"When did you find out?" Compared to when Sui Chengguo realized it, Yang Xiao cared more about the timing.
"I knew it as soon as I ca to this world," Sui Chengguo spoke calmly, as if narrating sothing utterly mundane, "It doesn’t make sense that all four nightmare predicants involve you guys, while the four of us are left out. There could be such a probability, but it’s too low—so low that I dare not and cannot believe it."
"The Ghost Monk left too many loopholes on us, the dead. There are so many that I simply can’t ignore them. In the last mission, I saw with my own eyes how an overturned coffin broke Lu Youcheng’s right leg, but when it ca ti to flee for our lives, he ran faster than as if nothing had happened." At this point, Sui Chengguo could not help but let out a wry laugh.
"Then why didn’t you say anything before?" Cheng Cha remained on guard.
Sui Chengguo shook his head, "What could I have said? ’Lu Youcheng, your leg was broken, and now suddenly it’s healed. There’s sothing wrong with you. Are you or are you not a ghost?’"
"Foolish! If I had said that and he realized he had truly turned into a ghost, what would you have done? Everyone would have died!"
"Although I can’t rember clearly, can’t recall exactly what happened before, I am clear about my own abilities. To be able to kill must an I’ve encountered major trouble. It hasn’t been easy for you all to survive until now; I, Sui Chengguo, can’t cut off your path to life."
"You guys should go quickly. I will stay behind to delay them."
"Sui..."
By now, Cheng Cha was thoroughly convinced, wanting to say more, but was interrupted by a wave of Sui Chengguo’s hand, "I didn’t tell you all this for any other reason. I, Sui Chengguo, don’t act in secret. Originally, I’m already a dead man; dying one more ti ans nothing. I just don’t want you to think that I was outwitted. Cheng Cha, I don’t bla you for this. If I were in your shoes, I would have made the sa choice."
"Hurry and leave. You still have at least one more hurdle to overco, the one with the Chu brothers." Sui Chengguo fell silent for a rare mont, then slowly exhaled, "Each hurdle is harder than the last. I dare not imagine what you’ll encounter next."
"The exit is disappearing!" Mi Shu cried out in alarm from outside; she and Tong Han hadn’t run off on their own.
"Run!" Sui Chengguo shouted and charged into the fight that was nearing its end. At that mont, the Fat Steward of the money house had already chopped Abbot Sun of the gambling house in half and was wildly stabbing him while mounted on his body. Sui Chengguo snatched a knife from the hand of an attendant, flipped the attendant with one slash, and then with a backhand stroke, pierced the Fat Steward with an ice-cold thrust.
At this mont, the entire world was on the verge of collapse, and even more chilling was the sight of the pure gold Ginseng Essence beginning to fade in color. The layer of gold started to lt away, revealing the snow-white skin and texture beneath. Who could have known that the Ginseng Essence was hidden inside, now about to erge from its shell? With the appearance of the Ginseng Essence, the whole world was also heading toward destruction.
Yang Xiao and Cheng Cha had already run out of the money house by this ti, rushing toward the end of the street with Tong Han and Mi Shu, a new road appearing right before their eyes.
Feeling sothing in their hearts while running, Yang Xiao looked back and saw the upper body of the Ginseng Essence struggling out of the golden statue. The red flower on its head was terrifying in its beauty; its redness seed to be dyed with fresh blood. Countless tendrils entwined with human limbs extended nearby, so chasing after them at an incredibly fast speed.
It was at this mont that Yang Xiao truly saw the Ginseng Essence’s real appearance; the upper body was an abnormally plump big-headed infant, while the lower body was covered with innurable tendrils.
The tendrils grew wildly, becoming so huge that it was beyond imagination. As the tendrils spread apart, they revealed countless corps** they hugged, eroded over years, many of which had fused with the lower body of the Ginseng Essence. What was more horrifying was that so of the bodies were still alive, blinking one-eyed rotting eyeballs or shaking almost skeletal arms, chasing after Yang Xiao and the others.
The Ginseng Essence struggled to move its body, squeezing toward the door of the money house, oozing pus from the rotting corpses, along with bodies being crushed to pieces.
The group ran for their lives, and just a second before stepping onto the exit, Yang Xiao turned his head to see a figure missing half its body struggling out of the big doors of the money house, swinging a knife and cleaving it onto the Ginseng Essence’s head.
...
After fleeing an unknown distance down this road, soone finally collapsed from exhaustion. Cheng Cha fell to the ground and could run no more.
It was only then that they dared look back, but the town’s image had already vanished. Behind them was pitch black, like a terrifying abyss.
Yang Xiao quickly relayed Sui Chengguo’s actions to Tong Han and Mi Shu. They couldn’t help but sigh; Sui Chengguo was a real man, having saved everyone twice now.
Of course, when speaking of Sui Chengguo, Quan Doufeng was also brought up and taphorically whipped for being a dead weight. If it weren’t for his ddling, Sui Chengguo might have succeeded before. Sui Chengguo’s body was found just a hundred ters from the Du Family Ancestral Ho, just a little bit away.
"Why don’t you take a look inside your pocket?" Tong Han kindly reminded.
When Yang Xiao took off his pocket, even though he was ntally prepared, the sight before him still sent a chill down his spine. The "head" in the pocket had grown larger, now seven or eight tis the size of a normal head, and it was irregular in shape. It was difficult to imagine what this thing actually looked like; one could guess by reaching in, but no one dared.
