Being an ostrich is a dead end.

Ji Yuan didn't cover his entire head, leaving a narrow gap, and through it he saw strands of hair seeping through the door crack, gathering more and more inside the room...

His heart turned cold and his body broke out in sweat; the fresh bedding was already damp from his perspiration, the inner side soaked through.

Ji Yuan didn't dare move a muscle, his mind racing for a solution, several times tempted to just bolt and flee.

"Heh..."

An inhuman sound echoed through the room, and Ji Yuan, already terrified out of his wits, froze stiff.

Through the gap, he saw the pile of hair slowly rising, forming a pitch-black human silhouette. Everything around was blurry, yet this he could see with stark clarity—though he wished he couldn't.

A bone-chilling cold spread unrelentingly, and even wrapped in the quilt, he felt no warmth at all.

'What do I do? What do I do? This is nothing like a Ghost Servant! If this isn't a Vicious Ghost, then nothing is!'

Ji Yuan clenched the corner of the quilt tightly, his overwhelming fear and racing heartbeat making his entire body tremble uncontrollably.

This time, there were no Traveling Merchants nearby, no young martial heroes, and the entity wasn't someone like Lord Lu who could be reasoned with.

A powerful aura of Yin energy and death permeated the entire Ju'an Pavilion.

"Gelala... gelala..."

The sound of bones grinding together, eerie and sinister, drew closer and closer, right next to him, as if separated only by a thin layer of quilt.

The murderous intent, the greed and craving for life, was so palpable that Ji Yuan, hiding under the quilt, felt his pale pupils shrink to pinpricks.

I'm going to die! There's no escape!

This wasn't watching a horror movie or a Hong Kong ghost flick through a screen; this fear and despair were suffocating and paralyzing.

Then, Ji Yuan realized this paralysis wasn't just from his body's hormone overload—wisps of white vapor were leaving his body.

'It's draining my Yang Energy!'

"Heh..."

A heavy pressure bore down on him, making his body gradually unable to move, his breathing becoming labored.

If Ji Yuan hadn't been under the quilt, he might have seen a filthy black shadow, with pale, twisted limbs, clinging to him...

This terrifying hissing and the loss of control over his body reminded Ji Yuan of when he first transmigrated.

At that moment, a surge of anger rose within him.

'I made it through that death-defying stand against the Tiger Spirit at the Mountain God Temple, and now I'm going to die here for nothing? I won't accept it! I refuse!'

Gritting his teeth fiercely, his pale eyes slightly bloodshot, eyelids twitching violently, he strained to extend the fingers of his right hand, which were clenched.

'I just came to this world, I just discovered my uniqueness, I have so much to do, so much I want to do, I want to see the wonders of this world!'

Whether it would work or not, Ji Yuan kept visualizing the Rotten Axe Chess Game, imagining that chess piece—it was the only method he could think of.

With a ruthless resolve, ignoring the pain, he opened his eyes wide. A certain aura within the quilt trembled faintly for an instant, and his body regained control.

'I!'

"Won't accept this!"

The three words roared from his mouth, and in the same moment, Ji Yuan sprang up violently, throwing off the quilt. His arm formed Sword Fingers, and he thrust it fiercely behind the quilt. A mysterious aura surged through his arm, condensing into a phantom chess piece at his fingertips.

"Get lost!"

Hum...

A faint white light seemed to emanate from Ji Yuan's arm, and the next instant, the chess piece and his fingertip struck the Vicious Ghost.

"Ahhhh——"

As the Sword Fingers and the chess piece pierced the ghost's soul body, a piercing scream, so shrill it made Ji Yuan's eardrums ache, rang out from across the room.

Wuwuwu...

A gust of Yin Wind swirled, and clumps of filthy, terrifying Yin energy spun around Ji Yuan's right arm like clothes in a washing machine.

Ji Yuan felt his entire right hand as if frozen solid, the biting cold like countless steel needles stabbing into the flesh of his arm, the pain and chill becoming unbearable.

Then, the next moment.

"Bang."

A mass of black shadow was hurled violently away, crashing into the door and seeping straight through it, fleeing swiftly into the water well in the courtyard.

Ji Yuan, arm still extended and eyes wide, held that pose for about ten seconds, then swayed on the bed, his body going limp as he fell backward.

