Chapter 64: Commotion

My legs turned to jelly with fear, and I plopped right down onto the bed, because the fellow standing there could hardly be called human anymore. His facial skin was stiff, his eyes were pitch black encircled by an eerie red ring, and he was clad in silver armor—at a glance, he was clearly a ghost general.

Judging by his appearance, he should be a malevolent ghost on the same tier as Song Wanyi and Xijun. Could the City God have sent a ghost general to capture me?

That didn't seem right, though. If they were going to send someone, it would be someone even more powerful. Although this ghost general's ghostly Qi was much stronger than Xijun's and Wanyi's, I had two of them here, while he was only one. What could he possibly do to me?

Once I reasoned this through, I snapped out of my panic and began to wonder why this malevolent ghost had run over here for no good reason.

"Hey, I'm going to sleep. If you want to fight or claim my life, come back tomorrow. Is this endless?" Realizing that Wife Sister hadn't sounded any alarms, I reprimanded him and signaled Xijun and Wanyi with my eyes to keep a close watch on this freak.

Xijun bared her fish-scale teeth, getting ready to attack, while Song Wanyi remained completely indifferent, as if I were the only person in her eyes.

Seeing two malevolent ghosts of comparable strength closing in around him, the ghost general showed not the slightest bit of retreat. Instead, he leaped in through the window and stood right in front of me.

What could this malevolent ghost possibly want? I didn't seem to have provoked or offended him, did I?

"What kind of grudge or grievance do you have with me? Is it worth coming to find me in the middle of the night? Or were you sent by the City God?" A person never visits a temple without a cause, and ghosts were no different. Since he stood there staring at me for so long, there definitely had to be a reason. I couldn't just resort to violence the moment we met.

Without saying a single word, the ghost general immediately knelt on one knee right before me, wearing an expression of earnest entreaty.

"Wanyi, go ask him what this is all about." I hurriedly took a step aside to dodge his bow. Are you kidding me? I was the one hoping to enlist a ghost general to back me up; why on earth was a ghost general bowing to me?

"Ghost General of Liancheng, here to beg for a great favor," Wanyi wrote a few words directly using water from the kettle.

"You know him?" I hurriedly asked.

"From the neighboring mountain," Wanyi nodded and wrote a few more characters.

"So that's how it is. You even have such a formidable neighbor? Is he trying to pledge his allegiance to me? Kneeling down the moment he arrives? Tell him: a drop of blood in the morning, no free meals at night, he must protect me safely at all times, and risk his life at critical moments. If he can work, he can follow me; otherwise, let him seek another master." Hearing that they knew each other, I figured this might be a good thing. I was currently lacking powerful ghost generals to go head-to-head with the City God and Li Poxiao.

Had you already thought up this recruitment advertisement beforehand? Wanyi rolled her eyes, then wrote on the ground: "He has worldly attachments; absolutely impossible."

"Oh, he doesn't want to become my subordinate? Then why is he kneeling to me?" I grew a bit curious. Surely this ghost didn't just come over to kneel for fun, did he?

Wanyi then began to converse with the other party using ghost language. Halfway through the talk, the general-dressed ghost sighed heavily before displaying an expression of intense agitation.

After a short while, once the general finished speaking, Wanyi looked at me with a troubled expression.

I immediately knew the matter wasn't that simple, and I sneered, "He won't work for me, yet he has so many demands? Do you take me for the Red Cross? Am I here to help people for no reason?"

Wanyi helplessly exchanged a few more words with him, but the ghost general remained the same, unable to produce anything that could entice me.

Seeing that if this bickering continued, I wouldn't get to see Wife Sister tonight—and Brother Hai had told me to come back and do nothing before regaining my energy—I said, "Quickly write out the whole story so I can see what's going on. Once I'm done, I can propose some conditions. If we click immediately, we'll work it out; if not, let's just part ways."

Upon hearing me say this, the ghost general hurriedly nodded in agreement and began to trace words using tea water. It wasn't until the cup of tea was replaced with a fresh one that I finally understood the entire sequence of events.

