Chapter 16
Chapter 16
The two humans and one ghost worked together with remarkable coordination. For the moment, the locust tree branches couldn’t do a thing to them.
The branches thrashed wildly before gradually merging into a humanoid mass of black wood. It had no facial features, making it look exceptionally sinister and eerie.
“Be careful. This should be the Twin God,” Lu Changxue warned them solemnly. As a nonhuman entity, she could clearly sense the immense power within the wooden figure.
That power came from the gathered locust tree branches, but it was far greater than that of the scattered branches.
In other words, this thing was the true body.
The wooden figure tilted its head as if studying Yun Jianyue. But with no facial features, the sight of it silently facing one direction sent chills down their spines.
Yun Jianyue felt it lock on to her.
She felt like a fawn grazing on a vast, boundless plain, only to find itself in the sights of a predator.
The wooden figure blurred, leaving an afterimage behind.
In that split second, Yun Jianyue threw herself into a somewhat clumsy roll. She raised her chainsaw and swung it toward the spot where she had just been standing.
The sound of wood being sawn apart rang out. Only then did the two humans and one ghost realize that Yun Jianyue had actually hit the wooden figure.
None of them had even seen it move just now. How had Yun Jianyue done it?!
Zhou Benxin stared at her in shock. Yun Jianyue’s hands trembled slightly from the strain, but her tone remained remarkably breezy. “I guess that’s what you call a woman’s intuition.”
“Run!”
Lu Changxue’s eyes flew wide open as she shot toward Yun Jianyue like a bolt of lightning.
Zhou Benxin’s expression froze, but he couldn’t get a single word out.
Another wooden figure had appeared directly behind Yun Jianyue.
The two humans and one ghost seemed to have forgotten that the villagers had always worshiped two of these eerie wooden figures.
They were the Twin God.
But it was already too late.
The instant a ghostly wind rose behind Yun Jianyue, the wooden figure she had struck seized the chainsaw tightly, preventing her from pulling it free.
With no way to evade, a sharp glint of cold steel flashed through the air.
“Boom!”
After the deafening crash, Yun Jianyue turned around and saw that the wooden figure behind her had been cleaved in half. Its two halves slammed heavily to the ground, sending dust billowing everywhere.
Amid the swirling dust stood the man who had wielded the blade, his features exquisite and his expression cool.
His face hovered somewhere between that of a youth and a grown man, possessing a timeless beauty that seemed to blur the passage of years.
“Si Wuming?” Yun Jianyue had to admit that the Show-Off King had gotten her again with his theatrics.
Si Wuming thrust his blade toward Yun Jianyue, but she didn’t dodge.
The next moment, the other wooden figure was also cleaved in half.
The wooden figure on the ground writhed eerily, its severed limbs scraping against one another as if it were trying to piece itself back together.
A black boot came down hard on the wood. It instantly shattered into countless pieces and crumbled into splinters.
Yun Jianyue thought bitterly, Damn it, he got me again!
“Brothers, get to work!”
Cai Zeyu’s voice rang out from over a dozen meters away. Seven or eight people wearing Paranormal Bureau badges rushed forward and began cleaning up the scene with practiced efficiency.
Having finally recovered from her shock, Lu Changxue floated over, grabbed Yun Jianyue, and shook her frantically. “Why didn’t you run?! If the Show-Off King hadn’t shown up, you’d be dead! You’d have ended up a ghost just like me!”
“I don’t think she could’ve escaped by then,” Zhou Benxin quietly said in the interest of fairness.
“Stop shaking me.” Yun Jianyue was starting to feel sick.
“And why didn’t you dodge when the Show-Off King swung his blade at you? What if he really had been trying to cut you down?!” Lu Changxue continued shaking her wildly, looking utterly unhinged.
Yun Jianyue silently raised the chainsaw and said weakly, “Stop shaking me.”
The chainsaw buzzed to life, and Lu Changxue promptly let go.
