Chapter 25: Night Wraith

A large ball of red light moved swiftly through the darkness.

Sixteen Spirit Hunters rode fine horses, wrapped within this ball of red light.

At this moment, at the edge of everyone's hearing, faint strange ravings drifted; although those Wraiths did not dare approach the range of the red light, they could still emit phantom sounds from afar to disturb the Spirit Hunters' minds.

However, most of the people here had experience facing Wraiths at night, including Li Lin, the newcomer.

They all wore solemn demeanors, holding fast to their seas of consciousness, refusing to respond to those apparition ravings.

But… Bai Bufan seemed a little excited.

He sat on his horse, looking left, looking right, the very picture of a young lord setting out on a picnic.

Bai Liwei rode over, gave Bai Bufan's head a hard smack: "Don't get so excited, and don't respond to those voices."

Saying so, he took out a talisman paper from his waist pouch and stuck it onto Bai Bufan's back.

This time Bai Bufan was no longer so excited.

"What talisman is that?" Li Lin asked curiously.

"Heart-Clearing Talisman."

"Oh, good stuff." Li Lin asked expectantly: "Can you sell me two?"

He was thinking that if he got these talisman papers to study, perhaps he could learn the 'Talisman-Making Art.'

Bai Liwei shook his head and said: "I only have two, I still need to keep one as backup."

"What a pity."

After these few lines, they stopped talking and continued pressing on with the journey.

Just as Huang Yan had said, with over a dozen Spirit Hunters together, riding fine horses at speed, those Wraiths simply could not get close, nor catch up, and so were unable to gather in large numbers.

They, meanwhile, could move safely.

They rode all night; by dawn when the sun rose, the expressions of the group had all relaxed.

"Everyone dismount and rest." Arriving at a flat stretch of ground, Xu Saifeng shouted loudly.

Everyone swung down from their horses, led the horses to the roadside, then took beans they had prepared earlier from the packs on the horses' backs and fed them to the horses.

Li Lin looked around and said to Xu Saifeng: "Xu Xunshou, this place is close to Shangtikou Village where I live; I want to go back and get some things."

"Mm, go quickly and come back quickly." Xu Saifeng nodded.

He was not worried about Li Lin deserting, because if the latter did such a thing, he would never be able to establish himself in Jincheng, or even in the entire Great Qi Kingdom, ever again.

The government was very generous to Spirit Hunters, distributing large amounts of precious supplies like red rice, but at the same time… it also had very strict demands on the Spirit Hunters' 'integrity.'

Li Lin patted his fine horse, quickly returned to Shangtikou Village, took the Red-Tasseled Spear and the Breath-Growth Pills from home, had no time even to greet the Tree Immortal Lady, and hurriedly rushed back to the rest point.

His main purpose was to fetch the Breath-Growth Pills.

Because he could feel that this was a very dangerous mission; bringing the Breath-Growth Pills might prove useful at a critical moment.

The Spirit Hunters were all wrapped in wool blankets, half-reclining against large trees with eyes closed to rest; hearing hoofbeats, they slightly opened their eyes, saw it was Li Lin returning, and then closed their eyes again to continue resting.

After Li Lin returned, he first fed some beans to his warhorse, then wrapped himself in a wool blanket and lay down as well.

Now everyone was fighting for time to rest.

Around noon, Xu Saifeng sat up first; he called out: "Everyone up, first feed the warhorses, then eat something, then we continue setting out."

About an hour later, the sixteen set out again.

The further south they went, the more desolate it became; fewer and fewer people.

At first they still encountered some merchant caravans, but two days later, grass had begun to grow on the official road, not a single human figure, but apparition shadows everywhere.

"It seems no one has traveled here for a long time." Xu Saifeng slowed his horse: "Why was it only discovered now that something had happened at Bobai Town? Who was the Spirit Hunter for Bobai Town again?"

"An Zhijian… An Xunshou." Someone answered: "It is true that he has not come to the county seat for a very long time. But Bobai Town is rather far from the county seat; he rarely came in the past either, generally accumulating about half a year's worth of blood rice before coming to collect it once."

"I remember now, that young man." Xu Saifeng nodded to show he understood.

The group continued onward.

Before long, they arrived at an open stretch of land; ahead stood a rammed-earth fortress.

At this moment the fortress gates were shut, and atop the gate tower all was silent — not a single soldier on watch could be seen.

Sixteen fine horses arrived before the gate.

The group looked over and saw that the copper nails on the gate were all covered with a distinct layer of dust.

"Is anyone up there? We are Spirit Hunters under Yulin County, come to investigate." Though Xu Saifeng was old in years, his voice was very loud: "Is An Zhijian present… I am Xu Saifeng, please come out and meet me!"

The echoes rolled out one after another, then faded wave after wave.

Startling flocks of birds into flight within the fortress.

"It seems there is no one inside." Xu Saifeng said quietly: "Old Hou, it's your turn to be useful; get inside and open the gate."

"Alright."

A short, thin middle-aged man leapt down from his horse; he took a pair of iron grappling hooks from his pack, tied to long ropes.

The iron grappling hooks whirled, were thrown out, and caught onto the edge of the gate tower.

Then this 'Old Hou,' just like a real monkey, hauled himself up the rope and swiftly climbed the city wall.

After a while, the winch atop the wall turned, and the gate slowly opened.

The group rode through the gate and saw that on the square open ground inside the fortress, white bones wearing soldier's clothing were everywhere.

And the altar at the very center had already shattered.

Seeing this situation, the expressions of the group were all not very good.

Xu Saifeng waved his hand: "Spread out, everyone go look around, see what clues you can find."

Everyone went into action.

About four hours later, the group gathered together again.

"I've checked the well inside the fortress; it hasn't been poisoned."

"Everyone was eaten by the Desolate Apparition; their flesh and blood vanished completely."

"Everyone's military pay is still here; nothing was stolen."

"I found An Zhijian's remains. He was different from the others; his skull was severely shattered. It seems he died before being eaten by the Desolate Apparition. Someone must have ambushed and killed him."

Then everyone turned to look at Bai Bufan.

Bai Bufan said awkwardly, "I found nothing. I don't understand these things very well yet."

Everyone found this reasonable, so they skipped over him and looked at Li Lin.

Li Lin said, "I found the roster and counted the skulls... Including An Zhijian, the Bobai Military Garrison should have had one hundred and thirty-seven soldiers, but only one hundred and thirty-six skulls were found here. One is missing!"

At the same time, he took out the roster to show everyone.

"But I checked. Before we arrived, there were no traces of anyone leaving this military garrison. Otherwise, the city gates could not have been closed!" Old Hou said coldly.

Everyone's nerves instantly tensed up.

In other words... there might still be someone hiding in the shadows inside this fortress.

Yet they had almost turned this place upside down and seen no suspicious signs.

Xu Saifeng's face was ice-cold: "Keep searching. Even if we have to turn over every inch of ground here, we must find that person before nightfall."

The altar in the fortress had been destroyed and lay in the wilderness; once night fell, this place would become the Apparition's paradise.

But with one person still possibly alive and hiding here!

Then, he might be even more terrifying than the Apparition!

Everyone sprang into action.

(End of this chapter)