Chapter 135

Chapter 135

Its eyes were especially horrifying.

They had sunk deep into their sockets, leaving nothing but vast expanses of sickly white.

The entity watched the two balls of talisman fire flying toward it, then curled its lips into a terrifying smile.

It seemed utterly contemptuous of my magic.

Ooo, ooo, ooo…

A strange sound came from its throat. Then it extended both hands–small, black, rotting hands.

Its glossy black nails resembled sharp daggers.

Rather than dodge, it caught the two balls of blazing talisman fire in its bare hands.

Then it squeezed.

Pfft!

Both flames went out instantly. The remaining talisman paper crumbled into ashes that drifted slowly between its fingers.

My expression changed, and inwardly, I groaned.

“Holy crap! This thing is much stronger than I expected. Looks like I misjudged my opponent.”

In theory, talisman fire burned at roughly the same temperature as an ordinary flame. If used to light firewood, its power seemed no different.

Against monsters, ghosts, and other evil beings, however, it was exceptionally fierce. A single spark would make them erupt in flame.

Evil beings were like fuel for talisman fire.

Yet this ghostly thing had snuffed out the flames I launched with its bare hands.

Clearly, it possessed considerable cultivation.

At the very least, it was no weaker than I was.

“All right. What should have been a fight where I had a slight advantage has turned into an even match. Those are always the hardest. This is going to take everything I’ve got.”

I sighed inwardly and prepared to suffer.

I no longer dared attack as recklessly as before. Instead, I held my breath, focused, and prepared to counter whatever came.

Ooo, ooo, ooo. Croak, croak, croak…

The vicious entity in the red dress stared at me with disdain and made a peculiar sound that resembled both a frog’s croak and a child’s weeping.

It was clearly some special form of corpse speech.

“Save your breath. I can’t understand a damn word! A freak like you has no business existing in this world. Today, I’ll carry out Heaven’s justice and destroy you.”

I spoke with a sneer.

I might have been nervous inside, but I couldn’t let it show. I couldn’t lose the battle of nerve.

Facing a ghost was much like facing a vicious dog in the village.

Presence and courage mattered. The instant your nerve faltered, it would sense your fear.

The entity in the red dress let out another series of heh-heh laughs. It slowly circled toward me from the side, while I moved lightly in the opposite direction.

It looked ready to attack.

Sweat gathered in my palms, and I swallowed.

From the corner of my eye, I glanced at the bed. Xia Dong must have passed out again after the entity shoved her down.

That was probably for the best. Once the fight began, I wouldn’t need to worry about protecting her too.

Ooo-croak!

With a strange cry, the vicious entity lunged at me.

It moved incredibly fast, just like the savage dogs that had chased me through the village when I was little. Even the nervous sweat in my palms felt exactly the same.

“Evil-Repelling Talisman, go!”

I dodged to the right. At the same time, my right hand traced a circle and thrust forward.

A talisman glowing faintly white shot out.

It arced through the air and flew straight toward the back of the entity’s head.

This time, I had poured far more qi into the talisman, making it much stronger than the previous Fire Talismans. No matter how fierce this thing was, I refused to believe it could withstand every attack head-on.

The black corpse energy swirling around its body instantly surged. Once again, it transformed into a hand and slapped at the Evil-Repelling Talisman.

Sizzle!

When corpse energy collided with the talisman, it sounded like water thrown into boiling oil.

The entity’s movements immediately slowed. This talisman had checked its charge.

Delight flashed through me, but my hands never stopped moving.

Whoosh!

From ten feet away, I hurled a small knife with all my strength.

A contemptuous sneer appeared on the entity’s horrifying little face. It simply reached out to catch the flying blade.

The next instant–

Shnk!

The knife pierced straight through its palm.

Shock registered clearly on the vicious entity’s gaunt face.

Of course I knew why it was surprised.

I still hadn’t fully uncovered this thing’s true nature, but I was now almost certain it possessed traits of both a spiritual ghost and a physical corpse-fiend.

In other words, it could become either a ghost or a corpse-fiend.
Ghosts and corpse-fiends were very different.

The former were incorporeal, while the latter were physical.

Ghosts usually killed by creating illusions, casting glamour spells, and terrorizing their victims’ minds. Corpse-fiends killed like wild beasts, destroying a person with brute physical force.

Extremely powerful Ghost Kings and Corpse Kings were, of course, exceptions to the rule.

For that reason, when fighting me, the entity in the red dress had an advantage in its physical corpse-fiend form.

If it became a ghost, a cultivator like me wouldn’t be deceived easily or controlled by its illusions. In the physical form of a corpse-fiend, however, even one claw or slap would hurt like hell.

If those sharp talons struck a vital point, I would probably die on the spot.

And therein lay the problem.

Corpse-fiends weren’t invulnerable to blades and bullets like zombies, but their stiffened bodies were still incredibly hard.

An ordinary short sword or dagger couldn’t pierce a corpse-fiend’s body. Even if one did, it wouldn’t matter, since corpse-fiends felt no pain.

What chance did my little throwing knife have?

To the vicious entity in the red dress, the weapon must have seemed like a joke, something it could swat aside casually.

But the knife had now punched through its palm and was eating away at the flesh.

I sneered.

“I coated that blade with black dog’s blood and rooster blood. An evil thing like you is asking to die if you touch it!”

At the same time, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

If the short blade coated in black dog’s blood had struck its heart, it might have finished the entity. As things stood, it would destroy one hand at most.

“Still, that’s fine. This should force it back into ghost form, which will make it easier to handle.”

I was already preparing to use the Eight Trigrams Steps.

The technique Master had taught me could confuse not only humans but ghosts as well.

To my surprise, though the vicious entity had formed from the body of a little girl, it was exceptionally ruthless and decisive.