A second later, Lu Changxue shrieked again. “When did you pick up the chainsaw?!”
Off to the side, Zhou Benxin timidly raised a hand. “I saw it. The Show-Off King picked it up and secretly slipped it into Senior’s hands.”
Si Wuming, the Show-Off King himself, silently sheathed his Tang saber. Aside from the faint blush creeping over the tips of his ears, he looked perfectly solemn and composed, as if he hadn’t done anything wrong at all.
The Paranormal Bureau’s people were professionals, all right. With seven or eight of them working together, it took less than an hour to clear the scene.
They had even brought in police officers to help escort all the villagers who had participated in the ritual back to the police station for questioning.
As for Yun Jianyue and the others…
“Hold still and let me take a picture. I’ve been alive for over thirty years, and this is the first time I’ve seen a vengeful ghost this lucid.”
“She even helped save people! Have you ever seen a vengeful ghost save someone? I sure haven’t!”
“Move aside! You’re blocking my shot of the ghost! I want to post this on my Moments!”
The Paranormal Bureau members crowded around Lu Changxue. Every one of them was carrying ghost-catching artifacts and talismans, and the pressure from all that equipment made her tremble uncontrollably.
Despite there being seven or eight of them, not one acted remotely professional. Their phone cameras flashed nonstop, as though they wouldn’t give up until they had taken enough pictures to last a lifetime.
“Darling…” Lu Changxue whimpered, trembling as she called out to Yun Jianyue.
Yun Jianyue grabbed a Paranormal Bureau member with each hand and hauled them aside. Then, quick as lightning, she stuffed Lu Changxue back into the jade pendant.
The Paranormal Bureau members, whose photo session had been forcibly cut short, all turned disgruntled looks on Yun Jianyue.
“Come on, young lady. Don’t be so stingy. We only wanted a few pictures.”
Without a word, Yun Jianyue raised the chainsaw and pulled the starter. The chainsaw roared to life.
The Paranormal Bureau members immediately fell silent. Some stared at the sky, while others studied the ground. Not one of them dared utter another complaint.
They had seen the drone footage quite clearly. This delicate-looking young woman had sliced through one locust tree branch with every swing of her chainsaw.
That thing had been the half-finished avatar of an Evil God. Even Xuanmen practitioners like them couldn’t guarantee they could take one down with a single strike.
“You all know the rules, right? Let’s go. It’s time for questioning.” Cai Zeyu arrived just in time and had Yun Jianyue turn off the chainsaw.
Zhou Benxin pointed at himself. “I have to be questioned too? I’m not going to the police station?”
Cai Zeyu glanced at Zhou Benxin, who was built even sturdier than a baboon, and instinctively took a step back. Feigning composure, he said, “Correct. You’re under our jurisdiction. The villagers are the police’s responsibility.”
As though she had done this countless times before, Yun Jianyue grabbed Du Minghao, who had been watching the show. “Let’s go. Are you questioning my best friend again while Cai Zeyu questions me?”
Du Minghao paled in horror. “Why do I still have to question her when they’re all standing around with nothing to do? Last time was overtime! Why am I getting stuck with the extra work again this time?!”
In the end, they followed the same arrangement as before. Du Minghao questioned Lu Changxue, Cai Zeyu questioned Yun Jianyue, and another Paranormal Bureau member questioned Zhou Benxin.
The two humans and one ghost were fully cooperative, answering every question without holding anything back.
But after reading the statement in front of him, Cai Zeyu sank into deep thought.
“There was another Evil God? And he was handsome? Then you fell into his arms, felt up his pecs, and cut off some of his hair? No wonder he wanted to strangle you… Wait, that’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?” Yun Jianyue asked.
Cai Zeyu’s features twisted beyond recognition. “The point is, according to our surveillance over the past year, Xianyin Village only has that half-finished Evil God avatar of the Twin God. There isn’t another Evil God!”