Ghost Infant

Seeing that the vengeful ghost had left, Niu Ding lifted the cloak covering him and walked back to the dried corpse on the ground.

Startled by the vengeful ghost, Niu Ding calmed down and began to carefully examine the mummified corpse inch by inch with his hands.

When Niu Ding touched his belly, his expression changed.

With a slight press of his finger, he pierced the mummified corpse's abdomen, revealing a blood-red stone the size of an egg.

Niu Ding grabbed at the bloodstone, his face full of surprise.

Before Niu Ding could put away the bloodstone, the mummified corpse's abdomen suddenly burst open, and a ghostly creature the size of a large bowl burst out of its belly, heading straight for Niu Ding's face.

Before Niu Ding could react, the ghost pounced on his face.

Only then did Niu Ding see the ghost's appearance clearly.

This is a ghost baby. The ghost baby's body is so solid that it seems to be a corpse of an infant transformed into a ghost. The ghost baby is completely naked and its whole body is red.

The ghost baby had a maniacal smile on its face, its mouth splitting open all the way to behind its ears, filled with countless fine, sharp teeth.

The ghost baby opened its mouth wide, as if it were about to split in two, and swallowed the entire head of the Niu Ding into its mouth in one gulp.

Niu Ding was, after all, a Late Qi Refinement Refining cultivator with an extremely powerful physical body. The ghost infant's plan to crush Niu Ding's head in one bite failed.

Niu Ding felt countless sharp, fine teeth frantically gnawing at his head, and a long tongue covered in barbs scraping across his face. In an instant, most of the flesh on his face was scraped away, revealing his white skull.

"Ah!"

Despite the excruciating pain, Niu Ding was struck with an Evil-Exorcising Talisman on the ghost infant.

The Evil-Exorcising Talisman suddenly erupted with a blinding light, and terrifying spiritual power burst forth.

"Chirp chirp chirp..."

The ghost baby's body melted quickly, like butter meeting boiling water.

The unprepared ghost infant bore the full power of the Evil-Exorcising Talisman, letting out a shrill scream.

In the blink of an eye, most of the ghost baby's body disappeared, leaving it tattered and broken, like a rag doll.

The ghost baby fell from the top of the Niu Ding, and with only half its body remaining, it hopped on one leg, fleeing into the depths of the lair.

Niu Ding, who had escaped death, was panting heavily.

In just a short while, the ghost infant had devoured most of the flesh and blood on his head, making Niu Ding look extremely eerie.

Half of his face, including his eyes, had been eaten away by the ghost infant, leaving only a pale white skull. The other half of his face was also a bloody mess, with not a single piece of good skin visible.

His current appearance is more terrifying than any ghost.

Before Niu Ding could catch his breath, he hurriedly ran towards the exit of the nest.

He had just reached the entrance of the lair when the ghostly infant returned, followed by six vengeful ghosts and dozens of ordinary ghosts.

Niu Ding was terrified; his only eye was wide open, a sign of impending death looming.

Niu Ding quickened his pace, intending to leap off the nest.

Just as Niu Ding leaped into the air, he was entangled by dozens of ghosts, and then, through his desperate struggle, he was pulled back into his lair.

The unique spiritual power of several Evil-Exorcising Talisman burst forth, severely injuring vengeful ghosts and annihilating ordinary ghosts.

But Niu Ding's figure ultimately failed to escape the entrance of the lair.

After a moment, the nest fell silent.

All that remained was the sound of the ghost infant gnawing on the corpse. The ghost infant, with only half a head remaining, chewed the corpse very slowly, taking a full quarter of an hour to finish eating the bones of the Niu Ding.

At this moment, all the ghosts and vengeful spirits that had been chasing Xuan Ye returned to the cave.

I don't know if they killed Xuan Ye. If Xuan Ye is also dead, without his guidance, it will be much more difficult for me to find the Sky Cicada Wood.

