At this critical moment, the little girl's twisted head suddenly spun 180 degrees, and her hollow eye sockets fixed on Ye Yun. The corners of her grinning mouth stretched almost to her ears, revealing a mouthful of tiny, sharp teeth. A strange laugh rasped from her throat. The hairs all over Ye Yun's body stood on end, and the Nine Nether Spirit Ginseng in his Storage Bag trembled violently, as if responding to something.
Eee-yaa—
A piercing shriek tore through the night sky, and the little girl shot toward Ye Yun like an arrow loosed from a bow. The nails on her withered hands grew three inches long, gleaming with a ghostly blue chill in the moonlight. Ye Yun could even smell the stench rushing at him—a mix of corpse water that had soaked for years and the reek of blood.
Ye Yun bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of vital blood mixed with Essence Qi. This heart's blood, containing the essence of an 8th Rank peak martial artist, spread through the air into a blood-red web. Each strand glimmered with a pale golden light. The moment the web touched the little girl, a sizzling sound erupted, and thick black smoke billowed from her body.
Sixth Brother! Use Essence Qi to attack those black threads! Ye Yun shouted, his long saber already drawn. In the light of the blood web, everyone could finally see the gray threads connecting the little girl to the ancient well. Each one was as thick as an infant's arm, coated in slime, and writhing like a living thing.
Yan Xiao Liu endured the sharp pain in his left shoulder—the wound there had already turned a strange purplish blue. Gritting his teeth, he poured every last bit of Essence Qi in his body into his saber. A faint blue light glowed along the blade. With a roar, a pale blue saber aura ripped through the air, striking the thickest thread with pinpoint accuracy.
A crisp clang rang out, like metal striking metal, and the thread snapped. The little girl lurched to a halt and let out a shrill wail. Seizing his chance, Ye Yun swept his long saber out, channeling his rich Essence Qi into the blade. A faint flash of lightning flickered along its edge. Three threads connecting to the ancient well snapped at once, turning into foul black water that splattered across the ground.
It works! Ye Yun's heart leaped. He was about to press the attack when a sharp crack sounded behind him. A fissure three fingers wide split the ancient well's stone rim, and dozens of even thicker black threads shot out like venomous snakes from their den! Their surfaces bristled with barbs. In the blink of an eye, they had repaired the little girl's damaged body and wrapped around her, forming a hideous black suit of armor.
Glug... glug...
A bone-chilling bubbling sound rose from the bottom of the well, as if some enormous creature were rising to the surface. The ivy on the courtyard wall suddenly grew wild, its vines as thick as bowls coiling around several constables' legs like giant pythons. Zhao Hu screamed as a thorn pierced his right leg. The blood that flowed from the wound turned dark green the moment it emerged.
The young lady... she's come back for revenge... The servant kneeling and kowtowing suddenly began to bleed from all seven orifices, a howl unlike any human sound tearing from his throat. His eyeballs bulged grotesquely from their sockets, and his pupils became vertical slits like the little girl's. By the time Ye Yun swung his saber and severed the vines around everyone, the servant was already dead. His corpse shriveled at an impossible speed until only a sheet of human skin remained on the ground.
Even more terrifying, after absorbing the servant's vital essence, the little girl's form grew increasingly solid. Now even the constables who had yet to reach a rank could see her clearly: beneath her faded blue dress was ashen-gray skin, a distinct ring of bruising circled her neck, and half of a broken chain still hung from her ankle. Most horrifying of all were her eyes, made entirely of churning black water. Just one glance was enough to make a person's head spin.
The young lady... it really is the young lady... Wang Fu collapsed to his knees, his trousers soaked through. He repeated the words mechanically, the corner of his mouth starting to twitch uncontrollably.
Yan Xiao Liu's face was deathly pale, and the hand gripping his saber trembled slightly. He could feel that little Essence Qi remained in his body, and ordinary blades were useless against this female ghost. In his despair, he instinctively looked to Ye Yun—the colleague who always seemed able to work miracles.
Fine beads of sweat formed on Ye Yun's forehead, and a storm raged in his heart. With his 8th Rank peak cultivation and Essence Qi far richer than others at his level, that last slash had been powerful enough to cleave through three feet of granite, yet it had only cut three threads. Worse still, the thing in the ancient well seemed to be waking. Its baleful energy was making every plant in the courtyard wither before their eyes.
Physical attacks are useless... Essence Qi has limited effect... Ye Yun's mind raced, then a sudden inspiration struck.
Sixth Brother! Cover me! Ye Yun shouted, darting toward the ancient well like lightning. Yan Xiao Liu understood. He forced out his last wisp of Essence Qi and swung his saber at the little girl's back. The blade still passed right through her, but this time it drew a wisp of black smoke—and the female ghost's form visibly wavered.
The ancient well was close at hand. Its water churned as if boiling, and a set of stark white bones could be seen rising from within. Without hesitation, Ye Yun summoned all the Essence Qi in his body and swung his long saber, hacking viciously at the black threads connecting the female ghost.
Boom—!
Amid a deafening blast, a pillar of ghostly blue flame erupted from the well. The little girl screamed as if her heart were being torn apart, her body twisting and deforming beyond her control. The black threads snapped one by one, dissolving into a foul black rain. The vines in the courtyard withered rapidly and crumbled into ash.
Just as everyone thought the crisis had passed, a sudden change struck! The bones in the well suddenly reached out with a claw and seized the rim. A hoarse woman's voice rose from the bottom of the well: "You... will all die..."
Why haven't you left yet?! Ye Yun dodged a stream of black energy and retaliated with a slash to the little girl's shoulder. His blade felt as though it had struck waterlogged cowhide. It cut in only half an inch before it could go no farther. The female ghost let out a piercing laugh, and her ashen-gray arm suddenly stretched three feet, its claws thrusting straight for Ye Yun's heart!
Yan Xiao Liu gritted his teeth and rushed forward, a faint trace of blue Essence Qi barely gathering along his blade. "I'll help you—"
Ye Yun kicked him out of the courtyard gate. "You've exhausted your Essence Qi. If you stay, you'll only drag me down!" He put just the right amount of force behind the kick, sending Yan Xiao Liu soaring three zhang through the air, where he landed right in the middle of the fleeing crowd.
The courtyard gate closed by itself, dividing the inside and outside into two worlds. Ye Yun drew a deep breath and felt the scant Essence Qi remaining in his body. The girl before him had grown even more solid. Her blue dress stirred in the windless air, and the chain around her ankle scraped with a sound that set his teeth on edge. Worse still, the bones in the well had already surfaced, their bone-white fingers gripping the rim as they slowly climbed out...
He had to find a way to escape. Ye Yun's thoughts raced as his long saber wove a curtain of light, temporarily forcing back the female ghost's assault. He noticed that whenever his Essence Qi touched her, the female ghost's movements faltered for an instant. The effect was slight, but it worked.
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