Life-Snatching Bird, One Cry and All Comes to Ruin

Zhang Qiang suddenly said that, then slowly set the Yin Dish he was holding back down.

Without any emotion in his voice, he said to me again,

"Come with me. Let's go back and see the teacher!"

As he spoke, Zhang Qiang, the Drowned Ghost, grew even more vacant-eyed.

His face became more wooden as he slowly reached out, trying to grab me.

The sight of his pale, water-stained hand made my heart shudder.

I had no idea who the "teacher" he mentioned was.

Or perhaps this was simply the obsession he had carried after death...

But I wasn't in the mood to investigate that now.

I had to trick him into finishing the last Yin Dish first.

"Qiangzi, there's only one dish left.

Don't rush. We'll go after you finish eating. Here, have a taste!"

With that, I picked up the fried fish dripping with lard.

Zhang Qiang stared at the fried fish on the plate, his nose twitching a few times as his body froze in place.

He looked at the lake, then at the dish in my hands.

It was as though he were struggling to make a difficult choice.

Seeing that he had been drawn in, I continued,

"Qiangzi, the food's so good. It won't hurt to eat before we go!"

With that, I held the fried fish out toward him.

I could tell that Zhang Qiang, the Drowned Ghost, was tempted.

But he seemed wary of something. He wanted to eat, yet didn't dare.

"Stop hesitating, Qiangzi. Take a bite. Once you're done, we'll hit the road."

I kept urging him.

Zhang Qiang couldn't resist the temptation of the Yin Dish.

After hesitating again and again, he finally reached into my plate and grabbed the fried fish.

He opened his mouth and bit into the raw fish head coated in lard.

He kept chewing with loud crunch, crunch sounds.

Seeing Zhang Qiang eat the fish head, I was overjoyed.

I had finally tricked him into eating the last Yin Dish.

Once he finished it, I should be able to send him on his way, right?

I thought eagerly, full of anticipation.

But damn it, man proposes, God disposes.

At that very moment, sharp bird cries suddenly rang out through the silent park.

"Coo, coo, coo..."

Each cry was louder than the last, rising one after another.

In the dead-silent park, they sounded especially piercing and abrupt, sending a chill down my back.

I looked toward the sound and saw an owl perched on the treetop not far away.

I had no idea when it had flown there, but it was now standing on the branch with its mouth open, screeching strangely.

Back in our village, owls were also called Life-Snatching Birds.

People said that if one perched outside a family's door and cried, someone in that household would surely die.

So whenever one of these things flew into our village, it would be mercilessly driven away.

If not for the fact that it was a protected animal, people might have beaten it to death...

But this owl had chosen neither an earlier nor a later moment to call.

It had to call now, giving me a terrible premonition.

When I turned back around, I found that Zhang Qiang, who had been gnawing on the fried fish in front of me, had stopped.

He had tossed the fried fish in his hand onto the ground.

His face darkened, and there was even a hint of savagery in his eyes.

He simply stared straight at me...

The moment I saw that, I knew things had gone wrong.

That owl's strange cries must have disrupted Zhang Qiang, the Drowned Ghost, while he was eating.

I felt like everything was about to fall apart.

But I still wanted to give it a try.

Before I could even open my mouth, he suddenly raised both hands.

He grabbed my throat and dragged out the words,

"Come with me!"

Then, gripping my neck, he shoved me toward the lake.

His grip hurt terribly. It felt like his nails had sunk into my flesh.

And he was incredibly strong. I couldn't resist him at all.

My body was beyond my control as his brute force drove me steadily backward toward the water.

But at that moment, from the corner of my eye, I spotted a figure standing beneath the tree where the owl was perched.

It was none other than Pavilion Ghost, the Old Ghost who had escaped earlier.

He watched me with a sinister grin, looking delighted.

I instantly understood what was going on.

That owl's sudden appearance was no accident. This Old Ghost was behind it.

It was infuriating. I had been only one step away from dispelling all the resentment and baleful energy on Zhang Qiang.

Yet at the very last step, this Old Ghost had ruined everything.

But I had no time to worry about him now. I had to save myself.

If Zhang Qiang pushed me into the lake, I was as good as dead.

Zhang Qiang gripped my throat, his eyes already unfocused and his face numb.

He kept repeating, "Come with me, come with me."

One of my feet was already in the water.

One more step, and he would shove me in and drown me.

At that final moment, I couldn't worry about anything else.

With a whoosh, I drew the Dragon-Head Cleaver.

I aimed at Zhang Qiang's face and brought it down in a single slash.

Zhang Qiang, standing before me, was like an idiot.

He didn't even dodge.

My cleaver sank directly into the middle of his face. He didn't cry out in pain, and no blood flowed from the wound.

But his steps stopped.

He even asked,

"Why did you cut me with a knife?"

As he spoke, the hand around my throat tightened even further.

I could feel his nails piercing my skin.

It felt like my neck was about to be snapped.

I could no longer breathe, but by then my eyes had gone red.

If you want to kill me, then damn it, I can only fight you to the death.

In a hoarse, rasping voice, I shouted,

"You want me dead, so damn right I'm cutting you!"

With that, I pulled the Dragon-Head Cleaver from his face and swung it at the hand gripping my throat.

A cold flash streaked through the air.

With a whoosh, it sliced through him as easily as cutting a banana tree.

Zhang Qiang's ghostly hand, which had been strangling me, was cut clean off.

The next second, it vanished in a burst of green ghost fire with a boom.

I coughed painfully twice and hurriedly jumped back onto the shore.

I put some distance between Zhang Qiang and myself.

But Zhang Qiang still wore that blank expression.

Even with a long gash across his face and one hand severed by me.

Not only did he not cry out in pain, he asked me again,

"Come with me. I'll take you back to see the teacher."

With that, he rose onto his tiptoes and started walking toward me.

That invisible pressure, along with the tangible icy aura, filled me with dread.

But all I could do was raise the Dragon-Head Cleaver and point it at Zhang Qiang.

"Go back my ass! You're already dead, so why the hell are you still clinging to me?

Take one more step, and I'll fight you to the death."

I was panicking inside.

But driven by the will to survive, I could only muster my courage and point the Dragon-Head Cleaver at Zhang Qiang.

Yet he seemed not to care in the slightest.

He continued closing in on me step by step, endlessly repeating the same words,

"Come with me. I'll take you back to see the teacher..."