Chapter 12: Murderous Intent Arises Spontaneously

On a bed made of a few wooden planks, Zhao Xiaohu lay with his eyes closed, his face black as ink.

His breathing was rapid and heavy, audible from far away.

Li Lin walked over, glanced a few times, and immediately sensed the trouble.

"How did he end up like this!"

Uncle Zhao sighed: "He opened the window last night."

Tsk!

Li Lin couldn't help but speak with a tone of frustration at his stupidity: "How could he be so foolish!"

Although the Gowned Apparition couldn't enter this village, after all, the Lady Tree Immortal was stationed here, and with Li Lin, a Blood-Flowing Spirit Hunter, present, plus the blood barrier formed by the hundred-plus villagers, it could prevent most gatherings of the eerie from entering.

But... this did not mean ordinary people were qualified to gaze directly at the Gowned Apparition that appeared at night.

Even seeing it from afar was not allowed, especially when the other party was specifically searching for you.

It would cause unpredictable phenomena.

Just like now, Xiaohu had suffered the consequences.

Uncle Zhao had nothing to say; not opening windows at night was something everyone knew, even a three-year-old would remember it in their heart, so Zhao Xiaohu could not possibly not know.

Aunt Hua wiped tears beside him and said, "He had a very good relationship with Sister Xiu Niang; hearing her voice, he couldn't help but open the window and look over; I didn't have time to stop him then, it's all my fault!"

Uncle Zhao wanted to explode in anger, but seeing Aunt Hua crying in distress, and then looking at his son's current state, he could only sigh helplessly.

Li Lin held the White Jade Token and infused it with blood qi.

Red light appeared, enveloping Zhao Xiaohu's body.

Faint black mist seemed to drift out from Xiaohu, but it was not obvious.

At this moment, Zhao Xiaohu's expression seemed slightly more relaxed, and his breathing was not as rapid as before.

"Li Xiaolang, can Xiaohu be cured?"

"I cannot do it," Li Lin shook his head: "We can only go beg the Lady Tree Immortal again."

Crying, Aunt Hua said, "We only begged not long ago; if we beg the Lady Tree Immortal again now, it might not be good for Xiaohu's body."

The Lady Tree Immortal was, after all, a ghost; every time she acted to save someone, she required some price, and moreover... after the patient was cured, there would be some side effects.

For instance, last time Xiaohu lay weak with qi deficiency for two days; now that Xiaohu has a problem, we must ask the Lady Tree Immortal to act again; even if she can save him, having been tainted twice in succession by the resentment of the Gowned Apparition, whether Xiaohu can withstand it remains a question.

Ghosts are such things; ordinary people should avoid contact if possible.

Uncle Zhao sighed: "Now we can only go beg the Lady Tree Immortal again; we just don't know if she will pay attention to us..."

"I'll go ask first."

"Thank you, Li Xiaolang," Uncle Zhao said gratefully.

Li Lin came out of the house; outside the Zhao family's small courtyard, many villagers had gathered.

As soon as he emerged, someone asked, "Li Xunshou, how is Xiaohu's condition?"

"Li Xunshou, I heard Sister Xiu Niang's voice last night; has she returned?"

And in the crowd, the Wu couple were standing.

They could naturally recognize Sister Xiu Niang's voice; even so, they did not open their windows, whereas Xiaohu opened his and looked over.

"If I am not mistaken, it should be her."

Aunt Wu's face was full of despair: "How could this be? Why did she return, and why harm Xiaohu? She was clearly Xiaohu's..."

"I have heard a saying: when the dead become ghosts, they return first to kill their closest kin!" Li Lin said calmly: "After Xiaohu, it should be all of you in the Wu family."

Hearing this, the four members of the Wu family looked very grim, their eyes filled with disbelief.

They had treated Sister Xiu Niang so well; why would she want to kill them?

Seeing their pained and unacceptable expressions, Li Lin explained: "Ghosts are no longer human; you cannot judge her by human standards, understand?"

The four seemed to understand, yet also seemed to understand nothing at all.

