The Botchling Stunned
There were many tricks up a ghost’s sleeve, but that might come up a little short when it came to a specific ghost.
Tricks like illusions were something all ghosts would know, but in truth, that was nothing but smokes and mirrors, and it was still somewhat difficult to kill someone using illusions.
Only high-level ghosts can master those scary horror techniques. Most ordinary ghosts’ attacks on humans were still carried out by transforming their spirit body into a corporeal one using spiritual power.
For weaker ghosts, their spiritual power was not enough to manifest their entire body, so they could only manifest a part of their body.
Just like the Vengeful Spirit from Lower Liu Village earlier, it had manifested a pair of ghost claws.
And the five little child ghosts here had only been ghosts for a short time, and they were not at all diligent in absorbing Yin Qi, so their cultivation was very weak.
The only part they had manifested was their teeth.
And the only reason they did that was for the convenience of eating.
But after today, it might not be so convenient anymore.
Li Chu had originally wanted to kill these little ghosts by tracking their Yin Qi, because their Yin Qi was really weak, about fifteen Ghost Lanterns, so he did not take them seriously.
Who knew that these ghosts were so courageous that they had rushed at him and bit him all at once with fangs bared.
Following five crisp ‘CRACKS’ that rang out at almost the same time, all of the little ghosts let go of their hands.
All of them were covering their teeth as they stepped back, touching their broken teeth in disbelief before…
“WAHHHH—-”
They all sat on the ground together and started crying.
Seeing the little ghosts crying so heartbreakingly, Li Chu blinked as a thought flashed through his mind.
‘A staged accident?’
‘But I did not do anything at all.’
The little girl covered her mouth and sobbed. “You…why are you so hard?”
The other little boys around her nodded together.
The moment their fangs had fallen onto Li Chu’s body, not only could they not bite into him, they suddenly felt something reflecting the strength they used to bite him, which was many times stronger back at them. And their teeth had burst apart in an instant.
Although it did not hurt as much after becoming a ghost, they still cried very hard as they thought of the difficulties they would face when eating in the future, and that it would take years before they could manifest new teeth
Seeing that their grudge was not heavy, and they were rather intelligent, Li Chu thought of asking them about their origins.
So he said, “Don’t cry.”
The crying children seemingly did not hear him. How could a child stop so easily, especially when other children were crying around them? It was extremely easy to influence each other as their crying became more and more intense.
Li Chu could only repeat his words. “Don’t cry.”
He had never liked yelling, so his tone of voice was always very calm, and of course, it had no effect on these children.
Wang Longqi, who was cowering behind earlier, now wanted to join in the fun.
He then suddenly felt a movement near his feet as something happened!
BOOOM!!
A fire suddenly rushed out from under the bedboard as a pair of terrifying arms appeared at the same time!
The arms were full of scars with charred blackness among the raw wounds, with flesh exposed without any skin. Along with them was a foul smell of burnt and rancid flesh.
“It burns!”
As it shouted, it suddenly stretched its hands out from the bedboard and grabbed Wang Longqi’s ankle!
Wang Longqi immediately shouted, “Li Chu, save me!”
Before he even yelled, Li Chu had already turned around when he sensed a strong Yin Qi bursting out from behind.
It was a ghost called The Immolated One. With its left hand, it grabbed onto Wang Longqi’s ankle, and a sizzling sound started to hiss, just like teppanyaki meat. Wang Longqi began to scream; no one knew if it was because he was burnt or scared.
The face behind the pair of hands was the most hideous-looking face Wang Longqi had ever seen in his life.
He had seen ghosts before and even done something more than just seeing. In order to confuse people, that ghost bride had naturally turned into a beautiful lady in his eyes. As for the five child ghosts before him, although they were hauntingly gloomy, they were chubby and not scary.
In contrast, this Immolated One’s face could no longer be called a face but a piece of rotten meat that had been burnt and dried up. Its eyes sockets too had been burnt out, and no one knew how it even could navigate itself.
“It burns!”
It continued to scream, and after poking its face out, it wanted to pull its entire body out!
The six braids of the five little ghosts all shot up skywards as the little ghosts shouted in unison. “A ghost!”
The four boys immediately huddled around the girl as they hugged each other.