As it turned out, that ghost general was the ghost general from the tomb within a tomb in Liancheng Mountain. His surname was Jiang, and his given name was Han. In his lifetime, he was a general responsible for guarding a small town. Because he once fell for a diversionary tactic, the city gates were lost, and all the old and young in the city were slaughtered. Returning to witness such a tragic sight, he was so enraged that he threw himself into the river and drowned. After death, his overwhelming resentment turned him into a malevolent ghost.

Meanwhile, the other entity in the tomb within a tomb was a delicate young maiden named Liu Fengyi. She was originally supposed to enter the prince's manor as a concubine, but halfway there, she encountered villains and unexpectedly became pregnant out of wedlock. When her own family discovered this, they beat her to death on the spot with clubs, and hastily dumped her corpse in the potter's field overnight under the cover of darkness. Due to the special feng shui location of the "Dragon Seizing the Pearl," this gave rise to a pair of extremely powerful malevolent ghosts—one large, one small. Not only did they wreak havoc throughout the city, but within a ten-li radius of their burial site, neither humans nor livestock were left alive.

Later on, a high-ranking master of the Daoist gate relocated Jiang Han's remains from their original spot back to his hometown, Dalong County, suppressing them here in the potter's field beneath Liancheng Mountain, which finally quieted things down.

Through the countless passing years, influenced by the special geographical environment of the Liancheng Mountain shooting range, Jiang Han and Liu Fengyi actually developed spiritual intelligence. Ghostly affection blossomed into an unbreakable bond, and from then on, they depended on and accompanied each other.

Much later on, Zhang Daxiang and Zhang Xiaofei grave-robbed, using provocative words to enrage Liu Fengyi. Infuriated, Liu Fengyi parasiticized her own child into Zhang Dafu's body, intending to slaughter everyone in the Zhang family.

As a result, during the heavy rain this evening, the Zhang family matriarch stepped forward and detained Liu Fengyi, demanding that she remove the child from Zhang Dafu's body, or else she would sacrifice, refine, and torture her soul.

Jiang Han had the strength, but he couldn't withstand sheer numbers, so he fled and searched everywhere for helpers. He even scoured the barren mountains dozens of miles behind the Zhao family village, searching the whole world for Song Wanyi's help. Finally, prompted by a ghost in the mountains, he tracked me down here and waited a long time for me to return.

A lingering fear gripped my heart. Fortunately, this Jiang Han still had some morals; otherwise, had he taken action against Zhao Qian and Yu Xiaoxue, wouldn't they have been killed with a mere snap of his fingers?

Without the Fixed Star Compass, things were extremely dangerous. Based on the feng shui layout alone, it couldn't stop a malevolent ghost of this tier. I had to quickly think of a good solution, or else I would just have to demand the Fixed Star Compass back from Wu Zhenghua!

"Is that Liu Fengyi as strong as you?" I began to inquire.

The ghost general started talking to Xijun. After a long while, Xijun tilted her head and wrote a bunch of words for me to see.

"Oh, you're saying the one who came out last time was her? She seems a bit weaker than you, no wonder she was so easily captured by the Zhang family matriarch." I nodded. Judging by the standards of back then, she would be about as strong as Xijun was before her strength increased. It seemed this ghost general was still a decent ghost; seeing that I hadn't done anything wicked back then, he had ignored me. Had I done anything untoward at the time, I probably really wouldn't have made it back.

Furthermore, what I hadn't expected was that the Zhang family matriarch possessed such formidable methods, actually managing to capture Liu Fengyi right under the nose of the ghost general Jiang Han.

"No way, I can't handle this. Apart from lifespan, Yin-Yang eyes, and gold and silver jewelry, I don't seem to want anything else. You probably can't give me those, right?" I waved my hand, preparing to drive him away. Are you kidding me? People don't even help people, let alone help ghosts? Helping you build an empire would be one thing, but the problem is you want to fly off and live in eternal bliss with that Liu Fengyi—what part would I have in this afterward?

It wasn't that I was selfish, but rather that it was extremely dangerous. A ghost general of your tier couldn't even handle it; how much higher would our odds of winning be with two or three more?

Upon hearing me finish, Jiang Han felt no disappointment whatsoever; instead, he looked extremely pleased and hurriedly began writing a flurry of words.

