Heigou's Death
Zhou Yang had been keeping a close eye on the clay furnace. Seeing it shake violently and threatening to topple over in an instant, a thought flashed through his mind—
Ghost Ruler grabbed the two handles of the clay stove with his two hands and pressed them down hard!
However, at this moment, it seemed as if a cow had crawled into the stove. The cow struggled wildly, causing the entire stove to churn violently!
Even with the power of the Ghost Ruler, it was impossible to subdue it for a time!
"Um?"
Zhou Yang frowned, realizing that this was a critical moment. He then stretched out his hands and pressed down on the top and bottom edges of the clay furnace.
The Ghost Mouth opened from all over his body, spraying out Fat Mirror Lamp!
A surge of powerful energy welled up within his body!
Four hands held the clay stove from all four sides, finally stopping it from overturning!
The Ghost Ruler remained lying across the coarse cloth covering the clay stove, not being thrown off the stove opening, thus preventing the contents from escaping!
"Come back! Come back quickly!" Zhou Heigou's tongue was sticking out like a hanged ghost, and the Choked-to-Death Puppet pouch connected to his tongue was only pulled out a little bit before it suddenly retracted!
As Zhou Laogou across from him watched, his expression gradually became sinister and stiff. If the Heigou didn't hurry up and feed his father, the situation would become dangerous!
The Heigou steeled itself, suddenly retracted its tongue, and tightly shut its mouth.
He didn't know why the stomach that Choked-to-Death Puppet had suddenly become unresponsive, but at least he had prepared a way to deal with the situation.
Zhou Heigou puffed out his cheeks, exerted all his strength, and clenched his left back molars hard!
His left molar, which had already been hollowed out, was instantly crushed by his bite!
A stream of medicine gushed out from that tooth, instantly churning in his mouth with blood. His tongue, dipped in the blood-medicine mixture, frantically flicked around in his mouth!
"Come back! Come back! Come back!"
His two rows of back molars had been hollowed out beforehand, with "Puppet-Taming Medicine" hidden inside.
This medicine is like a whip for taming a horse. Once Choked-to-Death Puppet's stomach, no matter how much it calls, it won't come back. So, you have to grit your teeth and use a dose of Puppet-Taming Medicine to force it back!
"Da da da da!"
The sound of his tongue clicking could be heard continuously from Zhou Heigou's mouth. The effects of this Puppet-Taming Medicine appeared immediately after it was administered.
He had sensed the Choked-to-Death Puppet thread, which had been extremely faint and had disappeared into who-knows-where, but now it suddenly wrapped around his tongue again!
As his tongue continued to flick and tug at the Puppet Threads, the stomach that Choked-to-Death Puppet drew ever closer in his senses. At the same time, a patch of skin, darker than the rest of his body and shaped like a cashew nut, gradually appeared on his lower abdomen!
The stomach that Choked-to-Death Puppet was finally brought back to its senses!
Zhou Heigou looked at the stomach bulge that had appeared on his belly and breathed a sigh of relief.
His father was staring intently at his stomach from across the room, his gaze growing increasingly unsettling. Zhou Heigou dared not delay any longer; gripping the knife, he was about to slice open the stomach.
Unexpectedly, the same situation as before occurred again!
Before the knife even fell, the cashew-shaped piece of skin suddenly vanished from his skin!
Zhou Heigou felt numb all over!
He trembled as he looked up at Zhou Laogou, who had walked up to him so close they were almost face to face. He forced a smile and said, "Father, please wait a little longer, please wait a little longer. I'm not ready yet."
As he spoke, he steeled himself, shut his mouth, and bit down on each of his back teeth, using all the Puppet-Taming Medicine he had!
"You damned puppet! Come back here! Come back now!"
Meanwhile, in Zhou Yang's room!
Zhou Yang used all four of his hands to press down on the constantly shaking clay furnace.
The clay furnace trembled again under his palm, and the terrifying power that had burst forth from within finally dissipated.
He dared not be careless. In a flash, the Fat Mirror Lamp burst forth from between his fingers, enveloping the entire clay stove to prevent it from shaking and shattering.
"Looking back now, my Binding Offering Zhou Heigou's life force was a lucky accident; I used the right method."
"That strange stomach is connected to him. Once the Binding Offering effect is activated, it will entangle all the ghosts and spirits connected to him one by one. Thus, that strange stomach will be the first to be affected."
"But how will that stomach appear before me next?"
As Zhou Yang's thoughts were racing, something seemed to spring up inside the clay furnace, thrashing about and making the furnace rattle and bang.
