Chapter 125

Chapter 125

The moment the dark shadow loomed over him, Yu Lang felt someone yank him from behind. In the next instant, Yan Zhengchu had swiftly stepped in front of him and struck out with a talisman.

Golden light flashed. The shadow let out a shrill, agonized cry and immediately rolled across the floor, revealing its true form.

Everyone looked over. It was not Bai Qingshuang, but a ghost that looked as if it had been mauled by wild beasts…

There was not a single patch of intact flesh on its body. Its death had clearly been horrific beyond words.

Ren Fengjue and Yu Lang had dealt with murder cases for years and had seen countless corpses in all manner of grisly states, so they were still able to keep their composure.

Yan Zhengchu, however, could not.

Though he had seen plenty of ghosts, this was the first time he had seen one whose death had been so gruesome and terrifying.

His stomach immediately churned, and he could not help clutching the railing beside him as he retched.

Ren Fengjue was about to step forward, but a hand stopped him.

He turned back and instantly met a pair of cold, shadowed eyes. “If you get too close, you’ll scare it off.”

Xia Ximo took two steps toward the ghost, keeping a careful distance, neither too close nor too far. In a low voice, she asked, “Who killed you?”

The question made the ghost abruptly lift its head. Its bloodshot eyes were filled with terror.

It opened its mouth. “Mon… ster!”

Xia Ximo asked, “What monster?”

It seemed about to say more, but a wisp of white smoke drifted in from nowhere and burrowed straight into the center of its brow. In less than a moment, its body turned into a puddle of black water.

Yan Zhengchu, who was still clutching the railing and dry-heaving, immediately sensed something was wrong and shouted, “It’s the Fu Tower Ghost!”

At that, Ren Fengjue instinctively pulled Xia Ximo to his side.

In the blink of an eye, however, a dense fog rose inside the building, almost completely obscuring the inn’s original appearance. A woman’s laughter suddenly rang through the air.

The moment that laughter sounded, countless women’s hands appeared in everyone’s field of vision, identical to the huge glazed hand in the main hall of Fu Tower.

Yan Zhengchu immediately shouted, “Everyone, close your eyes!”

As he spoke, he directly brought out the Jade Sword and began chanting an incantation loudly.

Everyone felt the floor beneath their feet shake violently. A moment later, the sound vanished, and the surroundings fell silent.

When they opened their eyes again, everything had returned to normal.

Yan Zhengchu immediately took out his compass and looked around, but Bai Qingshuang was nowhere to be seen. Annoyed, he said, “That ghost thing really is cunning…”

Only after the commotion disappeared did Ren Fengjue realize he was still gripping Xia Ximo’s hand tightly.

He hurriedly let go and put some distance between them. When he looked back, Yu Lang was hugging the railing, clearly badly frightened. “Daoist Master, that scene just now was way too strange!”

Yan Zhengchu said, “Bai Qingshuang used Soul Art to confuse us. Unfortunately, she got away again…”

Just then, footsteps came from the stairwell.

Ren Fengjue turned to look and saw that it was the waiter, carrying food up the stairs.

Faced with the strange puddle of black water on the floor, the waiter frowned. “What were you doing here just now? You dirtied my inn. You’ll have to pay for that!”

Yan Zhengchu snapped, “Your inn is already filthy. This Daoist Master just subdued a Vengeful Ghost for you. If anything, you should be paying me.”

“Vengeful Ghost?”

The waiter glanced at the black water on the floor, his tone full of contempt. “You don’t mean this, do you?”

Yu Lang could not help saying, “Don’t be so quick to scoff. There really are ghosts in your inn.”

“Oh.”

The waiter responded indifferently, then said, “If there are ghosts, stay or leave as you please.”

With that, he ignored them and carried the food into one of the rooms, then turned to leave.

“Wait.”

Xia Ximo suddenly walked up to the waiter and said, “Take me to the room where someone died.”

At that, a clear flash of astonishment crossed the waiter’s face.
“Are you sure you want to see it?”

“Yes.”

Only then did the attendant realize that although the woman before him looked delicate and frail, the cold, eerie air that emanated from her very bones was, in truth, even more frightening than the nobleman standing beside her.

He had originally meant to say something else, but then he felt a strange force descend over him from above, making his limbs go slightly stiff.

It felt almost like a warning…

“Fine. Since you’re not afraid, come with me.”

The attendant led the way. When they passed the Heaven-Class Room, he paused noticeably before continuing on to the door of the Earth-Class Room.

A chain as thick as a man’s arm was wrapped around the door, secured by a heavy lock.

The attendant took out a key and opened the iron lock. The chain fell to the floor with a dull clank.

Then, with a creak, the door swung open, and a thick stench of blood immediately rushed out at them.

The attendant stood to the side of the doorway. He did not go in, nor did he speak, his expression clearly saying they were free to do as they pleased.

Ever since Xia Ximo’s soul and body had fully merged, her sense of smell had become even sharper than before.

Just from the smell of blood alone, she could tell that the dead person in this room was almost certainly the same as the ghost that had just turned into black water.

The room was dim. In the end, Axia was the one who took the initiative to bring over a candle.

Under the cold, flickering light, the room’s horrific state was laid bare before everyone’s eyes.

Bloodstains were everywhere, leaving almost nowhere to step.

The floor, the tables and chairs, the bed, the walls, even the ceiling-everywhere was covered in blood, shocking to behold.

Even Ren Fengjue, who had handled countless cases, felt a wave of discomfort at such a gruesome scene.

A year ago, he had solved a massacre case. At the time, the case file had described it as: blood had dyed the entire house red.

Now, seeing the scene before him, he could finally understand what that meant.

Xia Ximo paused only briefly before taking the candle from Axia and stepping over the threshold.

Seeing this, the attendant could not help glancing at her a couple more times, seemingly surprised by her courage.

Ren Fengjue immediately followed her in.

Yu Lang covered his nose and exchanged a look with Yan Zhengchu, only to see the other man take a large step back.

It seemed Daoist Yan had no intention of wading into these muddy waters.

Xia Ximo walked at the front with the candle raised, looking around. Lantern Spirit Wuyou did not dare show himself, but he still could not resist peeking out with a pair of eyes to survey the surroundings.

“Tsk, tsk. How could there be so much blood? It feels like the work of a wild beast…”

Only the fiercest beasts in the mountains would use sharp teeth and claws to tear their prey apart alive, gnawing at them until they died.

And judging from the human hair and scraps of clothing scattered across the floor, it did indeed look like the work of a beast.

Xia Ximo suddenly thought of the “monster” the Yin Soul had mentioned.

Could some ferocious, bloodthirsty beast be hiding inside this inn?

After Ren Fengjue looked around the room, he also formed his own conclusion.

He suddenly called in a deep voice, “Axia.”

From outside the door, Axia answered, “My lord.”

“Seize the inn attendant and take him downstairs to the main hall.”

“Yes.”

Axia stepped forward at once. In just a few moves, he had the attendant subdued.

The attendant’s expression changed. Struggling, he shouted angrily, “Who are you people? What right do you have to arrest me? Do you believe I’ll report you to the authorities?”

Yu Lang chuckled and took out his Dali Temple Waist Token, saying to the attendant, “No need for you to make the trip. We are the authorities.”

The attendant’s eyes widened as he looked at the token, then he shouted again, “Even if you are officials, why arrest an innocent commoner like me instead of catching the murderer?”

Ren Fengjue slowly walked out of the Earth-Class Room and looked at him coldly. “I now suspect that you are the murderer.”