Mountain Ghost

After Old Hai stopped, he ignored the muddy ground and sat straight down. Even Lin Feiyu's eyelids twitched at the sight.

I had no idea what was happening, but I could feel the yin energy gathering around us.

"Xiao Lin, protect us. Zhao Qian and Zhao Yi, get behind me." Old Hai quickly spread out a red cloth, placed the five paper figures on the ground, took out a brush, opened the cap on its back to reveal a needle, pricked his finger, and began scrawling talismans on the paper figures.

Zhao Yi looked somewhat frightened and immediately ran behind Old Hai. Zhao Qian obediently followed.

Although I could feel the biting yin energy, I saw no sign of the mountain ghost no matter where I looked. But soon, Sister-in-Law's warning came. It seemed as though wind blew beside my ear. I turned around sharply and saw a gray-white woman who had appeared in the woods at some point, with several hazy spirit bodies that looked like wild beasts standing beside her.

That was the mountain ghost? It felt much like a fierce ghost. And what were those beast-like spirit bodies?

"Here they come!" Lin Feiyu shouted. He immediately took out several coffin nails from before. Holding a surgical knife in his right hand, he finished forming a hand seal, sliced open his middle finger, and gripped the dozen or so bloodied nails tightly in his hand.

Those eerie spirit beasts suddenly pounced at us. The Soul Urn in my pocket shook violently. Xijun seemed to have sensed what was happening outside. These spirit beasts appeared to be something akin to fierce ghosts, probably the most nourishing food for her. But I didn't dare release her now.

The spirit beasts lunged at us, and I could feel the yin energy around us boiling. If they struck us, the consequences would be unthinkable. Wu Zhenghua had actually been able to summon such powerful fierce ghosts. It was simply inconceivable.

Lin Feiyu's coffin nails were incredibly powerful. Whenever they pierced a spirit beast, a plume of green smoke rose from it, and the beast roared before finally vanishing.

Lin Feiyu had never married, and the pure essence contained in a virgin's vital blood would make any filthy evil thing it touched vanish like smoke in thin air.

Old Hai drew the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams and began chanting, "Qian, Kun, Gen, Dui, Li, Kan, Xun, Zhen! Borrow metal, borrow wood, borrow water, borrow fire, borrow earth. With yin and yang waxing and waning, make the five elements shift."

His final stroke connected all the way to the end. After lifting the brush, he changed his hand seal into a palm and thrust it forward. The five paper figures seemed to borrow the attributes of the five elements and flew out. In an instant, when they landed, the spirit beasts appeared startled and crashed into the woods, mud, and stones, vanishing without a trace.

The mountain ghost let out a cackling laugh and also disappeared into the woods.

"You killed the mountain ghost? Why didn't I see anything happen?" Lin Feiyu asked in astonishment. The five paper figures looked utterly ordinary, and even when they were sent flying by the force of his palm, there had been no strange phenomenon. So why had the mountain ghost fled?

"You can't see what we Yin-Yang practitioners borrow, just as ordinary people can't see wandering spirits. Besides, do you think a mountain ghost dies that easily? Do you think I'm Zhou Xian? I can even summon a Ghost King. Mountain ghosts, mountain gods—once I catch them, they're all just wine snacks." Old Hai spoke mysteriously.

Old Hai had witnessed Grandma's great battle and had probably been deeply affected by it. He often mentioned her spells. I had no idea how powerful she truly was, but she had even summoned a Ghost King, so she was certainly powerful enough to defy heaven and earth.

"Yeah, that's how it is." Lin Feiyu didn't dwell on it and put the coffin nails back into the safe.

A mountain ghost was also a kind of earthbound spirit—in other words, a fierce ghost. But after cultivating a certain level of strength, it gained intelligence. Once it gathered the vicious beasts that had died unjustly in the traps on the mountain as its followers, it formed its own domain and managed the yin energy of the entire mountain, becoming extraordinarily powerful. However, it had no official duty, so it should have been one of those powerful ghosts that were relatively easy to control. Even a slightly capable Maoshan practitioner could drive one.

But a mountain ghost summoned at this time and in this weather would be far more powerful. If it could be controlled, that would be ideal. If it backfired, Wu Zhenghua would be in for a world of hurt.

This mountain ghost was highly intelligent. The moment those ghost beasts were destroyed, she fled. She was clearly smarter than a human.

"We're almost at the mountaintop. Look at the dark clouds. That old bastard is getting anxious too." Lin Feiyu smiled again.

"Looks like it. He's about to summon lightning. But can his body withstand it?" Prompted by this, Old Hai slowly looked up at the sky and shook his head. He fingered a strange series of calculations, but his face instantly went white. He looked at us, then finally stopped his gaze on Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi froze for a moment. Thinking Old Hai was looking behind him, he also looked back. Seeing nothing there, he breathed a sigh of relief and stared at Old Hai in confusion and fear. "Uncle Hai, why are you looking at me?"

Old Hai frowned, took out another blue paper figure, wrote a spell on it with his finger, and handed it to Zhao Yi. "Take this and go back. We're almost at the mountain now. We don't need you here anymore."

Zhao Yi didn't dare take it. But when he saw all of us looking at him, he said, "Why? Why should I be the only one to go down?"

"If you don't go down, you'll die. Remember, don't turn around for no reason while you're going down. Even if someone calls you, ignore them. Pretend you can't hear them. Otherwise..." Old Hai glared at him.

"Do I really have to go?" Zhao Yi was startled and hurriedly took the blue paper figure.

