White-Clad Ghostly Shadow

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye.

It was ten at night.

Xu Qing had already finished his patrol. His patrol today had lasted from two in the afternoon until ten at night, and nothing unexpected had happened.

At this moment.

Xu Qing had already returned to his residence.

Rustle...

The Rat Snake crawled out from the corner, its two-and-a-half-meter body winding along.

"Brother Xu."

Before long.

Yu Chen arrived. He and Yu Hu pushed a large flatbed cart loaded with a hundred pounds of meat, which had cost a full hundred taels of silver.

One tael of silver per pound of meat.

One had to know.

In these troubled times, there was little food to begin with. Many refugees and disaster victims outside the city were on the verge of starving to death. Naturally, food such as meat had risen in price, costing one tael of silver per pound.

It could be said.

It was a full ten times more expensive.

"Mm."

Xu Qing glanced at it. "Push it inside."

"Sure."

Yu Chen nodded. He and Yu Hu quickly pushed the flatbed cart into the courtyard, wiped the sweat from their foreheads, and said, "Brother Xu, this is the hundred pounds of pork you wanted."

"Count it."

"Alright."

Xu Qing lifted the dusty cloth covering it and took a look. It was indeed a hundred pounds of pork. Though it was not particularly fresh, there was nothing wrong with it.

"No problem."

Xu Qing said.

"How much silver?"

Xu Qing asked.

"One hundred taels."

Yu Chen replied.

"Fine."

Xu Qing took out one hundred taels' worth of banknotes from his robes, along with another ten taels of silver. "This is one hundred and ten taels. Consider the extra ten taels payment for your hard work."

"No need, no need."

Yu Chen waved his hand and accepted only the hundred taels. "Brother Xu, you're Hu Zi's master. How could we ask for payment for running an errand for you?"

"Take it."

Xu Qing said.

"This..."

Seeing Xu Qing's gaze, Yu Chen nodded. "Thank you, Brother Xu. Hu Zi, why haven't you thanked Master?"

"Thank you, Master."

Yu Hu bowed in salute.

"It's already very late. You two should head back."

Xu Qing said.

"Alright."

"Farewell."

Yu Chen and Yu Hu nodded and left, closing the courtyard gate behind them. The entire courtyard was left with only Xu Qing and a Rat Snake.

"All this meat is yours."

Xu Qing pointed at the hundred pounds of pork on the cart and said to the Rat Snake, "Eat with all your might. Eat hard. Finish these hundred pounds of pork as soon as possible."

"Hiss, hiss..."

The Rat Snake excitedly flicked its tongue, slowly crawled onto the cart, and began wolfing down the meat, swallowing a large chunk.

However.

The Rat Snake was ultimately an ordinary snake, and its digestion was average. It would likely take many days to finish all one hundred pounds of pork.

"Take it slowly."

Xu Qing looked at the Rat Snake on the cart and mused, "Fortunately, it's winter now. The weather is cold, so this pork won't spoil easily even if it sits around for a while."

The night passed without incident.

The next day.

Xu Qing woke early, ate a pound of Black Mountain Tiger Meat, then headed outside the city to begin today's patrol shift. Since mornings were when porridge was distributed, Xu Qing saw Jiang Feiying again.

"..."

Xu Qing tried his best not to look around carelessly and simply stood at his post.

Time flew by.

Finally.

Jiang Feiying finished distributing porridge. As usual, she prepared to leave the porridge stall, but she stopped as she passed Xu Qing.

Xu Qing's body tensed slightly.

"Miss, what is it?"

Zilan, Jiang Feiying's maid, asked.

"Nothing."

Jiang Feiying shook her head. She looked at Xu Qing, the warm and sweet smile still upon her stunningly beautiful face. "Hello. May I ask whether we have met somewhere before?"

"This..."

Xu Qing lowered his head slightly and said, "Miss Jiang, I'm merely an ordinary martial arts school apprentice. How could you possibly have met me? You must have remembered wrongly."

"Is that so?"

Jiang Feiying looked doubtful as she asked again, "What is your name?"

"Xu Qing."

Xu Qing answered.

"Then which martial arts school do you train at?"

Jiang Feiying asked again.

"Azure Hawk Martial Arts School."

Xu Qing said.

"Then perhaps I truly remembered wrongly."

Jiang Feiying said, looking somewhat apologetic.

"It is my honor."

Xu Qing said.

"..."

Xu Qing raised his head and silently watched Jiang Feiying's retreating figure.

Have I been targeted?

Xu Qing's expression grew slightly grave.

Just now.

Xu Qing's instincts had sharply heightened his vigilance, while the Ghost Mask in his robes had reacted intensely. Something was very wrong with this eldest daughter of the Jiang family.

"Huff..."

Xu Qing took a deep breath and murmured softly, "I only wanted to be an unnoticed nobody. I've already grown too lazy to meddle in other people's affairs."

"But in the end..."

"Someone still set their sights on me."

Two in the afternoon.

Today's patrol shift ended.

Xu Qing returned to his residence.

Inside the house.

In one of the rooms.

Xu Qing had placed the hundred pounds of pork and the Rat Snake inside. Every day, the Rat Snake ate as much pork as it could until it was stuffed, then kept moving about to digest the pork with all its might.

