Silence still hung inside the house. Judging by the constant swaying of the Wax Corpses’ bodies, they were indeed tempted. Just as Zhao Mingyue had said, they actually longed to turn back. Who would ever wish to remain in such a ghastly state?
Even ordinary ghosts and monsters, if they retained a shred of reason, would hide in shame upon seeing their loved ones, too self-conscious to reveal themselves. They, too, would grasp at even the slightest sliver of hope.
“Eldest Uncle, you are the oldest and hold the highest status. Since you were always the one to resolve matters big and small in the family, you should go first.”
“I can help you recover first. Then you tell me where my sister is.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t blame you. You are elders; how could you possibly do wrong? There must have been reasons beyond your control. I understand.”
Zhao Mingyue didn’t want to waste time watching them squabble. It was simpler to directly designate a specific ghost to step forward. And her Eldest Uncle was the most suitable candidate—this man knew the most, as he was normally the one in contact with the people from Back Village.
He was also the one who had stopped their family from moving back from Back Village back then, though his interference hadn’t succeeded.
“Mingyue, Eldest Uncle is very glad you could return. It’s fine if you want to know about your sister, but… I don’t know too much either.”
From the main seat, Zhao Mingyue’s Eldest Uncle rose. His expression was still one of wide-eyed fury, but it seemed somewhat softer now.
As he stood, the chilling wind within the room began to stir again.
The other Wax Corpses were displeased. Every single one of them wanted to be first.
“Everyone, calm down! There’s a chance for everyone to be freed. If things get too chaotic, I’ll just leave!”
Sure enough, the moment these words were spoken, the agitated Fierce Ghosts instantly quieted. Everyone’s gaze converged on Zhao Mingyue, staring fixedly. Yet they failed to grasp the double meaning behind her word “freed.”
Eldest Uncle stepped out from his seat, moving with stiff, rigid steps. Zhao Mingyue could smell a strong stench of decay emanating from him.
This odor was distinct from rot, though equally foul.
Zhao Mingyue retreated a few steps, exiting the house. She clenched her fists, her palms slightly sweaty, her breathing noticeably heavier.
It was only after her Eldest Uncle walked out that she saw the massive wound on his abdomen. His internal organs had been completely scooped out; his chest was somewhat caved in. Unlike the other Wax Corpses, his body was gaunt and withered, his ashen skin cracked inch by inch like a ceramic funerary figurine covered in fissures.
Once he was out, she said, “Turn around. Face your back to me.”
“Your body is more difficult to deal with than I imagined. Your innards have been completely hollowed out. Even if I revived you, you would die immediately.”
“What?!” Her Eldest Uncle immediately began losing control of his emotions.
“But… there is still a chance. We just need to find another living person to serve as a Vessel.”
“No problem!” Upon hearing he needed another living person as a Vessel, her Eldest Uncle agreed without a second thought.
“So now we need to make some preparations. The process is somewhat lengthy. While I help you, tell me where my sister is. During this process, you must remain lucid. Otherwise, if it fails, don’t blame me.”
Zhao Mingyue placed her hand on Eldest Uncle’s back. Strands of blood threads began to creep onto his body, and Eldest Uncle quickly felt a sensation.
“My sister went to Back Village?”
“Yes. The Priest took her there.”
“Did you recommend her?”
“No.”
“Is she still alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she replace me as the Divine Maiden?”
“I don’t know. Probably.”
“Aside from this, what else do you know?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember. But Zhao Yi wasn’t taken or requested by us. She came back on her own and then went to Back Village.”
“What?! She came back on her own?!” Zhao Mingyue couldn’t believe it. She and her sister had been living fine together before her sister left. Why would she return on her own?
“Was it the Divine Mother of the Tongue…”
Before Zhao Mingyue could finish her question, a sudden ringing of copper bells came from inside the house.
“Mingyue, it is an act of great disrespect to speak the Divine Mother’s name so directly here!”
A man’s voice sounded within the house. Zhao Mingyue looked up to see a man in a black robe pushing a wheelchair out from the inner room. The old woman in the wheelchair was her grandmother. Judging by the not-yet-fully-dried wax on the old woman’s body, the man had been conducting some kind of ritual inside the room just moments before.
And now, the ritual was complete.
“Mingyue, leave the rest to me. This man is very dangerous.” The shadow behind Zhao Mingyue rippled.
“Alright, no problem!”
The whites of Zhao Mingyue’s eyes were rapidly consumed by darkness, a faint crimson glow and subtle dark-red outlines appearing where her eyes were.
Her expression turned cold. The five fingers pressed against Eldest Uncle’s back spread open, then violently retracted. The blood threads that had extended and enveloped Eldest Uncle’s body instantly tightened with her movement. Because they were extremely fine, resilient, and possessed immense contractive force, the threads constricted tightly around him.
The corpse collapsed to the ground. Bai Yu and the young man inside the house stared at each other.
Blood threads crept along her slender neck, spreading and gathering to form a layer of protective armor, then climbed along her jaw and cheek, slowly shaping the white mask engraved with exquisite patterns.