Song Wen silently observed everything that was happening in the ghost's lair, thinking to himself.

When he saw the ghost infant finish eating the corpse of the Niu Ding, drag its broken body into the depths of the lair, and the other ghosts had long since disappeared, the entire lair became quiet again.

Song Wen looked at the two Storage Bag, the concealment cloak, and the bloodstone on the ground, and his heart stirred with desire.

The Beetle Gu broke through the soil and emerged from underground.

It first crawled to the cloak of concealment, and after comparing the size difference between them, it decisively left.

It wasn't that the Beetle Gu couldn't pull the concealment cloak. Although it was just an ordinary Beetle Gu with only the Qi Refining Level One, it could still pull a cloak-like magical Law Artifact.

But the commotion from pulling the cloak would certainly be considerable. Having just witnessed the power of the ghosts, Song Wen dared not disturb the ghosts deep within the lair.

The Beetle Gu came to the Bloodstone, a treasure that Niu Ding desperately wanted, but Song Wen couldn't see anything unusual about it.

However, the origin of this bloodstone is certainly extraordinary.

The Beetle Gu, with the bloodstone atop its back, used all six legs to push the bloodstone toward the entrance of its nest, much like a dung beetle pushing a dung ball.

Soon, the bloodstone was pushed to the edge of the nest entrance.

With a forceful thrust, the Beetle Gu caused the bloodstone to fall and land on the cave floor.

It made a muffled 'thud' sound.

The Beetle Gu did not act immediately. It lay on the ground for a long time, and seeing that there was no movement deep in the nest, it finally spread its wings and flew down to the ground below.

The Beetle Gu lay on the bloodstone, its six limbs gripping the stone firmly, before spreading its wings and flying away.

The weight of the bloodstone was somewhat greater than Song Wen had anticipated. The Beetle Gu struggled to fly, but it could still barely pull the bloodstone.

The Beetle Gu dragged the bloodstone along its back, flying close to the ground. It didn't fly directly towards Song Wen, but instead flew in the other direction of the cave passage, chasing after Xuan Ye.

After the Beetle Gu had flown more than a mile away, it found a crevice in the rocks and threw the bloodstone inside.

Song Wen waited in the same spot for another half an hour. Seeing that there was no further movement in the ghost's lair, he then stepped out of the crack where he was hiding and headed towards Xuan Ye's direction.

After carefully passing through the cave where the ghost's lair was located, Song Wen used the Blood Escape Technique and advanced at full speed.

After putting away the bloodstone, he traveled for more than ten miles and finally found Xuan Ye hiding in a Xiao Shan cave.

Xuan Ye was in good condition; at least Song Wen didn't see that he had gone through a tough battle.

It seems he easily got rid of those vengeful ghosts; no wonder he dared to agree to Niu Ding's plan.

"Brother Guo Tao, it's so good to see you again. Have you seen Fellow Daoist Niu?" Xuan Ye asked.

Song Wen shook his head. "We still haven't seen Fellow Daoist Niu emerge from the ghost's lair. I'm afraid he's probably in grave danger."

Xuan Ye sighed softly, "Alas, what a pity. I was hoping Fellow Daoist Niu could help me retrieve the Snake-Scale Fruit, but unexpectedly..."

Song Wen asked, "Fellow Daoist, what should we do now?"

Xuan Ye lowered his head, calculated the time with his fingers, and said.

"It's late now, and it should be night outside. Although the underground cave is hundreds of meters deep and dark, for some reason, the ghosts and zombies inside still prefer to be nocturnal. They are more active at night, so we should probably wait until tomorrow morning to make our move."

Song Wen nodded and said, "Alright, then let's do as you say and act tomorrow."

Xuan Ye spent the entire night in the Xiao Shan cave where he was hiding, while Song Wen found Xiao Shan a few dozen meters away to hide in.

There wasn't much trust between them, so separating actually allowed them to rest and recuperate more peacefully.