Original Understanding Essence

That face was so pale it held not a trace of color, and it was covered in a dense web of cracks. Several patches of flesh had peeled back, exposing the meat beneath. A pair of blood-red eyes stared up at Chen Mo.

Though he had been here for more than half a month, and knew this world was wrong, the sight of the woman's face still sent a chill through him.

Was this woman Old Master Li's daughter?

From the way she looked, she was probably dead.

Then what was this thing?

Before Chen Mo could think further, he heard a bubbling sound.

More and more bubbles rose from the well.

The woman's face slowly surfaced, followed by her hair and head.

"Is this thing about to climb up the well wall?"

It would have been better if he hadn't thought of it.

The thought only made his fear grow.

Before long, the woman had risen completely out of the water. She stood motionless on its surface, dressed from head to toe in a bright red Xiuhua Dress. The moon's dim light fell on her, tinting the entire well blood-red.

Judging by her height, the woman was only about twelve or thirteen.

Chen Mo grabbed a broken brick from the ground beside him and clutched it tightly. Even so, his heart hammered wildly.

He had thought the girl would climb up the well wall next.

It didn't take long for Chen Mo to realize he'd oversimplified things.

He hadn't even seen what happened. Suddenly, the girl in red was halfway up the well, standing in midair.

"She can fly too... You—!" Chen Mo instinctively leaned back, every hair on his body standing on end.

The next moment—

In an instant, without the slightest warning...the girl in red appeared at the mouth of the well, almost nose to nose with Chen Mo.

He could clearly see her cracked face, the flaps of rotten skin, the flesh beneath, and her blood-red eyes without pupils. An intensely foul stench hit him, making him gag.

Chen Mo slowly shuffled backward, eyes wide as he stared at the well. A blood-red glow was rising from within, along with a thick, rotten stench.

Then strands of black hair crept over the edge of the well. As more and more appeared, a pitch-black crown slowly emerged.

It rose higher and higher. Before long, the girl's cracked face appeared above the well, staring at Chen Mo from midair.

Then the girl stretched her mouth wide, all the way to her ears, revealing blood-red fangs as she smiled at Chen Mo.

"Raaah!"

The girl suddenly let out a low growl and charged madly toward the mouth of the well. A red light flashed there, forcing her back down.

The red glow seemed to hurt her. Her face twisted in agony.

The girl refused to give up and tried to burst out of the well again, but the red light forced her back once more.

After several more attempts, the girl was utterly exhausted. At last, she roared and screamed at Chen Mo, her face full of unwillingness.

Once he was sure the girl couldn't get out of the well, Chen Mo let out a huge sigh of relief. Only then did he feel alive again, and his muddled mind gradually cleared.

"What's at the mouth of the well, keeping this female ghost in check?"

"No wonder Old Master Li could never fish his daughter out... No wonder he went to stop Goddess Hong Deng's sedan. He must have been asking her for help."

"What is this power suppressing the female ghost?"

Although the girl couldn't get out, having her glare at him so intently still felt awful.

Chen Mo brought up his panel and saw a barcode-shaped box appear on the woman's forehead, containing three Black Rods.

[Unable to identify!]

"Same level as my Mad Demon Disease, with three Black Rods... If an evil thing with three Black Rods is this powerful, then the Mad Demon Disease inside me must be terrifying."

While Chen Mo was lost in thought, the next line of text caught his attention.

[Original Understanding Essence detected.]

[Hint: Obtaining Original Understanding Essence can raise your identification level.]

"Hm? This female ghost has Original Understanding Essence..."

If obtaining Original Understanding Essence could raise his identification level, didn't that mean...once his level went up, he could identify his own Mad Demon Disease? And then find a way to cure it?

The thought filled Chen Mo with hope. He was no longer quite so afraid when he looked at the female ghost.

Original Understanding Essence was all well and good, but the question was...how could he get it?

Most likely, he had to kill the female ghost.

Kill her... That was way too difficult.

He'd only survived because the red light at the well's mouth was holding her back. That was a blessing from his ancestors' graves, the Buddha showing mercy... Amitabha.

The red light was holding her back?

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Chen Mo...

While Chen Mo was lost in thought, the girl struggled several more times before finally running out of strength and falling back into the well with a splash.

Chen Mo waited a long while. When the girl didn't emerge again, he finally mustered the courage to walk slowly to the ancient well and look down.

The girl was still standing on the water, glaring viciously at Chen Mo.

After getting used to the sight, Chen Mo wasn't as panicked as before. He forced down his fear and ignored the girl, carefully examining the stones around the well.

"There must be something in these stones that's giving off the red light and suppressing the female ghost... If I find it, I might find a way to deal with her."

Perhaps because the ancient well had been abandoned for too long, a thick layer of dust covered the stones around its mouth, and moss had grown over them.

Chen Mo carefully brushed away the dust and pulled off all the moss.

After searching closely, he finally spotted a stone with a patch of red wax congealed on it.

Red Candle Wax, red light... They did seem to match.

"Could this Red Candle Wax be what's holding the female ghost back?"

Chen Mo leaned in for a closer look. It seemed no different from ordinary wax. But when he lowered his head to smell it, he caught a faint, unusual fragrance.

"So it really isn't ordinary Red Candle Wax!"

The discovery filled Chen Mo with delight. He thought, If I scrape off some of the wax, I'll have a little more confidence facing the female ghost.

With that, Chen Mo didn't hesitate any longer. He immediately scraped off a little wax.

Just then, Chen Mo saw the girl in the well reveal a sinister smile.

Something was wrong!

Chen Mo immediately stopped scraping.

A terrible thought came to him—if he scraped off the Red Candle Wax, wouldn't the girl be able to escape the well? Even if he took the wax, could he really use it to restrain the female ghost once she got out?

It shouldn't be possible.

The Red Candle Wax worked while it was left around the well. He didn't know how to use it himself.

To be safe, he couldn't scrape off any more.

Sure enough, when the girl saw Chen Mo stop, she immediately grew restless, baring her teeth and letting out a low growl.

Chen Mo held a small piece of Red Candle Wax in his palm, and his heart settled.

He knew he'd guessed right.

What a close call!

The girl seemed to have been trying to lure him into scraping off the Red Candle Wax.

That raised another question.

Why hadn't Old Master Li taken the Red Candle Wax before?

If he had, wouldn't he have been able to let his daughter out?

Chen Mo thought it over from every angle but couldn't find an answer. At last, he sat beside the well, examining the Red Candle Wax in his hand as he pondered.

"Since this Red Candle Wax can restrain ghosts, maybe I can take it with me...and get out of here?"