At this moment, Elder Zhang, the village head, leaning on his cane and hunched over, came forward and asked: "Li Xunshou, the time for the ghost outside to call souls is getting shorter and shorter, even bringing Sister Xiu Niang into it; what shall we do!"

The last wandering ghost calling souls was only four days ago.

Li Lin smiled: "She has never been full; now she is hungrier than ever, so she certainly cannot sleep."

These words made the villagers' faces turn pale with fear.

"What shall we do?" Elder Zhang's face was full of worry: "Last night it was Xiaohu; perhaps tonight it will be the rest of us; if this continues, in less than half a year, Shangtikou Village will be abandoned."

All the villagers wore expressions of fear and despair.

"Just don't open the windows; with the Lady Tree Immortal and me here, those two ghosts cannot enter," Li Lin said while walking outward: "I will go ask the Lady Tree Immortal."

The villagers made way.

Li Lin arrived at the center of the altar; at this moment, the Gowned Female Ghost had already manifested.

Her mask covered most of her face, revealing only a cherry-sized small mouth; the corners of her lips were slightly upturned, as if she were smiling.

It seemed to be a mocking smile.

Li Lin walked over and asked: "You should already know about Xiaohu's matter; can you help?"

The Female Ghost pointed to Li Lin's left hand.

Li Lin thought for a while, then extended his arm.

A long snake tongue licked Li Lin's palm again and again, slowly sucking away points of red light.

The villagers could not see the Lady Tree Immortal, but they could see Li Lin's blood qi emerging from his palm and then vanishing.

They understood that Li Lin was 'feeding the ghost'.

Uncle Zhao watched from the side, his face full of gratitude, yet also carrying shame.

After a while, the Lady Tree Immortal stopped sucking; she elegantly took out a red silk handkerchief to wipe her lips and spoke four words.

"Stinky porcelain bottle."

"What do you mean?" Li Lin pressed.

The Tree Immortal Lady gave him a look reserved for idiots, then vanished.

Li Lin thought for a moment and immediately understood.

He walked quickly home, took the two porcelain bottles from the wardrobe, uncorked them, and began to sniff their scents.

Li Lin trusted the Tree Immortal Lady would not harm him, so without the reservations of last night, he sniffed the scents with peace of mind.

The first one smelled fragrant.

The second one smelled foul!

【Alchemy +1】

【Alchemy +1】

Hmm?

Staring at the two lines of text that suddenly popped up, Li Lin was stunned; could one really learn a special skill this way?

He sniffed again, but no prompt appeared.

After a moment of stunned silence, he put the fragrant porcelain bottle back in the wardrobe and took the foul-smelling one to Zhao Xiaohu's house.

A short while later, Zhao Xiaohu swallowed two very black and foul-smelling pill spheres, and soon spat a mouthful of black qi from his mouth.

After a while longer, he woke up, though his complexion still looked rather unpleasant.

This medicine is quite good.

It can actually dispel ghost qi.

Pity I don't know the ingredients; although I learned Alchemy, my 'experience' is still too low, so I have no idea what ingredients are in this medicine.

However, Li Lin's train of thought opened up because of this... In the future, when he goes into the city, he will buy more pills to sniff; if he buys enough different kinds of pills, he can surely level up Alchemy.

With enough experience, he could refine pills himself.

"Troubling you again, Lin Ge," Zhao Xiaohu said, looking at Li Lin from his bed with shame.

Li Lin shook his head: "Rest well."

Having said that, Li Lin left.

Busy until now, he hadn't even eaten breakfast yet, and the Tree Immortal Lady had drained quite a bit of his blood qi, leaving his body somewhat weary.

An hour later, he ate the cooked blood rice while pondering.

Perhaps he should find an opportunity to kill those two wandering ghosts outside.

Letting them wander outside from time to time, causing panic among the people, isn't right; after all, now that Shang Tikou Village is under his 'protection'.

Having learned the Bai Hu Posture-Based Fist Technique and killed a ghost, his confidence had grown considerably.

The saying 'when one wields a sharp weapon, the killing intent arises naturally' probably refers to this kind of situation.

(End of this chapter)