Without a moment’s hesitation, it swung its other hand and slashed its sharp claws through the wrist pierced by my blood-coated knife.

Crack!

The sound resembled a piece of hardwood being chopped apart.

Its corroding hand broke off at the wrist and fell to the floor with the knife still embedded in it, releasing billows of black smoke.

I stared blankly for an instant.

This thing refused to follow the script!

I had expected it to turn incorporeal. Instead, it sacrificed its own hand to save the rest of the arm. A warrior might cut off his wrist to survive; this was a vicious ghost doing the same.

That moment of surprise slowed me by half a beat, and the entity closed the distance.

“Damn it!”

My eyelid twitched.

It was in corpse-fiend form. I would suffer badly in close combat.

There was no way to evade completely, so I twisted hard to the side.

That put me in the blind spot of its remaining hand.

Thud!

A heavy blow struck my stomach.

It felt like being rammed with a solid wooden club. I staggered several steps backward, stars bursting across my vision.

My stomach churned so violently that I nearly vomited up dinner.

But even as the blow drove me back, I recovered from my shock. A talisman was already pinched between my fingers, and it ignited with a roar.

Instead of throwing it, I held on and slashed it in a fierce arc before my body.

The flame traced a blazing semicircle like a protective barrier. It stopped the entity’s next attack and forced it back a short distance.

Then I released the talisman, driving it another ten feet away.

Only then did I finally gain a moment to breathe.

Clutching my stomach, I panted heavily and stared at the entity ahead.

“That was close! It may lack human intelligence, but its fighting instincts are terrifyingly sharp. At its core, it really is no different from a savage man-eating beast.”

“Thank goodness I destroyed one of its hands. The blow to my stomach came from the bare stump of the arm that had lost its hand.”

“If the hand had still been intact, those knife-sharp nails would have ripped my belly open by now.”

After that violent exchange of attacks and magic, the entity and I were evenly matched. Both of us had paid a price.

Losing one hand had undoubtedly weakened it considerably.

As for me, its brutal strike to my stomach left a dull ache twisting through my abdomen whenever I moved.
At that moment, the entity in the red dress and I were like two beasts locked in mortal combat. One of us had to fall.

“Looks like I’ll have to use the ritual blade Master gave me.”

My hand crept toward my lower back.

Master’s ritual blade hung there.

It was my greatest source of confidence.

Without that blade, I wouldn’t have remained nearly so calm while dealing with the haunting in Xia Family Hamlet.

But Master had warned me that even with my present cultivation, wielding the ritual blade remained somewhat beyond my ability.

I could use a few of its techniques, but probably not for long. Unless I faced a true crisis, I should avoid drawing it lightly.

“This definitely counts as a crisis, doesn’t it?”

I waited for the entity to come close enough, planning to finish it with the ritual blade in a single stroke.

Our fight continued.

Once again, the vicious entity in the red dress attacked first.

As time passed and the Hour of the Rat ended, its strength would gradually weaken.

The decline wouldn’t be dramatic before the rooster crowed, but between two evenly matched opponents, even the slightest disadvantage could be magnified.

It wanted to kill me before the Hour of the Rat ended. Besides, a cultivator’s flesh and soul offered tremendous nourishment to an evil being.

I had no doubt that if I lost tonight and this thing devoured me, it would reach the level of a corpse fiend.

The vicious entity charged with the speed and agility of a rabid wolf.

This time, I didn’t dodge.

I was done dragging things out.

Trading attack after attack, each of us accumulating minor wounds, was pointless.

We would decide everything in one move.

My right hand had already reached behind me to grip the hilt at my waist. My left held a talisman between its fingers.

The moment the entity came close enough, I would unleash my killing blow.

Closer. Closer!

Its roar made my blood run cold.

I could even see black insects writhing across its rotten face.

“Now!”

I launched the talisman in my left hand.

It was a Corpse-Suppressing Talisman. Even if it stopped the entity for only half a second, the ritual blade in my right hand could kill it instantly.

Smack!

The talisman struck its forehead and froze it in place, only a foot and a half away from me. Its remaining claw was extended toward my heart.

“It worked? That easily?”

The thought flashed through my mind.

But something felt wrong.

Compared to before, the vicious entity had become far too weak.

Losing one hand couldn’t possibly have diminished its strength so greatly.

Yet in the midst of a life-and-death clash at such close range, every thought passed in a flash, and every movement occurred within half a second.

No matter my misgivings, I couldn’t change a strategy already in motion. My body couldn’t stop simply because my mind had raised a doubt.

Whoosh!

The instant I threw the Corpse-Suppressing Talisman, my right hand pulled the ritual blade from behind my back. With a snap of my wrist, I slashed from the right at the entity’s neck.

The ritual blade had no edge whatsoever, and its rounded tip wasn’t sharp.

Against an ordinary person, it was only a blunt weapon that could neither stab nor cut.

Against monsters and ghosts, it was an incomparable weapon.

Sure enough, however, things didn’t go so smoothly.

Just before the ritual blade struck the entity’s neck from the side, my arm suddenly tightened. Something had grabbed it and yanked it back.

The blade stopped three inches from its neck, unable to descend any farther.

“What the hell?”

My heart lurched.

Then I saw a large hand made of black mist clamped firmly around my right arm, radiating a vicious chill.

At the same time, icy cold brushed the back of my neck. A chill shot straight to the top of my head, and goose bumps rose all over my body.

I understood at once.

“It can temporarily separate the corpse energy from its body and make the two attack independently? That’s… That’s unbelievable!”

Horror seized me.

No wonder no black mist had surrounded the vicious entity when it charged.

No wonder it had seemed so weak and allowed my Corpse-Suppressing Talisman to strike it.

It had divided its power in two!

The corpse energy had circled behind me to launch an ambush.