"Yes. I've calculated that you'll die if you go up the mountain. Do you believe me?" Old Hai asked.

"Ah? I believe you! Of course I believe you!" Zhao Yi's face turned deathly pale. Although he had to go down the mountain alone, it was still better than dying. He immediately ran downhill for his life.

The remaining Zhao Qian and I, along with Lin Feiyu, looked at Old Hai strangely. Old Hai shook his head and said, "I don't trust that boy. He may have been cursed by Wu Zhenghua. He might drag us all to our deaths in a little while."

"What? You calculated even that? What else did you calculate?" Lin Feiyu asked in shock.

I couldn't help being startled too. Old Hai was far too amazing.

"Hmph. Zhao Yi definitely has a problem. Ever since the mountain ghost appeared, his aura has been completely out of place with ours. If something uses him to do something beyond our imagination, it wouldn't be strange at all." Old Hai spoke coldly and continued up the mountain.

"Then what was that blue paper figure you gave him?" Lin Feiyu watched Zhao Yi's back disappear and still couldn't figure it out.

"Of course it's a protective paper figure. The mountain ghost didn't fight us to the death, so she must have another card up her sleeve. Zhao Yi isn't such a bad kid. I can't let him die for nothing, can I? Besides, having one fewer person benefits us." Old Hai explained.

"That's true. He brought us here, so even if he has no merit, he has certainly put in the effort." Lin Feiyu also voiced his support.

When it came to battling with spells, Old Hai was a senior expert. Lin Feiyu had no objections, and I had nothing to say either.

We continued toward the mountain. Along the way, the light drizzle began to grow heavier. When we reached the mountain, fog had risen, and thunder rolled from somewhere beyond our sight. Some place was probably being ravaged by thunderclouds.

Old Hai continued chanting spells and throwing out paper figures. Each time, he threw exactly four. He had thrown away most of a full bag of paper figures, and the closer we got to the mountaintop, the greater his consumption became.

By the end, Old Hai's face was pale and bitter.

"Old bastard, when I get up there, you'd better still be alive!" Old Hai panted as he spoke. Even his curses had grown much softer.

I looked at the paper figures scattered along the road, unable to understand their purpose.

"Brother Hai, are these paper figures meant to confuse that old bastard?" Lin Feiyu couldn't help asking.

"Of course. Look—without Zhao Yi, he immediately lost track of our location. Look at the clouds overhead. Because my paper talismans have all spread out, there isn't a stable formation anymore. He wants to hold back a lightning spell and fight me to the death, but before the paper figures run out, there's nothing he can do to me. He must be so pent up that he's probably coughing blood by now." Old Hai spoke bitterly. The paper figures along the road represented all his painstaking effort, each one containing a trace of human aura to lure the lightning.

"Brother Hai, isn't your method just fighting him to the death? What if he is still full of life when you get up there?" Lin Feiyu grew anxious.

"What choice do I have? Is a lightning spell that easy to evade? I can dodge it, and you can too. Young Brother Xia probably won't have a problem either. But what about Zhao Qian? I can't let anything happen to a single person. Also, Xiao Lin, I won't say much more. You'd better hope I can hold out until we reach the top, and that old bastard dies before we get there. Otherwise, you'll be next... Now that would be quite a show." Old Hai shook his head with a bitter smile, his face frighteningly pale.

"What's that supposed to mean, Brother Hai? If you can't go on, of course I'll do it. Do I really need you to deal with that half-dead old bastard?" Lin Feiyu patted the safe and looked at Old Hai with confidence.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Hai... This is all because I was willful and followed you here..." Zhao Qian looked deeply embarrassed. Only then did she realize that Old Hai had known why she had come. He had used this desperate method because he wanted to protect her.

"Ah, he went after your grandfather. Your grandfather died, so you'd want revenge. If you, Zhao Qian, couldn't get revenge, your brother Zhao He would come too. This is simply the cycle of cause and effect—retribution never misses its mark. I only protected you as far as I was able. As for how far that will take us, we can only leave it to Heaven. If this rain continues, Wu Zhenghua, who can drive away ghosts, will become even more powerful." Old Hai shook his head and let out a heavy sigh, his face utterly bloodless.

Lin Feiyu realized something was wrong and reached out to feel Old Hai's trembling hand. It would have been fine if he hadn't touched it, but the moment he did, his face darkened. "Brother Hai! You..."

"I used too much. The backlash is coming." Old Hai looked somewhat helpless.

After throwing out so many paper figures, even someone who didn't understand could see what was happening. The backlash meant he was on the verge of suffering the effects of the spell.

"What do we do? Why don't you rest? I'll go up by myself!" Lin Feiyu was at a loss, so he said to Zhao Qian and me, "The two of you take Uncle Hai back. I'll go up and kill that old bastard!"

"You can't deal with him. If you go up without me, won't the lightning spell blast you to death too? That old bastard has improved by more than a little over these decades. We used to be evenly matched, but now he's actually a level above me! How did I not realize that he must have something to rely on if he dared return so brazenly?" Old Hai stopped Lin Feiyu angrily, took a breath, and continued up the mountain.

"This won't do, and that won't do! Then at least let Young Brother Xia take Zhao Qian down. It will definitely be extremely dangerous up there!" Lin Feiyu said urgently. The mountaintop was only a few dozen meters away, but even the lightning spell would reduce them to ashes.

"Ahhh!"

Just as Lin Feiyu was speaking, Zhao Yi's scream came from below, mixed with the thunder. Old Hai also cast Lin Feiyu a look that clearly said, See?