Chapter 14
The vengeful beast was entirely black, surrounded by a chilling aura of malevolence. It was curled up in the corner of the sofa, its massive body rising and falling, its cold, hateful eyes fixed on Xie Xubai, occasionally letting out a painful, suppressed gasp.
Xie Xubai thought that the main body's skull had been smashed open, causing it to be in pain until now.
When the spirits took out the skull, they found that the surface of the bone was smooth and intact, and the seam had already healed.
Xie Xubai frowned, flipped through the ancient books, and finally found the crux of the problem.
It turns out that the bone has been refined by a secret method and recognizes Zhang Bin, the slaughterhouse owner, as its master. No matter when or where, the vengeful beast must obey that person's orders.
Zhang Bin watched helplessly as the monsters he had enslaved wrecked his territory; how could he not be furious? He's probably still frantically trying to summon back his vengeful beasts.
The vengeful beast was panting heavily, struggling to resist.
Xie Xubai sighed: "Since you knew you would be punished afterward, why were you so impulsive?"
He originally intended to control the vengeful beast to track Zhang Bin's movements, so he only ordered it to erase any traces of his infiltration into the basement.
Little did they know that the vengeful beast harbored such intense hatred for Zhang Bin that it rushed out almost impatiently, taking the opportunity to wreak havoc on the entire slaughterhouse.
He felt good, but he also completely exposed his betrayal of God.
The refined beast could not resist its master's will. Once the beast's will was completely worn away and it returned to the slaughterhouse, the vicious Zhang Bin would certainly not let it go.
Upon hearing the young man's question, the vengeful beast tilted its head and snorted heavily, as if letting out a contemptuous laugh.
Its deep resentment towards the fat man doesn't mean it will have any goodwill towards Xie Xubai, who has trespassed into its territory.
Xie Xubai didn't say anything, and turned around to rummage through the drawers and cabinets.
The guesthouse was well-equipped with household items. Xie Xubai found the toolbox, took out tweezers, and then a fruit knife, carefully disinfecting them with white wine.
Beneath the blade lay the skull of the vengeful beast.
The vengeful beast's expression changed, and it stared intently at Xie Xubai's outstretched hand: "Roar...!"
It thought the young man wanted to teach it a lesson, just like Zhang Bin, who kept chopping at its skull to force it to obey.
Unexpectedly, it wasn't the sharp blade that touched the bone first, but the young man's warm fingertips.
The warmth was negligible, but it was particularly noticeable on the cold bones.
The vengeful beast could clearly feel Xie Xubai's fingers moving from his brow to his skull, the warmth spreading all the way, like a soft feather brushing against his earlobe.
Compared to the pain of being stabbed with knives and axes, it is nothing.
Yet it was so intense.
The vengeful beast shuddered violently, its pupil-less eyes widening in unprecedented shock: This is terrifying! What kind of cruel torture is this?
Xie Xubai had only been exploring for a short while when he discovered that the vengeful beast was beginning to lose its balance and was swaying from side to side.
"?" Is it that sensitive?
Xie Xubai frowned, subconsciously speeding up, and finally touched three tiny protrusions at a certain moment.
Its color is scarlet, it is slightly coarse, and its tip is like a cone; this is the weight-control needle described in the book.
The nails used to drive a coffin are called "suppressing nails" or "suppressing soul nails," and the "suppressing needles" here serve a similar purpose. Zhang Bin's ability to enslave vengeful beasts relies on these three suppressing needles.
"It might hurt a lot, so bear with it." Xie Xubai picked up the sterilized tweezers, paused, and added, "Try not to shout too loudly."
"roar?"
The vengeful beast, slumped on the sofa, hadn't even had time to turn around when a sharp pain struck. Its confused cry instantly turned into a piercing scream, its voice breaking on the spot: "Agh!!!"
The cries of vengeful spirits can generally only be heard by the person being haunted or by extraordinary individuals; players belong to the latter category.
As the screams echoed through the sky, the people monitoring nearby instantly perked up and shouted that something was wrong: "The Ghost King must be about to enter a berserk state, causing these vengeful spirits to go mad and become agitated!"
Xie Xubai, on the other side, was completely unaffected by the shouts and swiftly pulled out two needles.
The vengeful beast was initially in excruciating pain, but the moment the annoying needle was removed from its skull, the pain vanished instantly, replaced by an unprecedented sense of comfort.
Its mind was crystal clear, and it seemed to have inexhaustible energy, almost wanting to roar to the sky.
Naturally, it began to yearn for Xie Xubai to remove the third needle, so that it could be completely liberated.
At that time, its imprisoned power will be fully restored, and no one will be able to suppress or control it anymore.
Even Xie Xubai, who possessed its original skull, was confident that the vengeful beast could overpower him in an instant!
Xie Xubai suddenly glanced at it, as if he could read its ulterior motives, and put the tweezers aside and picked up the fruit knife.
The blade sliced through the fingertip, and crimson blood congealed, dripping down the skin onto the last needle.
The acupuncture needle is no ordinary object; it activates instantly upon contact with fresh blood, sucking up the blood like a dried sponge, and soon it has completely drained the blood.
