Chapter 282: Chapter 246: The Mountain’s Female Wraith

Jinzhou Territory, Jinfeng Mountain.

During the beginning of spring, in the mountain village, a group of bandits dressed in sacrificial garments made of various colored cloth strips gathered in the center of the village.

A wooden framework was used to mold a clay ox, which was placed on a high platform for worship.

After the worship, the oldest person in the village used a spring willow branch as a whip, striking the clay ox, driving away winter’s laziness, and welcoming the arrival of spring.

Below, under the leadership of their Big Boss, the bandits kowtowed and prayed, shouting ’good weather and prosperity, good omens’.

Just as the spring worship ceremony ended, a bandit ran in from outside the village in a panic.

“Big Boss, it’s not good, there’s a ghost woman coming toward our village!”

The irritable Big Boss immediately kicked him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“We just prayed for good omens, and you jinx us by talking about ghosts, where would a ghost come from in broad daylight?”

The bandit on the ground looked aggrieved and hesitated to speak.

Once the burly Big Boss calmed down, he ordered a few subordinates to bring several jars of black dog blood to go with him to investigate.

On the way, the reporting bandit briefly explained the situation to their Big Boss.

“The ghost appeared suddenly in the forest three miles outside the village this morning. It looked very much like a female corpse, but when we mustered the courage to shoot an arrow, it passed right through her. What else could it be but a ghost?”

Nearing noon, a group of them cautiously searched the forest and indeed found the ghost woman in a shady spot under a dense canopy, completely shielded from the sun.

Big Boss Ruan Xiong peeked out from behind a tree. The woman in tattered black clothes was filthy, with disheveled hair obscuring her face. She swayed slightly but stood motionless in the shadow under the tree.

The ghost woman’s chest had a large hole, and she wore embroidered shoes on her feet, with a cloth bag slung across her body that seemed to contain a lot.

Upon first glance, although the ghost woman’s appearance seemed terrifying, there seemed to be nothing else of note.

Ruan Xiong fixated on the cloth bag across the ghost woman’s body, feeling a strong intuition that it contained something valuable, possibly a yin object.

If he could obtain a yin object, he could subdue all the bandit lairs in the area. With greater power, he wouldn’t have to fear being wiped out by the government troops.

Thinking of this, Ruan Xiong looked at the group of bandits behind him and casually pointed, “Feng Shan, and you, the two of you take a jar of black dog blood, and go get me that bag from the ghost woman.”

The skinny man named Li Ping, who was usually very timid, would hesitate even to kill a chicken, immediately knelt down and pleaded tearfully.

“Big Boss, I’m just a farmer, I have no skills, I don’t dare to go, I’m scared!”

Ruan Xiong, with a fierce look in his eyes, drew his knife and sliced off Li Ping’s ear with one swift motion.

Li Ping screamed horribly, and someone immediately rushed up to cover his mouth, casting a terrified glance at the ghost woman under the tree in the distance.

Luckily, the ghost woman didn’t react.

Ruan Xiong spat, “If you don’t go, the next strike will be at your neck!”

Frightened and in pain, Li Ping could only cover his bleeding ear while getting up, and followed the braver Feng Shan.

“It’s noon now, all supernatural beings are weaker in daylight, what are you afraid of.” said Feng Shan.

Feng Shan was Ruan Xiong’s trusted follower; he was specifically instructed to ensure Li Ping would sacrifice himself as a test, while Feng Shan would oversee without truly engaging the ghost woman.

Li Ping carried the jar of black dog blood, trembling as he approached. When he was ten steps away from the ghost woman, before he could splash the black dog blood, the ghost woman’s head suddenly turned, revealing a pair of scarlet Ghost Eyes beneath her messy hair.

A cold wind came rushing, and Li Ping’s heart leapt into his throat as he splashed the jar of black dog blood without thinking.

Splash!

The black dog blood poured over the ghost woman, and white smoke sizzled from her body, her scarlet pupils flickered as she stared at Li Ping.

Li Ping thought he was done for, but the ghost woman didn’t attack him; instead, she instantly appeared behind Feng Shan in the distance.

A cold heavy hand landed on Feng Shan’s shoulder, causing him to freeze, his eyes widening in terror as his body was torn apart.

Seeing this, Ruan Xiong turned to flee with the remaining men. They ran barely a few steps when the world suddenly transformed from day to night, and from the mountains into a courtyard.

The group stood back to back, not daring to move, scanning the surroundings of the courtyard.

The courtyard was enclosed on all sides, with gray mist swirling above, only revealing a fourth layer.

“Big Boss, what is this…”

A dramatic operatic voice echoed; the men turned in fear, seeing a stage in the depths of the first floor, and on the stage was a ’person’ dressed as a Daomadan, taking delicate steps, performing a play.

“Play with me~”

The laughter of children echoed; before everyone could react, someone fell straight down, lifeless.

At this, everyone was petrified with fear, scattering to find a way out.

A Blood Clothes, with its fabric full of holes, followed one person quietly, and a haggard old woman hunched over following a group of child ghosts walked by Ruan Xiong.

Turning around, he was faced with a beggar ghost with ragged clothes, shaking a broken bowl in his face.

Bang!

Someone fell from upstairs, and though it was only the Second Layer high, their body was smashed and bloodied beyond recognition.

Ruan Xiong looked up and saw a middle-aged man in a steward’s robe at the railing, his face a pitch-black void.

“Heehee~ play with me~”

“Big Boss, save me——”

Screams echoed continuously as Ruan Xiong’s men died one after another. He swallowed hard, avoiding the beggar ghost before him, only to collide with something cold behind him.

Turning his head, the face of the Daomadan suddenly got close, placing a hand on his head.

“Ah!!!”

…

Li Ping sat on the ground in terror, trembling like a sieve. Around him, all was dark; he could see and hear nothing, only gray mist ahead.

Before he could stand, the gray mist parted, revealing red threads crisscrossing between the trees. The bandits who had previously flaunted before him were now all hung like dancers in grotesque poses by the red threads, dead.

Ruan Xiong was stripped to the bone, left with nothing but a pair of bulging eyes filled with pre-death terror, wide open.

Besides Li Ping, one other survivor, Sun Sheng, who was also as timid as him, unable to kill even a chicken, was slumped at the foot of Ruan Xiong’s corpse, drenched in blood, fainting with a flip of his eyes.

Darkness loomed behind, a chill wind brushed the back of his neck, causing Li Ping to wet his pants, feeling the ghost woman appear behind him. Terrified to the extreme, tears flowed as he bit his lip, making not a sound of his sobs.

Li Ping listened to the sound of footsteps approaching and watched those embroidered shoes slowly move to stand before him.

The scent of black dog blood wafted in, and Li Ping slowly raised his head, his gaze drifting from the ghost woman’s tattered, dirty hem upward, seeing countless red threads waving like veins in her open chest, catching his breath, daring not to look higher.

“Spare me, please spare me… I don’t want to die… don’t want to die…”

“Where is this?”

Suddenly hearing a questioning voice, Li Ping looked up in surprise, meeting the ghost woman’s gaze.

She still had disheveled hair, but her eyes were no longer blood-red and terrifying, instead normal human eyes stared back at him.

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