Chapter 44: 43, Natural Enemy!

43、Natural Enemy!

In the alley, the yellow dog being savagely torn apart by Ao Duji was Li Xiamei’s eldest daughter.

Li Xiamei’s adopted daughters had ambiguous identities, mostly ghosts or thoughts showing signs of gui transformation.

It possessed two gui skins, exclusively for its adopted daughters to wear.

Once draped in one of these gui skins, ghosts or thoughts already showing signs of gui transformation became even more akin to gui.

Normally, the two adopted daughters clad in gui skins handled household duties like guarding the premises and butchering meat with ease—even capturing outsiders to kill was more than sufficient for them.

But now, Li Xiamei’s newly adopted third daughter had brought Zhou Chang from outside—

Never mind that Zhou Chang had previously used his complete nian yi to break Li Xiamei’s killing pattern and escaped the mass grave with Zhou Sanji and Bai Xiue.

Just know that he now held an additional bone ring imbued with seven ‘Ao Zanben’!

Though ‘Zan Mo’ could not be compared to ‘Xiang Mo,’ once tamed, the Zanben it formed was vastly superior to Li Xiamei’s two adopted daughters, who were nearly gui.

Moreover, according to Bai Ma, Zhou Chang’s Ao Zanben were exceedingly rare, cultivated over generations to produce ‘Zheng Zanben’!

Thus, the moment Ao Duji faced Li Xiamei’s eldest daughter, it revealed the overwhelming power of its Zheng Zanben!

It clamped its jaws tightly around the yellow dog’s neck and, with a violent shake, instantly rendered the eldest daughter powerless.

Multicolored xiangqi flowed from the wounds in the gui skin worn by the eldest daughter; inside Zhou Chang’s ring, the second hole, ‘Ao Bai Ma,’ breathed urgently, and from that multicolored xiangqi, thin strands of dull yellow xiangqi immediately separated and flowed into the hole where Ao Bai Ma resided.

“Could there really be a second Ao Zanben?”

Bai Ma watched the dull yellow xiangqi flow into Zhou Chang’s ring, her eyes gleaming, thoughts racing: “Ao Duji feeds on anger xiangqi, the second Zanben feeds on resentment xiangqi…”

“Do his Zanben serve more than just as ‘protective Zan’?”

Zhou Chang did not know Bai Ma’s thoughts. Seeing Ao Duji pinning and savagely tearing at the eldest daughter, he lunged forward, closing the distance in a few strides, and slashed the girl’s throat with his dagger.

“Ssshh!”

The gui skin split open; the eldest daughter’s xiangqi leaked out even faster.

Inside the ring’s hole, Ao Bai Ma steadily absorbed the resentment-charged dull yellow xiangqi; this Zanben residing within the ring, nourished by hatred, accelerated its hatching and grew rapidly—

In contrast, the yellow dog on the ground grew increasingly emaciated.

Until, at last, the eldest daughter’s xiangqi drained completely—Ao Duji now held only a tattered, torn gui skin in its jaws.

A wisp of light drifted from Zhou Chang’s ring hole and entered the torn gui skin—within it, just as before, a fist-sized bulge swelled outward.

The bulge surged and thrashed, swelling faster!

Suddenly, the mangled ‘yellow dog’ rose again—

Ao Bai Ma manifested its form through the gui skin!

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Ao Bai Ma, just freed from the ring hole, barked furiously and charged straight ahead down the alley.

Meanwhile, Ao Duji, having just won its battle, turned around, its fur bristling, and rushed to Zhou Chang, tugging at his clothes and dragging him in the opposite direction from Ao Bai Ma.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Its barks were frantic with fear.

In the pitch-black alley where five fingers could barely be seen, Zhou Chang suddenly looked up and saw a dark, looming figure standing at the alley’s far end.

Li Xiamei had arrived.

Her disheveled hair hung to her waist; she wore a black satin funeral robe, bare feet pale as death, her equally pale face glowing faintly blue in the darkness as she stared straight at Zhou Chang across the alley.

“Gagagagaga!”

Li Xiamei’s pale face opened its mouth, revealing a full set of canine teeth.

In one swift motion, her dagger slashed forward—Ao Bai Ma, rushing toward her, was instantly decapitated!

Only a wisp of light flew back into the hole of Zhou Chang’s ring.

Li Xiamei’s head twisted stiffly; her body turned into a wisp of black smoke, instantly crossing the alley, and her dagger swung down toward Zhou Chang’s skull!

If struck by this blade, the corpse might be damaged, but Zhou Chang’s soul would be instantly severed and killed.

