Chapter 429: Monster Hand

This… this damn thing is actually a hand.

Yes, this thing crawling quickly toward me is indeed a monster hand, as long as a person's elbow; its five fingers have grown long, hard nails, the nails are black‑yellow, the hand's skin is like old tree bark, wrinkled, especially at the wrist where dense roots grow; if you don't look closely, you might think it's a humanoid monster tree.

This involuntarily reminded me of a scene from the human realm in A Chinese Ghost Story, where Guorong entered a ruined temple, took a bath in a large tub, and suddenly a monster hand showed a corner on the eaves. Then a liquid‑like mummy emerged from the eaves, its viscous fluid dripping drop by drop, seemingly even falling on my goddess Xiao Qian. That scene was truly disgusting.

The monster hand before me is eerily similar to the scene where the hopping corpse appears in A Chinese Ghost Story.

However, the hopping corpse in the film is semi‑liquid, whereas the monster hand before me has the color of an old tree and is completely solid.

Moreover, its speed is extreme; in the blink of an eye it almost crawled from outside the door to right in front of me.

No time to wonder what this thing is, I grabbed Xiao Changsheng and rolled, ending up in a corner of the ruined temple.

With a loud bang, in the weak light of the flashlight I saw the monster hand stop where I had just been, its five fingers deeply sunk into the floor.

Suddenly, he clenched his fist, fingers together, instantly flinging up a shower of stone chips, uncovering the thick lime floor to a depth of three cun.

Gazing at the deep finger marks on the ground, a flash of terror crossed my mind. What the hell is this thing, its eerie arrival is this terrifying.

"Uncle, it's coming, it's running toward us!" Xiao Changsheng hid in my arms and shouted in terror, while the monster hand that had flung away the stone chips unexpectedly reversed direction and crawled toward me and Xiao Changsheng again.

Its crawling manner is strange; although it moves on upright five fingers quickly across the ground, the impression is of a person walking upright, except… this "person" has many more legs.

At this moment I was trapped in a dead end with no escape. Watching the monster hand rush toward me, I could only desperately press the Huaguang Seal forward.

With a puff, a scorching sensation came from my hand as the seal landed on the monster hand's index finger nail. The Huaguang Seal, worthy of being one of the exclusive seals of the Great Emperor Huaguang, inheriting the domineering style of the Five Manifest Emperors, caused the monster hand's nail to instantly emit green smoke and retreat at lightning speed.

Watching the monster hand gradually disappear outside the door, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But just as I secretly relaxed, Xiao Changsheng suddenly cried out, "Uncle, be careful, it's coming from your left!"

At the same moment, my spiritual sense seemed to detect a surge of malign energy from my left. Instinctively I threw the seal held in my right hand, caught it with my left, and slammed it hard into the darkness ahead.

Indeed, although I couldn't see the monster hand, I certainly felt the seal's scorching aura and the tremendous force transmitted as I resisted it.

"Uncle, it's coming from your right!"

"Ha!" a loud shout, the seal went right.

"Uncle, it's now at your left side!"

"Ha!"

"Uncle, it's under your feet!"

Half an hour later I had forgotten how many rounds I'd fought the monster hand; even my wrist joints ached faintly. Still, I dared not be careless, carefully sensing the surroundings with the seal in hand.

"Xiao Changsheng, where is it now?" I asked, holding the seal and kicking the air.

"Uncle…" Xiao Changsheng's voice trembled: "It… it's now on my head."

What? My heart tightened; I silently cursed, lunging toward Xiao Changsheng's position. On the pillar, something seemed to be crawling down quickly toward him.

With a puff, this time it wasn't the seal clashing with the monster hand; rather, while I was rolling while holding Xiao Changsheng, the monster hand slashed my back.

A burning sensation spread across my back, making me feel as if scorched by fire, the pain unbearable.

At that very moment I suddenly went berserk, relying on feeling I leapt up in the darkness, let out a fierce shout of a command, and forcefully pressed the seal downward.

I didn't know where the monster hand was; I just relied on feeling, hoping to use the seal to pin it down.

Fortunately, heaven still looked after me. As the seal came down, a rebound force let me clearly feel that I had pressed him down.

The seal emitted scorching heat; in its faint light I saw beneath it a huge withered hand. Its five fingers kept struggling, striving to shake off the Huaguang Seal covering it.

As it struggled, the pressure on my hand grew greater; finally I closed my eyes, tried not to think of the monster hand's disgusting form, and sat down on it with my buttocks. At the same time I gripped the seal tightly with both hands, clenched my teeth, and held it against the monster hand.

As our stalemate continued, the seal's fire grew brighter; the monster hand kept struggling and wailing, but under the seal's gradual suppression it fell into a disadvantage.

As long as I persist a moment longer, this monster hand will be burned to death by the seal's fire.

Thinking this, I unconsciously increased my force.

However, just as I clenched my teeth and exerted force again, I felt my limbs go weak, then my heart began racing, a wave of dizziness swept over me, making me involuntarily want to collapse to the ground.

"This monster hand… is poisonous!" The moment that thought crossed my mind, the monster hand sprang up; if I hadn't suppressed it in time, it would truly have escaped.

I am well aware of this feeling in my body; it's a sign of poisoning. The monster hand's nails must carry strong poison, paralyzing my cerebral nerves.

I really want to sleep; even my vision is blurring, the scene before me seems to be overlapping continuously.

But I know I cannot sleep; not only that, I must hold on a while longer, at least wait for Xiao Changsheng to leave before I can release the seal.

"Xiao Changsheng, hurry up and go, don't worry about me, take the flashlight and flee!" I clenched the seal tightly and shouted with my last strength.

I don't know where Xiao Changsheng is in the temple now; I can only summon my last strength to remind him. A buzzing filled my ears, and I could even feel a thick liquid flowing from my ears.

This is blood; my ears are already bleeding. It means the poison has rapidly spread through my body, soon to corrode my heart.

At this moment I lack a strong will to survive. My first thought isn't how to escape the monster hand's grasp; I just want to use all my strength to buy a little more time so Xiao Changsheng can flee in time.

In my mind the thought keeps recurring: "Xiao Changsheng, hurry up, hurry up." Perhaps I have already shouted it, but I can no longer distinguish reality from illusion.

Not long after, I felt I had no strength left to support myself; I closed my eyes, released my grip on the seal, and collapsed.

Perhaps I will have a long dream, a dream from which I will never wake; in it I might have a child as cute as Xiao Changsheng, clinging to me, crying and fussing nonstop, chattering all day and making noise, depriving me of peace. I might lie that not eating rice will breed worms in his belly, or tell him that if he doesn't clean his bowl, his future wife will be covered in pimples.

Perhaps I will continue those lies that have deceived generation after generation. Holding him, I will watch the withered tree by the gate wither and sprout anew, while I sit by a small bridge over flowing water, watching him play and grow up. When the sunset falls, I will be old, and in my eyes and heart, both tears and laughter will be only him.

In my confusion I seemed to have found a life to long for, my heart full of warmth.