Ji Yuan did not cover his entire head. He left a narrow gap, through which he saw clumps of hair seeping in through the door crack, gathering bit by bit inside the room...
His heart turned cold and sweat broke out all over him. The brand-new bedding had already been soaked through by his sweat, damp on the inside.
Ji Yuan did not dare move. His mind raced through possible countermeasures, and several times he nearly bolted straight out the door to flee.
"Heh..."
A sound that did not belong to any human echoed through the room, freezing Ji Yuan's body stiff with fear.
Through the gap, he saw that pile of hair slowly rising, forming a pitch-black humanoid outline. Everything around it was blurry, yet he could see this thing with perfect clarity. He would rather have been unable to see it clearly.
Bone-deep cold spread relentlessly. Even wrapped in the quilt, he could not feel the slightest warmth.
What do I do? What do I do? This is completely different from a Ghost Servant! If this isn't a Vicious Ghost, then what the hell is!
Ji Yuan clutched the corner of the quilt tightly. The intense terror and racing heartbeat made his entire body tremble uncontrollably.
This time, there were no traveling merchants beside him, nor were there any of those Young Heroes. And this was not someone like Lord Lu, someone he could communicate with.
A powerful aura of yin energy and death permeated all of Ju'an Pavilion.
"Crack... crack..."
A skeletal grinding sound, eerie and sinister, drew closer and closer. It was right beside him, as though only a thin quilt lay between it and him.
The malice that sought to snuff out life, the greed and craving for vitality, were so obvious. Hiding beneath the quilt, Ji Yuan's pale pupils had contracted into pinpoints.
He would die! He could not escape!
This was not watching a horror movie or a Hong Kong ghost film through a screen. This fear and despair left him choking and powerless.
Then Ji Yuan realized that this helplessness was not truly caused by an excess of hormones flooding his body. Wisps of white vapor were leaving his body.
It's sucking away my yang energy!
"Heh..."
An enormous pressure descended upon him, gradually rendering his body immobile and making it difficult to breathe.
If Ji Yuan had not been covered by the quilt, perhaps he would have seen a filthy black shadow extending pale, twisted limbs as it clung to him...
That terrifying hissing and the loss of control over his body reminded Ji Yuan of when he had first crossed into this world.
At that moment, an inexplicable fury flared within Ji Yuan.
I made it through that absolute death barrier before the Tiger Spirit at the Mountain God Temple, only to die here for no damn reason? I'm fucking unwilling! I refuse to accept this!
He clenched his teeth hard. His pale eyes bloodshot slightly, his eyelids trembling violently as the fingers of his clawed right hand struggled with all their strength to extend.
I only just arrived in this world. I only just discovered what makes me special. I still have so many things to do, so many things I want to do. I still want to see the wonders of this world!
Whether it would work or not, Ji Yuan kept visualizing the Rotten Axe Chess Game, continuously imagining that chess piece. It was the only method he could think of at present.
Ji Yuan hardened his heart. Ignoring the pain, he forced his eyes fully open. Something within the quilt seemed to tremble faintly in a daze, and in an instant, control returned to his body.
I!
"I refuse to accept this!"
The three words roared from his mouth. At the same moment, Ji Yuan sprang upright, flung off the quilt with one hand, formed Sword Fingers with his arm, and viciously thrust behind the quilt. A profound aura coursed through his arm, turning into an illusory chess piece at his fingertips.
"Get the hell out of here!"
Bzzzz...
A faint white glow seemed to spread across Ji Yuan's arm. In the next instant, the chess piece and his fingertips struck the Vicious Ghost.
"Ah—!"
As the Sword Fingers and chess piece pierced the Vicious Ghost's soul body, a shriek sharp enough to torture Ji Yuan's eardrums rang out before him.
Whooo... whooo...
Gusts of yin wind seemed to whirl about, while clumps of foul, terrifying yin energy spun around Ji Yuan's right arm like clothes inside a washing machine drum.
Ji Yuan felt as though his entire right hand had been frozen solid. The piercing cold was like steel needles repeatedly stabbing into the flesh of his right arm. The pain and chill had become completely unbearable.
Then, in the very next moment.
Bang!
A black shadow was violently flung away. It slammed into the door, seeped straight through it, and fled at high speed into the water well in the courtyard.
Ji Yuan stood there with his right arm outstretched and his eyes widened, maintaining that pose for around ten seconds. Then he swayed twice atop the bed before his body went limp and he toppled backward.
