Human Beings More Evil Than Ghosts

Following the voice, Steward Liu looked over from afar in confusion, only to discover that the words had come from a musketeer standing more than ten yards away.

The soldier was tall and powerfully built, but his head hung low, making his features impossible to see.

Steward Liu frowned and barked in displeasure:

"Hey, Master Liu is talking. What are you butting in for over there? And why is your head lowered? You worthless brat, raise your head!"

"Hehehe~"

The head-lowered soldier gave an unreadable chuckle. "Raise my head? Sure."

With that, he lifted his head, revealing a face as pale as paper and devoid of all color—a face Steward Liu knew all too well.

"Li Hai?!"

Steward Liu's eyes widened as he stammered, "Y-you... weren't you burned to death? Are you... are you a man or a ghost?!"

"As you can see."

Li Hai chuckled. "I~ am~ a ghost~"

Then his expression turned cold, and he raised his gun and fired.

With a thunderous bang, Steward Liu screamed and dropped to his knees, clutching his right thigh.

At the same time, the dozens of musketeers scattered around Li Hai, both near and far, began seeing and hearing all manner of horrifying, terrifying, bizarre, and grotesque illusions. Chaos immediately erupted.

"Ghosts! So many ghosts! They're all chasing me! Ahhh! I'll shoot you all dead! I'll shoot every last one of you dead!"

"Why has it gotten dark? Why can't I see anything? Hey! Is anyone there?"

"Huh? Why are there so many watermelons on the ground? Hehe, perfect. I was thirsty."

"Are you fucking insane? You're eating corpses!"

"How did I end up on a cliff? Help! Somebody save me!"

"Wow! So much gold! Hey! Nobody is allowed to take it from me! Whoever takes any, I'll kill them!"

"Ahhh... I've been shot! Who ambushed me?!"

Amid this bloody, frenzied chaos, an Invisible Evil Spirit possessed and slaughtered people everywhere, laughing madly as it made the already chaotic scene even more chaotic.

Yet no matter how deafening the chaos became, it could not affect Li Hai's slow steps toward Steward Liu.

It was as though invisible walls stood on either side of him, preventing anyone from coming within a single step.

Step~ Step~ Step~

Under Steward Liu's terrified, bewildered, and shocked gaze, Li Hai approached with a smile, asking mockingly:

"Steward Liu, I suppose you never expected us to meet again so soon."

"M-mercy, Young Hero Li! No, no, mercy, living immortal!"

Having witnessed the effects of Li Hai's sinister arts firsthand, Steward Liu collapsed onto the ground and begged in terror, "I... I was only following orders! This... this was all Guo Huaijin's evil doing!"

"Are you stupid?"

Li Hai tilted his head, looking at him strangely. "Do you really think I came here to reason with you? I came here to vent my fucking anger on you!"

With a vicious grin, he raised the gunstock and smashed it brutally into Steward Liu's face.

"Ah!!"

Teeth flew amid his screams and wails. The lower half of Steward Liu's face caved in on the spot, leaving him able to do nothing but roll around the ground in agony.

Li Hai then raised his gun, aimed at both his ankles and wrists, and fired four consecutive shots, turning him completely into a cripple.

"Compared to Guo Huaijin, the mastermind who wanted to set me up, you really are just a small fry."

Li Hai stepped on Steward Liu's face and said leisurely, "So, being as magnanimous as I am, I'll allow you to live a little longer."

With that said, the Musket Squad around the dirt slope, driven by illusions into killing one another... no, there was no longer any Musket Squad.

In that chaos and slaughter, everyone had become mangled corpses too horrible to look at. Not a single one survived.

"Fine, I'll go deal with your master first."

Li Hai casually tossed aside his gun and said coldly, "As for you, lie here with the corpses for now. Once I'm done, I'll come back and take care of you."

With that, he turned and hurried toward Guo Family Fort.

"Wuwuwu... ahhh..."

Watching Li Hai's receding back, Steward Liu lay on the ground in unbearable pain and finally let out a tearful cry full of regret.

He regretted it.

If only he had fled Guo Family Fort with the gold and silver a day earlier, he would not have suffered this torment or lain here waiting to die.

Unfortunately, it was too late for regret.

Now Steward Liu could only wait for death in agony, writhing like a maggot.

"If I'd known, I would've been better off as a farmer..."

Just as he closed his eyes, enduring the pain while recalling the past, Li Hai's voice suddenly sounded again:

"No, I can't leave you here alone."

The footsteps drew closer. "As the saying goes, if you don't pull up the roots, spring winds will bring new growth. What if some meddlesome peerless expert comes along and saves you, and a few years later you turn into an expert too and come seeking revenge against me? Better to end it once and for all."

Those words made Steward Liu snap his eyes open. He stared in disbelief at Li Hai, who was striding toward him.

No, look at me. How could I possibly become some expert now? Living father, I beg you, just let me go like a dog.

Steward Liu wanted to say those words, but his ruined mouth could no longer manage them. All he could do was let out a few muffled whimpers.

But after only a few whimpers, Li Hai mercilessly stomped down hard, crushing his head.

Thus, Steward Liu, Guo Huaijin's loyal lackey, was sent to the underworld for good.

Guo Family Fort, at the residence where the Blood Tree Stump stood.

"Asu, all these years, I have always missed you. You have always been the most important person in my heart."

Guo Huaijin sat in a grand chair, looking from afar at the disheveled female ghost, Asu, who was tightly bound to the Blood Tree Stump by a purple-black rope. His old beard trembled as he said in grief:

"But what about you? The moment you appeared, you tried to kill me. You showed no regard for our past affection. Sigh~ You truly disappoint me. It seems my deep feelings... were entrusted to the wrong person."

As he spoke, he slowly rose to his feet and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Asu, to be honest, every time I woke from a midnight dream over these years, I was terrified that your figure would be standing beside my bed.

"So after I outlived that old bastard and gained complete control of Qian Family Fort, I began searching everywhere for treasures that could restrain vicious ghosts like you."

At this point, Guo Huaijin broke into a smile. "Luckily, I found this Demon Subduing Rope. It can effectively suppress a ghost's evil power.

"Well? You can't move at all, can you? Nor can you use even a trace of your ghostly yin energy?"

Asu's hair covered her face. She said nothing, only trembling silently.

"Oh~ I forgot. You can't move now, and you can't even say a word. Hmm... I know you hate me, but even if I had to do it all again, I would still make the same choice, because..."

Guo Huaijin smiled at first, then slowly said, "I could not accept spending the rest of my life rotting away in some little village. So I had to marry into Qian Family Fort and climb to a higher branch. You and the child in your womb happened to be the obstacle standing between me and that branch, so..."

"So you burned your wife alive when she was ten months pregnant, just so you could..."

Accompanied by a voice full of contempt, Li Hai strolled in through the residence gate with a mocking expression. "Become a live-in son-in-law."

He came to a stop and looked coldly from afar at the stunned Guo Huaijin in the courtyard.

"Old Dog Guo, you really are a... living beast the likes of which the world has rarely seen."