"So you've suffered a bitter fate just like me, Sister Qingmei. If you don't mind, you can stay in my courtyard tonight."
Xu Taiping nodded, feigning deep sympathy.
At his words, delight immediately spread across Liu Qingmei's face, and a flicker of excitement flashed through her eyes.
"Thank you, young hero Taiping. Once my wounds have healed, I'll bring you a generous gift to repay you for saving my life."
Liu Qingmei spoke with tears in her eyes, her face full of gratitude.
"Sister Qingmei, that Demon Wolf might still be lurking nearby. If I open the courtyard gate rashly, it might slip inside. Why don't you turn around and keep watch for me? Once I've opened the gate, you can hurry in. That would be safer."
Xu Taiping spoke to Liu Qingmei with a wary expression.
Liu Qingmei paused briefly at his words, then nodded repeatedly.
"You're absolutely right, Taiping. I'll keep watch for you. Just let me know once you've opened the gate."
With that, Liu Qingmei quickly turned around.
The instant she turned her head, the gentle expression on Liu Qingmei's face vanished as though she had changed masks, replaced by a vicious look. Her lips then curled upward, and she murmured in a barely audible voice:
"He seems cautious, but he's a fool. Death is at his doorstep, and he hasn't noticed a thing. How laughable."
But no sooner had she spoken than her ears twitched. The crisp sound of a bowstring being drawn taut reached them.
"You...!"
Whoosh!
Liu Qingmei had just tried to flee when the whistle of an arrow tearing through the air exploded behind her. A frost-covered arrow pierced straight through her chest.
"You're courting death..."
Whoosh!
Staring at the arrow in her chest, Liu Qingmei roared in fury, her face ashen. But barely had the roar left her mouth when another sharp arrow hurtled through the air and pierced clean through her throat.
Liu Qingmei had now turned around, and her eyes met those of the boy standing atop the courtyard gate behind her. With disbelief written across her face, she asked:
"How... did you notice?"
Whoosh!
Xu Taiping raised his hand and fired another arrow. It pierced straight through Liu Qingmei's forehead, leaving a fist-sized hole.
"Sister, next time you go out gathering herbs, remember to put on a suitable pair of shoes."
Under Liu Qingmei's furious gaze, Xu Taiping calmly spoke while nocking another arrow and drawing his bow.
As though she had suffered a terrible humiliation, Liu Qingmei suddenly flew into a shame-fueled rage. Ignoring her wounds, she leaped up and swiped at Xu Taiping atop the courtyard gate with claws that had abruptly lengthened.
Bang!
Before Xu Taiping could act, a flash of blue-green light sprang from the courtyard's barrier. Like a heavy slap across the face, it sent Liu Qingmei flying backward, despite her having survived three arrows.
"Aah...!"
Liu Qingmei let out a piercing scream as she fell to the ground.
A stream of black smoke poured from her mouth, then transformed into a black whirlwind that swept up the dust in front of the courtyard.
"Brat, unless you stay in that courtyard and never come out again, sooner or later you'll fall into my hands. When that happens, I'll make you beg for life and deny you death!"
A man's shrill, vicious roar rang out from within the black whirlwind.
"I don't believe I've ever offended you. Why are you trying to harm me?"
Having encountered such a monster for the first time, Xu Taiping struggled to steady himself. As he questioned it, he drew his bow once more.
"You'll find out soon enough!"
With a burst of wild laughter, the black whirlwind swept away, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"Could this be one of the wraith spirits mentioned in the Jade Slip?"
Xu Taiping murmured to himself as he looked in the direction where the black whirlwind had disappeared.
According to the Jade Slip, besides the demonic beasts deep in the mountains, nature spirits and ghostly wraiths also haunted the mountain forests where the Outer Sect Disciples lived.
These nature spirits and ghostly wraiths often liked to possess wild beasts or human corpses, then lure other living people into their traps, consuming their flesh, blood, and vitality to cultivate.
Since they were all spirits without physical bodies of their own, only certain spells could destroy them completely.
"With a monster like that hiding in the shadows, waiting to ambush me, hunting nearby will be troublesome from now on. Most importantly, I still know nothing about him."
Xu Taiping glanced at the corpse on the ground, then frowned slightly.
In principle, he could report a situation like this to the sect. But from what he had learned during his time here, he knew perfectly well that even if he reported it, no one would come to investigate.
As he saw it, Outer Sect Registered Disciples like him were dispensable existences, not worth spending much effort on.
Whoosh...
Just as Xu Taiping was fretting over how to guard against that Ghost Creature, another sinister gust suddenly swept past the courtyard gate.
Night had now fallen completely, making the eerie wind especially chilling.
"Could that Ghost Creature have come back so soon?"
Xu Taiping immediately nocked an arrow and drew his bow, his expression wary as he searched his surroundings.
"Young man, I'm over here."
Just as Xu Taiping's search proved fruitless, tiny green lights like fireflies suddenly drifted out of the woman's corpse before the gate, finally forming the nearly transparent figure of a woman.
The apparition looked exactly like the corpse on the ground.
"You dare show yourself again?"
Xu Taiping immediately aimed his arrow at the woman's spectral figure.
Before he reached the Ice Formation Stage, his bow and arrows could not kill a Ghost Creature's soul, but arrows wrapped in crimson dawn true qi could still inflict some damage. The Purple Sun True Lord had also mentioned this in his lectures.
"Spare me, young man! Please spare me! I was only coerced by that Tiger Wraith. I had no choice but to come here and trick you into leaving your courtyard."
The woman's soul pleaded for mercy again and again.
"A Tiger Wraith?"
Xu Taiping felt that her tone did not sound false, and she had named the Ghost Creature from earlier in a single breath. He immediately shifted his bow and arrow slightly to one side.
"Yes, that was a Tiger Wraith. I fell victim to him and became his ghost servant, suffering his abuse day after day."
The woman's ghost spoke through gritted teeth, her eyes filled with regret and resentment. She seemed to truly loathe the Tiger Wraith.
But after the lesson he had just learned, Xu Taiping would naturally not take her word alone, much less leave the courtyard to meet her.
"Young man, you needn't worry that I'll harm you. My soul was already incomplete, and then I took those three arrows you empowered with true qi. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea at most, my soul will scatter and perish."
The woman's soul seemed to have seen through Xu Taiping's thoughts and hurried to explain. By the end, however, her voice was filled with desolation.
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