Fortunately, Zhou Yang had previously reinforced the clay stove with the ripples of Fat Mirror Lamp, so there was no need to worry about the stove being smashed.
The contents of the furnace jolted for a moment, then suddenly rose upwards again!
The coarse cloth covering the stove was now stretched into a tent-like shape! But now, the bulging part of the cloth vaguely formed a human face—as the pressure from the contents of the stove increased, the face became clearer, struggling violently against the Ghost Ruler pressing down on the stove, its lips opening and closing incessantly:
"Come back! Come back!"
The discordant energy that had formed around the clay furnace gradually shifted as the human face called out!
Zhou Yang recognized the raised facial imprint on the coarse cloth at a glance—it was Zhou Heigou!
"After the Binding Offering were placed here, they created an atmosphere that was out of harmony with the surroundings."
"This kind of aura can only be remedied by truly binding the evil spirits on Zhou Heigou's body, thus eliminating the disharmonious aura."
"This energy field represents a gap in the flow of energy here."
"It is also a trap targeting the strange object on Zhou Heigou's body."
"Right now, I wonder what method Zhou Heigou used to make the disharmonious atmosphere here seem to be dissipating and disappearing?"
Zhou Yang frowned.
The force of the face beneath the coarse cloth pushing upwards grew stronger, and the discordant aura surrounding the area dissipated faster and faster.
Seeing this, Zhou Yang's heart stirred! He still pressed down on the clay stove with both hands, but the Ghost Ruler pressed on the coarse cloth. At this moment, while one hand was still pressing down on the edge of the clay stove, the other hand suddenly spread its five fingers and fiercely slapped the face protruding from the coarse cloth!
"Bang!"
The cracked hand of the Ghost Ruler slammed into the man's face, producing a dull thud!
The protruding face did not cave in after being struck by the Ghost Ruler. Instead, the Ghost Ruler Ruler's hand was pushed away slightly by the face—the sound of tearing cloth followed, and in the blink of an eye, the coarse cloth was stretched into cracks by the face of Zhou Heigou hidden beneath it!
The face beneath the rough cloth exudes an even greater aura than before!
Beneath the cracks, Zhou Heigou's howling voice grew clearer. "You damned puppet, come back here!"
"Come back, come back!"
The last note even had a hint of crying in it, filled with a strong will to survive!
"It seems I've arranged this Binding Offering at just the right time, just as the Heigou is about to feed the Laogou."
"It's precisely at times like these that I absolutely cannot let you have your way, Heigou."
Zhou Yang curled his lips into a smile, revealing great interest.
His dark eyes gleamed, and with a thought, the hand that Ghost Ruler been gripping the edge of the clay stove suddenly pressed against his navel— the Fat Mirror Lamp emanating from his body shone even brighter, transforming him directly into a human-shaped mirror! The next instant, the white light that had sprung from the Ghost Mouth his ghostly body receded like a tide!
First, the white light that permeated his head and limbs receded and moved to his torso.
Then the white light below his navel and on his chest retreated back to the area around his navel.
All the mirrored light rotated in turn, and in an instant, they all converged into the Ghost Mouth around his navel. Through the Ghost Mouth, this concentrated and intense white light was poured into the Ghost Ruler connected to Zhou Yang's navel!
"Buzz!"
The bronze-colored Ghost Ruler, amidst its crisscrossing cracks, emitted a gleaming white light!
In that instant, the Ghost Ruler gained several times the power it had before, and with another blow, it knocked off Zhou Heigou's face, which was protruding from the coarse cloth, leaving a palm-shaped dent in his face!
The Ghost Ruler, having succeeded in its strike, did not stop there!
He lifted it up again, once, twice, three times... each strike heavily hitting that sunken face!
"Aaaaaah--"
Zhou Heigou's howling voice turned into a shrill and furious roar!
The head beneath the coarse cloth thrashed violently, ramming against Zhou Yang once more—its eye sockets, nostrils, mouth, and ears all bulged out from the cracks in the cloth, exhaling a strange medicinal odor. Carrying this strong medicinal smell, the Heigou's face collided with Zhou Yang's palm once more!
--Before this, Zhou Yang picked up the remaining half bowl of grease next to the clay stove and poured it all onto the white-glowing Ghost Ruler!
The Ghost Ruler greedily absorbed the ointment, and even the cracks on its body were gradually repaired.
The white light on the ghost's hand seemed to burst into flames!
