Having Lu Liangting take the Red-Clothed Female Ghost away was an idea Zhao Mingyue had suddenly come up with. She knew Lu Liangting still had a Mobile Phone Ghost Artifact on him—it had contained a Red-Clothed Ghost before, though that one was ultimately devoured by Bai Yu.
The Fierce Ghost Item was currently empty. Housing another Red-Clothed Ghost would pose no issue at all.
“That Red-Clothed Ghost is pitiful, and more importantly, she doesn’t harbor strong hostility towards you. If you help her, she’ll naturally be grateful. Then, when we leave, we’ll also take that little girl from the third floor. She’s the female ghost’s daughter.”
“But Bai Yu and I can’t help with this part. The dealings with the police will have to rely on you.”
“Then you can tell the female ghost that you’ll take her daughter out, find a place to live, provide food and shelter, and in return, she supports you.”
Negotiating with the police was naturally no problem for Lu Liangting. He’d done it many times. At the Huang Family estate, as long as the bodies and bloodstains were cleaned up, there wouldn’t be much trouble. Otherwise, a massacre of an entire family—no matter how great the Lu Family’s power, it would be useless.
As long as no deaths could be confirmed, it didn’t count as death. With a little manipulation, it would, at worst, be classified as a disappearance.
Then there was Feng’er’s situation.
Zhao Mingyue wanted to take her out. Financially, it was indeed a problem. After taking Lu Liangting’s one hundred thousand yuan, she was much more well-off. But what about the future? Feng’er didn’t just need food and shelter—Zhao Mingyue also wanted her to go to school.
But for Lu Liangting, this was no problem at all. this person replaced his luxury and sports cars twice a year. He had money to spare.
Using a bit of pocket change in exchange for the support of a top-tier Red-Clothed Ghost—this deal was a massive win!
The female ghost would have a place to go. The little girl would have a school to attend. The pitiful Lu Liangting would gain a massive power boost with the support of a top-tier Red-Clothed Ghost. With his strength enhanced, he could complete more quests. More completed quests meant more chances to extract Red-Clothed Ghosts as snacks for Bai Yu. Everyone would be happy!
Clearly, Lu Liangting had reached the same conclusion as Zhao Mingyue. He pondered for a moment, weighing the pros and cons, then clapped his hands.
“Alright! We’ll do it just as you said!”
“Smart man!” Zhao Mingyue gave Lu Liangting a thumbs-up in the heavy rain. The two exchanged smiles, though Zhao Mingyue wasn’t entirely sure why she was smiling like this.
Probably because Lu Liangting’s chances for future draws would significantly increase, and so would Bai Yu’s snacks.
· · ·
The Blood Thread Long Blade parted the curtain of rain. Amid the scattering black mist and fine rain spray, Bai Yu’s eyes were cold and sharp. She planted her foot firmly on the ground, bent her knee slightly, then suddenly leaped upward. In mid-air, she stepped on the chest of the gaunt Fierce Ghost and soared even higher, twisting her body in the air. The long blade in her hand moved at a speed invisible to the naked eye, only the flashing Blade Aura discernible.
The gaunt Fierce Ghost’s movements halted. Its head was sliced into at least eight segments.
Blood lines burst from its face. Chunks of its skull slid off like a collapsing puzzle.
Bai Yu landed lightly, severing the ghost’s legs. As its gaunt body collapsed downwards, she plunged the blade into its heart, abandoning the weapon as she stepped back twice.
The blood threads the long blade had transformed into devoured the ghost’s body in massive quantities. So many blood threads—even if they couldn’t completely consume a Red-Clothed Ghost, they could at least render it incapable of resisting, its body mostly consumed.
But on this Fierce Ghost’s body, the effectiveness of the blood threads was greatly diminished.
This fierce ghost barely used any blood threads and didn’t rely on them to sustain its body at all. Instead, it relied on a black mist—something similar to Resentment, both black in color, but deeper and darker than Resentment.
The essence of this substance was the same as the highly corrosive black thread-like matter that had shot out from the previous two fierce ghosts. The difference was that the previous two Red-Clothed Fierce Ghosts only had a small amount in their bodies, using it as a trump card rather than to sustain their forms.
But this gaunt Red-Clothed Ghost… its body was entirely composed of it.
The severed chunks of its head transformed into vast plumes of black mist. Within the mist, tangled clusters of black threads were visible, woven together much like balls of yarn—though, of course, not actual yarn, but writhing black threadworms.
Its head reformed. The Red-Clothed Gaunt Fierce Ghost lay sprawled on the ground.