"Slap." Ji Yuan collapsed onto the bed, unconscious.

That bloodcurdling scream was so eerie and penetrating that countless residents in the corner of Tianniu Quarter were jolted awake in the dead of night by the genderless shriek, only to huddle under their covers, too scared to move.

Some households that still had lights on hastily blew out their candles, fearing they might attract something sinister.

And at that very moment, in the Miaosi Quarter northwest of Ning'an County, at the Ning'an County City God Temple.

The golden statue within the temple trembled.

Beneath the surface invisible to ordinary eyes, the City God of Ning'an County already stood before the Elders.

"Where is the Night Patrol? Go at once to the Soul-Locking Well in the southern Tianniu Quarter and investigate!"

"Understood!"

The two Yin Cha, clad in black servant robes, one carrying a long-handled Separation Hook and the other with a blade at his waist, transformed into two drifting, elusive black shadows as they left the City God Temple's bounds, heading toward Tianniu Quarter.

Inside Ju'an Pavilion, Ji Yuan sat up from the bed, rubbing his head. When he had fainted earlier, he'd bumped the back of his head on the bed frame again. Lucky for him, his skull was pretty tough, or he'd definitely have a concussion.

Ji Yuan still remembered the last moment. That thing, looking like a vicious ghost, had been sent flying by his finger and then escaped. From its reaction, it wasn't just unharmed—at the very least, it had been scared off.

After that ordeal, Ji Yuan's courage had grown a bit. He slipped on his coat and got out of bed.

His right arm was still cold and numb, and his whole body felt a little weak, but nothing serious.

He slid the wooden bolt open, and with a "creak," pushed open the main room's door.

Above, the stars shone brightly. In the courtyard, the large jujube tree swayed its branches, and the water well beneath the tree shade was completely swallowed by darkness.

Woo... Woo...

A gust—whether cool wind or Yin Wind—made Ji Yuan shiver slightly.

Standing at the main room's door, Ji Yuan felt unsettled, his expression shifting between gloom and uncertainty. Several times, he considered whether to just flee now, since there might not be such good luck next time.

"Ju'an Pavilion has a mortal living in it again?"

Suddenly, a slightly surprised voice drifted in from outside the courtyard. Then, two figures in black servant robes, holding weapons, eerily passed through the courtyard gate and entered.

Ji Yuan's heart jolted, then his pupils contracted. He realized he could see them clearly.

'Ghosts again!'

Both black-robed figures had their full attention on the well in the courtyard. They only glanced at Ji Yuan standing at the main room's door before ignoring him.

"Strange, the malevolent energy spilling from the Soul-Locking Well has mostly dissipated? What happened here?"

"Lord City God must have sensed the disturbance!"

"The Feng Shui Layout of Ju'an Pavilion hasn't been broken. That Fierce Evil Spirit shouldn't be able to escape. I can sense it's still in the well!"

"Mm, and its aura is unstable!"

"If so, this is a heaven-sent good opportunity to slay that beast. We must report back to Lord City God quickly!"

After a brief exchange, the Yin Cha with the long-handled Separation Hook stayed by the well, while the one with the blade turned into a blurry human-shaped mist, passing through the door and drifting away.

Standing at the room's door, Ji Yuan couldn't help but sigh in relief that he hadn't run off just now.

'They think I can't see them? Fierce Evil Spirit? Feng Shui Layout? Lord City God?'

As a youth who had devoured the explosive resources of 21st Century internet information, those few words were enough for Ji Yuan to infer and piece together many things.

The well in Ju'an Pavilion's courtyard might be sealing some powerful ghost creature. The Ning'an County City God wasn't just a clay statue in the temple. The two who came were likely Yin Cha under the City God's command...

He had already seen demonic creatures and ghost creatures, and now he was seeing the Yin Cha under the local City God.

Ji Yuan's mind raced.

'So, does this world have mountain and river spirits, gods, immortals, and buddhas? Should I still run now? Thirty-Six Taels... That thing in the well got hurt—was it because of my finger?'

Thinking this, Ji Yuan felt he might have a bit of confidence to be a spectator.

And deep down, Ji Yuan was still a big boy with a chuunibyou dream. Not everyone got a chance to see things like the City God in the temple.

Two chapters released together, seeking collections, recommendations, and investments!