Yang Xiao was unwilling to carry the head with him, but thinking of the surprise it would bring to the villagers when brought back to Du Family Village, he found it very aningful.
It held great educational significance, and he even began to imagine the look of surprise on the face of the Du Family Patriarch, that old codger, when he would quiveringly open the bag.
Crouching on the ground for a while, Mi Shu suddenly spoke up, "Do you think all the encounters we’ve had along the way could be related to this head?"
"What do you think?" Yang Xiao couldn’t help but give a bitter smile, as the girl had just stated the obvious.
"No, I an, maybe if we leave this head behind, we could go straight back to Du Family Village," Mi Shu explained, recalling the hardships they had faced along the way.
After pondering for a mont, Yang Xiao nodded, "That is possible, and quite likely, but we can’t do that. With this head, we have a way to deal with those villagers; otherwise, going back would be no different from sending ourselves to death."
"I was just saying it casually, don’t mind . There’s probably one more challenge to co, and it’s your turn, Big Brother Chu, we’re all relying on you," Mi Shu said with great confidence in Yang Xiao, seeing him as a reliable man.
In an instant, Yang Xiao recalled the red-clothed woman he had seen behind the curtain in the dilapidated temple, and for a mont, he felt a bit weak, "Right, when you guys were in the temple, before you got drunk, did you see anything strange behind the curtain?"
"I saw a woman, all drenched," Tong Han was the first to respond.
"I also saw a woman, crying," answered Mi Shu second.
Cheng Cha, more direct, pointed to the darkness from which they had co running, "It’s the Ginseng Essence, just covered with a cloth. I didn’t see it clearly, but it’s definitely that."
It was now quite clear; each person had seen the ghost attached to them, while Yang Xiao had seen a strange red-clothed woman, soone clearly not Ms. Chun. What would he face next? The Feng Family Mansion?
Not counting this ti, he had been through three missions: the Feng Family Mansion, Fu Lin Middle School, and Dongzhou Apartnt, but it was only in the Feng Family Mansion that he had obtained the Resentful Eye.
He had a total of four Resentful Eyes: the Underworld Robe, Ghost Lantern, Human Bone Staff, and the Soul-Capturing Mirror. Among these, the ghost in the Ghost Lantern was a little girl with a topknot, blinded and buried alive, while the ghost in the Soul-Capturing Mirror was for now identical to himself. The ghost in the Human Bone Staff was a red-clothed girl who only cried. The only one that fit the bill of the red-clothed woman was the Underworld Robe, and not Ms. Chun, but its original owner.
In fact, Yang Xiao had already thought of this possibility, but he had never seen the original owner of the Drama Robe clearly. However, by intuition, he always felt that the red-clothed woman he had seen didn’t quite match the original owner of the robe, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Before they knew it, a greenish-gray fog began to erge around them. Soon, the fog enveloped everyone and everything. Yang Xiao had everyone form a circle, holding hands to prevent anyone from getting separated and lost in the fog.
Before long, soone noticed a stone path on the ground, made of cobblestones pieced together, overgrown with moss as if it hadn’t been trodden in a long ti. Yet, despite the closeness, they had never seen such a path before.
The path had appeared suddenly, along with this billow of greenish-gray fog.
With no better options, the group could only muster their courage and set foot on this unknown path, with Yang Xiao leading the way. The others followed, hand in hand, not knowing how far they had walked when they heard the sound of water – the sound of waves slapping against the riverbank. At the sa ti, they could sll a moist and fishy stench.
Continuing forward, the group finally reached the water’s edge, where a wooden bridge spanned across the surface. The fog was thick, obliterating the view of the other side, with the bridge’s far end plunging into the grayish-green mist, as if it led to another world.
Walking along the bridge, they soon lost sight of the riverbank behind them, seemingly devoured by the fog. The four of them beca increasingly uneasy and anxious, not daring to even speak softly for fear of disturbing sothing nearby.
With no end in sight ahead and the way back gone, this feeling almost drove them to the brink of collapse. Yang Xiao appeared calm but was extrely agitated inside because he had never been to this place; it wasn’t part of any mission he had experienced before.
This was an entirely unfamiliar, terrifying world.
Suddenly, Yang Xiao, who was at the front, ca to a sudden halt, with Tong Han unable to avoid crashing into him.
Yang Xiao looked down in shock – the bridge was broken right under his feet. Had he not reacted quickly, two more steps could have seen him plunge into the water.
The next second, a breeze swept through, and the green fog dissipated as quickly as wind sweeps away clouds, revealing a vast lake. At that mont, a bright moon rose from within the lake, and atop the dark, green-tinged waters, stood a Sky-reaching Tower.
No, that’s not right. To be precise, the grand tower wasn’t standing above the surface of the water but was a reflection. A massive reflection on the lake surface – it was a tower in the water!
The tower blazed with light, unrelated to the lamps inside. Instead, the entire tower was engulfed in flas, bursting with dazzling fire. At the sa ti, nurous grating battle cries filled the air – a fierce and cruel battle was transpiring.
The sight stupefied everyone, and the other three involuntarily looked to Yang Xiao, but he had never seen this before. He stared blankly at the water surface until half a corpse surfaced from the lake.
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