Now, the bandages on its face were gone, revealing the eyes and mouth previously wrapped. Its eyes were utterly empty black pits, devoid of anything. The interior of its mouth was the same hollow blackness, its lips cracked and withered, its teeth a sickly white tinged with black, as if it had chugged a large mouthful of ink.
From the black pit of its mouth, a massive amount of black threads spread outward. These threads moved slowly, far inferior to the blood threads of an ordinary Red-Clothed Ghost. The problem was, these black threads could lock onto a target.
Ordinary blood threads also had this function, but most fierce ghosts couldn’t manage it. Simply being able to throw them out to entangle someone was already their limit.
The blood-colored hospital gown faintly emitted black Qi. The ghost’s body twisted as it propped itself up with both hands.
From its appearance until now, this ghost had not made a single sound—no roars, no shrieks, no eerie laughter. But once the bandages were removed, Bai Yu heard something.
“Hungry… I’m so hungry… I’m so hungry…”
“So hungry…”
The voice was everywhere, seeping into everything, bit by bit, from soft to loud, from far to near, slowly penetrating the skin, piercing the marrow, eroding the soul. Its tone was monotonous, yet the profound pain and struggle within it were unmistakable.
Yes, pain.
Bai Yu could barely sense any Resentment power. All she could feel was that this ghost seemed to be in extreme agony.
She often said that Red-Clothed Fierce Ghosts were like single-celled organisms—devoid of thought or reason, endlessly repeating slaughter and death. But now, many examples showed that not all Red-Clothed Ghosts were like that, nor were they all so purely simplistic.
The thing before her reminded her of that statement once more. This was a purely malevolent entity, utterly devoid of any emotion, in the truest sense.
“What exactly is this thing?”
The black threads spread towards her. Bai Yu simply stopped dodging. She grabbed the wispy black threads, and from her fingertips and palms, even more blood threads extended, beginning a reverse consumption, even traveling along the black threads straight into the body of the gaunt Fierce Ghost.
She had nothing if not an abundance of blood threads. Mutual devouring it was.
This move of hers could deal with any ghost. She usually refrained from using it simply because the consumption was too great and not worth it.
After Bai Yu’s blood threads flooded into the Fierce Ghost’s body, the black Qi on its surface began to gradually vanish. Its movements ceased, and the agonized, distorted voice in her ears disappeared. If one could see through the ghost’s body, they would find these blood threads encroaching upon its form at a staggering speed, sweeping the black mist and black threads clean away.
When the blood threads first entered its body, the black threads had thought some delicious food had come to them.
After making contact with these blood threads, the black threads discovered that this “food” was a bit too hard to chew, and its quantity was staggeringly vast, rushing in like a tidal wave.
Moments later, by the time Zhao Mingyue and Lu Liangting returned, the Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost lying on the ground had been completely devoured, collapsing into a patch of black mist that vanished into the rain.
Despite consuming a top-tier-of-the-top-tier Red-Clothed Ghost, Bai Yu’s enhancement was remarkably limited—not even half of what an ordinary Red-Clothed Ghost would provide. This was because her blood threads were also continuously consumed during the devouring process.
More importantly, she discovered a small portion of black mist now within her body—that painful Malicious Intent.
This substance naturally couldn’t affect her. She was pondering a question.
What exactly was this Malicious Intent?
When considering the Huang Family’s situation, she had basically concluded that the thing behind it was either an Evil Spirit or an Evil God. Only these two entities could make Feng’er’s mother, who possessed top-tier Red-Clothed Ghost strength, so terrified. An ordinary Red-Clothed Ghost could absolutely never achieve such an effect—at least, none of the Red-Clothed Ghosts she had encountered could.
Yet it was precisely a Red-Clothed Ghost that had brought about this influence.
Essentially, this gaunt Fierce Ghost was indeed a Red-Clothed Ghost, but the power within its body was different.
Wait.
Bai Yu’s eyes flickered.
She suddenly thought of a possibility. Could the body of a Red-Clothed Ghost merge with the power of an Evil Spirit? If so, even merging with just a small fragment of an Evil Spirit’s power could significantly boost a Red-Clothed Ghost’s strength.
The clues were too few. For now, she could only make some speculations. Once she formally clashed with an Evil Spirit, she would know whether her theories were right or wrong.
“Little Sister Yu, is it finished over here?”
Zhao Mingyue stepped through the gate. Seeing that the last Red-Clothed Ghost had been eaten by Bai Yu, she asked quietly.
“Not yet.” Bai Yu raised her long blade, looking at the last Red-Clothed Ghost in the courtyard.
Everyone in the Huang Family had been killed by this Red-Clothed Ghost. Only Huang Tianhua still lived.
