The Straw-Cloaked Ghost

"Could you gentlemen perhaps lend us a hand?"

Yang Xiao and Xu Qingshan exchanged a glance.

Xu Qingshan spoke so softly that only Yang Xiao could hear him. "Brother Yang, a Demon Plague the moment we arrive may not be a coincidence."

Yang Xiao nodded to show he understood.

"I'll go."

Delight flashed across Chen Bonian's face. He turned to the guard beside him.

"Zhao Peng, take this gentleman to the river west of the city to investigate! Hurry!"

The guard was in his forties, sturdy and honest-faced. He immediately cupped his fists. "Yes, sir!"

"Brother Yang, you investigate the river. I'll stay at the County Yamen and go through the files and missing-person lists the Demon Suppression Guards left behind. Perhaps I can find a clue."

Xu Qingshan looked at Yang Xiao. Their eyes met; neither needed to say more.

The river west of the city was some distance from the County Yamen. They had to cross two streets and a broad stretch of wasteland to reach it.

The Black Water River was roughly twenty zhang wide. Its water was murky and dark, its current sluggish.

A thick blanket of mist covered the river, turning everything white. Even the trees on the opposite bank were lost from sight.

Yang Xiao stopped and swept his gaze along the bank.

Seven or eight figures stood by the shore in the mist.

All wore straw cloaks and bamboo hats and held long poles. They faced the river without moving, as though fishing.

Yang Xiao frowned slightly.

People fishing by the river at this hour, in this weather?

Their postures were too uniform. Even the angles of their poles were identical, as if they were puppets pulled by the same string.

"Over there, sir."

Zhao Peng pointed toward the riverbank. "The body's on the sand in front of those fishermen."

Yang Xiao was about to step forward when Zhao Peng suddenly said, "Sir, I'll check over there for other traces. The bank is muddy, and I'm afraid I might trample a clue."

Without waiting for Yang Xiao's answer, he strode off in the other direction and soon vanished into the darkness.

Yang Xiao paid him no mind. He stopped about ten paces from the straw-cloaked figures.

"Hey."

He called out, but no one answered.

The figures remained motionless, as though they had not heard him.

Yang Xiao called again, louder this time.

"The Demon Suppression Division is conducting an investigation. Turn around."

This time, the figures moved.

All seven or eight straw-cloaked figures turned in perfect unison, like marionettes worked by a single hand.

Beneath their bamboo hats were faces bloated white from soaking.

Their skin had swollen like dough, and water seeped constantly from the corners of their eyes and mouths. They looked as though they had spent seven days and nights submerged in the river. Clearly, they had been dead for some time.

Yang Xiao's pupils contracted.

At that same instant, his Spiritual Olfaction Entry warned him. Dense Demonic Qi poured from the straw-cloaked figures, as if someone had pried open a sealed coffin.

But what it held was no ordinary corpse. It was an old stiff on the verge of rising.

"Hee hee hee..."

The straw-cloaked figures let out shrill laughter together.

The next instant, all seven or eight dropped their poles and lunged at Yang Xiao!

Yang Xiao opened his left hand, extending his fair-skinned fingers. Pale-blue Qi Condensation Crystals formed in his palm in an instant, sharp as flying blades.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The Qi Condensation Crystals swept out with razor-sharp force. They punched fist-sized holes through the straw-cloaked figures as easily as if their bodies were made of paper.

No blood flowed from the holes. Instead, stuffing that looked like palm fiber and straw spilled out.

Under the pressure of some mysterious force, the stuffing slowly filled the holes. Within a few breaths, their bodies had returned to their original state.

Yang Xiao frowned and poured in more power.

After dozens of Qi Condensation Crystals blasted them almost point-blank, not one of the Straw-Cloak Ghosts had a palm-sized patch of body left intact. They collapsed one after another.

Yang Xiao lowered his hand, but his gaze settled on the last straw-cloaked figure.

