Chapter 164: Ghost Shadow

Hu Rui'an's body flickered, leaping skyward and soaring over the high wall of the Tianjinwei compound, vanishing before Shang and Cheng's eyes.

Seeing this, Shang and Cheng exchanged a glance, then swept their gazes around the pitch-black alleyways.

At some point, a chill wind stirred along the dark, silent street behind them, making both men involuntarily hunch their necks.

Yet, neither of them detected anything unusual.

Meanwhile, Hu Rui'an landed lightly within the Tianjinwei compound.

The Tianjinwei compound in Shengzhou at night was shrouded in darkness—halls, chambers, and doors all tightly shut, corridors devoid of lanterns, no sentries anywhere, everything eerily still.

Hu Rui'an entered the compound and walked along its corridors, moving without a sound, not even stirring the air around his sleeves, his figure gliding like a wraith.

Hu Rui'an was unfamiliar with the Tianjinwei compound; he walked while observing every corner around him.

His goal was to see a ghost, and also to investigate whether the Tianjinwei held any abnormalities.

After all, ghosts plagued no other part of Shengzhou city—only the Tianjinwei, and in this incident, a Deputy Commander and numerous martial experts had died; there must be something behind it.

As time passed, in the dark, silent night, Hu Rui'an circled more than half the Tianjinwei compound, yet encountered nothing out of the ordinary.

He furrowed his brow slightly, but when he reached a secluded hall in the northeast corner, he suddenly halted, his figure freezing in place.

Hu Rui'an gazed toward the hall ahead—unlike all other buildings in the compound, whose doors and windows were tightly locked, this hall's main door stood slightly ajar, cracked open a narrow slit.

The night was heavy, the surroundings so silent not a sound could be heard.

He stared at the hall with its half-open door, squinting slightly, then silently crept closer.

Simultaneously, he locked his qi around the entire hall, ensuring not even the faintest breeze could escape his notice.

At that moment, a black shadow suddenly flashed out from the hall's doorway.

Hu Rui'an's eyes flickered; he instinctively moved to strike—but quickly realized the shadow was a jet-black cat.

The cat seemed to sense the danger radiating from Hu Rui'an; it abruptly halted its sprint, lifting its glowing green eyes to stare at him.

Then it opened its mouth and let out a "meow," abruptly shattering the silence of the darkness.

Hu Rui'an frowned slightly, pausing his attack, studying the cat for a moment.

The cat before him was covered in deep black fur, but for some reason, its body was as large as a stray dog—thick, muscular, utterly unlike any normal cat.

Hu Rui'an shook his head; just a cat—he paid it no mind.

He ignored it entirely, his gaze returning to the hall ahead.

But at that very moment, a chilling laugh suddenly echoed from the courtyard behind Hu Rui'an.

He whirled around—nothing in the darkness behind him, yet the sinister laughter continued, echoing repeatedly.

"Faking spirits and demons!"

Hu Rui'an snorted coldly, his body vanishing instantly from where he stood; in the blink of an eye, he arrived at the source of the laughter, wrapped in massive martial qi.

Yet to Hu Rui'an's surprise, the moment his afterimage appeared, the sound vanished into thin air.

And at that instant, a blurred shadow emerged from somewhere beyond his sight, silently drifting past him from behind.

He sensed it, whirled around—and saw only a faint, wavering, twisted "ghost shadow," slowly gliding past his eyes.

"Nonsense!"

Hu Rui'an roared, remaining rooted in place, reaching out with a hand to grasp the ghost shadow through the air.

Instantly, the surrounding heavenly qi coalesced above the ghost shadow into a colossal hand, churning a storm, covering dozens of feet, descending without warning from above.

"Gh… gh…"

The sinister laugh suddenly sounded again behind Hu Rui'an, tinged with mockery.

The next instant, the ghost shadow—about to be seized by the qi-hand—vanished from its spot.

The giant hand grasped nothing.

Soon after, the vanished blurred ghost shadow reappeared quietly on a rooftop not far from Hu Rui'an.

The ghost shadow drifted slowly along the eaves, wavering and faint, just like the chilling laugh—clearly taunting Hu Rui'an below.

Seeing this, Hu Rui'an's expression darkened instantly.

He turned his body sideways, fixing his gaze on the ghost shadow on the eaves, and the dark space above—empty, yet filled with echoing laughter.

