Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The footsteps close behind Xie Qingling abruptly stopped.

At last, the deadly, haunting sound ceased its relentless pursuit.

The Rakshasa stopped not far from Xie Qingling. Then it turned, dragging its heavy feet as it moved away from her one step at a time.

She was safe.

For the moment, the Rakshasa had given up on her, its delectable restorative.

But Xie Qingling didn’t feel any better. If anything, her delicate brows drew tighter and tighter.

The Rakshasa ending its relentless pursuit of her didn’t mean the problem was solved.

More than ten thousand people probably lived at this university, and most of them were students without the strength to defend themselves.

Against the vicious Rakshasa, they were lambs waiting for slaughter.

If the Rakshasa left the University Student Activity Center and entered the dormitories, Xie Qingling could imagine what a bloodbath tonight would become.

The danger had merely shifted from her to other people. How could she feel fortunate about surviving?

Never mind anyone far away. There was someone much closer.

Besides her, one other human was still inside the University Student Activity Center… right?

Dong Jia was so timid. Had she run away, or was she hiding somewhere?

Xie Qingling had no way of knowing.

But she was certain of one thing: if she let the Rakshasa go, tonight would inevitably end in someone else’s blood.

Though Xie Qingling had grown up an orphan, she hadn’t become some obsessive with a strange fixation. Quite the opposite – she was mentally healthy and optimistic.

The Matron had treated her well. Xie Qingling’s childhood had been as carefree as that of an ordinary child from an intact family. Supported by social welfare, she had grown up well, successfully pursued a degree, and would soon graduate.

As a normal, mentally healthy young adult, Xie Qingling couldn’t stand by and watch lives meet a tragic end.

[The angry, anxious Rakshasa is still wandering. It catches a trace of a scent that does not belong to the Spirit Wielder, yet is every bit as delectable. Another human remains inside this enormous building. It decides to choose different prey and pursue the human who truly has no ability to fight back.]

[As long as it can eat one human, recover its sight, and retrieve its lost blade, victory will belong to it once more!]

So Dong Jia really was still here!

She had to fight for something, at least.

For example, she could stop the Rakshasa from leaving the University Student Activity Center. Or she could get Dong Jia out of here as quickly as possible!

Xie Qingling took out her phone, intending to contact Dong Jia and tell her to find somewhere safe to hide.

Only after pulling it out did she realize there was no signal at all.

Xie Qingling quickly understood what had happened –

She was currently inside the Four-Way Crossroads Ghost’s illusion, while Dong Jia carried the Migu branch. Though they were both in the University Student Activity Center, they occupied two different spaces and times.

Some force had separated them.

If she wanted to contact Dong Jia, she first had to break the Four-Way Crossroads Ghost’s illusion.

Xie Qingling immediately set off, trying to return to the multimedia classroom and retrieve the Migu branch she had thrown away.

If she remembered correctly, the multimedia classroom wasn’t far from her current position.

But Xie Qingling had miscalculated.

Inside the Four-Way Crossroads Ghost’s illusion, this building was not that building, and this path was not that path.

None of the roads she traveled or scenery she passed followed any pattern, and she couldn’t find her way by relying on her memories. Everything had fallen into chaotic disorder. Xie Qingling retraced her steps, but the multimedia classroom was nowhere to be found.

No. She couldn’t simply sit here and wait for death. There had to be another way.

Dong Jia was still waiting for her. She needed to find a way to break the illusion around her as quickly as possible.

Xie Qingling unconsciously bit her lower lip, feeling the pressure weigh down on her.

Even when she had faced the Rakshasa alone, she hadn’t felt this burdened.

At that moment, a cold and ominous gleam suddenly caught Xie Qingling’s eye.

It was bone white, lying boldly at the turn of the corridor as if waiting for someone to pick it up.

That thing was –

A blade!

The Rakshasa’s Rakshasa Blade!

Xie Qingling hurried over and found the enormous cleaver lying on the floor, just as she had thought.

The blade was made of bone. It didn’t look as sharp as a metal weapon, yet it carried an unbearable, baleful aura. The mere sight of it sent an involuntary chill through her.

– The Rakshasa had lost its blade.

After a moment’s thought, Xie Qingling bent down, picked up the blade, and took hold of it.

The hilt was bitterly cold in her hand, as though she were gripping a block of ice. Fortunately, she could hold on to it!

[A blade made from a Rakshasa’s leg bone, honed and polished hundreds or thousands of times until it became a weapon capable of reaping lives. Over the centuries, no one knows how many people have died beneath its edge.]

[Its pristine white blade is steeped in the deepest blood-red stain in all the world. Brimming with a blood-soaked baleful aura, it also possesses the power to break malign forces. This blade can kill not only humans, but ghosts as well.]

[Fortune has favored you. Once more, you have found yourself a slim chance of survival. If you can wield this blade, perhaps it will ultimately do as you wish and strike its own master.]

Good. Perfect.

If blades from the mortal realm couldn’t harm the Rakshasa in the slightest, then she would try this one.

The blade was heavy. Xie Qingling’s initial estimate put it at roughly thirty to forty jin.[^jin]

Even with Xie Qingling’s arm strength, she couldn’t lift it one-handed.

So she could only grip the hilt in both hands and drag the blade along the floor as she walked.

Screech. Screech. Screech. The heavy metal object scraped across the floor, producing an ear-splitting, grating, ugly noise.

Except now, the tide had turned. Xie Qingling had become the butcher dragging the blade.

