Chapter 38: Seeing Demon-Transformation Again

Having come to believe that Wu Chang could truly communicate with vengeful spirits, and having made his decision, Liu Wu poured out everything that had happened.

The matter traced back to two and a half years ago, to that dark-skinned foreign monk who had let the evil entity escape.

They had once sparred with the dark-skinned monk; his muscles were like iron, impervious to blades or spears, and his strength was superhuman. He had easily suppressed the two of them while fighting one against two.

Yet, such a powerful dark-skinned monk had been easily slaughtered by the evil entity right before their eyes.

From that day on, the two brothers understood one thing: human strength has its limits.

To defeat the evil entity, one must become an existence that transcends mortals.

Although the two brothers did not find a certain gargoyle mask, they did find a cultivation manual over a year ago while hunting a fierce, brow-striped tiger in the mountains.

Ghost-Driving Technique.

This technique could sacrifice living people to refine them into ghost thralls, to be driven by the practitioner.

The stronger the deceased, the stronger the ghost thrall.

Thus, the two attacked outsiders like Wu Chang, binding them into the Ghost-Crying Forest to torture them for their cultivation techniques.

If they could not recite a technique, or if the technique's effects were inferior to the Ghost-Driving Technique, they would be cruelly murdered and buried under the trees in the forest.

Before burying them, they would take a drop of the victim's heart-blood and fuse it into a magical artifact, which would then allow them to drive the ghost thrall the victim had become.

The magical artifact was a mask split vertically into two halves like a Taiji symbol; Liu Wei and Liu Wu each held one half.

As long as they wore the mask, they could freely enter and exit the Ghost-Crying Forest and command the ghost thralls within.

"Where is the cultivation manual you found?" Wu Chang asked.

Having already confessed so much, a little more didn't matter now, so Liu Wu answered honestly: "My big brother and I each carry half a volume; it is in my bosom right now."

Wu Chang took the half-book from Liu Wu's bosom, and after just one glance, he wore the expression of the "subway old man looking at a phone" meme.

He pointed at the spell-like scribbles covering the book and asked incredulously: "You can understand this stuff?"

He felt his intelligence had been insulted; if there had been even a few more pictures, he might have believed Liu Wu two parts out of ten.

Liu Wu said: "At first we couldn't understand it either, but after using that tiger's heart to soak wine, my big brother and I could understand it."

Good grief, was the tiger's heart some kind of decoder card? Even if Liu Wu wanted to lie to him, he wouldn't make up such an outrageous story, so he listened to it as if it were true for the time being.

Yet even so, there were still a few points that could not be explained.

He continued to ask: "Then why did you send the ghost thralls to attack Liu Ning?"

Liu Wu: "According to the records in the book, the two halves of the mask must be joined as one for the technique to reach Great Accomplishment. Fusing the two halves requires a powerful master ghost capable of bearing the complete magical artifact; our initial target was the evil entity in the village."

"Now is the time when the evil entity is at its weakest. If we hold the Year-End Festival early, we can take the opportunity to devour the evil entity. If we drag it out for another month, the evil entity will fully recover, and the ghost thralls will find it hard to win."

"Uncle Shan has been blocking the early holding of the Year-End Festival; we must find a way to make him step down."

Wu Chang asked curiously: "If you could get rid of the evil entity once and for all, Liu Shan might not disagree. Did you never think of discussing it with him?"

Liu Wu shook his head. "The Law is not transmitted to six ears; the mask created by the technique only has two halves."

What a convincing reason.

Wu Chang looked Liu Wu up and down. "Looking at you, it seems you are prepared to go out. What are you going to do?"

A hint of embarrassment appeared on Liu Wu's face. "For the technique to reach Great Accomplishment, a powerful master ghost is needed. It can be the evil entity, or it can be you."

"My big brother is soft-hearted and cares about the village; he wants to wait until after the Year-End Festival to act. I worry there are too many variables, so I prepared to act secretly on my own."

Wu Chang looked at the sky, and seeing that it was getting late, he quickened his questioning.

"What exactly is the evil entity?"

"I can't say well. Once you see the core of the Year-End Festival with your own eyes, you will naturally understand."

Regarding his biggest secret, Liu Wu had hidden nothing, but when it came to the evil entity, his words were somewhat evasive.

"I have already said what I should say. You should fulfill your promise."

Wu Chang took off Liu Wu's mask, patted Liu Wu on the shoulder, and whispered:

"I promised to spare you, so I will naturally keep my word. However, how to convince them to spare you is something you will have to figure out yourself."