The figure stood in place, its hat askew, revealing an undamaged face like that of an ordinary fisherman.

The next moment, the Demonic Qi around it surged. Early Liquid Condensation Realm!

Yang Xiao tightened his grip on his saber hilt. Pure spiritual energy coursed through him, surging from his twelve Apertures as pale-blue light raced through his meridians.

Before his opponent could react, he flung out dozens of Qi Condensation Crystals, sealing every escape route!

The Straw-Cloak Ghost dodged rapidly through the mist, but the crystals still struck it. Everything below its right knee vanished, while its left chest and arm were blasted to dust.

A piercing scream tore from its mouth. Black, filthy water mixed with straw gushed from the wounds.

Yet the next instant, the gaping wounds began healing before his eyes!

Black palm fiber and straw surged toward the wounds like living things, filling the holes bit by bit. Within a few breaths, its chest and shoulder were as good as new.

The Straw-Cloak Ghost grinned, its face ingratiating.

"Heh heh heh, it's useless... I regenerate faster than you can attack. That's how I wore down the last few Demon Suppression Guards."

Yang Xiao's expression did not change. He reached for the Spring Embroidery Saber at his waist.

The Qi Condensation Crystals were sharp, but against a water ghost that healed so quickly, they were of limited use.

The Spring Embroidery Saber was different.

Once its blade severed a limb, growing it back would not be so easy.

Yang Xiao abandoned his ranged attacks and sprang forward. With an Astonishing Swan Step, he streaked toward the Straw-Cloak Ghost like black lightning!

The Straw-Cloak Ghost's face changed. It hurriedly drew up river water behind it into a curtain to block him.

Before the Demon-Slaying Blade Technique, the curtain was thin paper. One slash split it open!

The blade flashed down.

The Straw-Cloak Ghost's right arm and half its shoulder were severed in one stroke. Black palm fiber and straw spilled frantically from the wound, but this time, it did not heal.

The Straw-Cloak Ghost shrieked and stumbled backward.

Yang Xiao gave it no chance to recover. His blade flashed again, slicing off its left leg and remaining arm in quick succession.

Pale-blue light wrapped every stroke. The edges of the wounds were blackened as if scorched and could not heal for the moment.

The Straw-Cloak Ghost collapsed on the riverbank, left with only half a torso and a head.

"You... you dare kill me?"

Confusion flashed in its eyes, as though it could not understand what had happened in the blink of an eye. Then it threatened him.

"My elder brother is the Guanlan Prefecture River Inspection Envoy. He controls half of Qingzhou's sea trade... Kill me, and he won't let you off!"

Surprise flickered in Yang Xiao's eyes.

Was the Straw-Cloak Ghost telling the truth?

A Demon's elder brother was a Qingzhou official? There might be under-the-table dealings between them. Did the Demon Suppression Division not care?

Seeing Yang Xiao pause, the Straw-Cloak Ghost's face brightened. Spite and hatred flickered in its eyes, though its words were enticing.

"Stop now, and I can ask my elder brother to get you a cushy post. Why lick blood from a blade every day when you could lounge on a pleasure boat eating meat?"

A blade flashed.

The Straw-Cloak Ghost's head rolled away, its face still wearing that coaxing expression.

But he was not quite dead. Panic flooded his face, and he was about to beg for mercy when a black boot stamped his head to pieces.

A gray-green mote of vital essence rose from the corpse. Yang Xiao caught it and tucked it away.

He did not linger by the river, lest more trouble arise. He turned and raced toward the County Yamen.

He had not bothered with Head Constable Zhao Peng earlier. The man had lured him here, then made an excuse to leave. Those Straw-Cloak Ghosts had plainly been lying in ambush.

Once Yang Xiao found him, he would offer the man to his blade.

To dare set up even someone from the Demon Suppression Division—one official order could bring his whole clan down with him. Where had he found the nerve?