At that moment, their faces, which reeked of Heigou, collided violently!
"Bang!"
The Heigou's face caved in completely, falling back into the clay furnace!
A fierce white light blazed up on the coarse cloth!
The discordant energy that had surrounded the clay furnace was suddenly filled and restored in that instant.
The Qi (vital energy) in the universe circulates and changes.
Zhou Yang pinched the handles of the clay stove with both hands and lifted it up—the clay stove became heavy, and wisps of aura, similar to Ghost Rhyme Ghost Rhyme much weaker, suddenly drifted out from the holes in the coarse cloth covering the clay stove.
"Puppet Threads." A thought flashed through Zhou Yang's mind as he sensed the energy within the furnace.
He lifted the black cloth covering the stove and saw a braid made of hair wrapped around a cashew-shaped stomach in the melted fat.
He finally got his hands on Zhou Heigou's strange stomach.
Zhou Yang grasped the stomach, which had suddenly begun to writhe and tremble violently, with his ghostly hand, and another thought arose in his mind:
"How is Zhou Heigou doing now?"
Zhou Heigou's eyes were bloodshot!
Large tears rolled down her cheeks!
His body was trembling, his eyes filled with disbelief—he had used every kind of Puppet-Taming Medicine!
The Choked-to-Death Puppet in its stomach, returned several times along the way, but then disappeared again.
Even now, the effects of the Puppet-Taming Medicine are still present!
But he could no longer feel the stomach of the Choked-to-Death Puppet! The few remaining Puppet Threads attached to his tongue had now completely broken!
That strange stomach escaped from him...
At this critical juncture, at this crucial moment, he lost the stomach that Choked-to-Death Puppet.
This terrifying outcome, like an icicle, pinned him to the spot. He couldn't move, and his whole body was frozen stiff by the biting cold. He stared intently at the soil beneath his feet, as if he wanted to spit out a Choked-to-Death Puppet's stomach from that patch of mud.
In the silence, "Old Man" suddenly spoke, "Why are you hesitating to make the cut?"
"Are you playing a trick on me, Heigou?"
"Father..." Zhou Heigou couldn't even manage a smile. He slowly raised his head and looked at Zhou Laogou pleadingly, "I'm not feeling well today, let's just skip it, Father."
"Tomorrow, I'll treat you to two good things, okay, Dad?"
In response to Zhou Heigou's pleading, Zhou Laogou's face remained cold and expressionless. "You have disobeyed your father, Heigou."
"Disobedience is the greatest act of filial impiety."
"Such extreme filial impiety deserves to be beaten to death with sticks!"
Zhou Laogou's tone suddenly turned fierce and terrifying! His withered and yellow face wrinkled up, and his eyes shot out like two knives, as if he wanted to rip open Zhou Heigou's intestines!
But then the wrinkles on his face smoothed out again, and his expression became kind and helpless. "But I am your father, I love my family, I love my children."
How could I bear to let you be beaten to death?
"So I can't let you disobey me--"
As Zhou Laogou spoke, he reached out towards Zhou Heigou's exposed abdomen.
Seeing his father's expression, Heigou's hair stood on end. Without any hesitation, he suddenly emitted a series of strange fluctuations from his body, which were mixed with a medicinal fragrance!
The next instant, Zhou Heigou turned and ran!
His figure moved as fast as a gust of wind!
Only one thought remained in his mind:
"Run!
"If we don't run, that Laogou will really gut us!"
"Run! There's still a chance to survive! Run for your life!"
This thought lasted for less than three breaths before it abruptly ended.
Suddenly, a dark figure darted out from the lush green rice paddies before Zhou Heigou's eyes.
The dark image was made of many tangled balls of thread. It appeared directly in front of Zhou Heigou, with two tangled balls of thread standing up on its head like a dog's sharp ears, and the tangled threads all over its body like a dog's long fur. Behind it, a clump of threads stretched out like a dog's curved tail.
The black shadow, which looked like a dog standing upright from top to bottom, suddenly tightened its tangled threads and transformed back into the shape of Zhou Laogou.
Zhou Laogou knelt down in front of Heigou, placing his hands on Black Dog's waist.
The tip of her nose pressed against his lower abdomen.
The tongue brushed against the skin of his abdomen, and the instantaneous sharp pain rendered him unable to move!
A sharp pain instantly pierced Zhou Heigou's soul!
"Aaaaaah!"
Zhou Heigou howled miserably, his shoulders trembling violently, but he couldn't move his body!
The Heigou is dead.