Jiang Lan, Who Was Afraid of Ghosts

Without further ado, to avoid unnecessary trouble, Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan decided to find the intelligence themselves.

After asking around the neighborhood, the two learned the whole story.

It turns out that after the turmoil several years ago, although Kyoto seemed to have returned to peace, the Kyoto Kinai, began to experience frequent outbreaks of so-called "Tsuchi Ikki).

This refers to an activity in which farmers unite several villages to resist the current regime through armed uprisings, in order to achieve the goal of tax reduction or labor service reduction.

The owner of this mansion was a military officer in Kyoto who led troops to suppress several Tsuchi Ikki near Kyoto.

Three days ago, another Tsuchi Ikki broke out in a village near Kyoto. This military officer was ordered to lead men to suppress it, but he never returned. This morning, people discovered that his entire family, who lived in this mansion, had suddenly died.

Some people say that the military officer did bad things and was therefore cursed by the gods. Of course, Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan would not believe these claims.

They got the directions to the village from these people, and then headed towards it.

Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan were very fast. Although Jiang Lan refused Bai Qiuran's offer to carry her on his sword, the two of them were still much faster than ordinary people when relying on their own speed.

Both of them had mastered spatial manipulation techniques, and each step they took casually covered a distance of hundreds of meters.

The village wasn't far from Kyoto, about two hundred li away, at the foot of a mountain. Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan left Kyoto in the afternoon, and by evening, they could see the small village at the foot of the mountain.

Upon arriving in this area, perhaps due to the approaching darkness, the atmosphere became much gloomy, and the entire village was Yin Qi in a heavy, chilling aura.

The strangest thing is that even though it was dinnertime, there was no smoke from cooking fires or any light in the village, as if there were no living people in the whole village.

There are footprints on the ground.

Jiang Lan spoke softly, then made a Magic Incantation Bai Qiuran had never seen before. She waved her hand and scattered a patch of blue light, which then gathered on the ground, covering the outline of the footprints and making the footprints on the ground glow as well.

After doing all this, Jiang Lan noticed Bai Qiuran's gaze and smiled.

"A little trick I came up with on my own, used to catch those mischievous disciples."

"That's a really good idea."

Bai Qiuran praised him, then looked at the footprints on the ground.

"These must be the military officer and the troops he brought to suppress the local villagers... Why are there so few of them? Only a dozen or twenty people?"

"Judging from these footprints, they should all belong to foot soldiers from Kyoto. Although their armor is not good, at least they are carrying proper weapons, which is much better than the villagers who can only fight with farm tools."

After examining the ground, Jiang Lan said, "Besides, the village shouldn't have many people. It wouldn't take many people to suppress a village."

"There seems to be no one in the village."

Bai Qiuran grabbed Jiang Lan's hand.

"Let's go in and take a look."

"Um."

The two entered the village. This village looked better than the village occupied by Yaoguai that Bai Qiuran and his companion had seen when they first arrived in Fusang, but the improvement was still limited. The village consisted of low huts, with a larger longhouse in the middle, which was probably where the villagers usually discussed matters.

The entire village was deathly silent. The footprints of the military officers and foot soldiers disappeared at the village entrance. Whether it was the farmers who lived there or the military officers who came to quell the rebellion, they had all vanished without a trace.

"A typical trick."

Bai Qiuran commented.

Having dealt with Xue Ling for so many years, he was very familiar with the way ghosts acted. Orthodox ghosts did not attack humans directly like Yaoguai, and even their thoughts and Souls were different from those of Earth Immortal Body Seizure.

They are spirits that are born after the complete death of living beings. They are Spirit Body that are born with the ability to create illusions. They usually use illusions to lure and frighten humans, slowly breaking down their psychological defenses and leading them to their own death.

Of course, there are powerful ghosts that can directly devour living souls, but even ghosts with such abilities usually choose to use illusions, which seems to be their instinct.

Despite Xue Ling's reckless appearance wielding the chain, when facing Bai Qiuran, he still relied on illusions to fight Bai Qiuran with all his might.

This village appears to have become a hunting ground for some Vengeful Ghost.

Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan walked into the village hand in hand. Suddenly, a wind began to blow across the flat ground. The wind wasn't strong, but it carried a chilling feeling.

Bang!

Suddenly, a muffled thud came from the side, followed by a gurgling sound. In the darkness, something about the size of a human head rolled out of the shadows—it was a pottery jar.

The two took a few more steps, and suddenly the window of a small house on the other side creaked open. When Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan looked in the direction of the sound, they saw a White Shadow flash past the window.

"..."

Jiang Lan silently moved closer to Bai Qiuran. She paused for a moment before asking softly, "Qiuran, can you use your Spiritual Sense to find where that Vengeful Ghost is hiding?"

She looked somewhat frightened.

Bai Qiuran found Jiang Lan's reaction somewhat amusing. Despite being a powerful immortal far surpassing the ancient immortals of yesteryear, Jiang Lan was still afraid of the things these insignificant brats were up to.

That's true. There was no Ghost Realm during the Divine Age, so there were no Ghosts on Earth.

While thinking, Bai Qiuran answered Jiang Lan's question, "I tried searching before entering the village, but without success. Ghosts are Souls that absorb resentment; they are Spirit Body. They can usually hide in places even we can't, catching us off guard, so they are quite difficult to find. They can even hide in dreams or thoughts; even the Wisdom Immortal must witness their true forms to find them. But it's okay, I have experience."

Ignoring the eerie and supernatural phenomena deliberately created by the Vengeful Ghost around them, Bai Qiuran took Jiang Lan's hand and led her straight to the longhouse in the very center of the village.

The two had barely stepped inside when a gust of cold wind blew, slamming the door and the book shut behind them.

The longhouse was plunged into darkness. Bai Qiuran felt Jiang Lan tighten her grip on her hand, and her voice came through intermittently, trembling slightly.

"Qiuran, what's next?"

"Next up, it's time for fishing..."

Bai Qiuran could finish speaking, all sorts of odds and ends in the longhouse suddenly flew up haphazardly and then crashed to the ground.

"Ah!"

Jiang Lan gasped softly, then pressed herself against Bai Qiuran's arm tightly.

Snap, snap, snap.

Suddenly, a wet and sticky sound came from the ground, as if a barefoot person with liquid on their feet was stepping on the tatami mat. The two looked in the direction of the sound and found a series of bloody footprints that had appeared out of thin air on the ground.

Click!

Suddenly, another clap of thunder sounded outside. In the instant the lightning illuminated the longhouse, the two saw a woman in blood-stained clothes with long, disheveled hair standing in the corner of the longhouse.

Jiang Lan shuddered, and at that moment, a gust of cold wind carrying a strong sense of Yin Qi suddenly brushed against their faces. Jiang Lan felt that a third person was standing behind her, lifting her long hair.

Jiang Lan screamed in fright, then slapped him back.