[^jin]: One modern jin equals half a kilogram; thirty to forty jin is approximately fifteen to twenty kilograms.
The Rakshasa was searching the University Student Activity Center for Dong Jia, while Xie Qingling, dragging the blade, was searching for the Rakshasa.

Unlike a nimble human skilled at hiding, the Rakshasa was enormous and clumsy. The noises it unwittingly made betrayed its exact location.

Xie Qingling quickly locked on to the Rakshasa’s position.

Still blind, the Rakshasa stumbled about, searching for a restorative that could replenish its strength.

It was utterly unaware of the imminent danger closing in behind it.

[Brave, reckless, insane – as expected of you, Spirit Wielder.]

[In the end, you still raised the butcher’s blade against a ghost. You may not have truly awakened yet, but the instinct flowing in your blood still drove you to make your choice. You picked up the blade.]

[Do not look back. Go and fight.]

–

Dong Jia was curled up beneath the lectern in a classroom.

The cramped darkness gave her some small sense of security.

She didn’t know what was happening outside. From the shaking floor and the occasional deafening crash, she could only guess that the battle was probably brutal.

She wondered how Xie Qingling was doing…

Dong Jia’s thoughts wandered aimlessly, her heart full of unease.

She wanted to run outside, but in the end, she couldn’t summon enough courage. She was afraid she would walk straight into some hulking monster the moment she emerged, and afraid that leaving the area where Xie Qingling was would put her in even greater danger.

Mixed into all those fears was her worry for Xie Qingling.

The monster was enormous. Had Xie Qingling escaped? She had said the monster was after her. Nothing could happen to Xie Qingling!

Dong Jia kept praying, pleading in her heart.

The screeching came and went, stopping and starting.

More terrifying still, it was drawing closer. Closer and closer…

Was it coming for her?

She was on the second floor. Judging from the sound, the screeching had already descended from the floor above to this one.

Dong Jia’s face went white with terror, and her whole body trembled.

Clearly, she couldn’t count on her roommate swooping in like divine reinforcements to save her now. She could only rely on herself.

Dong Jia drew a deep breath and shakily crawled out from under the lectern. Crouching low, she crept to the window beside the classroom door and peered outside –

What she saw left Dong Jia frozen on the spot, unable to react.

The person sprinting madly past while dragging the blade across the floor, producing that piercing sound, wasn’t the enormous, horrifying monster Dong Jia had imagined. It was her seemingly delicate roommate, Xie Qingling.

Dong Jia had no idea what had happened.

She watched helplessly as Xie Qingling dragged the blade past her. Xie Qingling appeared not to see her at all, merely charging ahead with her head down as though chasing something.

That enormous cleaver had somehow ended up in Xie Qingling’s hands and become her weapon?!

Was Xie Qingling really this fierce?

Dong Jia fell into a daze, but also felt considerably more at ease.

She tried to catch Xie Qingling’s attention, but Xie Qingling kept charging ahead with her head down and still didn’t see her.

…Xie Qingling no longer had the Migu branch.

She seemed to be trapped inside the illusion.

Dong Jia quickly grasped the situation. Just as Xie Qingling was about to complete yet another aimless lap, Dong Jia rushed forward and grabbed her hand.

In an instant, the Four-Way Crossroads Ghost’s illusion vanished.

Xie Qingling saw Dong Jia.

[Your relentless pursuit has terrified the Rakshasa out of its wits. As the maker of the Rakshasa Blade, it understands the weapon’s power better than anyone. Its own blade has become the Spirit Wielder’s weapon. It is furious. It is terrified. Realizing it has no chance of winning, the Rakshasa no longer dares underestimate its prey. Panicked and desperate, it decides to flee at once.]

Xie Qingling’s face was white as paper, beads of sweat from her violent exertion glistening at her temples.

She stared blankly at Dong Jia for a full two seconds. Reality and illusion twisted and overlapped before her eyes, the layered spaces spinning dizzyingly. Only after she blinked did everything return to normal.

“Jiajia, help me,” Xie Qingling said.

Dong Jia nodded.

Xie Qingling had Dong Jia help her lift the heavy Rakshasa Blade. At last, the piercing screeching disappeared.

But with Dong Jia’s help, Xie Qingling rushed toward the entrance of the University Student Activity Center even faster than before.

She stopped there and planted her feet.

“The Rakshasa wants to run,” Xie Qingling said. “I can’t let it get out. Give me a hand.”

Dong Jia didn’t know what she intended, but nodded anyway.

She followed Xie Qingling’s every instruction.

Xie Qingling crouched beside the entrance. She laid the enormous Rakshasa Blade sideways across the doorway, blocking the entire opening, with the blade raised about five centimeters off the floor and its edge angled inward.

Xie Qingling held the hilt, while Dong Jia gripped the tip at the other end.

The two girls waited in silence.

Dong Jia wanted to ask what was happening, but didn’t dare. She was afraid any noise might disrupt Xie Qingling’s plan.

Time passed second by second. A minute went by – or perhaps not even that long.

Suddenly, Dong Jia felt an enormous force slam directly into the blade’s edge!

The force vanished an instant later. Dong Jia felt as though the blade had severed something invisible.

Red beads of blood instantly splashed across the pristine white blade.

Then came a deafening boom. The floor shook violently, and Dong Jia stumbled back in fright.

Xie Qingling, meanwhile, wrenched the blade free. Her face twisted from the sheer force she exerted.

With all her strength, she heaved the massive cleaver up and shouted, “I’ll cut off your head!”