Chapter 1216

Xuan Lu suddenly eating people, could the cause really be on them?

"Xuan Lu has been in the Screaming Forest for so many years, and it has managed an army of evil ghosts; I have even seen corpse puppets inside." Fu Liushan said, "He commanded troops while alive and is still leading an army after death, so I said it is a general's soul." He Lingchuan said indifferently: "He is not worthy."

He had seen what a general's soul should look like. Years ago, after he and He Chunhua defeated the National Master Sun Fuping in the ancient city of Panlong, it was the souls of the Great Wind Army, such as Commander Xiao, who escorted them out of the Panlong Desert.

He still remembered, when killing the Heavenly Palace's Dou Yun Envoy, the precious armor sitting upright in the Red General's cenotaph.

Dare to call it a general's soul or an army's soul? Is this Xuan Lu evil ghost worthy? "It recognized you, so it will definitely come to find you for revenge." Fu Liushan said sternly, "You must be extremely careful, especially after nightfall."

He knew He Lingchuan was no pushover, but people always have moments of negligence.

There is no such thing as a thousand days of guarding against a thief, only a thousand days of being a thief.

Dong Rui asked: "Since it is a ghost body, can it move during the day?"

He Lingchuan knew the answer to this. Actually, it is possible, as long as it uses external force.

For example, the Soul-Capturing Mirror in his bosom actually also contains many ghosts and monsters.

Sure enough, Fu Liushan said: "I heard that ghost immortals in ancient times could directly withstand the scorching of the Sun's True Fire. But I think Xuan Lu cannot do this, so it is most likely to attach itself to a ghost slave, who will carry it around."

He Lingchuan inferred that the "ghost slave" he mentioned was about the same as the "mirror slave" of the Soul-Capturing Mirror, both being living people who were controlled.

Old Woman Li was controlled by having a soul-insect planted in her.

"Take people's money, eliminate disasters for them." Fu Liushan added, "Regardless, I will first clear out the little ghosts nearby for you."

He Lingchuan walked out with him: "Xuan Lu is petty and vengeful; you are exorcising ghosts for Rolling Stone Valley, aren't you afraid that this big ghost will target you?"

If he remembered correctly, Fu Liushan didn't even want to provoke the Three-Tailed Demon Fox.

"Xuan Lu broke the agreement first; besides, I am a lone person, what weakness do I have for it to hold over me? At worst, I'll just run away; besides, this isn't the Screaming Forest, it would be strange if it could find me!" Fu Liushan adjusted his expression, "However, he wasn't a good person while alive, and he doesn't keep his word after death, which is not strange. It has been on a killing spree recently; if we don't stop it, the surroundings will become a ghost domain."

"Why do I always end up with thankless tasks recently?" He sighed and suddenly looked at He Lingchuan and Dong Rui, "Oh, it seems it started after meeting you two!"

"Coincidence." Dong Rui smiled amiably, "It must be a coincidence."

What coincidence? It's clearly that wherever the one surnamed He goes, there will be trouble! While talking, Fu Liushan had already grabbed the bell and walked around the bushes, the riverside, and near the village well, discovering that the bell would ring continuously near the small river, but the sound was faint.

"It's probably around here." After saying this, he found a sand pit sheltered from the wind and facing the water, had everyone pick huge Die-Sui-Guan-Yin leaves nearby, spread them flat in the sand pit, and then dripped a few drops of clear water onto each leaf.

Afterward, he chased away all the living people, leaving only He Lingchuan, Dong Rui, Jiang Lishui, and a few guards who were proficient in martial arts and agile.

"The scent of living people is too strong, which will reduce the attractiveness of the bait." He said.

After everyone else was gone, he took out a few white candles, lit them, and distributed them to He Lingchuan and the other companions.

"Hold it at the heart position; this is called a 'Heart-Covering Candle'. Before the candle burns out, it can mask the scent of living people, making it so that ghosts with shallow cultivation cannot see you."

Everyone followed suit.

Just then, a mountain breeze blew, and Dong Rui let out a strange cry: his candle flame was almost blown out.

He wanted to set up a barrier, but Fu Liushan stopped him: "No, these ghost things are more cautious than sparrows; once they sense supernatural powers nearby, they won't come out again."

Everyone had to choose a sheltered spot and carefully watch the candle flames.

Fu Liushan walked into the sand pit, stuck a thick and straight yellow high-incense stick into the center of the leaves, and lit it.

By now, the sun had set, and the wilderness was dark and silent, with only the murmuring of the river.

I don't know where the mist came from, but bit by bit, it occupied the bushes by the river, wrapping people in dampness.

Jiang Lishui had something to say but didn't dare to speak, so he wrote a few words on the sand: The murder case by the water a few days ago also had fog.

The mist grew thicker, and with the dim light, in a short while, the scenery two yards away could no longer be seen clearly.

Fortunately, the high incense in the sand pit, for some reason, had a tiny red light that was smaller than a firefly, yet it could always penetrate the fog, illuminating a circle of dim yellow light around it.

Its fragrance was also very peculiar, sweeter than sandalwood and richer than jasmine. After smelling it for a long time, everyone couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

Hungry.

This feeling was very peculiar; the stomach wasn't hungry, but the heart really wanted to eat something.

Fu Liushan smiled at everyone and wrote the word "Endure" on the sand.

This incense would trigger the soul's craving.

The trap was set, and now they could only wait.

