Chapter 103 - if: Ghost King x Little Taoist Priest
The Qingxu Sect has branches in various places, which not only take care of its disciples all over the world, but also undertake intelligence and freight transportation businesses.
The next morning, Hua Deng went to the branch headquarters first and had someone send the Soul Locking Tower to the Qingxu Sect for a ritual to release the spirit. Since the female ghost didn't harm anyone, she couldn't bear to let her suffer inside the Soul Locking Tower.
Back at the Chang family home, Hua Deng continued to interrogate everyone, and actually discovered something.
The problem lies with the servants, Xiao Zhang and Xiao Xu. Xiao Zhang said that before the Chang family's daughter disappeared, he saw the wet nurse, Xiao, enter the room, but he didn't think much of it at the time, as he just happened to be passing by.
Xiao Xu said that Xiao was in the kitchen at the time and could not possibly be in the young lady's room.
Hua Deng then approached Ms. Xiao alone and asked her what had happened. Ms. Xiao said that she was in the kitchen preparing her young mistress's lunch for the day.
From this perspective, it seems that Xiao Zhang lied and deliberately slandered the wet nurse, Xiao.
After Xiao left, Hua Deng seemed thoughtful, then turned to ask, "Senior brother, what are your thoughts?"
Shen Zhou said, "I don't know."
Hua Deng understood; her senior brother was testing her.
She said, "I think none of the three of them lied."
She couldn't sense any lying.
"Perhaps there really are two wet nurses in this mansion, and one of them took away Master Chang's daughter."
"Junior sister, are you referring to the Painted Skin Ghost?"
“Exactly.” Hua Deng nodded.
The Painted Skin Demon can imitate human appearances and steal people's skins, and it especially loves fresh and tender bodies.
However, these kinds of ghosts usually have a long lifespan, are full of blood and energy, and have considerable combat power.
"What does Junior Sister plan to do?" Shen Zhou asked.
“I can still sense its presence; it hasn’t left the Chang residence,” Hua Deng said. “It has already stolen the Chang family’s daughter, but it’s still here, which means it wants something else. Let’s wait and see. I have a feeling it’s about to make its move.”
Shen Zhou smiled and said, "Junior Sister is indeed clever."
Hua Deng said shyly, "Senior brother, don't always praise me. You must have figured it out a long time ago."
After seeing her senior brother off, Hua Deng waited alone in the room.
The two of them together would surely alert the Painted Skin Ghost, and she had a vague intuition, a feeling of being spied on, that the Painted Skin Ghost's target should be her.
Soon, there was a knock on the door. Hua Deng concealed the talisman in his sleeve, relaxed, and called out, "Come in."
The person outside entered in response to the call.
It was wet nurse Xiao, who was bringing over a bowl of peanut milk, saying it was a gift from Master Chang to reward her for her hard work these past few days.
He thanked her for the lantern and accepted it without hesitation.
Just as Ms. Xiao bent down, she smelled an extremely faint but definitely present fishy odor.
From a very young age, whenever I smelled this scent, it meant that a ghost or monster was approaching.
"Snap!"
The porcelain bowl shattered on the ground.
Without hesitation, Hua Deng sent out a Zhu Yan talisman towards Xiao Shi. The raging flames scorched her clothes, but her skin remained unharmed.
Xiao chuckled, "As expected of the promising talent I've chosen. It's a pity that this body, this fine appearance, will soon be mine."
Hua Deng said, "You are no match for me, so you'd better surrender now."
Xiao's smile widened, her skin peeling off to reveal gruesome flesh: "Of course your Qingxu Sect disciples are powerful, but unfortunately I already poisoned your lunch. If you pay close attention, you'll find your spiritual energy is stagnant, and the talismans won't obey your commands at all..."
"Amulet of Escape!"
A talisman emitting purple light swiftly affixed to Xiao's body, its powerful spiritual energy causing her to scream in agony.
Hua Deng: "Your cooking is so bad, that's why I didn't touch it."
When traveling, it is common sense for Qingxu Sect disciples not to accept food from strangers.
So at noon today, she called her senior brother and secretly slipped out for a big meal. But her senior brother was really picky about food. He wouldn't eat this or that, and would only eat a few bites of what she personally picked for him.