But the little girl quickly realized something and pushed them disgustedly. She said, “We are also ghosts, why should we be afraid of it?”
“Eh?”
And just as they were in doubts, something even more terrifying happened.
They saw the young Daoist Priest suddenly unsheathed the iron sword on his back and slashed out.
The sword rose and fell.
And a sword light flashed past.
As if the entire world quaked, long before the Immolated One could even crawl out, it completely disappeared in an instant.
Completely disappeared.
This sword strike caused the five little ghosts to suddenly lose any voice they had. Their six collective braids were all pointing skywards.
Sure enough, ghosts were not scary, humans were!
“Ouch!”
Wang Longqi, who was in the eye of the storm, could not even see what had happened. He only felt that a white light had flashed in front of him, and the hands grabbing his ankle had let him go, and he immediately fell to the ground.
After taking a closer look at his ankle, it looked like it had been burnt by a soldering iron, and a circle on the stocking had been burned into his flesh.
But he did not care about this. As he raised his head hurriedly and clambered to Li Chu’s side, he asked Li Chu in terror, “What is going on?”
“I don’t know, but this house is a little strange.”
Li Chu looked at the big hole cut out from the bedboard, which revealed the room downstairs. It showed that it did not lead elsewhere.
But what was the deal with the ghost that appeared without any warning just now?
After pondering for a bit, he suddenly remembered that there were five child ghosts behind him.
As he turned his head around, the five little ghosts who had been kicking up a fuss earlier were sitting in a row as they looked at him with their big black eyes.
Obediently.
Like good children.
“AHHH!!”
And just when Li Chu wanted to ask something, he suddenly heard screams coming from the next room!
The five little ghosts looked at each other. One, two, three, four, five. EH?
Who was at next door?
…
Hearing Wang Longqi’s screams coming from the room over there, Zhao Liangcai, who was squatting in a corner, was excited. He could not help but to secretly praise the little ghosts for actually being useful.
After a moment, sure enough, just as the screams from the earlier room subsided, he heard a woman’s scream from next door!
It’s the time!
Zhao Liangcai turned around and glanced at his cousin, and got a look of encouragement as he immediately rushed out and shouted, “Miss Gongsun! I’m coming!”
BAM!
He kicked the door of Gongsun Rou and Zhao Xiaomiao’s room open with a flying kick and saw the two girls running out in fear.
“Lil’ sis, Miss Gongsun, what’s the matter?” He pretended to ask.
“There! There’s a ghost there!” Zhao Xiaomiao cried as she pointed under the bedboard.
Zhao Liangcai took a glance and saw a child’s hand sticking out from under the bed, as if the child was trying to look for something.
“Mother—”
“Mother—”
“Mother, don’t kill me—”
Inside the gloomy room, the childish cry did not sound pitiful at all, but instead sent chills down everyone’s spine.
Heh, they sure know how to set the atmosphere.
Zhao Liangcai smiled imperceptibly as he immediately put up a face filled with righteous indignation. He shouted, “Hey! You fiend! How dare you disturb Miss Gongsun, despicable cur!”
As he said that, he strode forward and grabbed the chubby arm!
“Brother!” Zhao Xiaomiao shouted with a horrified expression.
Gongsun Rou’s expression was no different. “Young Master Zhao?”
The two of them never thought that Zhao Liangcai was so courageous that he dared to catch the ghost with his bare hands!
“Get out!”
Zhao Liangcai only felt that he had never had such a heroic moment before, so he roared out loud with his head held high, his breathing calmed, his step firm, and his arm tugged with force.
WOOOSHH!
Zhao Liangcai pulled out the ghost under the bed as he held it in his hand.
It was a baby that was red all-throughout.
It looked small, and was dripping with blood. Over on the hanging arm Zhao Liangcai was holding was an ugly, wrinkly face that bore a confused look.
“Eh?”
Zhao Liangcai frowned and was a little puzzled. Was there such a small one among the five little ghosts earlier?
The infant’s brow also furrowed as it was also wondering what was the deal with this person before it.
The Botchling, as one of the more ferocious ghosts, this was the first time in its long ghastly life it had encountered such a moment where its dignity was completely trampled on.
The man before it was so arrogant that it did not dare to act rashly for a good while.
To be honest, it was a little stunned.