Chapter 1253

He Lingchuan walked closer and saw it was a wooden birdcage.

At least the shape was very similar to a birdcage, but there were no pillars inside, no water troughs or food troughs, only grilles and a small door.

Dong Rui also came over to look: "This is a cage made of deep-sea wood."

Deep-sea wood can harbor souls; just this point alone made this so-called "birdcage" not ordinary.

Fu Liushan raised the bell and brought it close to the cage; it rang twice more lightly.

"Come out." He put away the bell. "I won't harm you, just have a word to ask you."

The cage was quiet, looking empty at first glance, with nothing in it.

Fu Liushan took out an incense stick and lit it, blowing the smoke toward the cage.

Amidst the smoke, a blurred shadow seemed to be drawn out.

"Show yourself, don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!" Fu Liushan aimed the glowing cigarette butt at this shadow. "I don't want to torture you like the Profound Lu Ghost King."

Hearing the four words "Profound Lu Ghost King," this shadow moved a few times and finally climbed up from the bottom of the cage, gathering into a human shape.

It inhaled hard a few times, and the smoke was sucked clean by it.

Fu Liushan's specially made incense was a supplement for weak ghosts, helping them stabilize their human shape.

This shadow revealed its shape; it looked like a man in his twenties, but his appearance was withered, and he was empty from the right shoulder down.

It was actually a one-armed ghost.

Fu Liushan was also a good conversationalist: "Such a big cage, you live in it alone?"

The one-armed ghost opened its mouth, its voice difficult: "There were more than thirty just now."

"It's really crowded. Where are they?"

"Eaten." The one-armed ghost took two steps forward. "They were originally Xuan Lu's spare food. Before the Ghost King fled, it called the ghost slaves to grab them out and feed them to itself to replenish its strength."

Dong Rui raised his eyebrows: "The Ghost King fled? Are you sure?"

"It was severely injured, with only a little ghost energy left; I have never seen it so weak, even needing ghost slaves to carry it in a box." The one-armed ghost said. "If it doesn't flee, is it waiting for you to come to the door to collect it?"

"The other souls in the cage were taken by it for nourishment; why did it miss only you?" Was it a trap left by the Ghost King?

"I've lived in this cage for too long, longer than any other unlucky ghost. I know how to disperse my soul and can deceive the ghost slaves for a while." The one-armed ghost said hoarsely. "Xuan Lu fled too hurriedly, eating all the captives inside in a rush, and left without looking closely. I waited bitterly for eighty years, only to wait for such an opportunity!"

"Eighty years?" Even He Lingchuan was moved. "You stayed in this cage for eighty years?"

"More than just 'staying'?" The one-armed ghost gritted its teeth until they creaked. Before this, Ling Guang had only heard of "ghosts grinding teeth," and today it finally had the honor to witness it. "At most a month, at least ten days, Xuan Lu would grab me out to torture me, either gouging out my eyes, chopping off my hands, or pulling my tendons, with all sorts of tricks!"

"Then it would heal me. As long as my injuries recovered, it would be the next round of torture immediately!" The back of the one-armed ghost's hand gripping the grille popped with blue veins. "Eighty years! I've lived like this for eighty years! Five days ago, Xuan Lu even put my arm into a millstone and spent two hours grinding it into powder!"

"Whether it's the wailing of humans or ghosts, it especially likes it!"

Fu Liushan couldn't help but say: "It especially likes to torture you, why?"

The Profound Lu Ghost King kept a ghost specifically to torture for eighty years? This wasn't liking; this was hatred.

"It hates me to the bone." The one-armed ghost said as expected. "It hates my ancestors to the bone!"

"Your ancestors are?"

"Eighty years ago, I was doing small business in Yaopo, and I was already married with children. Although life was ordinary, in troubled times, where else could one have extravagant hopes?" The one-armed ghost said in a low voice. "One night, the Profound Lu Ghost King sneaked in and killed my whole family, eating the souls of my wife and children in front of me. It said my ancestors betrayed it, cutting off its head to offer for merit when it was at the end of its rope!"

"It searched for more than two hundred years, finally finding the descendant of the traitor. After killing me, it imprisoned my soul and brought it back, torturing me with all sorts of tricks. I begged it to give me a quick death, but the Profound Lu Ghost King said, as long as it is there for one day, I will suffer for one day, not a moment earlier or later."

He Lingchuan understood when he heard this. Three hundred years ago, Wang Xuanlu fled into the Howling Forest and finally didn't die in the hands of Bao Ning, but was beheaded by his subordinates to offer for merit. With his temperament, turning into a fierce ghost after death, of course, he would never forget revenge.

Bao Ning's descendants were killed by it, and how could that subordinate who betrayed him be spared? The Ghost King hated him even more, so it wanted to torture his descendants, endless and eternal.

"Do you know how desperate I am?" The one-armed ghost grabbed the grille and screamed. "Later I didn't ask for death anymore; I swore that one day I would also take revenge, and I would also cut off its head like my ancestors!"

Fu Liushan took out his Treasure Pestle: "We can do this wish for you. You should seek relief the most."

He was a Celestial Master; saving ghost souls was his duty.

"Wait, wait!" The one-armed ghost waved its hand repeatedly. "I can help you track down the Profound Lu Ghost King!"

"You're trapped here; what help can you be?"

"I know its aura best; within three hours, I can track everywhere it has been!" The one-armed ghost tried hard to prove its value. "Besides, its subordinates tortured prisoners here, and I heard many secrets, many! They never avoided me; they thought I couldn't get out."

"For example?"

"For example, this place was once an immortal's cave dwelling. The dark room we are in was once an immortal's torture room, filled with all kinds of torture instruments..."

"Wait." Dong Rui was very surprised and interrupted, "This is an immortal's torture room? What do you mean, immortals torture others?"

"Yes, that should be what it means. I heard them say that when the Profound Lu Ghost King first discovered this place, there were all kinds of torture instruments here, but the specifications were very large, not like they were for humans; also, there were many remains tied here, some with their chests cut open, some with their heads cut off, but they were quite large, and none of them... none of them were like..."

Dong Rui disliked its slow speaking speed: "None of them were like humans?"

"Yes, yes, none of them were like humans."

Dong Rui's gaze showed a bit of fanaticism: "Are they like the two remains nailed to the wall by the precious sword outside?"

"Uh, p-perhaps."

He Lingchuan and Fu Liushan looked at each other: What does this mean? The immortal living in this cave dwelling tortured Heavenly Demons?

The title "immortal" sounds like a Taoist immortal. However, in the ancient period, the war between immortals and demons had long since reached a fever pitch, and both sides were red-eyed; what means couldn't they use? Heavenly Demons are heartless, so are immortals very loving?

(End of chapter)