Hum!

As Zhou Chang stared at the gleaming blade hurtling toward him, every thought within him boiled over.

Unnameable fear surged forth, yet in an instant, that profound terror transformed into exhilaration that made his whole body tremble.

Xiang Mo are born from thoughts of all things; they are born with the innate ability to draw out all negative emotions within the heart.

When a living being encounters Xiang Mo, it is like a sheep facing a tiger, a domestic chicken spotting a mountain eagle—overcoming this primal fear, as if facing a natural enemy, is the first essential lesson for any living being confronting Xiang Mo.

Even Bai Ma, who dwelled within Bai Xiue, now froze rigid alongside her.

After all, neither of them had truly experienced death; they still resided within the realm of the living.

Only now did Zhou Chang react—

He spread his fingers and reached straight for the incoming dagger; black iron nian silk burst from his palm like a spiderweb, instantly wrapping his hand, arm, and half his torso—

Dense layers of nian silk covered his entire body in an instant.

“Crack!”

The hand, now encased in an iron glove, clamped down on the slashing dagger.

The dagger scraped against the iron nian silk, producing a grating, teeth-chilling sound.

Zhou Chang’s spirit trembled under the violent friction; the terrifying force transmitted through the blade pushed him backward, hurling him clear out of the alley.

“Gagagaga!”

Li Xiamei emitted a crow-like cackle.

In that instant, she could not wrench the dagger free from Zhou Chang’s grip—so she abandoned it, plunged her pale-blue hand into her gaping mouth, and pulled out another dagger dripping with saliva and blood!

Li Xiamei spun around, abandoning Zhou Chang as her target, and charged toward Bai Xiue, who stood frozen nearby, dagger raised to strike.

Seeing this, Zhou Chang’s eyes flickered, and he sprinted forward.

The dagger he held was transformed into a stream of black xiangqi, hurtling toward Li Xiamei’s back.

He had assumed Li Xiamei intended to eliminate the “traitor” first—cutting down the “inside agent”—but then he realized: a Xiang Mo stripped of its shell had no reason left.

It mechanically followed only its “killing pattern,” slaying every living thing it saw.

At this moment, Li Xiamei did not turn on Bai Xiue to purge an insider—she turned because the nian silk now fully enveloping Zhou Chang had sealed his aura within, rendering him effectively “invisible” to her.

Thus, Li Xiamei naturally needed a new target.

“Run!”

Zhou Chang thrust both arms forward; threads of iron nian silk shot from his fingertips, stretching taut across the air, instantly piercing Li Xiamei five steps away.

He concentrated his spirit, commanding every iron nian silk to unleash maximum pulling force.

Yet Li Xiamei, pierced through, did not halt—she merely paused for an instant before snapping the threads apart in clusters.

But Bai Xiue/Bai Ma did not fail Zhou Chang—she seized this fleeting moment.

Bai Ma exhaled, and Bai Xiue’s heels grounded; she floated lightly into the dark alley.

With his other hand, Zhou Chang released nian silk, wrapping them around Ao Duji’s neck like a leash; he dragged the still-charging beast with him, darting into the alley and fleeing.

“Gagagaga!”

The terrifying crow-like cackle clung relentlessly to Zhou Chang’s back.

He burst from the alley into the front courtyard, his threads pulling everything in sight, piling them atop the alley entrance to form a barrier.

Layers of nian silk wove thickly across this “door.”

Behind the door came the sound of Li Xiamei’s frantic hacking.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

“Walk through the front gate, and you leave Li Xiamei’s home…” Bai Ma’s face surfaced on Bai Xiue’s, speaking to Zhou Chang.

Her implication: once beyond the gate, they would be safe.

Yet Zhou Chang’s gaze swept the surroundings, as if he hadn’t heard her, saying: “We must kill it twice!

Kill it once, sew shut its orifices—so it can no longer sense the aura of the living—only then can we break its killing pattern!”

Bai Ma drew in a sharp breath: “What are you planning?”

“It sells braised dog meat outside—it must still use a human skin to deceive the living beyond.” Zhou Chang’s words were fragmented, but both women instantly grasped his intent.

He continued: “Find its skin!

Burn its final human skin—break its killing pattern!

Kill it!

Let it dissolve! Let it die!”

As he spoke, the spirit threads wrapped around Ao Duji’s neck retracted; he issued an order: “Go—find the skin that this Xiang Mo passed through!”

Ao Duji panted excitedly, barked at Zhou Chang, and bolted off like a wolf.