Fooling a Ghost

"..."

Ye Qianfan was too frightened to answer. He could only shift his gaze to the side of the evil spirit, then point at the heads hanging in midair. "Shen Lang, can't you see those heads? And those examinees who were hanged?"

"Of course I can!" Shen Lang nodded. "Looks like this is the challenge for this stage: how to get past this Evil Tree and into the temple!"

The little girl seemed to realize Ye Qianfan was lying. She actually grabbed a vine and swung over in front of him. "Big brother, can you really not see me?"

"Shen Lang..."

The little girl's snow-white face was almost pressed against Ye Qianfan's. Ignoring her was difficult enough—how could he possibly not see her?

But Ye Qianfan didn't dare respond!

"Daoist!"

Still, remembering the game's rules, Ye Qianfan couldn't help hurriedly asking the Daoist, "Didn't this evil spirit say whoever found it first would get a reward? If I catch it now, would that count?"

"What you're seeing now isn't its true body. Its true body is inside the trunk!" the Daoist immediately replied. "This evil spirit's resentment is immense. A mere avatar already has the cultivation of a sixth-tier Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghost, equivalent to a fifth-rank human cultivator! You can't even defeat a seventh-tier Tree Demon. Do you think you can afford to provoke it?"

"No, no, absolutely not."

The Daoist's words gave Ye Qianfan a terrible fright, and he swiftly abandoned the idea of capturing the evil spirit.

All he could do was pretend to keep his gaze fixed straight ahead, looking through the little girl at Shen Lang behind her as he forced the conversation along. "Do you think the three of us alone can beat this evil spirit?"

"Big brother, you smell so strange." Seeing that Ye Qianfan was still ignoring her, the little girl simply jumped onto his shoulders, craning her head to sniff around his neck. "You don't smell quite human. You smell... like a Human-Skin Lantern!"

"Hard to say, but we can try!" Shen Lang couldn't see the little girl, so naturally he assumed Ye Qianfan was talking to him. "I'll play my flute to draw the Evil Tree's attention. Then you two attack its trunk. That should work!"

"No, no, cough, cough, cough..."

Rich Merchant tried to say something, but suddenly began coughing.

Meanwhile, the little girl riding on Ye Qianfan's neck kept pestering him relentlessly. "But big brother, you seem even tastier than a Human-Skin Lantern. I really want to eat you!"

"Can you really not see me? What a pity. I can't eat you!"

"Why don't I make it so you can see me?"

Hearing the little girl's words, Ye Qianfan was scared shitless.

Fortunately, he didn't have to bear this alone, because...

The Daoist was now one with him.

He could also see whatever Ye Qianfan saw. "It seems this evil god has to obey some special rule to kill people inside this barrier! If it can't see you, it can't eat you!"

"But it seems to be planning to make me see it now! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?"

Ye Qianfan was frantic inside, but he couldn't let any of it show.

He even had to ignore the evil spirit's words and feign composure. "Boss Qian, are you all right?"

"Cough, cough, cough..."

After coughing for ages, Rich Merchant finally managed to get out a few words. "I'm... I'm fine!"

"I just wanted to tell you that attacking the trunk won't work. Blades and spears can't pierce it at all, or I wouldn't have ended up hanging in midair. We need to think this through!"

"Could we burn it?"

Ye Qianfan offered the suggestion offhandedly, but his mind was almost entirely occupied with figuring out how to deal with the evil spirit.

"Heeheehee!"

The little girl laughed again. "Burning me won't work! My body is yin, so unless it's samadhi true fire, you can't burn me to death!"

"Big brother, you're so stupid! I wonder if a stupid big brother would taste stupid too?"

"Heehee, big brother, I'm going to open your ghost eye!"

"You'll be able to see Nini any second!"

"Are you happy, big brother?"

"..."

Happy, his ass!

If he weren't outmatched, he would have pinned this damned little brat to the floor and beaten her to death right then!

But the evil spirit didn't care whether Ye Qianfan was happy. Like a child who had just gotten a toy, she covered his eyes with her little hands. "Big brother, Nini will open your eyes for you right away!"

The instant the evil spirit's little hands covered Ye Qianfan's eyes, he felt a thread of utterly freezing energy pour into them.

He couldn't help shuddering from head to toe!

This is bad!

I absolutely can't let this go on.

Ye Qianfan knew perfectly well that the moment the evil spirit took her hands away, pretending he couldn't see her would be useless!

"Brother Shen Lang!"

At that critical moment, Ye Qianfan suddenly thought of a solution. He hastily shut his eyes and shouted, "Hurry and play your flute! Boss Qian and I will shut our eyes, cover our ears, and hold our breath. No looking, no listening, no talking—we'll charge straight into the temple! That should work!"

"Huh?"

The request left Shen Lang utterly baffled.

When had playing his flute ever required Ye Qianfan not to look, listen, or speak?

Still, although he didn't understand, he decided to accommodate his teammate first. Perhaps Brother Ye had some special ability. He could ask about it afterward!

"Toot, toot~"

Just as Shen Lang was about to play his flute...

The little girl's expression suddenly changed. "Big brother, you're lying to me, aren't you? You can see me! You definitely can see me! I'm going to eat you!"

"Eee!"

Just as the evil spirit opened her mouth wide, stretching it all the way to her ears...

The temple doors were pushed open again.

Several more examinees came in from outside. This group seemed to belong to the same sect.

The men were young and the women beautiful, all dressed in gauzy robes and carrying longswords that gleamed with cold light!

"Senior brother, the withered wood in the clue 'Withered Wood Conceals a God' should be this Evil Tree with the hanged people, right?"

The woman, who looked like an immortal untouched by the mortal world, pointed at the strange tree as soon as she entered.

And the instant this group of sword cultivators entered the temple...

Ye Qianfan suddenly felt the weight leave his neck, and the sensation of icy hands covering his eyes vanished as well. Only then did he dare open his eyes a crack and glance toward his shoulder.

Fortunately...

The evil spirit seemed afraid of these sword cultivators too, and had vanished even faster than she had arrived!

Once Ye Qianfan confirmed that the evil spirit had left, he hurriedly opened his eyes fully again, then instinctively looked toward the strange tree, naturally wanting to confirm her whereabouts.

Sure enough, the little girl was sitting on the trunk again!

But now she looked down at the people beneath the tree with displeasure. "Big brother really was lying to me!"

"You really could see Nini all along, couldn't you? Otherwise, how would you know where Nini was sitting before?"

"Nini really doesn't like them!"

"But that's okay!"

"Once I've killed them all, I'll come back and play with you, big brother!"

"Wait for Nini, big brother!"