As Hua Deng pondered this, he continuously released talismans, causing the Painted Skin Ghost to scream incessantly, each scream more shrill and resentful than the last.
Just as she was about to execute the evil spirit on the spot, Xiao's body suddenly froze.
To be precise, it was this physical body that solidified.
The blood-stained skin stood silently in place, while the painted skin ghost instantly burrowed underground and vanished without a trace.
Hua Deng immediately took out the spirit compass and jumped out the window to chase after it, but it was too fast, and the pointer of the spirit compass was swinging wildly, making it difficult to determine its exact location.
Fortunately, her senior brother heard the noise and rushed to her side in time, whispering, "Come with me."
Whether it was her imagination or not, Hua Deng felt that his timing was too perfect, as if he had been observing her all along.
The thought vanished in an instant. Her senior brother grabbed her wrist and led her swiftly forward to a cave in the mountains outside the town.
The senior brother's hands were very cold, and even at such a critical moment, Hua Deng couldn't help but glance at his fingers a few more times.
Pale and slender with distinct joints, she suddenly remembered something: the senior brother Liu in the portrait did not seem to have such pale skin, but rather dark skin.
Was the portrait intentionally drawn that way? Or...?
Just as I was thinking this, the streetlights went out.
They ventured deep into the dark cave, where the Painted Skin Ghost, severely wounded by the lantern, lay on the ground, dragging its bloodied body and wailing in agony.
Every ghost, from birth to death, can sense the aura of the Ghost King and be deeply terrified by it, unconditionally submitting to the Ghost King's oppressive power.
The Painted Skin Demon never imagined that he would one day face the Demon King in his lifetime.
It had only uttered a few words when its voice abruptly stopped, its eyes wide open, blood flowing from its seven orifices, and it collapsed stiffly to the ground.
Knowing that his senior brother had taken action, Hua Deng also did not want to hold him back, so he immediately raised his talisman and burned the Painted Skin Ghost to ashes.
She continued searching the cave and soon found the youngest daughter of the Chang family who was being held captive.
She was only thankful that she had arrived in time; the painted-skin demon had taken a liking to her body, so it hadn't returned to the cave earlier, and the little girl was still alive.
She picked up the girl and walked back with her senior brother.
"Thank you so much, Senior Brother. Without you, it would have taken much more effort," Hua Deng said. "But Senior Brother, how did you do that? Is that a move from our Qingxu Sect?"
“Of course,” Shen Zhou said calmly. “I will teach you later.”
"That's great, thank you, senior brother."
Hua Deng smiled and thanked him. How could she have doubted her senior brother? He was clearly such a good person.
In order to get the girl to receive treatment as soon as possible, the two returned quickly, but when they passed the inn they had visited before, Hua Deng hesitated for a moment.
She thought she heard a sound.
After a slight hesitation, Hua Deng handed the girl to the man beside her: "Senior brother, could you please take her home? I have something to take care of."
Shen Zhou's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he said with an ambiguous meaning, "Alright, but Junior Sister, be careful and call me immediately if you encounter any problems."
"Don't worry, senior brother."
Watching him walk away, Hua Deng lowered his head and stared at the roof tiles beneath his feet.
There was indeed some movement.
She jumped down and silently slipped into the second floor, using her hands to perform a hand seal to activate the Listening to the Wind Technique.
"Thump."
"Knock knock".
Following the sound, she ventured deeper and found a secluded attic. The attic was cramped and dusty; she held her breath and crawled inside.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
The sound continued, and only a distorted black shadow could be vaguely seen, relentlessly pounding on the wooden board. Hua Deng approached with a lantern, its pale light illuminating the shadow. Hua Deng froze, his pupils shrinking sharply.
This is not a monster, it's a person.
And it was someone she knew.
"Liu Mingjue... Senior Brother?" Hua Deng called out his name in a trembling voice.
The people on the ground made "woof woof" cries for help.
He had the exact same face as Liu Mingjue, with unfocused pupils and a face full of terror. His mouth was sealed by a shadow, and his body was also entangled by shadows, so he could only wriggle a little bit and use his head to hit the wooden board.
Hua Deng moved closer and realized that it must have taken him a long time to climb out of the cabinet, his forehead covered in blood.
She used her sword to cut off the dark shadow from his mouth. He immediately gasped for breath, tears streaming down his face, and screamed, "Save me! Save me!"
