"Hee hee hee... hee hee..."
Not long after the two from Raging Wind Hall left, the Tiger Wraith arrived at Xu Taiping's courtyard gate, possessing a rotting corpse, wearing a cloak, and riding a Demon Wolf.
"You wanted those useless fools to catch me? Do you think they'd dare?"
The Tiger Wraith shouted up at Xu Taiping on the roof, his voice dripping with mockery.
"As long as I keep my gate shut, what can you do to me?"
Xu Taiping shot back at the vicious ghost, then released his fingers. An arrow wrapped in Crimson Dawn True Qi tore through the air with a whoosh.
Bang!
But to Xu Taiping's surprise, the black-robed Tiger Wraith suddenly drew a longsword from beneath his robe and cleaved the arrow in two with unerring precision.
"If you hadn't ambushed me yesterday, how could a wet-behind-the-ears brat who hasn't even reached the Gate Opening Realm have wounded me!"
The Tiger Wraith sneered, pointing his blade straight at Xu Taiping on the roof.
Xu Taiping's expression grew grave.
That single sword stroke was enough to show him that his opponent was far, far stronger than he was. Yesterday, he had only forced the wraith out of Liu Qingmei's body by catching him completely off guard.
I only had one chance at an ambush. From now on, this Tiger Wraith will be extremely cautious. Forcing him out of his host again and killing him with liquor will be terribly difficult.
Xu Taiping nocked another arrow and drew his bow as he considered this.
"Little fellow, don't think I can't do anything just because you keep hiding in your courtyard. In ten days at most, I'll dig through the underground channel leading to the Medicine Garden behind your house. Once I block it, you'll have no water for your garden, and every spirit herb in it will wither into dead grass!"
The Tiger Wraith threatened Xu Taiping with a sly smile.
Xu Taiping's heart tightened at those words.
The water for the Medicine Garden behind his house did indeed come from a channel buried deep underground. A steady stream normally flowed through the garden's irrigation ditches, making watering easy.
If the Tiger Wraith really could dig through that underground channel, he would have no choice but to go outside to fetch water. Otherwise, all the perilla he had just planted in the Medicine Garden would soon die.
If I store water ahead of time, I can hold out another four or five days after the supply is cut off in ten days. That means I only have fifteen days to prepare.
Thoughts raced through Xu Taiping's young mind.
"Little fellow, I'm telling you this because you're fairly clever, and I want to show you a path to survival. Surrender at once and become my ghost servant. Otherwise, I'll make you just like Liu Qingmei, using your soul as a lamp wick so you can taste what it means to suffer a fate worse than death!"
After that barrage of threats, the Tiger Wraith finally revealed his true purpose in coming today.
After yesterday's events, he had taken a liking to Xu Taiping's cleverness. He intended to offer the boy's flesh to the Tiger King, then ask for his ghost to keep as his own servant.
These days, even ghosts were short of underlings.
"I am a cultivator of the righteous path from the Azure Profound Sect. How could I become a tiger's accomplice like you?"
Xu Taiping sneered, then released his fingers, sending another arrow flying with a whoosh.
Swish!
Unsurprisingly, the Tiger Wraith drew his blade and struck this arrow down as well.
"A cultivator of the righteous path?"
After knocking down Xu Taiping's arrow, the Tiger Wraith burst into laughter, as though he had heard some hilarious joke.
"Your Daoists say that one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. In the end, all things return to one. So all the paths of cultivation in this world merely reach the same destination by different roads. What distinction is there between righteousness and evil, good and wickedness? Follow me, and I'll teach you the path of ghost cultivation. Given time, you too can attain true fruition!"
When intimidation failed, the Tiger Wraith changed tactics and tried temptation instead.
"The Dao may not distinguish between good and evil, but people do. The Sage of Letters said: born human, cultivate yourself, deliver others, and be like water-dwell in an evil abyss, yet do good!"
At this, Xu Taiping nocked another arrow and drew his bow. Raising his chin proudly, he stared straight at the Tiger Wraith and continued, "You were born human, yet instead of doing good, you became a tiger's accomplice, slaughtering your own kind and bullying the weak. Such great evil deserves death!"
Xu Taiping stood less than five feet tall, yet as he spoke those words, he seemed far taller than the eight-foot Tiger Wraith.
"Since you're determined to die, I'll grant your wish!"
Humiliated into fury, the Tiger Wraith snorted. As he turned the Demon Wolf beneath him around, he looked back and continued snarling at Xu Taiping:
"Do you think cutting off the water will only kill the spirit herbs in your garden? I'm not afraid to tell you-the irrigation ditches in that garden are the source of spiritual power for your dwelling's barrier. Once the water is cut off, the barrier around your courtyard will collapse without me lifting a finger!"
Perhaps anger had clouded his judgment, or perhaps he held Xu Taiping in too much contempt, but the Tiger Wraith actually revealed such crucial information.
"Just you wait. Within half a month, I'll take your miserable life!"
With that, the Tiger Wraith rode his Demon Wolf away, vanishing into the Mountain Forest beside the courtyard in a single blur.
"Half a month... that's enough!"
Xu Taiping glanced toward the Mountain Forest where the Tiger Wraith had disappeared, then clenched his fist hard.
He had not fired those arrows at random; he had deliberately used them to probe the Tiger Wraith's strength.
Three arrows in a row, and the Tiger Wraith chose to block every one. That proves that when the body he possesses is wounded, his ghostly soul is hurt too.
Also, each of my three arrows carried a different amount of force, and he was noticeably slower when blocking the last two. That suggests that if my cultivation advances further, he very likely won't be able to block my arrow so effortlessly.
If I can also make him lower his guard a little, I might be able to wound him.
With that thought, Xu Taiping leaped down from the roof, swept his gaze over the little courtyard, and murmured:
"In terms of actual cultivation, I'd have to break through to the Gate Opening Realm to fight him. Even if I can advance the Setting Sun Glow Art to the Ice Formation Stage within half a month, the only way to kill that Tiger Wraith will be to lay a trap and catch him by surprise."
"I'll only have one chance. I have to prepare for everything."
Xu Taiping could choose to flee-for instance, he could take a few bottles of strong liquor and pour it over himself to keep the Tiger Wraith from approaching.
But the problem was that untamed mountains stretched for hundreds of miles around. How long could he keep running?
"Rather than thinking about how to escape, I might as well fight with my back to the river."
Xu Taiping turned and strode toward his bedroom.
His time was precious now. He could not afford to waste a single moment.
What Xu Taiping did not know, however, was that a figure in the Mountain Forest several miles away had seen and heard his confrontation with the Tiger Wraith that day.
It was an old man with graying hair and ragged clothes, lying on his back atop a tree.
A bronze longsword hung at the old man's waist, and he held a wine gourd in his hand.
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