Sensing Bai Yu’s Killing Intent aimed at her, the female ghost turned around. After slaughtering the entire Huang Family, her Resentment had slightly diminished, but she was still at the top-tier Red-Clothed Ghost level.
Watched by Bai Yu, the female ghost instinctively took a step back.
She was merely disoriented, dominated by her obsession, not unable to sense danger.
“Wait, Little Sister Yu, don’t kill her yet! I have a way to handle her!” Zhao Mingyue quickly spoke up, frantically signaling Lu Liangting with her eyes.
Having had experience once before, Lu Liangting immediately understood what Zhao Mingyue meant. He hurried forward and pulled a mobile phone from his pocket. “I have a way to take her with me!”
Last time, without saying a word, the ghost he had drawn had died very thoroughly.
This time, he couldn’t afford to be slow again.
After briefly explaining, Lu Liangting turned to face the Red-Clothed Ghost. “Your revenge has been fulfilled. All your enemies are dead. There’s no point in you staying here any longer. Listen to me. You are a ghost now, but your daughter is still a living person.”
“The Huang Family has been killed by you. What about your daughter?”
“She needs to live, to have clothes to wear, food to eat, and a school to attend!”
“You don’t want her life to be a complete mess, to wander the streets, do you!”
“She has suffered far too much. She’s still so young. She hasn’t tried any of the beauty the outside world has to offer. A beautiful life ending before it even begins—is that what you want?”
At the mention of her daughter, even a Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost quieted down.
Her daughter was her everything, her obsession, her all.
When she was alive, there was a period when she recovered her memories, but she hadn’t forgotten the time in between. She knew the joy Feng’er had brought her.
Just as she had told Old Man Huang when she was still alive: she was going home. She had to go back. There were people waiting for her at home. Feng’er was her daughter, and she had to take her away. Anyone who tried to stop her would be killed.
“This object can contain your body. Come back with me. I’ll help you settle your daughter.”
Seeing the female ghost still hesitating, Lu Liangting knew what she was thinking and added another condition. “There’s a price. You have to help me deal with other wraiths. That way, I can help your daughter.”
As expected, upon hearing this, the female ghost nodded without much hesitation.
If there were no strings attached, she wouldn’t have believed Lu Liangting anyway.
Bai Yu used her blood threads to carry Feng’er down from the third floor, placing her under the eaves to keep her out of the rain.
She couldn’t understand why Lu Nianqiu still hadn’t come out. Her brother was right here, and everyone from the Ghost Domain had been killed.
Bai Yu didn’t tell Lu Liangting about Lu Nianqiu. She could sense that this woman was inside Feng’er’s body. If that were the case, then she was definitely aware that Lu Liangting was here. If she didn’t want to come out on her own, then forget it.
“Mother!”
The moment she landed, Feng’er tried to rush over and embrace the Red-Clothed Fierce Ghost. Bai Yu didn’t stop her.
The Red-Clothed Ghost’s long hair covered her face. Self-conscious of her hideous appearance, she didn’t dare face her daughter. Feng’er didn’t care at all. She didn’t mind what her mother had become, whether beautiful or monstrously ugly and terrifying.
In silence, Bai Yu carefully observed Feng’er’s body.
She could confirm that there was definitely something wrong with Feng’er’s constitution, but for the moment, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.
That the Ghost Domain had mobilized even this level of Red-Clothed Ghost, and sent four people at once, spoke volumes about Feng’er’s importance.
Consider that during the incident to capture the Evil Spirit possessing Chen Bingtang’s body, the Ghost Domain had only sent three people—and just three mid-to-upper-tier ordinary Red-Clothed Ghosts at that.
“Don’t let her go in just yet. Have her clean up the bodies here first, or there will be a lot of trouble.”
Seeing that Lu Liangting wanted to put the Red-Clothed Ghost away, Bai Yu interrupted her thoughts and spoke.
It would take the Red-Clothed Female Ghost a long time to dispose of the bodies. Bai Yu helped her out, sitting with Zhao Mingyue under the eaves.
Feng’er leaned close to Bai Yu, cautiously approaching. It was clear she liked Bai Yu very much, but she didn’t dare rest her head against Bai Yu’s body. Zhao Mingyue found a clean towel from inside, boiled some hot water, and cleaned Feng’er’s body while softly comforting her.
This child was too pitiful.
Zhao Mingyue kept murmuring beside her. Suddenly, Bai Yu sensed an aura rising within her.
The Evil God within Zhao Mingyue’s body, which she had suppressed and kept in its dormant state, had somehow sensed something. It was now far more active than it had been after absorbing the Evil Spirit’s corpse, showing signs of awakening.