Hu Rui'an's face hardened; this ghost shadow and its laughter clearly treated him as if he were nothing—truly enraging him.

The next moment, Hu Rui'an closed his eyes lightly, then slowly opened them again.

Instantly, his breath expelled like a subterranean lung surging—centered on him, the surrounding heavenly qi solidified into mountains.

Invisible heavenly qi formed a thunderous drum in midair, roaring forth with overwhelming force, swallowing rivers and seas, instantly suppressing the sinister laughter.

Simultaneously, Hu Rui'an's robes billowed like a thousand sails racing; he left only an afterimage where he stood, and the next instant appeared behind the ghost shadow.

Without warning, he slammed a palm forward—the palm wind tore through space, carrying the crushing might of mountains collapsing and heavens splitting.

Under this palm, even a typical Heaven-Touching expert would be shattered on the spot, his qi scattering, bones snapping, body rupturing.

Clearly, Hu Rui'an was enraged—he intended to make this fake spirit and demon understand his power.

Whether the thing would die under his palm, he no longer cared much; after all, it had brought this upon itself.

If he didn't use his true strength, the thing would truly believe he was just another fool, easy to mock and toy with.

With a thunderous "Boom—," the entire space before Hu Rui'an seemed to collapse under his palm.

The blurred, wavering ghost shadow likewise dissolved into an afterimage, vanishing from midair.

At the same time, the sinister laughter nearby was shattered and worn away by the powerful sound waves, like the drumming of a Kuiniu war drum.

In an instant, the entire night sky over the Tianjinwei compound fell silent again—both ghost shadow and laughter vanished instantly under Hu Rui'an's Lei Ting strike.

Hu Rui'an's figure landed silently atop the rooftop eaves; the gathered heavenly qi around him gradually dissipated.

He glanced around—the surroundings were empty, save for the large black cat, sitting on the stone steps before the hall whose door had been half-open, now lifting its head, its emerald-green eyes fixed on Hu Rui'an atop the roof.

Soon, the large black cat opened its mouth and let out another "meow," then turned its head toward a spot not far from Hu Rui'an.

Hu Rui'an instantly sensed something—he turned sharply—and saw the ghost shadow he had just obliterated now reappearing boldly in midair nearby, drifting soundlessly once more.

Just then, that chilling laughter suddenly rang out again above Hu Rui'an's head.

Within that grating laughter lay undisguised mockery and derision, along with a trace of extremely sinister dread.

Seeing this, Hu Rui'an's face changed.

Clearly, the ghostly shadow and the laughter could ignore his attacks; he seemed powerless against these tricks of pretending to be a spirit.

However, Hu Rui'an naturally would not give up; without hesitation, he struck out again immediately.

Yet unfortunately, the situation was almost exactly the same as before; he simply could not harm the ghostly shadow and the laughter.

Instead, the mockery from the ghostly shadow and the laughter grew increasingly reckless, as if they would only be satisfied by floating beside him and whispering sinisterly into his ear.

"Who exactly are you?"

The ghostly shadow and the laughter were too abnormal, and Hu Rui'an was completely powerless against them, so he could only retreat his figure to temporarily distance himself while asking in a deep voice.

However, the ghostly shadow and the laughter showed no intention of responding at all; they merely followed Hu Rui'an like a shadow and like flesh-eating maggots.

Wherever he was, the ghostly shadow and the laughter followed; Hu Rui'an found he could not shake them off for the moment.

Helpless, he could only continue to strike out again, but the situation still did not improve.

Meanwhile, the big black cat sitting on the stone steps before the hall gazed at all this with green, oily pupils, simply sticking out its tongue to lick its own paw on its own.

Hu Rui'an glanced toward the big cat and the hall behind it, seeing that as time passed, the ghostly shadow and the laughter drew closer and closer to him.

His expression shifted wildly for a moment; immediately, his figure turned into a afterimage as he retreated, temporarily deciding to leave the Tianjin Guard residence first.

The strangeness of the ghostly shadow and the laughter made him feel deeply startled, and moreover, as the ghostly shadow and the laughter constantly closed in on him, the sense of crisis rising in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

Reason constantly reminded him that he could no longer stay here.

Soon, Hu Rui'an's figure flashed out from the high wall of the Tianjin Guard residence, appearing before Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong who were waiting at the main gate.