The entire needle looked as if it had been carefully polished, its surface translucent and smooth, like a top-grade blood jade.
As mentioned earlier, Zhang Bin and his companions suffered a backlash while refining Ping An, which greatly reduced their strength.
Xie Xubai was unaware of this matter and only tried it out of curiosity, but he didn't expect to succeed on the first try.
With the mark of enslavement covered, he now has direct control over the vengeful beasts, able to control them with a simple thought without needing verbal commands.
"roar!"
Enraged at being enslaved once again, the beast crouched low, claws outstretched, and growled with resentment and threat.
“You’re hostile towards me, so just in case, I have to take some measures. I’ll set you free after I’ve dealt with the boss, Zhang Bin.” Xie Xubai said, not caring whether the dog could hear him or not, and turned to go to the window.
He specifically chose a guesthouse on a higher floor so that he could see the entire alleyway from his vantage point. The dog lay peacefully in its kennel, seemingly fast asleep.
Seeing that the players weren't attracted, Xie Xubai's expression didn't ease.
From the moment he started, he had a feeling of extreme unease, as if something big was about to happen.
Just as Xie Xubai was lost in thought, he suddenly felt something approaching him.
It's that vengeful beast.
Just now, it howled at Xie Xubai, its face full of hostility and hatred.
Seeing that the young man completely ignored her, but instead smiled and looked down at the crowd with tenderness, she suddenly became inexplicably drawn to him and, with an arrogant and aloof expression, approached him.
With the effects of the acupuncture needles still in effect, Xie Xubai could roughly sense the vengeful beast's emotions. Although its hostility remained, it truly had no intention of harming him.
This vengeful beast is different from other vengeful spirits. Not only is it powerful and strong-willed, but it can also command and intimidate those vengeful spirits weaker than itself.
Xie Xubai wanted it to join him in dealing with Zhang Bin, and didn't want to make things worse, so he stood still and watched what it planned to do.
"roar."
The vengeful beast looked up at the young man and saw that his expression was calm and his gaze was serene. He did not reject its approach, so it mustered its courage and licked the bloodstains left on Xie Xubai's fingertips.
The vengeful beast took this action for granted.
Xie Xubai didn't realize something was wrong until it had been licking him like a precious treasure for almost two minutes.
Perhaps fearing to displease him, the beast carefully controlled its rough tongue, preventing the wound from tearing open again.
But Xie Xubai could not ignore the beast's suddenly intensified panting and almost uncontrollable greed the instant it successfully sucked the blood.
etc?
Xie Xubai suddenly woke up, pushed the big head in front of him aside, and walked to the table with swift steps.
The vengeful beast, however, thought the young man was unwilling to feed it, and immediately furrowed its brows in grievance.
Until he saw the young man rapidly flipping through the ancient book, his face suddenly darkened, and for a moment he revealed a rather terrifying expression.
[The book states: If it is a monster undergoing refinement, it must be nourished by the flesh and blood of humans, with the master being the best sustenance. If the monster is satiated, all will cease; otherwise, it will lose its mind, go berserk, and devour humans. Remember this well.]
That ominous premonition finally erupted at this moment.
Xie Xubai gritted his teeth, picked up a fruit knife, and was about to rush downstairs to find Ping An.
According to ancient records, his act of feeding Ping An blood may have inadvertently changed the course of the refining process.
However, because he was just an ordinary person at the time and could not withstand the magic of the ritual, the refining ceremony was interrupted and only half of it was completed.
He felt no sense of control, becoming a part-time owner of peace without even realizing it.
Despite being a half-refined Ghost King, Ping An could not suppress his instinctive greed and covetousness for his master's flesh and blood.
Just as a person will die if they don't eat, the dog endures a agonizing, potentially fatal hunger every day, every hour, every minute, and every second he spends with him.
Yet she pretended nothing was wrong with him, wagging her tail and acting all happy.
For so long... for so long he didn't notice anything at all!
Xie Xubai felt a tightness in his chest and an unbearable heartache.
He suddenly stopped just before he reached the bottom of the stairs.
—Ping An was unwilling to harm him even when he was hungry before, so why would he drink his blood now?
Xie Xubai rubbed his temples hard, pondering how to get Ping An to eat obediently.
He suddenly remembered that, in order to convince the players he was monitoring, he had bought a lot of ingredients for homemade dog food at the supermarket.
...Perhaps we can give it a try.
Xie Xubai turned around and went upstairs.
Under the questioning gazes of the vengeful beasts and ghosts, the young man walked straight into the kitchen, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
He picked up the kitchen knife; the metallic blade reflected light, making his skin appear as white as jade.
Not far away, Yan Yue and other players also rushed back to the vicinity of the alley with blood bags obtained from the hospital.
Unsure whether the Ghost King would be satisfied with frozen blood plasma, they used healing tools, each donating some blood to fill a small basin, just in case.
Players were deeply worried: "Is feeding the Ghost King directly really feasible? What if the Ghost King gets so hungry that half a bowl isn't enough and tries to eat people directly...?"
"If that doesn't work, then we'll have no choice but to fight." Yan Yue gripped the large machete Zhang Bin had given him, took a deep breath, and looked into the depths of the alley.
Author's Note:
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