An Imperial First-Rank Military Official of the Great Ming: Ma Shangfeng.
Protected by the court's Dragon-Tiger Aura and imbued with imperial energy, he could, to a certain extent, restrain the Fusang Ghost King.
That was exactly why Hermit Caolu had been willing to set aside his dignity as an Earthly Immortal and trick Ma Shangfeng into believing he was already dead. Though Ma was naturally afraid of death and lacked the selflessness to save others and help the common folk, Hermit Caolu had convinced him that he was now communicating with the living from beyond the grave, having been transformed by magic into a divine guardian.
Yet despite accepting his identity as a celestial, Ma Shangfeng now lay in a corner, utterly despondent. He chanted like a monk reciting sutras: "I'm so hungry. I'm starving to death. If I don't eat soon, I'm going to die of hunger right here today..."
???? Xiaogui, the Silver-Armored Divine General, suppressed the pangs of hunger in his stomach and continued to fool him. "Celestials breathe in the essence of things, while mortals eat their flavor. How could you be hungry? It must be an illusion."
"..." Ma Shangfeng.
In truth, Ma Shangfeng had no shortage of faith in his new identity as a god. It was just that his stomach really did ache with hunger. After all, he had just fought a fierce battle against the Fusang Ghost King, then been swept away by a mysterious door that had appeared in the sky and deposited in this unfamiliar place.
Could it be that he'd only just become a god and hadn't gotten used to it yet?
His meager brain set to work thinking it over, and he actually decided that he'd found the right answer.
Meanwhile, Xiaogui had put his talent to good use and successfully fooled his junior. He secretly swallowed, held his breath, and puffed out his empty stomach to keep it from growling and ruining his master's plan.
Until... a delicious aroma drifted into his nose.
His mouth began watering uncontrollably.
Forgetting all about dignity, Xiaogui, who also felt close to starving to death, crawled along the floor toward the source of the aroma. Ma Shangfeng, who had been on the verge of hallucinating from hunger, instantly perked up, his face full of disbelief.
The priest fished; those willing took the bait.
Before long, the door opened from the other side.
Two bowls of chicken-leg rice came into view. The skin was tender and golden, and the portions looked deliciously rich...
"You two young men must be starving. Go on, take the bowls and eat." The middle-aged priest smiled kindly.
Bang! The door slammed shut.
Xiaogui had come from ancient times and had never seen anyone dressed like this, so he was extremely wary. He immediately dragged the tray inside and shut the door.
Eat the candy coating.
Send the cannonball back!
The sound of eating came faintly from inside, like hungry dogs fighting over food. The priest could only shake his head helplessly at the other monk behind him. "Let's wait a little longer."
Meanwhile...
At the Ferocious Ghost Mansion, where the Shazhou Team members were staying, Da Sha had loosened his belt and was playing the role of a ghostly knight. He kept feeling hungry, his body limp and weak, and only now had he started to recover a little.
"Strange."
"Feels like a ghost's been haunting me all night."
After muttering a couple of times, he began another round of exertion. The female ghost stood pressed against a corner of the elevator, head bowed and silent.
[House of the Master]
Just then, a black car without a license plate pulled up in front of the otherwise quiet church and stopped without a sound.
In the driver's seat, a man looked at the sign and couldn't help sneering. Two men sat in the back, their faces blank and wooden, as if they were no different from puppets.
Each of them carried a black bag.
The driver knew exactly what was inside: several bags of blood plasma from promiscuous AIDS patients or syphilis sufferers, along with filth of all kinds—feces from various creatures, black dog blood, dead mice, and cockroaches.
Holy?
No. It would soon be steeped in foulness.
Bang! The car doors slammed shut in unison. The two men in black walked side by side toward the church, their limbs unnaturally stiff, as if they couldn't bend them. The priest, having hit a wall, had gone back to his room to rest. The other monks had gradually left the hall, leaving only one behind to quietly clean.
He was getting sleepy. Though he saw the two men approaching quickly, he paid them no mind. Based on past experience, he guessed they had probably done something shameful and wanted to confess before the image of the Lord in the middle of the night.
Until... a foul stench spread through the air, defiling the holy place with every kind of filth.
Puffs of black mist immediately poured from the cross. The heavens outside shifted as well, and a thick, fishy fog that could not be dispersed spread over the surrounding area.
The Ghost King had returned to the world of the living!
At that moment, the one who had stayed by the car no longer feared the church's holy power. He rushed to the entrance of the prayer hall.
"My lord, please come with me. The commotion you've caused is too great. It might alert—"
Before he could finish, a strange wind lifted his hair.
A terrifying ghostly aura surged toward him. The figure had a blue-green face and fangs, and wore ancient armor woven from bamboo strips, hemp rope, leather, and iron plates. It was striking to behold.
As a rogue cultivator from Fusang, the driver immediately recognized the armor as a style from his country's history, dating back to the Azuchi-Momoyama period. He was even more certain that they had found the right target.
"Lead the way!" the Ghost King growled. "A terrifying enemy is closing in."
In truth, he had already sensed Hermit Caolu's two disciples—the so-called Gold and Silver Generals—hiding in the church. Given a little time, he could have killed them.
But a powerful enemy was drawing near, and the Ghost King was in terrible shape. He dared not waste time, especially after being suppressed by holy objects and believing he would never see daylight again...
Escape! Regain his strength!
In an instant, the rogue cultivator who had released the Ghost King was seized and made to show him the way.
The two walking corpses tasked with scattering the filth halted, turned around, and headed deeper into the church.
Behind them, the monk who had been cleaning fell flat on his back. His face turned black and purplish, and he stopped breathing.
In truth, the Fusang Ghost King had no interest in harming an ordinary person. But the aura of his emergence alone was enough to make the man's soul scatter.
"My lord, we're from the Nine Chrysanthemums—"
Before the rogue cultivator could finish introducing himself, the Ghost King immediately sensed death approaching.
A blazing sphere was bearing down on them.
Acting on instinct, he hurled the junior he held in his hand at the attack, trying to slow it down. He didn't care that the man had just rescued him.
As for the Ghost King himself, he didn't hesitate. He immediately split into several forms and fled in every direction, moving at incredible speed. It was as if he had used some kind of life-burning secret art. Each seemed to be the real one, yet all of them might have been illusions.
Rumble! In the next instant, fire-attribute Chakra surged skyward. The ominous, savage orange-red light blazed like a natural disaster, illuminating the park.
Fortunately, the explosion took place away from residential areas. Otherwise, countless people would have been killed or injured! "I knew it... Things wouldn't be that simple. A repeat of the last trial, where I got to shoot at a stationary target and finish him off while he was weak, was never going to happen."
Fang Xiu landed.
The Main God's announcement rang in his ears.
—Killed a rogue cultivator from the Nine Chrysanthemums Sect. Gained 100 reward points.
Nine Chrysanthemums?
Another faction from Hong Kong Ghost Stories!
They were from the movie Magic Cop!—[Side Quest triggered: Eliminate the Hong Kong Island stronghold of the Fusang Nine Chrysanthemums Sect. Time limit: 12 hours.
Upon completing the quest, participating Reincarnators will share two D-rank side-story rewards and 1,000 reward points, distributed according to individual contribution.]
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