Seeing Hu Rui'an come out, both Wu Shang and the other immediately stepped forward and asked:

"My lord, have you discovered anything?"

However, no sooner had their words fallen than a very cold laughter reached their ears, sending a chill down their spines.

The two instinctively looked up toward the lintel above the Tianjin Guard's main gate, only to see a blurred, distorted, ghost-like shadow floating in mid-air, while laughter constantly issued from around it.

Fortunately, however, the ghostly shadow and the laughter stopped at the edge of the courtyard, showing no intention of coming out.

Both Wu Shang and the other immediately showed expressions of shock and hurriedly looked at Hu Rui'an, but the other did not explain much, simply saying:

"Let us leave this place first."

Having spoken, he glanced at the Tianjin Guard residence before him, then led Wu Shang and the other away without any delay.

Just after they had left a certain distance, Wu Shang and the other suddenly turned their heads; both heard a clear word of "Death" amidst the chilling laughter that came from the cold.

Only after Hu Rui'an and the others had completely vanished did the ghostly shadow and the laughter above the Tianjin Guard gate slowly dissipate.

At this moment, in a dark alley not far away, the old man who had previously pushed the tea-bag cart stepped out silently from the night.

He glanced in the direction Hu Rui'an and the three had departed, slightly narrowing his eyes:

"Originally I thought you might discover something, but in the end, it is merely three more corpses tomorrow."

Speaking these words softly, the old man turned his head to glance at the Tianjin Guard gate, but he had no intention of approaching; he merely shook his head, then turned and vanished into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Hu Rui'an and the three rode their horses quickly through the night, all remaining silent.

Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong exchanged a glance; seeing that Hu Rui'an's face was not very good, they tactfully asked nothing more.

Until half a stick of incense later, the three arrived before a magnificent residence with bright palace lanterns and red walls with glazed tiles, pulling their horses to a halt.

Hu Rui'an sat upright on his horse, glanced at the two characters "Mei Residence" written on the gate plaque, then turned to Wu Shang and the other beside him and said:

"The haunting of the Tianjin Guard is not simple; it is somewhat beyond my expectations."

Speaking thus, Hu Rui'an's expression suddenly became extremely serious, and he said:

"You two remember: no matter what happens tomorrow, you must strictly follow me... the Imperial Prince's side."

Hu Rui'an sighed; originally he had wanted Wu Shang and the other to stay by his side to look after them, preventing them from coming to harm because of seeing the ghostly shadow and the laughter.

But on second thought, he himself was now beginning to worry about his own safety.

Tomorrow, perhaps the only wise and safe choice would truly be to stay by Li Musheng's side.

Hearing this, Wu Shang and Cheng Zhong exchanged a glance; a flash of shock passed through their eyes, and they immediately took Hu Rui'an's instructions fully to heart.

After all, since even Hu Rui'an feared the ghostly shadow and the laughter in the Tianjin Guard branch residence so much, they naturally had self-knowledge and knew in their hearts what to do to preserve their lives.

Next, Hu Rui'an did not say much more; their purpose in coming to the Mei Residence was to meet Mei Yan, the Vice Prefect of the Tianjin Guard branch residence.

The matter of the haunting in the Tianjin Guard residence could only be temporarily set aside; although Hu Rui'an still felt the matter was extremely suspicious and might become a breakthrough point.

But clearly, the waters within seemed somewhat deep; now he could not continue to investigate, so he had to return to the main track to handle the affairs of Shengzhou.

Of course, Hu Rui'an's heart actually knew clearly that this trip would probably yield nothing.

After all, he held the same rank as that Mei Yan, while the other's family background and status were far above his own; if the other simply refused to cooperate and perfunctorily dismissed the matter.

Even with the backing of Imperial Prince Li Musheng behind him, he would probably have little recourse against the other.

But regardless, he still had to try.

After knocking and having the servant announce them, Hu Rui'an led Wu Shang and the other, following the gatekeeper, deeper into the residence.

Within the Mei Residence, palace lanterns hung high, and the entire residence was like daylight.

Not long after, Hu Rui'an and the three were led to a rear garden and stopped.

Unlike the Tianjin Guard branch residence, which was as cold and desolate as a ghost house, this place was brightly lit and filled with the clamor of voices, clearly a scene of bustling noise and liveliness.

(End of this chapter)