Having said that, he held the mask and walked out of the forest.

Without the protection of the mask, Liu Wu felt the surrounding temperature plummet. He thought of something, panicked instantly, and shouted: "Wait, you..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the tongue in his mouth suddenly burst, and the words he wanted to say turned into miserable whimpering.

The entire forest was filled with the sound of wind, howling like crying and laughing, exceptionally chilling.

Half an hour later, the half-mask in Wu Chang's hand moved slightly; having become an ownerless object, it displayed its attribute panel.

"Item Name: Demon-Transformation—Human Face (Black)." "Item Type: Instance Item"

"Item Grade: D."

"Item Skill: Ghost-Driving."

"Sacrifice your own vital Qi and essence blood to control the ghost thralls refined within the mask."

"Item Description: Join with Demon-Transformation—Human Face (White) to unlock the item's combination skill."

Demon-Transformation?

Wu Chang looked at the prefix of the mask's name, and the expression on his face gradually became strange.

He remembered that the magical artifact in the Chen Family Village that turned people into mist demons was also called Demon-Transformation.

The magical artifact that Liu Wei and Liu Wu had been using was Demon-Transformation, but when Liu Wu mentioned the artifact's abilities, he only knew that joining the two halves would fuse the artifact and allow the user to gain its power, yet he did not know it would turn the user into a demon.

Was it an intentional concealment, or did he truly not know at all?

Perhaps Liu Wei would give him the answer.

He put on the mask and discovered that the pale red bloodstains scattered in the forest had turned into ghost thralls, blurred with flesh and blood.

The ghost thralls crowded around with faces full of longing, just as they had when they first met, whispering:

"Help me..."

"Release me..."

"Deliver me..."

After discovering the true form of the collective resentment, he saw their blood-colored last words clearly this time.

The content was the same as he had guessed; it was exactly the words the blood-red meatball had roared at the end.

[Give it back to me!]

They wanted to take back the heart-blood that had been stolen, shake off the body of a ghost thrall, and regain their freedom.

He took off the mask and whispered: "Wait a little longer, it is not yet the time."

At present, he only had half a mask; the other half was still in Liu Wei's hands.

Heaven knows if throwing this half-mask to the ghost thralls would release half of them, or cause them to lose control collectively.

Furthermore, keeping this half-mask in hand would have great use in the future.

After burying the physically pixelated Liu Wu in the Ghost-Crying Forest and cleaning up the crime scene to ensure no traces were left, he returned to Chunlai Mountain.

The Mountain Guardian was sitting on a straw mat, grinning foolishly at the Old Man Chunhuai.

Seeing Wu Chang return, the Mountain Guardian immediately stood up and took out half a roasted chicken served on tree bark from under the offering table.

Wu Chang patted the Mountain Guardian's head and said: "It's all for you."

"It will be a bit chaotic these next two days. Hide yourself well and don't go to the village again. If there is trouble, have your friend come find me."

Seeing the Mountain Guardian nod as if he understood, he put down some more food and turned to leave.

As the sun set and the sky gradually darkened, torches and lanterns were lit inside Huaigu Village.

Liu Shan had gathered the few people in charge in the village and was preparing to discuss how to prepare for the Year-End Festival when he saw Liu Jinfu walk over quickly, saying in a rush:

"Uncle Shan, Hero Wu is back!"

The expressions of everyone present darkened; accidents had indeed happened in the Chen Family Village, such that even with Wu Chang's abilities, it had been difficult to arrive.

Liu Shan asked first: "What happened? Did Hero Wu encounter danger on the road? Don't rush to open the village gate yet; be sure to look clearly—is there an evil entity chasing behind him?"

Liu Jinfu shook his head. "No, Hero Wu has brought back the palace lantern!"

"What?!"

Five minutes later, everyone followed Liu Jinfu to the watchtower at the village entrance.

Standing high up and looking into the distance, they saw a bright, brilliant crimson fire moving rapidly along the pitch-black mountain road.

Wherever the firelight reached, the darkness and evil entities retreated together, not daring to come even a fraction closer.

The crowd present cheered, their expressions full of excitement and fervor, as if the one coming to shatter the darkness were truly a Star Lord from the heavens.

Among the crowd, only Liu Wei's expression was uncertain, his smile forced.

Hero Wu returned so quickly; Brother Wu shouldn't have had time to run into him.

(End of chapter)