Over the course of today.

The Rat Snake had eaten ten pounds of pork.

Rat Snake LV1: 1/10

"It can only be done slowly."

Xu Qing said.

In the courtyard.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Xu Qing practiced the Eight Extremities Fist. Although having to patrol every day had cut his daily training time by more than half, he still never stopped practicing the Eight Extremities Fist each day.

...

Experience +1

...

Experience +1

...

Before he knew it.

The sky had completely darkened.

It was getting late.

It was already around ten at night.

"Huff..."

Xu Qing stopped, exhaled a breath of stale air, glanced at the dark sky, then returned to his bedroom and put on the Ghost Mask.

Slowly.

Xu Qing seemed to fall asleep.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Suddenly.

Within the courtyard.

Wisps of yin energy spread through the air, and a sinister aura emerged from nowhere. A deathly pale ghostly shadow entered Xu Qing's residence.

The view drew closer.

Whoosh!

At once.

The ghostly shadow's feet did not touch the ground. Its hair hung loose, and it wore a long white robe. It ignored the walls and passed straight into Xu Qing's bedroom.

Hiss, hiss...

The Rat Snake had clearly sensed something and slithered uneasily inside the room. Yet with the door and windows shut, it could not crawl out.

Inside the bedroom.

The ghostly shadow had entered and floated beside Xu Qing's bed. Its black hair danced wildly through the air like enormous black pythons, endlessly coiling in the air.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!

In an instant.

Those strands of black hair shot toward Xu Qing on the bed like black spears, intending to pierce through his head.

"Kehehe..."

Suddenly.

A sinister, chilling cackle rang out.

In the corner of the bedroom, the hidden Shaman Evil Ghost revealed itself. Its gaunt, aged right hand shot forward and swelled in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into a gigantic ghost claw.

Crack! Crack!

In only a few strikes.

The Shaman Evil Ghost tore off the white-clad ghostly shadow's hair.

"Die!"

Boom!

Xu Qing abruptly opened his eyes. Powerful strength erupted from him as he sprang from the bed, his qi and blood surging within him and his Dan Force exploding forth.

Eight Extremities Fist! Shatter!

Bang!

Xu Qing charged before the white-clad ghostly shadow and let out another furious roar. His right fist blasted out, Dan Force and qi and blood erupting together, directly punching the white-clad ghostly shadow apart.

"Ah!!"

The white-clad ghostly shadow exploded into ghostly mist that filled the sky. In the end, only a single black strand of hair remained, drifting lightly down from the air.

After that.

That black strand of hair also dissipated.

"Huff..."

Xu Qing took a deep breath. He was now completely awake.

You had to know.

Earlier that day, Xu Qing had vaguely sensed that Jiang Feiying had set her sights on him, so before going to sleep that night, he had released the Shaman Evil Ghost in advance.

Sure enough.

A white-clad ghostly figure really had appeared that night.

If the Shaman Evil Ghost had not been standing guard, then had Xu Qing truly fallen asleep, he might very well have fallen victim to it. That white-clad ghostly figure came without a shadow and left without a trace, making it difficult to detect.

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye.

Seven days later.

Ever since that white-clad ghostly figure had appeared, Xu Qing had unexpectedly never been attacked again. It was indeed somewhat strange, but he did not dare let down his guard. Every night when he slept, he had the Shaman Evil Ghost stand watch.

Ten at night.

Xu Qing arrived outside the city. Today was his tenth day on patrol, and his shift ran from ten at night until six the next morning.

Besides.

Ever since the strange incident seven or eight days ago, which had caused the Patrol Team to lose three members, the others no longer dared entertain any other thoughts.

Therefore.

Nothing had happened these past days.

Everything was still relatively safe and sound.

"Brother Xu."

As Liu Xiao walked his patrol route, he said to Xu Qing, "After so many days, the number of refugees and disaster victims outside the city has not only failed to decrease—it has actually kept growing."

"Indeed."

Xu Qing nodded.

You had to know.

On the day Xu Qing had first begun patrolling, there had only been around forty thousand refugees and disaster victims outside the city. Yet in merely about ten days, the number had already risen to around sixty thousand.

That was a full half more.

Most importantly.

The Three Great Families and the yamen were distributing less and less porridge, and the porridge itself was becoming increasingly thin. The refugees and disaster victims outside the city had noticed it as well.

"This cannot go on."

Su Changhe shook his head. Looking at the refugees and disaster victims around them, he pondered, "With so many refugees and disaster victims gathered here, if anything goes wrong, it could lead to a calamity."

Before they knew it.

The time had reached midnight.

Bzz! Bzz!

All of a sudden.

Xu Qing's gaze sharpened as he looked toward the refugees and disaster victims lying on the ground. He saw them suddenly swaying as they rose to their feet.

One, two, three...

More and more.

In the blink of an eye.

Nearly two-thirds of the disaster victims in Xu Qing's patrol area had inexplicably risen to their feet, their eyes hollow like walking corpses.

"What?!"

"What are you trying to do?"

"Get back down and sleep!"

"..."

Liu Xiao, Su Changhe, and the others' pupils contracted as they shouted sternly.