When I looked, I was thrilled—this fellow could actually grant me Yin-Yang eyes? And he could also give me a chest of the gold and silver jewelry buried with him as funerary goods? Was that for real?

I turned my head and asked Song Wanyi, "Is this true? Can he really grant me Yin-Yang eyes?"

Wanyi nodded and wrote out some text for me.

When I looked, it turned out that ghost generals of Wanyi's and Jiang Han's caliber possessed not only the ability to usurp human bodies, but could also severely deplete their own strength to catalyze the latent potential of a human's eyes—in other words, to awaken Yin-Yang eyes. Of course, as a price, the ghost general's own strength would drop by an entire tier.

Generally speaking, unless a ghost was fully determined to possess that mortal vessel permanently, they would never easily consume a massive amount of strength to open Yin-Yang eyes for a mortal shell.

"Not bad, at least it has to be on par with these conditions. However, my vital energy and blood are severely depleted; I don't seem to have any way for you to modify my Yin-Yang eyes right now." I sighed. Faced with the temptation of Yin-Yang eyes and gold and silver treasures, I could only gaze at them and sigh. Being possessed by a ghost would casually cause a massive depletion of vital energy and blood, leading to a serious illness, just like when Zhao Qian borrowed my body and remained sickly for several days.

Thinking of this, I suddenly remembered how, after waking up at the Zhao family village, Zhao Qian had mentioned something about golden light and other glows appearing on my body. Could it be that she had opened her Yin-Yang eyes?

I looked at Song Wanyi. Her expression clearly said that was indeed the case. If she hadn't opened Yin-Yang eyes for Zhao Qian, how could she have depleted so much of her strength, dropping down to the same tier as Xijun was now?

"I still need to carefully consider this matter; I can't risk my little life messing around for you. You should head back first. I still have matters to attend to here. If my vital energy and blood recover after a night's rest, I'll consider working this out. So come back tomorrow night. Anyway, as long as Liu Fengyi doesn't take back the ghost baby, the Zhang matriarch won't truly kill her—at most, she'll just suffer some torment. Consider it the karmic retribution for her parasitizing the ghost baby into the Zhang family members. If you're still worried, go keep watch at the Zhang family residence; with your strength, you can come and go freely." I still had strong aspirations for a malevolent ghost of this tier. As long as I was around, it was fine, but if I wasn't, Zhao Qian and Yu Xiaoxue would truly be in danger.

The ghost general looked a bit disappointed, but since he had no other options, he looked toward Song Wanyi.

Song Wanyi muttered a few things to him, after which he happily bowed to me and then drifted out through the window.

I didn't know what Song Wanyi had said to him, but seeing that Xijun had no intention of snitching on Song Wanyi, I let it go. My most urgent task right now was to see Wife Sister.

Seeing that the ghost general had disappeared into the distance, I hurriedly closed the window. Even knowing it was useless against a pair of malevolent ghosts, I still didn't want to be sleeping and suddenly see that pale face again, right?

Although I was getting used to malevolent ghosts by now, who could actually get used to being scared out of their wits? Peace of mind came first.

"I'm going to use the Spirit-Communication Talisman to see your Madam now. Keep your eyes peeled, and whatever ghost comes, don't wake me up—just beat them out first." I drilled instructions into them over and over again.

Upon hearing that we were going to see Madam, Xijun and Song Wanyi trembled with fright. How could they possibly have any other opinions?

Pressing the Spirit-Communication Talisman against my chest and lying down on the bed, I began to continuously chant the incantation in my mind. The chanting grew slower and slower, eventually becoming just like counting sheep. Right before drifting off to sleep, I saw Song Wanyi gently stroking my temple while Xijun stared at me with curiosity.

In the hazy blur, I seemed to step across a golden bridge and enter the realm of my own dream.

The surroundings were brilliantly radiant, casting a golden light that made my eyes ache. Things ahead were indistinct, and I had no idea where I was.

"You won't live a peaceful life, always torturing yourself to death instead. Well, since you've found your way all the way here, I'd like to see just how much further you can torture yourself," Wife Sister's arrogant voice came from ahead of me, and tears streamed down my face.