It was pitch black all around, with several big men holding candles squatting in the jungle, staring eagerly at the high incense one yard in front... this scene looked discordant no matter how you looked at it.

A quarter of an hour passed.

Two quarters of an hour passed.

Nothing unusual happened by the river, only two frogs passed by and jumped into the water with a splash.

He Lingchuan yawned and simply took out a backgammon set to play with Dong Rui and Fu Liushan.

This wooden chessboard was foldable, well-made, and easy to carry, opening up to two feet square.

Fu Liushan hadn't seen this thing before, so he leaned over to watch the two play; after watching a few games, he understood some rules and wrote down a few questions by hand.

He Lingchuan also answered by hand. Soon, Fu Liushan mastered the rules and tried to play.

Eh? The more he played, the more interesting it became.

Soon, he rapidly grew from a novice to a clumsy gambler and lost two days' worth of meal money to Dong Rui.

Just like that, time was slowly whittled away by them for two hours, until midnight.

Fu Liushan's high incense was also more than half burned, and the fallen ash landed on the Die-Sui-Guan-Yin leaves, with a rich fragrance that the wind couldn't blow away. This high incense was also specially made, actually able to last so long without burning out.

He was about to lose this game of chess too.

Sigh, his wine money.

Fu Liushan was deep in thought over the chess game when the bell hanging on the branch suddenly rang again, this time in a continuous 'ding-ling-ling' string.

It's here.

He immediately signaled everyone to be quiet and solemnly took back his wagered silver.

However, after waiting for a long while, there was only the sound of wind blowing through the leaves around them.

Dong Rui was particularly suspicious that this fellow was deliberately shaking the bell because he wanted to renege on his debt.

Fortunately, the movement by the river soon proved Fu Liushan's integrity:

Two things slipped over along the riverbank.

Except for He Lingchuan, everyone had dripped ox tears into their eyes, so they could see their original forms: two little ghosts with heads as big as buckets and weak bodies, standing no more than two feet tall.

Their eyes were bulging, and their mouths were full of fangs.

They came for the high incense, walking very fast, but they couldn't leave footprints on the sand.

However, when they reached the edge of the sand pit, they became cautious, circling the Die-Sui-Guan-Yin leaves over and over.

They must be very greedy for this incense, as everyone could see them swallowing their saliva incessantly.

Before long, two more little ghosts drifted over.

And then three more.

It seems the Ghost King is quite anxious to replenish itself; in such a small Jishi Village, there were seven or eight little ghosts wandering around.

Having more companions didn't seem to give them courage. They stared at the incense, just like sparrows coveting the grain in a winnowing basket; they really wanted to eat it, but they just didn't dare to get close.

Fu Liushan had warned everyone beforehand that the ghosts under the Xuan Lu evil spirit would be fiercer and more cunning.

Otherwise, ordinary ghosts would slowly steal the essence of living people, so how could they suck it dry in one bite? In other words, they were harder to deal with.

Dong Rui signaled to Fu Liushan: Think of a way, this has wasted half the night. The night dew is heavy, and his clothes are already wet.

Fu Liushan rolled his eyes and took a bellows out of his bosom.

Dong Rui felt familiar as soon as he saw this thing.

Sure enough, Fu Liushan gently pressed the bellows, and the sound it made was the same as the bell, not attracting the attention of the little ghosts.

A pale little ghost drifted out of the tube, which was the "Earth-Staying Child" he had caught in Wuxian Town.

This place was very far from the burial place of the Earth-Staying Child; as soon as it drifted out, it wanted to go in the direction of the remains, but it was attracted when passing by the high incense, sniffed a few times, and then stepped into the sand pit, getting close to the high incense and inhaling wildly.

That expression seemed ten times more satisfying than a person smoking.

With it setting the example, the other little ghosts immediately became restless and tried to move toward the sand pit.

It seems nothing happened? So they also gathered around to inhale the incense.

At this moment, the bell rang again, more urgently and crisply.

Fu Liushan originally wanted to get up, but then suppressed the urge and squatted back to his original spot.

Soon, two more ghosts walked over by the river.

These two were of normal human height, wearing black robes, with sinister faces and ghostly light flickering in their eyes; one look and you could tell they had some cultivation, much stronger than those little ghosts.

They were coiling whips in their hands and carrying a sack on their backs.

Seeing the little ghosts all gathered around the high incense inhaling happily, the two big ghosts were very dissatisfied and lashed out with a whip.

I let you out to work, not to party! Fu Liushan saw their actions and pressed his temples.

This is not good.

After two lashes, the little ghosts who were inhaling deeply were suddenly awakened and ran away, squeaking.

But just as they were about to turn around, they found their legs seemed to be stuck in a quagmire and couldn't be pulled out—

The water droplets on the Die-Sui-Guan-Yin were stickier than any birdlime; any soul that touched it would be stuck, and they couldn't run away! This was a trap Fu Liushan often used, especially effective against little ghosts with little intelligence.

But the two big ghosts were not so easily fooled; as soon as they saw the little ghosts struggling, they knew they had fallen into a trap and immediately roared angrily, waving their whips and whipping up a gust of wind in the forest.

"Damn it!" Dong Rui couldn't help but curse, because the gust of wind blew out the Heart-Covering Candle all at once!

Without the candle flame to mask their human scent, they immediately appeared in the field of vision of the two big ghosts.

Fu Liushan also said at the same time: "Do it."

The three guards beside Jiang Lishui had already gripped their crossbows and shot them as soon as they raised their hands.

(End of chapter)