The streetlights still hadn't dispelled the shadow cast by him, and she still couldn't believe it: "You're Senior Brother Liu? How could you be..."
If the person in front of her is Senior Brother Liu, then who is the person she spends her days with?
A hand landed on her shoulder, lightly, yet with a force that made it impossible for her to break free, and it was icy cold.
"Junior sister, what are you looking at?" a smiling voice asked.
Hua Deng instantly spun around and slashed out with his sword, but missed completely.
The person vanished for a moment, then reappeared not far away. She gripped the hilt of her sword tightly and shouted, "Who are you?!"
He stopped using Liu Mingjue's face as a disguise and revealed his true appearance.
It was the face of a completely unfamiliar man, yet under the bright lights, it seemed strangely familiar.
He smiled and said, "Come here."
Then the lanterns moved toward him uncontrollably.
He stood by the window, bathed in moonlight, and as he looked down at her, he suddenly grabbed her chin and kissed her.
Hua Deng struggled to break free, but he pressed down on the back of her head, kissing her deeper and deeper.
Throughout the entire process, he kept his eyes open, his cold pupils staring directly at her as if he wanted to devour her completely.
Gradually, the streetlights stopped struggling, and a storm raged in my heart.
"It was you...!"
She finally understood why he had told her to remember this feeling back then.
She couldn't remember his face, but she would remember his warmth and his suffocating kisses.
After an unknown amount of time, she suddenly woke up, pushed him away, wiped the blood from the corner of her lips, and opened her eyes wide: "Why...?"
"I told you I would find you."
He continued to gaze at her, his eyes filled with emotions she couldn't decipher. His gaze grew increasingly deep, like a net devouring her.
Just then, the surrounding walls burst open with a crash, and Liu Mingjue was lifted up and taken away by a hand. Immediately afterwards, dozens of figures flew in from above on swords.
"Demon, prepare to die!"
Countless talismans shimmered in the night sky, all aimed at the man in front of the lantern.
Hua Deng heard her senior sister calling, "Hua Deng, come back! This ghost is quite powerful; you're no match for him!"
They received the Soul-Locking Tower from Hua Deng and detected an unusually powerful aura on the female ghost, which meant that a vengeful ghost had approached Hua Deng.
So they rushed over immediately, determined to bring the evil spirit to justice on the spot!
Hua Deng wanted to turn around, but she couldn't move. The man was still smiling, reaching out his hand to her: "Hua Deng, come here."
He did not forcibly control the streetlights, and the streetlights did not move.
The smile vanished from his face, his dark eyes blending into the night, and he said calmly, "Is that so? You don't want to."
A furious shout came from the sky: "Monster, surrender now!"
As the talismanic light fell, Chen Zhou, feeling listless, casually waved his sleeve and said, "Get out of the way, don't bother us."
Hua Deng saw familiar figures fall to the ground one after another, having lost all their fighting power under his casual blow.
Shen Zhou turned his head, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, but the streetlights rushed out and blocked his way.
"Shen Zhou! Don't kill them!"
With her abilities, she couldn't stop him.
But she had a gut feeling.
Since he didn't kill Senior Brother Liu Mingjue, perhaps this time he will listen to her too.
"This is the first time you've called me by my name."
Sure enough, his pupils dimmed and returned to normal, and he turned to smile at her.
"Draw your sword," he said.
Hua Deng paused for a moment, then slowly raised his sword.
"If you don't want them to die, then kill me."
Hua Deng tightened her grip on her sword, but he pressed on relentlessly, with the Qingxu Sect members right behind her. She had nowhere to retreat.
Hua Deng thrust the sword forward with all her might, the blade piercing his shoulder. But he grasped her hand, blood mingling between their fingers: "Why didn't you stab my heart? You know you can't kill me like that."
He showed no anger at being hurt; instead, there was a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"If you don't want me to die, then come with me."
Hua Deng glanced at his fellow disciples behind him and replied, "If I go with you, will you let them go?"
He turned her chin upside down, smearing blood on the corner of her mouth, and sighed softly, "I only want you. I don't care about their lives."
"Okay, you mean it."
[Author's Note]
This chapter shouldn't be considered scary, right? I watched horror movies all night to brush up on my horror knowledge.
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