Wang Ya saw the Dead Old Lady trying to flee, so she hurled everything she had brought at it all at once! She had prepared dozens of items to suppress evil spirits, and at that moment, she scattered them all like a fairy scattering flowers.
Even though the Dead Old Lady wore a corpse, it was trapped in the Big Dipper Seven Stars Formation, tormented by the array’s power. Then Wang Ya bombarded it from above with her items. Common liquids like Boy’s Urine, Black Dog Blood, and Cinnabar Ink were one thing, as were typical warding tools like the Eight Trigrams Mirror. But she even dug out the now-rare Coffin Nails and stabbed them into the Dead Old Lady!
Coffin Nails were hard to find. She drove the only two she had—one into the Dead Old Lady’s chest and the other into its mouth. But she got too close while stabbing, and the Ebony Staff swept across her waist. The pain made her clutch her side and stagger back several steps, nearly unable to straighten up. She almost got hit in the head by the Ebony Staff again.
The Dead Old Lady was at a life-or-death juncture and was willing to abandon even its corpse to break out.
How could Wang Ya let it escape? She grabbed the Pig Slaughtering Knife from the bottom of her crossbody bag—the one she had planned to use for close-quarters combat with the Old Ghost—and charged at the Dead Old Lady again. Wang Ya swung the Pig Slaughtering Knife viciously down at the arm gripping the cane!
The sharp Pig Slaughtering Knife came straight from the slaughterhouse. It had killed thousands of pigs; its heavy killing intent and thick Evil Qi were evident from the blood it had been stained with and the thousands of pigs it had pierced!
The Dead Old Lady had been dead for at least several decades. Its corpse hadn’t rotted only because it was nourished by the Underground Yin Vein. Now, burned by yang energy and leaking Yin Qi, drenched in a mess of ghost-suppressing items, it rotted extremely quickly. The flesh on its body was gone, leaving only some bones connected by tendons. With one slash from Wang Ya, the Dead Old Lady’s entire arm came off, shoulder blade and all flying away!
Wang Ya pressed her advantage with a Horizontal Saber. The Dead Old Lady’s head lolled to the side as half its neck was cleaved open, but then the Pig Slaughtering Knife got stuck in the cervical bone! Wang Ya tugged twice but couldn’t pull it free. Instead, the Dead Old Lady’s left hand—rotten to expose bone and piled with chunks of putrid meat—slapped her across the face. The Dead Old Lady’s strength was immense; the slap made Wang Ya’s ears ring with a “buzz.” She let go of the Pig Slaughtering Knife, twisted her body, and rolled out of the Big Dipper Seven Stars Formation! She clutched her slapped cheek and found it swollen. Her hand touched slimy liquid on her face, disgusting her so much that she frantically wiped it with her clothes. Fearing corpse poison, she quickly sat cross-legged to circulate her energy. Finally, she grabbed a handful of Glutinous Rice scattered outside the circle and pressed it to her face. The rice was mixed with dirt, but she didn’t care; she just smeared it on. Though her face throbbed numbly, she could still feel it, so she knew it wasn’t serious. Only then did she look toward the Old Ghost.
The Old Ghost’s corpse had collapsed. But the Ebony Staff trembled and floated up unsteadily. Clearly, the Dead Old Lady had abandoned its corpse and possessed the Ebony Staff, trying to use its power to break out of the Big Dipper Seven Stars Formation.
Wang Ya cried out in alarm, “Don’t run!” She reached to untie the Ghost Collecting Bell from her waist and chased after the Ebony Staff with long strides.
The Ebony Staff wobbled two meters off the ground and flew toward the construction site entrance. It swayed unsteadily, likely because the Dead Old Lady was gravely injured and struggling to control the Yin Sinking Wood.
Wang Ya chased below the Ebony Staff, swinging the Ghost Collecting Bell to lasso it in midair. She wanted to use the bell’s red rope to bind the Ebony Staff and drag back both it and the Ancient Old Ghost.
The Ebony Staff suddenly accelerated upward, barely dodging Wang Ya’s strike. It continued forward, even picking up a bit more speed!
Wang Ya gritted her teeth, swiftly picked up her treasured Seven Ancient Copper Coins, and sprinted after the Ebony Staff, which had already flown more than ten meters away.
Wang Ya ran while swinging the Ghost Collecting Bell at the Ebony Staff, but she kept missing. She soon reached the edge of the pit and flung the bell at the staff rising along the pit wall. Each time, it seemed she would catch it, but the Ancient Old Ghost dodged by some ghostly trick. Wang Ya gnashed her teeth in frustration but had no choice; she kept trying to lasso the Ebony Staff.
The Ghost Collecting Bell was sufficient in power against this heavily wounded Ancient Old Ghost; it just lacked precision, and the Dead Old Lady was too slippery! Of course, if she went all out, she could use other methods to capture the Ancient Old Ghost and the Ebony Staff in one go, but it would cost too much. She only had the Seven Ancient Copper Coins and the Ghost Collecting Bell left on her. She couldn’t waste the Ancient Copper Coins on the Ebony Staff—even if she hit, it might not dislodge the Old Ghost, and if she missed, the tiny coins would be lost forever; she’d cry then! Nor did she want to burn her essence blood to form seals and blast the Yin Sinking Wood—burning essence blood shortened her lifespan. She’d already bled repeatedly fighting this Ancient Old Ghost lately; she had to conserve where she could and didn’t want to die young! Besides, the Ebony Staff and the Ancient Old Ghost weren’t worth more than her own life!
