Strange Ghost

After staying in Insect Valley for a while longer, he caught several Poisonous Insects that were not even low-grade.

It was not that there were no low-grade Gu worms in Insect Valley, but reaching them required venturing deeper inside, where the danger was far greater than on the outskirts.

Without absolute confidence, Su Jie had no intention of risking his life.

Seeing that dusk was approaching, Su Jie packed up his bamboo basket and set off back with the day's harvest.

Insect Valley lay about ten kilometers from Ghost Ridge Palace's stronghold. With its high mountains and dense forests, the uneven terrain and winding, twisting paths made the journey back far from easy.

Rustle!

Suddenly, Su Jie's ears twitched. He heard a strange sound.

It sounded like wind blowing through the leaves, but there was also a faint, barely perceptible panting mixed in.

Su Jie abruptly turned his head and looked toward the dense forest behind him.

The thick trees blocked out the light, shrouding the surroundings in gloom. A pair of scarlet eyes appeared and vanished among the woods, rapidly drawing closer to Su Jie.

"Strange Ghost. It isn't even dark yet."

Su Jie's expression changed drastically. He quickened his pace, shifting from a stroll into a sprint.

A fierce wind swept behind him, and the terrifying low growl drifting faintly from his rear began to draw closer and closer.

Su Jie accelerated repeatedly. Fortunately, he was not far from Ghost Ridge Palace's stronghold. After running out of the dense forest in the deep mountain valley, he could already see the stronghold ahead. A wide stretch of open ground surrounded it; as long as he fought here, he could immediately draw the disciples' attention, so he no longer had to worry too much about his safety.

The afterglow of the sun, which had not yet completely dropped behind the mountain, illuminated the land. Su Jie panted heavily, sweat pouring down him like a torrential rain. He rested both hands on his knees and gasped for quite a while before looking toward the dense forest behind him.

Among the trees, a strange figure spread branches like dark clouds and stared fixedly at Su Jie with blood-red eyes. The malice and savagery in those eyes sent chills down one's spine.

The figure was tall and massive, its arms hanging down to its knees like a gibbon's. Its skin was withered and pale, making it look like a corpse that had come to life. Harsh low growls rumbled from its throat.

Strange Ghosts were special demons formed when corpses were affected by Earth Vein Taint and then came under the influence of their bloodthirsty instincts. People also called them ghouls, corpse ghosts, and the like.

Strange Ghosts hid by day and emerged at night. They loved to eat humans and were vicious by nature. Most acted alone, but sometimes they also hunted in packs like wolves.

Every Strange Ghost possessed tremendous physical strength, able to tear apart trees that would take a man's arms wrapped around them to embrace. They moved as swiftly as the wind, making them extremely difficult for ordinary disciples to deal with.

Beneath the mountainous region where Ghost Ridge Palace stood happened to run a vein of Earth Vein Taint. As a result, Strange Ghosts were plentiful there.

Fortunately, they did not emerge during the day. Under normal circumstances, the disciples of Ghost Ridge Palace would deliberately avoid them.

Su Jie gazed at that Strange Ghost. Clearly possessing no small amount of intelligence, it knew that the area around Ghost Ridge Palace's stronghold was extremely dangerous. It stared at Su Jie for more than ten seconds before letting out two unwilling growls and retreating into the dense forest.

"Something must have gone wrong."

Su Jie's gaze turned grave. Strange Ghosts generally did not come out during the day; that was simply their nature.

In the past, Su Jie had never seen a Strange Ghost during the day. He had only heard that some disciples and Black Market merchants had missed the time to return to the stronghold while deep in the mountains, only to be hunted by Strange Ghosts at night.

Still puzzled, Su Jie did not dare remain outside any longer and quickly returned to Ghost Ridge Palace's stronghold.

As soon as he returned to the grotto, Su Jie saw many disciples gathered together. They were all disciples of Old Daoist Qiu's lineage, and there were already more than two hundred of them.

At Ghost Ridge Palace, the relationship between masters and disciples was somewhat like that between mentors and graduate students in Su Jie's understanding.

The master taught the disciples, while the disciples served the master.

However, Old Daoist Qiu was notoriously stingy and greedy for money. He took plenty of money while doing little work, so talented disciples generally did not choose to become his disciples. His lineage had the fewest disciples in Ghost Ridge Palace.

"What happened?"

Su Jie went forward to ask, not understanding why they had gathered there.

"Master summoned us for something and told us to go see him."

One disciple explained, while someone beside him lowered his voice and said, "I'd say it's probably related to the Strange Ghosts' movements over the past two days."

"Strange Ghosts? They've been appearing during the day?"

Su Jie's heart stirred, and he immediately connected it to what he had experienced earlier.

"You ran into one? Then you're pretty lucky to still be alive."

That person looked at Su Jie in surprise.

"Friend, could you tell me about it in detail?"

Su Jie looked toward the disciple who had spoken. He appeared to be over fifty years old. At that age, an outer disciple had already lost all hope of breaking through.

As he spoke, Su Jie casually handed over a Human-faced Moth. The Poisonous Insects favored by this Gu worm were hard currency among the outer disciples.

"I remember your name is Su something..."

The man hurriedly accepted the Human-faced Moth, a smile appearing on his face.

"Su Jie. And how should I address you?"

"Heh heh, my name is Gu Weinan. If you asked another disciple—even an inner disciple—they might not necessarily know about this. But you've asked the right person."

Gu Weinan gave a smug smile before continuing, "Over the past two days, the Strange Ghosts have changed their habit of hiding by day and emerging at night. They've been appearing in the dense forests during daylight hours. So far, more than a dozen disciples have been killed while venturing out, and some Black Market merchants have suffered even heavier losses.

"Twenty years ago, something similar happened. It was caused by a disturbance in the Earth Vein Taint, which led to a rampage among the Strange Ghosts. Their activity became abnormal, and many people died that year."

"I see. Thank you for clearing that up, Brother Gu."

Su Jie's brows knitted tightly. If things were truly this bad, venturing out during the day would be dangerous from now on.

"You'll have to be careful when you go out in the future. Don't follow in the footsteps of those unlucky fools and get eaten by Strange Ghosts without even leaving behind an intact corpse."

For the sake of the Human-faced Moth, Gu Weinan's attitude was quite amiable.

"I understand. I can barely avoid those things fast enough. I won't go looking for trouble."

Gu Weinan nodded with the air of a seasoned veteran. "Good that you know. You're not like some reckless youngsters who think that learning a few insignificant tricks makes them invincible, then court death by challenging enemies far beyond their strength."

As they spoke, a man and a woman walked in from outside.

The man wore a blue robe and a badge signifying that he was an inner disciple. His entire person was cold as ice, and the muscles of his face looked especially rigid.

The woman, meanwhile, was extraordinarily beautiful. She wore revealing gauze, with a slender waist and long legs. Her snow-white skin showed through faintly, exuding an intensely seductive allure.

These two were the only inner disciples among Old Daoist Qiu's lineage.

The man was named Pei Haibing. He had been promoted to inner disciple half a year earlier and was at the sixth level of Spirit Nurturing. Instead of cultivating the Hundred Poisons Gu Refining True Scripture, the cultivation method most commonly practiced by Ghost Ridge Palace's disciples, he practiced another demonic art known as the Bone Transformation Dao Method. His attacks were incomparably cruel and terrifying.

The woman was named Yu Wenxian. Her name sounded refined and elegant, but her appearance and conduct were worlds apart from it. She was even more poisonous and ruthless than Pei Haibing, and she was also the more senior of the two.