How Terrifying! System, Add Points!

The enormous ghost radiated an intensely sinister aura, and it had now completely transformed into an entirely different form.

The left half of its face resembled a ghost groom, while the right half resembled a ghost bride.

The ghostly face on the left was filled with rage, shock, and venomous resentment.

The ghostly face on the right actually held a hint of bewitchment and compassion.

Once the two were combined, they formed an extremely contradictory and eerie face, making it especially horrifying!

Its body was like a gigantic wine barrel, with a strip of red silk draped across the front. The red silk crisscrossed over its enormous ghostly body like thread stitching up a wound.

Its four burly, muscular arms were extremely long, hanging almost all the way to the ground.

Each palm had five sharp claw blades!

Dense sinister energy and resentment swirled around the Stitched Ghoul.

It looked utterly terrifying!

Absolutely horrifying!

"With 1278 points in [Lifeforce] and 22.1 points in [Strength], these stats are ridiculously exaggerated..."

Fan Wu raised his head and looked at the Stitched Ghoul's eerie yin-yang face. He could clearly see its current attribute information.

The flaw in the Stitched Ghoul's current state also could not escape Fan Wu's eyes.

He saw through it at a glance.

"However, having such ridiculously exaggerated stats must come with some restriction. That restriction is this strange stitched-monster-like state. It can only last for three minutes."

"That's already incredibly formidable. No wonder it dared to barge into Baihe County and even snatch that coffin right under the Imperial Astronomy Bureau's nose. Without some real strength, it truly couldn't have pulled off something like that."

"Such a ghost... how terrifying!"

Fan Wu murmured under his breath.

The other party's [Strength] attribute was 2.1 points higher than his own.

However, although he called the ghost terrifying, Fan Wu's expression showed not the slightest trace of panic.

Because...

[Name: Fan Wu]

[Lifeforce: 89＋]

[Strength: 20＋]

[Skill: Star Constellation Sword Art lv1 (0/10)]

[Free Attribute Points: 9.8]

His own personal attribute panel still held quite a few unused Free Attribute Points—and there were a full 9.8 of them!

Of those, 8.2 points had come from the ghost inn connected to the strange shadow several days ago.

The remaining 1.6 points had just been provided to Fan Wu by those unlucky ghosts.

That was where his confidence came from.

That was why he remained so calm!

System!

Add points!

He silently called out in his heart.

Elsewhere.

Shen Jiyue and Xie Jiuyi, the two members of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau, were nowhere near as composed as Fan Wu.

Especially after they saw the ghost groom and ghost bride fuse into one...

They immediately felt an immense pressure bearing down on them!

They did not know the Stitched Ghoul's weakness. They only knew that compared to every strange entity they had encountered in their lives, this creature was countless times more ferocious!

It was absolutely not something the Baihe County branch of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau could handle!

"What kind of wicked, sinister secret art is this?!" Xie Jiuyi was nearly numb with shock. Why were all the strange entities he had encountered lately so absurdly terrifying?

The terrifying strange shadow they had encountered at the ghost inn earlier had already made him feel that they were in an extremely difficult predicament.

Now, facing this Stitched Ghoul, he no longer merely felt that it was difficult to deal with.

Instead, it made him feel as if there were no solution at all!!!

"...If the Bureau's Hundred-Sergeant Lord were here, perhaps he could fight this vicious creature." Shen Jiyue took a deep breath beside him. Her tone was solemn, yet resolute. "But there is no Hundred-Sergeant in the Baihe County branch of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau. The highest-ranking official here is me, this Squad Leader."

"If we truly cannot see any opportunity, I will use the Ghost Descent Art from the Hundred Killings Divine Path Technique to summon an Underworld Ghost King to possess me and have it fight this vicious creature."

Xie Jiuyi froze for a moment. Looking at Shen Jiyue beside him, he said incredulously, "Squad Leader, you... practiced that forbidden art? You must know that it will cost you your life! Moreover, the summoned Underworld Ghost King certainly won't leave the mortal world easily."

"If it is an evil Ghost King, the disaster it brings may be no smaller than the ghost before us—in fact, it could be even greater!"

Shen Jiyue nodded. "I know. That would be a last resort among last resorts. If it truly comes to that, then..."

"Hm?!!"

Before Shen Jiyue could finish speaking, she and Xie Jiuyi seemed to sense something at the same time.

Their two pairs of astonished eyes fell upon Fan Wu, who was confronting the Stitched Ghoul.

They felt as though they had fallen into an illusion.

When they turned their gazes toward Fan Wu, they vaguely saw not a person, but a monstrous beast whose enormous body blotted out the sky and the sun, radiating a terrifying aura!

It made their hearts tremble with boundless dread!

If the Stitched Ghoul's appearance had given them an utterly helpless feeling, as though there were no solution...

Then Fan Wu now gave them the feeling of looking up inside a temple at the divine Buddha statue within the great hall!

The former still allowed them to summon the will to resist.

The latter made them completely afraid to resist!

That sensation...

Was utterly shocking!

"Just what level of cultivation does Fellow Daoist Fan possess? Could it be... he has already reached Qi Refinement into Spirit?" Shen Jiyue secretly swallowed. She felt that calling Fan Wu "Fellow Daoist" seemed somewhat presumptuous.

She ought to respectfully address him as "Daoist Master" instead, because the gap between her and Fan Wu was simply too vast!

So vast that merely murmuring the words "Fellow Daoist" caused a trace of dread to rise in her heart.

It was as though she had accidentally addressed an elder as her peer!

She looked at Fan Wu and the Stitched Ghoul ahead.

Shen Jiyue felt as though she were watching two demons confronting each other!

Their surging, colossal auras made her heart tremble.

Even the gravel on the ground was quivering!

Suddenly!

She saw Fan Wu move.

But what exactly had he done? Shen Jiyue discovered that she could not see it clearly at all.

That astonishing speed had already exceeded the range her eyes could perceive.

She could only see one of Fan Wu's arms turn into a blurred phantom.

Then, in the next instant.

A booming detonation rang out!

The Stitched Ghoul seemed not to have had time to defend itself. Its fat, round body, shaped like a huge wine barrel, suddenly caved inward, forming a massive hollow.

It was like soft rubber clay being forcibly pressed inward by someone.

Ripples surged across the Stitched Ghoul's ghostly body.

Its pitch-black maw opened as though unable to bear the pain, and a horrifying, shrill wail rang out.

Its enormous body blasted backward.

Its two feet stomped across the ground step by step, crushing slabs of bluestone into fragments.

All four arms immediately plunged into the ground, carving deep marks across it and forcibly halting its retreat.

A series of different emotions flashed across its stitched-monster face. Its two hollow eyes locked onto Fan Wu ahead, and it unleashed a deafening, soul-piercing shriek of rage!

It charged explosively toward Fan Wu!

Layers of deathly aura coiled around the sharp claw blades on its four arms. Its ferocious, terrifying momentum made it seem as though it wanted to tear Fan Wu into minced flesh!

All four arms swung out at once!

The claw blades ripped through the air, sending out waves of shrill howls. It would not be an exaggeration to say they could cleave through iron!

The wisps of deathly aura wrapped around the claw blades could even injure the souls of living beings!

Fan Wu's expression remained calm.

He raised his sword and slashed!