Slap! Ji Yuan fell onto the bed and lost consciousness.
That shrill scream was so sinister and horrifying that who knew how many residents in that corner of Tianniu Quarter were jolted awake in the middle of the night by the genderless shriek, then hid beneath their quilts, too frightened to move.
Even some households whose lamps had still been lit hurriedly blew out their candles, afraid of attracting something evil.
At this very moment, in Temple Quarter to the northwest of Ning'an County, where the Ning'an County City God Temple stood.
The golden statue in the temple trembled.
Beneath the surface unseen by Ordinary People, the Ning'an County City God was already standing above the hall.
"Where are the Night Patrol? Go at once to investigate the Soul-Locking Well in Tianniu Quarter south of the city!"
"By your command!"
Two Yin Cha dressed in black official robes, one wielding a long-handled Separation Hook and the other carrying a saber at his waist, turned into two drifting black shadows and left the bounds of the City God temple, heading toward Tianniu Quarter.
At Ju'an Pavilion, Ji Yuan sat up from the bed, rubbing his head. When he had fainted just now, he had struck the back of the head against the bedframe again. Good thing his skull was quite hard, or he would have gotten a concussion.
Ji Yuan still remembered the final moment. The Vicious Ghost-like thing had been sent flying by his finger, then fled. Judging by its reaction, it definitely had not escaped unscathed. At the very least, it had been frightened.
After that ordeal, Ji Yuan was much braver now. He directly put on his outer robe and climbed down from the bed.
His right arm was still cold and numb, and his whole body felt somewhat weak and limp, but there was basically nothing seriously wrong with him.
He pulled out the wooden bolt and opened the main hall door with a creak.
The stars overhead glittered brilliantly. The Large Jujube Tree in the courtyard swayed its branches, while the water well beneath the tree shade was completely shrouded in darkness.
Whooo... whooo...
Gusts of wind, whether cool wind or yin wind, made Ji Yuan shiver slightly.
Ji Yuan stood at the main hall doorway, his mind unsettled and his expression shifting between light and dark. Several times, he considered whether he should simply flee now, since he might not have such luck next time.
"Another mortal has actually moved into Ju'an Pavilion?"
Suddenly, a slightly surprised voice drifted in from outside the courtyard. Then two figures clad in black official robes and holding weapons eerily passed through the courtyard gate into the courtyard.
Ji Yuan's heart stirred slightly, then his pupils contracted as he realized that he could actually see them clearly.
I'm seeing ghosts again!
The two black-robed figures were clearly focused entirely on the water well in the courtyard. They merely glanced at Ji Yuan standing at the main hall doorway before ignoring him.
"Strange. More than half the vicious aura spilling from the Soul-Locking Well has dispersed? What happened here?"
"Lord City God must have sensed the disturbance!"
"The Feng Shui Layout of Ju'an Pavilion has not been broken. That Fierce Evil Spirit should not have been able to escape. I can sense that it is still inside the well!"
"Mm, and its aura is unstable!"
"If so, then this is a heaven-sent good opportunity to eliminate this fiend. We must report back to Lord City God at once!"
After the two Yin Cha exchanged a few brief words, the one holding the long-handled Separation Hook remained by the well, while the saber-bearing one turned into a hazy cloud in human form and drifted through the door.
Standing at the doorway, Ji Yuan could not help sighing in relief that he had not run away just now.
Did they think I couldn't see them? Fierce Evil Spirit? Feng Shui Layout? Lord City God?
As a young man who had devoured the information-explosion resources of the 21st Century internet, a few simple sentences were enough for Ji Yuan to infer and piece together many things.
The well in Ju'an Pavilion's courtyard might have imprisoned some powerful ghost creature. The Ning'an County City God was not merely a clay statue in a temple, and these two who had come were likely Yin Cha under the City God's command...
He had already encountered demons and ghosts before. Now, he had even seen Yin Cha under the City God of this county.
Ji Yuan's thoughts raced.
Then does this world have mountain and river gods, immortals, and Buddhas? Should I still run? And those thirty-six taels... The thing in that well was wounded because of my finger strike, wasn't it?
Thinking of it that way, Ji Yuan felt that he seemed to have gained a little confidence to remain as a spectator.
Besides, in his bones, Ji Yuan was still a grown boy who carried dreams of adolescent grandeur. Things like the City God in a temple were not sights everyone had the chance to witness.
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