The young man’s smile became even more radiant upon seeing Bai Yu. He dealt with evil gods; naturally, he wasn’t afraid of a Fierce Ghost like Bai Yu. In his view, as long as it was still a ghost, it was nothing.
No matter how strong a ghost, could it be stronger than a Deity?
Before a Deity, ghosts and monsters were as fragile as infants.
“Mingyue, this is your god?” The man’s face held an undisguised sneer.
For a Divine Representative, treating a ghost as a deity, a source of courage and a lifeline—this was the most foolish and laughable thing imaginable.
He had heard every word Zhao Mingyue said inside the house just now. As her cousin, he had interacted with her in childhood and knew this little girl’s temperament and personality.
That was precisely why, when he heard Zhao Mingyue being so bold as to utter such words, for a split second, he almost believed there truly was some powerful deity upon her.
Of course, it was also partly because he had sensed that the statue of the Divine Mother of the Tongue in the village had been smashed.
“You treat a ghost as a deity? Mingyue, honestly, you’re not as clever as your sister.”
“You want to know where your sister went, don’t you? How about this: I’ll tell you exactly where your sister went. And then, I can grant you eternal life!”
“Possessed by a ghost, you will one day die in agony.”
Bai Yu didn’t speak. She stepped onto the head of Zhao Mingyue’s Eldest Uncle—a Wax Corpse that still retained a trace of consciousness—and narrowed her eyes.
Bang!
The Wax Corpse’s head exploded into fragments. Her body shot towards the man like a released arrow, a Long Saber freshly condensed in her hand.
One moment he was mocking; the next, seeing Zhao Mingyue charging at him, the man’s heart jolted in alarm. It was too late to retreat.
Bai Yu gripped the Long Saber and wrenched it upwards. The blade slashed diagonally from bottom to top, issuing a sharp, ringing cry.
With a wet tearing sound, half of a bloody hand flew through the air, along with a deep, bone-revealing wound carved from his chest to his shoulder.
The man’s pupils constricted. His left hand had lost all feeling. Drops of hot blood splattered into his sight. This slash was simply too fast—so fast he hadn’t even reacted, his hand raising as a purely instinctive motion.
And it wasn’t over yet. Bai Yu abruptly pivoted her body, shifting her center of gravity onto her right foot. Lowering her stance, she simultaneously drove her left foot diagonally upward. The kick was immensely powerful and blindingly fast. With a dull thud, it landed squarely on the man’s jaw, knocking out three of his teeth.
His vision spun wildly. His body flew backward uncontrollably, crashing into the stairwell behind him and scattering unplaced offerings from the shelves all over the ground.
Rising, Bai Yu rolled her neck. She grabbed Zhao Mingyue’s grandmother by the throat and, without a second glance, hurled her aside. The newly formed Wax Corpse bowled over several other Wax Corpses that were charging forward.
Across from her, the man had just struggled to his feet when a wheelchair rapidly expanded in his vision, smashing solidly into his head and sending him sprawling onto his back once more.
Truth be told, he was somewhat dazed by the beating.
He had encountered many ghosts and monsters, but this was truly the first time he’d seen a ghost fight like this.
The ghosts he knew, when possessing someone, used their hands to strangle and their mouths to bite. He’d never seen anything like this.
“That guy is Zhao Chengcai, my Eldest Uncle’s eldest son. He’s the older brother of the man who met us at the village entrance earlier,” Zhao Mingyue explained from the first-person perspective, watching the fight.
“But you didn’t one-shot him?”
“He has something on him,” Bai Yu replied.
She kicked away a lunging Wax Corpse, then held the Long Saber behind her side, assuming a Quickdraw Slash stance.
Clang!
A Blood Thread Blade Aura over three meters long was flung out by Bai Yu’s briefly charged Quickdraw Slash. The heads of several Wax Corpses at the very front tumbled to the ground.
These dozen or so Wax Corpses weren’t very strong—somewhat tougher than ordinary Wax Corpses, but weaker than the Fierce Ghosts in the Wedding Courtyard, mainly in terms of physical resilience.
Facing over a dozen Wax Corpses, Bai Yu advanced rather than retreated. Amid a series of sickening, cringe-inducing squelching sounds, the scene became a flurry of flying severed limbs and body parts. The narrow terrain didn’t hinder Bai Yu’s performance; instead, it made her blade’s killing power even more devastating.
“Brother…”
Just as Bai Yu beheaded another Wax Corpse and the last few shrank against the wall, too terrified to advance, Bai Yu’s body suddenly trembled violently.
At some unknown moment, Zhao Chengcai had already stood up. He opened his somewhat deformed mouth and uttered a single syllable. But to Bai Yu’s ears, this sound was the call of the person she missed most dearly.
This was the power of the Evil God—targeting the heart, inducing auditory hallucinations.
“Brother, don’t you remember me?”
It wasn’t just sound; there were visual hallucinations too.
Bai Yu turned around, Long Saber in hand. The mask obscured her expression.
Across from her, a talisman slipped from the palm of Zhao Chengcai’s right hand. His eyes were venomous.
And in the next instant, he saw a Long Saber aimed directly at his throat, hurtling towards him.
