ghost into a scary "big" shape.
The limbs and neck were strangled. The pain of suffocation and the force of the soul-binding lock made the water ghost realize that he was being torn into pieces by five horses!
"ah--!"
A strange, crackling tearing sound rang in Sang Qiqi's ears. The sound was creepy, but for a ghost like Sang Qiqi, it was too normal.
There are so many small hells in the underworld, and there must be at least eight thousand of these sounds.
I'm used to hearing it.
What's more, the current situation is just a case of giving someone a taste of their own medicine. This water ghost likes to drag innocent people into the water and abuse them. Now that he has been caught, he will naturally suffer the consequences.
As to whether this counts as lynching and whether points will be deducted.
Sang Qiqi looked at the dense crowd of little ghosts around her and shook her head: You can’t knock them all off, you can’t knock them all off at all.
"I'll leave it to you."
Without wasting any more time on the water ghost, Sang Qiqi looked up at the dark lake. Although still underwater, she could clearly feel the pressure from the surface. Without hesitation, she quickly floated to the surface, climbed onto the island in the middle of the lake, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Taiwei Sanren.
Taiwei Sanren frowned and pointed at the thick black fog above his head, saying, "Just now, the black fog swallowed up a few little ghosts."
"Maybe it realized that there is no way out this time, so it is ready to devour the little ghost and go all out." Sang Qiqi narrowed her eyes, and a stronger ghost energy suddenly burst out from her body. The ghost energy swept across the entire water area with a speed and force that did not distinguish between friend and foe, and directly knocked the unsuspecting Taiwei Sanren away.
Taiwei Sanren: “……?”
Why didn't he even say hello before the fight? Does he still have the dignity of the master of Liuyun Temple?
Sang Qiqi seemed to have just realized something was wrong. She turned to Taiwei Sanren and gave him the sweet smile a child would give to an elder. "If you have time, please post a few more silent notes. Otherwise, we'll scare the villagers around here."
Taiwei Sanren steadied himself, regaining the composure expected of a Daoist temple master, and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll have to trouble you to handle the problem here."
He stayed to help without saying anything to Sang Qiqi.
Although Sang Qiqi looked young enough to be his granddaughter, the ghostly aura that this girl had just exuded was even more exaggerated than the one above his head.
Taiwei Sanren returned to the shore stepping on the talisman paper and began to do his best to play the supporting role and cast the mute note.
At the same moment, a graceful black cat leaped from Sang Qiqi's shoulder. Its body rapidly expanded, transforming into a vicious tiger. The tiger leaped into the air, charging straight into the black mist in the air. As the two collided, the tiger opened its massive jaws and bit down fiercely. Though clearly just black mist, it felt as if its body was being torn apart, flesh being torn away. Amidst piercing screams, several more imps bound by soul-binding chains severed their ankles, attempting to escape into the black mist.
But the ghost energy spreading from Sang Qiqi has already covered the entire area of water. All the little ghosts felt a strong suppressing force, which was like a mountain, pressing their backs to bend, and they lay on the ground wailing like well-behaved pets.
Seeing this, the black fog howled angrily.
It gradually condensed into a huge human shape, with a head, body, and legs, but one arm was missing.
The evil tiger Gaba, who was watching closely from the side, swallowed the arm that had been torn from his mouth in two bites. His scarlet eyes looked at the evil ghost in front of him aggressively, bared his teeth, and let out a low roar.
Sang Qiqi raised her finger, and the evil tiger rushed towards the evil ghost again.
But the evil ghost was already on guard. Seeing the tiger charging towards him, he dodged without hesitation. He hadn't anticipated the threat wasn't just from the front. Sang Qiqi had somehow circled behind it, and the moment it dodged, she clenched her fist and struck it in the lower back.
"Bang——"
The evil ghost's waist was broken instantly after being hit hard, his legs went limp, and he fell to the ground with a thud.
Taiwei Sanren, who had just finished applying the talisman and was about to watch the battle, asked: "......?"
This fist is not even as big as an apple, yet it broke the evil ghost's waist?
Made of iron?!
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